There should definitely be a law against early mornings; a sort of early morning curfew, an alarm system that kicked in if you were made to get up before 8am. And leaving the house before 6am… he was contemplating murder. Stig groaned as Derek yanked open his son's curtains.

"Rise and shine, smiler. If I have to get up this early, so do you."

And then, a shower later and they were in the car and turning the corner to the house three streets away where Lucy lived. And her cheery smile for Casey and Derek as she climbed into the car really did not help his humour.

Sticking a leg out so that she fell flat on her face on the floor of the car did, however.

"St-ig! You jerk!"

"Lucy!" Her mother reprimanded as she took her seat beside Casey, leaving James to sit up front with Derek. Lucy had no choice but to join Stig in the very back. He was smirking at her. She frowned, unwound her headphones from her ipod and opened her book.

It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the silence, it was just that he hated being ignored. And being ignored by Lucy was not acceptable behaviour. He reached over when she wasn't looking and released the seat lever so that her seat sprang bolt upright, knocking her forward and her book fell to the floor.

Lucy glared at him, but her mother was sitting in front of her and she didn't want to be shouted at again, so she bit her tongue. He sighed and looked out of the window, recognising that she wasn't going to bite. It was going to be a long journey.

The parents in the front of the car chatted amiably comparing notes on university courses and stories and eventually, bored of the reminiscing of an older generation, Stig went to sleep. Lucy looked up from her book and smiled at his drooling mouth. She slid her cell phone out from her bag and took a photo. Then she uploaded it to Facebook with an appropriate caption. It would be a while before he appreciated that she had retaliated for the leg-trip and the seat pranks, but he would notice eventually.

It never occurred to her that others would notice too; such as Teddy and Lilly, and also Stig's current girlfriend. Of course the "Stig girlfriend" institution was always a transitory one, but it was usually him that did the dumping. That might not necessarily be the case this time, as he had neglected to tell her that he would be touring the Kingston campus with Lucy.

After an hour on the road, Derek pulled into a rest stop and they had breakfast. Casey smiled at Lucy as she got out of the car. "Everything okay in the back there? It's very quiet."

Lucy looked surprised. "You mean you didn't hear the snoring? I thought you'd brought a grizzly with us instead of your son." She glanced over at the subject of her conversation who, it had to be admitted was doing a very good impression of a brown bear – with a sore head. Casey laughed. "Mornings have never been good for the Venturis. Derek used to be awful first thing in the morning. The only thing that got him out of bed for school in time was the desire to beat me to the shower so that I would be late."

Her husband grinned at her.

"And then while I was in the shower," Casey continued. "He used to tamper with my clothing. Sometimes it was honey or mayonnaise in my underwear drawer or stringing all my bras together so that when I pulled one out they all came with."

Derek smirked and threw an arm around his wife's shoulders. "One morning, she even had to wear my clothes to school."

"Your clothes, your deodorant." Casey said. "I got my own back."

"Yes you did. Didn't you? And even now, no one else believes it was you."

Lucy looked interested. "What did you do?"
"I moved the new principal's office furniture to the roof of the school. Everyone thought that Derek did it. He nearly got expelled."
"Case. Everyone still thinks that I did it."

She pulled a face. "Ah. But we know differently. And it was never about what anyone else thought, was it?"

He laughed. "God no! It's never been about anyone else!" He kissed her hair and Lucy smiled. She really liked Stig's parents.

Shame about the son.

Back on the road again and Stig was awake now he had eaten. He pulled his own cell phone from his pocket.

Nice look, Loopy. U'll pull the class nerd dressed like that. Wait…u R the class nerd!

Very amusing. Did it take 90 miles 2 cum up with that?

Cum? He replied; amused that she had used the short hand for the word – and showing her that he was aware of the other connotations it represented.

No thank u Lucy typed.

Stig looked across at her in shock. That reply was not what he had expected. He expected a 'Ew…St-ig!' or even to draw a blank because she didn't understand. He didn't expect a reply that could, if you squinted in the right way, appear as flirting!

She wasn't looking at him, just staring at her book, but there was a slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

If he was being honest, which he wasn't, she looked good. And she didn't really look preppy at all. Nor did she look too casual. Her clothes were tidy and well-fitted, but they weren't unnecessarily tight or revealing. Unlike some of the clothes his groupies wore, Lucy's clothes accentuated her slim dancer's figure in a way that was stylish and (he wasn't going to admit it though) were therefore more attractive; they hinted at what lay beneath rather than showed it off. A hint was far more enticing because the reality was only seen by a select few (normally relatives and medical staff) – and not half the campus.

Caught in the close confines of the car, a situation he was not used to, Stig could smell her perfume, and again it was classic rather than heady, drawing you in rather than putting you off. He closed his eyes and leaned back in the seat. If you ignored the fact she was far too interested in school work for her own good and the fact that they hated each other, being in close proximity to Lucy Morgan was not an entirely unpleasant experience.

But he still hadn't responded to that text.

I bet U say that 2 all the guys

No I don't

And that surprised him even more.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The conversation in the front of the car expanded to include the two teenagers. Cathy wanted to know what Stig was majoring in (Sports Science) and his minor subjects (journalism and media studies). His plan was to follow Derek into hockey. His fall-back, like Derek's before him, was sports journalism. Lucy was majoring in English also with a journalism class as well as creative writing. Casey had promised to have a chat to her about that. So they would share one class. Casey breathed a sigh of relief. At least they would get a chance to meet other people and wouldn't be thrown together at every opportunity.

They all talked for a while about the campus and non-academic activities available and slipped yet again into reminiscing. The four parents were once again lost in college stories and Stig rolled his eyes at Lucy. She smiled.

Euthanasia sounds good about now He texted to her.

Them / us?

Don't care

Make them pull over & we'll run for it.

Tempting. But I'm not walking 2 Kingston

Good point.

R ur parents always like this? Mine R.

Either that or mauling each other.

Ur parents do that? Mine too

I noticed.

I'm thinking about putting bromide in dad's tea. The rest of the family would be pleased. No more babies.

Nice to have a stable fam

I guess.

When did ur parents get together?

Queens. They h8ed each other till then

Why? I mean I know some of it but what do they say?

Dad says Mom was a keener & he was the hottest guy in school.

What does ur mom say?

He was 2 busy chasing skirts 2 c wot was under his nose

Lucy chuckled.

Sounds familiar.

Their eyes met and Lucy's eyes widened as she realised what she had just said. She looked away and ignored him for the rest of the journey.