Okay, so this is for PR United's Unconventional Couples Challenge.
"So don't insist on stalling
Because he's tailor made for you,
With stunning golden hues,
And one sweet tone to soothe,
Your persistent beating heart it's just a start,
And I have seen you everyday,
You've never been like this before,
He's tailor made,"
-"Tailor Made", Colbie Caillat
Tailor Made
It all started with a phone call. Just one phone call.
"Rose Oritz?" A voice asked on the end of the line.
Her brow furrowed, "Yes?"
"Hi, I'm a friend of Tori Hanson's , Cam Watanabe."
"Oh, hi." She said in surprise, "Is something wrong?"
"No, no…I was just forced to steal her address book, and call complete strangers." The voice said sarcastically with a sigh.
Rose chuckled, "Peer Pressure?"
"Of sorts, yes. I'm calling because we're throwing a surprise birthday party for her here in Blue Bay, and we're inviting any other rangers we've worked with in the past. I know Tori worked with you and your team a few months back, and so I called to invite you." He told her.
"Just rangers?" She asked.
"We're having at the Wind Academy…so we can't invite just anybody. They aren't called secret Ninja Schools for nothing."
"I see." Rose said with a laugh before she finally recognized the name, "Wait… are you Cam the computer genious that Tori told us about?"
"That would be me…I guess."
"Did you really create a holographic interactive image to help protect your base of operations?" She asked eagerly.
"You're the pink ranger aren't you? Tori told me about you." He said with an audible grin, "Yes, I did. Cyber Cam. It took a while to work out all of the kinks…and he's still far from perfect."
"But still an interactive hologram is a very difficult task to accomplish."
"You're telling me. I'm still fairly positive I gave him too much personality." He said ruefully.
And from then on out the conversation snowballed. Cam told his story about being kidnapped by Cyber Cam during the trial run. That story somehow led to Rose telling Cam about her encounter with Brownbeard, and before they knew it they had talked about their interests, the gadgets they'd invented, and their experiences with certain types of technology. They finally got to the details of the surprise party nearly two and a half hours later.
"It's in three weeks. We'll be meeting every one at a store called Storm Chargers and then leading them to the academy." He told her reluctantly. He didn't really want to get off the phone. She was interesting. He wanted to know more about her, but Dustin had stuck him with the phone calls and he still had several more to make.
"Do you know what time?" She asked curiously.
Cam had an opening. If he had to call back with a time then he had a very good reason to talk to her more, "Um, you know we haven't really decided yet. I'll probably call back tomorrow with a time."
"Alright, then I suppose I'll talk to you later?" Rose asked hopefully. It was rare for her to find someone who was on the same intellectual level as she was. Not that she was a snob or anything, but there's a certain art to the language of Techno-babble. They were few people out there who didn't need captions. Cam understood what she was saying without her having to think back and rephrase it. She liked talking to him.
"Of course." He said brightly.
They exchanged good byes and hung up. A new friendship had been formed that night, and not only had Cam called back the next night but every night after that one as well. They covered every topic they could think of from childhood to television. Their conversations became deeper and about the events of their day. They vented about their students and the way some of them drove them crazy. They had their own gags and inside jokes.
And this was all in the span of three weeks. They still had a lot to learn about each other, but it was a start. Neither even realized what they had begun until they were informed by the onlookers in their lives.
Rose waved with a smile as Ronny approached their table excitedly pulling Vela along the entire way. It was time for their weekly dinner. It was how they had promised to keep up with each other. Once a week, every week the girls got together for dinner.
"Hey!" The former yellow ranger said happily as Rose stood and gave her a hug in greeting. Rose was often amazed with herself, and much she'd grown as a result of being a ranger. Rose hugged Vela and greeted her as well. They sat down and ordered drinks.
"Are either of you going to Tori's party tomorrow?" Ronny asked them curiously.
"Tyzonn and I are. I feel awkward about it, though. I don't know any of these people. What if they don't want me there?" She asked the two former rangers nervously.
Rose smiled softly at her, "I wouldn't worry about it with this group. I have a feeling they're going to be very friendly."
Her phone vibrated and rattled from its spot on the table. Her smile widened as she reached for the phone and flipped it open.
"Text message?" Ronny asked knowingly.
Rose nodded distractedly as she read. Ronny and Vela exchanged secret smiles. They'd heard all about Cam over the last couple of dinners. They heard Rose giggle softly and watched her text him a response.
"Cam?" Vela asked her.
Rose set the phone back in it's spot and looked up, "Yes. He and the others from his team are out buying the decorations, and he needed a safe place to vent. He's trying to limit the sarcasm in the hopes that they'll finish up early."
