The Ricky Linderman Project: Vid and Fic
Jul. 17th, 2008 01:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
toxic_cornWhich consists of a fic and video!
VID
Song: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend by The Ramones
Fandom: Cold Case and My Bodyguard
Disclaimer: None of the footage is mine!
Summary: Paige Pratt moves to Chicago where she meets The Linderman.
Notes: I actually made an attempt to follow the fic in vid form. It was difficult and I ended up cutting the song short. :P
FIC
Title: The New Girl
Fandom: Cold Case and My Bodyguard
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine!
Rating: PG
Summary: Instead of being brutally murdered, Paige's family moves to Chicago where she meets good ol' damaged Ricky Linderman.
Notes: I may return to Paige/Ricky in the future.
In the hot, sticky classroom, no one really paid much attention as Ms. Jump led them through their review for finals in two weeks. It was June and every single window was open but it didn’t do much good. It almost made more sense to keep the windows shut to prevent hot air from coming in.
Ricky Linderman rubbed his arm and felt exposed and awkward without his jacket. Though he’d come out of his shell since Clifford had transferred to their school, he still wasn’t entirely comfortable around people. Being a full head and shoulders taller than everyone else didn’t help his self consciousness. But he’d made the decision to be mentally uncomfortable rather than physically uncomfortable since the coat surely would’ve cooked him alive.
A movement at the door caught his eye as well as most everyone in the class and he sat up straight, entranced.
Standing awkwardly in the doorway was a pretty girl with long, dark hair pulled back with sparkly barrettes and big brown eyes looking anxiously around the room. She wore a brown skirt and sleeveless pink dress and shuffled her sandal clad feet, hyper-aware of everyone staring at her.
Ms. Jump noticed she’d lost everyone’s attention and looked to the doorway. “Oh. Hello, you must be our transfer student.”
“Yeah,” the girl said and took a few hesitant steps into the classroom.
“Transfer?” Moody repeated incredulously, arm draped over the back of his chair in a posed way he probably thought made him look like hot shit. “It’s June. Are your folks Nazis or something?”
The girl gave him a withering look, something girls never did to Moody, and said to Ms. Jump, “I’m Paige Pratt.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Paige. You can take any empty seat you like. I was just going over some things for our final test in a few weeks.” Ms. Jump went behind her desk and rustled through her papers. “Let’s see… it says here that you’re from Philadelphia?
“Yeah, I actually finished school already.” Everyone gasped at the horror of it and she added, “My dad thought I should at least go to school here and see what it was like for the fall.” She walked toward the back of the room and Ricky realized a few of the empty seats in the room were near him. He swallowed as she chose the one directly next to him, right behind Clifford.
“Well, welcome to our class, Paige. Anyway, as I was saying, in Great Expectations…”
It was easier to zone Ms. Jump out with the new girl sitting directly beside him. She smelled great. He couldn’t tell one flower from another or what perfume was what, but he knew whatever Paige Pratt used, it was fantastic. He gave her little sideways glances, not really wanting to get caught staring. She had a cute little beauty mark above her eyebrow that he was weirdly fascinated by. Was it real or drawn on? He squinted a little harder. Definitely real. It was an odd place for a beauty mark if she were to draw it on. The place for those were usually above the lip like Marilyn Monroe had.
Unexpectedly, she turned her head and caught him staring. Her eyes widened in surprise for a moment then she relaxed and whispered, “Do you have any gum?”
Like a deer caught in the headlights, he didn’t know what to do. Gum? What was gum? Well, if he didn’t know what it was, then he didn’t have it, right? Dumbly, he shook his head and she sighed, turning away.
Stupid. Now she’s never gonna talk to you again.
~*~
There had been empty seats in the front but when Paige got a look at the cute, tall guy in the back and noticed a seat right next to him, she made a beeline for him. Like another girl exchanging late in the year was suddenly going to pop up and try to take it before her.
Now that she was free of her old, possessive boyfriend Al and couldn’t see Bennett Cahill anymore, it only stood to reason she should get started on her next boy project. And this guy was definitely her type. Though maybe she wasn’t his since he hadn’t seemed as impressed with her flirty request for gum the way other guys had in the past.
She barely paid attention to the rest of Ms. Jump’s lecture, it seemed boring enough even without missing the whole year, and was glad when the bell rang. She looked over at Tall, Dark and Cute but he was already up out of his seat and striding to the door, two smaller guys trailing after him.
“Where’s your next class?” Paige looked up to find a girl with frizzy hair and braces revealed through a big, friendly smile standing next to her desk. She liked her instantly.
“Room 314,” Paige said after consulting her schedule assembled at the last minute.
“Great, that’s where I’m heading. I’ll walk with you.”
Paige smiled gratefully. “Thanks. This school’s a little complicated.”
“Yeah, I used to get lost all the time last year. I‘m Shelly, by the way.” Shelly led her out of the room, hugging her books. “So other than being completely confusing, how do you like Chicago so far?”
“It’s… nice,” Paige said, not wanting to admit that she hated it.
Shelly laughed. “No, it isn’t. Especially since you had to leave your school and friends behind to come here. See, I’m a good judge of character and the human psyche. That’s what you’re going to find out about me, that I’m a good judge of people.”
