Ralph Macchio Imagines✨

Jeremy Andretti

Requested by Liv2834h
She requested to have to have her name in the imagine btw, just saying this to clear up any possible confusion :)

"See you later Jane! Also don't forget to remind me about the- ouch!" As I walked I was suddenly flung to the floor and watched as my books and papers sprawled across the hallway. With the sound of snickering kids surrounding me, I got up slowly and tried to avoid their eyes.
"Man watch where you're going huh?" A voice snapped. I turned my head to see a very young looking boy sitting next to me.
"Jeremy!" I said, "I'm sorry, I was distracted. Here let me help-"
"I don't need any help, okay?" He stacked up a pile of papers and got up off the floor, dusting off his pants and shirt. I looked away from his glare as I crawled my way through the halls to retrieve my things.
"Here," he said again and handed me some of the papers that had slid across the hall.
    "Oh, thanks," I took them hesitantly and continued to put everything back where it was in my binders and notebooks. Jeremy continued to help a little but still had the same annoyed look on his face.
    "Is everything alright Jeremy?" I asked as I stood from the ground.
    "Yeah. Just forget about it," he scoffed again and speed walked away into the boys restroom. I sighed and made my way back to my next class.
As I sat at my desk I kept thinking about my small interaction with Jeremy, yeah we weren't really friends but I could tell he was kind of troubled and didn't ever hang out with the right people. I've only talked to him some though and he actually showed he could be a sweet and funny guy. I made the decision to try and find him after school so I could talk to him some more.

When my last class was finally over I immediately started my search for Jeremy. I didn't see him walk out of the restroom or anything so I figured he'd be outside. I filed my way out of the building and snuck to the very back where the so called "delinquents" were, Jeremy wasn't really a bad kid at all though. As I peeked around the corner I was disappointed to see he wasn't there. I knew the only thing I could do was ask where he was. I slowly made my way to the small group of boys, who's laughter and chat got quieter the closer I approached. I finally decided to man up and sped up to meet them.
"Hey," I said in a, what's supposed to be, a I'm-not-scared-of-you tone, "do you know where Jeremy is?"
"Who's asking?" One of them slurred.
"Me?" This was followed by some stupid sounding laughter and one of them finally answered.
"He's probably at the soccer field, man's been really down lately."
"Alright, thanks," I quickly sped away as the group went back to their roars of laughter and teasing. How could a small guy like Jeremy hang out with them? He was so much more clean cut than the rest of them.

I finally found myself at the soccer field and observed the bleachers to see if he was there. I smiled as I saw him sitting at the very top row. I opened the gate to let myself inside and acted like I was watching the players practice. As I reached and climbed the steps of the bleachers I pretended I hadn't seen Jeremy and looked around as if I was looking for a seat. I finally said something when I knew he saw me.
"Oh hi Jeremy!" I said. I climbed up the seats and made myself at home right next to him.
"What do you want?" He sulked.
"I just wanted to come say hi to a friend."
"Friend? I've barely even talked to you, and weren't you the one that tripped me this morning?" He still had the fierce glare in his eye as if it had been building up as the day went on.
"It was an accident, I didn't mean to trip you," I went silent and looked back over at the players some more before continuing, "listen, the reason I came over here is because I was a little concerned for you. What's wrong?"
"Why would I tell what's wrong to a complete stranger?" He leaned against the back of the seat and crossed his arms.
"We don't have to be strangers, we could be friends!"
"No we couldn't."
"And what makes you say that?"
"Because we're too different!" He finally snapped, "now leave me alone!" I stood and stepped back as I had clearly struck a nerve. I knew trying to get to know more wouldn't be a good idea, especially since it's been on his mind all day.
"Fine. I'm sorry for bothering you," I turned and marched my way down the steps and off the field.

