As Fate Would Have It - Chapter 2

by:: Leslie

Chapter 2

~Anchorage International Airport - Friday Evening, Alaska Time~

After a very long, uncomfortable flight, they were each grateful to finally be on the ground again. Jax was even more grateful that first class was given the priviledge of disembarking first.

After an annoying wait, Blaine headed straight for the bathroom as soon as she walked through the passageway -- having decided not to attempt to climb over her neighbor during the flight. She had held it for as long as she could!

Jax quickly gathered his baggage and caught a taxi to Bicentennial Park to attend the first of several scheduled events of the weekend.

Back at the airport, Blaine waited . . . and waited . . . and waited . . . but only one of her two bags came out of the baggage carousel. After an acceptable amount of time, she filled out all the necessary paperwork to hopefully reclaim her lost luggage.

Hailing a cab was much easier than it was at home. She was already late to the cookout and opted not to change clothes in order to save time.

She took a deep breath as the cab pulled up in Bicentennial Park to let her out. Those old insecurities reared their heads, and she felt like the clumsy bookworm she'd been back in high school. Not an outcast, but never fully fitting in with the "in" group either. Get a grip, Blaine!! Get over it!! That was 10 or more years ago!! You're a successful writer in your own right!! You don't need their approval anymore!!! She gave herself this little pep-talk as she walked to the picnic area. Everyone had finished eating and had relocated to the grassy area for a pickup game of touch football. Guys and girls alike had picked teams and got a game going. It was then that someone grabbed her arm.

"Blaine? Blaine Adamson??" It was Andrea Campbell, former class president, Captain of the cheerleading squad, Homecoming Queen, etc. You name it -- she was it!!

"Hi, Andrea! Yeah, it's me!!"

The two classmates hugged as Andrea exlaimed loudly, "Omigosh, Blaine!! You've completely changed!! You don't even look like the same girl that we graduated with!!"

Blaine thought to herself that Andrea still looked like the same Barbie Doll she did 10 years ago, and silently vowed to sneak some fat into this girl's diet over the course of the weekend.

Andrea re-introduced Blaine around to other unknowing alumni. They made their way to the sidelines of the game to meet yet another group. Blaine didn't quite know how to take all the surprised looks and remarks regarding her appearance. Sure she had been a little nerdy in high school -- not skinny -- and on the plain side, but what's the big deal?? She just blossomed late -- that's all!

The ex-All-Star receiver of their football team, Jeff Oglesbee, was careening towards their gathering with excessive speed in an attempt to catch a long pass. He was yelling, "I'm open . . . I've got it . . . I've got it!!!!" The group began to disperse -- quickly -- to avoid the inevitable crash as Jeff received the football in his arms. Just as Blaine was about to be bowled over as Jeff rolled, someone grabbed her around the waist from behind, swung her out of the way -- then landed unceramoniously on her back, sandwiching her to the ground. The sheer size of her hero landing on top of her knocked the breath out of her.

Jax got up as quickly as he could and surveyed his rescuee. His eyes took in the sight of the woman under him . . . khaki skirt . . . white T-shirt . . . denim vest . . . It couldn't be!!!!!!!

Andrea ran up to them and lifted Blaine up by the arm, with an unbelieving Jax offerring to assist. Blaine was brushing the grass off her clothing when she looked up into Jax's searching aquamarine eyes. If she thought she'd had the breath knocked out of her before -- it was nothing compared to what she felt at this moment!! She felt as if her heart had actually ceased to function upon site of the man who she'd spent 6 years pining over in school. Truth be known, it was really 16 years, as she had never overcome her interest in him and had thought of him often.

Andrea did the honors, "Jax . . . you remember Blaine Adamson, don't you? Blaine . . . I'm sure you remember Jasper Jacks!"

Jax was stunned. His eyes unashamedly took in the vision of his former classmate as his mind tried to reconcile that the woman in the airport was one in the same with this girl he'd known most of his life growing up.

"Blaine?? I didn't recognize you in the airport this morning!! You must think me extremely rude!"

Blaine's hazel eyes widened as she realized that it had been Jax who'd been so helpful to her in the airport that afternoon. No wonder she'd swooned . . . it was the real thing in front of her, and she hadn't even known it! She would've had she seen his eyes. God had created the most magnificent, unique color on the face of the earth, and bestowed them upon the eyes of Jasper Jacks. They were penetrating . . . entrancing . . . and looking right at her!!!

"Jax!! I didn't recognize you either!! You were incognito with that baseball cap and those dark glasses!"

Jax hugged her, and offerred an apology for knocking her to the ground.

"No apology necessary, Jax. Better you than Jeff!! That muscle bound receiver could've killed me!!! I should be thanking you!"

