TR backstory smoothie

[smoothiegarten]

Authors: Marina and Casey
Story: Taking Root
Challenge: Coconut 7 (make yourself at home), Milk Chocolate 9 (indiscretion) [Marina]; Blueberry Yogurt 12 (chain reaction), Pomegranate 13 (censored) [Casey]
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Chopped Nuts, Smoothie
Word Count: 3,794
Rating: PG
Summary: Sidney MacLeod and Nicole Solaris meet for the first time.
Notes: TR backstory time! We were looking for some fluff to write and realized that these two were close in age and would get along fantastically, so this happened.

The Poppe Shoppe was in the midst of its after-school rush when Sidney, Carrie, and Chase ducked inside in search of a booth for six. "Nut balls," Carrie exclaimed in dismay, when it became clear that they would have to wait. All of the large tables were full, the people on the ends just inches from tumbling to the floor, except for one-the largest booth, in the back right corner, had only five people. Carrie glared at them. They didn't notice.

"Nut balls?" Chase repeated. His eyebrows shot up, the way they always did before he burst into either laughter or a fierce tirade. Sidney felt fairly certain that it was a laughter lift this time, which relieved her-she did not want to start the afternoon by having to deal with a Chase mood. She was already nervous enough about meeting their new friend, a sophomore named Resh Solaris. Most people older than Chase and Carrie, with the exception of her siblings, seemed incredibly grown-up and sophisticated to her.

"...yeah, I have no idea where that came from," admitted Carrie, "but I'm gonna say it all the time now."

An aproned hostess glided over to them on roller skates as Chase attempted to suppress giggles. "Feel free to sit wherever you want," she said, with a genuinely helpful smile that was common in the Shoppe’s employees.

"We know," Carrie said quickly, "but we have three friends coming in a minute and we can't find a table."

The hostess glanced around the room. "That group is just about done," she said, gesturing to a party of three getting up from a table near the front window. "We'll push their table against the one next to it, how's that?"

"Thank you!" Carrie and Chase said in unison. Sidney nodded her agreement and tried to hide her disappointment. Booths were always more fun.

They had just finished getting settled in the table when Mackenzie Midden, better known to the group as Kenz, walked into the Shoppe. Sidney took in the dark-haired girl’s unusually wide grin and felt slightly unnerved. It was not an expression that looked at home on somber, practical Kenz. "She's been way too cheerful since she met Resh," Chase noted, making a face.

"You shush," said Carrie, with a big smile of her own. “I think it’s nice.” She waved Kenz over.

Kenz waved back as she pushed her way through the crowded restaurant. "Hello, everyone. How are you today?" she asked.

"Good," the other three chorused.

"Is Resh almost here?" Carrie asked, glancing out the front windows.

"He should be. Did I mention that he is bringing his younger sister?"

"He has a sister?" This was news to Sidney, who had only heard of Resh's existence earlier that day. Yet again, she frowned impatiently at the thought that it would be two more years before she got to high school. Carrie and Chase, who had started ninth grade in September, were having all the fun without her.

"Yeah, her name's Nicole," Carrie said. "What grade did you say she was, Kenz?"

"Eighth. Resh's parents both work so she sticks with him after school." Kenz lit up again as the door opened to admit a tall boy with tousled brown hair, and a smaller girl who could have been his clone. Chase rolled his eyes at Kenz’s reaction, and Carrie elbowed him in the ribs.

"I saw that, Chase," Kenz said unconcernedly, waving the pair down.

"I know you did," Chase replied. Kenz smirked.

The two made their way through the maze of tables. Resh came to a stop at the chair next to Kenz’s and grinned down at them. "Hey, kids," he said cheerfully, gesturing to the girl at his side. "This is my sister, Nicole, but she'll answer to anything."

Nicole scowled at him. "Not funny, Resh," she grumbled.

Chase wrinkled his nose at the 'kid,' but Carrie smoothly intercepted the irritable comment he clearly wanted to make. "Hey, Nicole," she said. "I'm Carrie, and this is Chase, and Sidney."

"Hi," Sidney said shyly.

"Hi. S'nice to meet you all."

Resh smacked her gently upside the head. "Slurrin' is my business, kid, keep it clean."

