JayT

This account is where I’ll post fandom stuff Main interest is currently Ninjago 24 she/they

[kneesrus]

AAAAHHH the first part of my Loveybug comic

Bye bye little ladybug is finally here!!

Big thanks to @pisoprano and @blur0se for helping me out with any questions I had<3 Especially blur0se, I had a ton of questions for them.

Chapter 1- (pt.1) (pt.2) (pt.3)

[addiroxx]

Chapter 7: “Honey, Honey” - ABBA

“Think about it like this,” Cole called to Lloyd, who was down the hall grabbing his car keys. “It’s not a date-” 

  “Well, it’s not. We’re just hanging out.” Lloyd returned to their living room where Cole was sitting on the couch. 

  “Right, sure. Let me finish.” Cole chuckled. “It’s not a date, it’s an opportunity to let her see that you are worthy of dating.” 

  Lloyd stared at Cole for a long, hard while, fiddling with some of his keychains. “...Okay.” 

  “One could even say, it’s an audition.” Cole smirked. “Since you’re so into that stuff now.” Lloyd actually cracked a smile at this. His gaze darted down to his shoes. Cole laughed. “Okay, I see that settled your nerves.” 

  Lloyd looked back up, giving Cole a good natured eyeroll. “Just do me a favor tonight?” 

  “Sure.” Cole drummed his fingers on the arm of the couch. 

  “Keep Kai away from us.” Lloyd pleaded. 

  Cole’s smile dropped, before he squeezed his eyes shut and burst into laughter. “Why?!” 

  “Because he’s always saying weird things, and I don’t want him to say weird things to her.” Lloyd said. 

 Cole settled down, shrugging understandingly. “You mean, like at Jay’s party? You know, she’s probably forgotten all about Paranoia.” 

   “No. No, she hasn’t.” Lloyd groaned. “She asked me yesterday after I invited her to Top Golf.” 

  Cole started to laugh again. “She makes me laugh. She’s doing it because I’ll bet she knows how nervous it makes you.” 

  “Yeah, well, I lied and told her that I already forgot. Anyways, I gotta go.” Lloyd sighed, looking at his phone. “I told her I’d pick her up in a couple minutes. You sure you’re okay with finding another ride?” He looked up from his phone at Cole guiltily. 

  Cole waved his hands. “I’m asking for a ride from Kai- don’t worry, he won't talk to you guys, I’ll make sure of it. I’ll keep him distracted. Now, go get your girl who’s just a friend and you’re not going on a date with.” Cole shooed Lloyd out the door. 

  On the minute drive over to Liv’s, Lloyd had already needed to take his jacket off because his car felt like it was hotter than the sun. He was way more nervous than he cared to admit. He texted her a simple “here!” and then put his phone down and tried to focus on staying cool. His heart lurched when the door opened, Liv stepping onto the porch. He caught himself admiring how cute she looked, hair straightened and in that same half up twist from the game, white baby tee with a band logo and low waisted jeans. He watched as she galavanted up to the passenger door, waving at him. His smile warmed as he waved back, the door opening. 

  “Hi!” She beamed. 

  “What’s up?” Lloyd chuckled lightly. 

  Liv hopped in, dropping her tote bag at her feet. “I’m so excited to participate in rich kid activities!” 

  Lloyd burst out laughing as she shut the door. “Rich kid activities, huh?” 

  “Yeah, so, I have to confess, I did some digging,” She looked at Lloyd, pointing a finger at his face and narrowing her eyes in a teasing manner. “Meaning I was asking Jay about you, and I found out that your parents are quite wealthy. Wealthy people go golfing. Ergo, rich kid activities.” 

  Lloyd pulled out of the driveway, shrugging. “I mean, yeah, I guess.” The idea of Liv asking around about him filled him with butterflies for some reason. 

  Liv laughed. “And he’s humble too.” 

  Lloyd looked over at her, grinning. “I’m known to be very humble.” 

  When they got to Top Golf, they walked in to find Jay and Nya exiting the small gift shop just off to the right from the entrance. “LIV!” Jay cried excitedly, eyes widening when he saw her. “What are you doing here?” 

  “Being a rich kid.” Liv said. Nya was looking between Lloyd and Liv, trying to figure out the dynamic before she said anything. Jay did not use the same logic. 

  “I’m guessing you’re here with Lloyd?” Jay asked, quirking a devious eyebrow. Always the loud mouth. Nya pressed her mouth into a thin line, shooting him a discreet glare. 

   Lloyd’s mouth fell open to reply, but nothing came out, just developing a blush across his cheeks and ears in response. 

  Liv remained unphased. “Mhm,” She hummed, sticking her hands in her back pockets, and looking up at Lloyd, who was looking back down at her with a visibly nervous expression. “But I think since Lloyd decided he’s gunning for Ariel, and I am too, he just brought me here to beat me to death with a golf club.” She grinned at Lloyd. 

  Lloyd’s expression shifted quickly, going from anxious to a relieved grin. “How did you know?” His laugh was breathy. Lloyd wished he could yell at Jay, “we’re not on a date!” Because they weren’t. 

  “We should be in the same bay!” Nya offered excitedly, trying to change the subject. “I also want to hang out with Liv.” 

  Liv’s eyes gleamed. “Okay!” She nodded fervently. Nya and Liv headed out to the balcony first, talking excitedly. Jay grabbed Lloyd’s arm and pulled him aside. 

  “Jay, please don’t say anything to her about-” Lloyd began to say. 

  Jay ignored him, blurting out, “Holy shit, you actually asked her out?” 

  Lloyd frowned. “No, no. We’re not on a date, so don’t act like it is one.”  

  Jay’s eyebrows furrowed in genuine confusion. “How is this not a date? Lloyd, you brought your crush. To a team activity. Where it’s encouraged to bring a date.” He said, chopping up his sentences. 

  “I told her we were allowed to bring a friend.” Lloyd explained hurriedly, wanting to be done with this conversation and go outside with everyone. 

  Jay groaned loudly, covering his face. “Lloyd, you idiot, you friendzoned her!”

  “Well...” Lloyd hissed, looking around like he was worried Liv might appear and hear everything. “She doesn’t want to date anyone right now, Nya told me.” Jay blinked at him as Lloyd walked around him, and out the sliding doors to the balcony, where people from both the men and women’s teams were already roaming around, lounging on the couches, and swinging golf clubs. “Conversation over.” He stated over his shoulder. 

  “You make no sense, dude.” He heard Jay mutter behind him as he trailed after Lloyd. Lloyd ignored him, walking over to the group of three couches that formed a U shape that Liv and Nya sat at, their feet propped up on the low table. 

  “There you guys are.” Nya watched them approach, grinning. “We literally thought you decided to go somewhere else because you hate us.” She joked. 

  Liv tilted her head, pretending to glare at Lloyd. “Yeah.” 

  Lloyd laughed, gearing up to respond when he heard something bone chilling. 

  “Liv Branson at Top Golf?!” Lloyd felt like he had been shot when Kai slapped him on the back and breezed past him. Damn you, Cole. “What is Liv Branson doing at Top Golf?” 

 “Oh! Hello, Kai from the lacrosse team!” Liv waved him. 

  He took this as an invitation to plop on the couch right in between her and his sister, grinning charmingly. Nya looked annoyed, while Liv looked amused. 

  “Kai.” Nya groaned. 

  Cole appeared beside Lloyd, panting because he’d probably just chased after Kai. “Hey.” 

  “Hey.” Lloyd grumbled. 

  “I tried to stop him.” He huffed. 

  Lloyd gave him a deadpan stare. “You did a terrible job.” He mumbled. 

  “No, but seriously, you on the team now, or what?” Kai asked, but the shit eating grin on his face made it obvious he knew why she was there. 

  “Lloyd invited me.” Liv said to Kai, looking up and smiling at Lloyd, who was planted in front of the low coffee table and looked distressed. 

  “Oh, Lloyd invited you?” Kai was smiling evilly, turning his head to also look up at Lloyd, winking at him. Lloyd tensed. 

  “Well, yes he did because he is very kind!” Liv bantered back. 

  “Kai, looks like this bay’s taken.” Cole said loudly, trying to do Lloyd a favor. “Hey, Liv, good to see you.” 

  Kai pouted. “No, not yet-” 

  “Kai, you were not invited to sit with us, leave.” Nya demanded, standing up and yanking Kai off the couch, and shoving him at Cole. “Here, take him.” 

  Cole gave Lloyd an apologetic half smile, while Kai gave him a crude little grin. “So, Little Lloyd’s got balls afterall.” He said in Lloyd’s ear. Lloyd shot him the nastiest glare, which only made Kai cackle as Cole dragged him back across the length of the balcony. Lloyd looked down at Liv, only to find her laughing, watching as Kai left. 

  “Your brother is so annoying.” She giggled to Nya. 

  “You’re preaching to the choir.” Nya rolled her eyes, slumping against the couch cushions. Jay jumped over the back, settling next to his girlfriend and putting his arm around her on the back of the couch. All three of their heads turned to look at Lloyd, who had sat himself on the furthest end on the couch adjacent. 

  “What the hell do you have against us?” Liv joked with a big, teasing grin, shaking her head fondly at him. “Do I scare you, or something?” 

  This made Jay and Nya burst out laughing, knowing the answer was yes. Lloyd smiled in equal parts shock. “Oh…uh…” How was he supposed to respond to that? 

  Liv patted the spot next to her. “Get over here, weirdo.” 

  Jay bounced up from the couch. “Okay gang, I say we just start while we wait to order food. Which of the games are we playing?” He walked up to the tablet to select a game mode. “Angry Birds? I vote for Angry Birds.” Lloyd quietly sat next to Liv on the couch, still making sure there was a platonic amount of distance between them. 

  “Whatever one you want, Jay.” Nya turned her attention over to Lloyd. “Hey, by the way Lloyd, Jay told me you’re going to try out for the musical?” 

  Before Lloyd could respond, Jay piped up. “Yeah, only because Liv asked him to.” 

  Liv laughed out a sharp sound, trying to cover the light pink shade her face was turning. Lloyd came up with a response quickly. “Well, you’ve been talking it up so much, Liv, I felt left out.” 

  “Yeah, okay.” Jay chuffed. “‘Kay, I’m going first, Nya, you’re after me, then Lloyd, then Liv.” 

  “Best for last.” Liv remarked. “Just kidding.”

  “Hey, I’ll be right back!” Nya hopped up, her eyes fixed on someone. “I’m gonna go say hi to Pixal real quick!” She scurried off. 

  Lloyd tilted his head to talk to Liv. “On the topic of the musical, how does this all work?” He asked quietly, watching Jay swing and strike the golf ball. 

  “Auditions?” Liv asked, turning her body on the couch to face Lloyd. “What about them?” 

  Lloyd bent his leg, twisting to sit facing her as well. “Like…what do I sing? I have to sing, right?” 

  Liv laughed. “Oh, well, right. You’ll have to do something from another musical, but just, like, thirty seconds of the song, nothing crazy.” She explained, straightening up and seeming ecstatic to talk about the process. “You’ll have to sign up for a time- actually, I can sign you up! I got Alyx and my cousin, Steph, to do the same time as me, and from what I remember seeing, there’s one spot left in that group. It’s at 4:30.” 

  “Okay, yeah, I can do that.” Lloyd had started to smile. “Your cousin, huh?” 

  “Yeah. She’s a freshman here too. She wanted some kind of extracurricular, and I talked her into the musical.” Liv bobbed her head as she spoke. “She’s cool, you’d like her.” 

  Lloyd’s smile was widening. “Is it your goal to convince the whole NSU campus to do this show?” 

  “Um, well, yes!” Liv giggled, turning back to watch Jay whack another golf ball, whistling away. “Can I tell you my deepest, darkest secret?” She looked back at him. “You wanna know why I keep telling people to audition?” Lloyd raised an eyebrow, amused, “I’m being a suck up.” She stage-whispered. 

  “A suck up?” Lloyd repeated, grinning. Nya came skipping back, accepting the club Jay held in his outstretched hand. Now it was her turn. 

  “Yeah. I’m trying to get people to audition so it shows Struiks- that’s the director, by the way- that I want to help grow the department. Because I want Ariel.” 

  Lloyd snorted. “God. You are a suck up.” 

  Liv looked earnestly at him. “Sorry, I don’t think I said this correctly: if I don’t get that role, I will die.” She reached out, grabbing his shoulders. Lloyd’s eyebrows raised as he listened to her ramble, his heart growing fonder and fonder. “Ever since I found out what the musical was, my parents hired a vocal coach, and I have been working so hard on my audition song, and all the songs Ariel sings in the show.” 

  Lloyd leaned back against the couch, looking impressed. “Wow, so you’ve been training.” 

  “Hard.” Liv nodded. “Very, very hard.” 

  “Geez, now I feel kind of stupid.” He chuckled, splaying an arm across the back of the couch. “Here you are, working so hard, and I’m over here trying out just because you made it sound fun.” 

  Liv fixed him with a skeptical look. “Are you really just doing the musical because I made it sound fun?” There was a split second of Liv just looking at him with that look of disbelief in her eye that made him want to disappear into the couch. “Or do you actually want to do it? Did I make you feel bad for saying no to Jay? Did I peer pressure you?” 

  Lloyd laughed, hard. “God, no!” He shook his head earnestly. “No, no! I’m genuinely doing it because I want to hang out with you.” He bit his tongue after he’d said it, hoping it didn’t read as flirty. But, then again, maybe it was flirty. 

  It was Liv’s turn to go silent, mouth agape in a small, astonished smile. “I- really?” She started to blush. “To hang out with me?” 

  “Yeah, why not?” Lloyd shrugged, smiling. His tiny flirty comment had landed. His spirits started to perk up. “It’s a good excuse to do it more often.” He caught the way her eyes lit up, and her smile brightened after he’d said it. 

  “That- that’s a great point!” She giggled breathily. 

  “‘Kay, Lloyd, you’re up.” Jay said to Lloyd, leaning over the table. 

  Lloyd started to stand, looking down at Liv. “Well, hey, you can be Ariel, Jay can be the prince, and I can be, uh, fish #11.” 

  Liv burst into bright laughter at this. 

  “Oh my God. Liv, imagine us as Eric and Ariel.” Jay said with bright eyes. “A freshmen duo that could change the course of NSU’s theatre department forever.” 

  Lloyd wrinkled his nose, looking back at Liv with an amused look in his eye at Jay’s comment. She caught his eye, giving him a silent chuckle in response. 

  “You guys would be a freak show nightmare together, I’m so glad I’m not auditioning.” Nya laughed, sinking into the couch next to Liv. “You guys just enable each other, and it’s scary.” 

  “Also, babe, I’ve heard you sing.” Jay said to Nya, sitting on her opposite side and wincing. 

  “Oh, come on, you can’t be that bad.” Liv laughed. 

  “Oh, it’s bad.” Nya confirmed, giggling. “I’d be kicked out of auditions if I tried.” 

  Liv snorted, shaking her head in disbelief, Jay nodded back to her in confirmation. Lloyd cleared his throat loudly, returning to stand in front of them with a club slung across his shoulders. 

  “So, are you just not gonna watch me, or what?” He joked. 

  “Just go, since you want to show off so bad.” Liv teasingly rolled her eyes, pretending to be exasperated. 

  Jay and Nya looked at her with both shock and amusement at her constant snarky, yet flirty comments to Lloyd. Lloyd grinned giddily at her teasing. 

  Lloyd easily scored the highest points out of everyone so far with each swing. He turned back, seeing Jay, Nya, and Liv’s stunned looks. “Apparently, it’s a rich kid activity.” He said with a shrug. “Liv, your turn.” 

  Liv stood up, pressing her palms flat against her legs and declared, “Please don’t make fun of me because I’ve never held a golf club in my life.” 

  Lloyd held his club out to her. “Ever?” 

  Liv shot him a teasing look. “Lloyd, I told you that.” She grabbed onto the club. 

  “Here, come on, let me show you.” Lloyd waved her over, using the golf club to guide her to stand with him. “Get a club.” 

  “Can’t I use this one?” Liv asked, still holding the one Lloyd was holding the top of. He started to smile and blush, when he caught sight of Jay and Nya subtly-not-so-subtly nudging each other with their elbows, gawking at the two of them like they were zoo animals. 

  He let go of the club, growing awkward. “Um, yeah, yeah, just use this one.” He took her shoulders and stood her on the little patch of green where the tee poked out of the fake grass. He grabbed another club, and stood behind her, demonstrating for her how to hold it. 

  Jay and Nya deflated. “Dammit.” Jay murmured to Nya. 

  She grabbed Jay’s elbow, motioning for him to leave with her. “Lloyd, you keep being a good instructor, Jay and I are going to go order food for the table.” 

  “Yay!” Liv cheered. “I’m hungry.” 

  Jay’s eyes widened at Nya in understanding. “Ohhhhh,” He nodded schemingly at her. She sighed and pulled him away. He wasn’t good at being subtle. 

  Lloyd looked around, their bay empty except for them, and everyone else invested in their own games. 

  “Okay. I think I got it. Ball me.” Liv swiped her club in front of the automatic ball dispenser. Lloyd couldn’t help but chuckle at that. 

  She did not in fact have it, her form was terrible, and the ball rolled straight into the net that surrounded the outside of the balcony, but through his laughter, Lloyd gave her two thumbs up. “You’re a natural.” He lied. 

  “Lying is a sin.” Liv deflated as she watched the animation on the TV above his head, the red bird face planting directly into the ground. She snorted. 

  “The point of this whole endeavor isn’t to be good at golf, it’s the friends we make along the way.” Lloyd smiled and shook his head at her. 

  “Well, I’ve got two more tries. Watch this.” Liv giggled as she summoned another ball out of the dispenser by swiping her club in front of the sensor. 

  Lloyd watched the screen as she launched one bird back into the ground, and then hit the last one against one block. “I think you’re gonna win!” He declared. 

  “I think so too! By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Liv turned back to him, looking up at him with wide eyes. His heart stuttered. “Should I play for Jay while he’s gone so I can sabotage him?” 

  Lloyd laughed at that. “You’ve been meaning to ask that?” 

  “Yeah, since they left.” Liv nodded. 

  Lloyd smirked, looking up at their scores thus far. He was in the lead, with Jay right behind him. “Yeah. Do it.” 

  Jay and Nya came back with a tray of fries and appetizers, finding Lloyd and Liv on the couch trying not to laugh. “Hi.” Liv said, trying (and failing) to keep up a poker face. 

  “Why are you being weird?” Jay asked, setting the food down. 

  Liv made a big show of shrugging. 

  “Oh, Nya, it's your turn.” Lloyd said to Nya, with a big grin. Nya looked confused. Jay was staring at his points on the screen. 

  “Wait, who played for me?” He asked, starting to laugh. 

  Liv made another show of shrugging, but Lloyd held his arm up, and pointed down above Liv’s head. “Hey! Don’t sell me out!” She shoved him playfully. They both dissolved into giggles. 

  “Okay, they need to get a room.” Jay snickered quietly to Nya. 

  “Just for that, I’m about to kick your ass this next round.” Nya said as she grabbed a club. Jay hung around Nya as it was her turn to swing, Lloyd and Liv still snickering on the couch, thinking they were the funniest people on the planet. 

  “Okay, dumbass #1, it’s your turn.” Jay called to Lloyd. 

  “Does that make me dumbass #2? What makes him #1?” Liv pouted. 