“Are you? Then what can you tell me about that guy over there?” She nodded to the tall guy who was lounging against a locker with his two shorter friends.
“Ricky Linderman? He’s really quiet but nice. I used to kinda have a crush on him but I started dating his best friend Clifford a few months ago. That’s him on the left, the cutie with the blue eyes.” Shelly grabbed her arm. “C’mon and I’ll introduce you.”
Paige grinned excitedly as Shelly tugged her over to the guys. “Gentleman, I’d like to present to you, Miss Paige Pratt.”
“Hi,” Shelly’s boyfriend Clifford said.
“And this is Carson,” Shelly indicated the tiny red haired boy on Ricky’s left, “Ricky, and Clifford.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Clifford said, holding out a hand for her to shake. She took it and smiled politely. “Ms. Jump said you were from Philadelphia?”
“That’s right.”
“I used to live there, too. I used to goof around on the track at Jefferson High.”
“Oh, I used to run track there!” Paige exclaimed. “I loved it.”
They ended up chatting a bit more about Philadelphia and to her dismay, Ricky left in the middle of it, mumbling about having to get to class.
“We’d better go too,” Shelly said. “See you after school, Clifford.”
“See ya,” Clifford said, and walked off in the other direction with Carson.
Paige sighed. “So he’s always that quiet?”
“No. He must like you a lot.” Shelly started to giggle as they climbed the stairs.
~*~
“Ricky! Hey!”
Ricky looked up from giving his bike a tune-up and barely spared Clifford a glance before returning back to work.
“Hey, what’s the matter with you? We didn’t see you after school.”
“I had stuff to do,” Ricky mumbled.
“Yeah, but usually you hang out for a little bit. Are you mad about something?”
“No.”
“Okay, then how come you’re pretty much ignoring me right now?”
Annoyed, Ricky glared at him. “You know, you got a girlfriend, Clifford. You don’t have to flirt with every girl you meet.”
Clifford’s mouth fell open. “What?!”
“You and Paige made me sick.”
“I wasn’t flirting with her!” Clifford protested. “We were just talking. I can relate to her situation since I used to move all the time. I thought she’d want to talk a bit about home, that’s all.” He narrowed his eyes, thoughtfully. “Do you like her or something?”
“No,” Ricky said a little too quickly, making Clifford grin.
“Shelly says that Paige can’t hang out after school tomorrow because she’s going running in the park. Maybe you can meet her there? And talk.”
“Maybe.” Ricky considered the idea. “I don’t know what we’d talk about, though.”
“I can help.”
“Thanks, Clifford. You’re a good friend.” He grinned. “Hand me that wrench, will ya?”
~*~
Paige stretched on the benches, feeling warm anticipation zinging through her body. Nothing excited her more than running, not even Bennett Cahill, cute as he had been. Once everything was good and ready she eagerly hopped up and started off at a slow jog, steadily putting on more speed as she went. The park surroundings blurred as she ran, panting for air.
She ran for about fifteen minutes and stopped at a bench to rest. She was more of a sprinter than a long distance runner, but trying new things was always fun.
As she sat, she saw a big, awkward figure flailing toward her. When it got nearer, she was pleased and surprised to see it was Ricky Linderman. He was flushed and panting, dripping sweat.
“Were you following me?” she teased him.
“Yeah. No. I mean… hi.” He bent over double, hands on his knees.
Smiling, Paige looked down so he wouldn’t think she was laughing at him. “It’s a nice day, huh?”
“Yeah,” Ricky said, half-heartedly. “It’s great. Um, so… you must really like running.”
Unable to hold it back, Paige laughed.
“It’s not that funny,” Ricky said, looking slightly upset.
“I’m sorry,” Paige said quickly, recovering. “Look, how about if I make this easy for you? Can I give you my number so you can call me?”
Ricky stood up quickly. “Yeah. Yeah sure. Let me…” He dug in his pockets and pulled out a folded magazine and a ballpoint pen that had been chewed on. He handed those to her and she wrote her name and number on the back cover.
“I guess I’ll hear from you soon, then.” Paige stood up. “I’m gonna go finish my run. See ya, Ricky.”
“Yeah. Yeah, see ya.” Ricky clutched the magazine in his hands like he was going to guard it with his life and Paige ran away, grinning.
~*~
Clifford handed him the phone. “Come on, it’s not that difficult.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Ricky said, frustrated. He’d come over to the hotel to call Paige and get Clifford’s advice but so far all his friend had done was shove the phone at him.
“I’m not asking her for you,” Clifford said sternly. “Just say, ‘Hi Paige, it’s Ricky. Wanna go out with me?’”
“I don’t even know what to do on a date!” Ricky exclaimed, scowling.
“You two can have dinner here. Now go on. Call her.” Clifford thrust the phone into his hands and when he still didn’t move, Clifford started dialing.
~*~
Paige was flipping through a magazine while laying on her bed when her private phone line rang. Eagerly, she picked it up. It was either Shelly or Ricky and Shelly had already called her today. “Hello?” she asked expectantly.
“Ow, I am!”
“Hello?” Paige repeated, frowning.
“Yes, um, could I speak to Paige please?”
“This is her. Ricky?”
