A/N: No fluff! Sorry…
Lola sighed in relief as she pulled up to the large gates in front of Bugs' "house". It offered more protection and security than her house had as of late. For months now, her phone had been ringing non-stop. Family, friends she hadn't talked to in years, and every various form of paparazzi Hollywood had to offer, all wanted a piece of her.
Unplugging her phone hadn't been enough. There was always someone at her door, or window. She was beginning to feel very un-safe in her remote little neighborhood. Moving and changing her name was sounding like a tempting idea.
She rolled her window down and pulled a sheet of paper with some numbers on it from her pocket. Even though she had been to his home many times by now, she still needed a little help remembering the pin to open his gate. As she reached for the keypad, she noticed a figure out of the corner of her eye. She quickly turned and saw a very wealthy looking woman in a jogging suit, making her way around Lola's beat up car. The woman looked over her shoulder and gave her car a curious look.
"Heh, I must stick out like a sore thumb in this neighborhood." Lola thought to herself as she entered the last digits of the pin.
The gate slid open and she pulled around the quarter-mile long driveway.
She stepped out looked out down towards the gate, which was out of view and snickered to herself.
"I'd hate to have to get the mail. That'd be one hell of a walk." She shrugged and walked up to the front door and opened it.
Despite being a regular, the place still amazed her. She was almost afraid to touch anything. Everything was so clean, and organized and expensive looking.
She figured she'd come over and attempt to make Bugs lunch or something, despite her inability to cook. It's the thought that counts, right?
"Hello? Helloooooo? You home?" Lola waited for a response, but heard nothing.
She checked her watch. "11:45. He wouldn't still be asleep."
She called out again, still with no response.
"He has to be home, his front door was unlocked." She walked through his house, and around to the living room where his very large TV was on. No Bugs though.
"Hmm, maybe the kitchen."
She made her way to the kitchen, and found that he wasn't there either. She poured herself a drink and leaned against the counter in thought.
"Outside?" She walked to his back sliding door and looked out on the patio.
Not there.
"Maybe he did sleep in." She started to head for the staircase which led up to his room, and heard footsteps coming down them.
"Bugs?" She quickened her pace and continued heading for the stairs.
As she made it to the foot of the stairs, so did the person that was walking down them.
They almost bumped into one another, and Lola's presence startled the other person.
"AHH!"
Lola jumped back and spilled some of her drink on the floor.
"Clare?"
"Who the- - Oh, Lola right? Ya scared the shit outta me!" Clare clutched her chest and looked down at the mess on the floor.
Lola looked down at it too. "I'm sorry! I'll get that!" She looked around for something to wipe it up with and got frustrated when she found nothing.
"There's some towels in the hall closet. Here, I'll get 'em." Clare walked over to a door and got a couple of towels and began wiping up the spill.
Lola leaned down and helped, still blushing from embarrassment.
Clare sat on the steps and sighed. She looked at Lola who was sitting on her knees, holding onto the wet towels in her lap.
"Gimme those." Clare smiled and reached her hand out to take the towels.
Lola handed them over sheepishly. "I'm sorry I startled you."
Clare let out a laugh and rubbed her cheek. "It's alright. I just wasn't expecting anyone to be there, ya know."
Lola stood and dusted off her legs. "I uh, I hope I'm not intruding. I was trying to surprise Bugs. I didn't know you were visiting again."
"Neither does he." Clare smirked and stood as well.
"He's not here?"
"Of course not, he's at work."
"Work? But filming's over." Lola raised an eyebrow.
"No no, his other job. School's started, remember?"
The blank stare on Lola's face was all the answer Clare needed.
"The school he owns?"
Lola still stared at her.
"Ya don't know he's a teacher?"
"Uh, I guess not." Lola blushed again, much to Clare's amusement.
"Heh, he hasn't told ya that yet?"
Lola searched her memory and something clicked. "Now that you mention it, I think he did bring it up a while back."
"Yeah, well I'm surprised he's never showed it to you."
"I…uh…" Lola looked down, trying to hide her ever growing embarrassment.
Clare put her hand on Lola's shoulder. "Hey, it's ok. School just started a couple of days ago. He was probably plannin' on showing you eventually, he just hadn't gotten around to it."
