Chapter Text
The world was a strange place.
Jimmy was never really the one to believe in magic or supernatural occurrences. Everything had an explanation. People used to believe strange things happening in the skies were signs of God or other beings, when in reality they were natural cosmic events backed by scientific proof. Not supernatural things. Never supernatural things.
But sometimes things happened that were strange enough, such weird coincidences, that he almost believed in them.
Not this time though. This was just dumb luck. Apparently his father had owned a ranch since ages ago. Why he never knew this remained a mystery as his pops passed away not even two months ago. Jimmy inherited it and after taking a quick look around the town, found himself taking a great liking to the place.
It wasn’t that hard of a decision to make, to move out of the city and live there.
The doorbell rang as he closed the final box with the things he’d be taking. “Coming!” he shouted and quickly dusted himself off. He nearly stumbled over the tape dispenser but kept his balance and rushed to the door. It wasn’t locked and he swung it open with ease.
On the other side of the door stood Gem and Scott, both waving excitedly. “Friends!” he shouted. “Oh my gosh, what are you guys doing here?” He moved aside to let them in and they did, spilling straight into his living room.
“Well, we wanted to do a surprise party but we might’ve ran out of time and couldn’t arrange it before you’d leave, so …” Gem looked at Scott, who shrugged.
“So we came to say goodbye to you ourselves! The party’s still on, but we’ll have to plan it after you move into your new home. Sounds good?” Scott finished for her.
Jimmy’s mouth fell open. “You didn’t. You wanted to have a party? For me?” There was no way he could keep the grin off his face or the smile from his voice. For as much as his friends made fun of him — which he never really minded, it was funny most of the time — it was nice to be reminded that they cared about him so much.
“I mean … it’s worth a party when you’re leaving, right?” Scott asked. Gem punched him in the arm. It wasn’t a soft one, judging from the gasp and the way he instantly backed away from her. “Come on, he walked right into that one!”
She pointedly ignored him. “We’re really going to miss you Jims. Of course we wanted to have a party to say goodbye. Sorry we couldn’t plan it in time. We do have this for you though.” She held out an envelope and he took it.
“What is it?”
“A surprise. Open it when you get there, alright?” Scott said and patted him on the shoulder, before pulling him into an embrace. Jimmy melted into the hug, his eyes slipping closed, and buried his face in Scott’s shoulder. “I’m going to miss you Jims.”
“I’m going to miss you too,” he replied but much of it was muffled by Scott’s vest. “You and this stupid jacket.” It wasn’t stupid, he’s never thought of it as stupid. But it got an amused chuckle from him, so it was worth the joke.
“You do know I’ll see you again in like three weeks tops, right?” A hand rubbed over his back in soft soothing circles.
“I know, I know. Still feels like a lot though, to be moving away from you guys.” He pulled himself from the hug and cleared his throat after his voice cracked. Not his fault he got emotional so easily. He wouldn’t be seeing them for long times, and he was so used to seeing them each and every day. It was going to be hard.
“It is a lot. I don’t know about Scott, but I’m calling you every week. I wanna come over as much as I can.” Jimmy knew how hard that promise was to keep, what with her job and busy schedule and all, but he grinned nonetheless.
“I’ll hold you to that.” He wouldn’t, not really.
Wrapping his arms around her, he leaned his head atop hers. “‘M gonna miss you, Gem.” She hummed softly and let him hug it out for as long as he needed.
“Do you need help getting these boxes down? And when are you moving the furniture?” Scott asked. “You’re taking it, right?”
“Well … no. This old thing-” he pulled away from Gem and walked over to the couch to kick it. “- is not coming with me. I’ve called someone to come pick up the furniture. My dad, he had plenty of furniture at the ranch so I think I’ll be fine. Might need someone to help me with interior decorating though.” He winked at Gem, who chuckled.
“Not for free you don’t.” She waited just long enough for his smile to fall before she continued. “Some samples though? Absolutely.”
With a scoff and a roll of his eyes, he moved to pick up one of the boxes. “Ha ha. Very funny, I’m laughing so hard. Now, yes Scott, please help me with these boxes.”
He half expected either of them to make a joke or tease him then, but they didn’t, and so he brought the boxes down to the ground floor of the building a lot quicker than he would’ve alone. He closed the door for the last time, not lingering around to say goodbye to it. Instead he jogged down the stairs with the final box and his car keys in hand.
“So, ready for adventure?” Scott asked and patted his shoulder. There was a tinge of sadness in his eyes, but the rest of his body showed he was about as thrilled as Jimmy himself. He was happy for him.
Jimmy breathed in deeply and sighed out, excitement buzzing in his veins like electricity. He stuffed the final box into his car and shut the door. “Hell yes, so ready. I was born ready! Bring it on!”
“Good luck, Jimmy! We’ll see you soon!” Gem smiled and waved. He waved back as he stepped into the front seat.
“Bye guys!” Starting the car, he rolled down the window and pulled the door shut. “I promise I’ll have the party date by next week! No surprising me in my own home!”
And with a final goodbye, he drove away from his friends. Away from the apartment building he’d lived in since college. Away from the life he’d built up since he was a kid. A part of him was sad that he was leaving this all behind.
But there were good things too. New friends and a new home. New experiences. A new area. A new Jimmy. This couldn’t be so bad, right?
He’d left the city before noon, a sandwich packed and ready on his dashboard for lunch. By the time his GPS showed him the time left to arrive at his destination had gone down to twenty minutes, the sun had sunk down close to the horizon. He doubted he would last an hour before the sun would disappear underneath it. His stomach rumbled too. The singular sandwich had definitely not been enough for the entire ride.
