Disclaiming: I don't own them unfortunately.
Lea steers her car into her usual parking space near the school gym, quickly pulling the keys out of the ignition and hopping out of the car.
Retrieving her bright yellow gym bag from the trunk of the SUV, Lea jogs into the gym and towards the girls' locker room.
It is Lea's first practice of the basketball season. Although the girls' team had started practicing two weeks ago, Lea had been excused until today because of her post-season cross country meets--Regionals, and then State.
Much to Lea's surprise, J.B. did not throw a colossal tantrum when Bradin made the Varsity boys' team, perhaps due to Lea's threats that she'd hide web cams in unnoticeable corners of his room and broadcast his private activities to all of Playa Linda.
After she changes into a navy blue and white practice jersey and silver basketball shorts, Lea steps into the gym, excited to practice with her teammates, mostof whom are old friends from 'back in the day,' when Lea played in the local youth leagues.
When she steps onto the hardwood, not only does she find several members of her team there already, there are also two unexpected figures.
Lea approaches the court, hands going to her hip as she grabs one of the individuals by the arm, "Unless a new daylight's savings time was declared, your guys' practice is over."
"It wasn't, and it is." J.B. replies while guiltily fidgeting with his finger band.
"Then why are you here? And why is he doing push-ups?"
When J.B. fails to answer her, Lea squats down to Bradin's eye level at the "up" position. "Bradin you don't have to go along with him!"
Maintaining his pose, Bradin gasps a breath and answers, "No, it's cool Lea, I can handle it."
At this, J.B. let out an audible snort.
Lea shoots him a lethal glare. "I should have known!"
Lea shifts her scrutiny between her brother and her boyfriend. She has half of a right mind to start screaming bloody murder, but rationally, she knows that she technically has no authority to interject. Not only will it just make J.B. more rancorous, it'll probably hurt Bradin's masculine pride in some incomprehensible manner.
Before anyone can say another word, an adult voice interrupts, "Lea!" It's the coach of the girls' team. "I need you over here! Boys! Clear out, please! My girls have a closed practice today, which excludes friends and family." She strictly demands.
Bradin shoves himself to a standing posture; he can feel his arms twitching from supporting of his own body weight for an extended period.
"I'll see you later," Lea shoots Bradin a meaningful frown, then walks towards her team huddling at mid court, all the while scowling at J.B.'s retreating back.
As soon as Lea gets home, she rushes to J.B.'s room, flinging open his door in a slam. She finds him tapping away at his laptop, headphones covering his ears. "Jean-Bastien Noel! I cannot believe you!"
J.B. looks up at his livid little sister, tentatively plucking his earphones off.
"You better have a good explanation for this."
"I was helping him get in shape?" J.B. offers.
"He's already in shape! He played football the entire fall. Next excuse?"
"I was... helping him learn the plays?"
"I didn't see a playbook in your hands? Try again!"
"Fine," he throws down his magazine. "I just felt like it! Okay?"
"J.B. you have like, no diplomatic skills." Lea's eyes travel towards the back of her head. "You said you'd leave him alone!"
"No... I said that I wouldn't do anything to keep him off the team, and I didn't." J.B. corrects her.
Lea widens her eyes. "J.B.! If this is your idea of trying to protect me, your antics are quickly bordering draconian. You're punishing him for going out with me!"
"Not true, I could care less who he likes."
"Okay, then what is it?"
"I just don't like you liking him back."
Lea throws her arms in the air as a gesture of forfeit. "J.B., he's good to me! I don't see why you're so adamant about opposing this!"
"You know why! He doesn't know you! He's been around what, 4, 5 months?"
"Well, let me agonize about it!"
"I can't just 'let you agonize about it'! You know how it's gonna end, Lea. Don't make it hard on yourself by getting all involved."
"Okay stop, I don't need you going around predicting my break ups."
"You're getting too attached Lea, it's not smart."
"At any rate J.B, I have the right to choose my own heartbreak." She successfully silences him with her desperate plead.
Not wanting to explore the topic further, Lea gives J.B. a piercing look, and disappears into the vast maze of their home.
"It's official, I've been cursed." Callie practically slams her tray down on a lunch table occupied by Lea, Bradin and Adam.
"What's the melodrama?" Lea asks as she feeds a ranch dressing-laden French fry into Bradin's mouth, he has one of his arms around her waist.
"You know that economics project?" Callie looks expectantly at her friends as she speaks of the junior class project that is the gossip of the hour since it gives birth to just as many couples as it breaks up.
"The very trite, utterly overdone marriage project?" Adam asks. "Dude, when I heard about it, for a second I thought I was stuck in an episode of Saved By The Bell."
"Okay, yeah, TV allusions later, my plight first." Callie waves off Adam bitterly. "I got Herbert Baumerson"
The table silences. Adam busies himself with picking out the onions in his sandwich, while Lea bites her bottom lip furtively.
