Malibu - Gen 3 Ch 3

A few days after our birthday, it was time for graduation. I could hardly wait to get started on my new goal in life - becoming a superstar athlete. Benji, on the other hand, was just glad to have graduated. He kept staring at his diploma in disbelief. He still wasn't sure what he wanted to do, he was only sure about one thing - he really, really wanted to be famous - oh, and have a lot of money, too.

Mom was so excited. She couldn't stop giggling when I told her about my sports career ambitions. She said she'd always wanted one of her kids to be an athlete. I had to let her down a little, by confessing that right now I was only a snack hawker at the stadium, but she was confident I would be on the starting team before long. I only hoped she was right.

To celebrate our graduation, I decided I wanted to take Benji out on a real date. We were tired of Lars' Disco, so we thought we'd try Han's Tavern and Cafe, a little mom-and-pop place on the other end of town.

The place was completely dead when we walked in; the only person there was the bartender - not the best first impression, let me tell you. And the decor was nothing to write home about; between the outdated wallpaper and the worn butcher block counter, the place had obviously seen better days.

I wanted to turn around right then and there, and find a more lively venue, but Benji convinced me to at least sit down and try their drinks. The drinks were fantastic, actually, and very reasonably priced. I  wondered why this place wasn't packed. 

One drink led to another, and before long, the little tavern started to fill up. I guess we had just arrived too early. The bartender kept pouring, and we kept drinking. We just couldn't get enough of them. I was surprised when the bartender did her last call. Was it that late already?

It was getting pretty late when we arrived back home, but I wasn't ready to end our first real date quite yet. We settled into the hot tub for a while, and for a fleeting moment I contemplated taking our relationship to the next level. But he seemed so content, just sitting there so relaxed, staring straight ahead, that I lost my nerve yet again. So, just like every other night, we both yawned, and said good night, and headed off to our respective rooms to sleep.

The next morning I woke up late. In fact, it was almost noon. I didn't think anyone was around; the house was quiet as I wandered down into the kitchen, still in my underwear. I opted for mac and cheese instead of breakfast - I figured the carbs would do me good in case I found a chance to work out in the stadium's state-of-the-art gym on my dinner break later.

"Hey there, beautiful. Come here a minute."

Startled, I turned to see Benji leaning on the door frame, eying me with a funny little grin on his face. I quickly wiped my hands, and stepped toward him.

"Sure, Benj. What do you need?"

He didn't say anything, just gently pulled me close until his face was only inches from mine, that funny little smile still dancing across his face. I smiled back, my heart pitter-patting. Then he kissed me - but not the tiny peck like I had given him a few weeks ago. This was a full-blown, never-want-it-to-end, more-amazing-than-anything, kiss that left me breathless.

When we finally broke apart, he smiled again and whispered, "I should have done that a long time ago."

"Yeah," I whispered back, and kissed him again. This time we were interrupted my the timer going off on the stove.

"Arghh.. my lunch is done. I really need to eat.. have to go to work soon.."

He followed me into the kitchen and we shared the mac and cheese, grinning goofily across the table at each other the whole time.

Then he followed me again, as I padded up the stairs to get ready for work. And again, as I stepped into the shower. I'll leave what happened next to your, I'm sure, very vivid imagination. Suffice it to say, that it was the most amazing shower ever, in the history of showers.

After that, things fell into a routine for us. I spent most of my spare time working out, hoping to attract the attention of some of the coaches at the stadium.

After a while, Benji even asked if I would train him. He's always been the athletic type, and I offered to try and get him a job at the stadium, but he wasn't interested.  I didn't want to bug him about it, but it had been a while now since we graduated, and he still didn't have a job. I tried to explain that if he wanted to be famous, he needed something to be famous for, but he was pretty sure he could be famous just for being buff. All I could do was smile, and admire his abs...

...and oh yeah... afterwards there was always the shower...

Then one day, Benji met me at the mailbox, all excited, as I returned from my workout at the gym. He pulled me into his arms and kissed me, then gave me his big news.

"Guess what? I got a job! I am now a police officer in training! I start tomorrow!"

"Oh, wow! That's great news, Benj. We should celebrate! What shall we do?"

"Hehe. I have an idea.... Rain's at work, no one is using her bed right now..."

Mom was spending more and more time at the library. Sometime she would meet Marina there, but mostly she spent her time reading. She had finally decided to complete her life long goal of maximizing her charisma skill. I thought she had completely given up on it when daddy died. But Marina was there to witness, when she finally completed her life's wish, at the ripe old age of 106.

