Caught Up // Jimmy Butler

Chatper 9

                  

Walking into the familiar building she used to call home, Allison couldn't help but feel the memories of her old apartment building starting to rush back. She had some good times here.

Attempting to open the door with her three bags seemed challenging but after a moment she was able to get all of her stuff (and herself) into the main entrance of the lobby.

"Allison?" Ernie, the man at the front desk she'd grown to love, asked in surprise, "What are you going here?"

"Uh," Allison sighed, walking up to him sitting in his desk, "It's a long story, me and my boyf-fiance, are having problems."

"You need a place to stay?" He frowned.

"I'm gonna ask Xander, who's in my old place, if I can stay with him for now." She shrugged.

"I know we joke around a lot," Ernie said, "But I'm so sorry." He said sadly. He didn't really know Jimmy at all, bit he saw Allison happy with him.

"It's okay," She nodded, "I'll be okay." She smiled weakly. "Anyways," She breathed picking up her stuff again, "I'll see you later Ernie, and don't go soft on me now!"

"Never!" He smiled back as she approached the elevators.

She made her way up to the 17th floor, and found her way to her old apartment as if she'd never left. Putting her bags down, she took a deep breath before knocking. She felt awful, she really didn't want to intrude on Xander. She was so rushed, she didn't even text him to ask him if she could stay with him, she was just hoping.

"Alli?" Xander asked, opening the door rubbing his eyes, "Is everything okay?" he asked a little more alert once he saw her bags.

"Can I stay here for a little while?" She managed to get out.

"What?" He questioned, already picking up her bags, "Of course." He said, grabbing her hand and pulling her inside.

"Thank you so much." She sighed, shoving her hands in her pockets.

"What's goin on, what happened?"

"I really don't want to talk about my problems when you already have your plate full with your mom, X." Allison explained, "I don't want to add anything, you should go back to sleep."

Xander plopped himself on the couch and patted the seat next to him, "I'm up anyways," He shrugged, "C'mon, just lay it on me." He smiled.

Allison smiled at her friend before giving in and sitting down next to him. She explained the whole situation to him, but kept coming back to the same thing: she thought Jimmy wasn't the same person she fell in love with.

"Can I be honest with you?" Xander asked, after she was finished.

"Duh." Allison said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Don't get mad, okay?" 

"Okay!" Allison said impatiently.

"I kinda think...you're being a little crazy." He finaly said, bracing himself for her to be mad.

"Really?" She asked calmly.

"I think you might be being a little hard on him, everyone changes. You're completely different than from when we were kids." He mentioned.

"Yeah..." She said, thinking.

"But," Xander sighed, "You also have a point."

"Huh?" She asked.

"Look, you might be going a little crazy on the whole change thing. But, you're probably right about needing a break. I care about you and if you're gonna get married to this guy...you gotta trust him."

Allison felt a little better. She realized maybe Xander was right, and that she was being too hard on Jimmy. But, she also wanted to make sure that he's the guy she's supposed to marry, and if she couldn't trust him...she couldn't be sure. 

"I don't know," Xander shrugged, "Just sleep on it, you're welcome here as long as you want."

"Thanks Xan." Allison said, closing her eyes and resting her head on the sofa.

"C'mon," he said standing up and offering his hand to help her up, "I'll get you sheets and stuff."

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Jimmy tossed and turned in his bed all night, he couldn't sleep with the empty space in his bed. He thought he knew how girls worked, he thought, he finally figured them out. Nope.

He sat up in his bed, he was worried about her. Where did she go? It's not like she had any family near enough to stay with, he just hoped she was okay.

But, this was childish. She never wanted to talk about her feeling with him, all she ever did was run away.

Thinking, he decided tomorrow he'd go in to talk to the managers tomorrow. Allison was supposed to be there to resign for the year, maybe he'd get his chance to talk to her there. He wasn't sure what to say. Things were different from when they first met and he knew he hadn't been himself lately, but he was still the same guy he was when they first met.

And he was gonna show her he was.

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"Allison!" Matthew said with a big smile, as Allison walked into the conference room where multiple managers, the owner of the team and Andy were seated at a large table.

"Hi everyone." She said, slightly nervous.

"This is really just a formality," Matthew laughed, "We just need you to sign and then we'll be on our way!"

"Actually," Allison began, sitting down as Matthew's smile faded, "I have to let you guys know..."

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Jimmy wasn't really sure what was going on in that conference room, but there was a lot of buzz around the center when he got there. There was a bunch of media waiting for some kind of press conference, he thought maybe he'd missed his chance to talk to her, and that Allison had left already.

"Aye, Matt!" Jimmy called as he saw Matthew walking distraughtly with Andy towards him.

"Jimmy," Matthew said sharply, "Why are you here?"

"Well, damn." Jimmy said, "I just wanted to talk to Allison, where is she?"

Matthew rolled his eyes, "Andy, take care of this." He said, walking past Jimmy.

"What the hell is wrong with him today?" Jimmy asked, as the manager he was closest with blew him off.

"You're kidding right?" Andy asked.

"Kidding about what?" Jimmy asked with confusion, as he turned his head towards the load noise that was coming from behind him.

"You don't know." Andy stated with surprise.

"Know what?" Jimmy questioned, seeing Allison get up towards the press conference, "Andy, what the hell is going on?"

"Hello everyone," Allison greeted as she took her seat in front of the mass amount of media.

"Miss. Walker!" The reporter right in front of her called, wasting no time, "Are the newfound rumors that you will be leaving your position with the Bulls organization to go ahead and train the basketball program at the college you attended, true?"

Allison took a deep breath, "This upcoming season, I will not be training the Bulls." She confirmed, "But, instead I will be working with my college basketball team, the team I've supported and always hoped could do bigger and better things. This doesn't have anything to do with the Bulls organization, but a personal choice of mine."

"Andy." Jimmy said, turning to him, this couldn't be happening, "What happened in there?"

Andy shook his head and shrugged, "You tell me."