“Yeah. Hi. Look, um, I was wondering if…”
“Yeah?” She sat up a little straighter, heart pounding.
“Maybe… see, Clifford lives at this hotel downtown, and I was wondering if you’d wanna have dinner here? With me?”
“Sure!” She sat up and a sudden thought struck her, worrying her. “How fancy is the hotel? I mean, how should I dress?”
“How should you dress? Uh… Clifford says dressy casual. I’m sure whatever you have would be nice.”
“Yeah? What makes you so sure?” she asked, biting her lip.
“Cuz… I dunno,” he said gruffly. “You always look nice.”
She giggled, pleased. “Okay. When are we doing this?”
“When are we doing this? Uh… Friday. Eight? …Clifford said he’ll send a car for you.”
“Oh, wow! Like a limo?”
“Yeah.”
It took everything she had not to drop the phone and start clapping, squealing. “I’d love to, Ricky! Oh, this’ll be so much fun!”
He laughed, finally loosening up. “Yeah, it will be. So I guess the car’ll get you at 7:30?”
“Sounds good!”
“Okay. Um, bye.”
“Bye, Ricky.” Paige hung up, squealed, then quickly picked up the phone and started dialing Shelly.
~*~
Ricky stood in the lobby, awkwardly holding a single red rose. People walked by him and smiled knowingly, since the uncomfortable hunch of his shoulders screamed “FIRST DATE.” He went over the conversational topics Clifford had coached him on earlier. Compliment her outfit, ask how her day was, ask any questions during the story, tell her briefly about his, ask about Philadelphia, how she’s liking school, tell her a funny story, and by then he shouldn’t need pointers since they’d be in a conversation and should think of stuff on his own.
“Ricky! Hi!” Paige walked toward him, waving across the lobby and his mind froze. Uh oh. What should he say? She’d said hi.
“Hi,” he said too loudly and shoved the rose at her.
Blinking, she accepted it and took a delicate sniff. “Oh, this is lovely. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He looked her over and said stupidly, “I like your shoes.” Too late he realized he should’ve complimented her on her short-sleeved flower patterned blouse because it looked new and her shoes didn’t.
“Thanks,” she said, looking disappointed.
“Uh, let’s go eat,” he said and started walking off without her towards the dining room, leaving her to follow him.
They got settled at a table and the waiter handed them menus.
“So what’s good here?” Paige asked.
“Um. Everything, really. I’m not a good person to ask since I’m not a fussy eater. It must come from my mom being a lousy cook.”
To his surprise, Paige laughed. “So’s mine. It’s a good thing I learned to cook, otherwise I would’ve starved by now.”
“I can make pretty much anything that comes in a can,” Ricky said with a hesitant smile.
Paige smiled back at him. “Then I guess I should invite you over for dinner some night.”
Ricky looked down at his menu, trying to keep an idiotic grin off his face. “Neat.”
She read her menu for a bit. “I think I’m going to try the chicken fettuccini.”
Not knowing what to say, Ricky nodded.
Paige set her menu aside and folded her hands. “So how was your day?”
Oh no, I was supposed to ask her that. “It was okay,” he said, forgetting his scripted lines.
She sat there expectantly and he didn’t know what to say or do. He knew what he wanted to do: Crawl into a hole and pull it in after him.
“My day was okay, too,” she said pointedly. “I helped Dad wash the car.”
He nodded and she sighed in frustration, looking away from him. The waiter came over to put them out of their misery by taking their orders but then it was back to silence that ended up reigning the entire meal. When they’d both finished their last bite, Paige dabbed her mouth with a napkin and stood up.
“Goodnight, Ricky,” she said and left.
Embarrassed, Ricky watched her go, feeling powerless and like the biggest loser on the face of the earth.
~*~
“So how’d it go?” Shelly asked, excitedly.
Paige groaned, stuffing her face into her pillow. “It was a nightmare. He could hardly string two words together. I don’t even think he wanted to be there.”
“That’s not true!” Shelly protested.
Sitting up again, Paige looked at her friend in disbelief. “No? It was obvious Clifford pushed him into it; he set up the whole date after all. He didn’t want to be there and by the time we sat down, I didn’t want to be there either. God, it was awful.”
“He has a hard time opening up to people, Paige,” Shelly said with uncharacteristic seriousness. “I’m his best friend’s girlfriend and I hardly know him. Just give him another chance.”
“I don’t think so,” Paige said stiffly.
Shelly was silent a long moment before saying quietly, “His brother died last year. He was playing with a gun and Ricky found him. It really traumatized him and he’s gotten a bit better since Clifford came along and helped him out, but he still has a way to go.”
Paige’s heart went out to him, unable to imagine the pain he must have gone through. No wonder he kept to himself; he didn‘t want to give up parts of his heart to someone who could easily be taken away. “Okay. One more chance.”
~*~
To try to take his mind of the date he’d completely blown, Clifford got the gang together to hang out in the park. Ricky appreciated the effort but Paige’s hurt, disappointed face was still fresh on his mind. No amount of Carson’s funnily sarcastic remarks and baskets of curly fries could make that go away. Still, he felt obligated to put a smile on since Clifford kept looking at him anxiously and he slowly found himself to be having a good time.
