disclaimer: i'm disclaiming away, i don't own the darned show, characters, anything. just read and don't think too much on it. it is just fan fic.


The laces on Lea's yellow converse sneakers seem to be tied tighter than she remembers as her fingers fumble clumsily over them. Inside the closed mahogany front door of the Noel mansion, Lea is desperately trying to take her shoes off and stop herself from hyperventilating at the same time.

He kissed her.

She thought she was going to faint.

It wasn't even a oxygen-restricting, tongues-massaging, spit-swatting, lip bruising kind of kiss, far from it.

It was a relatively light kiss, but it tasted the chocolate and marshmallows. And he bit on her lower lip just ever so slightly before he broke away.

10 short seconds of her life were enough to send her into post-lip-lock shock so severely that she can't even "... untie these stupid LACES!"

Lea threw her hand over her mouth as she heard her own voice reverberate from the high entrance ceilings, not that there was anyone to disturb. She knew exactly where her parents are—in her father's study, which is practically in another wing of the house.

She can see it in her head, he'd be sitting at his rose wood desk, shuffling papers, and her mother on the sofa with her legs folded beneath her, covered under a Hawaiian quilt, flipping through fabric swatches.

"Finally!" She kicked off her shoes to the side and ran through her house towards the study, passing the kitchen, and the casual dining room until she got to a brightly lighted hallway with two doors.

She knocks lightly on the door before entering, only to find her parents exactly how she envisioned. "I'm home." Lea says, a little breathlessly.

A short conversation ensued, in which her parents asked her if she had enjoyed herself, how her brother looked when he was crowned, and other parental questions, before she could excuse herself to escape to her room.

He kissed her... Lea's brain is mumbling the same mantra repeatedly to herself as she dries her caramel brown hair with a large terry cloth towel.

Around the thirty-fourth repetition of the three little words, the fact finally registers, and Lea's about to start banging her head on the marble slab that is her bathroom sink.

It was difficult enough leaving his arms when he held her by the bonfire, but a kiss, his kiss—as small and negligible of a kiss as it may have been—she's afraid it would become a drug. Not just any kind of drug, but the worst that there is—like heroin, angel's dust; one hit and you're hooked.

As if it had found a second axiom, her brain starts repeating a different tune.

"Why?"

And a million reasons ran through her head.

Is it possible that he just happened to lose his balance while standing, causing him to fall forward and brush upon her lips?

Better yet, Bradin Westerly is really Lucifer reincarnated, ascending from the fires below to create unnecessary commotion in her life.

Or maybe it was a fleeting instant of acute insanity.

But most likely, Lea thought, in what she deems to be a logical way, he got caught up in the moment.

It isn't as if he likes her.

Lea tears the preposterous thought up in little pieces as though it was the devil's contract. Life is not a primetime drama where every affection the girl feels is requited. Don't be such a needy brat. Lea thinks as she buries her face in her pillow.

The world can't perfect like that Lea. She tells herself. She has to go to school Monday, ready to just be his friend, because that's all there is to them.

Right?
Skateboard in hand, Bradin arrives at school on Monday. He strolls down the hallway, giving only half an ear to the buzz around him.

It's the same at any high school-- after a big event like homecoming, the week after is usually consumed with the consequential gossip. He made out with Her; So-And-So broke up with What's-His-Name; You-Know-Who ended up with Remember-Him, mostly rumors, everything exaggerated.

Too immersed in his own thoughts, Bradin pays little attention to the rumor mill today, Bradin is concentrated on his 'plan', which took him all day yesterday to devise.

Sundays are designated The Beach House Ultimate Clean Up-Athon. Events include Speed-Clean Your Room, Muscle Bathroom Scrubbing, The Vacuum and Sweep Obstacle Course, and Johnny's favorite, Just Raid The Fridge.

But Sunday could not have pass slower for the boy. Bradin thought that the sun would never go down and morning would never come as he shuffled around the beach house, being of little use to anyone, because all he could do was think about 'the plan'.

