Disclaimer: I don't own Bradin. I thought I owned Lea but the girl's got a mind of her own. I don't own Summerland, bet I'd be rich if I did though. But since I'm not, don't sue me, it wouldn't be worth your time and trouble.
The sun is radiating warmly—it's a typical California afternoon.
Lea and some friends from the cross country team are sitting atop their various SUVs, basking in the afternoon rays as they enjoyed their free hour before practice.
Their conversation varies from upcoming meets to, of course, school gossip which around this time usually revolves around Homecoming.
"Lea! You cannot withdraw from the homecoming race!" As Bradin predicted, Lea was nominated for homecoming queen, and like Lea promised, she withdrew by the next period.
"I already did." Lea rolls her eyes-- doesn't anyone understand that the thought of being crowned with your own brother is beyond nauseating?
"But you're going right?"
"Yeah, I'm going." Lea tries really hard to suppress the corners of her mouth from turning up.
"Ooh!" The girls can sense a good piece of gossip about their favorite, well, only captain.
"Who's gonna be your date?" One of the girls immediately cuts to the chase.
Just as Lea opens her mouth to answer, Callie rushes out from the courtyard.
"Oh my gosh, Lea!" Her voice is filled with urgency. "Come quick, the courtyard!"
Lea isn't sure what had happened, but a gut feeling tells her not to be so dumb-- it had to be J.B. Her brother was never one for subtleties.
Lea jumps off of her SUV, stumbling a couple steps before she gained complete balance, and jogs after Callie towards the courtyard.
Sure enough, there they were, J.B. and Bradin, along with a couple of bystanders.
J.B.'s had Bradin pushed up against a locker, and Lea notices how his books have been flung violently to the ground.
"God. Cavemen could settle their differences in a more civil manner." Lea mumbles to herself.
"Stay away from my sister!" J.B.'s voice reverberated in the air.
"Look man, calm down. She's a good friend." Bradin is going to try to be the reasonable one here-- he can sympathize with J.B.'s concern, he's got a sister too. But really, he'd like to get a break once in a while, he really likes Lea. Plus the way the locker lock was digging into his shoulder blade is really uncomfortable to say the least.
"I don't know what kind of girls you're used to from Kansas, but Lea's not like that." J.B. spits the words at Bradin.
No, she's not. She's more beautiful than anyone I've ever seen, Bradin thinks. But he doubts that J.B. wants to hear about that right now.
J.B. glares dangerously at Bradin, and Lea can tell that he is an inch away from violent mode.
She briskly walks up to her brother, and tries to pull her brother away. "Okay J.B., did I miss the scene when you devolved into a Neanderthal? Because logical thought is a trait of homo sapiens, and you're really not showing it."
"Lea!" J.B. tries to push Lea back—well just to get her as far from Bradin as possible.
"Oh good, you can still remember my name!" She rolls her eyes and steps in between the two to pry her brother off of her friend. "Look, don't do this. I told you, it's just a friend thing."
"I don't like..." Before J.B. can articulate the fact that he'd prefer to have his little sister in a convent wearing a mock that revealed no parts skin, she cuts him off.
"Okay there are lots of things that I don't like J.B. Adolescence bites that way. But Bradin is my friend. We don't plan to run off and get tattooed. We plan on going to a dance where you're likely to be crowned homecoming king." Go for the flattery Noel, remind him he's a good guy, she coaches herself mentally.
But since J.B. is still standing menacingly in front of them, Lea continues, in a more forceful tone. "If you plan on beating ever guy that escorts me anywhere who you don't deem gay, you're gonna have some bloody knuckles because I don't plan on becoming a nun anytime in the foreseeable future." Yeah, she knows how her brother thinks... She finishes by shoving the car keys in his hand. "Just stop, let it go."
J.B. backs off but he is still looking unsatisfied.
Lea knows that it is time for the last straw, "I will tell Mom!"
And the mention of parental units shuttles J.B. back into the world of rationality. His parents, though they are the ones who taught him to protect his sibling, won't look kindly on a suspension. Defeated, he stalks off towards the parking lot.
The bystanders assume that the show is over, and they begin to dissipate into their classrooms.
Left alone in the courtyard with Bradin, Lea breathes a sigh of relief. She turns to Bradin and smiles apologetically. "My bad, I should have warned you about J.B."
Bradin pushes himself off of the lockers. "No harm, no foul." He rubs the spot in his shoulder blades, well that's going to bruise.
They sat down near one of the cement planters in the middle of the courtyard. Lea contemplates how to explain J.B.'s protectiveness of her.
"It's just, god, I don't want you to think like that Playa Linda Hills kids are all like, little rich crazy people." She rolls her eyes at the vain description of herself. What she really wants to say that she doesn't want him to think that they're all like Sarah.
