Jamie laughed and smacked Keith on the arm. "You idiot," she exclaimed. "You scared me to death!"
Keith grinned and pulled off his large green fedora and green shamrock glasses. He had an almost full beard and had seemed to grow four years older in a mere two weeks. "Surprise," he said, stepping across her threshold. "And happy late St. Patty's Day!"
"You may come in," Jamie said sarcastically. "So what's up?" She followed Keith over to the couch and sat next to him. "Where have you been the past couple weeks? I texted Emmet but he didn't respond."
"Ooh," Keith said. "He's being shy again. Poor kid." Settling back and getting comfortable, he added, "We were in the states. Celtic Thunder stuff."
Jamie couldn't help but smile at the spectacle. "So why are you here?" she asked curiously. "I didn't expect to see you without your posse. Especially with such a...green outfit."
Keith glanced down at his green suit and smiled slightly. "I just came to say hi. How have you been? Enjoyed your holiday?"
"Not much of a holiday," Jamie said wryly. "I did homework."
"You need to not do so much homework," Keith chided her. "You're getting dark circles under your eyes."
"I've always had those," Jamie sighed. "School just takes so much effort to stay on top."
Keith cocked his head and stared at her. "Why do you have to stay on top? Why can't you just do your best? By wanting to be the best, you're just putting unrealistic expectations on yourself, not to mention labeling yourself as a loser when you fail, which you inevitably will. You can't always be the best."
Jamie gaped at him. "Are you going to tell me why you unexpectedly showed up at my door and knocked like a madman before scaring me to death with your getup, then proceeding to insult me?"
"But logically, you can't always be the best," Keith argued. Seeing her look, he threw up his hands. "Okay, okay. Truce. I'm here to 'check up' on you." He looked impossibly innocent. "On assignment."
"Who for?" she asked suspiciously.
"Kat." Keith smiled angelicly. "She thinks you're avoiding people too much."
Jamie rolled her eyes. "I should have known. Wait, Kat? Since when?"
"It makes the name a lot shorter. Saves time. Can I call you Jame?" Keith asked, his eyes brightening.
"No." Thinking for a moment, Jamie shook her head slowly. "Why does she not just leave me alone?"
"She worries about you," Keith said, shrugging.
"But why? I'm mature. I'm old enough to take care of myself. I have reasonable excuse to stay inside all day." Jamie's brows knit together and she bit her lower lip.
"Does there have to be a reason?" Keith asked in surprise.
"There's always a reason," Jamie said absentmindedly.
"Psychologists," Keith groaned. "There you go again, putting a lovely box on a person and tying it with string. Can't you just be loose and relaxed sometimes? Come on." He stood up suddenly, pulling Jamie with him. "Let's go."
"Go where?" she demanded.
"Can't tell. Stage two of the assignment." Keith winked, slowly and deliberately. "Get your jacket. And maybe put on some shoes."
"What kind of place would we go that definitely needs a jacket but only might need shoes?" Jamie grumbled, but she smiled as she went to get her shoes and jacket. There was something about this young man that just commanded you follow what he said.
"No, no purse," Keith ordered when she came out of her room.
"What?" Surprise was etched on Jamie's face as she put her purse back. "How am I supposed to get back in?"
"Kat." The single syllable was said with such an element of "duh" to it that Jamie just obeyed. Again.
They got in his bug, Jamie rather uncertainly, and drove off. Jamie frowned but stayed silent.
Keith hummed to himself proudly. Not only had he fulfilled his assignment, but Jamie hadn't even argued. It was more than he could have hoped for.
Jamie raised an eyebrow when they turned into the country. "Keith, where are you taking me?" she finally demanded through gritted teeth.
"How does not knowing make you feel?" Keith answered calmly. As Jamie huffed her breath out in frustration, he laughed. "You'll see soon enough. I just hope we get there before I run out of petrol."
Jamie glanced over in horror and was terrified to see the gauge pointing at Empty. "Do you think we'll make it?" she demanded.
"Oh, sure," he said with a wave of his hand. "If not, I can fill it manually. This happens all the time."
Jamie looked at him suspiciously before texting Katherine with a flash of inspiration, asking what was going on.
"You'll see."
"God!" Jamie yelled, slamming the dashboard. "I hate not knowing. She knows I hate not knowing."
Keith looked at her in surprise and decided to hurry up.
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"A picnic? You dragged me out here for a picnic? Why couldn't you just tell me?!" Jamie yelled at Keith before getting out of the bug, slamming the door.
Keith frowned at her after he got out. "Kat's rules. Assignment. Please be careful with my car."
"You know you aren't a spy, Keith," Jamie said quietly. "You can break the rules."
"I'm a lot more scared of her than of you," Keith said just as quietly.
Katherine bounced up. "Hey! Welcome to the surprise! Isn't this lovely?"
Jamie glared at her with dark eyes and stalked off to the other people.
Katherine looked at Keith in surprise. "Something wrong?"
Keith just shrugged innocently.
Jamie flopped down next to Emmet and groaned.
