Standard disclaimer: If I owned the show, I'd be too busy being rich to be writing on my computer at three in the morning.Read, review, lemme know if you want me to finish!
Rain.
It was raining, again. No, scratch that, it had never stopped raining to begin with. For the past week, it had been raining steadily. Sometimes it was a drizzle, but most times it was in sheets, torrents of cold, depressing water.
Lily Randall sighed and slumped further in her seat, listening to the teacher drone on monotonously, almost entirely drowned out by the pounding of the rain on the roof of Roscoe High. She buried her head in her hands, stifling a groan. It was only nine o' clock and she was already bored to tears. Usually, she would try to sneak Travis a note, as he sat in the seat next to hers, but today he was conspicuously absent. So instead, she gave herself away to mind numbing boredom.
The door opened, interrupting her thinking, and a tired looking Travis walked in, silently handing the teacher a late slip and slid into his seat.
Lily leaned over once the teacher continued the lecture. "Hey. Where were you?"
Travis shrugged, laying his bag down on his desk and laying his had down.
Lily frowned. "Okay...you look really tired."
"I overslept," he finally said, turning his head to face her.
"You? You never oversleep," Lily said skeptically.
"Well, I did," he said.
"Sorry," Lily backed off. "What's wrong?"
Travis stared at her for a moment, then shrugged again. "Nothin'."
"Mr. Strong, Ms. Randall, do you have something to add to the lesson?" the teacher asked, standing at the bored, glaring.
"Uh–"
"I was asking what I had missed," Travis said.
"Well, see me after class next time," the teacher scowled.
"Yes ma'am, I'll be sure not to do that," Travis said quickly."
"Good," the teacher said, turning her attention to the board.
Lily clapped a hand over her mouth to hide the giggle threatening to be voiced. He had spoken so quickly, the teacher hadn't even picked up that extra word that could have gotten him in trouble.
Luckily, the bell rang, saving her, and she giggled aloud.
"Travis, I can't believe you said that!" she said as they gathered their things.
"Yeah," Travis said, cracking a faint smile. "She didn't even notice."
He paused to get a drink at the water fountain, and she waited until he resurfaced, then lightly smacked his arm.
"Hey! What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his arm as if it had hurt.
She grinned, then began walking.
Quickly realizing that he wasn't following, she tunred around. "Uh, English, Trav, remember?"
"Yeah," he said, slipping his bag over his head.
"You comin'?" she asked, rolling her eyes.
She frowned when she realized he was actually debating on that.
"Actually...I'm gonna..." he trailed off, jerking his thumb in the other direction.
Lily's eyes widened in shock. "Cut?"
Travis flinched at the word.
"I can't believe you, of all people, are going to ditch class! You just got here!" she cried.
"You done?" he asked. "The halls are emptying. I don't want to be conspicuous."
"Done," Lily said, taking a step towards him. "So, where we goin'?"
He narrowed his eyes. "You're...coming with me?"
"What's life if you don't live a little, right?" she grinned.
He smiled back, laughing. "You of all people...let's go."
They scanned the halls for any faculty-like activity, then quickly walked to the nearest door, ducking out, raising their jackets over their heads, and keeping to the brisk pace until they were off of school grounds, safely a block away.
"Have you given any thought to the fact that we might drown before enjoying this experience?" Lily half-yelled over the rain that now soaked them to the bone.
"Not really!" Travis laughed, spinning around goofily. "I love the rain."
"Yeah, me too," Lily said, "but not when it's freezing!"
"Do you have gym clothes on you?" he said, falling into pace beside her.
"Yeah, in my bag, why?" she asked, keeping her back under her jacket so her papers didn't get ruined.
"We'll go to my house, you can change into them there," he explained.
"If they're not soaked, too," she laughed. "Won't your parents be home?"
"No," he said. "Not until late tonight."
"You know, I've never actually been to your house," Lily said a few moments later.
"I never even thought about that. I'm not used to having people over," he said, shrugging. "It's nothing special."
"Sure it is!" she countered. "A person's room can tell you a lot about them."
"Is that a good thing?" he asked, leading her up the stairs to a modest three story house, shaded behind a group of trees.
Under the porch roof, sheltered from the rain, Lily nodded, ringing out her long blonde hair. "Yeah. It's...an insight!"
