CHAPTER 151: Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder And All That

 

"I SEE THE GIRLS WALK BY DRESSED IN THEIR SUMMER CLOTHES NA-NA-NAH...I HAVE TO TURN MY HEAD UNTIL MY DARKNESS GOES!" Travis Scott was up and about grooving and singing to his latest purchase; The Rolling Stones' Paint It Black.  He was still in his pyjamas and hadn't showered yet but was still belting out the songs on his stereo at nearly full volume.  Summer had just entered the lounge, by contrast fully dressed, made up and with not one strand of hair out of place, and scowled at him.

"Travis, you've got to turn that noise down...Liberty's still catching up on her sleep!" she said.

"Hey babe!  Dig this!  TOTAL SOUND!" he replied.

"Total noise more like...turn it down!" she said, hands on hips and staring him down.

"Spoilsport..." he muttered as he reluctantly walked over to the stereo and turned the volume dial down.

"That's better.  Liberty's jet lagged, she's been working real hard and she came to the wedding having had only two hours of sleep...the poor thing needs to be left to doze" Summer remonstrated with Travis.

In fact, Liberty was already up.  When they had staggered home after the wedding she unzipped her gown, slipped off her shoes and just fell into bed where she fell asleep instantaneously and slept the whole night through undisturbed.  She woke up about 20 minutes before Travis' 'total sound' experience with her mind buzzing with the Gemini IX mission, Suzy and Neil's wedding and the thought of returning to life in Willow Creek.

It was great to catch up with her housemates but there was someone else she was desperate to see:  Her boyfriend, Gary.  They hadn't been together long and her going to Cape Canaveral was the first time she'd been out of touch with him.  There was a gnawing feeling in her stomach that maybe he'd found someone else or had grown bored or tired with her.  There was still so much about him she didn't know nor he knew about her.  Liberty had other boyfriends in the past and she knew those early weeks were when things were at their most vulnerable; where initial attraction could fade away and the signs of incompatibility reared their heads.  She really liked Gary and wanted to know if he still liked her.

Meanwhile back in the lounge, Summer managed to get Travis to sit down with her and have a quiet talk.

"The thing is, Travis, is that we must give Liberty plenty of peace and quiet..."

"What's that about me?" said Liberty, suddenly appearing in the room.

"Oh you're awake!" replied Summer, shocked at seeing Liberty up, dressed and full of energy.

"Of course I am!  When I hit the sack I fell fast asleep...8 hours of undisturbed peace and I feel fine!" said Liberty.

"I'll put my music back on then!" said Travis, getting up off the couch.

"Oh no, here we go again..." sighed Summer.  "Well, if you can stand the din, how about telling us all about your trip, Libs?"

Liberty sat down next to Summer on the couch.

"It was full on, I can tell you!  There were...complications...with the mission which I can't really talk about, even with you guys."

"The aborted space walk?" asked Summer.

"Yeah...when I left the Cape they were having a big debrief about it but I'm not on that side of the team so I came home. "

"I wish I knew more about space stuff but I leave that to you and Travis" said Summer.  She turned to see him back dancing and singing way out of tune.  

"Shall we split and leave dancing boy here?" asked Liberty.  "I was going to head to the gym, wanna come?" 

"To escape the noise?  You betcha!"

The two young women packed their exercise clothes into bags and headed briskly off to downtown Willow Creek and the gym.  Liberty said little but Summer knew her friend well enough to notice that there was something on her mind other than getting out in the sunshine and working out.  As they walked down the street to Movers n' Shakers, she pried for information.

"So...has Gary called you since you got back?" asked Summer.  Liberty turned her head to her friend and smiled ruefully.

"I found a message on the answerphone" said Liberty.  "He wants to meet later"

"That's good, right?"

Liberty shrugged her shoulders.  "Maybe"

"What do you mean, maybe?  He's been missing you!" said Summer, encouragingly.

"Did you see him while I was away?" asked Liberty.

"Erm...no.  But why would you think he's not missed you?"

"I don't know...a gut feeling, probably"

Summer didn't understand her friend's reticence.  She often found that Liberty overthought problems and created issues where there weren't any.  

They reached the gym and stepped inside.  Looking around, they saw that it wasn't too busy.

They headed upstairs to the locker room and changed into their fitness clothes.  All the while Summer was trying to instil some positive vibes and thinking into her friend.  Gary seemed like a nice guy, he was crazy about Liberty and she should trust in him more.  Then Liberty let out a little laugh.