Jax, Blaine and the others spent the next hour catching up and exchanging relevant information like who was married, how many kids, career paths, where they lived, how many run-ins with the law since graduation -- the basics!

Jax became somewhat fixated on Blaine, but she wouldn't catch his glance. Her shyness prevented her from giving in to the temptation to even look at Jax, afraid she would end up staring at her Aussie dream man for the rest of the evening.

As darkenss descended, the members of the Class of '88 decided to relocate to an indoor, less-mosquito-ridden location. They decided on Caleb's Tavern, Anchorage's touted hotspot. As the group converged upon the unsuspecting hangout, the alumni seemed to naturally divide back into their old cliques. Jax's table consisted of Jeff Oglesbee and Nate Harmon, two of his former teammates, and Lissa Bradley, Adrian Mann, Blaine, and Andrea, who had intentionally scurried to the seat next to Jax, leaving Blaine to sit directly acorss from him.

Since the event had been for alumni only, no spouses were present, and the conversation was taking on definite gutter tendencies. A few longneck beers had certain former classmates spilling all!! Andrea was tipsy and she was telling off on the cheerleader's escapades -- whose first time was in the back of the bus on the way home from a game, who cheated on their English mid-term so she wouldn't get thrown off the squad, and who had a crush on who -- all the relevant information.

Jax and Blaine were dog tired. Their bodies were still on New York time. Andrea's conversation wasn't enough to hold their interest, until she changed the subject somewhat. "Does everybody remember our first boy/girl party in the 8th grade?" A round of laughter made it's way around the table, each remembering the awkwardness of that first junior high social event. Memories were exchanged, snippets of "Footloose" were sung in unison, and a feeling of melancholy overcame them all.

Andrea began giggling, and Jeff called her on it, wanting to know what was so funny. "Nothing," she lied, "Only I know a secret about two people at this table that they don't even know themselves!!!"

"Oh, this calls for another round," Nate exclaimed as he gave his request to the waiter. "Brace yourselves people for yet another of Andrea's senseless revelations!!"

Longneck Buds were distributed around the table as minds raced in anticipation of the secret to be revealed. Andrea began, "OK, since we're on the subject of our first boy/girl party, does anybody remember the game we played after we ate??"

"A rousing game of Spin-The-Bottle, or should I say arousing??" Nate howled at his own wit.

"You're right, Nate!," Andrea continued. "With a twist," she added. "You were all blind-folded and I was Head Bottle Spinner!" They all laughed at the recollection. Andrea always had to be "in charge"!

"Well, one of those 'spins' was not an errant occurence," Andrea admitted.

"You cheated??" Lissa accused.

"No, I wouldn't call it 'cheating'. I would say I manipulated the circumstances for the betterment of two classmates."

Jax piped in, "Why, Andrea, you seemed to have missed your calling!! With double-talk like that you should've been a lawyer!!" This elicited a roar of laughter from the table as Andrea overlooked it and went on.

"It had come to my attention that two of the party guests had never been kissed!!"

Jeff threw a coaster at Andrea, frisbee-style, yelling, "Andrea!! You promised never to tell!!!"

Andrea, giggling in her intoxication, managed a comeback, "Jeff, don't you know there's a Statute of Limitations on childhood secrets?"

"There's that Lawyer-ese again!!" Jax chided in.

"Jeff and I were in cahoots on this one! One of his buddies had never had the pleasure, and one of my friends had never had the opportunity. We couldn't let you both start high school without so much as french kissing a member of the opposite sex!!!," she justifed. "It was a pairing we couldn't resist!!"

'Yeah," added Jeff, "My dad always told me the best way to learn to swim is to get thrown right into the lake!!!"

"Sink or swim!!!" Nate added.

"So, who was it Andrea? I can't stand not knowing!!" Adrian begged.

Andrea grinned an evil grin. She was going to milk this for all it was worth, so she set the stage for her much anticipated announcement by beginning to sing, "Like a virgin . . . touched for the very first time . . . like a viiiirr-giin, when your heart beats . . . next to mine . . . woooooohh . . ." giving her best Madonna. "The two blindfolded naive ones were thrown into the dark closet and ordered to make out to Madonna for five full minutes!" She could barely talk for laughing. "You were in there for 10!!! Must've been one hell of a first kiss!!!"

"Most exciting kiss I ever had," stated Jax, the memory of that first real kiss bringing a shy, dimpled smile to his face.

Blaine's jaw dropped at the realization that the boy who had been her first crush, who had been her first unrequited love, her first heartbreak, had, unbeknownst to her, also been her first kiss.

"Why, I do believe our writer is at a loss for words," Andrea teased.

Jax's jaw dropped as well, "It was you, Blaine??"

Blaine could only ask, "It was us???"

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