Thank you so much to all my wonderful reviewers! -showers reviewers with magical cookies while nonreviewers watch-
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing... -clasps hands begging- But can I own Holly's pajamas? Pretty please with magical sugar on top?
(A/N: This story started on a Friday night, and (for the characters) it's really early Saturday morning, just so you know)
"Yes H-Holly, we can. And since we're friends… you might as well call me Julius" Root nervously stuttered. His face turned a dark shade of red.
Holly was shocked; wow, I never would've expected that from him.
"But, I thought you hated it when people call you Julius" she finally said
"I hate it when people who work for me or people who aren't a friend call me Julius." he replied, "You don't have to call me Julius if you don't want to. Feel free to call me whatever you want."
Holly smiled mischievously, "Sorry to disappoint you Julius, but if I have the privilege, I'm going to use it!"
"More like abuse it. Don't make me regret giving you permission." He had a strange look on his face.
Is he actually embarrassed about this?
After a brief silence, Root suddenly cursed under his breath, "D'Arvit! The pony said that everything in my locker was still there, didn't he?"
Holly jerked herself out of her thoughts and racked her memory, "Yeah, I think he did"
"I was so busy trying to get you home that I forgot to go and get that stuff."
"We should go back and get it"
Root gave Holly a look that said 'you must have lost your mind' "I'll go get it, you just stay here."
"If you get lost on the way back, don't blame me," Holly said innocently
"Ha ha, I'll get Foaly to give me a map" Root walked out the door.
Holly finished her water and stood up to take the glass to the sink. She didn't stumble, So there Julius! I can walk for myself. Just as she was returning to the couch, there was a knock at the door. Holly looked through the peephole.
Root opened his locker, extremely happy that Sool hadn't gotten to it yet. He picked up the extra backpack and began dumping the uniforms, regular clothes, and all the other odd things he had in the locker. He was just about to close it back up when he noticed a small box in the corner. What is that? Cautiously picking it up, he shook it. It rattled softly as something small and light hit the sides. Oh, right. He stuffed that into his backpack as well.
"I'll take that," a voice said behind him
"What gives you the right to take my things Sool?" Root turned around to face Ark Sool. He slammed his locker shut.
"I confiscated all of your possessions before you returned, so you are stealing all of that from me." Sool was sneering at him "And you will refer to me by my proper title, dear Julius."
"I'm sorry, I forgot about how much you love formality, 'Idiot' Sool. But you only have the authorization to confiscate my things if I am dead." Root grabbed Sool's hand and placed two of his fingers on his neck where he could feel a pulse. "Hey, you know what? It looks like I just might still be alive."
Sool yanked his hand away, "I don't care. As the commander of the LEP, I'm ordering you to give me that bag!"
Root shoved past him forcefully as Sool made a grab for the pack. Root's fist collided with Sool's cheek.
"Excuse me, commander," Root's voice was full of sarcasm, "but I need to go. It was lovely seeing you again." He walked to the exit, leaving a very stunned Sool to sit in the locker room rubbing his cheek.
Holly looked out the peephole. It was the guard from earlier. Stupid guards!
She opened the door, "Now what do you want?" she yelled him
"G-good morning Miss Short," he stammered, "W-we never got to finish our conversation earlier."
"Look, I just had a very stressful day, and I would like to get some rest. Come at a more reasonable hour, like noon." Holly shut the door and watched out the peephole to see what he would do. He nervously raised his fist to knock again, thought better of it, and walked away.
What, not brave enough to take on a lone female on your own? Holly chuckled to herself.
She sat down again and picked up a book that she had left lying open the other night. After a few pages, she dozed off.
Holly awoke to someone pounding on the door. She sleepily got up and opened it.
"About time! I was starting to think you had passed out or something." Root grumbled
"No, just trying to annoy you as much as possible by falling asleep." She closed the door and locked it yawning, "I think I'll go to bed now, so I don't become a zombie tomorrow, or later today. Whichever it is."
"Good night then, Holly."
"'Night Julius, the guest room is the second door." She said pointing down the short little hall. "The first door is the bathroom that you'll use, and my room is at the end of the hall."
"Thanks again for letting me stay here."
"Of course" Holly checked all the windows and rechecked that the curtains were closed, and went back to bed.
Holly groggily entered the kitchen the next morning. Root was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, a nettle smoothie and a newspaper.
"Morning" she walked over to the coffee pot
Root looked up while taking a drink, and promptly began choking with laughter on the hot drink.
