Summary – Tommy's so not a morning person.
-o-
Wakeup Call
Jason
-o-
(Oliver Residence)
Pulling up next to John's silver jeep, I kill the engine on my Mustang and stifling a yawn, climb out. Smiling and giving the racer a wave, I head over to him. "Hey, I see you've volunteered for packing duty, huh?"
"More like was drafted for it." Shoving the last of his gear into the luggage rack on top of the jeep, he moves over to me looking about as tired as I feel. "How's it going, Jason? Gonna take the Cougars to victory next week in the game against Stone Canyon?" Probably not with how many practices I've bailed out of these past few weeks thanks to Rita's timing.
"I'd say yes, but lightning would probably strike me down. And considering where we're going, that's all the more likely." Dragging my own sleeping bag and fishing gear out of my trunk and over to him, I let him take it from me and cram it in with the rest of the stuff. "As for how it's going, well I'll let you know when I finally wake up."
"Know the feeling. Jen had us up till midnight packing and making sure we had everything. Speaking of which, do me a favor and go wake up my little night owl nephew. Last time I checked on him he was still out cold." Poor guy, isn't his fault Rita decided to plan an attack last night at two in the morning. Me and the others are used to them by now, but man if poor Tommy didn't just look ready to fall over.
"I'll go see if I can't drag him out to the car." Heading up to the house, I nearly make it to the door when it's thrown open and a very angry blonde comes storming out. Clearly Alan is not a morning person either.
"Dad this isn't fair, why exactly does Tommy get to sleep in while I have to get up, take Trish to Mrs. Cranston's house, and then help pack?" Ah so Billy's mom is babysitting the little three year-old this weekend.
"Alan, Jason is going to go get him up now and I told you Tommy's still adjusting to being here." Looking exasperated, he finishes packing my gear up, tactfully ignoring his son's behavior for the most part.
Not wanting to stick around for round two, especially as I hear myself being brought into it in the area of 'why Tommy gets to bring a friend' I head inside the house and quickly make my way upstairs and to the safety of the Green Ranger's room. Starting to see why those two don't get along so well.
Slipping into the messy bedroom, I think it gets worse every time I'm here. Taking in the posters on the wall of the half naked girls and guys, the clothes seemingly thrown everywhere but the closet, and- ew is that a chicken leg in a jar of peanut butter? Shaking my head, I move to the bed and suddenly seeing nothing but the far too attractive sleeping boy sprawled out on it, the mess doesn't seem to mean a thing anymore.
"Tommy." Shaking him gently, my smile widens a bit as he turns over and mumbles sleepily. "Tommy, bro, come on time to get up."
"G'way." Pulling the green covers over his head, he's going to make this difficult.
Moving to the window and pulling the blinds up, I let the sunlight spill into the room and over the curled up form on the bed. "Rise and shine, bro." As another muttered 'g'away' meets my ears, I see I'm going to have to resort to drastic measures.
Moving into the adjacent bathroom, which happens to be just as scary as the bedroom, I fill up a green cup by the sink with warm water. Reentering the bedroom and leaning over the bed once more, I give him one last chance. "Tommy, I'm telling you I'll have to resort to drastic measures if you don't get up now."
"Bite me." Did he just mutter 'bite me'? A bit stunned I take a minute to think about it before ultimately dumping the water on his head. Bite me indeed. If we did ever date I'd bite him alright.
Yelping and jerking upright, he gets tangled in the covers as he let's out a string of words I'd never expected to hear from his normally quiet mouth. Hm, maybe I still don't know that much about him after all.
"Do you kiss your aunt with that mouth?" Sitting down beside him on the edge of the bed, I swipe a wet bang out of his face as he fumes and looks as if he'd like nothing better than to throttle me right here and now.
"That wasn't nice, Jason." It wasn't supposed to be, Tommy.
Arms crossed, I give him a look. "Neither was telling me to bite you." Having the good grace to look slightly sheepish at that, he glances down at his wet shirt and sighs. Oh come on this isn't the way to start a long weekend trip. "I'm sorry I got you all wet."
"I'm sorry I told you to bite me. I'm just tired from last night. First I have to stay up late packing and then right when I get to sleep Rita attacks. I wasn't out for more than ten minutes before the communicator woke me up." Yeah, I know the feeling.
"Yeah. She doesn't do that often, just really bad timing this time around is all. Anyways, everyone's up and almost ready to go I think so maybe you should get changed and come downstairs." Standing, I head for the door to give him some privacy. "Look on the bright side though, at least you don't need a shower now." Barely making it out the door as a pillow is hurled at me, I head downstairs.
"Jason, hi how's it going?" Swept into a half hug by Mrs. Oliver I offer one back before moving to the counter where the blessed coffee pot is thankfully still half full.
"S'alright. I think I just ticked your nephew off by waking him up, but other then that." Pouring myself a cup of coffee and then adding some milk and sugar, I sip it happily as Jen dashes here and there putting food in the cooler.
"I heard, don't take it personally he's just really not a morning person." So I gathered.
"Yeah. Can I help you pack anything? Or take something out to the jeep for you?" I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should drive my car. I just don't like the idea of going through those hills in it, the jeep is made for rough terrain, my car isn't.
"No, no, almost done, just getting the last of the food. You just go ahead and help yourself to some breakfast if you want. There's frozen waffles in the fridge or some cereal, I see you already found the coffee, that was my first stop this morning too. We'll be ready to go in a about ten more minutes, alright."
Nodding and finishing off my coffee, I head to the fridge and retrieve the box of Eggo Waffles and pop two into the toaster. Tommy'll probably want one and if he doesn't I can eat two, I didn't eat before I left this morning.
Just as the Eggos pop back up and Mrs. Oliver heads out the back door, the rather cranky and still looking sleepy Green Ranger comes slinking into the kitchen, I'm pretty sure muttering death threats to the sun. "What god awful time in the morning is it anyways?" My aren't you just a ray of sunshine.
"Around seven." Watching him mumble more incoherent things and practically ooze to the table, I shake my head at how pitiful a sight this is. "Here." Moving to the fridge I grab the orange juice and then a waffle from the toaster. Tossing the food on a paper plate and pouring him a glass of juice, I set it down in front of him.
Raising his head and looking genuinely surprised and touched, he takes the juice glass. "Thanks." S'just a waffle and juice, wonder what he'd do if I made him dinner.
"Sure." Sitting down next to him and eating the other waffle, I keep a casual eye on him as he eats and becomes a bit more alert. "Not a morning person huh?"
Glancing at me as he nurses the juice, he shrugs. "I guess not. I was always late for school back home. I think I made it to my first period class like once a week." Really? You skipped class? When he notices my surprised expression he quickly lowers his gaze and seems to shift rather uncomfortably. "I'm doing better here though…or trying to at least."
Before I can question it further we're both interrupted. "Hey, you two ready to go?" Reentering the kitchen, apparently finished with loading the jeep up, Jen glances at the two of us.
"Yeah." Letting the matter drop with unease, Tommy quickly gets up and clears his and my place. "Ready, Jase?"
"Yeah sure." Dismissing the subject as well, as apparently Tommy isn't in the mood to go into his past, just like the last five times I've brought it up, we both follow Jen outside and too the jeep. Sigh, a four hour ride of uncomfortable silence, yeah this is gonna be fun.
To be continued….