About that time, Mom had taken to sleeping with Rain, in the apartment over the garage, saying it was too lonely by herself in the bed she had shared with daddy.

Rain spent all her spare time in the little garden she had started in the back yard.  She never had anything to say about the whirlwind romance she had had with her friend from work, only that 'they had both moved on, end of story.'

Before I knew it, the day of Peri's and Seashell's graduation was upon us.

It made me feel so old, standing there talking with the adults, while the new grads celebrated together.

After the ceremony, Marina stopped by to drop off a gift for Peri.

He shared with her his plans to become a teacher.

"Of course, what I really want is to be famous, but I think it's possible to be a famous educator, don't you agree?"

"That sounds great! I'm sure you'll be a great teacher, you've always been so logical."

Later he pulled out his guitar, and entertained us all with his music. I hadn't realized he was so talented. Suddenly a far out idea popped into my head.

"Hey, Bro. You know what? We should form a band! What do you say? It'll be fun!"

I was a little surprised when he agreed wholeheartedly. I suddenly realized I knew absolutely nothing about running a band, so I was relieved when he suggested that he could manage everything. In fact, it seemed he had given it some thought before, as he went on about venues, gigs, advertising, and so on.

"Sounds good, Per. Just let me know what you want me to do."

After our little impromptu graduation party, Marina decided she was too tired to drive home, and asked to spend the night.

And as for Benji and me? Well, we've concluded that there is no reason for mom and dad's old room to just stand empty...

There is nothing I enjoy more, after a long hard day, than snuggling up to my Benji.

"Night Benj...love you."

"Night, Mali...love you too."

****************

Notes

I redid some of the hangouts in HS, and added some of the LN stuff. I made Lar's Disco a dance club, and Han's Tavern a dive bar. I kept the original decor, just added bars, speakers and instruments.

I was getting resigned to the fact that Erika was never going to complete her LTW, Golden Tongue Golden Fingers. She had completed the guitar part ages ago, but never rolled any charisma wishes at all (probably because she's a loner). Then out of the blue, when she was 106 days old, she wished to max the charisma skill. I sent her to the library immediately! Now she's 110 and still hanging in there.

Next up - Mali-Benji babies???

Malibu - Gen 3 Ch 1

My heart soared as I pedalled my way through the streets of L.A., my mind intent on the goal I'd been working toward for so long. I'd been trying to wheedle the secret from my dad ever since I could remember, and he had finally relented.

The old rusty gate creaked spookily as I pushed it slowly open and slid through into the overgrown park. Dead leaves crunched under my sneakers, and my heart was pounding, but this was too important to back down now.

My eyes darted here and there along the ground, until finally I spotted what I was looking for, barely visible under an overgrown bush. Silently thanking my dad, I reached down and scooped the rainbow gem up into my hand. Still clutching it tight, I turned and raced again for home.

"Just drink it, you'll see!" I exclaimed, excitement and anticipation oozing from every pore. I watched intently as my best friend in the world drained the potion. Would it work? It just had to. My dad said it had worked for him.

"Um, hi." I grinned at my suddenly real imaginary friend. Great, Malibu. All these years of anticipation, and the best I could do was 'um, hi'? At least it was more than Benji had to say. All he could do was stare at me in amazement. Our impromptu staring contest was finally interrupted by my dad yelling at me.

"Malibu! Come on out front! Let's get this party started!"

I had almost forgotten. Well, truthfully, I had forgotten. It was Periwinkle's birthday, and Peaches was here to help celebrate.

"Come on Benji! I want you to meet everyone!"

"Um... I'll be there in a while, I have... stuff to do first."

I shrugged as I watched him disappear into the back yard, while I headed out front.

My dad cornered me as soon as I arrived on the front patio.

"So, Mali, when do I get to meet Benji?"

"He said he'd be out here in a while, he wanted to check out the hot tub."

"I see. Well, I was hoping to see him at our little get together. In the mean time, why don't you spend some time with Peaches, it might be the last time you see her for a while."

I did a double take at that, but he had already wandered off to listen to my mom's guitar.

I've always loved my Auntie Peaches, she's been almost a second mom to me. So it wasn't hard to convince her to join me for a little water slide fun.

I've got to say, she's pretty agile for an old lady. Must come from all the training she's had to do for her sports career. Wouldn't that be something, to be a famous super star athlete. I wonder if I could do that?

We were right in the middle of a silly face contest when I heard my mom call out.

