THE REASON - Part Fifty-Eight: The Chatterbox
Summary: The teens hang out at the cyber café to discuss all that's happened in the last few months.
Disclaimer: Power Rangers not mine, just the concept of this story is. So, sorry if you ain't feeling it.
A/N: First off, I must apologize for the long wait. I know I said give me two weeks to post and it's nearly a month, but college applications were driving me up the wall and so is senior year. Don't tell me it's suppose to be this hard, because I ain't feeling it all too well. I don't like it much, but for the most part. Read and relax. Hit me back and tell me what you think.
"After all that's happened, I think we're the luckiest of anyone to be living this life. Though, it's hard at times. It's been fun." -Eclyptyk Neo
Days later.
The teens were hanging out at the cyber café like always. It was nothing new to them either way. There was still not much on the answers to freeing Dr. Oliver from his invisible imprisonment. No one could really blame Hayley or Adam for trying, let alone keeping tabs with the other rangers. It was a lot of work. Even they were trying to fill Dr. Oliver's old crew in on the situation, but didn't know what to say. Over and over again, their mentor told them what should and shouldn't be said. Either way, the old crew would find out, but they figured it was his battle.
Conner, Ethan and Kira sat at one of the tables while Trent popped in every now and then to join the conversing. He would be off in a few minutes, but he usually ran a double shift since many of the other employees were sick or doing other things. He didn't mind it. He would get paid more in the end.
Ethan was busy playing a game on his laptop, like always, which had the conversation going only two ways-Kira and Conner.
"Don't you ever get tired of playing computer games?" Kira protested, snapping her fingers in front of the black teen.
He didn't reply.
Conner tapped the table, but got no response. He looked at Kira shaking his head. Trent took a seat beside the red ranger placing the milkshakes on the table. Kira and Conner greeted him quietly.
"Still can't get him off the computer?" Trent asked, looking over at the teen dressed in blue.
Conner reached over and pushed the ESC key on Ethan's laptop. "Just did."
"Hey!" Ethan growled as he looked up, the screen went blank.
"Sorry, dude!" Conner shrugged. "You spend too much time in front of the computer."
"We set this day aside for a reason, Ethan. This is the only free time we'll be getting before school starts up again." Kira stated.
Ethan forced out a breath, closing the laptop. ""All right. All right. I'm sorry. I forgot. And you're right. I gotta go school shopping with my mom for the rest of the week."
"Have fun." Trent shook his head. "At least you spend time with your mom. I can barely hang out with my dad. He's always so busy."
"What has your dad been up to anyways?" Kira asked.
"Busy." Trent shrugged. "I don't really know. He's been working on a whole lot of projects lately."
"Well, anyways. Has anyone been catching the Olympic coverage?" Conner asked, changing subjects.
"Busy." Kira said.
"Same here." Trent said. "Getting ready for school."
"Nope. Ya know me, computer's occupying my free time." Ethan stated. "Have you?"
"No." Conner shook his head. "I was hoping one of you was."
"I guess we've all been real busy, especially with all that's happened with Dr. Oliver since Kim left for the games." Trent stated as the three other teens nodded.
"Yeah. But can you believe it, Dr. O is gonna get married." Ethan smiled brightly.
"And not to just anyone, but the original pink ranger. And first love. I think that's really sweet." Kira pointed out.
"Yeah. I'm happy for them. I mean, they resolved their differences, right? There shouldn't be anymore bumps in their relationship." Conner said. "I just can't believe that one year ago, we barely knew the guy, and now he's like our best friend."
"It was a year ago." Ethan corrected with a nod.
"Nah. But what I noticed is there are a lot of ranger hook-ups, isn't there?" Trent said.
"Well, yeah. Why? Is there something we need to know about with you and Kira?" Ethan asked with eyebrows raised.
"Huh?" the two leaned back in shock and confusion.
