Authors: Michele G Miller
"Thank you again," she calls after him as he leaves.
Jules blows on her hot chocolate and sits there staring out past her bed at the busy nurse’s station. She watches as people, many wearing pajamas, run up to the desk; frantic for information on loved ones. Every time a new person steps up, a nurse at the desk politely answers their questions and points them in a direction; their heads nodding sympathetically. She watches as one man gestures wildly with his arms; his ripped clothing evidence he'd been caught in the storm himself.
"What made you run for the house?" she asks West after a quiet period of people watching.
"Sorry?"
"The house? You knew there was a basement…how?"
"How sheltered have you been, Little Miss Cheerleader?" Although he says it playfully, she can’t help feeling as if he is making fun of her at the same time.
"The parties?"
"Of course. Everyone's partied at the Grier house at least once. At least, we did before the police caught wind of it and the place got boarded up." West leans back and puts his coffee cup on the floor next to his chair before leaning his elbows on his knees. "You never came to any of the parties there?"
She shrugs nonchalantly. "I don't party. Not like that, anyhow."
The parties at Grier house were known for the excessive sex, drugs and alcohol being served up. Back when she was a freshman, she remembered hearing about a junior who got knocked up at one of those parties. Apparently they were raves for high schoolers.
"You don't have to get stoned or wasted at a party, Buffy. More people than you think used to come. We'd have a good time, hang, dance...some people would smoke weed or drink, but it was cool to just chill, too."
"Illegally, in an abandoned house?" she points out and rolls her eyes dramatically. "Do you know the crap I'd get in if I were caught doing that?"
"Oh, Miss Goody Two Shoes…
that's
why you make sure mommy and daddy don't find out. You know, your boyfriend actually showed up at one or two."
"What?"
"Just sayin'." He shrugs.
"You're full of it. Stuart never parties without me."
"Sorry to disappoint you, sweetheart, but like I said, a lot of people used to show. Ask Parker or Ya-ya."
Jules sits up suddenly and nearly pukes from the sudden movement, and West pops up from his seat.
"Whoa...you're looking a little green, Buff. Sit back and relax. You okay?"
"Are you freaking kidding me? You don't hang with our crowd anymore, and here you are telling me you've been partying with some of my best friends. You called Tanya 'Ya-ya'. Where have you
been
for the past four years?" She is irrationally mad all of a sudden to think she's been left out of something by the people she thought she knew. Stuart going to parties and not telling her certainly sets off a red light, and Jeff…well, she recalls how close he and West were back when they played ball together, but Tanya? Tanya loves a good party, and they've gone to a few together. Jules isn’t a goody-two shoes, regardless of what West might think. But for Tanya to go to Grier parties and never tell her?
"First, I was there the day Tanya was given the name Ya-ya, so I damn well have the right to call her that. Second, you're right. I don't hang with 'your' crowd anymore, but I never left, Jules. I've been here all this time." Picking up his cup, he stands and runs his hand through his hair in frustration. "I'll be back."
Seven
She stops him with a question.
"If you didn't leave, then why did you stop being friends with us?"
Her question stops him, his shoulders stiffen and he rolls his head from side to side. He turns and opens his mouth to speak, right as a group of people come rushing into the triage area, and Jules hears her father's anxious voice.
"I was told my daughter is here
—
Jules Blacklin?"
"Daddy!" she calls out at the same time West says, "Mr. Blacklin? She's right here."
"Jules!" Her father rushes to her side and practically knocks West over in his haste. "Oh, my baby girl. Thank the Lord you're alive."
Katie's parents pop around the curtain too, with relief and worry etched on their faces. Her mom wipes at tears as she squeezes Jules’ leg under the covers.
"Honey, where's Katie? Is she all right?"
Jules’ dad loosens his grip on her shoulders as she explains the events of the night. How they ran for the Grier house basement and then the house fell on them, trapping her and West. She looks towards West, who maintains his position by the curtain doorway.
"I...I don't know where she is, because I blacked out. What happened?" she calls over the Luthers’ shoulders to get his assistance.
"She was fine, Mrs. Luther. She climbed out of the basement with Jeff Parker to get help for us. I don't know what happened to them, I'm sorry. When they finally pulled us out, the others that were with us had already been taken away. They were worried about Jules, so they loaded us into ambulances right away and brought us here."
Mrs. Luther lets out a small gasp and her husband straightens. "I'm going to go speak to the nurses and see what they can tell me."
Jules notices Katie's mom pull out her cell phone and try to get a signal. "Are the cell lines down too?" she asks curiously. She has an overwhelming urge to call her friends and to know everyone is all right.
"The circuits are busy. I imagine they’re overloaded right now. I wish I could get word to your mother. She was worried sick."
"You guys were okay at home, then? Nothing hit there? Why didn't she come with you?"
"We were fine. The storm looks to have hit right outside the elementary school and followed highway sixteen through downtown; passing by the Grier house and ending right outside the town limits in Rossview. Mom is at home with Jason. He was pretty shaken up, and we didn't know what kind of mess we would find trying to get here."
"How did you get here? Mr. Rutledge was on his way to our house to let y’all know I'm okay. He said he didn't think you'd be able to get here without a four-wheel drive vehicle."
"Mr. Rutledge?" Her father looks confused.
"Dad, you remember West, don't you?" she asks and points towards West, who is now looking out at the triage area. When she says his name, he turns and nods his head respectfully towards her father. "I'm pretty sure he saved my life...and Katie's too," she adds with a smile towards Mrs. Luther.