"What?" has he lost his mind?
Between the laughing and coughing, Root was unable to talk, so he just pointed at her.
Mystified, Holly looked down, and realized what she was wearing: the girly pajamas that her mother had forced her to wear in exchange for the apartment. The shirt was light blue with spaghetti straps, with a drawing of a bouquet of roses and other flowers on the front. The pants were covered with scattered flowers to match the top. She felt her face go a deep red.
"Do you have a problem with what I'm wearing?" She growled angrily
Root's laughing/coughing fit intensified. After a minute, he got back in control of himself enough to talk.
"Sorry, it's just… I'd never expect you to ever wear something that… feminine," he gasped between coughs. He covered his mouth with his hand and shook with silent laughter.
Holly glared at him, "My parents offered to pay for my home if I'd agree to wear an outfit of their choosing regularly." She explained, "After managing to keep my mother away from the skirts and dresses, she agreed to compromise and chose pajamas. I almost ended up with a nightgown, but luckily, she liked how I looked in this better."
Root looked like he was trying to keep from laughing again. He failed. It was a good thing that he had stopped choking on the coffee; it might've made him suffocate, he was laughing so hard (for him, anyway).
Holly restrained herself from hitting him with something. He took a deep breath, looked up, and then continued chuckling.
"I'm going to shower and change now." She grabbed the mostly empty nettle smoothie and dumped it on him. He looked shocked for a moment, took a breath as if to yell something, but burst out laughing again.
"Oh, SHUT UP!" Holly stormed out of the kitchen and into her room, slamming the door. Cursing under her breath, she walked into the master bath and got into the shower. So what if my mother bribed me to wear this? Julius didn't have to laugh at me! She smiled to herself; Actually, he has a nice laugh. It shows a sweeter side of him… If he could hear my thoughts, I'd be dead.
Root grabbed several paper towels and tried to clean the nettle smoothie off of him. Almost being killed, being believed dead, having all my possessions taken away from me, and getting drenched by a nettle smoothie was completely worth seeing Holly dressed like that. Chuckling, he tried to get the remains of the smoothie out of his hair. If only I had a camera… She'll probably never let me see her in it again though. Deciding that he had removed all of the nettle smoothie that was possible without water, Root went back to his coffee and newspaper.
Maybe ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Who…? Root got up to answer, since Holly was still in the shower. It was one of the security guards for the apartment building.
"Can I help you?" he asked the confused guard.
The guard looked at the apartment number and back at Root. "Um… I must be mistaken, I thought this was Miss Short's apartment."
"Yes, this is her home. She's occupied right now, can I help you?"
"What are you doing here? I don't know of anyone living with Miss Short." The guard looked at him suspiciously
"Why is it any of your business?"
"It's a mater of security"
"Is there a rule here or something that every security guard know everything about everyone living here or something?"
"Miss Short has had problems that have led us to tighten security for her apartment."
"What problems?"
"Neighbors have reported screams coming from the apartment. She denies it, but we believe someone is stalking her…" the guard seemed to realize something, drew his weapon, and pointed it at Root, "Put your hands on your head, and get on your knees. You are under arrest for breaking and entering and aggravated harassment. What have you done with Miss Short?" the guard demanded, putting Root into handcuffs
"I haven't done anything with her, she's in the shower!" the guard walked towards Holly's room, just as she peeked out the door.
"WHAT IS GOING ON?" she yelled, opening the door wider to be able to see everything. Root gulped, it looked like she had just gotten out of the shower; she still had a towel wrapped tightly around herself. Wow, this day is getting more and more interesting by the minute. He glanced away before she could see him looking; Holly didn't look like she was in the best of moods, and he wanted to stay on her good side.
"I've caught the elf that was stalking you Miss Short." the guard looked slightly nervous, but pleased with himself
"The only person stalking me is you! Julius is my guest; release him, and get out of my apartment!" Holly didn't sound very happy at all about finding this before she could get dressed.
The guard looked stunned, "Are you sure no one was stalking you?"
"NOBODY WAS STALKING ME! IT WAS A STUPID NIGHTMARE! GET OUT OF MY HOME BEFORE I HAVE YOU ARRESTED FOR HARASSMENT!" She exploded. Quickly, the guard unlocked the cuffs, and ran out of the apartment.
Holly spun around and slammed the door to her room.
That seemed a little rushed... Ok, now that you've read, it's time to review! You know you want some magical cookies and a hyper reply from me -holds out a magical cookie and offers it tauntingly-