Travis laughed and let them in the front door.
The foyer was small, opening into a cramped hallway. Once you got over the tight space, the first thing that was noticeable was the spotlessness. A tidy living room, with a couch and entertainment center and neatly arranged coffee table. Polished hardwood floors, no clutter in sight.
"Wow," Lily said.
"Yeah, I know," Travis said.
"It's so...clean," she marveled.
"Yeah," he laughed. "Come on, my room's up here."
He lead her up the stairs, past several rooms with closed doors, to a doorway at the end of the hall. He opened the door and yet another set of stairs greeted her. The staircase curved as they ascended, giving way to a large room.
"Sweet," she remarked, taking in the contents.
Against the wall of one side of the room was his bed, the blue flannel comforter hurriedly tossed on, pillows here and there. At the foot of the bed, a small dresser stood against the wall, and on top, a TV and DVD/VCR. Nearby, a desk was piled high with papers and a laptop computer. Against the opposite wall was a huge bookcase, reaching up to the ceiling, filled almost completely with books. Also lining the shelves were several radios and cameras of different natures. The floor was cluttered with a only few notebooks, a t-shirt and, a pair of PJ pants.
"The only thing missing is the posters," she said. "Come on, no posters?"
The walls were bare, painted blue.
"No posters," he laughed. "How're the gym clothes?"
Lily rummaged through her bag. "Still good."
"You can change in here," Travis said, grabbing some clothes from his dresser. "That door is the bathroom. The one by the bed's a closet...you don't want to mistake it."
She laughed, taking her gym clothes in hand. "Kay."
"I'll be in the downstairs bathroom if you need me," he said.
"Kay!" she repeated, heading into the bathroom.
It too was neat, towels hung up, sink uncluttered, hamper shut, floor not full of yucky guy things.
She shivered as she shrugged out of her jacket, hanging it over the shower rod to dry. She did the same with her jeans and t-shirt, thanking silently that hr undergarments remained dry. Shivering more, she let the air dry her skin before pulling on her sorts and Roscoe High School P.E. shirt.
"Ugh," she said looking in the mirror.
Her wet hair hung in strings. She lifted it up, wishing she had a something to hold it up with. Or a towel, maybe.
She shivered again and opened the bathroom door.
Travis was still downstairs.
She rubbed her arms to generate some warmth, and headed down the stairwell, into the second floor hallway.
"Travis?"
When she got no answered, she headed for the half open door to her left, hoping it was the bathroom.
"Travis?" she asked, pushing the door open the rest of the way.
Travis jumped, in the middle of pulling on a shirt, spinning around, but not before Lily caught sight of a massive bruise stretching across his back and right shoulder blade.
"Lily!"
"Eep!" she cried, spinning around herself. "Sorry! The door was open!"
"No worries," he said. "I'm decent."
She turned around as he finished pulling down his long sleeved shirt.
"My fault," he assured her. "I didn't check to make sure I shut the door all the way."
She nodded, clearing her throat. "Um...what's the bruise from?"
"Bruise?" he asked, furrowing his brow.
"Yeah, you have this huge bruise on your back," she explained.
"I thought that hurt a bit more than usual," he joked. "I got a bit sloppy at karate the other night. My partner slammed me onto the matt pretty hard. Guess that's it," he shrugged.
"Ouch," she said, then slowly grinned. "Wait...you got beat?"
"Haha," he said, giving her a look. "I'm not perfect."
"No, I wasn't saying that," she said, confused. "I was joking."
"I know," he laughed. "Gotcha!"
"Geez," she rolled her eyes. "All I wanted was a towel!"
Travis reached into a large wicker cabinet set into the wall and pulled out a fluffy towel, tossing it to her.
"Thanks," she said.
They walked back up to his room, where Travis literally jumped onto his bed, bouncing up and down.
"Like a five year old," Lily laughed, drying her hair.
"I love this bed," Travis said, snuggling down into the comforter. "It's the most comfortable thing ever."
"Going materialistic on me, Strong?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
"No!" he said, sitting up. "It's just...comfortable."
"Mm hmm," she said skeptically, sitting down by his feet. "Well...it does pass the Lily Randall butt test."
Her comment was met with a raised eyebrow and a stare.