Kira and Trent looked at each other briefly, but turned away and said nothing. What was there to say? Though they were spending some time with each other didn't mean they were going out. They weren't even holding hands. They just talked, but even conversation would get dull every now and then. They were both still uncertain where their relationship was going if he was going into a bf/gf relationship. But they didn't want it to ruin the friendship they already created.
"There's nothing going on between us." Trent protested, but appeared to be turning a little red.
"Uh-oh. Trent's turning a little red." Conner laughed.
"Guys. Knock it off, it's not funny." Kira tried to defend her white comrade.
"Ooh. It seems the two of you are turning a little more red than yellow or white." Ethan chuckled.
Kira and Trent exchanged another look, the look in their eyes was a simple shrug. But then Kira looked directly at Ethan, remembering a little something about his first date jitters.
"Okay. Hold on, Ethan. What about you and Cassidy?" Kira asked with eyebrows raised.
Ethan sunk in his chair. "That got worse before it could ever get better. And you know I had to break it off."
"Well, actually didn't she break it off with you?" Conner corrected with a laugh.
Ethan glared at him. "Hey, at least we're still friends."
"And didn't we give you all those tips to having a good date?" Kira stated.
"I was being myself."
"Or at least, tried to." Trent said.
"I told you not to go into geek mode, Ethan. It's a major turn off." Conner directed.
"I was nervous. It was my first date." Ethan lowered his head.
"You're just lucky Dr. O saved your butt when he did." Kira corrected, remembering how bad the date was going and the invisible teacher came in to save the day.
The date wasn't going its best. Though, Conner, Kira and Trent had given Ethan a lot of pointers on dating, he never could take it into consideration. He was a nervous wreck before and during the entire date. It was his first date, and though Dr. O had to comment on the work they did to train Ethan for the date, things were still going wrong. Especially after Ethan had mentioned his computer gaming, which Conner specifically said to stay away from. So, Dr. O came in at the end to work a little of his own romantic charm to save the date, but Tyrannodrones came and so did the end of their relationship. Funny that Ethan was hoping to break it off due to duty calls, but Cassidy beat him to the punch. But they're still friends, for the most part.
"It's funny that she still broke it off with you before you could." Conner laughed again.
"Enough, bro. It's in the past. All that matters now, is duty calls. I doubt I'll ever be ready for a relationship anytime soon anyways. Not with all that's going on right now." Ethan sighed.
"Hey, no one said it would be a perfect world." Trent shrugged.
"In a perfect world, everyone would get what they want. Honestly, I think that would be hell on earth." Kira nodded.
"And if you think about it, that wouldn't be a good thing. Everyone would get what they want, and if everyone got what they wanted. Mesogog would probably win." Conner said.
The conversation continued on for another good long hour. They recapped the last few months since the old ranger crew began to show up in Reefside, to the past few weeks with the problems residing around their mentor. Yet, the basis came from the two weddings they'd be attending regarding their ranger predecessors. Yet, with that in mind, they began to file out a plan for 'Operation: Hook Adam Up', but they all knew he was on to them about that. They just wanted him to be happy with someone, rather than be a bachelor for the rest of his life. They would hope it would keep him from spying on them, if he was doing that. They always felt watched, and with a skilled ninja as Adam, they wouldn't doubt it. They didn't want that. Conner joked about Principal Randall and Adam, but the other three teens thought he was completely insane for bringing up the idea. That isn't what they were hoping for or needed.
But as the day passed, so did the more looks of their fellow students at school. They continued to question how a computer gamer, an independent punk rock singer, a soccer player/jock and an artist ever found their way to each other as friends. The teens didn't mind it. They knew the truth, as well as connected by more than just their friendship. But the power of their dino gems.
To be continued.....
A/N: Yeah, I know, I could have done better, but I just didn't have it in me to think of anything to say, so my apologies. Writer's block as you can tell, so I am deeply sorry. Anyways, I'll see you on the flip side. Peace!