  “And for the record, I’m never leaving this bay from now on, so don’t even think about trying to mess up my score again.” Jay sounded stern, but the amused grin on his face said otherwise.

  Lloyd chuckled as he stood to take his spot next to the tee. “I’ll figure out another way.” He joked. 

  As Jay sat down on the couch adjacent to the one Liv was on, he shot her a knowing look. She laughed at the look on his face. “What?” She giggled. Jay quirked an eyebrow and pointed a finger between her and Lloyd silently. Nya and Lloyd were laughing at something as Nya made her way back to the couches. Liv just breathed out a laugh in response. “Oh…uh…I don’t know.” Was all she could say in return. 

  “Wait, what? What do you mean?” Jay’s face lost its evil grin, looking more serious and concerned for his friend. 

  Nya sat next to him. “What? What does what mean?” She asked, looking between Jay and Liv. 

  Liv noticed Lloyd turned around, watching them, and looking like he was about to make another dumb joke about wishing everyone would pay attention to him. She chose to abandon this conversation that Jay was trying to start with her. “I swear, if you complain again, I’ll be the one beating you with a golf club.” 

  Lloyd just laughed, turning away. Jay leaned in closer to whisper to Liv. “Wait, but I thought-”

  “Olivia Branson?! My roommate?! How do we live together and I didn’t even know you were coming to this?! Why are you here?!” Without any of them noticing, Alyx had made her debut right behind their couch, gawking down at Liv. 

  Liv’s eyes sliced over to Lloyd, then back to Alyx. It had somehow never passed between the two of them that Alyx’s “thing” that she had on Friday was a lacrosse Top Golf trip, and Liv had never emphasized that her “plans” for that night were golfing with the lacrosse teams (with Lloyd). 

  “What the hell?” Liv stood and started to laugh. “How did I not realize you would be here too? Did you just get here?” 

  “I’ve been here, laday!” Alyx cackled, putting a hand on Liv’s shoulder. “Wait, can I steal you for four seconds?” 

  Liv’s smile started to fade. Alyx had that look in her eye, the one where she kept very obviously looking at her, and then Lloyd. “It’s almost my turn.” Liv protested. 

  “Lloyd, be a dear and golf for her, I promise it will be quick! And then she’s all yours again!” Alyx tugged on Liv’s elbow. 

  “Uh, okay…” Lloyd looked confused, watching as Liv stood and climbed over the back of the couch.

  “It’ll be four seconds! Maybe five!” Alyx promised again, leading Liv away from the bay. 

  “Alyx.” Liv whispered as soon they were far enough away. “What are you-” 

  Alyx pulled Liv back into the main building and stopped the both of them, grabbing Liv’s shoulders. Liv was looking at her like her eye was about to start twitching. ALyx was beaming. “You’re here with Lloyd. You’re on a-” 

  “Nowearenot.” Liv said sternly, her words running together. Now it was Alyx’s turn to look equally as annoyed as Liv. “He invited me as a friend, he told me so. This is strictly a hang out.” 

  “Oh, great, so he’s an idiot too. You’re perfect for each other.” Alyx let out a loud sigh, letting go of Liv’s shoulders. “Okay, fine, let’s say this isn’t a date. Let’s say after this, he were to say, ‘hey Liv, may I ask you on a date?’ What would you say to that?” Alyx set her fists at her hips and looked at Liv expectantly. Liv didn’t respond. “You would say yes.” Liv pursed her lips. “Yes, you would.” Liv narrowed her eyes. “Don’t glare at me, I know you would.” 

  “Alyx-” 

  “Did he drive you here?” Alyx’s face was lighting up again. The look on Liv’s face told her everything she needed to know. Alyx latched back onto Liv’s shoulders. “Liv. This is perfect. Go home with him.” 

  “No!” Liv yanked herself out of Alyx’s grasp, backing towards the entrance of the restaurant inside the building. “Alyx, come on!” She scolded her like she had just said the most vulgar thing. 

  Alyx followed her, saying her name through gritted teeth.“Liv! I thought we were getting somewhere the other day with our conversation!” 

  “Yeah. And the consensus was that I don’t want to have a crush on him.” Liv said plainly. 

  “I’m going to push you off this fucking roof!” Alyx groaned. “Liv. He likes you. You like him. You both are being weird. He invited you here as a ‘friend’, but Liv, I don’t think he wants you here as a ‘friend’.” 

  Liv stopped walking, casting Alyx a side long glance. “What makes you say that?” She asked in a deadpan voice. 

  Alyx gave her a big shrug for show. “Gee, I don’t know, maybe everything about the way he treats you, laday!” 

  “You’ve barely seen us together.” Liv brushed her off.

  Alyx stared at Liv for a long, hard while. “Okay, fine, I’ll tell you my secret. I have an inside source. His name is Cole.”

  Liv’s eyebrows knitted together. “What?” 

  “Cole was asking about you for Lloyd.” Alyx clapped her hands. 

  Liv gawked at her. “What did he say?” 

  Alyx shifted. “Oh…uh…he said that you’re very beautiful, and Lloyd is in love with you.” Just by Alyx’s tone, Liv could tell Alyx was lying. 

  She frowned. “No, he didn’t.” 

  Alyx shrugged. “It was something like that. But, he really was asking about you.” Liv raised an eyebrow, knowing Alyx too well. “... Because I was asking him about Lloyd.” She finally confessed. When Liv just stared at her with dead eyes, Alyx continued. “Okay, but Liv, it was the way he was asking about you, like he was trying to get intel. Like I was doing!” 

  Liv folded her arms, looking down. “Okay. Well, thanks.” 

  Alyx reached out and took Liv’s elbows. “It’s like I said! I don’t think he wants you here as a friend, I think he’s too shy to ask you out.” 

  Liv stood with her mouth gaping open and closed. “But it’s like I was saying the other night, I don’t want to-” 

  Alyx groaned loudly “Liv! I just- I don’t know what else to say to you.” She gave her tight smile, tilting her head. “You’re afraid to hurt him, but you might still do that if you lead him on. So, just go for it.” 

  Liv looked guilty as she tried to make sense of her words. “Alyx-”

  “Okay, let’s summarize this conversation. Lloyd Garmadon likes you, you like Lloyd Garmadon, stop being stupid, be nice to him, and…one last thing, what was it- oh yeah! Suck him dry.” Alyx skipped back to the doors to the balcony, leaving Liv horrified. 

  “Alyx!” She cried out after her. 

  Alyx didn’t even look back at her, just heading back outside with a little wave. 

  Liv was gobsmacked. She looked around the lobby, like she was worried the whole building had heard. No one cared, milling about the gift shop, restaurant, and check in area. She tried to wipe the burning blush off of her face. Leave it to Alyx to say something weird. 

  She trudged back to their bay. Lloyd was back on the couch, legs sprawled across the length of the cushions as Jay and Nya hit some more golf balls. 

  “Hey, you’re back.” Lloyd looked up at her with a big smile as Liv returned, swinging his feet back to the concrete to make room for her. “Where did Alyx go?” 

  “Who knows.” Liv sat next to him, maintaining more platonic distance. 

  “What did she want?” Lloyd asked, chuckling. 

  “She just had to tell me something. How was it playing for me?” She rerouted the conversation. 

  Lloyd beamed. “You’re winning.” Lloyd leaned over to her, pointing to the TV that showed all of their points. “I made sure you got more points than me.” He looked so proud of himself. 

  She chuckled lightly. “Wow, such a gentleman.” She folded her legs in, sitting cross legged on the couch. Lloyd smiled softly. He was so handsome. She felt a surge of sparks course through her chest, averting her eyes and watching Jay and Nya. 

  “By the way, I realized I know exactly what you mean by wanting that part that bad.” Lloyd said, passively watching Jay spin around in surprise as he made a ball go soaring across the course. “I was thinking about it while you were with Alyx, ‘cause that’s exactly how I feel about wanting to be goalie.” 

  Liv smiled slightly. “What’s your role on the team again?” She asked. 

  Lloyd stared at her for a few seconds, once in confusion, the second with an amused smile growing on his face, the third one he started to laugh. “You mean my position?” He asked her in an endeared voice. 

  Liv smirked. “Oh. Yeah.” 

  “I’m on defense.” 

  “...Is that not goalie?” Liv whispered, grinning from ear to ear. 

  Lloyd burst out laughing again at her question. “If it was goalie, well, I wouldn’t be wishing I was, would I?” He scooted an inch closer to her. 

  Liv gave him a small grin, shrugging. “I dunno, I’m new here.” 

  “Well, to make a long story short, all I want is to be goalie, but my dad would never let me.” Lloyd explained, somewhat solemnly. 

  Liv listed her head. “What? Why?” 

  Lloyd was about to explain, but something caught his eye. His face fell. “Oh, God.” He mumbled. “Speaking of…”

  “Hey, honey!”

  “Hello, my son who I never see. Fancy seeing you here at Top Golf.” 

  Liv twisted around on the couch, a man and a woman approaching their bay with big grins. Lloyd’s voice came out somewhat strangled. “Hi mom, hi dad.” 

  Jay started laughing, doubling over, Nya swatting his elbow. “Hi, Coach Garm, hi, Coach Koko.” She called to them, waving. 

  Lloyd’s parents were being anything but sly, eyes bouncing between their son and Liv. “Who’s this?” Lloyd’s mom asked after an extremely obvious moment of her staring. 

  Lloyd plastered on a fake smile, trying not to show his parents how embarrassing they were being. He knew they were trying, he really did, but they could at least not walk up to their bay with those freakish smiles like they were possessed. Seriously, Lloyd had never seen either of his parents smile like that. “This is Liv, she’s my friend who’s doing the musical.” 

   Liv gave them a shy smile, waving. “Hello.” 

  Coaches Garm and Koko waved at her with those same weird smiles. “It is very nice to meet you, Liv-doing-the-musical.” Garm said to her. 

“Okay.” Lloyd frowned, shooing them off. “You don’t have to be here anymore.” 

  Koko and Garm laughed, walking up to Lloyd and taking turns squeezing his shoulder and ruffling his hair. “Okay, we just wanted to say hi to you. We’ll stop embarrassing you in front of your friends, we just wanted to stop by and say hi.” Koko giggled, obviously stalling. “We wanted to meet your friend!” 

  Liv’s eyes were darting between Lloyd’s parents and Lloyd, grinning and laughing, unsure of what to say. 

  “Okay. Well. You met her.” Lloyd said. 

  “Nice to meet you.” Liv finally responded, just laughing at Lloyd’s reaction. 

  Koko kept talking. “So, I hear you’re doing to play-” 

  “Mom.” Lloyd butted in immediately. 

  Jay and Nya were eating this up. 

  “Alright, I think we’ve spent enough time with our son who’s embarrassed of us.” Garm joked, laughing and placing a gentle hand on Koko’s back. 

  “We’ll talk later.” Koko whispered loudly to Liv. 

  Lloyd’s face went stark white. “Mom.” 

  “Okay, okay! Bye, hon.” Koko snickered, sending Nya a little wave. “Nice to meet you.” She whispered to Liv. 

  “Bye, Liv-doing-the-musical.” Garm said again. 

  “BYE.” Lloyd demanded loudly. Garm and Koko laughed boisterously as they left. 

  “Bye, Coach!” Jay called after Garmadon, who did not respond. “He probably didn’t hear me.” Jay shrugged, looking at everyone else. 

  Lloyd looked at Liv, who was giggling so hard her face was red. At least someone found the interaction funny. “So…those are my parents…” Lloyd said, shifting in his seat. “I did not think they would do that. My mom is very curious about the musical, by the way.”

 “You told them about the musical?” Liv asked with a genuine smile as her laughter died down. 

  “Yeah, I wanted to let my coach know. Good thing my coach is my dad.” Lloyd joked, turning to look over his shoulder, only to find his parents making a U-turn, motioning for someone else to join them. “Oh. My God.” He groaned, now before full body turning in his seat and watching them jauntily approach again, now with his Uncle Wu trailing them. 

  “Hi again, we’re just passing by!” Koko announced with a big wave, making themselves known. “Wu hasn’t seen you yet, Lloyd! He wanted to say hi!” 

  The man in tow with them had a short goatee and shaggy white hair, and he gave Lloyd a tight lipped smile. He probably had said nothing of that sort to Garm and Koko. They were  probably the ones who said, “Wu, come see the girl Lloyd brought with him”. Wu clearly did not care as much as they did. 

  “Oh! Hi, Coach Wu!” Jay called. 

  “Hi.” Lloyd deadpanned as they passed again. He wanted to die when he realized that his parents were specifically waving at Liv again. She waved back at them with a big, beaming smile, seeming to enjoy the way it embarrassed Lloyd as much as their presence did. As soon as he was sure that they were gone and wouldn’t circle back, he muttered to Liv, “If they walk by again, give me a signal.” 

  Liv burst out laughing. “I hope they do! They seem fun!” 

  “Right. So fun.” Was all Lloyd responded with. He was never telling his parents anything again. 

  “Coach Wu didn’t hear me either.” Said Jay. “Lloyd, your turn.” 

  “Wait! You never told me why your dad won’t let you play goalie.” Liv said, leaning forward to stop him from getting up. “I should have asked him while he was here.” 

  “Haha, you’re funny, Liv.” Lloyd jokingly deadpanned. “He just would never let me because back in his day, he was goalie, and he got hurt pretty bad, so now I’m doomed to play defense for the rest of my life.” Lloyd explained quickly as he stood to take his place up front. Nya replaced Lloyd on the couch. 

 “Doomed?!” Liv repeated. 

  “Well, I don’t hate defense.” Lloyd corrected himself, picking his club back up. “I just would be a great goalie.” He said. 

  “Plus, you’re left handed,” Jay added. “So, everyone will be shooting stick side high. You’d totally be a great goalie.” 

  Lloyd looked at Jay, who was moving to sit back on the couch. He smiled at him. “Thanks, Jay.” Lloyd was actually very touched by that comment. 

  “I can be nice sometimes. But only if I’m in the lead, like I am right now. Don’t even think about trying to beat me, Lloyd.” Jay narrowed his eyes at Lloyd. Lloyd took it as a challenge. 

  In the end, Lloyd swept the floor, Nya and Jay were neck and neck, and Liv lost, only earning a fair amount of points from when Lloyd golfed for her. 

  “Guess you won’t be nice to me anymore.” Lloyd commented to Jay as the bays were clearing out, and the waiters had come out to clean up the tables. 

  “I’ll make an exception for you.” Jay grinned. “If Liv beat me though, that’s a different story, I’d never want to speak to her again.” 

  Liv’s jaw dropped in fake offense. “Wow. Way to kick me while I’m down.” She fake scowled around a growing smile. “I just lost, probably getting the worst score of anyone in this whole facility, and you want to joke about not speaking to me? Your dearest friend?” 

  “Jay.” Nya shook her head, taking Liv’s side. “You’re being mean.” 

  “Yeah, wow, Jay.” Lloyd joined in. 

  “I was kidding! I was kidding!” Jay was screeching and laughing.

  “Nope. I hope that you get fish #11.” Liv held a hand up to shun Jay. “I hope I get Ariel, and Nya gets Prince Eric.” 

  Jay pretended to be devastated as they left the building. “I guess it’s what I deserve.” He agreed. 

  “I’ll start practicing!” Nya clapped her hands. “Oh! I sure hope we get to kiss!” She said to Liv. 

  “That’s my dream!” Liv agreed. Lloyd was just shaking his head and chuckling as he listened to them. 

  “Liv, you’re kissing my sister?!” It was Kai again. Him and Cole were filtering out of the facility after them. “Wow. That’s not how I imagined this night ending.” Cole was trailing after him, trying to steer him in another direction. It wasn’t working. 

  “Hey, there you guys are.” Jay laughed. Jay and Nya had driven with Kai and Cole, which Lloyd was now realizing was a nightmare scenario to be in right now. 

  Cole spoke loudly before anyone else could try to make another joke. “Well, I’m beat. Let’s get out of here. See you at home, Lloyd.” He kept trying to steer Kai towards his Jeep. 

  “Will we see you at home, Liv?” Kai asked, smiling widely. 

  Liv just laughed, shaking her head. “Oh, like my home? Are you coming over to my home?” 

  “Oh, I hadn’t considered that.” Kai was making direct eye contact with Lloyd as he said it. “Maybe it’ll just be Cole and I tonight-” 

  “Okay! Ew! Let’s just leave and you have to be silent!” Nya protested, finally shoving her brother towards his car. 

  Cole flashed Lloyd another apologetic look. “See you guys later.” He muttered to Liv and Lloyd.  

  “Sorry about Kai.” Lloyd muttered. 

  “What? Why?” Liv chuckled, entertained by Cole and Nya trying to wrangle Kai into his Jeep. 

  “He can just be a lot.” Lloyd started to back towards his car in the last stall of the parking row. 

  “I don’t mind him. I think he’s funny.” Liv shrugged, following after Lloyd. 

  Lloyd chuckled. “At least someone does.” 

  Liv yelped as Alyx zoomed past her, slapping her hard on the ass. “Make mama proud!” She said with a heavy twang in her voice, running backwards and pointing at Liv. “Bye!”

  “Actually, you know what,” Liv spoke up again, glowering at Alyx’s back as she bolted to her Rav. “I’m sorry about her.”  

  Lloyd chuckled again, but pretended he hadn't seen the whole exchange, unlocking his car as he approached. “Here’s my car.” He said, hurrying in front of her to open the passenger door. 

  “Such a gentleman tonight.” She commented as she got in. 

  Lloyd wanted to say something smooth, something to try and maybe drop a hint, but instead he just smiled shyly and shut the door. He rounded his car, spotting Morro Vandaval, the team captain, and also the NSU’s starting goalie, walking to his car, which was parked across from Lloyd’s. Great. Morro did a double take, realizing Lloyd was there and averting his eyes and pretending not to see him. Morro did not like Lloyd, and Lloyd could not figure out for the life of him why. In his memory, he’d done nothing to Morro, but Morro was always shooting him with nasty looks. 

  Morro paused, needing to get past Lloyd in order to get to his car. He gave Lloyd a blank stare, mouth twitching slightly. “Oh! Uh, sorry.” Lloyd opened his door. “Um, see ya.” 

  “Bye.” Morro grumbled in response, as Lloyd swung himself into the driver’s seat and shut the door. He sulked past the driver’s side window to his car. Lloyd tried to offer him a friendly little wave, but Morro refused to even look at the window. 

  “Who’s that?” Liv asked. 

  “That’s Morro. He’s a senior.” Lloyd said, putting the keys into the ignition. “I didn’t even know he was here tonight.” He paused before saying. “He’s the main goalie. He, uh, he doesn’t like me that much.” 

  Liv gaped at him. “Really? Why?” She asked nosily. “Is it because you want to be goalie?” 

  “Well, I dunno.” Lloyd sighed. “I’ve never spoken to him. I don’t know how he would even know that I’ve been training. It’s whatever. I try to be nice, but maybe he just acts like that.” 

  “Well, that’s just rude.” Liv shook her head. “I don’t know how anyone could not like you.” 

  Lloyd flushed. “Aw, thanks.” He grinned as they backed up to exit the parking lot. 

  “Maybe he doesn’t like you because he’s threatened by you.” Liv suggested. 

  That made Lloyd laugh. “That sounds like something my mom would say.” 

  “I actually stole that from my mom.” Laughed Liv. “But, you never know.” 