"What?" she said innocently.
"You're weird."
"Look who's talking."
He stared at her for a moment. "Why'd you come with me?"
"What, today?" she asked, laying her towel on her lap.
"Yeah."
"Boredom...excitement...I live for danger!" she said, finally shrugging. "I dunno."
"Fair enough," he said.
"So, what're we doing?" she said, excited again.
"I dunno...I hadn't thought much more than getting out the doors," he confessed.
"Why don't we check out your state of the art, too expensive for me DVD player?" she grinned, eyeing his bookcase shelves full of movies.
"Take your pick," he said, waving his arm at the array.
"You better not just have cheesy ninja movies," she warned, heading over to take a look.
Travis just smirked.
"Cheesy ninja movie, cheesy ninja movie," she recited, looking at the titles. "'Nother cheesy ninja movie...Ooh! You have Stepmom? I love this movie!"
She grabbed the DVD and brought it over to the bed, grinning like a little kid. "Explain why you have a total chick flick with your ninja movies."
"It's a good movie, Lily," he laughed. "If you'll notice, I've got a wide variety of movies, not just cheesy ninja movies. Which aren't cheesy, mind you."
Lily just gave him a look.
"Okay. Mostly cheesy ninja movies," he admitted, popping the DVD into the player.
He hit play and headed back to the bed, arranging the pillows at the headboard to prop himself up. Lily remained sitting on the side of the bed.
Travis laughed. "Lily, it's not going to kill you to lay down on my bed."
Lily tried to look offended. "I wasn't...okay, fine, I was content to sit there for several hours."
Travis shook his head. "I promise, I won't put the moves on you."
"As if you could even!" she cried, but relented, moving into position next to him.
Several minutes passed before Lily began to shiver again.
"Lily, are you going to have a heart attack if I pull the covers over us?" travis teased, nudging her with his elbow.
She stuck out her tongue. "No."
"Good," he said, and pulled his thick blanket over them. "Better?"
"Mmm...soft," she said sleepily. "Blankie..."
"Okay, now I'm scared," Travis laughed.
"Just joshin'," Lily grinned, pulling the blanket up to her chin. "Movie time."
And they settled amongst the covers to watch the chick flick.
Rain.
It was raining, again. No, scratch that, it had never stopped raining to begin with. For the past week, it had been raining steadily. Sometimes it was a drizzle, but most times it was in sheets, torrents of cold, depressing water.
Lily Randall sighed and slumped further in her seat, listening to the teacher drone on monotonously, almost entirely drowned out by the pounding of the rain on the roof of Roscoe High. She buried her head in her hands, stifling a groan. It was only nine o' clock and she was already bored to tears. Usually, she would try to sneak Travis a note, as he sat in the seat next to hers, but today he was conspicuously absent. So instead, she gave herself away to mind numbing boredom.
The door opened, interrupting her thinking, and a tired looking Travis walked in, silently handing the teacher a late slip and slid into his seat.
Lily leaned over once the teacher continued the lecture. "Hey. Where were you?"
Travis shrugged, laying his bag down on his desk and laying his had down.
Lily frowned. "Okay...you look really tired."
"I overslept," he finally said, turning his head to face her.
"You? You never oversleep," Lily said skeptically.
"Well, I did," he said.
"Sorry," Lily backed off. "What's wrong?"
Travis stared at her for a moment, then shrugged again. "Nothin'."
"Mr. Strong, Ms. Randall, do you have something to add to the lesson?" the teacher asked, standing at the bored, glaring.
"Uh–"
"I was asking what I had missed," Travis said.
"Well, see me after class next time," the teacher scowled.
"Yes ma'am, I'll be sure not to do that," Travis said quickly."
"Good," the teacher said, turning her attention to the board.
Lily clapped a hand over her mouth to hide the giggle threatening to be voiced. He had spoken so quickly, the teacher hadn't even picked up that extra word that could have gotten him in trouble.
Luckily, the bell rang, saving her, and she giggled aloud.
"Travis, I can't believe you said that!" she said as they gathered their things.
"Yeah," Travis said, cracking a faint smile. "She didn't even notice."
He paused to get a drink at the water fountain, and she waited until he resurfaced, then lightly smacked his arm.
"Hey! What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his arm as if it had hurt.
