DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sky High. As always, comments and reviews are welcome.
"I'm glad that we're getting a break from my mom." Layla sighed, leaning back into the soft loveseat that was currently occupied by herself and Warren. They sat in the basement with Frosty The Snowman on television as their only light.
Layla and her mother had the bad habit of stuffing trash and random objects in the basement when there was no room to put them anywhere else. This gave the basement its character, if rooms can actually have character. There were Halloween decorations in one corner, a box with her mother's wedding dress in another spot, Layla's old high chair and her old car seat from when she was just a tiny little thing. It was a very eclectic atmosphere as you might imagine.
"She's alright. Likes to talk a lot, but she's cool." Warren shrugged. Layla's mother was certainly a character, but she wasn't so wild that she would make him uncomfortable. True, when Ms. Jones had revealed that Layla described him as having 'smoldering eyes' he was a little shy. Girls called him hot every day of the week, but never girls like Layla. It was a very pleasant surprise - One that he'd never tell Layla about for fear of embarrassing her to death.
"Yeah," She laughed a little. "Saying that my mom is cool is like saying I'm cool." A smirk popped up on Layla's face. Warren just looked at her and shrugged.
"People would be boring without quirks and flaws. One might say that your mother's nerdiness makes her even cooler than someone less quirky." Layla shrugged at this. She loved her mother, but she would never describe the woman as being cool. Everyone was entitled to their opinions, though.
"Frosty is so Jesus." Layla stared, shaking her head at the snowman dancing on her television. Warren had to do a double take and wondered if he understood was Layla was saying.
"Frosty the Snowman is Jesus?" He didn't know whether to laugh or not.
"Oh, totally. I've had this theory since I was in second grade." She nodded, smiling a little and looking over to Warren.
"You're nice, but you just don't strike me as a religious person." He looked to her, still wondering what a snowman had in common with the Christian son of God.
"I'm not, really, anymore. When dad was around we went to church regularly but never since after his funeral." She sighed hating to bring up death especially when it was someone she had loved a great deal. "But do you want to hear my theory?" Warren nodded with a small smile.
"Alright, so Frosty came to life by means of magic, like Jesus supposedly did. Frosty came to life when a magic top-hat was placed on his head and Mary, Jesus' mother, became pregnant by what some might consider magical means." Already Warren had to try his hardest not to laugh at the ridiculousness of Layla's theory.
"Jesus had his followers in his later days and, just like him, Frosty had a following of kids. Then comes the evil character - The guy who wants his top-hat back from Frosty and the Romans who wanted to crucify Jesus--"
"Do you realize how crazy you sound?" Warren did laugh that time and rolled his eyes a bit for emphasis.
"Just hear me out!" She objected with a big grin on her face.
"Frosty melts in a greenhouse, but like Jesus he later comes back to life!" Layla nodded. "And that's that."
"That is so wrong." Warren laughed more, shaking his head. "You're insane." He looked over to find Layla smiling brightly back at him.
"Well, it's just a theory…" She murmured, laughing softly. It made perfect sense when she thought about it to herself, but she would never admit to thinking about this theory every single Christmas. Even though she knew that Warren was incredibly patient and tolerant when it came to his very nutty girlfriend, she didn't want to be thought of as crazy. 'Quirky' maybe, but not 'crazy'…
"So, what's your favorite Christmas cartoon?" Layla looked over curiously, cocking her head to the side slightly.
"I've never been a fan of cartoons." Warren stated simply.
"Not ever?" Her eyebrows raised incredulously. She couldn't believe that anybody was never into cartoons, especially of the Holiday variety. What child doesn't grow up watching Charlie Brown and his pathetic Christmas tree? Or Rudolph and the aspiring-dentist-of-an-elf? Of course, it didn't surprise her a whole lot. Warren didn't strike her as a saccharin-sweet, animation loving kid. He was, most of the time, a stone-faced pragmatist who didn't like to indulge in immature pleasures.
"Well, when I was little I watched He-Man, but that's it. No Christmas cartoons like good ol' Jesus the Snowman." He pointed to Frosty on the television screen.
"You're going to keep teasing me about that, aren't you?" She put on a pout and looked at Warren pitifully.
"Well, if you keep doing that…" His statement trailed off into silence as he smiled at her. Any other girl would have gotten an eye-roll or maybe a condescending remark. Hell, if he was with any other girl he wouldn't have even come over to decorate a Christmas tree. Layla had this irresistible childlike charm, though, that couldn't really be described. You had to be near her to understand what made her so special and wonderful. It couldn't be put into words and come out sounding right.