  “Yeah, I don’t think that sounds like Morro.” Lloyd flipped his blinker on. “Then again, I don’t know him very well. That does sound like this one girl, Harumi, on the girl’s team.” 

  “Rumi?! I know her! She’s auditioning for the musical. She’s scary.” Liv gasped. “Wait, she doesn’t like you?” 

  “Absolutely not. She hates my guts ever since I wiped the floor with her in that debate I had in my class the other day.” Lloyd explained with a slight chuckle. “Not that I was too fond of her before that. She’s team captain on my mom’s team.” 

  “I forgot she does lacrosse too, Alyx is, like, kinda friends with her, I think? I’ve heard her talk about her. I’m not even sure if she knows my name, but we have a class together.” Liv shook her head as she talked. “But she’s insanely talented at, like, everything. She does most of the programs NSU offers.” 

  “I know.” Lloyd huffed. 

  “Sounds like you don’t like her either.” Liv added with a little knowing smile. 

  “Well, why would I when she looks at me like she wants to shove me into an incinerator for beating her in a class debate?” Lloyd glanced at her, shooting her the same knowing smile. “You know, she supposedly has never lost at anything.” 

  “I’d hate you too if I were her then. I’d shove you into an incinerator.” Liv giggled. 

  “Oh, don’t say that, that’s gonna scare me.” Lloyd shook his head. “She might try and do that at the musical try outs.” 

  Liv shook her head earnestly. “She won’t! I’ll protect you! If she knew my spirit, she would probably like me!” 

  This made Lloyd laugh. “Oh, good. That makes me feel better.” 

  Liv turned in her seat to face Lloyd as he drove. “Wait, can I circle back to an earlier conversation?” 

  Lloyd glanced at her out of the corner of his eye with a lazy smile. “Well, sure.” 

  “Talking about that Morro guy, and then the musical just made me think about this.” Liv tried to explain. “Back to the whole goalie thing. You said your dad won’t let you, right?” Lloyd nodded. “But you just said you’ve been practicing to be goalie?” 

  “Yeah, a little bit.” Lloyd shrugged. 

  “Have you told him that?” 

  “No…I’ve been waiting for the right time.” Lloyd explained vaguely. He saw Liv’s confused look. “I want to show him proof that I can do it, you know?” 

  Liv started to grin again. “So, you want to audition for him.” 

  Lloyd breathed out a guffaw. “Sure, yeah, that’s what it would be in your language.” 

  Liv giggled, repeating, “my language” under her breath. 

  Lloyd’s car eventually slowed in front of Liv’s, their conversation quieting. There was a moment of pause where neither of them spoke. Liv went first. 

  “Welp. This is me.” She joked. 

  Lloyd chuckled. “Oh, is it?” His heart had started to thump, looking at Liv over in the passenger seat. “That sucks for me.” When she just chuckled back in response, he grasped at something to fill the silence that fell between them again “Well, thanks for hanging out.” 

  Liv nodded, suddenly feeling extremely shy. “Yeah, thanks for inviting me. This was fun.” She played with the straps of her totebag, twisting them around each other. If she just got out, would it seem rude? Were they supposed to sit and keep talking until there was a natural end to the conversation? 

   “Yeah!” Lloyd nodded, sliding his hands around the steering wheel. “I wouldn’t have had as much fun at that if you weren’t there.” 

  A pang of guilt hit Liv’s heart. He was sweet, he was so perfect, and he was so into her. 

  And that realization terrified her.  

  The two of them stared at each other for the longest ten seconds. Lloyd’s mind started to race. He did everything to not look at her lips. Liv was doing everything to figure out what to say next, but as each second passed, the pause grew more tension filled. His hand gripped the steering wheel ever so slightly, lips parting as if he was about to say something, chest rising and falling as he tried to keep his breathing steady. His eyes started to search hers for any indication of anything at all. Was he supposed to give her a hug? Go and open the door for her? If he opened the door for her…would they…? 

  Liv's heart stuttered, a wave of emotions crashing into her as she realized how much she liked him. How much she wanted him to kiss her. 

  And that realization terrified her even more. 

  She ducked her head, laughing awkwardly. “Thanks for the ride. Bye.” She threw open the door, scrambling out and slinging her tote bag over her shoulder. “See you at auditions.” She slammed the door and sprinted up to her front door, fumbling her keys out of her bag. As she fought the door open, a little figure poked a head out, Liv giving the little shadow a pat and ushering it inside, before closing the door behind her. 

  Lloyd slumped in his seat, hands on the steering wheel now, wringing the leather. He squeezed his eyes shut and scrunched up his face. Idiot, idiot, idiot. He cursed himself. He had probably made her uncomfortable. That’s what he’d been afraid of. Just when he thought she was giving him the same energy back, in classic Lloyd fashion, he was wrong. 

  Liv clicked the lock into place, turning and crouching to pet her dog affectionately and trying to erase the look in Lloyd’s eyes from her mind. Alyx stormed in from the kitchen with a big frown. “Why are you here?” 

  “Wow, Alyx, thanks for the warm welcome.” 

  “You were supposed to go home with Lloyd! What part of ‘suck him dry’ don’t you understand?” 

  Liv glared at her. “Goodnight, Alyx.” 

  Alyx made a point to look out the window. “Hm. Well, looks like he’s giving you a second chance.” 

  Liv stood, glancing out the window, heart lifting slightly when she saw Lloyd’s car was still idling on the side of the road. Slowly, very slowly, he turned into the driveway, and flipped around to leave.

  Liv brushed past her roommate. “I said, goodnight, Alyx.”

[addiroxx]

Chapter 6: "In Agreement" - Lizzy McAlpine

  Liv burst into the house triumphantly. “Hey guys, I’m home.” She announced. 

  Kyle walked in and took an earbud out of his ear. “Oh, hey Liv.” He replied casually. Liv’s dog, Willow, came prancing into the living room. 

  Liv kicked the door shut and shed her bag off onto the couch. “Hi baby, hi puppy.” She cooed to Willow, stooping down to pet her head and scratch her ears. Liv and her dog were almost inseparable, and Liv treated Willow as though she were her own child. A child who was a mix between a Belgian Malinois and Kelpie. Willow sat down, looking up at Liv with her big amber eyes, panting happily. 

  “Hey! We’re in the kitchen.” Sophie’s voice called. 

  Liv padded into the kitchen with Willow, who was trying to lick Liv’s fingers. “Where have you been?” Kyle asked her as she passed him. 

  “I was on campus.” She said, giving Willow’s head another pat. 

  “Oh, you were still there? For some reason I thought you were your cousin’s.” Sophie piped up, typing on her phone. Her and Alyx sat doomscrolling at their tiny kitchen table, occupying the two chairs. Kyle took a spot standing behind Sophie's chair. 

  “Yeah, uh, Jay and I were convincing someone to do the musical.” Liv said vaguely, going to the fridge to grab a water bottle. She had started avoiding bringing up Lloyd around Alyx and Sophie, because any time she did, or someone else did, they tormented her. Especially since that weekend at Jay’s. 

  “You convinced another person?” Sophie asked, unsurprised. “Hey, way to grow the department that’s already massive.” She joked, causing Alyx across from the table to make a pfft sound. Alyx was also auditioning, while Sophie was using this musical as her music capstone project, and was the student director. Liv had somehow convinced several others to try out, her cousin, Stephanie Branson, included. 

  “Who?” Alyx asked, sitting across from Sophie at the table with a bag of microwave popcorn in her lap. 

  Liv shut the fridge door, opening her mouth to respond, then hesitating. “Uh, just someone from class.” She lied. 

  “Wait, who?” Sophie asked casually, still watching something on her phone quietly. “Was it Cole? Did he change his mind, or something?” 

  “Was it me?” Kyle asked sarcastically. 

  “No, Kyle, convincing you to audition was a group effort, remember?” Sophie reminded him. It was true, the three girls had finally gotten Kyle and his boyfriend, Grayson, to agree to audition two weeks prior. 

  Alyx was studying Liv, noticing how skittish she had become, eyes squinting as she jolted forward in her seat. Willow had now planted herself next to Alyx, hoping to catch some stray popcorn pieces. “Liv. Was it Lloyd?” 

  Liv’s face tattled on her as a small, guilty smile invaded her expression. “Uh, yeah.” She said in a small voice as she twisted and untwisted the plastic cap of the bottle. “Jay told me that we should ask him, so we met him by that boba bar in the dining area.” She explained in a soft, quick voice.

  “That’s probably why he left class so fast today.” Alyx replied smugly, shoveling more popcorn into her mouth, then tried to speak around the handful. “To see you.” Willow sniffed at the floor, holding out hope that Alyx would drop something. As Alyx chewed and swallowed, Sophie had abandoned her phone, now face down on the table, and looked intrigued. Kyle was also looking at Liv expectantly, waiting for her to keep talking. It was like Liv’s jaw was wired shut as she turned a bright pink and stayed silent with her eyes focused on Alyx. Alyx continued with a rolling hand motion, trying to fill in the blanks that Liv obviously wasn’t going to share. “And he agreed? He said he wanted to do the musical?” 

  Liv nodded once, wanting Alyx to stop asking questions. “Um…yeah, he did.” Sophie, Alyx, and Kyle all watched Liv’s cheeks now burn bright red, so she was either blushing, overjoyed, or overjoyed and blushing. “Jay told me he told Lloyd a few days ago that he should do it, and Lloyd said no. So, Jay told me today that I should ask Lloyd, and when I did, he said it ‘could be fun’.” 

  Sophie and Alyx gasped. Even Kyle took his other earbud out, wide eyed. “He said no to Jay, but yes to you?” Sophie asked. 

  “That doesn’t mean anything.”  Liv shook her head. 

  “Are you dense?! He’s auditioning for the musical just for you!” Alyx started wailing excitedly. 

  “Guys, come on.” Liv tried to scoff and make it sound casual. 

  “You’ve got to be joking.” Kyle spoke up next. “Liv, he is doing this musical for you. As in, he wants you.” 

  “You guys.” Liv just kept repeating herself like a broken record. The flustered look on her face was giving her away. 

  “And you know it!” Sophie pointed at her. “You know he’s doing it just for you! Liv, can’t you see that you like him?” 

  “I don’t like him! I don’t!” Liv held her hands up defensively, some water sloshing out of her bottle. “Not like that!”

  “Yes, you do!” Alyx, Sophie, and Kyle yelled at her, tones varying from exasperated, amused, and appalled. 

  “I seem to recall a girl from a couple weeks ago, coming to Sophie and I almost in tears because she said she had just met the most gorgeous guy she’s ever seen.” Alyx said, tapping her finger against her chin as she pretended to be deep in thought. 

  Liv scoffed again. “That was before we became friends.” 

  “Liv,” Sophie clawed at her face. “You know what, for the first little bit of this ‘wanting to be just friends’ thing, I was onboard. I understood your logic, I felt bad for your situation. But now, gonna be honest, you’re pissing me the hell off.” Liv’s face fell, looking somewhat worried. “Here you are, broken hearted, feeling down on yourself, and this boy who clearly likes you enough to partake in your interests is right in front of your face, and all you can say is ‘oh, that’s just my friend’. Do you realize how stupid you sound?” Sophie snapped. 

  Even Willow was staring at Liv, waiting for a response. Liv had backed herself against the corner of the counter, a deep frown etched into her face. 

  Sophie exhaled, realizing she’d gotten a little riled up. “I’m sorry. That sounded mean.” She leaned her elbows on the table, shaking her head apologetically. “But you need to hear it.” Alyx and Kyle bobbed their heads in agreement. Liv fell very silent, letting Sophie’s point sink in. 

  “No, it’s not that…” Liv’s chin quivered. “It’s just…” She breathed in a shaky gasp like she was about to cry. 

  Sophie looked startled. “Wait- Liv- I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to make you cry!”

  Liv just shook her head, eyes getting watery. “It’s just, I don’t want to like him. I can’t like him.” Her voice wavered, gripping her water bottle so tightly, the plastic crackled loudly. Instead of crying, her eyes were just wide and glassy. “I can’t.” 

  Alyx and Sophie exchanged a look. “Why not, Liv?” Alyx asked, softening. 

  “Because I can’t let him be my rebound.” Liv confessed in a shaky tone. 

  “He wouldn’t be your rebound, Liv.” Alyx shook her head urgently, standing and tossing her popcorn on the table. “Do you like him, yes or no?” 

  Liv’s chin wobbled. Now she was crying. Big alligator tears started to spill out from her eyes. “I like him a lot.” She whispered, then swallowed thickly, eyes darting to the ceiling. “But I can’t do this again.” 

  “Do what again?” Sophie asked, trying to stay down to earth so Liv wouldn’t start dry heaving or something. “Date? Like someone again? What’s going on?” 

  “I can’t go through this again.” Liv said again, chest heaving as she sank down the cabinets and onto the floor. Kyle slowly inched out of the kitchen, letting Sophie and Alyx, and even Willow, who stood next to Liv with her tail wagging, take care of the high emotions that had just wafted into the room. Willow had started to try and lick up the salty tears trailing down Liv’s cheeks. 

  “Liv.” Alyx awkwardly crouched down, putting a hand on Willow’s head. Willow sat too, now licking Alyx’s arm. Alyx ignored her. “Here’s the thing. I know I like to tease you, and give you a hard time because I could tell that you like him- because you told me at the party, by the way- but it’s only because I like this boy for you.” 

  Liv’s eyes were still watery, looking between her three friends, one crouching in front of her, and the other standing and leaning into the fridge and nodding her head, and the other was her dog. 

  “Lloyd is the best thing that’s happened to you since we moved here.” Sophie added. 

  “Yeah, exactly, and we just want to see our friend happy again. Because Preston really fucked you up.” Alyx said. 

  Liv let out a long exhale, closing her eyes and letting her head fall against the wooden cupboards that she was pressing back to. “I don’t want to break his heart.” 

  “Why would you?” Sophie asked. 

  “Because I’m hurting.” 

  “You don’t seem to be hurting when you’re around Lloyd.” Sophie said in a soft voice. 

  Liv swiped at her nose, standing up. Alyx followed, and so did Willow. “I don’t know. I’m feeling too many things right now.” 

  “That’s fair, but hey,” Alyx grabbed Liv’s shoulders, sensing she was about to try and maneuver around her. “You do like him. Admit that to yourself, you like him. And guess what? That’s okay.” 

  “Yeah, Liv, that first week after we met him, you talked about him nonstop.” Sophie giggled lightly. “It was actually really sweet. You guys are still texting, right?” 

  Liv nodded, smiling slightly and wiping at her cheeks. “Yeah. He texted me before I got home and asked if I thought he had a shot at Ariel.” She laughed breathily.

  “God, Liv, and he’s so funny.” Alyx looked sentimentally at her friend. “You love funny.” 

  Liv shook her head, still smiling and wiping at her eyes again. “This isn’t an invitation to keep teasing me. I’m going to my room.” 

  “He’s doing the musical for you.” Alyx cooed as she wrapped Liv into a big hug. “That’s so sweetness.” 

  Liv just stood limp in Alyx’s arms. “Okay, okay, enough.” 

  “And you just cried because you like him so much, oh, Liv, you’re falling in love.” Alyx kept cooing, rocking both of them back and forth. 

  “Alyx,” Sophie tapped Alyx’s shoulder. “Let go of her and stop talking before she goes back to being scared again! You’re going to make it worse!” 

  Liv freed herself from Alyx’s arms. “This doesn’t mean I’m dating him.” She reminded them. “I’m not ready for that.” 

  “…Yet.” Alyx said with a smirk. 

  Liv pursed her lips and looked down at her dog, who was sitting at her feet and looking up at her with her big eyes. “Come on, Willow, let’s go.” Liv and Willow fled down to their room. 

***

  “Why the fuck are you auditioning?” Cole sounded disgusted. “Oh.” His eyelids lowered slightly as he realized. “This is Liv’s doing isn’t it? I knew it was weird that she was asking me so many questions about you in my dad’s class today.” He muttered, mostly to himself. 

  “All I asked you was what should I sing for try outs?” Lloyd repeated himself defensively. 

  “They’re called auditions- oh my God, what is wrong with me? I sound like my dad!” Cole leaned against the kitchen counter, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes. “Just ask Liv, she’ll probably be so excited to help you.” His tone had the sarcastic cadence of an aggressive eyeroll. 

  Lloyd shrank back at Cole’s frustration. “...What’s with you and this musical?” He asked, watching Cole rub a hand over his jaw before he went back to washing something in the sink. 

  Cole let out a long, expelling sigh. “I don’t know why you guys keep asking me to audition, when I’m not doing that.” He groaned. “While you’re at it, tell your girlfriend not to bring it up in front of my dad anymore.” 

  Lloyd was visibly annoyed by Cole’s comment. “Cole-” 

  Cole doubled down. “Sorry, I’m sorry.” He huffed, glancing over his shoulder. 

  Lloyd’s expression dropped, studying his roommate for a quiet pause. “He still doesn’t know about lacrosse, does he?” He saw Cole freeze, put the dish down in the sink, and then he slowly turned around to look at the stretch of floor between him and Lloyd. 

  “No. No, he doesn’t.” Cole and his father, Lou, had a very strained relationship, Lloyd knew that. Cole’s dad was a professor at the university, over the music department. Lloyd had just learned from Jay and Liv that Lou also had a hand in choreographing the musical. “My dad’s up my ass about doing some kind of performance for my dumb ‘major’.” Cole huffed, making air quotes on the word “major”. “But I already told him I did one.” He didn’t elaborate further when he noticed Lloyd’s brows knit together. “So, I don’t see why you’re jumping at the opportunity to do something that’s not even a requirement for you. Oh. Right. A girl.” Cole eyed Lloyd while he turned back to the sink. 

  Lloyd frowned. “You don’t think that it would be fun?” 

  “Oh, Lloyd, it would be fun for you. You’ll get to get all close with Liv, just like you want. But for me? My dad would be breathing down my neck the whole time.” 

  “He’s directing it?” Lloyd had never met Lou, but from the way Cole made him sound, Lloyd didn’t want to. 

  “No, it’s student-led, but Professor Struiksma’s overseeing it. My dad’s still helping, which is still not ideal.” Cole plunged his hand into the sink and pulled the plug, draining the water. “By the way, have you told your dad that you’ve got this new…passion?” Cole dried his hands off on a towel. 

  “Oh…no, not yet.” Lloyd realized. 

  “Think he’ll let you?” 

  “Well, yeah, I don’t see why he wouldn’t.” Lloyd leaned against the fridge, shrugging. “Actually, my mom will probably be excited. She likes musicals, I think.” 

  Cole snorted half heartedly. “You think?” 

  “Pretty sure she likes ‘Phantom of the Opera’.” 

  “Everyone’s mom likes ‘Phantom of the Opera’.” 

  Lloyd let his head fall against the fridge as he thought. “I’ll tell my dad tomorrow.” He mumbled. “I’m going there anyway.” He looked at Cole again. “Damn, you just made me nervous.” 

  Cole shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, Lloyd. Oh, by the way, Kai’s coming over.” 

  Lloyd huffed, retreating up the stairs to his room. 

***

  The following evening, Lloyd drove over to his parents’ house in his Toyota Sequoia. Every Tuesday, Lloyd and his parents went out for dinner, so at 4:30, just as he did every week since he’d moved out, he pulled into his parents driveway. And at 4:30, just as she did every week since he’d moved out, his mom threw open the door and acted like she hadn’t seen him in five years. 

  “Hello, hello!” His mom, Koko, wrapped him into her classic big hug. “Oh, Lloyd, I’ve missed you!” 