"You've been talking to him a lot lately." Ronny said with a suggestive raised eyebrow.
"Well, he's…nice. I like him."
Vela chuckled, "Just nice?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'll take this one, V." Ronny said as she rolled her eyes and looked Rose dead in the eyes, "You're practically glowing over there. If you liked him any more…you'd love him."
"I am not in love with him. I've never even met him, and any way I just started talking to him three weeks ago. That's hardly enough time to be in love with someone." Rose said as she looked away from the two women across from her and focused on the menu.
"Whatever you say, Rose, whatever you say." Ronny said with a grin. She couldn't wait to meet this guy that had Rose radiating the happiness she saw in her right now.
"Dude, seriously, who are you texting so much?" Dustin asked as he pushed the cart through the party aisle in Wal-Mart. Cam gave no response as he tapped out the message on his cell phone.
"The same person he's been talking to for the past three weeks." Hunter said with a teasing grin.
"Oh, that Rose chick right? The latest pink that Tori told us about?" Shane asked. Again Cam showed no signs of acknowledgement. Finally he finished and put the phone back in his pocket.
"Did you guys say something?" He said cluelessly.
"Did we…yes! Geez, man, get your lovesick head out of space out mode and help us pick out these decorations. If you don't Shane will end up getting decorations fit for a 12 year old girl's party, and then Tori will be on the war path after all of us." Blake said with a shake of his head.
"Yeah, what's this girl doing to you?" Shane asked before turning to glare at Blake, "And that princess center piece was not that bad. Tori might find it funny."
"And she also might find it funny to bash you upside the head with said center piece." Cam said with a sigh, "Stick to the simple stuff. Streamers, paper plates, paper table cloths all in various shades of blue."
They nodded and continued to grab things off of shelves and browse.
"By the way, I am NOT lovesick." Cam said suddenly.
They all seemed to scoff in unison and give him disbelieving looks.
"It's not possible; I haven't even met her yet."
"So what the two of you are…best buddies?" Hunter asked sarcastically, "If not meeting her is the only excuse you've got then you better start working on a new one. That one expires tomorrow night."
She was nervous. Why was she nervous? She had no reason to be. It was just a birthday party. She'd been to those before. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as Dustin led them into the Wind Academy's dining room. The Overdrive team had met at the Hartford's and caravanned over in two cars. She and Ronny had decided that Semi-casual would work for this occasion and helped Vela pick out an outfit as well as helped each other pick out their own. Rose had chosen to wear her fishnets. They were just so comfortable. She had on a distressed denim skirt as well, and a pair of light pink round toe pumps. She'd worn a shirt she'd bought the other day. It was light pink with back lines that swirled around in the shapes of butterflies. She sighed and looked around the room. Dustin brought every person in the room over to them to be introduced, but not Cam.
Rose scanned the room for people she hadn't been introduced to. There weren't any. Ronny and Will were in conversation with Hunter who had been the last person they'd been introduced to while Dax was busy chatting up Dustin, Mack, and one of the three Mystic Force rangers that had accompanied Xander. She thought his name was Chip, but she wasn't sure. The infamous Dr. Oliver was talking with Mr. Hartford, Adam, and Spencer. Tyzonn was introducing Vela to Kira and Xander. Rose sighed and headed over to a patch of empty wall by the kitchen entrance. She knew Dustin had said that their friend Blake was coming with Tori later, but where was Cam?
She heard a banging from the kitchen and snapped her head in that direction. Her brow furrowed and she stepped inside the kitchen. She saw someone picking up a tray and the various vegetables that had fallen off of it. She hurried forward to help. He had set the tray on the ground beside the mess and was throwing the wasted vegetables back on it.
"Here, let me help." She said as she kneeled and began picking a few of them up as well.
"Thanks," He said as he looked up from the tray for the first time. He took in the voice and the pink in her outfit before giving her a small smile, "Rose?"
She smiled back and nodded, "Cam?"
He nodded as well, and they continued to pick up the vegetables.
"So, what are you doing back here? Shouldn't you be out there mingling?" She asked as he set the tray down on the counter.
"I was getting something for people to eat while we waited on Tori and Blake."
"Need some help?"
"I don't want to take you away from the party."
"Don't worry about it. I'd be happy to help."
"Where's Rose?" Ronny asked Will during a break in their conversation with Dustin.
"I think I saw her go into the kitchen. She's probably talking to Cam." Dustin said.
Ronny's eyebrows flew upward, "Cam?"
Will gave her a withering look, "Ronny."
"What? I just want to meet the guy. I'll behave myself, I promise." She told Will with a smile as she headed toward the kitchen.