Her dad walks over to West. "It's been a long time, West," he comments; his hand clasping his shoulder much as his father did earlier. An embarrassed look crosses West’s features as he stands there looking at her father. "Jules says you're a hero, huh?"
"Oh, no sir. No, all I did was grab her hand and run, sir. Anyone would have done it."
"He's being modest, daddy. He threw me on the ground and covered me when the house started to come down on us."
"Oh!" sighs Katie's mom; her eyes wide. "I can't imagine what you kids went through out there," she laments; big tears continuing to fall from her eyes.
"There were only like, what, twelve of us in the house? Our friends scattered everywhere. We don't know what happened to them..." Jules’ voice breaks as reality begins to sink in. "Mrs. Luther, we lost Tanya...and Candy and Tommy. I don't know where Stuart is, either." Her voice drifts off and Katie's mom pulls her into a hug and cries with her.
Her father starts talking, she assumes to West. "We were able to get to the edge of Grier field. We had to drive all the way around the town and backtrack, but we knew you were supposed to be there. The place was swarming with cops and Fire and Rescue, as well as a lot of civilian volunteers."
"What did they say?" she hears West ask as she tries to get her crying under control.
"They said there were several fatalities there, but they’re not done combing the wreckage. Then they told us everyone they found was sent here. They specifically knew Jules was here."
She swears she hears West mumble, 'Of course, everyone knows Jules,' but Mrs. Luther's mumbled words of comfort drown out most of what is being said.
"Steph, honey? Apparently Katie's in the cafeteria. They finally set up a waiting area for people not needing medical attention and they have her name on the list!" Katie's dad practically shouts as he waves for his wife to follow him.
"Oh, thank you Jesus," Katie’s mom praises, and gives Jules one last squeeze. "Love you."
"Love you too. Give her a hug for me and tell her I'm okay." They nod and rush out in a swirl of relief at knowing their child is okay.
West gives Jules a look then. "Uh, I think I'll go too and check in. See who's here and all."
Her father takes a seat on the edge of the bed as Jules works to get herself together again. "Is your dad coming back here, West? Can I offer you a ride home when we leave?"
"Thanks, but I'm good. He'll be coming back at some point." Jules listens as West explains to her father how his dad was going to go by their house, and that he left to help with rescue work. He also tells him what Dr. Metzger said about her condition. She sits there and stares as he talks about her. He could have left as soon as her father walked in, but he is taking care to be sure her dad is filled in on everything he's missed.
She looks at his hands in front of his waist. They are clasped in front of him with one rubbing the other, and she notices that she’s opening and closing her own fists as she thinks about their connection tonight. When she realizes he is speaking to her, she snaps out of her reverie with an embarrassed, 'Huh?'
"I said I'll see ya around," he repeats, and his brown eyes cloud over as he looks at her.
"Oh. Hey, dad? Could you give us a moment?" she asks, and West's lip curls up slightly at her request.
Her dad is confused by the request, but presses a kiss to her head and replies, "Sure pumpkin. I'll go see if I can find out when we can take you home."
Stopping in front of West, he offers his hand to him once more. They shake hands and his voice is formal as he says, "Thank you, son. We are indebted to you."
The sentiment embarrasses West again, but he nods and gracefully accepts the praise. Her father leaves and pulls the curtain closed behind him, and once again Jules is left alone with West.
When her father and the Luthers first walked in, she hit the button to lift her bed into a sitting position so they could talk. She looks down at the blanket that covers her lap and begins to pick at the cotton once more. She wants to tell West she is sorry for giving him a hard time earlier, but she doesn’t have the right words to say. She keeps thinking about how if he hadn't spoken to her or grabbed her arm, she and Katie would have run towards their other friends and might not have ended up in the house. Who knows what would have happened to them then? He saved her life tonight. Her shoulders shake as the memory of the twister chasing behind them as they ran across that dark field comes to her mind.
Sitting forward, she pulls her knees to her chest and presses her forehead to them as she hears the terror of all of those other students screaming and her mind replays the chaos in the parking lot again.
The bed sinks next to her hip and she is pulled into his arms; his scent a mixture of dirt, sweat and antiseptic. It is that smell
—
his smell
—
that brings a memory from the basement forward.
He pushes her down as the house above them starts to groan in protest of the approaching tornado. She strikes her head on the cement floor, but has no time to think as West lands on her and pulls her into an almost-spooning position with his body on top.
She hears her friends’ screams and West curses; his breath blowing the hair at her face. She grabs his hand and shouts, 'I don't want to die!' as the sounds around them grow louder and louder.
"We're not gonna die tonight, Buffy. I'll be damned if I finally get the nerve to speak to you again, only to die in this place."
"You told me we weren't going to die...thank you," she whispers and wraps her hands around the arm he has stretched across the front of her shoulders. "I don't know what else to say, West."
She feels him stiffen. "I thought you couldn't remember anything from the basement?"
"I don't, not really. That just came back to me all of a sudden." He straightens and removes his arms from her as she continues. "Why? What happened tonight? I don't know how long we were trapped down there."
He shakes his head with a small smile. "It doesn't matter. We made it out, and that's all that counts, right?"
He lifts his hand and starts to push the hair back from her face, when the curtain slides open slowly and her father walks back in with a nurse in tow. Popping up from the bed, West throws one last look at Jules and excuses himself.
"Hey, Spike?" West's eyes light up at the nickname and he waits for her to speak. "Don't wait four years to get the nerve again." She adds a small 'please' in her head as he cocks his head sideways and stares at her before nodding once and walking out of view.
"The nurse is here to check you out one last time, and then we can head home."