#Randall still showing himself to be my one and only mvp

[icharchivist]

you know things are going bad when you’re forcing the cat to come on the fullfront. she looks so upset. Looking at the camera like “you woke me up from my nap. for a mAMMOTH?”

[itsafanficthing]

The Paper Boy - Chapter 10

If you comment on this fic or like it, or enjoy it without doing any of those things - you are the true MVP.

Poor Jamie. Rejection from Claire. Laoghaire being Laoghaire. (side note I pronounce that Lay-og-haire in my head) Who knew a dance would be so difficult?! A03 Link here

Jamie’s chest felt uncomfortably tight as he rode away from Claire’s house. His stomach felt like it was in knots and though he knew he wasn’t going to cry, his throat had constricted and it felt very difficult to breathe.

Shame washed over him. He felt stupid and he felt ashamed. He knew that it was likely that someone would ask Claire. Hell, Frank had tried and she’d said no, so did that mean that she was waiting for him to ask her and he missed his chance?

Well, he knew for a fact that he’d missed his chance, but that didn’t make him feel any better. It wasn’t exactly like he’d dawdled. It was only Tuesday for goodness sake. He’d tried on Monday afternoon but then Mr Beauchamp was there.

Bloody Tom Christie! Jamie had told Tom that he wasn’t taking Laoghaire to the dance. He’d made a point of being outraged by the very thought of it. What did the bastard do next? Only go and ask her straight away! Tom was probably the one that told Claire about the rumour- wanting to secure her as a date. What a snake!

Jamie found that the choking feeling from Claire’s rejection was now being replaced by a white hot anger directed at Tom Christie. No wonder he was running circles around Jamie in class. He must have been concocting his idea, laughing at Jamie behind his back, thrilled when he got his way. Well- Jamie would show him. Tom probably wanted to get a rise out of Jamie. But Jamie would just act like he wasn’t even bothered by it- he would act like everything was just fine. Claire had promised him a dance after all, not that Jamie really knew how to dance. But it was something.

But now… Jamie couldn’t go alone, that would make Tom’s day and Jamie wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. He needed to find a date. Someone that wouldn’t read into it more than what it would be, as friends. Jamie didn’t want to use one of the girls at school to make Tom jealous, he already knew that wouldn’t work, not to mention it wasn’t the most gracious thing he could do to one of the lasses. He briefly wondered if taking one of the other girls would make Claire jealous, but he shut that thought down quickly. She had said ‘yes’ to Tom after all, and she wouldn’t have agreed to go with him if she wasn’t at least a little bit interested.

But who to take now? He really didn’t want to lead anyone on, especially knowing that if things had gone his way it would be Claire by his side. The dance was still a week away, so he still had some time to find someone, but soon enough everyone would be asking everyone else and there would be no one left.

Of course, there was one person that would say yes in a heartbeat, but Jamie wasn’t quite that desperate… yet.

Jamie woke up the next morning still feeling dejected and quite frankly, furious with Tom. He wasn’t sure if he was meant to walk Claire to school like he had been after the disastrous previous afternoon. Maybe she wanted to be left alone. She had seemed almost regretful when she told him that she had said yes to Tom, but she was probably just being polite. Claire was always polite. It was one of the things that Jamie puzzled over the most. Was she just being kind and nice, and laughing with him because she was just a kind, nice and friendly person, or was there something else there?

The last thing that Jamie wanted was read into something that wasn’t there, but then, they’d had their moments. Sitting in the tall grass talking about her parents, the way she held onto him as he drove the motorbike around the farm- the way she looked when he brushed the curl away from her face. Surely there was something there. Surely he wasn’t just reading into it.

Jamie finished his pre-dawn Wednesday paper run, showered quickly and picked up his bike having decided that he should just ride straight to school. He didn’t want to appear like he was stalking her, or that she couldn’t get rid of him. He didn’t want to overcrowd her, especially now that she had Tom sitting over her shoulder. As he adjusted his school bag on his shoulders, he felt his newly acquired mobile phone buzz in the pocket of his trousers. Laoghaire had been messaging him constantly, heavily hinting that she was waiting for him to ask her to the dance. Jamie mostly ignored the barrage of her messages. He barely replied, never opened a conversation or tried to engage with her, but that didn’t seem to matter to Laoghaire.

Preparing himself for a ‘Good Morning’ text from the girl, he was surprised to see it was a message from Claire.