As he approaches his locker, he is ready to put his 'plan' into action. He finds the locale to be arranged to his liking—Lea has already arrived and is speaking to a friend with her back to him.

Perfect, Bradin thinks as he reaches his locker. He draws it open quietly, making sure he doesn't make too much noise or interrupt Lea's conversation.

While Lea is still talking to her friend, Bradin peers into her locker and notices her usual coffee tumbler. He quietly reaches in and snatches it—one of his morning habits.

When Lea's friend disappears into a classroom across the hall, Bradin begins to open his mouth--

Except Lea beats him to it, "Hey Bradin." NO!!! Red warning lights flash in Bradin's head when Lea greets him before he could speak.

But have no fear—after the girl decided to completely throw him off his game by opening the door for him at her house, Bradin had figured that he needs more than just one plan when dealing with the vixen known as Lealana Noel.

Switching gears into the dialogue sequence where Lea commences the conversation, Bradin clears his throat, "Hey." He turns his attention back towards his locker in order to recollect and reorganize the game plan.

Unfortunately, plan B is no where as smooth or polished as plan A. In fact, he had code named it the panic plan, where he's basically supposed to just blurt out, "I'm crazy about you, go out with me."

Thinking that Bradin isn't paying any attention, Lea takes the initiative, "Bradin!" She tries to peer past his locker door.

Bradin is silently saying a small prayer, please let this work God, I'll go feed all the bums on the beach if you just let me have this one.

Lea slowly moves his locker door, and begins after she draws in a shallow breath of air. "Look, I don't want us to be, like, awkward. I mean, I get it. It is totally comprehensible that, you know, caught up in the moment and it didn't mean anything. It's totally cool, don't even stress about it." Lea finishes with a slight shake of the head, as if with that, the kiss has been erased from the brief biography of Bradin and Lea.

Bradin feels the blood drain out of his head. What is she saying? All traces of plan A, B, all the way through the rest of the 24 alphabet letters, continuing onto double combinations AA, AB, and etc, flew out of Bradin's mind. Oh no, she cannot do this.

"Don't stress about it?" Bradin's voice sounded strangely strained even to himself, "I'll have you know, I missed out on the ham roast leftovers because I was planning out this conversation! So Lea Noel, you are going to listen!"

At his adamant tone, which he has never taken with her before, Lea phases into a vegetable state, where she can only widen her eyes and her voice box seems to have deactivated.

Ham roast? Lea is lost.

"It did mean something, well, at least to me. It meant more than just something, it meant weeks of thinking of no one and nothing but you. I like you Lea, a lot. And it took more than a lifetime of courage to kiss you. Because now the thought of never kissing you again rips me apart, but the thought of you walking out of our friendship would probably leave me in a rigor mortis state."

"Rigor Mortis—that's pretty severe, Bradin..." Lea meekly interrupts.

Bradin stares at her, letting her know that he's not finished. "Severe would be putting it lightly Lea! I'm caught between a rock and hard spot, the ever elusive catch 22, I was nowhere yet I was stuck there. So don't tell me not to stress about it, I AM stressed, I'm so stressed that I washed my hair with body soap yesterday, and my hair is turning gray overnight. Every moment that I'm not with you, I'm missing you, and when you're near me, my heart pounds so fast that I'm afraid my rib cage is going to get dislocated. And I wouldn't – "

But before the soliloquy is finished, a nasty buzz rings loudly above their heads, leaveing a resonating vibration in their ears. The first period bell.

"Oh shoot! Econ!" Lea suddenly finds her voice and instinctively, she grabs Bradin's wrist and sprints off towards their classroom halfway around the school.

Lea sees the door is still open as she dashes towards it, hoping to be able to slide into an open seat near the entrance and escape the wrath of the Wicked Witch of the West.

For some reason, the tardy bell decides to ring annoyingly on time today, seconds before Lea could slip into the classroom, and when it ends, Lea finds herself face to face with Playa Linda's resident evil.