“Wow, this bike is amazing!” He turned his head and saw Paige in her running gear, looking over his bike.
“You like it?” he asked, surprised.
“I sure do!” She beamed at him and it was hard to believe that this was the same girl who’d stormed away from him Friday night. “My dad likes to restore old cars and I help him sometimes. This is some great work.”
He gave her a pleased half smile. “Thanks.”
“Can you take me for a ride?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “Just to try it out?”
“Um. Yeah. Yeah, sure.” He stood up hesitantly and shot a quick look at Clifford who gave him an encouraging smile. Gathering up every bit of courage and cool he had, which admittedly wasn’t too much, he went over to his bike and swung his leg over it. Paige got on behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle, making his stomach drop.
“Am I holding on right?” she asked, her breath tickling his ear.
Ricky covered her hand with one of his. “Maybe a bit tighter. I don’t want you falling off.”
“I don’t want that either.” She tightened her grip and off they went, leaving their friends behind.
They traveled all over downtown and Ricky pointed out the sights to her since she hadn’t had much of a chance to see much of Chicago other than the park and school. They were passing an ice cream stand when she suddenly shouted, “Let’s get ice cream cones!”
Ricky pulled to a stop near the stand and helped Paige off the bike. To his surprise, she kept hold of his hand as they walked up to the vendor.
“What’ll ya have, kids? I got chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla.”
“Strawberry,” Paige said, holding out a few withered dollar bills. “What do you want Ricky?”
“Um, chocolate,” he muttered, searching his pockets.
“No, it’s okay, it’s on me,” Paige said quickly. “You picked up dinner. It’s my turn.”
Blushing, he let her pay but didn’t think he liked it much. He’d have to get more hours at the garage if he wanted to be able to take her out places on his own dime.
They sat down on a bench near the ice cream stand and started eating their rapidly melting cones. Paige giggled as some of her strawberry ice cream dripped onto her hand and she licked it off delicately like a little kitten.
Ricky watched her with a little smile on his face. “Hey listen. Paige. I’m sorry about Friday. I didn’t mean to be a jerk, I was just so nervous.”
“You weren’t a jerk!” Her eyes widened at the very idea. “I was. I mean, I could’ve been a bit more understanding. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I was just worried you were mad at me.” He looked down at his feet and sat up stiffly when she unexpectedly cuddled into his side.
“I understand,” she said softly. “I get why it’s hard for you to talk to people.”
“You do?” he asked, having a feeling where this was going.
“Yeah. Shelly told me about your brother. I’ve never known anyone who died and… I can’t imagine moving on from that.” Her hand grasped his, squeezing comfortingly. “You’re so brave to be able to get up everyday and go on living your life.”
He turned to look at her in the fading light and she looked so earnest and sweet that he wanted to pull her into his arms and keep her there forever. “I almost didn’t,” he said, wanting to be completely honest.
Paige scooted close to him and rested her forehead against his. “I’m glad you did. Otherwise I never would have known you.”
Swallowing hard, Ricky tightened his hold on her hand. He hoped he wasn’t sweating on her. He hoped his breath didn’t stink. He hoped he didn’t manage to screw this up in the next thirty seconds.
It turned out that fate was on his side and sweat didn’t seem to be an issue and his breath apparently didn’t smell because Paige tilted her head to the side and pressed a soft, slightly cold kiss that tasted of strawberry on his lips. No sign of screwing up so far. In the space of two heartbeats, he was kissing her back and seemingly doing a good job of it since she didn’t pull back and made a soft noise in the back of her throat.
After a moment, Paige pulled back and it took Ricky a few moments to open his eyes, wanting to be forever in that moment. She giggled softly and that made him laugh too, the happy sound of it.
“Will you take me home, Ricky?” she whispered.
He nodded, voice gone. He let her pull him to his feet and after discarding their drippy cones in the trash can, they got back on the bike and she gave him directions to her house. During the ride, Paige rested her head on his back, holding him tightly. At stop signs and traffic lights, she’d kiss his neck lightly and the joy she gave him made him feel so light he thought he could probably lift his bike off the pavement and take her home via air if he really tried.
All too soon, they ended up outside the Pratt household and she was sliding off the bike and standing beside him, face full of regret.
“That was fun,” she said softly.
“Yeah, it was,” he agreed.
Paige swayed closer to him. “Can we do this again sometime?”
“Uh huh.” Ricky stared at her mouth, hoping he’d get a kiss goodnight.
“Good. You have my number.” She gave him another sweet kiss that was a little quicker this time since the porch light switched on, signaling them to speed up their farewells.
“’Night, Paige,” he murmured.
“Good night, Ricky.” With a bright smile, Paige turned and dashed up her driveway and onto the porch where she paused to blow him a kiss and then slipped in through the door.
Ricky let out a pleased sigh and started up his bike again, riding away with a big smile on his face. To think when he started the schoolyear, he’d been completely alone. Now he had a group of good friends, including a best friend, and a girl well on her way to becoming his girlfriend.
The summer was going to be the best.
The End
VID
Song: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend by The Ramones
Fandom: Cold Case and My Bodyguard
Disclaimer: None of the footage is mine!
Summary: Paige Pratt moves to Chicago where she meets The Linderman.