-If you get here fast enough you can have the waffles that Lamb made. It’s his first time and they are bloody amazing.-

Jamie felt his heart stutter at the message. So she did want him to come to her house.

There was a pause and then another message with a picture of a sleepy looking Claire, hair all over the place, smiling with a huge stack of waffles. Lamb was beaming in the background, giving the thumbs up. Jamie couldn’t help but smile at the image before he responded.

-I’m on my way. Save me one.-

Pocketing his phone, Jamie felt much happier than he had for the past 12 hours.

---

“I don’t know if I can take credit,” Lamb mumbled with a mouthful of waffle, “it’s the waffle iron really. I just mixed the batter, poured it in and here we are.”

“Yes, but you probably didn’t need to make enough to feed an army, Lamb,” Claire laughed as she tied her hair back.

“Well, I will concede that I haven’t quite worked out the measurements yet, but the little song it sings when the waffle is ready… well, I just couldn’t help myself. Have another one Jamie.” Lamb flung another oversized waffle onto Jamie’s plate. Despite having already inhaled two, Jamie happily dug into his third.

“Once you finish that, we’d better get going,” Claire said as she straightened her tie. “We’ll miss half the day if we are going to sit here and eat every waffle that he made.”

“I don’t mind,” Jamie answered with a mouthful. “They’re good waffles.”

“Regardless of that-” Claire rolled her eyes, “- we do still need to get to school at some point.”

---

The walk to school was… well it wasn’t as awkward as Jamie thought it was going to be. They kept to safe subjects- what assignments they had coming up, what kind of couple would Geillis and Rupert make, would Angus ever shut up- but it wasn’t until they walked through the school gates that it became unbearable- at least for Jamie.

“So... so are you going to ask someone to the dance?” Claire asked innocently. Or at least, it sounded innocent, but she wouldn’t look at him when she asked, and Jamie wasn’t entirely sure she actually wanted an answer.

“Aye, I suppose so,” Jamie answered stiffly. He could see Rupert up ahead and he longed to call out to his friend to interrupt them, to stop wherever this conversation was going to go.

“You wouldn’t… I mean I suppose it would make sense for you… have you thought about asking-”

A bright and cheery voice interrupted whatever Claire was about to suggest and Jamie found himself flinching at the sound.

“Good Morning Jamie. Hi Claire.” Laoghaire McKenzie had spotted Jamie and Claire together and was somehow now walking in between them, though Jamie had no idea how she appeared there.

“Morning,” Claire answered brightly when Jamie didn’t respond.

“I heard ye’re going to the dance with Tom Christie,” Laoghaire babbled excitedly. “Ye make such a lovely couple. I would have thought ye and Jamie were going together. I had no idea that ye had feelings for Tom. Though, I should ha’ seen it, what with the way ye look and him, and he- ye.”

Jamie’s eyes flashed angrily as Laoghaire spoke and he felt his blunt fingernails dig into his palms without consciously telling his hands to make a fist. He felt like he wanted to hit something. Preferably Tom Christie, but maybe a tree trunk would have to do… perhaps at lunch time.

“So who are ye goin’ with, Jamie?” Laoghaire continued, barely pausing to take a breath or let Claire respond. “I’m still available, if ye wanted a date. Our years are together, which is a first. I dinna ken if they’ve ever done that a’fore. So it would work out perfectly.”

“Mr Fraser.” A stern male voice called Jamie’s attention and he nearly sighed with relief at the pause from the onslaught of Laoghaire basically planning out the rest of their lives together.

“Yes, Mr Randall.” Jamie turned back to the teacher who had his arms crossed and was looking down his nose at Jamie.

Claire and Laoghaire stopped and turned with Jamie.

“I believe that I said Mr Fraser, not Miss Beauchamp or McKenzie.” Mr Randall glared at the two girls and Jamie wondered who had shoved the pole up Mr Randall’s arse this morning. Maybe Frank had told his father that Claire had declined his invitation and Randall wanted to intervene. Though why he was stopping Jamie and not Claire, the object of Franks affections, he couldn’t imagine why.

Claire nodded and made her way to their homeroom, throwing a glance back at Jamie to make sure he was ok and smiling briefly.

Laoghaire hesitated for a moment, as if she was going to slow her walk to wait for Jamie but with another glare from Randall she huffed and made her way to her own class.

“Where’s your tie?” Mr Randall asked and Jamie wondered how Randall had managed to notice that he hadn’t had it on when he was walking behind him.