"You know, Sum, I don't know anyone as peppy as you!  Alright, alright...you've convinced me; Gary still likes me and I'll stop worrying now will you stop with all this perkiness otherwise we'll soon have Disney animals frolicking around our feet!"

They headed back downstairs and hit the apparatus.  Liberty was focussed and pushing the limits but seemed happy enough.  Summer smiled; as long as Libs had something to focus on, some kind of project (and having a boyfriend was a project) she was happy.  The moment her world stopped turning and stood still, she started to fret.  Coming to the gym was the best thing for Liberty right now and Summer was sure Gary had a special homecoming arranged for her.

After the session, the two headed home where Liberty noticed a flashing light on the telephone answering machine.  Quick as a flash, she ran to find out who the message was from.

"Hello?  Hello?  I'm not used to speaking into these machines..." the voice was very familiar.  "This is Gary, if you can hear me, Liberty, would you like to come down to the Fashion Quarter for drinks and dinner?  Hello?  If you can here me, call me back:  I'm at home.  Oh, and one more thing....CLICK!" The tape had run out at that point but Liberty was wasting no time in calling him back.

Summer smiled; she knew everything would be alright.  Of course Gary still liked her.

"Oh my gosh, Sum, what if he wants to break up with me in person!" cried Liberty, when she hung up the phone.

"How did he sound?" Summer asked.

"Erm...happy, cool, I guess.  He's keen to meet up but I don't know..."

"Just go, have a great time!"

"But..."

"No buts...go...GO!" and with the Summer ushered her friend out of the front door.

Liberty raced down to the Fashion Quarter as fast as she could and once there was frantically on the look out for Gary; her heart pounding and her stomach filled with dread.  To make matters worse, there was a Llamaman live event going on and the place was filled with fans and curious onlookers, making it harder to look for Gary.

Her attention was drawn to someone dressed in a Llamaman costume but right next to them, wearing his distinctive flat cap, was Gary.  Liberty stood still and looked at him.  At that exact moment Gary turned to look at her.  There was a moment's pause where both of them looked surprised to see the other and yet no word was spoken.  Then Gary's face broke out into a huge, warm smile and Liberty's fears evaporated as they ran towards each other and kissed, passionately.

"Obviously I'm intruding..." said the guy in the Llamaman outfit before walking off.

"You are a heavenly sight, Liberty" said Gary, looking at her admiringly.  She, by contrast, looked bashful.  "Hey, is anything the matter?" he asked.

"No.  On the contrary" she replied, blushing.  "I was wondering how this reunion was going to go" 

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Nothing.  It's silly.  It's wonderful to see you too" she replied.

"Well, I don't know about you but I'm starving" said Gary.  "Do you fancy a bite to eat first?"

"First?"

"Sure!  We've got a lot of catching up to do" he replied, smiling.

"Lead on, I could eat a horse right now" said Liberty.

They grabbed some food from the street vendors and found a place to sit.

"You look even more beautiful than when I last saw you.  That's my favourite outfit on you" he said.

"This?" she said, giving her top a gentle stroke "this is my French look.  I saw Anna Karina wear this outfit in a French movie and I wanted to get it for myself."

"Well, vive la France!" said Gary.  "So, I hear the mission ran into some trouble" he said, changing the subject.

Liberty took a deep breath.  "There were difficulties...first, the target vehicle's launch shroud didn't jettison so Gemini couldn't dock with it and then the EVA..."

"EVA?" interrupted Gary, who wasn't up to date on all the NASA slang Liberty often used when describing her job.

"Oh, the space walk.  Anyway, there was a plan to use an experimental manned manoeuvring unit...kind of like a jet pack for space...but that had to be abandoned and finally Cernan, the astronaut, had difficulty on the space walk and almost fell unconscious."

"Oh, so the mission was a disaster!" asked a shocked Gary.

"Oh no.  It was a success.  We learned a lot from all the things that went wrong.  As long as the astronauts make it back alive the mission is a success."

Gary was impressed and let out a sigh.  Her job was infinitely way more interesting than his boring administration one.  "Well my work was very boring by comparison.  I kept counting down the days until you returned." he added.

"You old softie" she said.