"When he said he might be busy at work during the day, I thought he meant…well, I don't really know what he meant." Lola rubbed the back of her neck.
"He's just glad filming ended before the summer was over. It all worked out favorably I guess."
Lola nodded. "So, his own school? As in, he bought it?"
"As in, he built it."
Lola's eyes widened. "Wow, seriously? That's great!"
"Acme Looniversity? I can't believe you've never heard of it!" Clare laughed.
"That's a real school?"
There was a silence between them.
"Uh, yeah." Clare smiled.
"You mean to tell me, that same school from that show…what's it called, is an actual school…that he built?"
"Tiny Toons, and yeah."
Lola smacked her forehead. "Geez! I'm such a dumbass!"
"No you're not, come on…" She began to walk towards the kitchen and gestured for Lola to follow, which she did timidly.
"I'm sorry. I just never paid attention to these kinds of things before."
"It's O.K. Really." Clare was trying not to laugh at Lola's ignorance, and bit her lip.
There was another silence between them, which Lola tried to fill with small-talk.
"So uh, what are you doing here?"
"I had to make an un-expected trip to the states and thought I'd drop by my brother's house to bother him a bit."
"That must be nice to be able to travel around the world at a moment's notice."
"It gets old." Clare said flatly as she rounded the corner to the kitchen and headed for the fridge.
Lola sat on a stool by the center "island" counter and sighed.
Clare grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and leaned against the door.
"So, now that ya know he's not here, whatcha wanna do?"
"I dunno. Go back home I guess. I'll call him later or something."
"Oh." Clare took a swig of her water, keeping her eyes on Lola.
"W-why?"
Clare continued studying Lola and walked up to stand closer to her.
"Do I frighten you?"
Lola's eyes got wide and she looked away.
"No…"
Clare raised a suspicious eyebrow and Lola caved in.
"Yes!"
Clare laughed. "Why?"
"I…I don't know! Because you're Bugs' family and I want you to like me. And you're…scrupulous. It's intimidating."
Clare sat down next to her and tried to not snicker.
"Those were some big words there…"
"Um…"
Clare reached out and put her hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, you don't have to impress me. It wouldn't matter to Bugs if I liked ya or not anyway. He's very stubborn."
Lola looked a little worried at that statement. "So you…"
"Nah, I like ya."
Lola visibly relaxed.
"I'm sorry if I intimidate you."
"It's ok."
Clare smiled. "Here, let's go out and do girly stuff. Get to know each other better."
Lola turned to her, surprised. "Really?"
"Yeah, I never get to hang out with other girls. I'm always working."
"Ok, but I must warn you, I'm not into a lot of girly things."
"Me neither. But I'm in the mood to pretend like I am."
Clare stood up and grabbed her hand and led her through Bugs' house until they reached a large door at the northern wing of the house.
"We'll take one of his cars, mine is full of paintings." She opened the door and Lola's jaw dropped.
What lay before her was the largest garage she'd ever seen. It was more like a showroom floor for rare and exotic cars and motorcycles.
"We can't take one of these ca—Holy crap is that a Viper!" Lola pointed, not actually believing what she was pointing at.
"Probably." Clare shrugged and walked up to a wall covered in car keys.
"We can't take one of these! I mean…Jesus, that car's worth a quarter of a million right there. I'm afraid to breathe on that!"
Clare plucked a set of keys off the wall and walked up to one of the Ferraris.
Lola watched in horror as Clare unlocked the door and slid in the driver's seat.
"A Ferrari F50? You can't be serious…no…I can't…" She held her arms out and shook her head in protest.
Clare revved up the engine and Lola's knees buckled.
"Ok!" She ran around the other side of it and got in.
She looked at Clare who was inspecting her sunglasses in the rear-view mirror.
"I'm not a part of this, you hear me? This was all your idea! You kidnapped me."
Clare smirked and began backing up. "What's he going to do, kill his baby sister?"
Lola rubbed the door panel and looked around the car.
"This is not a car. This is a 6-speed piece of art."
Clare smirked and peeled out of the driveway, causing Lola to have a mixture of joy and fear.
As they made their way out of the neighborhood, and out into traffic, Lola eased up.
"So, where are we off to, oh fearless leader?"
Clare shrugged and glanced at her.
"I dunno, what's the girliest thing you can think of?"