She grinned, then began walking.
Quickly realizing that he wasn't following, she tunred around. "Uh, English, Trav, remember?"
"Yeah," he said, slipping his bag over his head.
"You comin'?" she asked, rolling her eyes.
She frowned when she realized he was actually debating on that.
"Actually...I'm gonna..." he trailed off, jerking his thumb in the other direction.
Lily's eyes widened in shock. "Cut?"
Travis flinched at the word.
"I can't believe you, of all people, are going to ditch class! You just got here!" she cried.
"You done?" he asked. "The halls are emptying. I don't want to be conspicuous."
"Done," Lily said, taking a step towards him. "So, where we goin'?"
He narrowed his eyes. "You're...coming with me?"
"What's life if you don't live a little, right?" she grinned.
He smiled back, laughing. "You of all people...let's go."
They scanned the halls for any faculty-like activity, then quickly walked to the nearest door, ducking out, raising their jackets over their heads, and keeping to the brisk pace until they were off of school grounds, safely a block away.
"Have you given any thought to the fact that we might drown before enjoying this experience?" Lily half-yelled over the rain that now soaked them to the bone.
"Not really!" Travis laughed, spinning around goofily. "I love the rain."
"Yeah, me too," Lily said, "but not when it's freezing!"
"Do you have gym clothes on you?" he said, falling into pace beside her.
"Yeah, in my bag, why?" she asked, keeping her back under her jacket so her papers didn't get ruined.
"We'll go to my house, you can change into them there," he explained.
"If they're not soaked, too," she laughed. "Won't your parents be home?"
"No," he said. "Not until late tonight."
"You know, I've never actually been to your house," Lily said a few moments later.
"I never even thought about that. I'm not used to having people over," he said, shrugging. "It's nothing special."
"Sure it is!" she countered. "A person's room can tell you a lot about them."
"Is that a good thing?" he asked, leading her up the stairs to a modest three story house, shaded behind a group of trees.
Under the porch roof, sheltered from the rain, Lily nodded, ringing out her long blonde hair. "Yeah. It's...an insight!"
Travis laughed and let them in the front door.
The foyer was small, opening into a cramped hallway. Once you got over the tight space, the first thing that was noticeable was the spotlessness. A tidy living room, with a couch and entertainment center and neatly arranged coffee table. Polished hardwood floors, no clutter in sight.
"Wow," Lily said.
"Yeah, I know," Travis said.
"It's so...clean," she marveled.
"Yeah," he laughed. "Come on, my room's up here."
He lead her up the stairs, past several rooms with closed doors, to a doorway at the end of the hall. He opened the door and yet another set of stairs greeted her. The staircase curved as they ascended, giving way to a large room.
"Sweet," she remarked, taking in the contents.
Against the wall of one side of the room was his bed, the blue flannel comforter hurriedly tossed on, pillows here and there. At the foot of the bed, a small dresser stood against the wall, and on top, a TV and DVD/VCR. Nearby, a desk was piled high with papers and a laptop computer. Against the opposite wall was a huge bookcase, reaching up to the ceiling, filled almost completely with books. Also lining the shelves were several radios and cameras of different natures. The floor was cluttered with a only few notebooks, a t-shirt and, a pair of PJ pants.
"The only thing missing is the posters," she said. "Come on, no posters?"
The walls were bare, painted blue.
"No posters," he laughed. "How're the gym clothes?"
Lily rummaged through her bag. "Still good."
"You can change in here," Travis said, grabbing some clothes from his dresser. "That door is the bathroom. The one by the bed's a closet...you don't want to mistake it."
She laughed, taking her gym clothes in hand. "Kay."
"I'll be in the downstairs bathroom if you need me," he said.
"Kay!" she repeated, heading into the bathroom.
It too was neat, towels hung up, sink uncluttered, hamper shut, floor not full of yucky guy things.
She shivered as she shrugged out of her jacket, hanging it over the shower rod to dry. She did the same with her jeans and t-shirt, thanking silently that hr undergarments remained dry. Shivering more, she let the air dry her skin before pulling on her sorts and Roscoe High School P.E. shirt.
"Ugh," she said looking in the mirror.
Her wet hair hung in strings. She lifted it up, wishing she had a something to hold it up with. Or a towel, maybe.