“Sorry Sir, I was in a rush this morning and haven’t had the chance to put it on yet.” Jamie dug the tie out from his bag and quickly swung it around his neck.

“Your shirt,” Mr Randall continued, raising an eyebrow at Jamie, who hastily tucked it in.

“We have a dress code at this school, James.”

Jamie internally shuddered at the full use of his name. It just sounded so formal, especially coming from Mr Randall.

“Is there a reason you think you are above it?”

“I don’t, Sir. I was just in a bit of a rush this morning- like I said,” Jamie replied. Randall was such a stickler for the dress code. None of the other teachers cared how Jamie looked.

“And yet you had plenty of time to be walking quite casually with Miss Beauchamp and Miss McKenzie,” Randall continued, still looking down his nose at Jamie.

Jamie wasn’t really sure how he was supposed to respond, or if he was meant to say anything at all. Silence seemed to be the best choice. Though- it was an untucked shirt and tie. It wasn’t the end of the world. Was he meant to apologise? Not to mention that they’d only just walked through the school gates. He had at least ten more minutes before class started to fix himself up.

“Don’t let it happen again,” Randall threatened. “There will be a detention on the line next time.” With that he swiftly turned on his heel, leaving Jamie thoroughly confused behind him. While he was glad that he didn’t have to answer Laoghaire’s incessant chatter, he didn’t think that an untucked shirt was really worthy of a detention.

Randall really needed to have the stick pulled out of his arse, or maybe to get laid. Though probably the last time that happened, Frank Randall was born nine months later, so maybe not. Jamie laughed at his own joke and picked up his bag again, hastily making his way to his homeroom with Claire.

—-

By lunch time it was clear that Laoghaire was not going to give up finding out who Jamie was going to take to the dance. Going alone seemed like it wasn’t an option. She had caught up with him between classes, somehow making her way in between him and Claire each time. She sat with him during the first break talking with an overwhelming speed about the music she hoped they’d play and the dress she was planning on wearing. Claire didn’t say much, though she wouldn’t have been able to with the rate that Laoghaire was speaking. When Tom came over to speak with Claire, Jamie thought he had just about hit his limit.

The jealousy that was coursing through Jamie was overwhelming as he watched Tom rest his hand against Claire’s knee and she laughed at something he said.

“Jamie… Jamie.” Jamie felt someone tapping his knee and he shook his head, focusing back on Laoghaire again.

“What?” he said stupidly, forcing himself to not look back at Claire and Tom.

“Where’s yer heid at?” Laoghaire laughed patronisingly. “Ye still have’na told me who ye’re planning on taking to the dance.”

“Oh right, I had’na thought about it yet.” A flat out lie, it seemed to be all that Jamie could think about at the moment.

“Well, ye’ll be wanting to ask m- someone soon, ye ken, so ye can coordinate yer outfit.”

There wasn’t all that much that was wrong with Laoghaire, if he really thought about it. She was young, and clingy, didn’t seem to take the hint sometimes and Jamie definitely didn’t want to lead her on. He knew that if he asked her to one dance, even if he clarified that they were just friends, she would tell everyone that they were dating, and that certainly didn’t seem to be worth the trouble. She was nice enough, it’s just that… if Claire hadn’t moved to the village when she did, there was no doubt in Jamie’s mind that he would have probably started dating Laoghaire in a year or two. Jamie would have gone to University, probably studying something his father wanted him to, something that had a secure future, a good job, and he would come back home and eventually he would marry Laoghaire. They would have children, and Jamie would have no doubt that a few years into their marriage Jamie would look back, knowing that they married too quickly and too young because it was exactly what the people in their village expected of them.

They probably would be happy together, and there wouldn’t be anything fundamentally wrong with them being together. He could learn to love her, and she truly was very pretty, but… she just wasn’t for him.

Since Claire had arrived, since she’d brought in life from outside Broch Mordha, Jamie felt like he’d changed. Suddenly he felt like there was more for him, like there were opportunities in front of him that hadn’t been there before. Not that it all had to do with Claire, but she had been the spark. The day that she patched him up from his bike, talking his ear off the whole time, it was like the sun had come out and suddenly Jamie could see. There was a whole new future in front of him.

He could go to University, study writing, Claire would be there, she’d study something medical. They would travel together, truly live and see the world, but there was the thought that Jamie couldn’t get out of his head- the thought that since he met Claire, that he needed her to always be a part of his life.