Stalks of corn whizzed past the car. He opened the window to let the air in, and while it didn’t smell so bad, it didn’t smell too great either. Turning down the volume of the music, he continued to bop his head to the beat as he leaned his arm to the now open window. He’d rather not upset the locals by blasting music at the max volume right away.
The first signs of life, ignoring the corn, were the houses of the village. The houses didn’t look old or new, but Jimmy wasn’t an architect or history nerd so he didn’t exactly know. Ivy grew on the sides, reaching up to the roofs and forming around the buildings. The bricks were faded red and brown. It was nice. The houses looked nice. Lived in. Homey.
He drove through a street wide enough to fit at least two cars. It couldn’t be that old then, he supposed, if it wasn’t super narrow. If it had been, he probably wouldn’t have moved here. Those kinds of streets were not for him and his car. He was accident prone enough as it was, narrow streets would only enhance it.
Moving over the hill, he quickly noticed the town was buzzing with life. He didn’t know what he expected. Of course this wouldn’t be some ghost town. Last time there were a couple people around. He hadn’t talked to any, but apparently some recognized him. He waved back at them when they waved and he didn’t have to try hard to smile.
At least the people weren’t going to treat him as an outcast. He didn’t know why any of them would in the first place, but the point was they didn’t.
His new home was on the edge of the city, by the forest that bordered the town. The houses thinned out a little more before the road curved, and there, in the middle of the street, stood his own. He would deny until the ends of the earth the little giggle that he did at the sight, a giddy feeling bubbling in his stomach like soda in a can.
It had a pretty enormous lawn, for his standards at least. He was used to having two and a half potted plants on his balcony — one only stayed alive because Gem managed to keep it alive, otherwise it would’ve withered a long time ago. This was definitely an upgrade. His dad probably would’ve said otherwise. Hell, he’d complain the lawn was much too small. Jimmy didn’t mind in the slightest.
He pulled up in the driveway and parked his car in front of the lovely-looking porch. As he stepped back out the car, bones popping, his mouth fell open at the sight. It was the most beautiful house he’d ever seen. He’d seen it before of course, but it didn’t amaze him any less the second time.
The porch was painted white and the house used the same bricks as the rest of the town. It was about the same height as the other houses. Ivy grew on the sides too and was even intertwined with the wood of his porch. A tree stood on the right of the house, perfectly finishing the picture. And maybe the paint was cracked from age, and maybe the door was damaged around the knob, but did it matter? Not to him.
A voice broke him from his trance. It came from the back of the house. Jimmy reached inside the car to pull the keys out — just in case — and stepped into the grass to walk around the house.
A man who he had never seen before had a horse on a line and walked around in an enclosure, calling at the horse and laughing every so often. Was that his horse? Who was this guy?
He stepped up to the fence and leaned against it on his elbows. It didn’t take long for the man to notice him. He waved, frowning at the guy’s bright smile he could see from all the way over there. The man and horse made their way over until they reached the fence and halted to a stop.
Jimmy didn’t take long to take him in. He seemed a lot older than him and had his hair tied back with a bright red bandana. More than that didn’t interest him much more than the horse, who stared at him just as much as he stared at it.
“Hi, uh,” he started and wanted to smack himself in the head for that absolutely wonderful introduction, “I’m Jimmy. The new owner?” Why did he say that like a question?
Instantly, the guy’s face lit up. “Jimmy! Ah, welcome, welcome! I’m Bdubs!” he introduced himself with ease and grabbed Jimmy’s hand to shake it without as much as a warning. He nearly fell forward with his head onto the fence. But he smiled nonetheless.
“Yes, hi. These horses … are they public property? I thought-”
“Oh no! No, no, no, don’t be silly. After the previous owner passed away we took it on ourselves as a community to take care of his animals. Couldn’t leave them to fend for themselves, could we?”
Jimmy’s eyes were drawn back to the horse. “Thank you so much. Am I gonna have to thank everyone for this?” He chuckled as the horse sniffed at his hand. He didn’t mind if he had to, it would be nice.
“Don’t worry about it, man. I’ll let them know.” Bdubs patted him on the shoulder. Jimmy thought back to the few times his dad did that, but Bdubs felt much nicer, much friendlier. “So, you know how to ride horses?”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Not in the slightest.”
“I’ll teach you. I know a lot about horses. Etho does too. We’ll help you out, don’t worry. Just get settled in and we’ll see when I can come by to show you the ropes.”
“Oh, that’s fine. I don’t think I can afford lessons right now. Or maybe I can, but I shouldn’t. Got other-”
“Hey, who said anything about paying for lessons? I don’t want your money, I can just teach you.”
Jimmy caught himself before his mouth could fall open. This guy wanted to teach him without asking for something in return? Man, he was a long way from the city. Back there they wouldn’t lend out a spoon if you needed one.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s fine. Come, let’s bring the horse back where it belongs. Did you just arrive?” They walked along the fence together, the horse trotting along nicely and trying to sniff out Jimmy every once in a while. It was adorable.
They talked a little about the journey while Bdubs took care of the horse. He probably should’ve looked at how he did it, but couldn’t find the energy to do so. Between now and the car sandwich from lunch he’d only had two warm cans of coke and a kids-sized bag of chips to fill his stomach. It grumbled as if reading his mind, which- yeah, technically it could. It was his body after all.
Bdubs noticed it too, apparently. He laughed as they walked away from the stables and back towards the house. “Did you have a plan for dinner? Otherwise I could show you the best place to eat in town.”
And that sounded much, much better than the original plan of finding a supermarket, getting some food and figuring out if this place’s microwave was up to standards. Bdubs surely knew the best spots and it’d be good to know them early on.
So he grinned and stuffed his car keys deeper into his pockets. He’d unpack later.
“Sure, I’d love to.”