Nicole rolled her eyes and plopped down into the seat next to Sidney’s. "Haven't I seen you in the halls?" she asked.

"I think so," said Sidney, coloring a little bit. Nicole did seem familiar. She was a new face in a school where most of the students had known each other since kindergarten, making her easily noticeable. Sidney thought she could remember passing Nicole once or twice.

"Cool," Nicole said. She seemed unconcerned either way, and Sidney relaxed. "I prefer Nic, even if my idiot brother ignores that," she said, glancing across the table where he and Kenz were being suspiciously unsappy.

"Okay. You can call me Sid if you want. My brother does, cause he's lazy, and everyone else kind of picked it up."

"Awesome." She gave Sidney a cocksure grin. "Glad not everyone here is old," she added teasingly.

Sidney laughed in relief. "I know, right? Those two," here she pointed to Carrie and Chase, "left me by myself this year. We still hang out but it's weird not having them at school."

"Just because you're a smallfry means nothing," Resh cut in.

Nicole shot him a dirty look, then turned back to Sidney. "Ah, big bad freshmen. Resh was so obnoxious last year about ditching me to the middle school by myself."

Sidney eyed the older boy. "He looks very obnoxious," she agreed.

"Completely! Alex agrees."

"Alex is their older sister," Kenz interjected, before Sidney could ask. "She is Kevin and Lindsey's age."

Sidney nodded in understanding. "Kevin and Lindsey are my sister and brother," she explained to Nicole. "They're twins, and seniors this year."

"Twins? Cool! I always thought it might be neat to have a twin. Then I could really give Resh trouble!"

"You already do, squirt," Resh said, reaching across the table to further mush her hair. She swatted it away.

Unsure how to respond to that, Sidney merely smiled in amusement. Resh was behaving rather obnoxiously, but it was still obvious to her that he and Nicole loved each other. Even if they showed it oddly.

"And this is the part where I get to be glad I'm an only," Carrie said. Her grin gave away the lie in that statement.

"I agree completely, Carrie," Kenz said.

"Only is boring," Nicole announced.

Resh seemed to agree. "Chase, you've got an older sister, right?"

"Yeah, she's a freshman in college," said Chase, beaming proudly. "She goes to Pepperdine."

"Ooh, lucky."

Carrie snorted. "It's not boring when I've got these people for friends," she said, with a jut of her thumb in Chase's direction. "Him especially. I see him so often he might as well live with me."

"You know you love it," Chase said nonchalantly. He and Carrie exchanged a smirk, and then he turned back to Resh. "Yeah, she likes it. Mostly she's there because my aunt is a professor, and she wants to do a study-abroad program."

"Sweet. Mayhem in another country," Resh said. Kenz elbowed him in the side.

Carrie guffawed so loudly that two or three heads in the room turned to look at her. Sidney cringed, but her friend did not seem to notice. "Laura? Mayhem? Yeah, no. She's the dependable one."

"Well, that's no fun, but I suppose someone has to be."

"Laura's tons of fun!" Chase exclaimed. "I bet she's more fun than you."

"Oh, God," Sidney muttered. "Here he goes."

Resh instantly grinned, seeming to sense the sensitive subject. "Resh Solaris. Don't you dare," Nicole said, showing some good sense.

"Oh, hey," Carrie said, a little too loudly, "I was going to show you that concept artwork I finished in class, Chase." She whipped out her well-worn black sketchbook, seemingly from nowhere, and slammed it in front of the smaller boy. Chase brightened immediately, swiped it up, and flipped eagerly to a page near the end.

Nicole jumped. "Does she do that often?" she muttered to Sidney, a little wide-eyed.

"Yes," Sidney replied quietly, "because it keeps him from opening a can of whoop-ass on people."

The other girl leaned out to study him, skepticism written all over her face. "Him? Really?" she asked, still keeping her voice low.

Sidney followed Nicole's gaze. Chase didn't look like much, it was true, but she knew firsthand how misleading that was. "He gets very enthusiastic about some things," she said diplomatically.

Nicole glanced at her brother, whom Sidney had heard was already gaining a tough-guy reputation despite the fact that he didn’t look like one. "I get that."