  “Hi, mom.” Lloyd patted her on the back lovingly. “You saw me before my game last Friday.”

  “Yeah, but I was making the girls run drills, I was in coach mode.” Koko smiled at him. 

  And just like every Tuesday at 4:31, Garmadon sauntered up to the door with a big smile on his face and said, “Hello my son who I never see, how’s college life?”  Lloyd gave his weekly polite laugh. The joke was, Lloyd had seen his dad not even forty five minutes prior at practice. 

  Unlike every Tuesday, Lloyd was nervous. He had typed out an entire spiel in his notes app about his proposition to do the musical. “Hey, dad.” Lloyd said around a tight lipped smile. 

  Lloyd didn’t really talk on the car ride to the restaurant, a family favorite called Grapevine that tended to be the spot they regularly went to for these outings. He just listened to his parents tell each other about their day, offering little “hms” and light chuckles. The drive wasn’t very long, but it felt like an hour had passed by the time they parked. Lloyd cursed Cole in his head, he wouldn’t be having second thoughts if it weren’t for the things he had kept pressing Lloyd for the night before. 

  “You’ve been quiet.” Garmadon commented as Lloyd rounded the car. “What’s on your mind?” 

  “When we sit down, can I talk to you guys about something?” Lloyd blurted out. Well, that was a step in the right direction. His dad furrowed his brows, looking over to Koko, who was still grabbing her purse from the car. 

  “What was that, hon?” She asked, shutting the door. 

  “Lloyd wants to talk to us about something.” Garmadon repeated, looking somewhat concerned. 

  Koko’s face dropped. “Oh…is everything okay? Is this about school?” She asked, looking worried. 

  Lloyd shook his head frantically. “No, no, it’s not anything super serious, it’s just…I’ll tell you when we sit.” He watched his parents exchange a look before they started for the front doors. 

  “Okay…” Koko tilted her head, watching Lloyd as they walked in, trying to read whether or not her son was okay. “That’s kind of ominous, don’t you think?” She asked with a slight chuckle. 

  Lloyd felt a little better as soon as they sat in their regular booth, him by himself on one bench, while his parents sat together on the other bench. “I promise, it’s not anything, like, dire.” He said. “It’s more of a question.” His parents raised opposite eyebrows, nodding and signaling for him to keep going. Lloyd pulled up the note on his phone, holding it in front of his face. 

  “Okay, mom and dad,” he read from his note. “As you know, lacrosse has been my life for as long as I can remember.” Lloyd caught sight of his dad tensing slightly. He kept going. “It means the world to me, and to both of you.” Koko and Garm nodded along slowly, listening intently. “Since lacrosse has been my whole entire life for so long, it never gave me a chance to try anything new. I am a responsible, strong member of my team, and I would never give up on them, so as much as it sounds like I’m about to say I want to quit, I am not.” Garmadon visibly relaxed. “But, I am feeling the need to be a part of something new, something different. So my question is,” Lloyd lowered his phone and looked at his parents directly. “Can I do the university musical?” 

  Garmadon and Koko visibly grew confused, looking at each other, mouths opening slightly. They looked back at Lloyd, and then back to each other. “Lloyd, honey, did you really think you needed to ask for our permission?” Koko asked after a long minute of the two of them looking at each other, then to their son. 

  “I just wanted to make sure you knew, because it seems time consuming, and I don’t know, I didn’t want to do it without telling my coach.” Lloyd flung an arm out in Garmadon’s direction. 

  Garmadon had started to smile, mostly out of confusion, but also out of relief that his son wasn’t about to quit the team. “Well, Lloyd, I think that sounds great that you want to be more involved, I have no problem with that.” He leaned forward over the table slightly. “I do have a question for you now. Just curious, if you don’t mind me asking, where is this coming from? Since when have you wanted to do theatre?”  

  Lloyd blinked. “Oh, right. Well, I dunno…it sounded fun.” He tried to shrug nonchalantly.  

  Koko and Garmadon shared a knowing look that made Lloyd feel out of the loop. “Who is it?” Koko finally asked, a soft tone in her voice, sharing her husband's smile. 

  Lloyd blinked again. “…What do you mean?” 

  “Well,” Garmadon began gently, clasping his hands on the table. A waiter came by with a round of water cups. “Thank you, we’ll need a moment.” He spoke softly to the waiter, who nodded politely. Garmadon turned his attention back to Lloyd. “I know your one teammate, uh, Walker? Jack Walker? He’s doing it, isn’t he? You guys are…friends, right?” Garmadon seemed to be trying to recall any Jay and Lloyd interactions.  

  “It’s Jay, dad.” Lloyd corrected him, taking the straw in the water cup and stirring the ice around, watching all the pieces clink together and swirl around the glass. “And, well, yeah, I mean, Jay and my friend Liv were telling me about it yesterday…” 

  Koko latched onto that, resting her elbows on the table and loosely pointing at him. “Who is that? Who’s Liv?” 

  Lloyd stopped stirring the ice around, and realized that he had walked right into his mom’s trap. His own face betrayed him, and he blushed. “Oh…” he shook his head, dropping his eyes to the table. “I met her a few weeks ago, she’s…just…a girl.” 

  Garmadon and Koko both shared a laugh, repeating, “Just a girl” under their breaths. 

  Lloyd looked between them again, brows pinching together and dropping the straw. “What else am I supposed to say?” 

  “You’re supposed to tell us about her.” Garmadon said with an even bigger grin, tapping his knuckles lightly against the table. “And make sure you keep blushing while you’re at it.” He added. Koko scoffed, hitting her husband with the back of her hand lightly. 

  “Garm,” She hissed, still smiling. “Let him speak first, don’t freak him out.” She rolled her eyes affectionately at her husband. “What did you say her name was?” 

  “Liv.” Garmadon answered for Lloyd. 

  “I know that, I wanted to hear it from him.” Koko hissed again and looked back at Garm, smiling coyly. 

  Lloyd placed his hands on both sides of his knees and drummed his finger tips into the leather of the booth. “Her name’s Liv.” He mumbled, getting embarrassed. 

  “Liv, Liv what?” Koko asked. Lloyd glanced back up at his parents, who were looking at him excitedly. Against his wishes, he felt his face get hotter. 

  “Branson.” 

  “And where did you meet ‘Liv Branson’?” Koko kept pressing. 

  “A party.” 

  Garmadon’s eyebrow shot up. “You went to a party?” He started to chuckle. “You?”

  “It was super lowkey, it wasn’t anything crazy.” Lloyd explained quickly, knowing full well that Griffin had thrown a full on frat party. “I met her there, and we just got to talking…and we haven’t stopped.” Lloyd looked at his parents' smiling faces. “We’re not dating,” he clarified. “It’s not a big deal.” 

  “Not a big deal?” Garm laughed loudly. “Lloyd, you’re taking up a new hobby because of her. Sounds like you think she’s a big deal.” 

  The waiter swung by again, halting the conversation and taking their orders. As soon as he was gone, Koko and Garmadon looked at Lloyd again. How had it not occurred to Lloyd that this conversation might bring Liv up? 

  Koko made a little excited sound, reaching and holding a hand out to Lloyd. “Oh, hon, I know we’re probably embarrassing you, but this is so exciting! A new experience, a new friend…who is a girl, we’re just happy for you is all.” 

  Lloyd shrugged his shoulders again, since that seemed to be all he knew how to do at the moment. “Uh…thanks.” 

  “Wait a minute, is that who came to the game on Friday?” Garmadon asked, his smile growing coy again. “I thought I saw you talking to some girls after the game. Which one was her?”  

  Lloyd buried his face in his hands. “Dad…” He groaned.

  “She came to your game on Friday?” Koko asked, eyes lighting up. 

  Lloyd nodded, face still covered by his hands. He dragged them down his face, sighing. “She’s friends with some of the girls on your team, mom.” 

  “Which girls? Now I have to know!” 

  “Uh,” Lloyd began to list them off on his fingers. “Nya, Pixal, Alyx, Chamille, Skylor…I think that’s it.” 

  “All great girls, I approve.” Koko nodded her head. “Well, if she comes to any other games, you have to introduce us to her.”

  Lloyd flushed again. “I have to?” 

  “So, when do you have to try out? Do you have to sing? Ooh, what song are you going to sing?” Koko kept asking. “Oh, Lloyd, this is really exciting. It really is.” 

  “Now who’s freaking him out?” Garmadon chuckled, watching Lloyd’s face. 

  “I don’t have an answer for any of those questions.” Lloyd shook his head slightly. 

  “Oh, sorry, I’m just really excited for you! You know, last year’s musical was very good, NSU has a great department. My team captain, Rumi, was the main girl last year. Some of the girls and I went to support her.” She raised her eyebrows at Lloyd and nodded. “She’s way talented.” 

  “Rumi? As in, Harumi Hisui?” Lloyd asked in shock. “She does plays?” 

  “Oh yeah, and she really blew us away last year! It was something about a great comet or something or other, anyways, she was great. What is the show this year?” Koko said. 

  Lloyd shrugged again. “‘Little Mermaid’.”

  “Oh! That will be so good!” Koko placed a hand over her heart. “Garm, our son might be in ‘The Little Mermaid’.” She cooed.

  “Hey, here’s an idea.” Garmadon said, looking at Lloyd. “Jumping back to that girl. Just some food for thought, if you want to hang out with her more before the musical try outs, we have that team bonding Top Golf activity coming up in a few days. You know, the one where it’s encouraged to bring a plus one?” 

  The gears turned in Lloyd’s head as he processed what his dad was suggesting. “Like…I should ask Liv to come to Top Golf?” 

  “Why not?” Garmadon shrugged, just as Lloyd kept on doing. 

  Lloyd didn’t know how to respond to that. “I…guess that I could.” 

  “You guess, or you will?” Garmadon asked with one eyebrow quirked upwards. 

  Lloyd maintained eye contact with his dad as he pulled out his phone. “Okay. Fine. I’ll do it.” 

LLOYD: Liv Branson 

  Liv immediately responded. 

LIV: Lloyd Garmadon

LLOYD: What are you doing Friday night?

LIV: Hmmmmm nothing!! 

  Lloyd stared down at the screen, unsure of how to explain it without sounding like he was asking her out on a date. 

LLOYD: My lax team is going to Top Golf on Friday, and we’re allowed to invite a friend if you want to come! 

  Liv started typing, and she stayed typing for a long while. That’s when Lloyd’s heart started to sink, all the worries coming back. He wanted to sink down in the booth, but both Garmadon and Koko were staring at him. He anxiously ran his thumb along the side of his phone case as he just watched her type, then delete, the start up again. 

LIV: I’ve never been to Top Golf!! Sure that sounds fun!! 

  When Lloyd visibly perked up, both of his parents leaned forward. “She said yes.” He absolutely failed at keeping his statement nonchalant, smiling cheesily and sounding relieved out of his mind.

LLOYD: Okay! Yay! If you’re okay with it, would you want to drive together? I can pick you up 

LLOYD: Yk since I know where you live now 

LIV: And because we are neighbors! 

LIV: Yeah! That would be great! 

  Liv was in her bed, curled into the corner, pressing herself into the wall. She had spent the last 24 hours still reeling from the admission that she really, really liked Lloyd. And now he was inviting her to something. She dropped her phone on the bed, grabbed her pillow, and then screamed into it. Willow leapt onto Liv’s bed when she heard her scream, licking the pillow. 

  Liv lowered it, looking at her dog’s big curious eyes. “Willow. I am so fucked.” She said in genuine horror.

  Willow, who didn’t understand, licked Liv’s nose in response.

[kneesrus]

I totally forgot I had this, it was for a fanfic I was going to write, but I’m not sure if I will still write it, we’ll see.

[addiroxx]

Chapter 5: “Second Nature” - Clairo

A/N: I would like to thank Alyx Rees for writing the political debate. She's a lot smarter than me in that aspect. Future Madame President <3

-

  “So what, some douchebag broke her heart? You swoop in and fix it. Maybe kill this asshole, while you’re at it.” Cole said, sitting on the edge of Lloyd’s bed. Since Jay’s party the other night, getting any information out of Lloyd involving Liv Branson had been like pulling teeth, Cole had just spent the last forty five minutes trying to guess why Lloyd had hulled himself up in his room for the rest of the weekend. It was now Monday morning, and Cole heaved a sigh, watching Lloyd’s eyes drift to the ground. “Kudos to you for being respectful of her though, Lloyd.” 

  Lloyd’s eyes drifted over to his phone as it lit up, pouncing on it as soon as he saw Liv’s name was over the banner. 

LIV: Ok Lloyd 

LIV: It’s been eating me alive all weekend 

LIV: What did Kai ask you during Paranoia? >:) 

  Lloyd’s stomach dropped. He flipped his phone face down. Cole saw the text too, looking back at Lloyd. “You’re not gonna tell her, are you?” 

  “No.” 

  “Are you gonna tell me?” Cole asked hopefully. 

   “No, because I know for a fact you already know. And why would I ever tell her?”  

  A sheepish smile made its way onto Cole’s face. He did know, because Kai told him. “Well, you could at least respond to her.” He shrugged, getting off of Lloyd’s bed. “Just make something up.”

  “Lie?” Lloyd gripped his phone, wide eyed. 

  “I dunno, just say that the question was like, ‘who is the prettiest girl’ or something innocent. She’s gotta know that you at least think she’s pretty, right?” 

  “No. Nothing romantic. I don’t want to make her uncomfortable, or make her think I like her.” Lloyd responded quickly while shaking his head. 

  “Why not?” Cole laughed in Lloyd’s face. “Lloyd, if she doesn’t know that you like her by now, then she’s stupid. You basically had hearts around your head when you saw her after the game.” 

  Lloyd opened his mouth, then he closed it, then he clenched his jaw as the gears visibly churned in his head. His cheeks were glowing a bright pink. He opened his phone and quickly typed out his text to Liv. Cole tried to lean over to catch a glimpse, but Lloyd pinned him with a dirty look and leaned away. 

LLOYD: Lmao Kai was asking something about that musical you’re auditioning for soon. He was probably targeting you and Jay. He was asking who’s more talented, idk I didn’t wanna start any beef before auditions. What musical is it again, btw? 

LIV: Bruh

  Liv sent him a number of crying emojis. Lloyd’s brain turned on overtime as he tried to come up with a response, but Liv was faster. 

LIV: It’s Little Mermaid. And that’s totally not what the question was, you’re a bad liar even over text BAHAHAHA

  Lloyd muttered, “Shit…” Cole leaned over even harder to try and see what was going on.

LLOYD: I’m not! I’m being serious! Hahahaha! 

LIV: You little liar!!

  Lloyd literally started sweating. Cole noticed, starting to chuckle. “Oh man, what is she saying?” 

  “That I’m a bad liar!” Lloyd threw his phone on his bed, pressing his hands over his face and groaning.

  Cole snorted. “You are. What did you say?” 

  “I told her it was about the musical.” 

  Cole smacked Lloyd’s forehead lightly. “Dumbass, Kai doesn’t know that there’s a musical!” 

  “What? He doesn’t? I didn’t know that! Why?” 

  Cole shook his head. “Why would he? It’s not like he’s doing it. Anyways, she called you a bad liar?” Lloyd tilted his head back, looking up at the ceiling and groaning loudly. “Okay, Lloyd, you’re being very dramatic right now. Just change the subject, or something. It’s not a big deal.” 

  “You have no sympathy for me ever.” Lloyd rolled his eyes, putting his hands on his hips. “And besides, it shouldn’t matter, I just want to be friends.”  

  “Is that right?” Cole deadpanned. 

  Lloyd glowered at Cole. “I’m worried about crossing a line, okay?” 

  “By doing what?” Asked Cole. When Lloyd went quiet and started to turn red again, Cole added, “Like by asking her politely if she wanted to hang out romantically?” 

  For some reason, this mortified Lloyd. “No! I wouldn’t say that!” 

  “Well, you clearly don’t have the balls to call it a date, so…” Cole raised his hands in a “I don’t know” motion. “What would you say?” 

  “I wouldn’t say anything. We’re just friends.” Lloyd stated. “It’s going to stay that way, because I’d rather die than make her feel uncomfortable by coming on too strong, or by crossing any boundaries, or whatever. But…you know, I kind of would like to kill this ex boyfriend.” He finished his rant in a quiet tone with a little shrug. 

  “Because he ruined your chance with Liv?” Cole asked with a smug little grin. 

  “Well, for hurting her. Nya didn’t go into detail of what he did, but she said this dude was evil.” 

  Cole raised an eyebrow. “Kai’s sister, Nya?” 

  “She’s the one that told me about Liv’s ex, and that she’s not ready for anything, and that I shouldn’t come on too strong.” Lloyd heard his phone buzz behind him on his bed, grabbing it immediately.

  “Well, I like Nya, but maybe it’s not her place to share that information with you, Lloyd. Maybe you should talk to Liv yourself.” Cole said. 

  Lloyd wasn’t listening, he was feeling thankful Liv had changed the subject for him. 

LIV: Hey, you’ve got that debate in your class today right? 

  Lloyd had forgotten he’d told Liv about that weeks ago, and the fact that she remembered made his heart feel all fluttery. 

LLOYD: Yeah

LIV: What do you have going on after that? 

LLOYD: Idk

LLOYD: Why?

LIV: I really need you to meet me by that boba bar in the dining hall right after your class is done! I don’t have anything all afternoon, and I really need to talk to you!! 

LLOYD: Why??

LIV: Just meet me there 

LLOYD: My class gets out at 11

LIV: kk perf 

LIV: I’ll see you then

  Lloyd's blood stopped in his veins. She needed to talk to him. Naturally, he started thinking of the worst case scenario: he had already come on too strong, and she was going to tell him she didn’t want to talk to him anymore. Maybe he somehow made her uncomfortable? What had he done or said in the past couple days? His mind was racing. 

  “Oh yeah, you’ve got that thing in one of your poli sci classes.” Cole’s voice brought Lloyd back to reality, seeing him peering over Lloyd’s shoulder to read Liv’s texts. Lloyd pressed his phone against his chest, taking a step away and glaring at him. 

  “It’s rude to snoop, stop doing that.” Lloyd snapped. “Get out of my room.” 

  Cole held his hands up in surrender, recognizing Lloyd was overwhelmed. “Okay, okay. I’ve gotta go to my stupid vocal instruction class with my dad anyway. I’ll say hey to Liv for you, I’ll make it a platonic ‘hey’, don’t worry.” He started to back towards the door. “If I’m late to that class again, you’ll need a new roommate.” Cole flung Lloyd’s door open, turning back one more time to look at him. “‘Cause my dad will murder me.” Then Cole was gone. Lloyd blinked at the closed door, having the realization that he wasn’t aware that Liv and Cole had a class together. 

  He dropped his phone on his bed, sluggishly moving to get on actual clothes that weren’t pajamas. He did have a debate in his Political Ideologies class, and to make matters worse, his debate opponent was a senior. Harumi Hisui was the daughter of one of the most influential members of the House of Councilors, Councilor Hisui, who was famously a legacy student of NSU. Her parents were some of the biggest donors to the university. Harumi was intense, intimidating, somehow was both the most mysterious person ever, and was also involved with nearly every club at the school, and not the person he wanted to debate at the moment while his mind was swimming with anxieties. On top of all of that, Harumi Hisui was famously one of the smartest students to attend NSU ever, and supposedly, she had never lost at anything. At least that was the rumor. Lloyd was just a freshman who she would probably squash like a bug in this debate. 