Notes: I actually made an attempt to follow the fic in vid form. It was difficult and I ended up cutting the song short. :P
FIC
Title: The New Girl
Fandom: Cold Case and My Bodyguard
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine!
Rating: PG
Summary: Instead of being brutally murdered, Paige's family moves to Chicago where she meets good ol' damaged Ricky Linderman.
Notes: I may return to Paige/Ricky in the future.
In the hot, sticky classroom, no one really paid much attention as Ms. Jump led them through their review for finals in two weeks. It was June and every single window was open but it didn’t do much good. It almost made more sense to keep the windows shut to prevent hot air from coming in.
Ricky Linderman rubbed his arm and felt exposed and awkward without his jacket. Though he’d come out of his shell since Clifford had transferred to their school, he still wasn’t entirely comfortable around people. Being a full head and shoulders taller than everyone else didn’t help his self consciousness. But he’d made the decision to be mentally uncomfortable rather than physically uncomfortable since the coat surely would’ve cooked him alive.
A movement at the door caught his eye as well as most everyone in the class and he sat up straight, entranced.
Standing awkwardly in the doorway was a pretty girl with long, dark hair pulled back with sparkly barrettes and big brown eyes looking anxiously around the room. She wore a brown skirt and sleeveless pink dress and shuffled her sandal clad feet, hyper-aware of everyone staring at her.
Ms. Jump noticed she’d lost everyone’s attention and looked to the doorway. “Oh. Hello, you must be our transfer student.”
“Yeah,” the girl said and took a few hesitant steps into the classroom.
“Transfer?” Moody repeated incredulously, arm draped over the back of his chair in a posed way he probably thought made him look like hot shit. “It’s June. Are your folks Nazis or something?”
The girl gave him a withering look, something girls never did to Moody, and said to Ms. Jump, “I’m Paige Pratt.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Paige. You can take any empty seat you like. I was just going over some things for our final test in a few weeks.” Ms. Jump went behind her desk and rustled through her papers. “Let’s see… it says here that you’re from Philadelphia?
“Yeah, I actually finished school already.” Everyone gasped at the horror of it and she added, “My dad thought I should at least go to school here and see what it was like for the fall.” She walked toward the back of the room and Ricky realized a few of the empty seats in the room were near him. He swallowed as she chose the one directly next to him, right behind Clifford.
“Well, welcome to our class, Paige. Anyway, as I was saying, in Great Expectations…”
It was easier to zone Ms. Jump out with the new girl sitting directly beside him. She smelled great. He couldn’t tell one flower from another or what perfume was what, but he knew whatever Paige Pratt used, it was fantastic. He gave her little sideways glances, not really wanting to get caught staring. She had a cute little beauty mark above her eyebrow that he was weirdly fascinated by. Was it real or drawn on? He squinted a little harder. Definitely real. It was an odd place for a beauty mark if she were to draw it on. The place for those were usually above the lip like Marilyn Monroe had.
Unexpectedly, she turned her head and caught him staring. Her eyes widened in surprise for a moment then she relaxed and whispered, “Do you have any gum?”
Like a deer caught in the headlights, he didn’t know what to do. Gum? What was gum? Well, if he didn’t know what it was, then he didn’t have it, right? Dumbly, he shook his head and she sighed, turning away.
Stupid. Now she’s never gonna talk to you again.
There had been empty seats in the front but when Paige got a look at the cute, tall guy in the back and noticed a seat right next to him, she made a beeline for him. Like another girl exchanging late in the year was suddenly going to pop up and try to take it before her.
Now that she was free of her old, possessive boyfriend Al and couldn’t see Bennett Cahill anymore, it only stood to reason she should get started on her next boy project. And this guy was definitely her type. Though maybe she wasn’t his since he hadn’t seemed as impressed with her flirty request for gum the way other guys had in the past.
She barely paid attention to the rest of Ms. Jump’s lecture, it seemed boring enough even without missing the whole year, and was glad when the bell rang. She looked over at Tall, Dark and Cute but he was already up out of his seat and striding to the door, two smaller guys trailing after him.
“Where’s your next class?” Paige looked up to find a girl with frizzy hair and braces revealed through a big, friendly smile standing next to her desk. She liked her instantly.
“Room 314,” Paige said after consulting her schedule assembled at the last minute.
“Great, that’s where I’m heading. I’ll walk with you.”
Paige smiled gratefully. “Thanks. This school’s a little complicated.”
“Yeah, I used to get lost all the time last year. I‘m Shelly, by the way.” Shelly led her out of the room, hugging her books. “So other than being completely confusing, how do you like Chicago so far?”
“It’s… nice,” Paige said, not wanting to admit that she hated it.
Shelly laughed. “No, it isn’t. Especially since you had to leave your school and friends behind to come here. See, I’m a good judge of character and the human psyche. That’s what you’re going to find out about me, that I’m a good judge of people.”
“Are you? Then what can you tell me about that guy over there?” She nodded to the tall guy who was lounging against a locker with his two shorter friends.
“Ricky Linderman? He’s really quiet but nice. I used to kinda have a crush on him but I started dating his best friend Clifford a few months ago. That’s him on the left, the cutie with the blue eyes.” Shelly grabbed her arm. “C’mon and I’ll introduce you.”