"Nice to see you, too," he said, contentedly eating an apple. "I figured you wouldn't like it, but Katherine insisted it was just the thing to get you out of the house." He grinned at her and took another bite.
"Sometimes my roommate is an idiot," Jamie mumbled.
Emmet just nodded and glanced at his phone. Snapping his head up to stare at Keith, he looked at him with a question in his face. Keith nodded across the way.
"Why was it so terrible?" he asked slowly. "I mean, it isn't like you've never been surprised before. Right?"
Jamie sighed. "I just don't like it."
"Keith isn't happy that you slammed his car door," Emmet said seriously. "But I think he is more upset that you yelled at him. Come on. Relax a little. It's just a picnic. Not the end of the world."
Jamie nodded. "Okay. But just keep in mind I really...really don't like surprises. Or not knowing. Maybe I'll tell you why someday if you're good." She lay down on the blanket and shut her eyes. "But it is nice of her to get me out of the house."
"Any more hippocampus work recently?" Emmet asked wryly.
"Nope. That section is over for now." Jamie smiled, her eyes still shut. "What have you been up to? I texted you."
"Oh," he said nervously. Jamie opened her eyes in surprise. "I got it."
"But you didn't answer? Emmet." She sat up and shoved his shoulder. "I thought we were friends."
"We are," he quickly informed her. "But I just don't...um." He shrugged. "I really have no excuse."
"Keith said you were shy." Jamie smiled and hugged her knees to her chest. "It's okay. I am too."
"Keith says a lot of stuff," Emmet said, frowning. "Someday his mouth is going to get him in trouble."
"Yeah." Jamie grinned. "Big trouble."
Emmet just smiled and they were quiet for a while as they watched Keith and Katherine talk. "Do you think they'll ever join us?"
"Why?" Jamie asked, a spark of orneriness welling within her. "Am I not good enough company for you?"
Emmet looked at her quickly. "No, that's not it at all!" he assured her fervently. "It's just that they're just standing there and Keith just looks ridiculous in that green outfit, and Katherine looks like she wants to sit and is probably hungry and I wondered if they would be coming over soon, that's all."
Jamie raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Do you need a therapy session?"
"Seriously?" Emmet asked in surprise. "Can you do that?"
"Not legally." Jamie grinned. "That's what makes it so fun."
Emmet watched her for a moment quizzically as he took a bite of his apple again. "Your moods change so quickly."
Jamie shrugged. "It comes with practice."
Katherine and Keith joined them. "Shall we eat?" Katherine asked.
"We shall!" Keith crowed.
"You okay?" Katherine asked Jamie quietly as Keith opened all he packages.
"You know I can't handle that," Jamie said slowly.
"You have to get over it," Katherine started. "You are a grown up woman and-"
"Stop." Jamie bit her lip. "Why can't we just be happy?"
Katherine started at the quote but nodded. "Let's eat."
Emmet looked worried but nodded. Keith nodded rather more enthusiastically, and they all dug in.
The rest of the afternoon went by smoothly as they all joked and laughed with each other. They were quickly forming friendships with each other and Jamie found herself enjoying herself immensely.
-----------
"Jamie," Katherine said the next morning, "what happened yesterday?"
Jamie startled slightly and glanced up from her coffee, almost guiltily. "I don't know."
"You know if you relapse, you'll have to go back to therapy." Katherine's voice was very quiet but carried a lot of weight as it went through the room.
Jamie sucked in a breath. "I know. I don't know if it will happen again. I haven't felt so much anxiety in a long, long time." She blinked away the wetness that came to her eyes suddenly. "I guess I just lost it."
"Maybe you should stop carrying such a load," Katherine suggested, sitting across from her friend. "Don't worry about school so much. Focus instead on being happy. If you have another anxiety attack, who knows how long it could take to recover again. And I've never seen you hide your anxiety behind so much anger. Is that a bad thing? Please figure this out." She looked concerned. "I don't want a repeat of secondary school. Take sometime to enjoy life."
Jamie frowned. "What if my grades slip? I have to keep them up. I have to."
Katherine shook her head slowly. "You dont."
Squeezing her eyes tightly to keep the moisture inside, Jamie thought for a moment. "Maybe we should go places together and have more fun. Maybe it would be good." She shrugged. "Who knew that knowing psychology didn't mean I would know myself?"
Smiling slightly, Katherine offered, "So Keith says he has a boat that he takes out a lot. Wanna ask if we can go with him?"
"Uh...will it run out of petrol in the middle of the sea?" Jamie asked, rolling her eyes.
Katherine laughed. "Presumably not."
"Then I guess," Jamie said. "Just no more surprise outings."
"Deal."
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So I don't know what happened with this update...it was just going to be a light and happy picnic, when suddenly Jamie had an anxiety attack. I love Jamie. But apparently she has flaws too.
Sorry for the heaviness. I hope you enjoyed anyway? Idk. Let me know what you think. Maybe it's just midnight and I'm crazy but I kinda like this update while at the same time I'm kind of scared of it