Status: On hiatus. Rewritting.
Strangers When We Meet
Prologue
Louisiana; 18 years ago
The night was painted with displays of red and gold and blue, as the fireworks illuminated the sky overhead. From their view on the abandoned, graffiti ridden, water tower, Kate, Jared and Shannon, with a few assorted friends, could see the whole spectacular show perfectly. Which pleased Kate immensely.
Since she was a kid she looked forward to the annual fireworks displays. Today was Independence Day, and they were pulling out all the stops. She had originally wanted to go in town, get a seat by the river and take in the show like she had so many times since being a child. The brothers had told her they would take her there, but of course they had other plans. Those boys.
“But you guys promised.” she was saying to them just a few hours ago.
Shannon stood by her, his arms folder over his chest. “We're still going.” Shannon said, “We just have a better spot.”
Kate rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah? Where?” she was skeptical. She grabbed his arm and tried to drag him along. “I went to your silly little gig,” she said grinning now, still pulling his arm. “now we're going to see the fireworks. You promise.”
“So did he.” He hooked a thumb behind him at his younger brother, who was lounging in the grass, not a care in the world.
“Oh, he's coming too. Jared, come on.”
“He's daydreaming.” Shannon said chuckling lightly, “Good luck.”
Kate knew that once Jared got his mind hooked on something, it was going to take while to get his attention, but she didn't care. She grabbed him by the leg and pulled him, yanking his shoe off.
“Hey!” he yelled but still stayed put.
Then suddenly Shannon picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. She yelled at him to put her down but he pretended not to hear. “Put me down you big ape.” she said without conviction.
“I think there's a fly buzzing around. A big one. Can you here it, Jared?”
“Yeah, I think I do.” Jared said, “It's rather annoying.”
“I know, isn't it.”
All this time Shannon had been swinging Kate back and forth, the blood rushing to her head, making her dizzy, her eyes barely able to focus. She beat on his back to no effect. “Come on, boys. I really, really want to see it.”
“I have a better idea.” Jared said, hopping up and giving Kate a smack on the head. “Let's take a drive.”
“Good idea.” Shannon said and dropped her to the ground.
She still was a bit pissed off when they had driven up to the water tower, hitting Shannon hard on the arm, and demanding that he take her back into town. But Shannon only laughed, and Jared, as stubborn as always, wouldn't budge, and told her to relax, saying the view was great from up there. So as they saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, so she climbed up with the rest of them.
To her left, Shannon was drumming his hands on the rusty metal railing in front of them in time to the music playing from the portable radio they had brought up with them. To her right, Jared sat with his feet dangling, a beer in his hand, his eyes focused on the sky.
“Told ya it was gonna be great.” Jared whispered smugly in her ear, his face suddenly very close to hers.
She turned away to hide her blush and said, “Yeah yeah, you were right.” He giggled.
Although she missed being at the heart of it, she couldn't complain, the view really was amazing. She smiled to herself, nestled between her two best friends, she was happy, content. She sipped on her beer, laughed when someone cracked a few jokes, Jared wordlessly rested his head on her shoulder.
The night was humid, they all were wiping sweat away from their face, but none of them really cared, it was always hot. They were all cracking jokes, throwing things around, being loud and rowdy, and at some point someone had lit a joint and was passing it around. Kate took a drag or two, even though it wasn't her thing. Tonight felt like one of those nights to throw caution to the wind. She giggled along with Jared who at some point placed his hand in hers.
Around midnight, well after the fireworks had ended, the gang had climbed down before the police showed up. None of them wanting to go home, it was the summer after all, so they piled into the two cars they had there, one belonged to Shannon, and they drove off aimlessly.
Kate once again sat between her two boys in the front seat. Shannon was banging his head to some song on the radio as he drove, turning it up extra loud. The dirt road was bumpy and they were knocking into one another, not that any of them minded much.
“Where are we going?” Kate shouted over the music.
“Who knows.” the older Leto brother yelled back, a huge smirk on his face. “Who cares.”
She couldn't help the smile that broke out on her face. Jared, too, was smiling, his hand hanging out of the open window, looking out the windshield at the country side, pointing every now and then to tell Shannon where to go.
“Just enjoy the ride.” Shannon was grinning, like he had some big secret. But they were all still a little buzzed, so everything felt good right now.
“Yeah, Katie, enjoy the ride.” Jared insisted.
Shannon turned a corner hard and speed up. He loved driving fast, and didn't have to worry about hitting anyone way out here, or so he told himself. He jerked the car to a stop a few minutes later, parked, the music abruptly cut off, and he hopped out.
“Come on, you two.”
He slammed the door shut and Jared and Kate climbed out. Their friends in the other car pulled up a few seconds later. They were in a wide open space, nothing but grass and a few trees scattered here and there, and pretty far away, yet still visible in the moonlight stood an old farm house and barn.
Another joint was lit and beers were passed around, but Kate declined this time, she was still reeling from before. She found a spot in the grass and spread out, looking up at the stars. After a few minutes, or what felt like it, Jared joined her. Neither of them spoke, they didn't need to. They could hear the others running around, laughing madly, hollering, being crazy.
“How many stars do you think are out there?” he asked her after a long moment of silence.
“Thousands and thousands and thousands.” she murmurs softly as they both continued to gaze up Out here they could see more stars than they could in the city and the sight was magnificent.
“I want to go out there, someday. See the stars.”
“Me too.” she replied, “Maybe we'll go together.”
Kate could hear his smile as he said, “I'd like that.” Jared let out a loud sigh. “I'm gonna miss you when we leave.”
Kate was reminded that in a months time they would all be going separate ways. She, to Georgia, to college, the brothers were headed to California, to pursue a career in music. She grew quiet but after a minute she said, “I'll miss you, too.”
They said nothing, just stared up at the sky.
“You're going to be amazing.” Kate whispered to her best friend. “I know it.”
“You think so?” Jared asked, his hand was in hers again.
She smiled and sincerely said, “Yes. I do.”
She turned her head to him, and he did the same. The very same thought ran through both their heads, something they had both thought about before, but before they could do much more than look at one another before they were interrupted when Shannon plopped down next to them laughing his ass off for some unknown reason.
When he pulled himself together a bit he looked back and forth between the two of them, he knew what was going on.
“Oh, don't mind me.” he told them and planted a huge kiss on her cheek.
She made a face and dramatically wiped it away. “I don't know where those lips have been.”
Then she started laughing, she couldn't help it. That made Shannon laugh more, then Jared. Their other friends were now half lying on top of them as well, all of them falling into a fit of maddening laughter that none of them could explain. It was just one of those times when laughter was contagious, no one knew what was funny. Or maybe it was the drugs and beer they had consumed, either way things were good.
They all knew this might be the last carefree night they had before real life took hold, before they had responsibilities and had to leave childish things behind, so on and on they laughed until they fell into silence one by one, all of them staring up into the heaven.
And as they laid there, surrounded by her friends, Kate thought that night had never looked better and the stars had never shone brighter.
♠ ♠ ♠
Another Jared Leto story. I've been working on this one for a little while. I hope you guys like it. And it's Jared's b-day, so I had to post something today. Happy Birthday J.