Paige grinned excitedly as Shelly tugged her over to the guys. “Gentleman, I’d like to present to you, Miss Paige Pratt.”
“Hi,” Shelly’s boyfriend Clifford said.
“And this is Carson,” Shelly indicated the tiny red haired boy on Ricky’s left, “Ricky, and Clifford.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Clifford said, holding out a hand for her to shake. She took it and smiled politely. “Ms. Jump said you were from Philadelphia?”
“That’s right.”
“I used to live there, too. I used to goof around on the track at Jefferson High.”
“Oh, I used to run track there!” Paige exclaimed. “I loved it.”
They ended up chatting a bit more about Philadelphia and to her dismay, Ricky left in the middle of it, mumbling about having to get to class.
“We’d better go too,” Shelly said. “See you after school, Clifford.”
“See ya,” Clifford said, and walked off in the other direction with Carson.
Paige sighed. “So he’s always that quiet?”
“No. He must like you a lot.” Shelly started to giggle as they climbed the stairs.
“Ricky! Hey!”
Ricky looked up from giving his bike a tune-up and barely spared Clifford a glance before returning back to work.
“Hey, what’s the matter with you? We didn’t see you after school.”
“I had stuff to do,” Ricky mumbled.
“Yeah, but usually you hang out for a little bit. Are you mad about something?”
“No.”
“Okay, then how come you’re pretty much ignoring me right now?”
Annoyed, Ricky glared at him. “You know, you got a girlfriend, Clifford. You don’t have to flirt with every girl you meet.”
Clifford’s mouth fell open. “What?!”
“You and Paige made me sick.”
“I wasn’t flirting with her!” Clifford protested. “We were just talking. I can relate to her situation since I used to move all the time. I thought she’d want to talk a bit about home, that’s all.” He narrowed his eyes, thoughtfully. “Do you like her or something?”
“No,” Ricky said a little too quickly, making Clifford grin.
“Shelly says that Paige can’t hang out after school tomorrow because she’s going running in the park. Maybe you can meet her there? And talk.”
“Maybe.” Ricky considered the idea. “I don’t know what we’d talk about, though.”
“I can help.”
“Thanks, Clifford. You’re a good friend.” He grinned. “Hand me that wrench, will ya?”
Paige stretched on the benches, feeling warm anticipation zinging through her body. Nothing excited her more than running, not even Bennett Cahill, cute as he had been. Once everything was good and ready she eagerly hopped up and started off at a slow jog, steadily putting on more speed as she went. The park surroundings blurred as she ran, panting for air.
She ran for about fifteen minutes and stopped at a bench to rest. She was more of a sprinter than a long distance runner, but trying new things was always fun.
As she sat, she saw a big, awkward figure flailing toward her. When it got nearer, she was pleased and surprised to see it was Ricky Linderman. He was flushed and panting, dripping sweat.
“Were you following me?” she teased him.
“Yeah. No. I mean… hi.” He bent over double, hands on his knees.
Smiling, Paige looked down so he wouldn’t think she was laughing at him. “It’s a nice day, huh?”
“Yeah,” Ricky said, half-heartedly. “It’s great. Um, so… you must really like running.”
Unable to hold it back, Paige laughed.
“It’s not that funny,” Ricky said, looking slightly upset.
“I’m sorry,” Paige said quickly, recovering. “Look, how about if I make this easy for you? Can I give you my number so you can call me?”
Ricky stood up quickly. “Yeah. Yeah sure. Let me…” He dug in his pockets and pulled out a folded magazine and a ballpoint pen that had been chewed on. He handed those to her and she wrote her name and number on the back cover.
“I guess I’ll hear from you soon, then.” Paige stood up. “I’m gonna go finish my run. See ya, Ricky.”
“Yeah. Yeah, see ya.” Ricky clutched the magazine in his hands like he was going to guard it with his life and Paige ran away, grinning.
Clifford handed him the phone. “Come on, it’s not that difficult.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Ricky said, frustrated. He’d come over to the hotel to call Paige and get Clifford’s advice but so far all his friend had done was shove the phone at him.
“I’m not asking her for you,” Clifford said sternly. “Just say, ‘Hi Paige, it’s Ricky. Wanna go out with me?’”
“I don’t even know what to do on a date!” Ricky exclaimed, scowling.
“You two can have dinner here. Now go on. Call her.” Clifford thrust the phone into his hands and when he still didn’t move, Clifford started dialing.
Paige was flipping through a magazine while laying on her bed when her private phone line rang. Eagerly, she picked it up. It was either Shelly or Ricky and Shelly had already called her today. “Hello?” she asked expectantly.
“Ow, I am!”
“Hello?” Paige repeated, frowning.
“Yes, um, could I speak to Paige please?”
“This is her. Ricky?”
“Yeah. Hi. Look, um, I was wondering if…”
“Yeah?” She sat up a little straighter, heart pounding.
“Maybe… see, Clifford lives at this hotel downtown, and I was wondering if you’d wanna have dinner here? With me?”
“Sure!” She sat up and a sudden thought struck her, worrying her. “How fancy is the hotel? I mean, how should I dress?”
“How should you dress? Uh… Clifford says dressy casual. I’m sure whatever you have would be nice.”
