Deviating from the Norm (A "Freaks and Geeks" Fanfic)

Chapter 35 - That first kiss...

We didn't get to spend more than about ten minutes at the house before Mrs. Weir made it back home. The majority of that time I spent chatting idly with Lindsay and Kim (mainly gloating about our win over the Colonel), while Sam, Bill and Neal all played some video game in the living room. His other two friends had left while we were dealing with the Andopolis situation. There was a sense of tension between Kim and I that Lindsay was no doubt picking up on, but she was kind enough not to try to pry at it. While we talked, the two girls fell into bouts of hysterics as they reminisced about their cross-country trip to follow the Dead. I listened, drinking in all the information they shared and growing a little envious that I had yet to have as good of a time doing anything up to that point in my life that resulting in as much fun and good times as they had experienced.

Once Linds' mom arrived, we snuck out the back door and tried to remain out of sight as we went back to the car. The ride back to my house was silent and long... and it wasn't the kind of enjoyable silence like we had experienced at the hospital cafeteria. As I drove and tried to figure out how to fix my fumble, I realized I had screwed up not just once, but twice.

"Kim, I'm sorry," I said quickly, shutting the ignition off after parking next to her car. She was already reaching for the door handle, so I knew I had to be fast with my words. She stopped in mid-motion and looked over at me before darting her eyes downward.

"I should've let you finish before I just jumped in there and started interrupting. And I'm really sorry that I... that I can't remember our first kiss. I feel horrible about that, I really do."

She slowly nodded, but kept her eyes away from mine. "It's turned into a really stressful day, so I think I'm just going to go to Erica's and just... chill for the rest of the day."

I didn't want her to go with this staying unresolved. It was important and upsetting to both of us. "Can't we just-"

She was out of the car in a flash; long tendrils of her hair being blown around in a flurry as a gust of wind picked up. Brushing the frenzied hair out of her face, Kim made the transition from car to car in less time than it took me to untangle myself from the seat belt and open my door. I sunk into my seat and moaned out in defeat. She was hurt and not interested in talking it out (which was something else entirely that I would have to talk with her about). The only way to stop her at that point would've been by standing behind her car... and even that wasn't a guarantee. Barely three days getting comfortable with one another again and we had already hit a snag.

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Nick called a few hours after I made it in, totally ecstatic about his reprieve from an army-based future. Never before had I ever heard anyone say 'thank you' so many times in a fifteen minute conversation. It almost became annoyingly redundant at one point and it was a welcomed relief when he started asking about Lindsay and exactly how the conversation went. Then the chat got a little weird when he started asking me what I knew about constellations and refused to tell me why he was inquiring after I told him that all I remembered about that stuff was that the North Star was in one of the Dippers.

A little while later my dad walked into the dining room and took a seat at the opposite end of the table. I had a playbook out in front of me, but I was only half-studying it while trying to figure out what drummer-boy was up to at the same time.

"We're a bit of a mess without your mother around, aren't we?" he asked, making the question sound rhetorical.

I looked up and propped my head on the palm of my hand, cupping my cheek. "Because we only had macaroni and cheese for dinner?"

"Yes, among other things," he laughed.

"I just want her to be better."

"I know, son, me too. I, um..." He cleared his throat before continuing. "I stopped by the hospital after work to talk with the attending doc. They said that they think she's doing mildly better, but they're not one-hundred percent sure, either. They also said she didn't have any visitors all day. Didn't feel like dropping by?"