I got a new story for you all. Hope you enjoy it. I've worked so long on this story. Since chapter nine of CZ.
Disclaimer: I own no one familiar to the movie. End of disclaimer.
Never thought that Lash and Layla had a past relationship beyond the movie? What? You never thought they could have been friends? Are you kidding me? Here! Have the story! My goodness, you've been missing out.
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"Mummy, what are we doing today?" Layla asked, running down the stairs in her pajamas. Her mother placed down a plate of chocolate chip pancakes, and little Layla squirmed in her seat as she watched her mom reach into the cabinet for another to eat off from.
"Well, Harold Livingston is out of town this weekend -" Layla gave her mother a confused look as she began to eat. "So I was thinking that we could go visit Sarah and her son Lash. They're all alone in that big house of theirs." Layla's mouth dropped, some of the chocolate chips on her tongue were showing.
"Mum, Mummy -" She groaned, and tossed her fork down.
"What is it?"
"I, I don't know Sarah's son." She whispered, cupping her hands towards her mother. Her mother smirked, and ruffled her daughter's hair.
"Lahlah, are you afraid to meet new people?"
"No," she said immediately, picking up her fork again.
"Then what's the problem?"
"I'm not sure - maybe when we leave I'll think of something." Her mother laughed, and Layla finished her breakfast. "What time are we going over there?"
"As soon as you get dressed." Layla nodded, and ran up the stairs with a smile.
----
"Lash, get up! We're going to have visitors soon!" Sarah called up to her son, grumbling as she tossed fresh Belgian waffles onto a plate besides the waffle maker. He soon came downstairs; his nose stretched slightly, a smile beneath it.
"Waffles!" He cried, jumping into the seat as his nose turned back to normal. His mother smiled, but then noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt again.
"Lash." He looked up at her, a curious look on his face. "Shirtless again?"
"It got hot last night."
"You had an AC going." His eyes wandered to the ceiling.
"I like being shirtless -" he got out of the seat, and then made a wrestling pose, growling. His muscles on his arm had stretched out, making it look like he was amazingly strong and his mother laughed.
"Put those away, Lash." He sighed, and sat back down, his muscles normal again.
"So who's coming today?" He spoke, dumping maple syrup onto his waffles.
"Don't cover yourself in it again, alright?" his mom started, and he slammed the syrup bottle onto the table, frowning. "It's one of my close friends - she and I went to Sky High together. She's going to bring her daughter over, too."
His eyes danced. "Who's her daughter?"
"Her name is Layla."
"What time are they coming?"
"Soon."
He waited. "Am I supposed to wear something fancy?"
"Fancy?" She asked, her eyes confused and lost.
"Yeah, like suit and tie, like when we went to Speed's dad's wedding."
She shook her head. "No, there's no need to be fancy, Lash."
"So I can wear shorts?"
"You can even wear swim trunks if you wanted to - we'll be around the pool." He smiled, and finished his breakfast, jumping around the house.
----
"Mummy, as much as I love you and your dresses you buy me, I don't wanna wear one."
"Layla, it's a nice day out today. Wear a dress." Layla pouted, and ran a hand over her cute shorts that held a flower on the thigh, and tried to argue.
"But...I wanna wear my new shorts!" She picked them up with a smile, and her mother frowned.
"Layla, please." She pouted against her mother's words, and sighed, going to her closet to get some matching shoes. "Hey, pack your swimsuit. Sarah said they have a BIG pool." Her mother said with a smile, holding out her arms to emphasize 'big'.
"Pack it in where?" Layla asked, taking out a pair of white Mary Jane's. Her mother tossed down a sparkling white purse from behind her back, and Layla gasped. "It's so pretty, Mum!" She smiled at the small flowers sprouting from the bottom of the purse, and pulled it over onto her shoulder. Her mother laughed.
"Get dressed, dear. We need to leave soon." Layla nodded, and then crossed the room to her dresser as her mother walked out, closing the door behind her.
"Swimsuit, swimsuit," she flipped clothes over, trying to find it. "Ah-ha. There you are, you stupid piece of cloth." She smirked, pulling it out and stuffing it into the purse, shocked at how it fit, still having room. Slowly, she turned to her bedspread, and her eye caught the shorts she wanted to wear. Quickly running over to it, she stuffed those in as well, and grabbed a white shirt with a smile, finally taking the purse off and putting her dress on.
----
"What time, Mom?" He asked again, looking out the window. His mother looked at the clock for the fourth time that hour.
"11:30, Lash. Calm down. They'll be here." He jumped off the couch, and passed his mother as he ran back up the stairs again. "I'm going outside to wait for them - just to let you know." She called up, leaving the house to sit outside.
"Okay, Mum."
----
Layla sat in the backseat, picking at her dress. It was itchy, it was uncomfortable, and she didn't really like it that much. "Mom, I don't wanna go."
Her mother frowned, turning around to look at her daughter at a red light, brushing her hands over her daughter's dress, fluffing it out. "Why Layla?" She continued to drive, and turned a corner.
"I look like a little girl." Her mother smiled.
"You are a little girl."
"Nu - uh." She said, a matter-of-fact tone of voice floating around the car.
"Then what are you, my dear?" Layla smiled, her arms crossed against her chest as they turned another corner.
"I'm a girl. Not a little girl, not a tall one. Just, a girl." Her mother snickered inwardly, and Layla frowned. "I don't wanna be labeled as a little girl when we get there." Her mother sighed, driving a bit slower. "And I don't want to embarrass myself."
"You won't embarrass yourself, my girl."