"Did we lose our way on the way to class this morning?" A patrician looking, tall, thin woman guards the hallway of room 6-6. There is a malicious gleam in her eye as she inspects her prey, and a slow smile crawls across her lips. It's a cold day in hell when a teacher gets the chance to chastise Lea Noel. The girl has never even so much as spit gum on the sidewalk; correction, she just never gets caught.

Bradin stares at the teacher who bears an eerie resemblance to the Evil Queen in Snow White.

"I'm sorry Ms. Andersen." Lea says sincerely, silently adding on the words 'you infuriating hag' to her apology.

"Well, Bradin, you're new, what can we expect." You'd think she's sympathetic but the condescending tone in her voice just gives it away. "But Lea, really, does the little princess not know her way around the castle?" Apparently, the woman harbors a irrational jealousy-hatred towards youth, the typical Captain-Hook complex, especially for those who bask in its glory.

"It won't happen again, Ms. Andersen," Bradin replies as he nudges Lea forward. She tries to sidestep and duck her way into the classroom, but alas, Lea attempts to no avail, as Ms. Andersen slides her feet meaningfully.

"Uh uh uh!" Ms. Andersen wags a bony finger at the two. "I will not tolerate this kind of insolence in my classroom. Promptness is one of the most basic rules of engagement. If you can't even grasp that simple concept then I'm afraid you have no business being in an advanced placement economics course. Have a good morning." With that, she slams the door with a powerful fling.

The sudden gush of wind sends Lea stumbling a few steps, right into the chest of Bradin, and it's only at this moment that she realizes that she's still grasping on his wrist.

Lea quickly relinquishes her death grip, "Oh God, sorry Bradin."

"Hey, no worries, a few amputations never hurt anyone." Bradin winces lightly as he repeats the motions of balling his blood-deprived fist and then letting go.

"Yeah, well, my mom's friend is in the prosthetic limbs industry. I can probably get you a new arm at a discount."

They both took a second to laugh at the absurdity of their conversation.

When silence consumes them again, they simply look at each other, Bradin with determination in his eyes and Lea with uncertainty.

"Lea— " Well he might as well finish the speech, they were alone, and he's got 48 minutes until second period.

But she interrupts him, "Bradin, you cannot possibly be that sure of your feelings, I mean— "

"No, I am sure!" Bradin's voice is urgent; he needs to at least make her understand that it isn't just hormones, it's his heart, and mind, and soul as well.

"How?" Lea's rebukes, almost desperately. She is praying for him to stop, to leave them some ground to stand on before the earth split apart, to give her a way out before she lets herself dive down the giant emotional canyon.

"Because when my lips touched yours, the world fell away. I couldn't hear the dogs bark or the birds chirp, all I could hear was my heart pounding, and my mind saying that I had to have you."

"Bradin,"

He stares at her.

"We don't have pets."

"LEA!" Bradin feels like a vein is going to pop in his head from exasperation.

"Well, we don't!" Lea bites down on her lip—definitely not her best diversion move.

Bradin glares at her, almost angrily. Infuriating as the girl is right now, she is also the only person that has ever made him feel such clear, intense emotions, the only person who has made him feel so truly alive. He gruffly reaches out and grabs her arm, pulling her into him before she can struggle. Lea stiffens in his embrace. "God Lea, just shut up and feel for a minute. Do you not feel how right this is?"

Lea scours her brain for a renunciation, but finds none.

"Be with me." Bradin sighs the words, his voice on the verge of cracking.

He waits for her to push him away, waits for her to shake her head softly, to murmur, "I'm sorry Bradin...," waits for her to shatter his world.

But nothing of the sort comes out of her mouth. And when Bradin feels her slender arms wrapping around his waist, her body softening against his, her head crooking towards his chest, he finally breathes. Bradin points his nose down in her hair and takes in the smell of her shampoo—memorizing the scent of his girl.

He rests his chin on top of her head.

"God Lea, I almost had to switch to my last resort."

"What's that?" Her voice is muffled as her face is buried in his chest.

"Knock you out with a club and whisk you off to a deserted cabin in an unnamed forest, away from civilization where you can't escape."