Sidney smiled. "So when did you guys move here?"

"This summer. The 'rents wanted us to start at the beginning of the school year instead of part way in. Dad's been here since last April."

"That makes sense. My parents sort of did the same thing when we moved here, except we only waited ‘til winter break."

"How long have you been here?" Nicole asked.

"Ages," said Sidney. "Well...almost three years, I guess, but it seems like ages. We used to live in Virginia, in Richmond, but Mom got a job out here in marine biology so we moved here with her. She doesn't have it anymore cause of the recession, though."

Nic whistled and then shrugged. "Seems everyone got hit. That's why Dad switched jobs. Took him almost six months to find something he liked."

Sidney nodded sympathetically, but couldn't help feeling a little relieved. At times, it seemed that only her family had taken a real hit in the economic crisis. The other kids at school looked like they were doing just fine. "That sucks," she said to Nicole, a bit distantly.

"Nah, s'not that bad," Nicole said. Her tone was casual enough, but she was quick to change the subject. "So, what d'you do for fun here in the big city?"

"We come here a lot, cause it's awesome," said Sidney, lighting up to one of her favorite topics, "and we go to all of Kevin and Lindsey's games. Kevin plays basketball and Lindsey does softball. And we hang out a lot at Carrie's house. She and Chase like video games and they play a lot of RPGs together."

"RPGs? Like Dungeons and Dragons?" Nicole asked curiously. "Or is there a meaning I don't know?" She grinned. "I'm a country girl, although I'm sure that won't last long."

Sidney giggled. "You totally don't seem like one," she offered.

"That's because I'm a smartass," she said and instantly ducked as Resh, without taking his attention away from the other conversation, took a half-hearted swing at her. "No swearing," Nicole intoned at the same moment as her older brother, and smirked at him. Laughing outright, Sidney had to grip the edge of the table to stay in her seat.

"Well, aren't we having a good time over here," an overly upbeat, bleached-blonde waitress said as she approached the table.

Chase jumped in his chair and clutched Carrie's sketchbook to his bosom. Slowly, his head turned toward the spot where the woman stood, and he eyed her suspiciously. He was the only one at the table who hadn't seen her coming. She beamed unflinchingly down at him. "Can I take your orders?"

"Cherry Coke float, please," Carrie piped up.

Nic blinked at Chase’s demonstrative reaction, but kept quiet until Kenz and Resh had ordered. When she spoke, it was only to ask for a regular Coke float. Her brother continued to give her the stink-eye.

Sidney, watching this with amusement, had to be prompted to give her order. "Oh, sorry," she said to the patient waitress. "Can I have a chocolate milkshake?"

"Sure, hon." The waitress scribbled down her order, then Chase's, and left them to their conversation again.

"If Mom or Dad ever hear you swear, it's my as-rear in the fire," Resh grumbled, as if they hadn’t been interrupted.

Nicole smiled sweetly. "Have they heard me yet?"

"You're funny," said Sidney. "Everyone in my family swears all the time. Kevin'd never tell me not to."

Chase grumbled something nasty but not quite intelligible about the aforementioned Kevin. Resh's eyebrows shot up but another swift elbow to the gut from Kenz kept him quiet for the moment.

"I wish I could swear but Dad in particular is a little tyrannical. Not until I'm in high school," Nicole said with a sour twist of her mouth.

"That's okay. Chase can't swear at all."

"Doesn’t swear, thank you very much," Chase said indignantly. "It's a choice. Swearing is bad for you."

This time, Nicole couldn't resist. "Bad for you?" she repeated, raising an eyebrow in an expression of barely polite skepticism.

"Yes," he said flatly. "It is." He glared at Carrie, who had accidentally released a snort in an attempt at suppressing her laughter.

Nicole turned to Sidney. "Do I dare ask how?"

"Probably not," Sidney said placidly.

"Gotcha." Nicole sat back in her chair, still eyeing Chase with a bit of confusion. Chase raised his chin with dignity as he redirected his attention to the sketchbook.

"Anyway," said Sidney. She found Chase’s odd mannerisms amusing, but they didn’t seem to impress Nicole, and Sidney really wanted to impress Nicole. "RPGs are one-player games that are...what'd you call it, Carrie?"