Lola thought it over for a moment and couldn't think of anything girly enough that she was willing to do aside from shopping.
"Shopping?"
"Alright, shopping will do."
Lola looked down and around her and cringed.
"Oh uh, I don't have my purse with me."
"No problem."
Lola raised a questioning eyebrow and she grew mortified.
"You didn't…"
Clare smirked and held up a shining piece of golden plastic, with Bugs' name on it.
"Oh, you're evil."
Lola stirred a tall glass of tea across from Clare at a fancy little bistro, somewhere in downtown Hollywood. She was happy to finally have a chance to relax, after horrifying day of Clare forcefully buying her things with Bugs' credit card. She decided not to worry too much and focus on other things for the time being.
"So, you're Clyde's mom, eh?"
Clare nodded and stirred a tea of her own. "Yep."
"He's a cutie. I finally saw that cartoon, heh."
"Was a cutie. He's all grown up now."
"Oh."
"Yeah, he got married about two years ago. Lives in London."
"Don't you have another son?"
"Junior. Yes, he's grown up too. Lives in New York." She sounded a little less enthused about him.
"Married?"
"Ha! No…"
Lola made a concerned face, but decided not to comment.
"So, uh, your husband? He doesn't travel with you?"
Clare scoffed. "Yeah, right. Nah, he doesn't like it here in the U.S. too much. He's kind of a pompous asshole. Plus he's busy, I guess."
"What does he do?"
"He's a dentist."
Lola laughed. "In England? Heh, how ironic."
Clare almost choked on her tea and laughed. "Glad ya caught onto that."
Clare smiled and studied her, trying to place her words correctly.
"So, have you ever been married?"
"No. Bugs has though, hasn't he?"
"No."
"Really? I thought he was…"
"What made ya think that?"
"I saw it in a cartoon, but I suppose it was just that. A cartoon."
"Would it have mattered?" Clare took a sip of her tea and watched her reaction carefully.
"No, I guess not. Just so long as he's not married now!"
They both laughed.
"Nah, he wouldn't do that. He's a pretty decent guy."
"Pretty decent, eh? I think I'll take my chances."
Clare giggled. "He had a wild past. Dated a lot and what not. But he seems to have really calmed down in the past couple of decades. Actually, I think he's been calmed down ever since he had that house built. Like he was starting over."
Lola nodded. "I suppose it's alright, so long as he's trustworthy now."
"He's always been trustworthy."
Lola smiled, enjoying the input on him from a different source for a change.
"What was it like growing up with him? Must've been pretty cool, huh?"
Clare shrugged. "He was a pretty cool older brother. He used to beat me up a lot, but I deserved it now that I really think about it…"
"Hehe."
"He was busy a lot, but he always made time to play with me, and help me out. He taught me how to play baseball; Daffy taught me how to box…" She nodded in thought.
"What about your parents?"
"Heh, what parents? They never really paid any attention to me. I was basically a tool."
Lola gave her a sad face, which Clare waved away.
"Eh, it never bothered me. They gave me a life, and I used it. I'm happy with the way things are. He was all the parenting I needed anyway. It's not like any of us came from a traditional household to begin with, being raised by humans and all."
Lola gave a weak smile. She was very impressed that someone who didn't have a secure upbringing, wound up so independent and confident.
"Well whatever he did, he must've done it right."
Clare smiled. "Yeah…"
"I'll keep 'em."
Clare chuckled and looked down at her watch.
"Hmm, school's out. We should go pay him a visit."
Lola's eyes widened. "You're joking right? There's bags and bags of designer clothes that we bought with his credit card that you stole, in the back of HIS Ferrari F50, that you also stole."
"Borrowed, Lola. Borrowed. He won't be mad."
"Oh, I know he won't be mad. At me! I didn't do nothin'. I'm an innocent in all this." Lola playfully crossed her arms and looked away.
"Ya didn't stop me though."
Lola gave her a betrayed look. "Oh no. No no no…"
"Don't worry! He's not gonna do anything! Honest. I know my brother, ok?"
"If you say so…"
Clare pulled up along a long brick wall with vines crawling up it. Above the wall, Lola could make out a tall, familiar clock tower.
"Well poke me in the eye, it is a real place."
