Timeline notes: This story takes place 11 months after "The Mystery of the Midnight Arrival"
I’ll Be
by Chelsea
The strands in your eyes that color them wonderfulIt was one of those glorious summer days, hot, without being humid and sticky. Two people were outside, enjoying this beautiful day. Trixie Belden and Jim Frayne were at the Wheeler’s lake, cooling off, and horsing around.
Nineteen year-old Trixie Belden, clad in a deep, royal blue bikini, snuck up behind her boyfriend and dunked him into the water.
Spluttering, 21 year-old Jim Frayne surfaced the lake and grinned at his girlfriend, right before returning the favor.
After several more minutes of playing around, Jim turned to Trixie and asked, "Are you ready to get out yet, little mermaid?"
Trixie stuck her tongue out at him, but nodded her head in affirmation, she was getting rather pruney.
Trixie and Jim waded back to shore, where they toweled off. Trixie slipped on a pair of denim shorts, to cover her bathing suit bottom, and Jim pulled an emerald green shirt over his broad, muscular chest (much to Trixie’s disappointment), which matched the green stripe running down the legs of his black bathing trunks.
Hand in hand, they started off for a walk through the preserve, to finish drying off. While they walked, they planned what they were going to do for the rest of the day. Finally, they decided to see a new movie that was playing at the Cameo and eat dinner at a new restaurant that had opened in town.
As they continued walking, they chatted and teased each other, reminiscing about the Bob-White’s previous adventures, and talking about Trixie’s adorable 9-month-old triplets, whom Mrs. Belden was watching for the day, as a treat for Trixie.
Without warning, a sudden rain shower came upon them, pouring buckets of rain down upon them. Jim started going for shelter, but Trixie started turning pirouettes, lifting her face up to catch the cool, fresh rain. Jim just shook his head and laughed at her. Turning back and taking her hand, they started to dance together in the rain.
Trixie threw her head back and laughed, as Jim twirled her, making her feel like a princess. As her head came back up, her blue eyes caught emerald ones, making her catch her breath as she wondered how she was so lucky.
Tell me, that we belong together
Dress it up, with the trappings of love
I’ll be captivated, I’ll hang from your lips
Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above
Jim leaned forward and kissed Trixie, rain dripping down both of their faces.
I’ll be your crying shoulder
I’ll be you love suicide
I’ll be better when I’m older
I’ll be the greatest fan of your life
"I love you, James Frayne," said Trixie, as she rested her head against his shoulder. Jim’s heart swelled.
"I love you too, Beatrix Belden."
Walking through the rain, hands clasped tightly together, they headed off towards the clubhouse to seek shelter from the rain. Running and laughing, they made their way to the clubhouse door. Unlocking it, they rushed in, closing it tightly against the pounding gale.
Trixie went over to a chest of spare clothes they kept in the clubhouse in case of emergencies, and got them out each a change of clothes. Meanwhile, Jim went to work building a fire in the wood stove, around which a couch, loveseat, and two chairs were centered.
Jim went behind the partition where they kept their sports equipment to change, leaving Trixie to change in the meeting room, or, as they had started calling it in the past few months since Mr. Wheeler had given them the new furniture, the gathering room.
Trixie kept on her bathing suit, but changed into a dark pair of denim shorts and a black tank top. Jim came back out in a pair of stone washed denim shorts and a red t-shirt.
Trixie fixed them each a cup of hot chocolate, extra marshmallows in Jim’s, none in her own. Together, they cuddled up in love seat and sipped their hot chocolate in a companionable silence.
Rain falls, angry on the tin roof
As we lie awake in my bed*
You’re my survival, You’re my living proof
My love is alive and not dead
Trixie cuddled up against Jim, her cup of hot chocolate forgotten on the floor. Jim deposited his cup on the floor beside the couch, and wrapped his arms around her, leaning down to breath in the sweet scent that was uniquely Trixie, part a plumeria scent that Jim knew came from her body wash, and an outdoor, sunshine scent that she always carried.
Tell me that we belong together
Dress it up, with the trappings of love
I’ll be captivated, I’ll hang from your lips
Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above
I’ve dropped out, burned up, fought my way
back from the dead
Turned in, turned on, remembered the things you said
‘I love you, James Frayne,’ the words echoed in Jim’s head as he held the woman he lived for in his arms. There was nothing that he loved more on the earth then his earth angel, who said, for the first time, that she loved him today.
It’s probably needless to say that Jim and Trixie never made it to dinner and a movie at the Cameo. They stayed at the clubhouse, eating a supper of canned foods that they kept at the clubhouse, and making plans for their future together.
I’ll be your crying shoulder
I’ll be your love suicide
I’ll be better when I’m older
I’ll be the greatest fan of your life
The End
* This line of the song has nothing to do with the story, as nobody is currently in Jim's bed, but I needed to use it to make the rest of the verse work
Author’s notes: The song used in this story is "I’ll Be" by Edwin McCain, and can be found on the album "Misguided Roses". This story is self-edited, so any mistakes left in it are solely my fault This is also yet another story that I've written in a day. My poor muse is on overdrive :)