  He passed Cole on his way out the door. “Hey, you good?” Cole reached out and grabbed Lloyd’s shoulder. 

  “I’m fine.” Lloyd sighed, bunching his lanyard in his fists. “I just need to get to my class.” He tried to move past Cole

  “Hey Lloyd?” Lloyd turned and looked at Cole again. “Good luck with your debate.” 

  Lloyd forced a smile. “Thanks. I’m gonna need it.” 

***

  Lloyd’s leg was bouncing at an alarming pace under the desk. When Harumi Hisui entered the classroom, the two of them locked eyes immediately. While Lloyd had looked away and back at his notes, he could feel her gaze boring into him as she moved to the back of the room, probably plotting every single way she could make him look stupid. He barely paid attention to the debate before him, heart dropping when the professor spoke up again, Alyx and Rufus McAllister returning to their seats. Based on Alyx’s giddy smile, she had definitely swept whatever the debate topic had been. She shot Lloyd a little thumbs up as she passed. Ever since the party at Griffin’s he had finally realized how many classes that they shared. 

 “Alrighty then, time for the next debate topic: Authoritarian Governance produces more stable and successful societies than Democratic Systems.” The professor, Dr. Saunders announced to the class. Lloyd was shuffling through his notes one last time. “Miss Hisui will argue in favor, Mister Garmadon will argue against.” Out of the corner of Lloyd’s eye, he saw the white blonde hair of Harumi as she made her way to the front of the class, calm, cool, and collected as always. She had her arms behind her back as she breezed up to the front of the room, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. 

  Lloyd stood up hastily, knocking all of his notes off the table. He muttered under his breath as he stooped down and frantically scooped all of the notecards up, not bothering to organize them. He stumbled up to the front, avoiding eye contact with Harumi. He could feel her eyes watching him as he struggled. In fact, he could feel the eyes of everyone in his class. He looked up, making direct eye contact with Alyx again, sitting in the middle row. She mustered another encouraging smile at him. Lloyd’s eyes darted away, taking a seat at the desk up front, placing his notes on the table. 

  There was a moment of pause as Lloyd could sense Harumi, who was sitting right beside him, watching him tap his notecards against the oak table. “Starting the clock.” Dr. Saunders said. 

  Harumi, with no notes, no nothing, stood from her seat, immediately working the crowd. “Democracy is often framed as the moral ideal, but ideals do not govern nations. Power does, and history shows us, repeatedly, that centralized authority produces stability where democratic systems collapse under indecision. Consider ancient Rome.” Harumi spoke with such confidence, it made Lloyd want to evaporate out of the chair he sat in. 

  “The Republic fell not because of tyranny, but because democratic institutions became bloated, corrupt, and paralyzed. It was only under Augustus,” Harumi turned her body, facing Lloyd. “Rome’s first emperor,” She explained herself, as if he wasn’t aware. “That order, infrastructure, and economic growth were restored.” The way she had said it made Lloyd want to curl in on himself, talking to him as if she was so much smarter than him. “Or modern Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew.” She continued, turning to Dr. Saunders, then looking back to the rest of the class. “An authoritarian state by definition- strict laws, limited dissent, and yet one of the safest, wealthiest, most efficient nations in the world. Authoritarian systems eliminate gridlock. They act swiftly in crises. They prevent extremism by controlling it. Democracy promises freedom, but rarely delivers it.” 

  She turned back to Lloyd, waiting for his response. He fumbled with his notes, tearing his eyes away from hers. “Um…yeah…so…democracy isn’t perfect- obviously… If we’re talking about stability…then, um…like… Athens…” He looked around, watching his classmates' faces faltering. Alyx wasn’t even trying to hide her grimace. Shit. He thought to himself in a panic. He flipped through his notes again, brain screaming at him to keep talking, but his head felt both like it was going to explode with swirling thoughts and empty at the same time. He glanced up at Harumi, who was still standing, now with her arms folded. He caught a glimpse of Dr. Saunders, who was the only one waiting patiently for him to recollect himself. Lloyd looked down at his notes again, letting them fall to the table. 

  A thought struck him. “Actually, I want to start somewhere else.” He said, standing from his chair. Harumi raised an eyebrow at him, watching him curiously. “Authoritarian governments look stable because they silence instability. But silence isn’t peace, it’s pressure.” He made eye contact with Harumi, making his way around the table to stand on her level. Her one eyebrow rose higher.

  “With all due respect, emotional rhetoric doesn’t outweigh results.” She recrossed her arms over her ribs. “Democracies fail constantly. The Weimar Republic: democratic, weak, collapsed into extremism.” She lifted a hand, listing her points off on her fingers. “Post-colonial democracies across Africa: unstable, corrupt, overthrown. Even the United States: polarized, gridlocked, incapable of decisive governance. Authoritarianism doesn’t pretend everyone’s voice is equal. It acknowledges reality, not all people are equipped to rule.” 

  Lloyd caught Harumi off guard. “You’re right. Democracies fail, but so do authoritarian regimes.” He watched her guard start to slip as he spoke, which made him, in turn, start to feel better. “And when they fail, people don’t get to survive the failure. Nazi Germany was highly efficient. Centralized power, rapid economic recovery, massive public works. And it worked…until it didn’t.” He could see body language shift among the class as people leaned in, intrigued. Harumi noticed it too, visibly tensing. “When it collapsed, six million people were already dead. Or the Soviet Union: industrialized fast, controlled dissent, and also engineered famines that killed millions. Authoritarianism is only ‘successful’ if you don’t count the people it sacrifices.” 

  Harumi countered immediately, dropping her hands to her hips. “Democracies sacrifice people too, through neglect, and through inaction. How many died waiting for democratic governments to agree on healthcare? Climate action? War intervention?” 

  Lloyd countered just as quickly. “The Great Leap Forward under Mao’s leadership in China was decisive, centralized, and efficient. It also killed tens of millions of people.” He nodded at her. “You’re right to say that Democracies are slow, but that slowness is what gives people a chance to recognize and collectivize. My dad and my uncle grew up in China. They learned very early what not to say, what not to write down, and what thoughts were safer to keep to yourself. My dad told me that when people stopped arguing, it wasn’t because things were better, it was because fear had won.” 

  Harumi pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes at him “That’s…cute and all, but China lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. Stability allowed progress.” 

  Lloyd nodded again. “It did. But that progress came with censorship. Surveillance. Disappearances. And the people who paid that price never got a say on whether or not it was worth it. My dad still lowers his voice when he talks about politics. He’s lived in a democracy longer than he lived under authoritarian rule, and he’s still careful.” 

  Harumi opened her mouth to argue, but nothing came out. Lloyd’s spirits lifted and a silent shock filled the room. Lloyd Garmadon had left Harumi Hisui speechless. 

  “And that’s time.” Dr. Saunders spoke up after a long moment of Harumi trying to come up with something to say. 

  Harumi blanched, turning and gawking at Dr. Saunders. “But I wasn’t done, I was going to say something else.” 

  Dr. Saunders gave her a good natured shrug. “Them’s the breaks. Let’s get the next people up here.” He chuckled, the rest of the class giggling lightly. Harumi’s mouth opened and closed as she tried to process the fact that she had just lost the debate. Lloyd was just as shocked. Harumi looked over at Lloyd, giving him a hard stare. He saw her clench her jaw as she turned and whisked her way back to the very back row. Lloyd also made his way back to his seat in genuine astonishment. 

  “Okay, genius.” He heard someone whisper behind him as the next two people, Akita Yazzie and Clancee Serpito, took their places up front. He turned and saw Alyx two rows behind him, leaning down to try and talk to him. She mouthed “good job” to him. Lloyd grinned at her, giving her two thumbs up back. 

  Lloyd didn’t pay attention to the rest of class, too proud and stunned by his debate. He’d won. He’d won. He could still feel Harumi’s eyes drilling into the back of his head, but he had won the debate he’d been dreading for weeks, so he didn’t really care. When class was finally dismissed, he left as fast as he could, ready to take on the next thing that was making him feel nauseous.  

    Lloyd made the trek over to the boba bar, with all the confidence of winning that debate being the only thing that kept him from turning around running away. He pushed through the doors, spotting Liv at a table immediately. She shot up out of her chair. 

  “You. Get over here.” Liv pointed excitedly to Lloyd as he approached. She didn’t seem confrontational at all, which made seeing her face less daunting. 

  Jay, who was sitting across from Liv, turned in his seat, smiling mischievously. “What’s up, Garmadon?” Jay Walker was the last person Lloyd expected to be sitting with Liv. 

  “Hello…Jay?” Lloyd stood at their table, looking confused as he started to laugh. “I didn’t realize this was an intervention from the theatre kids.” He stood over both of them, growing more and more confused. 

  Liv kicked the chair next to her out for him to sit in. “Sit.” She snapped her fingers, pointing down to the chair. “Jay brought an interesting proposition to my attention.” 

  Lloyd tilted his head, looking at Jay. “Huh?” He started laughing as he sat. 

  “But first, how was your debate, by the way?” Liv sat forward, placing her elbows on the table and resting her chin in her hands. 

  Lloyd grinned from ear to ear. “Oh, it was great. I won, actually.” 

  Liv grinned wider, scrunching her nose. “I know. Alyx told me.” She pushed off of the table, sitting up straight and feigning seriousness again. “Okay. Back to business.” Jay and Liv looked at him schemingly. Jay pressed his fingertips together in a plotting motion, Liv copying him. 

  “Auditions for the musical are next week.” Jay said, bringing his scheming hands to tap against his chin. 

  “Next Wednesday and Thursday.” Liv clarified, nodding along, doing the same as Jay with her hands. “And Jay said he told you you should audition.” 

  Lloyd started to laugh, shaking his head. “Oh, you guys,” 

  “I think you should.” Liv was nodding her head more firmly this time. “I really think you should. Cole ratted you out and said he hears you playing guitar and singing when you think he’s not home.” 

  Lloyd stopped laughing, straightening up and looking somewhat horrified. “What?!” 

  Jay and Liv burst into laughter. Lloyd realized he didn’t think he liked Jay and Liv as a duo, they enabled each other. “Lloyd, it could be fun!” Liv pleaded, reaching out and grabbing his shoulders. “You got me to like lacrosse, so, what if you gave musicals a shot?” 

  With those big hazel eyes trained on him, Lloyd couldn’t believe the words that left his mouth. “Well…you know what, it could be fun.” Liv and Jay’s eyes both bugged out of their heads. “I mean, the way you’ve been talking about it, Liv, you make it sound kind of fun.”  

  Liv triumphantly stood, squealing. “Really? Are you being serious?” Lloyd shrunk back in his chair at her sudden over excitement, smiling and nodding. 

  Jay gawked at Lloyd with a shocked smile frozen on his face. “It was that easy?” He burst into laughter. “All I had to do was get Liv to ask you? Hey Liv, how often can you come to our practices and persuade Lloyd to hang out with us afterwards?” 

  “You paying me?” Liv asked, grinning. 

  “Who am I kidding, if you’re there, this kid’s there, right?” Jay looked at Lloyd and winked at him. 

  All Lloyd could think was how relieved he was that she didn’t tell him that she didn’t want to see him anymore, and all she wanted to was to convince him to try out for something so important to her. The smile on her face was worth saying yes. 

  “Wait, so is that a yes?” Liv clarified. 

  Lloyd sat for a moment, looking between Jay and Liv. Liv’s eyes were wide and hopeful, Jay’s were twinkling with something between a smug look and excitement. Lloyd trained his eyes on Liv as he answered, “I guess it is.” 

  Liv shrieked ecstatically. “Really?!” 

 “Um, yes?” Lloyd was just laughing, watching Liv’s excitement bubble out. 

  Jay was watching Lloyd with a curious little smirk. “Is that a question or a statement?” Lloyd shot him an annoyed look. “It’s a yes.” Jay cackled at his face. 

  “What musical is it again?” Lloyd asked, mostly to Liv, which made her let out a mixture between an exasperated sigh and a laugh. “Kidding! I listen when you tell me things!” He grinned wider when she gave him a playful shove. 

  Jay let out a loud laugh, covering it up with a cough. “What musical is it then?” 

  “‘Little Mermaid’.” Lloyd said, less enthusiastic now that Jay was talking. 

  “I’m impressed.” Jay lilted. 

  “Shut up, Jay.” Lloyd rolled his eyes, which in turn made Liv giggle. This made his cheeks warm as he smiled at her.

[kneesrus]

Whoops! I forgot to post this here, but this is my fanart for @addiroxx’s fanfic, (plus me :D)

[addiroxx]

Chapter 2: “Jessica Wj” - Cayucas

Lloyd’s Toyota Sequoia was packed full of people, Liv in the passenger seat trying to seem chill. Liv had gotten shoved into Lloyd’s car by Alyx, before she scurried off and crammed herself into Kai’s car to (unsurprisingly) hang out with Nya, Jay, and Cole. Sophie sat in the very back of Lloyd’s car with her new friend, Skylor, while Pixal and Zane sat in the middle row.

Liv hadn’t spoken the whole drive out of the neighborhood, and neither had Lloyd. She glanced at him multiple times out of the corner of her eyes, trying to think of something to say. Lloyd was wringing the steering wheel with his hands, also trying to remain nonchalant. He was so flustered, he hadn’t even put on music, but everyone else was so involved in their own conversations, they hadn’t noticed. “Thanks for the ride.” Liv finally said quietly amidst the chatter in the car, which was mostly Skylor and Sophie laughing at something that she was showing Sophie on her phone. Lloyd relaxed slightly.

“That’s what my mom-mobile is for.” He joked. Liv exhaled out a laugh, looking away from him and smiling.

“Remind me your name.” The girl behind Liv’s seat, Pixal, said to her, putting a hand on the passenger seat.

“I’m Liv, I’m Alyx’s roommate.” Liv turned in her seat to talk to Pixal. “You’re Pixal, right?” Pixal brightened, nodding. “And you’re Zane, right?” She pointed over Zane, who smiled politely and nodded. “By the way, Zane, I’m really digging the sweater vest.”

“Thank you, you’re not the first person to compliment me on it.” Zane said with an edge of pride in his voice.

“It’s very autumn-y, Zane, very seasonal.” Skylor piped up from the backseat.

Lloyd glanced at Liv a couple times, before reaching into the compartment under the stereo and grabbing the loose aux chord. “Alright,” He shoved it towards Liv. “Play something.”

“What? Me?” Liv smiled, confused. “But this is your car.”

“And? I’m offering you the aux!” Lloyd laughed, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Liv, just play your favorite song.” Sophie said from the backseat. “It’s a super fun song.” She explained to the car.

“My favorite song?” Liv repeated with a laugh.

“Well, now I wanna hear your favorite song!” Lloyd was still holding the chord. “Play it, play it.”

“Take a shot every time someone says ‘favorite song’.” Skylor snickered.

Liv snatched the chord, still laughing and shaking her head. “‘Kay, then I have a request.” Liv said as she plugged in her phone, searching up the song. “You have to roll the windows down while we listen to it.”

“Yeah!” Skylor cheered from the back. “Roll the windows down!”

“Why?” Lloyd asked, smiling.

“Because that’s the best way to listen to this song.” Liv said as the song started playing over the speakers in the car. Lloyd leaned forward and cranked the volume, then did just as Liv asked, he rolled down all the windows. “This is my favorite song, ‘Jessica Wj’!” Liv yelled over the intro and the wind whipping through the car.

“Wait, who’s ‘Jessica Wj’?” Zane asked genuinely.

Liv laughed, turning back to look at him. “I have no idea!” Then she started singing along to the song. She was the only one singing all the lyrics, being the only person in the car who knew the song, but everyone else in the car bopped along.

Liv leaned her head out the window, screaming the chorus. Lloyd’s eyes bounced from the road and back to Liv, laughing but also worried she would somehow fall out of the car. She swung back inside the car, watching Lloyd tap the steering wheel to the beat of the song. She held out her hand to his face, pantomiming holding a microphone. “Take it away!”

Lloyd laughed, pushing her fake microphone away. “Wait, but I don’t know the words!”

“She said take it away!” Skylor yelled from the backseat. “Listen to the lady!”

“I have never heard this song!” Lloyd tried to lean away from Liv’s fist, still grinning.

“Boo!” Sophie joined in the yelling. “Boring!”

“Guys! This is my first time hearing this song!” Lloyd laughed and blushed as he turned off the highway ramp.

“Well, those definitely are not the lyrics.” Pixal joked plainly, making the whole car crack up.

Liv was just laughing at Lloyd’s flustered and confused face, which made his cheeks and ears go red. Hopefully it just looked like he was just laughing too hard and not blushing furiously. From what Lloyd could tell, the namesake of the song repeated through the chorus, which was ramping up again, so he leaned into Liv’s hand and repeated the title “Jessica, Jessica, Jessica Wj” into it like he was speaking into a microphone.

“There we go!” Liv grinned, leaning away and clapping her hands along to the beat of the song. Sophie had pulled out her phone, videoing the exchange with a big, wide grin. “And we’re going downtown just like the song says! How topical!”

Lloyd was following Kai’s car, turning into the Denny’s parking lot, which earned another round of excited hollers from the whole car.

“Finally, I’m so hungry!” Skylor announced. As soon as the car was parked, everyone in the back scrambled out, ready to eat.

Lloyd and Liv were the last to get out, but before Lloyd could walk around the car and say something to her, she was flanked by her two best friends. He deflated a little, pausing and watching the three of them gather on the sidewalk, immediately starting to whisper, laugh, and hit each others’ arms in delight. Lloyd didn’t want to seem awkward, so he stepped onto the sidewalk and followed their group inside. Maybe their hang out was only meant to last at the party. Maybe he would be sitting at the table listening to everyone else talk, while he didn’t have much to say. His roommate, Cole had Kai, in fact the two of them were heading up the group, walking inside first, getting them a table for eleven. Jay was too busy talking with Nya, not that Lloyd and Jay were super close. Zane was with Pixal, and while Lloyd was proud of him for talking to her instead of watching her from a distance, Zane was the only person who had really hung out with him other than Liv.

Lloyd’s heart was starting to sink further in his chest as he walked into the waiting room of the Denny’s, Liv and her friends chatting at the back of the group.

Their group was led to a wrap-around booth. The hostess, who looked around their age, looked slightly perturbed at how noisy ten of the eleven of them were already being. Lloyd slid into the booth next to Cole, who was still too busy paying attention to Kai.

“So, what did you think?”

Lloyd’s heart skyrocketed as Liv slid into the booth next to him. She shot him a grin as she spoke, picking up the menu in front of her. Lloyd could not hold back a wide smile. “About what?”

“About the song? Did you like the song?”

Lloyd bobbed his head earnestly. “Oh! Yes! Yes, I loved it a lot, actually.”

Liv looked at him again, turning away from her menu. “Really?” Her eyes were shining. “Like actually, or are you just saying that because I’m sitting right next to you?”

Lloyd was holding his menu up as well, but he could only hold Liv’s eye contact. “Like actually. Here, look, adding it to my liked songs right now.” He dropped the menu and pulled out his phone, finding the song. “Added to playlist.”

“Very nice.” Liv nodded approvingly.

“Thank you.” Lloyd returned her nod.

“I better see some lyrics having been learned next time.” Liv said, looking back at her menu. Lloyd’s stomach fluttered. Next time? He smiled giddily as he also studied his menu.