Bradin watches her think, something he's grown to love to do, her hazel- green eyes stare into the air as if she were reading an invisible book, and she sucks in her right cheek just slightly.
Lea takes a deep breath before she starts again. "Okay, I don't know if you can tell, because you probably haven't met people like us in Kansas," she couldn't stop herself from shooting him a teasing grin, "but J.B. and I are mixed."
"Mixed," it takes Bradin a second to understand her. "Oh, you mean your parents?"
"Yeah," Lea was relieved that Bradin understands her inane babbling. "Our mom is Hawaiian, and our dad is French." she rolls her eyes, "so now you can imagine where our names come from."
There was a look of perception on Bradin's face. It certainly explains Lea's exotic features.
"My full name is Lealana, which my mom picked and J.B. stands for," Lea pauses to chuckle, "Jean-Bastien... none of the kids at kindergarten could pronounce it so it became J.B." She remembers how J.B. used to grump about being called 'Jeanne' and how that's a girl's name.
"But I digress." She frowns at her own inability to address the matter at hand. "So the point is that when we're younger, I used to get teased a lot about like, my eyes or something vapid like that." Lea breaks again to recollect, "Not that it's a big deal anymore, I mean, I'm proud who I am and who my parents are, they're great people. And we definitely take the best family vacations. But when you're six, you don't know how to take things with a grain of salt. J.B. didn't have it so bad because he looks just like dad but I got a good mix of both... and I used to come home crying because you know, people pulled my hair, and like, tried to poke my eye to see if it's like, the same as theirs and what not."
"Kids tried to poke your eye?" Bradin's own eyes widened in horror. He wants so badly just to pull her into his arms and tell her how exquisite her unique features are, and how stunning she is. But probably not in those eloquent words.
"Well like they'd try to put their fingers really close to see if like my eyes can radiate heat or... I don't know, I was little!" Lea pouts a little.
Bradin laughs as he memorizes the adorable way that her lower lip curls just slightly.
"Anyway! So J.B. is just really protective, because he's used to fighting off bullies for me. And I don't want you to think he's this like... hostile, unreasonable, angry jerk who's on testosterone overdrive."
Bradin examines Lea's pleading eyes, and notices that they turn greener when she's emotional. "You really like your brother, huh?"
"Well I've only got one," Lea rolls her eyes but smiles at the same time. She isn't about to admit to Bradin that she has this brother complex where she tends to compare all guys to a 'J.B. standard'.
"That's really cool. Nikki and I used to be talk a lot before..." Bradin doesn't want to say the words 'my parents died'.
Lea just nods. "Nikki's great, she's got good taste in books."
Bradin is grateful that Lea lets the unsaid things pass unsaid. "Let's just hope she's got good taste in guys too." He rolls his eyes.
"Well, she's got good examples." Lea says softly. Pity the boys who cross Nikki's path and have to live up to a 'Bradin' standard.
Bradin and Lea both look at each other, their eyes both revealing more emotions then they would like, although neither wanted to jump to the delicious assumption. Lea realizes the possible implications in what she's just said and quickly looks away.
"Ugh, I've gotta run." She pauses then grimly wrinkles her nose, "Literally. The girls are probably waiting for me. I'm really sorry about J.B. I'll try to get it through to him that we're just friends."
Bradin hopes that the disappointment he felt isn't showing on his face.
Lea isn't sure what that expression was, so she quickly follows, "Or maybe you want to ask another girl? I promise not all Playa Linda girls are crazy or have crazy brothers." She tries on airs of flippancy.
"No!" Bradin answers, a little too quickly probably. "I mean, I'll take my chances." Really smooth Westerly, he inwardly slaps himself.
Lea can't help feeling relieved, "Well, it's your funeral." She flashes him a grin.
A silence passes between them as neither of them want to make the first move to leave, but then the bell rings, signifying the end of school and the beginning of after school activities. "Shoot, I gotta get on the field . So, do you want to do homework together later?"
Of course Lea wants to, but she doubts that she can concentrate around Bradin today. "Um, I probably shouldn't, J.B. might storm the beach house or something..." She smiles apologetically.
Bradin nods in accordance. "Well, I'll talk to you later then."
"Okay, bye. Have a nice practice."
"Don't run into any oncoming traffic."
"Oh you are a witty one Westerly."
"You know it."
"See ya, Bradin."
"Bye Lea."
The two part ways, both hearts a little heavier, a little fuller, a little closer to each other.
A/N: Lea talks too much. I'm the author and I even think so! Callie and the scoobies will be in the next chapter... how actively will depend on how creative I can get. Or how much caffeine I consume... the two are proportionally correlated.
I realize that I probably have some real time continuation problems in this fic. So just uh. imagine in your mind how it might possibly work and yea that's how it's supposed to be... (laugh)