"Story progression," Carrie supplied. "Like Final Fantasy."

Sidney nodded. "Right, that. She and Chase play 'em together and take turns. Sometimes I watch. It's pretty hilarious."

"Why hilarious?" Nic asked curiously.

"Because of how they do it. I can't really explain it, just...how they interact and stuff."

"Ah." She glanced sidelong at the four oldest members of their group. "So, how do you guys know Kenz?"

Sidney frowned as she tried to remember the progression of meetings. "Uh...I think Kenz was friends with Carrie, who then met Chase and his sister and my brother, and then Kevin introduced them all to me."

Nicole tilted her head as she absorbed that, and then nodded. "Makes sense. Kenz is in Carrie and Chase's class, right?"

"Right."

"Well, cool. Always fun to make new friends." She said this with a slightly sarcastic tone, but it was obvious she meant it.

Sidney couldn't help a very wide smile. "Yeah, it is."

Nic grinned back, leaning back in her chair as the waitress returned with their drinks, plonking them down in front of the right kids. "Thank you," Chase said politely, and the rest echoed him.

The waitress smiled. "You're welcome. Let me know if I can get you anything else." She skated away and left them to it.

Nicole watched her go, squinting slightly as if she expected danger any second. "If I ever decide I want a job requiring skates, please shoot me."

Sidney laughed and picked up her shake. She had to resist the urge to sit back in her chair and tuck her legs underneath her. "They're really good at that stuff here. I think it might be cool."

"Oh, yeah, more power to 'em," the other girl said, "I just have no sense of balance."

"I guess I don't either," Sidney said slowly. "Not a good one, anyway, but you can train stuff like that."

"That's what Alex says too, but I'm not sure I believe her. For all the times we've tried roller skating, I still fall flat on my...butt," she said quickly, fielding a warning look from her brother, "every time I do."

"Well, no one says you have to be good at roller skating. I like ice skating, myself."

Nic grinned. "That's awesome. I'm just as bad at that."

"Too bad, it's fun. We had an outdoor rink in Virginia in the winter." Sidney decided not to add that she barely remembered this. Their Virginia life-along with everything else that had happened to her before her accident-seemed as though it had taken place in another lifetime. Mostly, she could recall the outdoor rink because Kevin and Lindsey had loved it and spoke fondly of their memories of it. "There's also a really great indoor one in the business part of Madison, and Kevin takes me all the time."

"Sounds cool. I don't mind trying, as long as Resh isn't around. Alex usually goes with me when we're doing things like that because she's a lot nicer about me falling constantly."

"Your sister sounds awesome."

"She is!" Nic said, beaming. "She's like a...calmer but cooler version of Resh."

"I heard that!"

"Good."

Sidney raised her eyebrows at Resh over the rim of her glass, and in return he made a face at both of them.. "Alex works at my mom's office for a couple hours after school most days, so that's why I'm stuck with him," Nicole continued, grinning at him.

He returned it almost automatically. "You know you love it."

"Sometimes. Certainly do when you introduce me to cool people!"

"Like me?" Sidney asked, aiming for a teasing note but feeling her face grow hot.

Nicole's expression was surprisingly sober as she looked back to Sidney and nodded. "Definitely," she said firmly.

Sidney brightened. "You're cool, too," she said.

Again, Nicole beamed. "Thanks!"

"Welcome!"

"Aw, look, best friends alr-ow!" Resh's condescending commentary was cut off as Kenz elbowed him extra hard in the side and, as far as Sidney could tell, stepped rather hard on his foot at the same time.

Carrie had been walking Chase through the newly added artwork, but at this she looked up in amusement. "Dang, Kenz, try not to put him in the emergency room, okay?" she said.

"It is only so much as he asked for," Kenz said calmly.

Resh pouted at her. "I'm allowed to tease my sister!"

"Only when you are not being a jerk about it," Kenz informed him and then grinned, leaning over and chastely kissing him on the cheek, making Resh's face light up again. Nicole groaned quietly, and Chase shuddered, moving his face closer to the page in an attempt to pretend he hadn't seen it.

"Just ignore him," Sidney whispered, when Nicole’s eyebrows shot up in response. "He hates PDA."