"I'm sorry," Lea offers in an apologetic tone, but the ends of her mouth are turning up despite her efforts.
"Ouch," Bradin sympathizes. Herbert Baumerson takes the phrase class clown to an entirely new level as his ideas of comedy are somewhere between South Park and Ace Ventura.
Callie glares maliciously.
"Well, it could have been worse." Lea tries to console her.
"No, it really can't. Name one person you'd like to be paired with less than good ol' Herbie."
When Lea takes too long to come up with an answer, Callie rants on. "Yeah, no one, thank you very much."
"At least you don't have to carry around an egg or a bag of flour and pretend that you've procreated?" Lea offers meekly.
"And if it's any consolation, I got animatronic blonde number three." Adam says as he reassembles his now onion-free sandwich.
"No, it doesn't. Samantha is just an airhead. Herbert is annoying... and loud... pompous and irresponsible... and he never shuts up! Ugh!"
Lea silently chuckles.
"Oh yeah, laugh. Let me guess, you're paired with Bradin, and you guys have already picked out what stocks you want to invest in and which small tropical island you plan to purchase?"
"No! Bradin's not my partner. I got Lucas." Lea refers to the long boarder on the Playa Linda surf team.
Callie rolls her eyes, "Oh this is fair. You get future champion surfer boy, and I get aspiring no-talent comedian!"
"Well nowadays divorce rates are so high that you can always write separation into the blueprints early, and do the rest of the project alone."
"Yeah but then I'd have to do the extra work of having to calculate and report alimony payments! And knowing Herbert he'd never make the payments on time... I'll tough it out." Callie wrinkles her nose in repugnance.
"Staying together for the kids, huh?" Adam kids.
Callie ignores the dig, and turns to Lea again with a hopeful glint in her eye. "Do you think the teachers will let us trader partners? I mean..."
"I'm not giving you Lucas!" Lea says with a chuckle, not even realizing how the statement might have sounded. "Speaking of which," Lea says as she gathers the empty containers and sandwich wrapper that remain "I gotta go meet previously said surfer in the computer lab."
Bradin pouts slightly before Lea leans down to give him a soft kiss on the cheek. "You're coming over to the beach house today right?"
"Yeah, I'll be there after dinner." Lea picks up her tray.
She climbs away from the lunch bench, but Bradin grabs her by the wrist before she can get too far. Before she has time to protest, he pulls her down to plant a deeper kiss on the mouth, running his tongue quickly across her bottom lip.
When he lets her go, he sucks on his tongue for a second, hollowing his cheeks. "Remind me to get the pudding next time too." He tells her with a mischievous grin.
Callie and Adam choke disgustedly in synchronized motion, as Lea blushes lightly and furrows her brows in a disapproving but amused manner. "I'll see you LATER, Bradin. Bye guys."
At Lea's retreating figure, Adam clears her throat distinctly, while giving Bradin a meaningful look.
"What?" Bradin furrows his brows quizzically.
"She's going to meet Lucas."
"Yeah, I heard her. They're partners, for the project."
Callie seems suddenly very interested in his sandwich, not looking up or participating in what she considers to be a precarious conversation.
After a second of contemplation, Adam purses his lips. "You're right. It's just a project. Nothing to worry about."
"So obviously there's something you're insinuating." Bradin puts down his Snapple, waiting for an answer.
"Well, Lucas and Lea have always kinda been really close"
"They're good friends, Lea's told me." Bradin says with a degree of certainty.
"So you know that the Star Wars duo used to be a couple." Adam states.
"Yeah, but that was a long time ago though?" Bradin tries to recall a piece of Lea's biography.
"But he took her to all the dances that I didn't take her to, and most of the dances at his old school, even after they broke up."
"Yeah but, Lea says they went just as friends, like default dates."
"You and Lea went to Homecoming, 'just as friends'?" Adam reminds Bradin with a smirk.
Bradin is quickly silenced.
"They tell everyone that they're just close friends, but if you ask me, one of the torches is still burning brightly."
"BUT it's not like you have anything to worry about Bradin." Callie finally speaks up to reassure Bradin. "Lea would never cheat."
"Which doesn't say anything for Lucas." Adam quips.
Callie immediately shoots him a warning look that quickly quiets him down.
"You guys just like to analyze everything too much." Bradin dismisses the topic, but inwardly, he can already feel a pang of anxiety establishing in the pit of his stomach.
"Hey boyfriend!" Lea says brightly as she walks through the door of Bradin's room at the beach house.
He looks away from his reading and props himself up on his elbows from his laying down position on the bed.
Lea immediately notice the packs of ice placed on his shins. "Bradin, what happened to you?"