Jamie realised that Laoghaire was still waiting for him to answer- to finally ask her to the dance and he saw Claire looking at the two of them with curiosity, a crease in her forehead, clearly not listening to what Tom was saying to her.

He couldn’t sit there any longer with both sets of eyes on him and stood up quickly brushing the grass from his pants. Maybe he would avoid them both and kick the ball around the field, run off some of the anger that he was feeling at Tom. As Jamie picked up the ball and was about to call out to Angus he saw Mary and Louise walking towards the group and was struck with an idea.

Louise was talking away as Mary nodded politely in response, Jamie would need to interrupt them.

“Mary, ye have a moment?” He called out and watched as both the girls slightly faltered in their step before Louise’s face broke out in a huge smile. Mary nodded slightly, looking down shyly as Jamie made his way over to her. Louise passed Jamie and swore he saw her wink at him.

--

Asking Mary to the dance hadn’t been nearly as difficult as Jamie thought it would be. He’d simply asked if she’d like to go with him, as friends only of course, his Da could drive them to and from and there would be no pressure. Mary had smiled at him, stuttered out an acceptance and that was that. As they made their way back to the group, Louise had clearly given the group the heads up of what was happening as Louise looked thrilled, Claire was smiling and Laoghaire was positively scowling.

At least that was taken care of now, he didn’t have to worry about Laoghaire badgering him for a date anymore and he could try and get his mind off Claire going with Tom. Speaking of Tom, Jamie could feel his eyes on him as he grabbed the ball and jogged out to the field. It made Jamie uncomfortable and he tried to shake off the feeling as he kicked the ball in a wide arc to Angus.

—

The rest of the week passed too quickly for Jamie’s liking. Claire didn’t say anything about Jamie asking Mary to the dance and Laoghaire, once she had gotten over the disappointment that Jamie was no longer available, had somehow cornered him into promising her a dance.

The girls plan to go to one of the larger towns to purchase their outfits and had made Jamie wonder if he should also be looking at getting something new to wear. He supposed that his dark blue jeans would be alright. It wasn’t exactly a top and tails kind of affair.

He’d wondered if it was an occasion for him to break out his kilt, but he really only kept that for special occasions, Christmas, Homagany and such. He was sure that Claire would be overjoyed at him wearing a kilt, going full-Scott, at least he knew that Lamb would get a kick out of it.

Jeans were the safer option however, Jenny had- of course- heard about the dance and had thrown herself into critiquing Jamie’s wardrobe. She’d always liked to play dress ups with him, though now at 16, he felt he might be past that game. Jenny at 21 was clearly not.

“Ye canna wear that,” she sighed in exasperation. “Ye’ve got a hole right there and I’mna going to stitch it for ye.”

Jamie held back the groan that was threatening to escape his lips and brought out the next dress shirt he owned.

“Perhaps we need to take ye shopping, braither,” Jenny hummed as she shook her head. “Ye’ve grown about a foot and a half in the last year at least and none of these look like they’ll fit ye.”

Jamie did groan at that and Jenny laughed in response. “Come on, we’ll be in and out in half an hour. We can even go a few towns over so that no one ye ken see’s ye shoppin’ wi’ yer sister.”

Jenny didn’t really give Jamie a choice in the matter and before he knew it, they were on the road together to buy him a new outfit.

—

One thing could be said for Jenny; although she faffed about when it came to choosing her own clothes, when it came to picking something for Jamie she was all business. Within four minutes of entering the first store she already had three options lined up for him. She shooed him into the dressing room while she went on the hunt for a fourth outfit. The male sales assistant looked around Jenny’s age and seemed to have made it his personal mission to trail after Jenny, putting together suggestions and carrying varying sizes of clothing back and forth between the siblings.

Jamie was pulling on the second set of navy blue chinos that, to him, looked exactly the same as the first, when Jenny rapped smartly on the door to his dressing room. “Ian has pulled an excellent shirt that will go with those navy pants. Let me throw it over the door.”

“Who is Ian?” Jamie’s voice was muffled as he caught the wad of material flung directly into his face.

“He’s helpin’ us out,” Jenny answered shortly.

“Did’na realise ye were on a first name basis,” Jamie grumbled as he took the new white dress shirt off the hanger.

“Let’s see it then,” Jenny prompted impatiently.

“Hold ye horses, I’ve got to actually put it on before ye rip the door off its hinges,” Jamie groaned as he opened the dressing room door.