"How does he survive high school?" the brunette asked incredulously.

"I don't know, since I'm not there. Probably by tasering everyone in his mind."

Nicole really did make an effort not to laugh but it burst out of her anyway as she slapped a hand over her mouth. Sidney couldn't help giggling herself. Chase did his best to ignore both.

"I'm guessing that means that Carrie's not...?" Nicole asked quietly, once she had reined in her laughter.

Sidney had spent so much time with Carrie and Chase by that point that she was almost as appalled as the latter would have been to hear that question. "Oh, hell no. Definitely not. It'd be weird."

Nicole blinked. "If Carrie had a significant other?" she asked, bewildered. Her eyes widened as she suddenly seemed to grasp Sidney’s meaning. "Oh, no, it's easy enough to tell that they're just friends."

"Oh, good," said Sidney, and ignored both the redness in Carrie's cheeks and the dirty look Chase was giving them.

The other girl seemed to realize that everyone else had heard her. "Er, sorry, that was, um, yeah, sorry," she said again, and hastily turned all her attention to her float.

The table fell abruptly into an uncomfortable silence, and the noisy chatter of the other patrons washed over them. Sidney bit her lip, wishing that their entire last exchange had never happened. Fortunately, Chase broke the tension by closing the sketchbook. "Those are awesome," he said to Carrie.

She grinned, looking relieved. "Thanks. I expect those Twizzlers on my desk tomorrow morning."

"You trade art for candy?" Resh asked, in obvious awe. "That's an incredibly good idea."

"I am a shrewd barterer," she said.

"It's worth it," Chase added, with a smirk.

"Plainly. Consider me impressed."

Carrie nodded her thanks and accepted the book back from Chase. Sidney smiled, armed herself with a safer question, and turned to Nicole. "So what are you good at if it's not balance?"

"Um. Being snarky?" Nicole offered, with a sheepish chuckle. "Actually, I've got a real ear for languages. Speak three"

"Really? Which ones?"

"Mandarin, Hebrew and French, although I'm fairly certain I could manage most of the Romance languages."

"Mandarin Chinese? Hebrew?" Sidney was less surprised by the French, though it was such a disparate combination of languages that she couldn’t help being impressed by all three. "And wouldn't it be four, then, since you obviously speak English too?"

"Oh, yeah, well, guess so. Don't usually count English."

"She's also been stealing my Japanese book, so I'm sure that'll be added to the list soon," Resh said dryly. He appeared to have given up on paying attention to the other three, who were absorbed in a discussion of that day’s History lesson.

Nic shrugged self-consciously. "Once I learn one, I get bored with it so move on to the next. The harder the better."

"That's really cool," Sidney said. "You could be a translator or something!"

"I guess so! Figure I gotta be good at something other than that, too."

"Other than being snarky, you mean?" she asked, with a little snicker.

Nicole laughed. "Yup, besides that."

"She's decent at sporty things that don't require amazing balance too," Resh put in.

"Thanks a lot, brother of mine," she said, rolling her eyes.

Sidney smiled. "That's better than me. Kevin and Lindsey are the athletic ones in our family. I’m…kinda clumsy."

Nicole returned it. "Nothing wrong with that."

"No, there isn't," Sidney agreed, rather hesitantly. Nicole’s encouraging expression did not falter, however, and it made her feel better.

Resh stole a peek at his watch. "Crap, Nic, we gotta go. Promised Mom we'd be home by five."

Carrie looked up as he counted out the payment for their drinks. "Bye, guys," she said, with a wave and a grin. "It was nice to meet you, Nicole."

"Nice to meet you," Chase echoed around his milkshake straw.

Sidney glanced at Nicole. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she said tentatively.

Nicole grinned. "I'd better see you tomorrow! Nice to meet all of you, too." She looked over her shoulder in time to see Kenz give Resh a goodbye kiss, stuck her tongue out in distaste, and snatched his arm to drag him out with her. At the door, she glanced back toward the table and lifted her hand to Sidney one more time. Sidney waved back, and then they were gone.

After that, Sidney did her best to keep up with the conversation, but she had already mostly checked out. I wish tomorrow would hurry up and get here, she thought, smiling unconsciously.