Many thanks for those of you who have given me the positive reviews, I appreciate them very much.
It's great to see my good friend jovhyz back and I'm glad to see that you like my story as well.
You all know the drill with the Disclaimer. I own the made up characters and not the Rugrats/All Grown Up characters.
All you Tommy/Lil fans will adore this chapter. The main focus is on them.
....
Chapter 7: Next stop: Passion Central
Tommy had not been comfortable up to lunch. The image of Lil running her fingers along his arm played havoc with his emotions. He was almost scared to be alone with her. He dreaded the afternoon that was to come as they would be working on their Science Project. Well, really it should be "working" on their Science Project as Tommy just knew something was going to happen and it wasn't going to be getting Stu's invention to work properly. Even now, as he sat next to Phil and opposite Kimi, he could almost feel lust rising in his body. The part of his body that yearned for love...to be loved and to give love...was telling him to take advantage of the situation. His conscience was telling him to keep cool and not try anything, to think of the consequences of taking advantage of her. It was a war of Tommy's emotions. A war that could end up tearing him apart...emotionally, of course.
"Are you feeling alright Tommy?" Kimi asked. Tommy hadn't touched his glop that was supposed to represent lunch. He looked rather pale as well.
"What?" Tommy asked mechanically.
"Are you feeling alright?" Kimi asked again.
"Huh? Erm...yeah. I'm...I'm fine. Dandy. Whatever." The tone in his voice told another story though.
"You seem kind of...scared. You know, like when Chuckie gets scared of something." Phil commented.
Tommy didn't say anything. He just didn't know what to say. How can he tell Phil that he is in love with Lil and Lil made a pass at him and God knows what will happen the next time the two of them are alone together? How do you go about even starting to talk about something like that?
Tommy didn't know. He couldn't even muster his thoughts to start that kind of conversation.
"I...uh...gotta go!" Tommy quickly got up and dashed out of the cafeteria.
The other three looked at each other with confusion evident on their faces.
....
Angelica sat alone during her English lesson. She was depressed. As she suspected, she was now shunned from society for her evil act. That didn't have too much of an affect on her. Neither did the principal reprimanding her about assaulting Chuckie and skipping the first two lessons of school. She was depressed because she wouldn't see Chuckie for a while now. All she felt like doing was professing to him how sorry she was. She had done that, but felt like she had to do it again. She still had that guilty conscience hanging over her and it wasn't going to go away any time soon. She looked out of the window, not paying any attention to the teacher ramble on about something. She watched as tree branches swayed in the breeze that was blowing.
"Angelica Pickles!" The teacher's voice shouted, causing Angelica to jump.
"What? Oh, sorry sir." Angelica apologized.
"Pay attention or you'll have to stay behind after school."
"I'm doing that for the next three weeks anyway." Angelica mumbled. The first week of detention wouldn't bother her as she wouldn't be able to check up on Chuckie anyway. The next two weeks would bother her though.
'I wish I could see him again.' She thought.
....
Tommy ran into the boys' bathroom and started to breathe heavily. The turned the cold tap on and began throwing the running water over his face. He was freaked out big time.
'Who would have thought that love could be so terrifying?' He thought as he turned the tap off and began rubbing the water away from his eyes.
"Tommy?" Phil called as he came into the bathroom. "Are you alright?"
Tommy rubbed more water away from his face and opened his eyes to look at Phil.
"I'm...a little worried, that's all." Tommy said, trying to reassure his friend.
"Worried about what?" Phil asked. Something in the back of Phil's mind told him that Tommy was hiding something from him.
"Er...nothing serious." Tommy lied.
"Nothing serious? Are you serious? You freaked out back there for no apparent reason! You've been acting strange ever since Science class! What is wrong with you man?"
"Nothing is wrong! Just stop asking alright?!" Tommy shouted.
"Hey chill! I'm just concerned for you. That's all." Phil reasoned, holding his hands in front of him.
"Well I don't need it. There's nothing wrong with me so just leave it at that!" Tommy said as he walked out of the bathroom.
"Well sorry." Phil said sarcastically after Tommy had gone.
....
At the end of the school day, Tommy quickly made his way to the Java Lava. He wished he could have one of Chuckie's special smoothies, he needed one after the day he had. He had tried to avoid Lil for the rest of the day, but knew that she would be waiting for him when he got home as they needed to continue their Science Project. He entered the Java Lava and saw Betty at the counter.
"Hey Tommy." She greeted him.
"Hey Betty. Can you get me an Orange and Banana smoothie to go?" He asked.
"Yeah sure thing. Philly is in the back if you wanna talk to him." Betty said as she started to get the items she needed to make Tommy's smoothie.
Tommy walked into the back to see Phil struggling to move some heavy bags of coffee beans.
"Oh, hey T." Phil puffed.
"Getting a good workout?" Tommy joked.
"Shut it. This is hard work. How mum does this all day is beyond me." Phil told his friend.
"So, why are you working here?" Tommy asked.
"Well, Chas and Kimi have gone to the hospital to check on Chuckie and mum can't run the place by herself, so I'm kind of covering for Kimi. Although we're missing an afternoon of Science work, she said that she would spend the whole of Sunday with me working on our project." Phil explained.
"So you got the short straw then?"
"Yep. Knowing Kimi, she'll be round at about 7 in the morning so I won't get my lie in on my lazy Sunday." Phil moaned.
Tommy laughed lightly as Betty came in with Tommy's smoothie.