“Yeah? What makes you so sure?” she asked, biting her lip.
“Cuz… I dunno,” he said gruffly. “You always look nice.”
She giggled, pleased. “Okay. When are we doing this?”
“When are we doing this? Uh… Friday. Eight? …Clifford said he’ll send a car for you.”
“Oh, wow! Like a limo?”
“Yeah.”
It took everything she had not to drop the phone and start clapping, squealing. “I’d love to, Ricky! Oh, this’ll be so much fun!”
He laughed, finally loosening up. “Yeah, it will be. So I guess the car’ll get you at 7:30?”
“Sounds good!”
“Okay. Um, bye.”
“Bye, Ricky.” Paige hung up, squealed, then quickly picked up the phone and started dialing Shelly.
Ricky stood in the lobby, awkwardly holding a single red rose. People walked by him and smiled knowingly, since the uncomfortable hunch of his shoulders screamed “FIRST DATE.” He went over the conversational topics Clifford had coached him on earlier. Compliment her outfit, ask how her day was, ask any questions during the story, tell her briefly about his, ask about Philadelphia, how she’s liking school, tell her a funny story, and by then he shouldn’t need pointers since they’d be in a conversation and should think of stuff on his own.
“Ricky! Hi!” Paige walked toward him, waving across the lobby and his mind froze. Uh oh. What should he say? She’d said hi.
“Hi,” he said too loudly and shoved the rose at her.
Blinking, she accepted it and took a delicate sniff. “Oh, this is lovely. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He looked her over and said stupidly, “I like your shoes.” Too late he realized he should’ve complimented her on her short-sleeved flower patterned blouse because it looked new and her shoes didn’t.
“Thanks,” she said, looking disappointed.
“Uh, let’s go eat,” he said and started walking off without her towards the dining room, leaving her to follow him.
They got settled at a table and the waiter handed them menus.
“So what’s good here?” Paige asked.
“Um. Everything, really. I’m not a good person to ask since I’m not a fussy eater. It must come from my mom being a lousy cook.”
To his surprise, Paige laughed. “So’s mine. It’s a good thing I learned to cook, otherwise I would’ve starved by now.”
“I can make pretty much anything that comes in a can,” Ricky said with a hesitant smile.
Paige smiled back at him. “Then I guess I should invite you over for dinner some night.”
Ricky looked down at his menu, trying to keep an idiotic grin off his face. “Neat.”
She read her menu for a bit. “I think I’m going to try the chicken fettuccini.”
Not knowing what to say, Ricky nodded.
Paige set her menu aside and folded her hands. “So how was your day?”
Oh no, I was supposed to ask her that. “It was okay,” he said, forgetting his scripted lines.
She sat there expectantly and he didn’t know what to say or do. He knew what he wanted to do: Crawl into a hole and pull it in after him.
“My day was okay, too,” she said pointedly. “I helped Dad wash the car.”
He nodded and she sighed in frustration, looking away from him. The waiter came over to put them out of their misery by taking their orders but then it was back to silence that ended up reigning the entire meal. When they’d both finished their last bite, Paige dabbed her mouth with a napkin and stood up.
“Goodnight, Ricky,” she said and left.
Embarrassed, Ricky watched her go, feeling powerless and like the biggest loser on the face of the earth.
“So how’d it go?” Shelly asked, excitedly.
Paige groaned, stuffing her face into her pillow. “It was a nightmare. He could hardly string two words together. I don’t even think he wanted to be there.”
“That’s not true!” Shelly protested.
Sitting up again, Paige looked at her friend in disbelief. “No? It was obvious Clifford pushed him into it; he set up the whole date after all. He didn’t want to be there and by the time we sat down, I didn’t want to be there either. God, it was awful.”
“He has a hard time opening up to people, Paige,” Shelly said with uncharacteristic seriousness. “I’m his best friend’s girlfriend and I hardly know him. Just give him another chance.”
“I don’t think so,” Paige said stiffly.
Shelly was silent a long moment before saying quietly, “His brother died last year. He was playing with a gun and Ricky found him. It really traumatized him and he’s gotten a bit better since Clifford came along and helped him out, but he still has a way to go.”
Paige’s heart went out to him, unable to imagine the pain he must have gone through. No wonder he kept to himself; he didn‘t want to give up parts of his heart to someone who could easily be taken away. “Okay. One more chance.”
To try to take his mind of the date he’d completely blown, Clifford got the gang together to hang out in the park. Ricky appreciated the effort but Paige’s hurt, disappointed face was still fresh on his mind. No amount of Carson’s funnily sarcastic remarks and baskets of curly fries could make that go away. Still, he felt obligated to put a smile on since Clifford kept looking at him anxiously and he slowly found himself to be having a good time.
“Wow, this bike is amazing!” He turned his head and saw Paige in her running gear, looking over his bike.
“You like it?” he asked, surprised.
“I sure do!” She beamed at him and it was hard to believe that this was the same girl who’d stormed away from him Friday night. “My dad likes to restore old cars and I help him sometimes. This is some great work.”
He gave her a pleased half smile. “Thanks.”
“Can you take me for a ride?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “Just to try it out?”