"Okay, you all, get out of those wet suits and get some clothes on, it's almost time for cake!"

Everyone else seemed much more excited than I was about Peri's birthday. I was still mulling over my dad's cryptic words. Why would I not be seeing Auntie Peaches any more after tonight?

Unable to figure anything out, eventually I gave up, and joined in the celebration.

"Happy Birthday, Peri!"

The next day, I took Benji to school with me for the first time. He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. I've got to say, that was quite the experience. He turned quite a few heads when I walked into homeroom with him at my side. After school we biked over to the stadium and signed up for the junior sports team together. I can't believe how much we have in common!

When I asked him to be my BFF, at first he didn't understand what that meant. But after I explained it, he wrapped me in a huge hug. I might have even held on to him for a little longer than was strictly necessary, for a simple friendly hug.

I even worked up the courage to tell him I thought he was cute. He blushed so hard at that, it made me giggle.

A few days later, my big sis Rain graduated from the Science Academy. Now she's all set for the nerdy life of a scientist. All she needs is a job. Unfortunately, jobs are few and far between right now, here in L.A....

Which leads me to the bombshell dad dropped on us all the next morning. Still sporting his p.j.s, he called us all out to the back patio.

"I have an important announcement, everyone. Elections are coming up again soon, as you all know, but I have decided not to run again. It's time to retire. L.A. is such a rat race, your mother and I have decided we would like to move out of the area. Tops on our list of places to retire in is a little resort town north of here called Hidden Springs. We know it'll be a big change for all of you, but there are a lot of benefits as well.

"For one thing," he glanced over at Rain, "The Science Lab there has an entry level position open. And Marina, I know how fascinated you are with celebrities. Believe me, Hidden Springs is the place to be for celebrity watching. And Malibu," he settled his eyes on my in turn. "The high school has a fantastic sports program, better even than the one here. So what do you say? Are you with me?"

And so that is how we found ourselves in dad's limo, cruising slowing down the main street of our new home. It certainly was a change from the hectic pace of the only home I had ever known.

In what seemed like no time at all, we pulled up in front of an old fashioned colonial whose yard backed up to the waterfront. Rain immediately claimed the small apartment over the garage, while Marina and I settled into one bedroom together, and Benji and Peri into another.

The first thing Benji and I did was to set up a hopscotch game in the back yard.

Then it was on to the hot tub, for a good long soak. There was even enough room in the back yard for a trampoline, something we all had been wanting forever. There just wasn't space for one, at our house in L.A.

Oops! I was going to ask my dad about the new school, but I think... I'll.. just... leave that for another time. Geez. Do other people's parents still do that at their age?

Mmm, cookies. Fascinating. Anything to erase from my mind what I just saw upstairs in my parents bedroom.

Benji and I started at our new school. The homework wasn't too bad, if only Peri would stop pillowfighting with Seashell while I was trying to get it done.

The only thing dad neglected to mention was that the athletic program was held at the military academy,which was fine with me. But my annoying little brother took no end of pleasure in teasing Benji and me about having to go to 'military school'.

I decided he was just jealous because his imaginary friend is still imaginary, and no one but me and dad believe him when he talks about his 'Seashell'.

After homework, it was always fun to play a game or two with dad. He was really enjoying his retirement. It was so great to see him let loose and enjoy himself for once, after all those years of constant politics.

"How's work treating you, sis?" I called over to Rain, who was content to just watch dad and me battle it out on the TV.

"Have you found anyone to woohoo in the hot tub with you yet?" I snickered. It was a standing joke between us. She had mentioned to me not long after we moved, that it would be fun to woohoo in the hot tub, so I never failed to tease her about it.

"Not yet, I'm working on it. I have a few prospects in mind."

"Yeah right." I giggled. As if my nerdy sister would ever find someone to do that with.

"So, Mali, how's Benji? Are you two still just friends, or is it turning into something more?"

My dad was grilling me again about Benji. I didn't really mind though, I knew all about his relationship with Auntie Peaches, and how she had been his imaginary friend once. He never felt anything else but friendship for her, though... except maybe that one time...

"I don't know yet, daddy. He's pretty special though, and he is amazingly cute."

I didn't tell my dad that almost every day after school, we stay late and flirt with each other in the yard outside the academy.

And sometimes he pulls me into his arms for a hug, and I feel like I could just stay like that forever. But he's never given any indication that he wants anything more, and there is no way I'll ruin the beautiful friendship we have by asking for more. We'll just have to see what the future will bring.