"Here ya go kiddo. Don't forget to bring the canister back tomorrow or Chazzy will blow his top." Betty joked.
"Will do. Well Phil, I gotta go. See ya tomorrow." Tommy waved to Phil as he left.
....
Tommy was still drinking his smoothie as he got home. He wanted to avoid Lil, but he couldn't. They were partners on a Science Project and that had to take precedence over their little "encounter" this morning. He opened the door and immediately went up to his room. He opened the door and found Lil dozing on his bed. Dil came up behind Tommy.
"Hey T. Lil came in about ten minutes ago. I told her that you would be back soon." Dil looked at Lil resting on Tommy's bed. "I guess she was tired."
"Thanks Dil. Well, I hate to wake her, but we've an invention to work on." Tommy said.
Dil nodded before he went back into his room and closed his door. Tommy took a deep breath and lightly rested his hand on Lil's shoulder. Her eyes opened and she looked up to see Tommy. Her face flushed red.
"Erm...sorry." She apologised nervously as she sat up.
"It's...okay. So...you ready to work?" Tommy asked, just as nervous.
"Um...yeah, yeah. I'll, uh, get the tools." Lil told Tommy as she got up and left.
Tommy sighed and pulled out a number of newspapers and began covering the floor in them. His mom wouldn't normally let him work in his room but as Stu was nearly always in the basement; all three of them would end up getting in each others way. Tommy then went down to the basement where his father was working, just for a change, and picked the invention up and took it up to his room. By the time he had got back, Lil had returned with the tools and had decided to play with a wrench until Tommy returned.
"So...here we go." Tommy said.
"Uh, yeah. So, what first?" She asked.
"Well, I think that...this thing here needs re-wiring." Tommy said as he opened a panel and pointed to a number of poorly connected wires.
Lil had come to Tommy's and knelt down to look at the wires. Unwittingly, she placed her hand on his shoulder as he talked.
"Uh-huh. What do you want first?" She asked.
"Hand me that screwdriver and could you be a sport and plug the soldering iron as well."
Lil plugged the soldering iron in and switched it on then picked up the screwdriver. She handed it to Tommy who, as he took it, placed his hand on hers, causing both of them to blush.
"Uh...I'm sorry." Tommy apologised.
"It's alright."
The tension and nervousness in Tommy's room was so thick that you could cut it with a knife and make no impression what so ever. Just as Tommy had predicted, something had happened and now concentrating on their project was hard...and they had barely started!
"Um...I..." Tommy wanted to say something to Lil. He just didn't know what so say to remove some of the nerves and tension.
"Look, Tommy. We...need to...talk. About what happened today, do...do you think we could stop working for a bit?" She asked.
"I er...guess so."
"I...I made a pass at you today and, well, I was daydreaming at the time. I didn't mean to make a pass at you, but I wasn't aware I was doing so until it was too late. I don't want to ruin our friendship, but I do...like you." Lil laughed a little to calm herself. "I expect you already knew that I liked you and I don't want to force anything on you, but I think it would help us concentrate on our project if we knew how we felt about each other." Lil was dicing with danger here, but she was concerned for hers and Tommy's sake. If they kept on with this game, both of them might end up failing all because they couldn't admit to each other how they felt.
Tommy struggled to say something. "I...er."
"Do you like me, Tommy?" Lil asked hopefully.
"Well, I do. I...well, love you...really. I've been trying to...stop feeling this way about you. I was...scared that you would reject me. Even now, I'm scared that Phil won't take this too well." Tommy was partially lying. He wasn't scared, he was terrified!
"Oh Tommy. Don't worry about Phil. He'll get over it eventually. What matters at the moment is us. I know we should work, but I can't stop thinking about you. I think about you a lot." Lil admitted as tears came into her eyes.
Tommy moved next to her and put an arm around her.
"Hey, don't cry. I care about you Lil. I wanna continue our project, but you are on my mind a lot." Tommy replied. Lil looked into Tommy's eyes before they moved closer and started to kiss passionately.
....
Chuckie sighed contently. Kimi, Kira and Chas were with him and visiting time was almost over. They had talked about quite a lot of things and Chuckie was glad to hear that his friends were getting along fine. A nurse came in.
"I'm sorry, but visiting time is over."
Chas nodded and looked at his son. "We'll have to go now. Keep safe son." Chas hugged Chuckie, followed by a kiss and hug form Kira and a hug from Kimi.
The three were about to exit when Chuckie called to Kimi.
"Hey Kimi. I wanna quickly ask you something."
Kimi rushed back to her brother's side.
"What is it Chuckie?" She asked.
"Could you do me a favour?"
"What?"
"Well, as I told you, Angelica was here begging for forgiveness and I said that I would consider the possibility of forgiving her if she did what I asked her. I want you and the others to question her about her being here. You know, get her to say everything that happened. If she really wants me to forgive her, then she will say nothing. If she says something then tell her so see me ASAP. If she doesn't say anything, then maybe there is a chance of me eventually forgiving her." Chuckie explained.
Kimi nodded and turned to leave.
"Oh, and Kimi? Don't let you feelings of anger and revenge get the better of you." Chuckie advised his sister.
Kimi didn't acknowledge him. She wanted revenge and she would get it.
To Be Continued...
....
Looks like Kimi means business with Angelica.
Things seem to be getting better for Tommy and Lil now that they have admitted how they feel. Will Phil and Kimi get along the same way? Find out in the next chapter which will focus on them and Kimi's bloodlust!