The waiter walked up to the table, eyeing the group. “Hello, thanks for coming in tonight, my name is Chuck, I’ll be your server. Are we ready to order anything? Can I get you started with some drinks?”

“I’ll have a Dr. Pepper.” Liv piped up first.

“I’ll do a water.” Nya said from the other end of the booth.

“Me too, I’ll do water.” Pixal said, sitting next to Nya.

“Can I get a Coke?”

“I’ll do a Dr. Pepper too.”

“Can I get blue Powerade?”

“I’ll also do water.”

Chuck the waiter frantically wrote down all of their requests as they spoke. “Perfect, and is this together or separate?”

“Separate.” They all answered in unison.

“I figured so. I’ll go get those drinks for you, and give you some time to look over your menus.” Chuck the waiter dotted his pen on his notepad, giving them a quick customer service smile before turning to leave.

“Dr. P Soda.” Lloyd muttered, mostly for Liv to hear as he skimmed the menu again.

Liv pressed her lips together to suppress a smile and side eyed him, finding him already looking at her sideways and smiling. “I told you, it’s a reference. You’d think it’s hilarious if only you knew.”

“A reference to what?” Lloyd asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Lloyd’s grin just grew wider, just as it had been all night. “I would very much like to.”

Instead of responding, Liv shook her menu in distress. “I don’t know what to order.” She immediately changed the subject.

Lloyd furrowed his brows, laughing at her drastic change in emotion. “You gotta get the best thing here.”

“Which is?” Liv tilted her menu towards him.

“The Grand Slam?!” Kai interjected, startling Lloyd. Kai leaned around Cole and Lloyd both to get in on Liv and Lloyd’s conversation. “Don’t tell me you’ve never had The Denny’s Grand Slam, girl who Lloyd invited!” Liv started smiling and laughing, shaking her head. “Listen to this.” Kai reached over Cole and Lloyd, grabbing Liv’s menu and pointing to what he was talking about. “You get TWO pancakes, TWO eggs, TWO pieces of bacon, TWO sausages, AND hash browns.”

“The Grand Slam?” Alyx perked up, turning away from Jay, who she was just in the middle of talking to. “Is everyone getting the Grand Slam? Guys, let’s all slam on this grand!”

“I like the way you think, Alyx from my Jeep.” Kai gave her finger guns. Alyx went bright red.

“Oh, hell yeah, Grand Slams all around!” Jay held up both of his hands excitedly.

“I’m still getting my chicken fingers, I don’t care.” Sophie announced.

Chuck the waiter slowly approached the table. “Is that what we’re doing? Grand Slams?” He asked with an amused grin. “And one chicken finger basket?” He smiled over at Sophie. “Well, that makes it easy for me.” He joked.

“Hey, we’re just trying to make your night better, Chuck.” Alyx said amicably.

Chuck the waiter smiled, laughing again. “Thank you…” he waited for her to fill in with her name.

“Alyx!” She answered excitedly.

“Thank you, Alyx! I’ll get your guys’ food started.”

As he walked away, Alyx turned back to their table, beaming. “Making friends everywhere I go.”

“That is so beautiful, Alyx from Kai’s car!” Cole said, making Alyx clap her hands excitedly.

“Yes! Yes! You get it, Cole from Kai’s car also!”

Alyx looked over at Sophie, who was staring down Chuck the waiter as he walked back across the restaurant. “He’s so hot.” Sophie whispered.

“Then get his number!” Alyx practically yelled. Sophie almost jumped on her as she tried to cover Alyx’s mouth.

When Chuck finally brought out their food, he did so with flourish. “Ten Grand Slams, and one order of chicken fingers for my best table of the night.” He declared, giving the one basket of chicken fingers to Sophie, who avoided eye contact.

“Wow, this is such an honor!” Alyx placed a hand to her heart, acting touched.

They stayed at Denny’s for two hours. Two whole hours. Not only did they become friends with Chuck the waiter, but also the other waitress on the clock Jackie, who complimented Zane’s sweater vest.

“Thank you!” Zane lit up. “We just came from a party, and it seems my vest was a big hit!” Lloyd and Cole chuckled, sharing a grin.

By the time, all their bills had been paid and they had all unanimously decided to tip Chuck generously, it was two in the morning. “You guys are the best, thank you for coming in.” Chuck waved at them as they started to filter out of the restaurant.

Liv was the last to leave the table, still standing by and lingering. She could hear Alyx’s voice in her head from earlier. “Is this because of your weird thing where you swore off dating?” “You don’t have to ask him on a date, but you should at least go talk to him. I think you two would get along.” She would 100% never see him again if she didn’t do something. She thought about what Alyx had said earlier. It didn’t have to be romantic, so there was no reason to self sabotage. They could just be friends. She could just be friends with this boy who she just happened to find herself ridiculously attracted to. They would just be friends. She turned to Chuck, who was beginning to clear plates.

“Chuck, do you have a pen?” She asked.

Lloyd walked to his car, unlocking it when Liv came walking out of the restaurant with something balled up in her hand. “Are we all here?” Lloyd asked. He was met with a tired round of “yeahs”.

When they made it back to Griffin’s, the party was still in full swing. “Do these people never get tired?” Skylor asked from the backseat, appalled. “How are there still so many people?”

“They can party all they want, I’m personally tired as hell. I think I have a fever.” Sophie complained. Sophie didn’t actually have a fever, this was just something she said to Liv and Alyx all the time whenever she got too tired. Lloyd parked back on the side of the road. “Liv, let’s find Alyx and make her take us home.”

“By the way, did you ever get that waiter’s number?” Pixal asked curiously as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

Sophie scoffed. “No.”

“Why not?” Zane asked. “You were staring at him the whole time.”

“Because I was scared. Liv, let’s go.” Sophie launched herself out of the backseat. As everyone else climbed out of the car, Liv turned to Lloyd, working up every ounce of courage she had.

“Hold out your hand.” She said. “I have something to give you.”

Lloyd smirked suspiciously. “Why? Are you going to give me a piece of garbage to throw away for you?”

Liv giggled. “No! Just hold out your hand.”

“Liv! I wanna go!” Sophie wailed from outside. Alyx had found her way over to Sophie, standing next to her.

“Hurry before Sophie kills me!” Liv said urgently.

“Okay, okay!” Lloyd held his hand out, and Liv pressed a wadded up napkin in his hand.

“Okay, bye!” She grinned as she turned and opened the car door. She ran off down the street with her friends, back to Alyx’s car. Lloyd slowly unwadded the napkin, heart swelling, finding her phone number scrawled in neat, but quick handwriting, two exclamation marks after the last digit. Cole got into the passenger seat, Zane climbing back in after a moment. Lloyd was just smiling stupidly down at the napkin.

“Can we go? I’m exhausted and full of pancakes.” Cole rubbed at his eyes.

“Hm? Oh, yeah.” Lloyd stuffed the napkin in his pocket, feeling his face growing red up to his ears. She gave him her number, and now Lloyd was smiling the whole way home.

***

The following morning, Lloyd woke up with the biggest, dopiest grin on his face. He had the biggest, dopiest grin on his face as he threw his laundry in the washing machine. He had the biggest, dopiest grin on his face as he ate his cereal. He had the biggest, dopiest grin on his face as he wondered to himself, when was an appropriate time to text her? As he piled all of his wet clothes into the dryer, he was formulating a text in his head.

Hey Liv! It’s Lloyd from the party last night! I had a blast talking to you, we should hang out again sometime! He slammed the dryer door shut, pondering this deeply. He was having second thoughts. He flopped onto the couch, scrolling absent mindedly. Did that seem desperate? He didn’t want to come off as desperate. Hey Liv, this is Lloyd from the party! Boring. Hey, this is Lloyd! That was worse. Lloyd rolled over to his side, sighing. He was totally over complicating this. If she willingly gave him her phone number, she would just be happy to hear from him, right? RIGHT?

He grumbled and rolled off the couch when he heard the dryer start dinging. He trudged over to the laundry room, opening the dryer and kicking his laundry basket underneath it. That’s when he noticed the specks of white flaking off of a pair of his jeans. Screwing his eyebrows together, he took a little pinch of the material in between his fingers. The realization hit him like a bus plowing him down. The napkin. He never took the napkin out of his pocket. He never actually saved her number in his phone, and now the napkin was in little pieces of dried paper on his laundry.

“No…no! No!” Lloyd burst out, burying his hands in his hair. “Are you kidding me?! Fuck! No!” He wailed. A sense of panic startled to settle over him. He heard thumping up the stairs, a very groggy Cole appearing in the doorframe.

“Lloyd, what’s with all the yelling, dude?” He mumbled. Lloyd turned to Cole, looking like a kicked puppy, holding what he could salvage from the napkin, which were only the white flakes. “...What is that? Hamster bedding?”

“It’s gone! It’s gone!” Lloyd freaking out woke Cole up immediately.

“What- what’s gone?” Cole was shaking his head, trying to make sense of the crumbles in Lloyd’s hands.

“Liv’s phone number! I lost her phone number!” Lloyd looked ready to cry.

Cole held out his hands. “Okay, woah, woah, deep breath. Who is Liv?”

Lloyd stared at him for a long, hard moment. “The girl I was sitting next to last night? In the pool? At Denny’s?” Cole blinked sleepily, trying so hard to remember this girl out of all the new people he had met last night. “I shouldn’t expect you to know, you were too busy making out with your fucking boyfriend all night.” Lloyd snapped.

Cole stammered for a moment. “Woah- okay- wait- so- no, no, Lloyd, Kai isn’t-” He paused. “...Why, does it seem like we’re boyfriends?”

Lloyd held out his hands, still cupping the crumbles of the napkin. “Not the time, Cole!” He yelled.

“Okay! Sorry!” Cole ran a hand over his jaw. “We could…uh…we could call…Kai?”

Lloyd squinted at Cole. “We are not calling your boyf-”

“He is not my boyfriend! Kai knows people, he might know someone who knows this girl.” Cole interrupted.

Lloyd’s eyes widened “Her roommate! Her roommate, Alyx, was in Kai’s car with you last night!” He realized. “She’s on the girls’ lacrosse team!”

“Okay, okay, that’s a start.” Cole nodded slowly. “Kai talked to her more than I did.”

“So then we probably have to call your boyfriend then.” Lloyd closed his hands, looking annoyed.

Cole drew in a deep breath. “He isn’t…sure…yeah, we have to.”

***

That afternoon, Liv, Sophie, and Alyx were in their local coffee shop, Peace N’ Love Coffee, Liv silently typing on her computer as Sophie and Alyx were giggling and talking as they worked on their homework.

She hadn’t even noticed they had stopped and were watching her. Alyx reached out and closed Liv’s laptop. “What?” Liv stared at Alyx.

“You have said four words to us all day.” Alyx said, hand still on Liv’s laptop. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Liv pried Alyx’s hand up, reopening the document where she was writing a paper. “It’s nothing.” The whole day, Alyx and Sophie had been trying to talk to Liv about Lloyd, and get all the details about her giving him her number, but because he hadn’t texted her the whole day, she was in a terrible mood. She would never admit that that was the reason for her bad mood. Never ever.

Alyx watched her skeptically for a beat. “Has Lloyd texted you?” She asked. Liv lifted her eyes to look at her again. It was like Alyx had read her mind. Sophie and Alyx watched her look between them, and then looked back at her computer.

“No.”

“Ohhhh,” They both nodded, looking at each other. “That would be why.”

She drew in a long inhale. “I just gave him my number because we were having a good conversation last night. That’s all.”

“Why are you so weird?” Alyx groaned, slumping in her seat. “Liv, you gave him your number because you like him. You were literally having a panic attack because he’s so handsome! What changed your mind?”

“Well- yeah, he’s super cute, I still think that, but, I don’t know, I think I would rather just be friends. He was super cool last night, God forbid a girl just wants a friend.” Liv explained defensively as she furiously typed on her computer. “Doesn’t my mom want me to make more friends? She told you that Alyx, not me.” She rolled her eyes. “Besides, I don’t even give a shit about dating. I just want more friends. Friends are more important to me right now. You guys know, I have explained this to you over and over again.” She kept rambling, her typing getting more and more frantic. “So. All of this to say, let’s not talk about it anymore.” Every time Liv said the word “friend”, Alyx frowned more and more.

“The Preston Christiansen effect.” Sophie mumbled, looking at her own computer screen.

Liv’s eyes snapped back to her friends. Preston Christiansen was her boyfriend of a year who had dumped her about two months prior. Her ex boyfriend. Alyx and Sophie had hated him, and so had her parents. She really regretted dating him, but unfortunately, the way he had treated her had left a scar on Liv’s view of relationships. That was why she had, according to her mom, “sworn off dating”. It wasn’t even that she had sworn off dating, it was more so that she didn’t want to get hurt again, so she was taking a break from it, something Alyx could not seem to understand.

“And you know that I hope he dies.” Alyx huffed. “It’s because of him that you don’t trust nice, sweet boys like Lloyd Garmadon.”

“Well, I hope Preston dies too.” Liv grumbled. “I’m done. I want to leave.” She shot upward, shutting her laptop.

“You’re not escaping this conversation.” Alyx said, standing up too, swinging her iPad case shut.

Sophie reached out and grabbed Alyx’s sleeve. “Alyx, I think you should drop it.”

“No. Sophie, you’re just saying that because you would do the same thing, don’t think I won’t bring up Chuck the Waiter” Alyx scrambled to stuff her iPad into her bag. Sophie blanched, jaw dropping. “Olivia Branson, come back here.”

Liv was walking out the door to her car. She walked up and stood next to the driver’s side door of her Jetta, waiting with a straight face as Sophie and Alyx cleaned up their stuff inside. Liv could see through the windows as they packed up that they were bickering.

“Alyx. If Liv doesn’t want to talk about Lloyd, she doesn't have to.” Sophie hissed, shoving her laptop into her own tote bag. “I get that you want to be in on this, but she really doesn’t seem like she’s in the mood.”

“You showed me that video of them in the car last night, she was so happy! He was so happy! They were making each other so happy!” Alyx hissed.

“Yeah, and she’s waiting on him to text her, nothing wrong with that. He seems a little shy, give it some time. You shouldn’t meddle.”

“Soph, I love you, let me handle this.” Alyx held her palm out to stop Sophie from talking. “It’s not meddling, it’s solving the problem. I’m a solver, not a meddler.” She adjusted her bag on her shoulder and headed out the door. Sophie trudged after her, huffing. Alyx marched up to Liv and her car. “What if you text him first?”

Liv sniffed, unlocking her car and getting in. “I would, but I never got his number, I only gave him mine.”

“Instagram then! DM him!” Alyx suggested again, throwing her bag in the backseat. “Why don’t you make the first move? Liv, you guys were making each other so happy last night. I liked the Liv that he brought out, I feel like we haven’t seen her in a while.”

Sophie got into the passenger seat. “Okay, yeah, that’s a good point.” She admitted.

“I actually did request to follow him on Instagram last night, but he still hasn’t accepted it.” Liv said plainly, pulling out of her parking spot.

“Well, uh, he probably just never checks it.” Alyx leaned in between the front seats, trying her best to sound optimistic. “I’m just trying to make sure you actually end up talking to him, Liv. I dunno, this is something you should hold onto. It doesn’t have to be romantic!” Alyx added quickly before Liv could protest. “It’s like you said, you can just be his friend.”

“Yeah,” Liv said. “When he texts me.”

“Hey! Idea! I will see him in a couple days in my Public Policy class!” Alyx said. “I can talk to him!”

Sophie glanced at Liv, who was just staring straight ahead as she drove. “But that’s in a couple days, Alyx.” Sophie pointed out. Alyx bunched her lips to the side, making a “hm” sound.

There was a minute of silence in the car, the only sound being the soft music playing. “Do you guys think I came on too strong?” She finally asked in a soft voice, her stone cold facade dropping.

At Liv’s sudden vulnerable shift, Alyx’s whole demeanor changed, becoming defensive over Liv instead of Lloyd. “Oh, Liv, absolutely not!” She leaned forward more, the seatbelt catching. “He was matching you and your energy so well, so if you deciding to give him your number was suddenly ‘too strong’, then he’s a pussy. If he won’t text you by tonight, I will go and find him myself.”

“I’m really worried that I scared him off.” Liv mumbled again, sounding sad. “Maybe that’s why he won’t text me. God, what’s wrong with me?” She veered the steering wheel to the right as she made a turn.

“Nothing! Liv, if Lloyd Garmadon can’t see that you were just trying to make a friendly gesture, I will go hurt him.” Alyx hit her hand against the center console to prove her point.

“Oh, absolutely.” Sophie nodded.

“Shut up, Sophie, you were anti Alyx helping just a second ago.” Alyx scolded. “Even if you don’t pursue anything romantic, and just want to be friends, I will be so fucking happy for you guys. But if he doesn’t text you, or follow you back on Instagram by tonight, I’ll get him. Doesn’t he know you’re healing? He can’t ruin that!”

Liv made the left turn into their circle, sighing. “Thanks, Alyx- wait, who is at our house?” She leaned closer to the steering wheel and squinted as they approached the driveway of their duplex.

“Probably some missionaries or someone selling something. See, look, Kyle’s got the door. Anyways, Liv, listen-”

Sophie gasped loudly, arm flinging out and grabbing Liv’s shoulder. “There’s no way. Speak of the motherfucking devil.”

Standing at their open front door was Evil Roommate Kyle (see, more on him later!), who was not actually evil, looking confused as ever. He was talking to both Cole Sanmyaku and Kai Lōng, who were standing on their porch, and sitting cross legged in their lawn, looking defeated with his chin in his hands, was Lloyd Garmadon himself. Kyle pointed to Liv’s car, clearly saying, “she’s right here”. Cole and Kai turned around and saw her car, and excitedly yelled down to Lloyd on the lawn. Liv’s jaw had dropped, spinning the steering wheel and taking a sharp turn into the driveway. She rolled down the window just in time to see Lloyd scrambling to his feet and looking relieved.

“Why the hell are you on my lawn?” Liv yelled out the passenger side window to him.

Lloyd was smiling so wide. “I lost your number. I have been trying to find you for hours.” He sauntered up to the car, bending down to peer inside, panting slightly. “By the way, I literally live in the circle behind you guys.”

Alyx’s head appeared over the center console. “Neighbors! Neighbors!” She sang (for some reason). “That was very irresponsible of you to lose Liv’s number.”

“You couldn’t find her on Instagram, or something?” Sophie asked.

“Alyx, Sophie, always a pleasure.” Lloyd muttered. Cole and Kai’s faces appeared on either side of Lloyd.

“Hello, Liv, the girl Lloyd invited to Denny’s last night.” Kai greeted her. “You better be grateful for the lengths that we just went to to find your house. Lloyd would like your number again.”

“It wasn’t that bad.” Cole shook his head and rolled his eyes at Kai. “Hi, Liv, Alyx from Kai’s car last night, and Sophie who was making eyes at the waiter.” Cole waved at all three of them.

Sophie and Alyx looked at Liv’s face, she was looking at the three guys leaning into her open window with a mixture of shock, joy, and genuine confusion. “Wait, you lost my number?”

“Yeah. Dryer incident.” Lloyd said sheepishly.

“You think you can spare another napkin?” Cole asked with an apologetic smile.