She shivered again and opened the bathroom door.
Travis was still downstairs.
She rubbed her arms to generate some warmth, and headed down the stairwell, into the second floor hallway.
"Travis?"
When she got no answered, she headed for the half open door to her left, hoping it was the bathroom.
"Travis?" she asked, pushing the door open the rest of the way.
Travis jumped, in the middle of pulling on a shirt, spinning around, but not before Lily caught sight of a massive bruise stretching across his back and right shoulder blade.
"Lily!"
"Eep!" she cried, spinning around herself. "Sorry! The door was open!"
"No worries," he said. "I'm decent."
She turned around as he finished pulling down his long sleeved shirt.
"My fault," he assured her. "I didn't check to make sure I shut the door all the way."
She nodded, clearing her throat. "Um...what's the bruise from?"
"Bruise?" he asked, furrowing his brow.
"Yeah, you have this huge bruise on your back," she explained.
"I thought that hurt a bit more than usual," he joked. "I got a bit sloppy at karate the other night. My partner slammed me onto the matt pretty hard. Guess that's it," he shrugged.
"Ouch," she said, then slowly grinned. "Wait...you got beat?"
"Haha," he said, giving her a look. "I'm not perfect."
"No, I wasn't saying that," she said, confused. "I was joking."
"I know," he laughed. "Gotcha!"
"Geez," she rolled her eyes. "All I wanted was a towel!"
Travis reached into a large wicker cabinet set into the wall and pulled out a fluffy towel, tossing it to her.
"Thanks," she said.
They walked back up to his room, where Travis literally jumped onto his bed, bouncing up and down.
"Like a five year old," Lily laughed, drying her hair.
"I love this bed," Travis said, snuggling down into the comforter. "It's the most comfortable thing ever."
"Going materialistic on me, Strong?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
"No!" he said, sitting up. "It's just...comfortable."
"Mm hmm," she said skeptically, sitting down by his feet. "Well...it does pass the Lily Randall butt test."
Her comment was met with a raised eyebrow and a stare.
"What?" she said innocently.
"You're weird."
"Look who's talking."
He stared at her for a moment. "Why'd you come with me?"
"What, today?" she asked, laying her towel on her lap.
"Yeah."
"Boredom...excitement...I live for danger!" she said, finally shrugging. "I dunno."
"Fair enough," he said.
"So, what're we doing?" she said, excited again.
"I dunno...I hadn't thought much more than getting out the doors," he confessed.
"Why don't we check out your state of the art, too expensive for me DVD player?" she grinned, eyeing his bookcase shelves full of movies.
"Take your pick," he said, waving his arm at the array.
"You better not just have cheesy ninja movies," she warned, heading over to take a look.
Travis just smirked.
"Cheesy ninja movie, cheesy ninja movie," she recited, looking at the titles. "'Nother cheesy ninja movie...Ooh! You have Stepmom? I love this movie!"
She grabbed the DVD and brought it over to the bed, grinning like a little kid. "Explain why you have a total chick flick with your ninja movies."
"It's a good movie, Lily," he laughed. "If you'll notice, I've got a wide variety of movies, not just cheesy ninja movies. Which aren't cheesy, mind you."
Lily just gave him a look.
"Okay. Mostly cheesy ninja movies," he admitted, popping the DVD into the player.
He hit play and headed back to the bed, arranging the pillows at the headboard to prop himself up. Lily remained sitting on the side of the bed.
Travis laughed. "Lily, it's not going to kill you to lay down on my bed."
Lily tried to look offended. "I wasn't...okay, fine, I was content to sit there for several hours."
Travis shook his head. "I promise, I won't put the moves on you."
"As if you could even!" she cried, but relented, moving into position next to him.
Several minutes passed before Lily began to shiver again.
"Lily, are you going to have a heart attack if I pull the covers over us?" travis teased, nudging her with his elbow.
She stuck out her tongue. "No."
"Good," he said, and pulled his thick blanket over them. "Better?"
"Mmm...soft," she said sleepily. "Blankie..."
"Okay, now I'm scared," Travis laughed.
"Just joshin'," Lily grinned, pulling the blanket up to her chin. "Movie time."
And they settled amongst the covers to watch the chick flick.