"I think I better go make sure she doesn't embarrass anyone." Will said.
"Hey, dude, I'm coming too. I kind of want to know what Cam's gonna act like now that he's actually met her." Dustin said as he followed the two into the kitchen.
"Rose. There you are." Ronny said with a wide smile. She looked over at the man Rose had been on the phone with so much lately and stuck out her hand, "You must be Cam."
"That would be me." He said as he shook her hand. Ronny removed her hand and gave him a quick once over before turning to wink her approval at Rose. Cam held back a chuckle. Rose's eyes went wide. He'd seen the wink. She turned to Will and gave him a pleading look. He gave her a sympathetic smile and shrugged.
"So how in the world do you keep her on the phone for so long?" Ronny asked curiously, "I can't get her talk to me on the phone for more than ten minutes at a time."
"Ronny…" Rose said in warning.
"Hey, you know Cam's the same way. He hates talking on the phone." Dustin said as the thought struck him.
Cam cleared his throat, "Dustin don't you have somewhere else to be right now?"
"No, not really." He said obliviously.
Will shook his head and sighed. Dax suddenly came running in.
"That Conner guy just spiked the punch." He said with a laugh, "So what's going on in here?"
"Nothing," Cam said as he tried to hide his annoyance, "Absolutely nothing."
"Okay, kids, why don't we take this party back into the dining room." Will said giving Cam and Rose apologetic looks before ushering the other three out of the room.
"You two have fun!" Ronny yelled over her shoulder as Will forced her out of the room.
Rose tucked another loose strand behind her ear and looked away from Cam, "That was embarrassing."
He laughed, "A little bit, yeah."
She looked up and laughed with him, "I swear I will murder Ronny when this party is over."
"I see your friends have been picking on you as well." He told her with a shake of his head.
"Yes they have!" She said exasperatedly as she leaned against the counter.
"You weren't the only one. Blake went as far as to call me lovesick."
"Ronny said something similar to me too."
"It's just not logical. Three weeks is not enough time to be in love." Cam said with a roll of his eyes.
"That's what I said. I'm not in love with you. I told her that and she looked at me like I was crazy or lying. That wasn't lying. Lying would have been saying that I didn't feel anything for you. Now that's a lie." Rose said quickly and then winced as soon as the words left her mouth. She gulped and let out an awkward chuckle. "Please tell me I did not just say that…"
He smirked at her, "You did not just say that."
"But I did didn't I?" She asked as she looked away from him.
"You most definitely did." Cam told her. He cleared his throat, "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved to hear you say that."
"Really?" She asked as he brown eyes focused on him again.
"We're not in love like the others think, but we obviously like each other." He told her with a smile, "and it also wouldn't be logical for us to ignore that fact."
She smiled and nodded. She started to reply but was interrupted by Conner and Kira storming into the kitchen. Kira was carrying the punch bowl and ranting all the while.
"I can not believe you spike the punch. God, Conner how old are you anyway?"
He looked at her in confusion, "21?"
Kira glared at him and the two continued to argue.
"I'm beginning to see what Adam meant." Rose said with a sigh as she attempted to talk over the yelling.
"Adam? Why what did he say?" Cam asked Rose curiously.
"I couldn't make out all of it. He was sort of muttering, but the part I heard was about Power Ranger gatherings and 'contagious insanity'."
"That sounds like an accurate statement to me."
"I don't think we're going to get much talking done around this group." She said with a shake of her head.
"Well, we could always save it for another time. A dinner maybe?" He asked.
She grinned at him, and chuckled, "That was smooth."
He shrugged, "I try."
The next evening she was getting ready for an evening out with Cam when her phone rang from inside her purse. She answered quickly.
"Hello?"
"Hey, girl." Ronny's voice said happily.
"What do you need Ronny? I'm getting ready." She said as she attempted find the right shoes to match her outfit.
"Just wanted to tell you have fun, and…"
"And what?"
"And tell you that I approve."
Rose smiled, "Yeah I figured that out last night."
Rose heard her friend wince, "Sorry about that, I think the punch had gone to my head by that point."
"Apology accepted anything else?"
"Well…yes, Rose do you realize…I mean do you see how" Ronny sighed with frustration as she tried to find the right words for what she wanted to say, "He's…tailor made for you Rose. He really is."
Rose was stunned into a thoughtful silence after that comment, "I'm sorry?"
"I just want you to realize that he seems like he could be very good for you. I don't want you to close off from him."
Rose smiled softly at her friends words, "I won't Ronny, I promise."
I don't know how I feel about this story…I like parts of it, but some of it I don't like.
-shrugs-
Well, we'll see what you guys think…