“I’ll do you one better, come here.” Liv said, undoing her seatbelt and getting out of the car. Lloyd hurried over to her, Cole and Kai trailing after him, invested. Liv pulled her phone from her back pocket, unlocking it and handing it to Lloyd. “Give me your number.” Lloyd smiled as he took her phone, hurriedly typing in his contact information. As soon as he handed her phone back to her, she typed something, then looked back at him expectantly. He felt his phone buzz in his back pocket.

Kai and Cole leaned over his shoulder, as Lloyd got out his phone to see a notification. “Don’t lose my number again, idiot” Lloyd laughed, looking up at her. “I won’t, I promise.” Behind Lloyd’s back, Kai and Cole looked over at Sophie and Alyx, smirking. Sophie and Alyx nodded back at them, returning the same look.

“Okay, good.” Liv put her phone back in her pocket. “And while you’re here, give me your phone.” She held her hand out, and Lloyd, although confused as all hell, placed it in her hand. She swiped through, finding his Instagram app, and sure enough, found her follow request unopened in his inbox. “Now we follow each other on Instagram.”

“Yeah, Lloyd, that would have been a lot easier than trying to track Nya, and Jay, and-” Kai started listing off.

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Cole shut him up.

Lloyd took his phone back, still smiling idiotically. “I…I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t think about that. I don’t use it much.”

“Oh, buddy, you’re so hopeless.” Kai sighed, grabbing Lloyd’s shoulder. “Well, we gotta bounce, so, good to see you guys.” Kai said, pointing over at Sophie and Alyx. “Good to learn your name, Liv from Denny’s. And good to meet you Kyle!” Kai called over to Kyle, who was standing by the side of the house, still looking confused. Sophie and Alyx sprinted over to him excitedly to fill him in.

“See you at the next party.” Cole also took Lloyd’s other shoulder, another reminder that Lloyd would have to walk away from Liv.

“Bye.” He was holding his phone against him like it was sacred.

“Bye, Lloyd.” Liv smiled, giggling. “I’ll see you later.”

“Come on,” Kai sighed with affection, yanking on Lloyd’s arm. “You guys can play eye tag another time.”

And with that, Lloyd turned bright red and let Kai pull him back to his car. “He’ll text you.” Cole promised Liv. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t put his phone through the dryer too.”

“Okay, thanks.” Liv snickered.

“He was a mess this morning when he lost your number.” Cole laughed quietly.

Liv folded her arms, smiling. “Was he now?”

“Cole, get your sexy ass over here!” Kai shouted.

Cole repressed a smile, failing miserably. “Okay. I gotta go.” Liv shooed him off, laughing again. “But I’ll make sure he texts you.” He called to her as he walked backwards to Kai’s car.

“Thank you.” Liv pressed her hands together in thanks. Cole did the same to her in return, turning and getting into Kai’s car. Lloyd gave her one last small wave, as Kai flipped around in the driveway and drove away.

“Did you see how happy that just made her?” Alyx asked Kyle and Sophie, loud enough for Liv to hear from the end of the driveway. “That’s what I call friendship.” Alyx emphasized the word friendship teasingly.

Liv couldn’t help the smile that was stuck onto her face. “Ahh! Shut up! Shut up!”

[kneesrus]

My Zane head canons! I’ve had these in mind since I was a kid, but I really only got around to drawing them over the summer of 2025. I was very pleased to see that a lot of my head canons (mostly Zane and Cole) were pretty spot on

[alizibtheterrible]

in lieu of recent events I present to you

What if Lloyd had aged normally

DONT LOOK AT HIM HE DOESNT KNOW WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON EITHER

[kneesrus]

My Lloyd head canons!

[yhwcomeback]

Hiss-tory lesson

[xnatiix]

I didn't know I needed Shadybug until I saw her O,O

[kneesrus]

My Cole headcanons! I also forgot to mention, but these drawings all take place around the 2nd half of season two of Ninjago, as this will be the setting/time period for my Ninjago fanfic.

[oddsleepybee]

Hello Ninjago nation I present to you an offering :]

"I'm done being manipulated by people like you."

Here's what it's based off of !

[addiroxx]

Chapter 1: “Intolewd” by Matt Maltese

A/N: hey guys!! Welcome to Face Off (The Reprise)!! Before we start, I wanted to say something: in this chapter is an awesome reference. If you understand my reference (that I never go onto explain because I adore gatekeeping) comment in big excited letters!! You can join my awesome cool club for awesome cool people!!

Alyx Rees, avid lacrosse player, socialite across the Ninjago State University campus, poli sci major, and well known yaoi artist had caught wind of a frat party. She had convinced herself that this would be a life changing party, after receiving a text from the lax girls’ group chat of course. “Hey ladies, party at Griffin Turner’s tonite. Be there or be square.” Nya Lōng texted. “I was told we can bring as many people as we want!”

Alyx bolted up in her bed excitedly. Alyx had three roommates, although one of them was evil, but more on that later. Sophie Cooper, a music production major, would definitely say no to the party, but nonetheless, Alyx would try and convince her. She knew there was one roommate she could make cave, and that was Olivia Branson. Liv was a theatre major (loser) who was also studying music production with Sophie (redeemed), and if she could convince Liv to come, Sophie might give in too. She barreled up the stairs, finding her two victims on the couch.

“Guys~” she stood at the top of the stairs, smiling from ear to ear.

“God, what do you want?” Sophie looked immediately scared. Alyx only used that tone when she was going to say something to them that she knew they wouldn’t like.

Alyx inhaled deeply before blurting out, “Liv, Sophie, there’s this party at Griffin Turner’s house, please come with me!” she begged. Sophie and Liv looked at each other, clearly trying to telepathically come up with an excuse to say no. “No! Guys! Please! Look, I know you guys aren’t super into parties, but I promise this one is super fun, Kyle’s not coming- big surprise there- but I need some company! Yes, it is a frat party, but my whole team is invited, and I’ve heard Griffin is super cool. The boys’ lax team will be there too! Maybe you guys can find some prospects-”

“Alyx, we don’t like parties.” Sophie cut in, shaking her head. “I think it’s a no again, sorry.”

Alyx turned to look at Liv with big puppy dog eyes, making her sigh. “Well…”

Alyx gasped. “Yes! Yes!” Her plan was working.

Sophie groaned. “Liv, don’t-”

“It could be fun…”

“YES! YES!” Alyx started screaming excitedly.

“I don’t know…” Liv doubled down.

“Liv! It will be fun, and Soph! If Liv comes, maybe you’ll have a better time!” Alyx said, swinging her head back and forth between her two roommates, beaming. Sophie was frowning. Sophie stayed frowning the whole ride to Griffin Turner’s frat house.

“I hate that you guys dragged me to this.” She grumbled.

“No one dragged you. You got ready yourself and got in the car yourself.” Alyx, always the smart ass, said. Sophie made an “ugh” noise. Alyx rolled her eyes, smiling as she killed the ignition. Liv was in the passenger seat, playing with the sleeves of her white sweater, balling them up in her fists. This party was loud and crowded. Even from their parking spot on the street, they could hear the booming music floating through the air, many people hanging around the yard, smoking, vaping, chatting, the whole nine yards. “We’ll just stay for, like, an hour, okay? We don’t have to stay for that long, we’ll just scope out the scene.”

Alyx skipped ahead of the other two, waving to a group of girls who were standing close to the front door, most likely girls from her team. “Why did you have to say yes to this?” Sophie muttered to Liv.

“I don’t know, I was just thinking we’re finally in college, and we still haven’t been to any parties. We’re kind of lame, Soph.” Sophie scowled, but knew Liv had a point, they had been antisocial so far this semester

“Ugh, I hate that you’re right.” Sophie shoved her hands into the pockets of her patterned overalls. “I guess it isn’t so bad…” She began. “...I changed my mind.” She coughed as they passed a group of people exhaling clouds of smoke.

Inside the house, with the music blaring, and it was sweaty from all the bodies crowded into one house, Liv and Sophie followed Alyx around, unsure of what to do.

“How do we even act at a party?” Sophie asked Liv. Liv shrugged. Alyx spun around and pointed to the DJ.

“That’s my friend Micah!” She screamed. “You guys remember Micah, right?” Liv and Sophie nodded. They were lying, they did not remember Micah. Micah spotted Alyx pointing at him, waving ecstatically and shouting something unintelligible at her. She squinted at him, putting a finger to her ear. Micah laughed and shook his head, fading the current song into something Alyx clearly liked, because she started screaming excitedly and clapping her hands.

She whirled around again, grabbing her roommates’ arms. “Guys! I love this song! Let’s dance!” Alyx yelled over the booming beat.

“I was actually wanting to go get a drink!” Liv yelled in response.

Sophie gave a loud, overdramatic sigh. “I’ll dance with you Alyx.” She smiled at her friend, showing she was just kidding and actually wanted to dance with her.

Alyx lit up like a Christmas tree. “Sophie! Sophie!” Alyx tried to hug Sophie, who hated being hugged. Sophie laughed and squirmed out of Alyx’s outstretched arms.

“You’re scaring me!”

“Let’s dance like we’re a couple!”

“I hate whatever’s wrong with you!”

Liv made her way to the kitchen area and over to the table of sodas. There was a banner above it that read “For The Sober People”. Perfect. Liv was 18, and couldn’t drink yet, not that she wanted to. There was a group standing nearby, some of the people around pouring themselves a collection of drinks, mixing them together and laughing.

“Liv? Liv from my Musical Theatre class?” One of the boys perked up when he saw her.

Liv faltered for a moment, squinting to see his face in the colorful, spinning lights. Her face split into a smile the second she recognized him. “Oh! Hi, Jay from my Musical Theatre class!” There was something about seeing another familiar face at this party that made her chest feel less tight. Jay Walker was a friend from her class that she knew was on the lacrosse team as well, she was surprised she hadn’t considered he would probably be here.

“What is up, dude? You know Griffin?” Jay asked, breaking away from his cluster to talk to her.

“Oh, uh, no, my roommate knows Griffin…I think…she’s on the girls’ lacrosse team.” Liv spoke loudly above the music.

A girl with dark hair tied into a high ponytail who was next to Jay spoke up. “Oh, who’s your roommate? I’ll probably know her if she’s on the team.”

“Alyx Rees?”

“Oh! Alyx! I love Alyx!” The girl leaned over to Liv, sticking her hand out for Liv to shake. “I’m Nya by the way, I’m Jay’s girlfriend.”

“Oh, hi, I’m Liv! Alyx is my best friend!” Liv shouted, shaking Nya’s hand.

“Oh yeah, Liv! Alyx tells us stories about you guys and your evil roommate Kyle!” Nya started laughing, making Jay laugh too.

Liv smiled and nodded. “Yes, that would be us.” She laughed along with them.

Another girl with fiery red hair, also from the mass of people next to the drink table, turned to talk to Nya, jabbing over her shoulder with her thumb. “Hey, Nya, Chamille just got here, we’re going to go find her.”

“It was fun to see you, Liv, we’re gonna go say hi to our friend!” Jay turned back to Liv, grabbing her shoulders. “If you want, you can come hang out with us!”

“Oh, that’s so nice of you, thanks! I don’t think we’re staying for much longer, I was just going to get a drink.” Liv said.

“If you leave before I can see you again, say hi to your roommate for me!” Nya grinned at her with a wink.

“See you Monday!” Jay waved as their group started to migrate away.

Liv moved to the drink table, reaching for a cup and the liter of Dr. Pepper. Seeing another friend had put her in a better mood, she even started to consider letting herself enjoy this party. “Sippin’ on the Dr. P soda, so- so- soda.” She said quietly, smirking to herself, pouring the drink into the red solo cup. If there was one thing about Liv, it was that she was going to pour herself a big cup of Dr. Pepper at the function. Also, that she probably had a crippling, Lorelai Gilmore level caffeine addiction.

“What?” A voice next to her asked.

She jumped slightly, turning and looking, head tilting up to look at the guy standing next to her, right next to her, and she hadn’t even noticed. She blinked a couple times, trying to figure out how she didn’t notice a whole person standing next to her, and now she realized sounded so stupid talking to herself. Then she felt her whole face heat up as she realized that she thought this boy was gorgeous. Gorgeous bright green eyes, a gorgeous mop of blonde hair, gorgeous golden complexion, he was simply gorgeous. And Liv just stared at him like an imbecile. “I- uh- I didn’t say anything.” She finally said dumbly.

The boy looked over at her again. “Oh, okay. I thought you said something.” He said, looking confused. He just blinked at her while they stood and stared at each other in silence for the longest five seconds of their lives.

SPEAK. Her brain ordered her. “Uh. Okay. Bye.” Liv’s eyes darted away, evacuating the drink table as fast as she could. She cursed herself. “Uh. Okay. Bye”?! Who says that?! She mentally kicked herself. God, she felt stupid. She thought about stopping and turning around to see if that boy was still at the drink table. Nope. Olivia. Walk.

Liv barreled back through the crowd, drink sloshing around and forgotten in her hand as she frantically looked for Alyx and Sophie. She finally stopped as soon as she felt she had walked far enough away, sneaking a glance back at the drink table, which she could see a glimpse of through the crowd. Sure enough, just as she had hoped, the boy was still standing at the drink table by himself, and drinking from his cup. She flushed again, clenching her cup, and trying to find her friends in her panic. She found Alyx and Sophie back in the front room. She tossed her cup in a limp trash bag next to the wall.

“Guys!” She hissed, ducking between a couple making out in a corner, and a trio of girls laughing loudly. “Guys!”

Alyx and Sophie’s heads whipped over to look at her, stopping whatever conversation they were having, looking concerned immediately. “Liv, what’s wrong?” Sophie asked. The look on Liv’s face was one of genuine horror, Sophie and Alyx jumping to the worst conclusions.

Liv looked around anxiously, then covered her mouth with both hands. Sophie and Alyx gave each other worried glances. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something, but seriously, don’t make this a big deal.” She uncovered her mouth just barely and blurted out in the quietest voice, “I just met a really cute boy.”

“...What?” Alyx shook her head. “Liv, I couldn’t hear-”

Alyx shoved Liv’s hands down. “I just met the most gorgeous boy I’ve ever seen!” Although she had hissed it to her friends, the way she repeated it made it sound like she had just yelled, “I just got stabbed in the eye on my way over here! Help me!”

Alyx brightened and Sophie’s eyes widened. “WHERE?!” They both yelled, looking around. Liv gripped onto both of their shoulders.

“Stop! Stop! Guys, guys!” Her face grew panicked, eyes widening, her hands slapping at her friends’ shoulders as if that would make them behave.

“Where? Liv, where is he?” Sophie asked, smiling widely.

Liv looked between them, jaw clenching as they both looked at her with mischievous sparkles in their eyes. Why did she ever tell them anything? “If I tell you, please promise you won’t make it obvious!” Liv begged. “No freaking out, just look at him and nod and go ‘okay!’ And let’s move on.” Sophie and Alyx looked at her expectantly. Liv sighed. “Soda table. Blonde. Don’t make a scene.” She felt the reminder was needed.

Alyx and Sophie craned their necks, trying to see. Liv could barely even see the table, but kept seeing glimpses of his blonde hair, still standing in the same spot from afar. “Liv, I can’t even see the drink table.” Alyx said, then stepped onto the couch behind her, trying to see above the crowd.

Liv dragged her hands down her cheeks as she watched Alyx stand on her tiptoes and scan her eyes around the crowd. Sophie let out a sharp laugh. “So much for subtlety.”

Alyx paused, inhaled the loudest gasp, reached a hand down to grab Liv’s shoulder, clapped a hand over her mouth and laughed. Loud. People from the other room were turning and looking around for the sound. “What?! What?!” Liv started panicking.

“Lloyd?! Lloyd Garmadon?! Is it Lloyd Garmadon?!” She climbed off of the couch, grabbing onto Liv’s shoulders.

“I don’t know? I don’t know!” Liv started screaming. “Shut up! Shut up! You are so loud!”

Sophie was lost. “Who is Lloyd Garmadon?” She stepped onto the couch cushions too, looking for this Lloyd Garmadon who Alyx was on the ground cackling about.

“Liv! Liv!” Alyx was on her knees, trying to catch her breath from how ecstatically she was laughing. “I know him!” She finally gasped out. “I know his mom!”

Liv’s face dropped. “I- Alyx. No.” Her voice deepened, as did the horror she felt. Again, why did she tell her friends anything if they were just going to draw attention to them? Alyx shot back up to her feet.

“Well, I know of him. But his mom’s my coach! I’ll go talk to him!” Alyx bobbed her head earnestly.

“Alyx!” Liv hissed. Alyx was still vigorously nodding. “Alyx!” Liv was just as vigorously shaking her head. “I just wanted to tell you I saw a cute boy, I don’t want you to go and talk to him for me!”

“But, like, who is Lloyd Garmadon?” Sophie asked again, getting down from the couch. “There’s, like, eight blonde boys at that table now.”

“Lloyd Garmadon is my brand new friend.” Alyx wore a scheming grin, before she turned and bolted away. Liv let out a small shriek as she watched Alyx run at top speed into the kitchen, dodging and ducking around people. Liv threaded her hands into her hair.

“Either you’re about to have your life ruined, or saved. God knows you weren’t going to talk to him by yourself. I wouldn’t either if I was you.” Sophie said. Liv sank onto the couch in horror. The couple making out had stopped, watching this whole scenario go down.

“Cute boy. She’s shy. You get it.” Sophie said to them. “Relatable, am I right?”

“I did talk to him.” Liv said in a small, scared voice. “And he also heard me talking to myself.”

Sophie blinked. “Yeah. I wouldn’t have admitted to that.”

Alyx spotted her target, going in for contact. Lloyd Garmadon, the son of Misako Garmadon, who was the coach of the girls’ lacrosse team, was standing at the drink table, alone, holding his cup in one hand and holding his phone in his other, typing something with his thumb. She put on her best surprised face as she approached.

“Oh my God, hey! You’re Lloyd right? Lloyd Garmadon?” She asked, planting herself directly in front of him. Lloyd looked up at her, wearing a look of confusion and clearly trying to place her face.

“Yes…?”

“Cool! I’m Alyx!” She shoved her hand out for him to shake. He looked at her hand, both of his hands occupied. He realized she wasn’t backing down, so he slowly put his phone in his pocket and gave her hand a shake. He managed a polite smile, but his eyes were still searching hers, trying to figure out if he knew her. “Hey, by the way, I play lacrosse here too!” She said to him, trying to talk louder than the music.

“Oh, that’s cool, so then you know my mom.” Lloyd said at the same volume as her.

“Yeah, uh huh,” Alyx racked her brain for another reason to be talking to him.

Lloyd nodded somewhat awkwardly. “Uh, that’s cool, that’s cool.” He brought the cup up to his mouth, drinking from it and looking off to the side.

Alyx realized she would just have to veer the conversation where she wanted it to go. She really didn’t know how else to approach the question, so she decided she would just be blunt. “Lloyd, are you single?”

Lloyd looked startled, eyes snapping back to hers and his brows furrowing. He lowered his cup, coughing a little. “Uh- sorry?”

Alyx burst out laughing. “No, no, not for me? Why- do you think I’m chungus?” She pretended to frown.

Lloyd’s eyes went wide, looking horrified. “Oh- no! No! Sorry, you just caught me off guard-”

She grabbed his shoulder like she was just chatting with a friend that she had known for years, cracking up again. Lloyd shifted, trying to hide his discomfort and failing. “I’m joking! I was just wondering, ‘cause we’re at this awesome party, have you seen any cute girls? Or boys? Or they/thems? Hey, I don’t judge, I’m the woker, baby!”