"Lovely, I'm with the renaissance caveman." Lea's voice is wry as she makes an inconspicuous admission.

Bradin grins, knowing that her eyes are rolling to the back of her head.

When he doesn't reply, she quips, "Westerly, if stalking is illegal in California, surely you know that kidnapping is as well."

"Hm... didn't think that far ahead."

"Yeah, I figured that much."

Another pause goes by as they just savor the feeling of being in each other's arms, the newfound warmth of that they've longed for.

Lea turns her head slightly, the closed door of the classroom coming into sight. "Can she be anymore of a witch?"

"Well, I'll let you know if I catch her wearing a pointy hat and carrying a broom."

Bradin is still holding on to Lea; he's finally got her in his arms and letting go just doesn't seem like an option right now.

"Bradin, are we just going to stand here for the rest of the period?"

"Umm... I've got no objections." Yeah, he was right, she does fit perfectly under his chin.

"Hey, Bradin! Where's my coffee?" Lea's voice is suddenly alert.

"Huh?"

"You took my coffee earlier."

"How'd you know?"

"Because you always take it! Where is it?"

"Oh, I must have left it. Back at the lockers, when you decided to drag me along your 50 meters dash practice..."

Lea ignores the complaint, there are more important matters at hand. "I need my caffeine."

"Lea! I think instead of oxygen, your red blood cells carry caffeine."

"That's highly impossible,"

"Well, don't you worry your pretty little head about it."

"How much longer is first period?"

"A little less than thirty minutes?" Bradin guesses.

"Let's go to Starbucks."

"Is the world coming to an end? Because I swear that you just suggested that we ditch school."

"Well, there's no point in just standing in the hallway, she's not gonna open the door."

"True. But I'm comfortable like this." Bradin squeezes her shoulders lightly.

Much to Bradin's annoyance, Lea wriggles herself out of his embrace, once again pulling him at a ferocious pace, this time towards the parking lot.

"Hey, what's the hurry?"

"We have to get back before second period? I'm not missing two classes in one day." Lea wears a expectant expression.

Bradin halts his steps abruptly, causing Lea to whiplash into his arms. Before she can protest, Bradin stills her by the waist and steals her lips, tasting her delicious peach flavored lip gloss. This time, Lea is conscious enough to return his efforts, conveying through their deepening kiss her feelings for him. Bradin feels her slender arms grasp onto his shirttails as they both attempt to lean closer towards each other.

Then, too soon, Lea softly pushes him away. With a roll of the eyes, she tells him, "The clock is ticking Westerly!"

Bradin grins as he allows his girlfriend to tug him along towards her car. The sun looks a little brighter than it did when he arrived at school, and he can feels its warmth, and her warmth, radiating into his heart.


a/n: alright I wanted to get this up cuz I'm ready to write about.... forth on. Did everyone catch the show last night? in the previews, we've got sarah again. Personally, I'm pretty neutral towards her, because if she's not on the show, Bradin would probably get like. no lines. (i.e. last night) But here's my problem, they bring her back and in the preview her hair is straightened, so what, straight-haired sarah = sane sarah, wavy hair sarah = crazy sarah? if that's the case, she's got another thing coming, it's called dissociative identity disorder!

melodie568- Thank you for your review! Hopefully you liked Bradin's heartfelt! It took me a while to compose it... I'm much better at being sarcastic and smart-assed, but the whole writing sincere genuine confessions part... takes practice.

icytigergrrrl- Thanks for reviewing!yes, they kissed... there will be more kissing... the extent of their physical relationship, and in what depth I'm going to describe them have yet to be determined... so... [evil grin].

beautyqueen321- no worries! reviews are appreciated regardless of length! Thank you for reviewing, hope you liked Bradin's desperate soliloquoy! Happy readings!

Padfoot n Moony - Lots of thanks for reading and reviewing the offspring of my runaway imagination! From your penname I'm guessing you're a HP fan, and I enjoy HP as well! Hopefully I've convinced you to keep with the story! Thanks again