Okay, so it's the totally wrong holiday for this story, but if you live in America: Happy Thanksgiving! Hehe, since it's a holiday I've included a little mini-fluff scene with my favorite pairing: Paul and Maria! Them together just makes me so happy! (Since we're on this topic, if you've ever read any good fics with them, please tell me. My searches have come up empty.)
Night of 4th of July
Nobody was successful at getting Michael out of the house. David had ventured down there (against Max's wishes) but only had a pillow thrown at his head. Night had fallen and everyone except Paul and David were in the park setting up a blanket and food for the firework show. Laddie was off playing on a swing set with Dwayne never too far away, always making sure Laddie was alone. Sam and Veronica were picking on each other and running around the park throwing twigs and other small objects. Lucy called for them before they hurt themselves.
"Aw come on Mom, we were just playing." Sam whined.
"I don't care. Max? Is Maria joining us? I need to know if I need to set out another plate."
"Yeah," he responded while unfolding another blanket, "we're going to need two extra plates, actually. David's bringing his new girlfriend, too."
Veronica froze in her place and felt her world stop turning. "Since when did David have a girlfriend?" She said in a raspy voice to herself, but Sam picked up on it.
"That's news to me. She probably won't last very long…if you know what I'm hinting at."
"Well good. She probably deserves to have her blood sucked from her veins." She pouted.
"Uuh, this is a new side to Veronica that I've never seen before."
"She doesn't deserve him."
"Aw, is someone jealous? You know you don't have a chance with him, right?"
"Are you jealous that I like a vampire better than you?"
"Shush! Would keep quiet about knowing? I wasn't supposed to tell you."
"David almost told me last night, but the others didn't let him." Just then Paul and David rode up on their bikes. "I wonder if David would take me for a ride?"
"I'm pretty sure he's a little busy." Sam eyed the girl behind David. She wasn't giving off a special vibe like Star did, so he knew he wouldn't be seeing her as a vampire. As for her looks, well she didn't get hit with the ugly stick. "Why do they always get the pretty ones?" Sam murmured to himself.
"Hey Maxie!" Maria called as she hopped off behind Paul.
"Isn't he her boss?" Veronica whispered to Sam.
"Yeah, but she never acts like he is."
Paul slid off his bike and put his arm around Maria. They strolled over to the blankets and joined Marko and Dwayne. Paul ended up plopping down and pulling Maria onto his lap. He nuzzled into her hair.
"Keep it PG please," Max sighed. "I'd like to enjoy my night.
"I'm sorry, but she's just so fluffy!" Paul's muffled call made everyone roll their eyes.
"Why are you into weird guys?" David asked as he helped his new flame off the back of his bike. She giggled at his touch and intertwined her hand with his. He didn't even seem to notice as he dragged her along.
"Because the weirdos tend to be pretty." She answered before blowing a piece of Paul's hair off her face.
Veronica craned her neck to get a better look at David's new beau. Suddenly, her heart felt like it would stop. "Sh-she's just a blonde bimbo!" She shrieked.
Unfortunately for Veronica's pride, David had heard her as he walked past. He looked down at the frustrated girl with an icy stare that had a glint of humor in it. "Mighty strong words coming from a shrimp like you."
Veronica's face flushed red.
David introduced the girl, "Everyone, this is Harley. Harley, this is my family." She said her greetings, but glared at Veronica.
"Looks like you made a new friend," Sam choked back his laughter.
"I bet she was a snotty cheerleader in high school."
"A hot snotty cheerleader," he ogled.
Veronica turned and snarled at him, "You're disgusting.' She walked away and joined Laddie on the swings. Dwayne seemed content with Veronica watching Laddie, so he left the two. Sam seemed like he was about to walk over, but one glare from Veronica told him to stay far far away.
"So Laddie, how's it going?" She asked as she matched Laddie's speed.
"Good."
"That's good. So anything new happening in you little mind?"
"No."
"Okay." She swung in awkward silence for a few minutes until Laddie stopped. He waited for her to slow down, then leaned over.
"I have a secret," he whispered.
"Yeah, what's that?"
"I have a friend that nobody knows about. She told me to keep it a secret."
"Oh? Who's that?"
"Ah!" Laddie suddenly shouted in her ear, then grew so excited it seemed like he would start bouncing up and down. "I forgot! I actually have two secrets! I'll tell you the other one, it's funnier."
"Okay," Veronica winced. Her ear felt like it had exploded.
"Sometimes when I'm over at Max's house, I'll hear noises in the kitchen at night when all the adults are working. So I went there one night with my pillow incase I needed to attack whatever was there, and guess what I saw?!"
"What?" Her interest began to grow.
"You gotta promise not to tell anyone."
"Cross my heart and hope to die."
Laddie paused and debated about telling. "Never mind!" He jumped off the swing and ran into Dwayne's legs and climbed unto his shoulders like he was a tree. Veronica felt her eye twitch. She felt she was so close to finding out the missing food mystery, but Laddie punked out. Maybe she would have to sleep on the couch that night to find out who was raiding the kitchen.
"Hey brat! You want to miss the fireworks or what?" David called over to her. She smiled, climbed off the swing set, and sat down in-between him and Marko. She noticed Paul was missing.
David noticed her looking and leaned over. "You don't want to know where he is." Harley noticed David's attention was off her, so she grabbed him by his shirt collar and planted a kiss on his lips. He snapped his head back and returned his attention to Veronica, whose nose was unknowingly scrunched up in disgust.
"What's the matter Little V, never been kissed before?" He laughed at her expression. Her face turned bright red and she turned away to find Sam. David went back to Harley and Veronica stood up and walked over to where Sam was. He had two plates in his hand stacked with food and nodded his head, indicating for her to follow. She didn't question and walked with him over to a park bench that was just out of sight of their group.
"Here," he handed her a plate, "you can see the fireworks even better right here. Me and Michael found that out last year."
"Thanks," she smiled. They sat down shoulder-to-shoulder when there was a loud booom. They both looked up just in time to see the start of the firework show. Bright greens, blues, reds, purples, and yellows shined in the night sky and reflected on their faces.
A few chapters ago I wrote how my 100th review would be special. And it was! My 100th reviewer got a spot in my story. Only my 100th reviewer didn't have their PM on, so I had to use my 101st review: tomieharley! She appears as the oh-so-wonderful Harley in this chapter.
Thanks for reviewing:
SkittleMachine; Charly L. Horton; KagomeNarome; tomieharley; and my guests: C.F.S; StrangeGirl21; Lunatic; SaffiBlu (Thanks for the encouragement! Greatly appreaciated!)