"It's true!  Liberty...I truly missed you. I couldn't stop thinking about you either.  Now seeing you here, once again, looking stunning and with that cute look on your face whenever you describe something you're clearly passionate about I've realised that I can hold this in no longer....Liberty, I love you!"

Liberty was stunned.  He had said the words!  There she had been all day fretting over whether he was going to break up with her and instead he'd done the opposite.  She took his hand in hers and said "I love you too".

Gary jerked his head in the direction of the bar and said "Let's celebrate"

The two of them celebrated being reunited and talked about their respective weeks, their work and how much they missed each other.  Liberty was relieved and relaxed now  and opened up with Gary.  After a few drinks both were keen to move on from talking and instead wanted to be more intimate.  Liberty thought about inviting him home, but Summer and Travis would be there...making a noise...and Gary shared a large house with his parents and that wasn't ideal either.  But she was desperate to hold him, kiss him and do other things with him and, looking out of the bar window, she had an idea...

"Gary...do you see that observatory over there?" she asked in a suggestive way.

He looked out of the window and saw a wooden tower with a large telescope poking out of the round, dome like roof.

"Yeah...it's one of those temporary ones they put up for shows, fairgrounds, exhibitions" he replied.

"No one's used it since we've been here.  I'm pretty sure the guy who runs the concession on it went home.  How about you and me....make use of it?" she said, very suggestively.

"You mean...you and me go in there and...."

Liberty nodded fervently.  

"What if we get caught?" he asked.

"That makes it more exciting!" she replied.  The idea appealed to Gary a lot.

Gary took a deep breath.  "We just drink up our drinks and saunter over to the observatory, casually, and without anyone noticing we'll just slip inside and have a little fun"

"How about we run over there instead before anyone beats us to it!" replied Liberty.

"Alright, let's go!" he said, downing the last of his drink in one and running out of the bar.  Liberty was way ahead of him.

Liberty entered the empty observatory quickly followed by Gary, who had found a sign saying OUT OF ORDER which he put on the door handle to deter other potential astronomers.  Inside it was cramped and both of them found it awkward taking their clothes off but they persevered and were soon naked and trying to have sex without making a big noise; which was made more difficult by their bodies pushing up against the creaky, wooden beams.  Liberty was in ecstasy but had to bite her bottom lip to stop her yelling.  After the climax they disengaged and had the difficult job of putting their clothes back on.  There was no room or time for a post-sex snuggle and they both stepped out of the observatory, looking calm and innocent.

It was a tired and worn out Liberty who came home about an hour later.  

"Did you have a nice time with Gary?" asked Summer as Liberty staggered in.

"Oooooh yes!" Liberty replied as she flopped on to the couch, kicked off her shoes and gave her feet a rub.

"What did I tell you?  The guy is crazy about you!" said Summer.  

"Most definitely" said Liberty, shutting her eyes and thinking of the woohoo in the observatory.

"You look like you could use a coffee" said Summer, walking off to the kitchen.  She got out a fresh bag of ground coffee, put it in the machine which fizzled and popped with electricity. 

"Oh no!" cried Summer.  "This thing is broken again!"

Liberty opened her eyes and knew that the only person capable of fixing the coffee machine was her.  Reluctantly she put on her shoes, found the tool box under the sink and went about fixing the wiring.

Travis had just arrived home to find the girls busy.  "So how did it go, Liberty?  Was Gary pouring out his heart to you?  Did he serenade you?  Did he have a rose between his teeth?" he teased.

"Oh he did a lot more than that!" said Liberty, suggestively.

"Now that sounds juicy!  Spill the beans!" said Travis, suddenly getting interested in what went on.

"Travis!  It's rude to pry!" interjected Summer.  "Liberty and Gary obviously had a nice time together and I'm glad because he's a nice guy and Liberty deserves a bit of happiness and romance."

"Yes, ma'am" said Travis, feeling scolded.  He sometimes thought that Summer was too prim and proper for her own good:  A right Mary Poppins she was!

"The machine's fixed, I'll make us all a coffee" said Liberty.

The three of them sat down together to enjoy their food and drinks.  Liberty was very content, Travis was still keen on finding out what she and Gary had got up to and Summer was making plans...

"I think we should have Gary over more often!" she said.  "Invite him to dinner...or better yet, let's have a BBQ...a double date!" 

"At this rate why don't we invite him to move in?" joked Travis.  But judging by the serious looks on their faces, Liberty and Summer didn't treat Travis' off the cuff remark as a joke.