Jenny eyed him appraising and before he knew it “Ian” was over her shoulder looking him up and down as well.

“Weel, tuck it in obviously,” Jenny said, reaching forward as if she was about to do it for him and Jamie stumbled backward into the dressing room trying to ward off her advances, holding his hands up.

“I think I can do that ma-self.”

“What do ye think, Ian?” Jenny asked with a slight flush to her cheeks as she turned to ask the sales assistants opinion.

Ian nodded, though he looked like he was concentrating on something very hard. “It’s missing something.”

Jenny was already nodding as he spoke. “Aye, I agree. He needs some shoes.”

“Ye ken I have about forty different options still to try on,” Jamie interrupted, but it fell on deaf ears as Ian swiftly left, followed shortly after by Jenny. “So should I try on somethin’ else or just stay standin’ here?” he asked to noone in particular.

“Brown,” Ian announced on his return and handed a pair of leather shoes to Jamie. “I guessed the size, ye look about the same as me. 11?”

Jamie nodded slowly, not sure whether to be impressed or creeped out by that.

“What about a vest?” Jenny’s voice reached the dressing room before her small body did, a navy blue vest held out in front of her. “Put on the shoes and the vest and let’s have a look at ye.”

Jamie fought the urge to roll his eyes at his sister and her new apparent friend and instead did as they asked.

“Lose the vest,” both Jenny and Ian said at the same time as soon as Jamie had finished tying his shoe.

He shrugged out of the vest again and stood in front of them, waiting for the next comment.

“Roll yer sleeves up, lad,” Ian instructed and Jamie followed suit, rolling them to just below his elbow.

“Aye, yer right,” Jenny hummed in appreciation. “I think that’s it. Take a look at yerself then.”

“Yer sure ye’re happy with it?” Jamie asked sarcastically as he turned to look at himself in the mirror. He had to admit, it did look quite good. He looked quite a lot like his father, aside from the red hair that he had inherited from his mother.

“What do ye think?” Ian asked eagerly from behind him.

“Aye, it’ll do.”

“It’ll do? It’ll do!” Jenny exclaimed in exasperation. “Jamie, yer such a …. Such a boy, sometimes.”

Jamie scoffed in response before he turned around to face the pair again. “What do ye think then?”

“I think yer date will be thrilled,” Ian said, nudging Jenny lightly.

“Aye, Claire will just about fall over herself for ye,” Jenny agreed.

“I’am’na goin’ with Claire,” Jamie mumbled, feeling his cheeks blaze with heat.

Jenny’s eye became about three times bigger as she looked at him in shock and though Ian had no idea what the big deal was he followed Jenny’s lead and also looked surprised.

“I just thought that...” Jenny trailed off as Jamie shook his head.

“Aye, weel, Tom is takin’ her, I’m goin’ wi’ Mary,” he answered shortly.

“Weel, then this Mary lass will be speechless,” Ian tried to say encouragingly.

“Mary Hawkins?” Jenny asked curiously before cursing under her breath. “The lass already has a stutter, I canna imagine her speechless will be any better.”

“Be kind, she’s a good friend,” Jamie growled in response and Jenny shook her head.

“Aye, yer right, she’s a nice lass. I just thought that Claire- no, weel, ye look bonny.”

Jamie scoffed loudly at that, “What every lad wants to hear from his sister, that she thinks he’s bonny.”

“Ye look verra masculine, like ye could chop down a tree with one arm, bears fear ye, lions run from ye,” Jenny said sarcastically. “Is that better?”

“Aye,” Jamie laughed before he shook his head. “We sorted then? Can I get changed?”

“Aye, we’ll wait out here for ye,” Jenny smiled kindly at her brother, who felt his heart warm to her. She really was an excellent sister to him.

“Thank ye Jen, truly.”

“Ach,” Jenny waved him away and followed Ian out of the dressing room section and back onto the main floor.

--

Jamie had winced at the price of the clothing, but Jenny simply shook her head at him and told him not to worry, that she had dragged him out there and it was her treat. Jamie felt another swell of gratitude to his sister for looking out for him. She might annoy the hell out of him sometimes but he really did love her.

He also didn’t miss the way Jenny was looking at the sales assistant, Ian, who had helped them. Jamie was pretty sure his sister's expression as she looked at Ian would closely mirror how Jamie looked at Claire sometimes. He wondered if Ian was as clueless as Claire was.