It was about six-o-clock when I started to make my way to the Bradford's house, my friend Elizabeth had called and asked if I wanted to do some studying and I couldn't pass her down. I lived nearby so it wasn't too difficult a walk.
I rang the doorbell and smiled as a friendly face greeted me.
"Hi Olivia!" Nicholas cheered.
"Hi Nick! Is Elizabeth here?"
"Yeah, come in," I walked into the warm home and was greeted by the six other family members. They directed me upstairs to where Elizabeth's room was.
"Hi! Thank you for coming over tonight, I didn't know if you'd be able to make it since six is sort of late," she said.
"It's no problem," I set my bag down and pulled out a textbook that was bookmarked with papers from class.
"Now there's this one section I'm having lots of difficulty on, have you finished-"
"Elizabeth!" A voice yelled out. Suddenly the door was busted open and their stood a, still, agitated Jeremy Andretti. My eyes widened as we saw each other. Crap. "Hey," he started, "what is she doing here?"
"She came over to study, Jeremy, now what do you want?" He didn't answer her immediately as he still made mad eye contact with me.
"Never mind," he scoffed, "I'll go make my business elsewhere." He walked away and closed the door behind him. I looked down at my book, sad about the interaction I just had.
"Don't worry about him Olivia," Elizabeth said putting a hand on mine, "he's just a jerk sometimes. He's been like that ever since the incident with Darlene."
"Darlene?"
"Yeah, it was some chick he liked. She was a sweet girl but I guess Tommy was the one who really swept her off her feet." She went back to digging through her bag as if she hadn't just spilled Jeremy's entire, personal love life in front of me. It really explained the bad attitude though.
Elizabeth and I were finished around seven and the Bradford's had invited me to stay for dinner, I was hesitant since it meant more time with Jeremy but I was hoping it would be a second chance to talk to him again. I ate my food and chatted with the family like I regularly would and hoped that he would speak up eventually. As time went on though I caught him sneaking glances at me, and the mood in his eyes had changed from anger to solemness.
"Well this was a very lovely dinner Mrs. Bradford!" I smiled.
"Thank you dear, you're welcome any time!" The family started to part from the table with all their dishes and placed them in the sink. I was holding my plate to do the same when I noticed Jeremy was already gone but his plate was still on the table. I looked out the back door window to see him sitting on a porch chair in the dark. I stacked his plate on top of mine and knew this was my chance to speak to him.
"Hey," I said a little less cheery as I walked through the back door. He looked up at me as if he wanted to say something but didn't and just looked back down at the ground. "Want some light?" I flicked a light switch which lit up the the porch and shut the door to give us some privacy.
"Shouldn't you be going home? It's only Wednesday," he muttered. I found a chair next to him and sat down.
"Yeah but my parents can wait, I actually live just a few blocks from here." He didn't say anything again and I figured I'd take the leap and get to the point. "Listen, I know I'm probably the last person you want to talk to about this, but I just want to say you can do a lot better than Darlene." His head shot up as I said her name and he looked at me again with wide eyes.
"How's you know about that?" He asked. I motioned my eyes to Elizabeth's bedroom window. "I should've figured, snitch." I held in a slight chuckle as he rolled his eyes.
"It's okay, I won't tell anyone anything. Whatever happened is safe with me. But seriously, Darlene is just a player like that, you'll get over her."
"Not with her being around Tommy all the time, I mean I live with the guy!" I still continued to hold in my laughter as Jeremy was some how still funny even in tough situations like this.
"Then maybe he'll move on too, and so will Darlene. There's plenty of other nice girls here, Jeremy, don't be so stuck on one who broke your heart."
"Yeah, why didn't I think of that," he gave me a small smile to show he wasn't as upset anymore. Maybe what I was saying was actually helping.
"And I know what it's like to be heartbroken too," I said.
"You do?"
"Well yeah, but I got over all of them eventually."
"Seems you already have it all figured out." This time I actually did let out a laugh and he looked at me confused as I tried to calm myself.
"Trust me I don't. I just know that life goes on." He let out a small sigh and finally looked me in the eyes with a kind look.
"This actually helped a lot, Olivia, thank you." I straightened up a bit in my chair as I heard him say this. I've never seen Jeremy actually be vulnerable and be this nice to me.
"Of course."
"Hey Olivia!" Mrs. Bradford called as she opened the door, "you're mother called dear and she wants you home." I nodded.
"Alright." Jeremy and I both stood from our seats and made our way back inside. He walked me back to the front door to say goodbye.
"It was nice talking to you Jeremy," I said.
"Same here, we should do it more often," he grinned again and I looked down at my feet to hide the sudden redness in my face.
"Well see you around."
"Good night."
——————————-
A/N
I honestly can't believe I haven't written about him yet like wtf