Clare reached over and pretended to try to poke Lola in the eye.
"Evil! You're evil!" Lola jumped out of the car and walked along the wall until she came to the entrance of the school.
"Whoa…it's HUGE!"
Clare also got out of the car and walked up beside Lola.
"Yeah, it's pretty big."
Lola ran up in between the giant statues of Bugs and Daffy and laughed.
"This is so cool! I can't believe I'm here!"
Clare laughed. "You're so weird! I'm still amazed you never realized this was a real place. What'd you think, Acme Acres wasn't real either?"
Lola looked over her shoulder and smiled. "I thought it was just a coincidence."
Clare crossed her arms. "Shut up, no one's that ignorant."
Lola laughed. "Hey, I never watched that show either, ok? Cut me some slack."
"Man! I've never met anyone like you before! You didn't watch any cartoons?"
Lola shrugged. "Not really. No Looney Tunes based ones anyway. I was being rebellious against my sister okay?"
Clare shook her head and smiled in disbelief. "What a boring life you must've led."
Lola pointed at her. "Hey, my life was anything but boring. It just didn't include cartoons. Until recently that is…"
She continued to look around at her surroundings.
"This place is beautiful! And it's so BIG!"
"Yeah, ya already said that." Clare laughed.
"Well, look at it!" Lola emphasized by putting her arms up in the air.
Clare walked up to the statue of Daffy and leaned against it. She watched Lola inspect the grounds and walk up the stairs a little ways.
"It looks empty. Is anyone even here?"
Clare pointed at her watch. "School's over. All the students are gone now. But Bugs should still be here. He'll walk out those doors any minute."
Lola looked up at the bell tower and read the time.
"Almost 4. Hey, can we go in?"
"We might miss him if we do. It is a big place, and it'd be easy for him to walk right past us."
"Didn't think about that…" Lola rubbed her chin.
"Didn't think about what?"
Lola looked over and saw Bugs at the top of the steps, looking down at her.
"Hey!" She ran up and hugged him. "Nice school!"
He hugged her back, surprised and partially confused.
"Thanks. What're ya doin' here?"
Lola pointed towards the statue of Daffy. "Clare brought me."
"Clare?" Bugs looked and saw his sister giving him a smug look.
"What are you doin' here?!" He walked up to her and hugged her.
"I was in the neighborhood." Clare smirked.
"Havin' a little trouble at your L.A. gallery?"
"Long story. I'm leaving tomorrow and dropped by your house to surprise you, only to find Lola doing the same."
Bugs looked at Lola and smirked. "Oh really?"
Lola shrugged and smiled.
"Aww, you guys are so sweet." He pinched Lola's cheek and walked past both of them.
He made it past the front entrance and noticed his Ferrari sitting there.
"You took one of my Ferrari's?!" He looked back at Clare with a raised, agitated eyebrow.
She smiled very wide and Lola tip-toed backwards, pointing at Clare behind her back.
Bugs rolled his eyes and approached his car to look it over. He inspected it for any dings or scratches and was satisfied when he found none. He could see bags wedged behind the seats and looked back at her.
"And shopping?"
Clare followed him to stand by the car, still smiling.
"Gee, I wonder how you ever paid for all of these…things." He held his hand out and she immediately gave up his credit card.
He sighed and shook his head at her.
"What am I gonna do with you?"
Clare pointed over her shoulder at Lola with a look of contentment on her face. "I bought your girlfriend some girly clothes."
Lola nearly died behind her. "Don't tell him that!" She cursed to the sky and slapped her forehead.
Bugs shook his head. "You're a spoiled little brat Clare. I should beat you."
She reached to grab Lola's arm and pulled her to stand next to her.
"Poor little Lola here wanted nothing to do with it."
Lola said nothing but looked between them anxiously.
"Well it doesn't look scratched…" Bugs glanced back at his car, then back at Clare.
"Of course not! I'm an excellent driver."
"Because ya had a good instructor." Bugs stuck his tongue out at her as he walked past her and began to cross the street to the teacher's parking lot.
"Lo, ya wanna ride with me, or go back with Clare?"
Lola looked at Clare for a second, and Clare mouthed "Told ya so" to her. Lola glared at her playfully, and then ran to catch up with Bugs.
A/N: Mmm…Ferraris…