The sun was low on the horizon as Jon and Sarah stepped out of the Gibson household and walked to the white Miata parked in the driveway. Jon had suggested that it would be best if he was wearing his old regular clothes when they confronted Karyn, and Sarah (and more importantly, Endora) had agreed.
But it placed the two at the same location, at almost the same time of day, as they had been two nights prior, when Jon’s Karyn had convinced Sarah’s Karyn to ask Jon out on a date. The deja vu struck Jon as he re-entered the passenger seat.
“I thought we’d solved things on Friday night, you know.” Jon buckled his seatbelt slowly.
“I didn’t even know there was anything to solve on Friday night.” Sarah rested her hand on the gearshift. “I just thought I was helping my best friend go on a date with the cute guy she met.”
“Cute guy?” Jon smiled, trying to needle Sarah.
“The cutest.” Sarah smiled back, causing Jon’s efforts to backfire as his own face flushed red. Sarah laughed as she keyed the ignition. “Remember what Grandma said: Karyn is going to say mean things, the meanest things, but you can’t be mean back to her.”
Jon nodded as the car rolled back down the driveway.
“Anger only breeds more anger. We solve this by being kind.” Sarah stared out the windshield at the increasingly-orange sky. “Like at the tree, at Amber’s house. I showed you kindness, and you came back to yourself.”
Jon looked out the window, at the trees passing as they drove down the street. Karyn knew him better than anyone in the world. If she really wanted to hurt him, she had a lot of ammunition. It wasn’t a comforting feeling. Maybe he’d let Sarah take the lead.
But they soon pulled up to Karyn’s driveway, and got out of the white Miata, and knocked on the front door. The blonde girl who answered did not have resting bitch face. Her face was active in trying to be a bitch. She was wearing cut-off jeans and a low-cut tank top, and she smelled once again of sex.
“Hello,” said Sarah, drawing the girl’s attention.
Karyn’s expression shifted as she turned. It was softer, but it was no less angry. The anger just expressed as a look of hurt. “You stole my boyfriend.”
Sarah’s first instinct was to argue that she didn’t. Or that she hadn’t meant to. Or point out that Karyn had slept with Biff. But that was returning anger with anger. “You look really pretty tonight, Karyn.”
“Oh, fuck off,” she snapped like a dog on a chain. “I look like you. I made myself look like you, and that’s why you thought we were friends. But we were never friends. You always thought you were above me. You like me now because I look like you, so I remind you of yourself. Really you’re just being selfish and vain like you always are.”
“That’s not fair,” Jon interrupted.
Karyn turned back to him, shifting back into the sharp, targetted anger that had dominated her face just a moment before. “Oh, let’s talk about fairness with Fairy McFairface. You little snot. You’re with me for one date, one date, and then you dash the moment something better comes along, right?”
“I loved the conversation we had at the Oxbone Tavern.”
“You loved it so much that you left me the next day,” Karyn sneered. “What, you couldn’t handle being yelled at a little bit? Had to run away with your tail tucked between your legs, crying your little crocodile tears until Bimbo McGee shows up and offers to whisk you away from all of your troubles?”
“That’s not what–”
Sarah cut Jon off before he got derailed into a full argument. “I know you’ll find the right person for you, Karyn.”
“I did!” She swung around to look Sarah in the eye, her expression changing once again. “I found the right person! I had him for eighteen years! But you took that from me. You always take everything from me.”
It wasn’t working. Being nice to Karyn was just getting her worked up more and more. And when she talked to Jon it was with all the venom of a cheerleader queen bee who knew she was superior to the little piss-ant she was talking down to. And when she talked to Sarah, it was with an entire childhood of pent-up anger at the girl who made her life a living hell for every day of her life since the first day of kindergarten.
To Jon: “You’re just upset now because you know what you’ve lost. You know I’m better than her.”
To Sarah: “You just always need to get what you want, and right now what you want is to control me. But you can’t have it, and that just drives you mad, doesn’t it.”
To Jon: “For the rest of your life, you’re going to be miserable because you know that you chose wrong this weekend. You’re worthless. I was the only good thing that ever happened to you, and it’s over.”
To Sarah: “You could have been my friend. I would have been an amazing friend. But you were just so caught up in your own little world, your own fucking fantasy of what a teenage goddess should be, and now the chickens have come home to roost.”
To Jon: “You’re pathetic.”
To Sarah: “You’re irrelevant.”
To Jon: “You’re a loser.”
To Sarah: “You’re an airhead.”
To Jon: “You’re just upset that I don’t need you anymore.”
To Sarah: “You’re just upset that I’m better than you at being a bitch.”
“I’m not a bitch,” Sarah whispered.
“What?” Karyn demanded.
“She said she’s not a bitch!” Jon jumped in.
Karyn swung back in Jon’s direction, flipping her switch back to teen-queen mode, raising her voice once again. “What do you know!?”
Jon flinched, but didn’t back down. “I know that when Sarah saw her best friend was interested in a boy, her first thought was to make sure that boy was good enough for her best friend.” Jon squeezed his eyes shut and scrunched up his face, but he kept on talking. “I know that, without being asked, Sarah woke up early to come to my house and help me to be a better boyfriend for you.” Karyn may have been trying to interrupt him, but with his eyes closed, Jon just barrelled forward. “I know that Sarah was the one who stopped Biff from smashing my face in, and she’s the one who took me to the nurse, and then to a doctor.”