"Yes, yes I will. Sarah's son will make fun of me. And I don't want him to do that."
"He's special, honey - like you. If he makes fun of you, you can do something to intimidate him." Her mother said, frowning at the possibility that she was giving her daughter ideas of violence.
"Oh, yeah, make flowers and trees sprout from the ground. Yeah, great power."
"Well, he stretches." Layla gave a burst of laughter.
"Stretches? Like taffy?" Her mother nodded, and Layla laughed even harder. "What a lame superpower." She muttered, and her mother lay silent, pulling into a street.
----
"Darling, they're here!" Sarah called up to a window, standing up and placing down a cup of lemonade that was in her hands moments before. Lash peeked his head out, and saw a silver car in front of the house. He dashed out of his room, and almost fell down the stairs as he headed out the back door.
His mother was already going to the front of the house, her arms out with a smile plastered on her face. "Amanda!" She cried, her eyes dancing. The other woman came out of the car moments later with a small scowl on her face, but caught sight of Sarah. "It's been a long time, my girl." She said, crushing Amanda with a hug.
Amanda laughed, and hugged her back quickly, seeing Lash come out of the house - shirtless. "Hi!" He called, coming up to the two adults. Amanda smiled as she stifled a laugh, and Sarah was exasperated.
"Lash -"
"You never said I couldn't walk around shirtless, Mom," he said, closing his eyes and standing proudly beside her. He then looked around. "Where's..." he looked to his mother, and then remembered the name. "Where's Layla?"
Amanda rolled her eyes. "She's still in the car. She refuses to come out in her dress." Sarah 'awed' at the short story, and Lash tugged on her denim skirt.
"Can I go get her?" Amanda looked to the boy across from her with a smile, and nodded before Sarah could answer.
"Maybe she'll come out with some encouragement from someone that isn't me." Sarah laughed softly, and brought her hand behind Amanda's back to take her to the backyard.
----
"If you want to sit here and mope all day, Layla, that's fine with me." She mocked her mother, sitting up in the backseat trying to catch dust particles that flew by her nose.
KNOCK KNOCK. She almost jumped off the seat in fear. Looking to the window, she saw a boy of about 8 or 9, smiling at her with shaggy brown hair. Slowly she rolled down the window, crawling to the other side of the backseat. Layla gawked as he stretched his head inside, and he smiled wider. "Wanna go play on the swings?" Giving him a weird look she wiped some hair from her face and took a moment to think. Reaching underneath him she unlocked the door, blushing.
He shrunk back his head and climbed in shortly after. She scooted all the way over to the other door, leaning up against the interior as he held out his hand. "I'm Lash, by the way. Lash Livingston." She glanced at it before taking it, and he tugged her lightly out of her corner.
"I'm...Layla Williams." She smiled softly, and they crawled out of the car, shutting the door.
He gave a glance at her dress, and smirked. "You didn't want to come out of there because you were wearing a dress?"
She crossed her arms, her nose in the air slightly. "Dresses are for little girls." He approached her, placing his hand above her head and sliding it for height measurement.
"Well you're shorter than me. So that makes you little." She pouted, and uncrossed her arms, poking his chest.
"That's because you're older. I can tell." She put down her finger as he brought one eyebrow up. "Older people are always taller than me." He frowned.
"That's not always true." She shrugged her shoulders. "How old are you?"
"I'm in the 2nd grade, so that makes me 7."
"That's cool."
"But I hate this dress!" She stomped the ground, and he frowned. She continued. "I brought shorts, and my Mom won't let me wear anything but this!"
"I'll think of something. But in the meantime..." He brought his eyes to the swingset on the side of the house. "Swings?" She nodded, and he immediately took her hand, rushing up the small hill to get to the little playground.
----
"Do you think they'll-"
"Shh, just watch and listen, Amanda."
----
"So how old are you?" Layla asked, being pushed higher into the air.
"I'm" Push. "8." She gasped a smile, and turned around in her seat to look at him.
"But you don't look 8!"
"I know." He flashed a smile before pushing her again. "That's because I'm almost 9. My birthday's in two-oo weeks." He said, and as she got high enough to jump off, Layla smirked into the sky, and looked over to the tree beside them.
"Watch this!" She cried, jumping from the swing into the air, thrusting her arms in front of her to grasp a vine that magically dropped from the tree.
"Lay-la!" He screamed with authority, and she looked down at him with a smile.
"What?" He smirked.
"You'll dirty your dress if you don't get down."
Her eyes widened. "Don't wanna do that." She muttered, and the vine dropped slowly to the ground, releasing her. It hung there, and Layla smiled until she began to walk back to Lash. She tripped on a rock and fell knee-first into a pile of dirt below the swingset.
She got up quickly, brushing herself off before looking up at Lash. "Stupid, annoying dress," she grumbled, wishing she didn't have to wear such a dress. "Look like a fairy princess. Guh."
Lash chuckled, and started to scratch his head. "Hey, wanna race to the pool?" He said, dropping his hand at his side before pointing towards their two mothers.
Layla moped. "I'd have to change first." He took her dirty hand in his, and brought her close so that he only had to bend over slightly.
"Didn't you say before that you wanted to wear your shorts instead of that dress?" She nodded slowly, and he tilted his head towards the pool. "What better way to get out of it?" She smiled widely, understanding his point, and squeezed his hand tightly as they chose a spot to start running.
----
"Kids, what are you doing?"
"Racing!" They called back.
"Layla don't mess up your dress!" Lash coughed softly, and Layla giggled.
"Okay Mummy!"
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They're kids, what do you expect?
Fast friendships happen here.
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