"Um..." Bradin stalls as he concocts an answer.
Lea cuts to the chase quickly, "what did J.B. do?"
"He didn't do anything." Bradin skirts around the issue.
"What did he have you do?" Lea reforms her question.
"Uh boxes." Bradin quietly refers to a jumping exercise that requires one to jump from a standstill position onto a roughly two and a half feet high box, supposedly working to increase the dimensions of one's vertical.
"How many?"
"Let's just say that I was there for an hour after team practice was over."
Lea sighs softly. "I'm so sorry Bradin. I'll talk to him." She had originally agreed to leave the issue alone, seeing as how J.B. insists that she has no say in the workings of the boys' team and because Bradin seems to be hell-bent on proving himself to J.B. But this is going too far.
"Don't!" Bradin fervently protests. "I'm fine, I mean, hey, it's really doing wonders for my physique don't you think?" He follows up impishly.
"Ugh, males." Lea rolls her eyes as she plops down on Bradin's bed. "What're you reading?"
"The assignments for the marriage project."
"Oh. What's the highlighted?"
"The parts that I'm responsible for. Maria wanted to just split up the work and then put it together at the very end." Bradin explains.
"I see." Lea peruses their assignment as the image of Maria Martollini flashes across her mind-- a quiet mousy brunette with silver rim glasses who looks too young to be taking her SATs, because, she, in fact, is too young.
Bradin's partner is essentially Playa Linda's answer to Doogie Howser-- a bonafide child prodigy who has skipped one too many grades. Though her demeanor is fundamentally sweet, skipping so far ahead has left her hopelessly socially inept-- she can never meet anyone's eyes when speaking and she seems to be petrified at the presence of the opposite sex.
Lea kicks off her sneakers to lie down on the bed. As Lea nestles up against him, Bradin extends one arm for her to rest her head in the crook of his elbow. As Lea cuddles next to him, the soft fragrance of her shampoo wafts towards Bradin and her comfortable body heat warms the Bradin's side.
When Lea finally finds a comfortable position and settles down, Bradin opens his mouth.
"Lea?" Bradin says, he's about to ask her about her project with Lucas, hoping that he can receive some confirmation that Adam's worries are unfounded and that he has nothing to feel anxious about.
"Mm?" A slightly thick voice answers.
Bradin turns his head, only to find himself looking into the face of a closed-eye Lea. The rhythmic inhalations of her breathing inform him that she's drifted off into a light sleep.
Her expression is calm, peaceful, and at ease. At the sight of her tranquil features, Bradin feels his worries vaporize. "Nothing." He murmurs softly.
She is in his arm, every trusting, giving, loving particle of her being. With this thought, Bradin puts down his papers, and turns to look at her again. Noiselessly, he leans over and presses his lips against her temples lightly, unnoticeably, as not to wake her. Then he lays back and rests his head on the soft pillow behind him, contemplating how the girl next to him can make him feel like the luckiest boy alive simply by uttering his name, and smiling in his direction.
Silently, he savors the words on the tip of his tongue, "I love you."
a/n: Lucas from this week's surf tryouts episode! I'm glad they wrote in another guy character because it gave me something to work with. But don't worry, Lucas won't be coming in between Lea and Bradin, or at least, he's not the one that's gonna be coming in between them Next chapter will start getting intersting. I promise (hmm I seem to recall myself saying the same thing at my last posting.... purses lips)
Melodie568- Thank you for reviewing! I think horses are cool too. Sorry the story is coming a slight lull but uh.. it's the transition period. I promise there will be some fun.. well not necessarily fun but interesting stuff coming later
Alwaysanalyzing- I didn't have the heart to torture Bradin too much. Plus I didn't want to make J.B. out to be too evil... in my mind he's supposed to be a good guy of sorts.. Thanks for reviewing!
Icytigergrrl- I'm glad you found the last chapter to be amusing! I try to keep things light because later on there might just be some angst. Thanks for reviewing!
Mandena- Thanks for reading my story & reviewing! Hopefully you will keep coming back!
Don't-ask - Yes you get kudos and a half for reading all 11 chapters! The m&m kind too laughThank you for letting me know about the horses, I actually don't know too much about them, so it's good to know! When (if) I go back for edits, I'll be sure to do something about it. Thanks for reviewing!
Dolphinchick2568 - Hope your vacation in the Carribeans was fun! Hmm, maybe I should write Lea & Bradin & Co. on a vacation too... wouldn't that be interesting. laugh
Tanya- Thank you for reading! Yeah, there are very few Summerland fics, probably because it's a new series, and not very established yet. Hope you liked my story and keep coming back for more!
Gnat10886- thanks for reading my story & the compliments! And I also really appreciate the long review! Hopefully I can think of some more good substance to write and keep you coming back! Thanks for reviewing!