Jon finally opened his eyes, breathing hard. What he saw was Karyn, dumbstruck and for once unable to find a quick retort. Her lips began to move, but Jon started up again before she could speak.
“I know that Sarah bent over backwards, gave me her car, her money, her advice, just to make sure that you had a wonderful evening with me.” Jon’s confidence grew. His posture straightened. “And when I was acting like the biggest jerk in the world, when you wouldn’t talk to me, when nobody else would talk to me, Sarah gave me a shot. She didn’t just automatically forgive me. But she gave me the chance to prove myself. A chance that nobody else was willing to give.”
“You idiot,” Karyn finally sneered, “she’s just using you. That’s what she does.”
“He’s not an idiot,” Sarah pulled Karyn’s attention back to her. “Jon is smart, and he’s kind, and he’s patient. He knows how to roll with the punches and adapt to situations that nobody ever expects to be in.” Now it was Sarah’s turn to huff in Karyn’s disbelieving face. “He’s loyal!” she shouted.
“She’s confident!” Jon followed Sarah’s energy.
“He tries hard, no matter what!” Sarah took a step towards Karyn.
“She always keeps her cool!” Jon stepped forwards as well.
“He’s funny!”
“She’s unflappable!”
“He’s considerate!
“She’s caring!”
Every declaration caught Karyn ever slightly more off-guard. She began shaking her head, slowly retreating back into her own house. Endora was right: attacking Karyn would have just escalated the conflict until it was intractable. But just being kind to her meant essentially forfeiting all ground and giving her control of the battlefield.
But the moment that Jon and Sarah started being kind to one another, the moment they formed a united front that built each of them up faster than Karyn could tear them down, by being positive, by speaking from a place of love and appreciation, they were slowly turning the tide.
“The only thing, the one single thing that can be improved about Jon Gibson is that he lacks self-confidence,” Sarah declared with a victorious smile on her face.
“There isn’t a single thing that can possibly be improved about Sarah McMillan.”
Jon stopped. His body froze. His brain froze. What had he just said?
“What?” Karyn asked.
“What?” Sarah repeated.
The gears quickly turned in Jon’s head. He meant that. He truly meant it. It was his truth, a thing that he felt to the core of his being. Something that he didn’t want to acknowledge, but now that he’d said it out loud he could no longer deny.
Sarah McMillan was perfect. Jon’s personal perfection. There was nothing that he’d ever want to change about her. The word felt ridiculous even as he recognized that it was undeniable: she was his soulmate. Irrevocably. Unconditionally. Everything he’d said about her lead him to this truth.
Suddenly Karyn was unimportant. Intangible. Sarah was the only thing in Jon’s world, and he needed to let her know it.
First their lips met. Then his arms wrapped themselves over her shoulders. Then her arms wrapped themselves around his back. They pressed closer together, and they could both feel an energy travelling between them. Building as it moved from his hands to her shoulders, down her arms and into his back. Then up his spine and into her mouth, where it swirled and built and kept on moving until it was back in Sarah’s head and flowing to Jon through their connected lips and suddenly they were both saturated with it. Fully, completely, undeniably filled with an energy that they were both slowly realizing, was love.
They parted their lips and just stared at one another, their eyes communicating in a silent language that was as ancient as it was lost. And all at once, they both understood.
In unison, they turned to Karyn, who was still standing in shock. And then they hugged her. Each with an arm around her side, mingling fingers behind her back. Warm and soft.
And the love energy that had filled both Jon and Sarah to the brim, finally overflowed and began filling Karyn, as well.
From between the two of them, Jon and Sarah heard a muffled sob. And they felt Karyn’s body go just a little bit slack. And they held her closer, keeping her upright, sharing their love with her, until finally the crying stopped. They lead her to the sofa. And they let her lie down.
And Karyn was asleep for about an hour.
When she woke up, Jon and Sarah were still with her. Sarah was stroking her hair, and Jon was rubbing her feet.
“What,” Karyn blinked as she sat up straight, pulling away from both teenagers, “what’s going on?”
“Well,” Sarah said slowly, “I’m Sarah McMillan. And you’re Karyn Black. And we’re best friends.”
Karyn blinked again. That sounded true.
“And I’m Jon Gibson,” Jon said. “And you’re Karyn Black. And we’re also best friends.”
That sounded true, too.
“All three of us have been through a lot,” Jon continued. “And we’ll have to fill you in on a bunch of things when you’re feeling better. But for now, until you can recharge a little bit more, we can just start with that much.”
“You’re my best friend,” Karyn looked at Sarah. “And you’re my best friend,” this was to Jon. “Okay. We’re all best friends. But I’m still sleepy. Can we all just sit here together for a bit?”
Jon looked at Sarah, and Sarah looked at Jon. And they each sat down on either side of Karyn, and she raised her arms and draped them over her two companions’ shoulders.
“Best friends,” Karyn yawned as she closed her eyes and went back to sleep, cuddled between someone who was loyal, and someone who was confident. Between someone who tried hard no matter what, and someone who always kept her cool. Between someone who was funny, and someone who was unflappable. Between someone who was considerate, and someone who was caring.
Between two people, she realized, that she wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.