“Um. Yeah. Yeah, sure.” He stood up hesitantly and shot a quick look at Clifford who gave him an encouraging smile. Gathering up every bit of courage and cool he had, which admittedly wasn’t too much, he went over to his bike and swung his leg over it. Paige got on behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle, making his stomach drop.
“Am I holding on right?” she asked, her breath tickling his ear.
Ricky covered her hand with one of his. “Maybe a bit tighter. I don’t want you falling off.”
“I don’t want that either.” She tightened her grip and off they went, leaving their friends behind.
They traveled all over downtown and Ricky pointed out the sights to her since she hadn’t had much of a chance to see much of Chicago other than the park and school. They were passing an ice cream stand when she suddenly shouted, “Let’s get ice cream cones!”
Ricky pulled to a stop near the stand and helped Paige off the bike. To his surprise, she kept hold of his hand as they walked up to the vendor.
“What’ll ya have, kids? I got chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla.”
“Strawberry,” Paige said, holding out a few withered dollar bills. “What do you want Ricky?”
“Um, chocolate,” he muttered, searching his pockets.
“No, it’s okay, it’s on me,” Paige said quickly. “You picked up dinner. It’s my turn.”
Blushing, he let her pay but didn’t think he liked it much. He’d have to get more hours at the garage if he wanted to be able to take her out places on his own dime.
They sat down on a bench near the ice cream stand and started eating their rapidly melting cones. Paige giggled as some of her strawberry ice cream dripped onto her hand and she licked it off delicately like a little kitten.
Ricky watched her with a little smile on his face. “Hey listen. Paige. I’m sorry about Friday. I didn’t mean to be a jerk, I was just so nervous.”
“You weren’t a jerk!” Her eyes widened at the very idea. “I was. I mean, I could’ve been a bit more understanding. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I was just worried you were mad at me.” He looked down at his feet and sat up stiffly when she unexpectedly cuddled into his side.
“I understand,” she said softly. “I get why it’s hard for you to talk to people.”
“You do?” he asked, having a feeling where this was going.
“Yeah. Shelly told me about your brother. I’ve never known anyone who died and… I can’t imagine moving on from that.” Her hand grasped his, squeezing comfortingly. “You’re so brave to be able to get up everyday and go on living your life.”
He turned to look at her in the fading light and she looked so earnest and sweet that he wanted to pull her into his arms and keep her there forever. “I almost didn’t,” he said, wanting to be completely honest.
Paige scooted close to him and rested her forehead against his. “I’m glad you did. Otherwise I never would have known you.”
Swallowing hard, Ricky tightened his hold on her hand. He hoped he wasn’t sweating on her. He hoped his breath didn’t stink. He hoped he didn’t manage to screw this up in the next thirty seconds.
It turned out that fate was on his side and sweat didn’t seem to be an issue and his breath apparently didn’t smell because Paige tilted her head to the side and pressed a soft, slightly cold kiss that tasted of strawberry on his lips. No sign of screwing up so far. In the space of two heartbeats, he was kissing her back and seemingly doing a good job of it since she didn’t pull back and made a soft noise in the back of her throat.
After a moment, Paige pulled back and it took Ricky a few moments to open his eyes, wanting to be forever in that moment. She giggled softly and that made him laugh too, the happy sound of it.
“Will you take me home, Ricky?” she whispered.
He nodded, voice gone. He let her pull him to his feet and after discarding their drippy cones in the trash can, they got back on the bike and she gave him directions to her house. During the ride, Paige rested her head on his back, holding him tightly. At stop signs and traffic lights, she’d kiss his neck lightly and the joy she gave him made him feel so light he thought he could probably lift his bike off the pavement and take her home via air if he really tried.
All too soon, they ended up outside the Pratt household and she was sliding off the bike and standing beside him, face full of regret.
“That was fun,” she said softly.
“Yeah, it was,” he agreed.
Paige swayed closer to him. “Can we do this again sometime?”
“Uh huh.” Ricky stared at her mouth, hoping he’d get a kiss goodnight.
“Good. You have my number.” She gave him another sweet kiss that was a little quicker this time since the porch light switched on, signaling them to speed up their farewells.
“’Night, Paige,” he murmured.
“Good night, Ricky.” With a bright smile, Paige turned and dashed up her driveway and onto the porch where she paused to blow him a kiss and then slipped in through the door.
Ricky let out a pleased sigh and started up his bike again, riding away with a big smile on his face. To think when he started the schoolyear, he’d been completely alone. Now he had a group of good friends, including a best friend, and a girl well on her way to becoming his girlfriend.
The summer was going to be the best.
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Date: 2008-07-17 03:53 pm (UTC)I had to google who Paige was, of course...and I found out her character was based on the Texas Cadet Murder, which I just read about last week. How freaky is that?
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Date: 2008-07-17 06:54 pm (UTC)I can't watch all of the Cold Case episode because, call me crazy, I don't like watching Summer get bludgeoned to death.
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Date: 2008-07-17 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-17 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 08:07 am (UTC)I didn't know Summer Glau had been on Cold Case? Was she a victim?
I really liked how you captured the young teen innocence here. The awkwardness of a first date etc. It really worked. Esp that last line - such a teenage thing to say!
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Date: 2008-07-26 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-24 12:03 pm (UTC)