The drive back home was peaceful, Jenny turning up the radio and occasionally singing along. Jamie opened his window and let the cooling Scottish air clear his mind.

“Are ye going to cut yer hair?” Jenny asked as they slowed through the centre of their town.

Jamie shrugged in response as he watched the villagers slowly meander by.

“It’s getting’ pretty long. Ye’ll be able to tie it back soon enough. Yer school has rules about that, I think,” Jenny continued. “Mam would have cut it by now.”

“Aye,” Jamie sighed in agreement.

“We still have her clippers at home if ye wanted me to try,” Jenny suggested with a smile in her voice.

“No offence, but if I let ye try I’ll end up bald,” Jamie commented as Jenny laughed. “Aye I’ll go this week and get it cut.”

Jenny hummed in acknowledgement and they continued their drive home in their comfortable silence.

—

Jamie had meant to go to the barber all week but something always got in the way.

On Monday, Claire invited him inside to study for their upcoming math exam and there was no way Jamie would ever turn her down.

On Tuesday, his father had sent him a message asking him to come straight home and help him out with one of the horses that was being picked up by the rehabilitation centre.

On Wednesday morning Murtagh asked if Jamie could come by the store on his way home and man the counter for an hour or so while he had some errands to run.

By Thursday Jamie had completely forgotten his plan to get his hair cut after school and promptly fell asleep on the couch until dinner time when he’d gotten home.

On Friday everybody was absolutely buzzing about the dance the following night. The girls broke out in high pitched giggles if one of the lads looked at them for too long and Laoghaire had become almost unbearable. Simon McKimmie has asked her and while he was in Jamie’s year, a fact that she told almost everyone she came into contact with, she was clearly very disappointed that it wasn’t Jamie that had asked her.

She confirmed that they would be sharing at least one dance together every time she saw Jamie and he thought that she might be hatching a plan to grab him as the start of the night and wouldn’t let go. He tried to smile at her politely and nod along but that just seemed to encourage her and she spoke with more enthusiasm. Jamie had looked to both Rupert and Angus for help in extracting him from her conversation but they were both very purposefully looking the other way whenever he tried to make eye contact- the bastards.

As he walked Claire home, finally free of Laoghaire, he remembered his need to get his hair cut. The barber was in the opposite direction of her house but he was enjoying himself too much with Claire to excuse himself.

“I’ll be glad when this dance is done, that for sure,” Claire said matter-of-factly. “It’s all anyone has talked about for two weeks and I’m bloody sick of it.”

“Ye and me both,” Jamie said under his breath and Claire grinned.

“Geillis told me that we are to get ready together. Apparently that’s the done thing.” Claire sighed and though he wasn’t looking at her face, Jamie was sure she was rolling her eyes. “I have to be at her house at two. Two!” She exclaimed. “That’s like four hours before the bloody thing. Who needs four hours to get ready?”

“Geillis apparently,” Jamie commented. “Did ye find something the other weekend?”

“Yes,” Claire said with a sigh. “Geillis hates it of course. She thinks I should be showing more skin, but it’s not exactly like I look like a Nun.” Claire paused for a moment before she shook her head. “I like it, that’s the important thing.”

“I’m sure ye’ll look bonny, Sassenach,” Jamie said without thinking.

“What about you? Will I get to see you in all your kilted highland glory?”

“Ach,” Jamie shook his head, “canna be givin’ away all my secrets now, can I?”

“So you will be wearing a kilt?” Claire asked barely able to contain her excitement.

Jamie laughed and shook his head again, “Nah, not this time, I’m afraid. Usually only comes out at Christmas and the like.”

Claire made a noise of disgruntlement which had Jamie smiling. “Only three months away.”

“Sure,” Jamie agreed, not really sure what he was actually agreeing to.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Claire said slowly as they approached her front gate.

“Aye, suppose so.”

Jamie wasn’t sure why but he was overcome with the urge to do something… anything- Hug her, kiss her- something. Claire was looking at him curiously and looked like she was about to say something.

“It’s good that you’re going with Mary,” she finally said.

“Aye? Why’s that?”

“I just think you’ll have fun together,” Claire answered nervously.

“She’s a good friend,” Jamie agreed.

Claire’s eyebrows twitched and Jamie was dying to ask what she was thinking. Instead Claire turned and let herself into her front yard.

“Till tomorrow then.”

“Till tomorrow,” Jamie nodded, picking up his bike and peddling back into the village and to the barber.