"Movie, then. What's your favorite Holiday movie?" She looked over at the dark figure seated next to her with curiosity in her eyes. His looks even captivated her with shadows playing on his features and only a Christmas cartoon on the television for lighting.
"I guess 'White Christmas'. My mother used to watch it whenever this time of year came around. It was sort of a tradition for her." He stared off into the distance, remembering the Christmases in the years gone by. A vaguely sad sort of look came to his face as he remembered his first few Christmases. Obviously he didn't have clear memories of the first three years, but he remembered his fourth Christmas spent with his mother and father in surprisingly vivid detail. He missed his father a great deal and, for a while, he had forgotten just how much it hurt to be without him. Layla noticed the change in expression, but didn't press Warren for an explanation. Instead she leaned over, pressing her own soft body against his muscular self. He wrapped an arm around them and soon they were in the 'spooning' position. It amazed him how well her delicate body fit into his arms. He got a certain kind of comfort just from her being there. It reminded him a lot of his mother - kind, patient, tolerant, and so beautifully pure.
He imagined Layla being to him what his mother was to his father. Warren saw himself as dangerous and destructive, bound to wind up being a villain like his father. When he was with Layla he could never imagine doing anything evil only because he knew it would hurt her. Even if it was only for her, Warren would never let himself become what his father had.
"This Christmas is turning out to be alright." She smiled up at Warren who returned the smile and kissed her lightly on her forehead.
"It's not Christmastime, yet." Warren murmured.
"It feels like it, though." Layla sighed contentedly and sunk further into his strong arms.
Warren slid downward, slouching on the loveseat so he could more easily kiss Layla. He made a trail, grazing his lips over her skin from her temple and right to her lips. His kissed her gently, at first, relishing every sensation that the kisses created, but surprisingly Layla made the kiss fiercely passionate and heated. Layla maneuvered herself so that she was no longer spooning with Warren, but sitting on his lap straddling him with her legs on either side of his torso.
The music from Frosty the Snowman made for an odd soundtrack for all that they were doing, but neither of them minded much. After all, they were too focused on each other to care about anything else.
Layla peeled Warren's tight t-shirt off of his torso, leaving his chest open for lots of kissing and touching. She nuzzled the skin directly over his heart, feeling the organ pumping blood and life through his body. Layla then planted a series of light kisses down the middle of his chest. She teased him, fluttering her naturally long eyelashes over his neck as she butterfly-kissed him.
Warren was a little shocked, but didn't mind that Layla had taken the lead. It did make things easier, after all, even though he loved her shy side just as much as he did her boldness.
Interpreting her actions as the go-ahead, Warren took the hem of her shirt, lifting it and beginning to remove it from her body. She lifted her arms high above her head to make the removal of her clothing easier.
Layla found herself staring at Warren's muscular chest. She was delighted to have discovered that Warren, even though he wasn't gifted with extraordinary strength like her ex-boyfriend, looked twice as good without a shirt.
She had certainly never done anything like this with Will. Everything between them felt forced and awkward. She couldn't let Will see her half-naked because she never even really let him truly see her when she was fully clothed. Some people are perfectly comfortable having meaningless purely physical relationships, but Layla wasn't one of them and, if she couldn't let Will get to know her mind and soul, she wasn't about to let him know her body.
Warren tossed her shirt over to the corner of the basement haphazardly, taking in all of her beauty. He checked to see if she would object and when she didn't he reached around to her back, undoing the clasp of her bra leaving her naked from the waist upwards.
Layla was gifted with the purest alabaster skin he had ever seen. The contrast of rosy pink flesh on her lips and breasts against the milky-white of her flesh elsewhere was one of his favorite things about her appearance. He had a long list of things that he loved about Layla, and, even though she wasn't exactly a Hollywood bombshell, he found Layla to be the most beautiful female creature he had ever laid eyes on.
"I feel kind of odd doing this with your mother upstairs." His words were muffled as he spoke in the middle of a kiss. Layla stopped dead in her tracks and a look of regret came onto her face.
"Warren, I don't want to be a tease, but…" She sighed, frowning from worry as she spoke. "I'm not ready for that yet."
Warren nodded, patient as ever, kissing her softly once more.
"Can we just…" She trailed off with a sigh, afraid that she'd ruined their moment. Her fear melted away, though, as Warren wrapped his arms around her, caressing her exposed skin with his lips and fingertips. They changed position to allow them to lay down together. Warren's lower legs hung off of the loveseat as there wasn't enough room for his tall body. Both of them, though, were completely content with their situation, and soon Layla had drifted off to sleep as the beating of Warren's heart served as the sweetest lullaby she had ever heard.