Lloyd just continued to stare at her, silently wondering if she was some crazy person who had come in from the psych ward. He cleared his throat and shook his head. “Uh, I mean, I don’t know-”

“You are single then, right?” Alyx pressed, pointing at him.

Lloyd looked at her finger, which he felt like was pointed at him in an accusatory way. “…Yes-”

She clapped her hands together. “How awesome! I hear someone calling my name! Bye Lloyd, nice seeing you! See you in Public Policy!” Alyx shouted as she left just as quickly as she had shown up. Lloyd was left stunned as he realized he did, in fact, know her, and she really did sit behind him in their Public Policy class.

Alyx came bounding back over to her friends, finding Liv had shoved herself in the corner of the front room, facing the wall. Sophie was on the couch right by Liv, taking the spot where that couple had been making out earlier.

“What did he say?” Sophie asked, jolting upward.

“Oh, Olivia! Oh, my dear, sweet Olivia!” Alyx grabbed Liv, who looked panic stricken. “He is your soulmate! He’s so single! He's totally the kind of awkward loser you like! Go to him right now!”

“You couldn’t say that any quieter?” Sophie asked, standing behind them.

Liv was shaking her head. “No, Alyx-”

“Liv, he’s single-”

“Why are you like this-”

“He’s on the lacrosse team, so he’s probably ripped-”

“Alyx!” Liv looked downright horrified. Sophie burst into laughter. “You’re really not helping!” Liv hissed to Sophie. Sophie slapped her hands over her mouth, trying to stifle her growing laughter. Liv pursed her lips and looked back at Alyx, who was bright eyed and beaming.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Sophie tried her best to sound like she wasn’t about to double over laughing for Liv’s sake. She was doing a horrible job.

Alyx suddenly got serious. “Liv.” She put her hands on her hips, giving Liv a scrutinizing look. “Is this because of your weird thing where you swore off dating?”

Liv scoffed. “Who told you that?”

“My very good friend, your mother.” Alyx moved to fold her arms.

“I hate when you talk to my mom without me.” Liv pinched the bridge of her nose. “She tells you things I really wish she wouldn’t.”

“Liv! Okay, fine. You don’t have to ask him on a date, but you should at least go talk to him. I think you two would get along.” Alyx grabbed Liv’s elbow. “Your mom also wants you to make more friends. I’ll introduce you two, come on.”

Liv froze, shaking her head. “Alyx, you know she has that disease where she can’t talk to cute boys!” Sophie joked, still finding all of this amusing.

“You have it too!” Liv retorted. “Alyx, I actually really want to leave, we should just get out of here.”

“No, Liv, come on, it’ll be fine.” Alyx tried again, but jumped as a loud yell tore through the party. There was more yelling, a mass of gasping sounds, and a wave of people backing towards the door. “Shit- I think there’s a fight.” Alyx grabbed Sophie and Liv by their shoulders. “It’s okay, we’ll just head outside.”

“Shouldn’t that be our sign to leave?” Sophie protested as Alyx led them towards the door. “Liv said she wants to leave, and I kind of do too. It’s been, like, forty five minutes.”

Alyx waved her hand. “It’s okay, I promise outside will be fun! I heard there’s a pool!” She was trying to sound soothing and optimistic as she led her friends past the swarm that had gathered around the fight. “Just fifteen more minutes guys, I swear.”

As they passed, Sophie rolled her eyes, Liv craned her neck to try and see what was going on, and Alyx just kept repeating, “just don’t look” and “it’s just some manchild little boys who got in an argument or something, it’s okay”.

They stepped outside into the cool autumn air, to find a giant pool in the center of an even larger backyard. The pool lights washed everybody and everything in a fluorescent bluish green glow.

“Damn, I sure wish I brought a swimsuit.” Liv said sarcastically, folding her arms and shivering slightly. The air wasn’t exactly freezing, but at the end of October it was still brisk.

“You can always strip down to your underwear.” Alyx turned to her with a wink. “I’m sure your friend Lloy-”

“No more.” Liv placed her hand over Alyx’s mouth. Sophie snorted.

“You should do that more often, Liv.” She giggled. Alyx frowned and batted Liv’s hand away.

“Hey.” Alyx’s demeanor shifted as her eyes caught on something back towards the house. She gasped and grabbed Liv’s shoulder and shook her. “Look who it is!” Alyx jabbed her finger towards the backdoor, where a group of people were filing through it. She watched Jay and Nya walk out, some more people she didn't recognize and then, worst of all, Lloyd Garmadon.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Liv murmured.

Liv looked at Alyx, then she looked at Sophie, then she looked up at Lloyd, who was coming down the steps and talking to one of his friends, then she spun on her heel and speed walked to the other end of the backyard.

“Liv!” Alyx cried, scurrying after her, Sophie taking off after both of them. “Liv, come back! Where are you going?” Liv was rounding the pool, pretending to cover her ears and ignore Alyx.

The sound of some girls shrieking and giggling made Lloyd glance over from his dry conversation with Zane. His stomach did a flip when he realized who it was; the pretty girl from the drink table who was mumbling to herself, Alyx from his Public Policy class who had been asking if he was single and accused him of thinking she was chungus, and another girl he didn’t recognize. He got distracted for a moment, watching Dr. P Soda Girl walking around the pool, her friends chasing after her and giggling. He had tried to say bye to her back at the drink table, but she had literally run away from him. Then her friend came up to him and berated him, so that was fun. He caught himself watching her again. Was it weird that he’d found himself so intrigued by her? Should he go and talk to her? She was busy with her friends, she probably didn’t want to talk to him again. He pulled his sweater off, wearing a white t-shirt underneath, the cool air a nice contrast from the sweaty indoors.

“Hot tub’s open!” Kai shouted, tearing off his shirt, beelining straight for the glowing hot tub. Cole chuckled, following suit.

Lloyd turned back to Zane, his eyes snagging back on Dr. P Soda Girl one more time. Zane himself was distracted by someone standing behind him. Lloyd gave him a look, looking over his shoulder, and seeing one of the girls from the girls’ lacrosse team, hanging around Skylor and Chamille.

“Who’s that?” Lloyd asked Zane, making him stiffen.

“What? Oh…that’s Pixal from my Robotics class.” Zane shook his head, giving Lloyd his full attention. “Sorry, did you say something?”

Lloyd started to smile, shaking his head. He glanced back over his shoulder at the girl with long silver hair. Her, Chamille, and Skylor were being waved over by Nya to talk to Alyx from his Public Policy class, Dr. P Soda Girl, and the other girl he still didn’t know. “Oh, Zane buddy, just go talk to her.” Lloyd laughed. Zane shifted uncomfortably. Internally, he was aware he was being a hypocrite.

“Was it obvious?” Lloyd could tell, even in the blue pool lights that he’d made Zane blush

“A little bit.” Lloyd shrugged, still laughing lightly. “I’m pretty sure she’s on the girls’ team too.”

“I know, I saw her at our game.” Zane said simply, watching her walk over to meet Nya. Lloyd smiled at Zane’s shyness, when he saw Zane’s face change, watching his eyes grow confused as he looked at something behind Lloyd.

Lloyd furrowed his eyebrows and started to look back over his shoulder. “What’s the mat-” next thing Lloyd knew, someone had wrapped their arms around his waist, throwing him into the pool. Lloyd surfaced in a frenzy, spluttering and coughing up water, Kai popping up next to him laughing. “Kai?! What the hell?!” Lloyd demanded, embarrassment shooting through him, knowing everyone in this backyard was looking.

Kai was cackling. “That’s what you get for being boring all night, let’s get this party started!” Lloyd flinched as a big splash pummeled his face, Cole having jumped in next to him. Lloyd was berated by several more splashes to the face as one by one, his teammates and the random people stripped down to their underwear, diving into the pool. Lloyd backed away from Kai, seething as he moved through the already crowding pool, wiping at his dripping face. While everyone else had had the privilege to at least take their normal clothes off, Lloyd was in a t-shirt and canvas pants that were now submerged in the water.

“Fuck you, Kai.” He grumbled under his breath, reaching behind him for the ladder to get out of the pool, turning his body and almost slamming into the very Dr. P Soda Girl who had caught his eye earlier. She was just as stripped down as everyone else in only a light blue bra and hot pink underwear, freezing just as she stepped down on the ladder. Lloyd froze too, body tensing. “Oh- oh- I’m so sorry-” he stammered, launching himself away from the ladder, whole face probably embarrassingly red, and still fully dressed.

Dr. P Soda Girl slipped into the water, shaking her head frantically. “No, no! It’s okay! I’m sorry! I, uh, didn’t see you there.”

Lloyd stood in the water, unsure of what to do, and unsure of where to look. “No, no, it’s okay, I should have been watching where I was going.” He decided he would look down at the water.

Several feet away, Alyx emerged from underwater, smoothing back her hair, looking at Sophie sitting on the edge of the concrete with her pant legs rolled up. “Are they makin’ out tonight, or what?” She smirked evilly.

Sophie looked at Alyx with a dead stare. “Alyx, we’re talking about Liv here. I’m gonna go with ‘what’.” She deadpanned. That didn’t stop Alyx from rubbing her hands schemingly as she watched the two most awkward people avoid eye contact. “Ew, Alyx, you are so scary.” Sophie scooted away from her.

“Told her he was ripped.”

“Alyx, be quiet.”

“I’m Lloyd. By the way. We met at the drink table.” Lloyd said awkwardly.

Dr. P Soda Girl looked up at him, seeming shocked he was still talking to her. Lloyd immediately looked away. It really didn’t help that she was in her underwear. It really didn’t help. “Oh yeah,” Liv said, feigning remembrance. “I’m Liv…and I wasn’t talking to myself at the drink table, by the way. Wait, maybe I was. I was quoting something.” She looked away too, sinking lower into the water.

Lloyd caught a glimpse of Alyx looking at them with her scheming look. “Is she your friend?” Lloyd asked in a quieter voice, bringing his hand out of the water to point in Alyx’s direction.

Liv whipped her head to her right, spotting Alyx and the scary look on her face. Liv shot Alyx a glare. “Sadly.” Liv grumbled.

Alyx’s face dropped, and so did her hands, splashing water up at Sophie, . “What? No!”

Liv sighed, looking back at Lloyd. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s my friend.” Her eyes traveled down his wet t-shirt. “Why are you still wearing that? Wait- woah-” Liv’s face heated up as she floundered, but thankfully, Lloyd just laughed. “It’s just that you’re drenched, and-”

“No, no, I get what you mean, and you’re right.” He chuckled, shedding his sopping wet shirt. Liv’s eyes went wide, full body turning to face away from him, but sneaking a couple looks here and there out of the corner of her eye, then getting embarrassed that she’d done that. Alyx was right.

Liv coughed awkwardly, just for something to do while she averted her gaze. “You know, I don’t normally do stuff like this. Skinny dipping.” Liv explained quickly. She paused for a moment, realizing that was definitely not what she meant. “Oh my God, wait, this isn’t skinny dipping. I, uh, I mean I don’t normally…you know…jump in the pool in my underwear.” She sank lower in the pool, sitting on one of the ladder rungs.

Lloyd gave a small laugh, sinking down into the water like Liv was. “I don’t normally get thrown in the pool fully clothed, so, you know, first for everything.” There was a moment of silence between them, watching the other people in the pool chatting, swimming around, cannonballing into the deep end, and even a chicken fight torment was beginning. “Can I tell you a secret?” Lloyd said to her in a quiet voice, leaning to his left to be near her. “This is my first party ever.”

Liv looked at him again, a smile growing on her face, getting excited. “Really? Can I tell you my deepest, darkest secret?” Lloyd’s face began to break into a smile, raising an eyebrow slightly. “Me too.” she whispered. Lloyd tilted his head back slightly, a somewhat relieved laugh escaping him, which made Liv straighten her back with pride.

Loud music began to filter through the air, and a loud laugh that led into some scream singing followed it. Lloyd and Liv both cringed, turning around to look. It was, unsurprisingly, one Alyx Rees and the DJ, Micah, singing together and doubling over with laughter as they tried to read the lyrics on a karaoke machine screen. Sophie had also moved, back on the lawn chatting with some of the girls that they had been introduced to earlier.

“Oh! There’s your friend again…I can’t even tell what song this is.” Lloyd finally said, after a moment of listening to Alyx. She was still dripping wet from the pool, both her and Micah singing what started to sound like “Stitches” by Shawn Mendes at the top of their lungs. Micah was holding the microphone, but was holding it up to Alyx’s mouth as she performed a very loud rendition of some very jumbled lyrics.

“She’s actually a good singer, I don’t know what she’s doing.” Liv shook her head, starting to laugh again. “Believe it or not, she’s actually sober.”

That got Lloyd, making him burst out into more laughter. “I’m guessing she’s more of the party animal?”

Liv began to laugh too. “How could you tell?” She asked, pretending to be surprised by his observation. Liv’s eyes wandered back over his torso. “I’m guessing you’re on the lacrosse team?” Liv asked. As soon as that sentence left her mouth she internally smacked herself across the face. She thanked every star in the sky that he had not seen her obviously checking him out before blurting out that question.

Lloyd leaned back, resting against the ladder, completely oblivious. “Yeah, I am- well, okay.” He straightened up slightly, ready to launch into his explanation. Liv leaned back against the other railing of the ladder, ready to listen. “Yes, I am on the team.” He lowered his voice just a tad, leaning in closer to her and looking out at the other guests in the pool. “Do I feel like I fit in on the team? No.”

“Why not?” Liv asked, intrigued.

Lloyd let out a sigh, smiling slightly. “I know for a fact that everyone on this team thinks I’m a nepo baby-”

“Nepo baby?” Liv repeated with a loud, sharp laugh. “Why are you a nepo baby? What, is your mom or dad a professor here?”

“Are you not on the girls’ team?” Lloyd looked over at her, listing his head.

Liv shook her head. “Nope, I do theatre. I’m a theatre major.” She saw a flash in his eyes that he was gearing up to make a joke. “Hey, don’t say anything.” She brought a hand up out of the water and pointed at him sternly, her smile giving her away.

Lloyd wore a look of fake offense on his face. “I wasn’t going to!” He held up both of his hands in surrender. “Honest!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I see that look.” She laughed, looking at him out of the corner of her eye with a pretend glare. “It’s the look all guys give me when I tell them I’m a theatre kid.”

Lloyd dropped his act, becoming genuine again. “No, I was just kidding, I think that’s really cool.”

Liv continued to chuckle. “So, going back, what’s with the whole nepo baby thing?”

“Oh! I was just asking if you were on the girls’ team because then you would know my mom, she’s the coach.” Lloyd explained.

“Oh, that’s cool.” Liv nodded her head with interest.

“And my dad is my team’s assistant coach.” Lloyd added.

“Oh…” Liv said, beginning to smile with amusement again.

“Aaaand my uncle’s the head coach.” Lloyd finished.

Liv looked at him for a moment, mouth open like she was about to burst into her contagious laughter any second. “...So you’re, like, a mega nepo baby then?”

Lloyd raised an eyebrow, smile widening as she laughed at her own quip, unable to keep himself from laughing along. “Well…yeah.” He replied sheepishly, making her laugh even harder. Lloyd shook his head as he beamed brighter, realizing how much he enjoyed talking to this girl.

***

“So, why theatre?” Lloyd asked Liv. The two of them had gotten out of the pool and sprawled out by the pool an hour ago, Lloyd’s shirt was now dry and his pants still damp, and Liv back in her cropped white sweater and black jeans, which was good for both of their attention spans. They had been talking nonstop in that hour, covering all their bases, nerding out and swapping stories about their semester. Now the topic had veered to their majors.

Liv let out a loud sigh that turned into a laugh. “Oh, God, I have no idea.” She saw the way Lloyd lifted an eyebrow. “I mean- okay, I know why, I’ve always enjoyed performing and singing and stuff, it’s something I’m passionate about, but it’s kind of like, I’m looking around right now, this far in, and realizing that this won’t ever be my career.”

“Well, why not?” Lloyd asked. “Are you good at it?”

“I mean, I think I am.”

“I mean, Liv, I just met you, but I know you’re good at it.” Lloyd said earnestly.

Liv snorted. “Aw, you’re so sweet.”

“I’m being serious!” Lloyd laughed.

“You know, I know Jay because of theatre.” Liv looked over at Jay in the pool, who was on Nya's shoulders, involved in a chicken fight.

Lloyd stared at Jay for a long, hard moment. “So much about that guy makes sense now.”

Liv rolled her eyes, laughing once again. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Before Lloyd could answer, someone came galavanting in between them. They both craned their heads upwards to find it was Alyx standing in between them with a smug little smile and still soaked from the pool for some reason. “Hey guys, how’s it going?”

“Oh my God, Alyx, come back here!” Sophie cried.

“I’m just asking them how it’s going!” Alyx yelled back defensively. She looked back down at Lloyd and Liv with her same grin. “Hello Lloyd, we talked earlier, I see you’ve met my roommate, Olivia- hey!” Sophie snatched Alyx’s arm, pulling her away.

“Guys, I’m so sorry, get back to your conversation.” Sophie apologized, mostly to Liv.

“You can’t keep me on leash forever, mom!” Alyx whined.

Sophie made a face at her. “Please get back in the pool.”

Lloyd and Liv watched Alyx be dragged away, then Lloyd leaned in close to Liv and said in a low voice. “I have a class with her.”

“Wait, really?” Liv asked, smirking as she turned her head to look at him.

Lloyd leaned away, realizing how close he’d been to her. “Heh, yeah. I’m a poli sci major with an emphasis on peace and justice.”

Liv blinked. “Okay, mouthful.”

Lloyd burst into laughter. “‘Okay, mouthful’?” he repeated.

“It was a mouthful.” She shrugged. “Now which class is it that you are so blessed to have my dear friend Alyxandra in?”

“Public Policy.”

“That’s the one with Connelly, right? Alyx tells me he says, ‘no, no, don’t do that’.” She said in a goofy voice. This only made Lloyd laugh harder.

“Well, he hasn’t said that in a while, but yes! That sounded just like him!”

“I’ve been practicing.” Liv leaned back on her elbows against the poolside concrete.

“How long have you known Alyx and your other friend?” Lloyd asked.

“Oh, Alyx and Sophie? They’re my roommates, we’ve known each other since we were fourteen.” Liv told him, watching as Alyx cannonballed back into the pool, and Sophie was still with Alyx’s lacrosse friends, laughing and talking excitedly. “We went to high school together. They’re my best friends.” Liv grinned. “What about you, any roommates? Best friends?”

Lloyd blew out an exhale, looking back at the pool. “Well, there’s Cole with his…” Lloyd narrowed his eyes as he searched for the right word. “...I dunno, his Kai.” He nodded in the direction of the two boys in the pool who were practically eating each other’s faces. “Cole’s my roommate, and Kai’s the guy who comes over and they…” Lloyd paused for a moment. When he spoke again he did so through his teeth, like he was trying to keep Kai and Cole from hearing, even though they weren’t even close to Lloyd at all. “Are really loud.” He gave Liv a look, waiting for her to catch his drift.

“Oh…” Liv’s eyes darted to look at Kai and Cole. She looked back at him. “With you home?”

“Sometimes. That’s what headphones are for.”

“How long have you known Cole? Are you guys friends?” Liv asked.

“Since the end of May when he started private coaching with my dad. He’s cool, I guess.” Lloyd shrugged one shoulder.

“You guess?” Liv pulled her legs in, sitting cross legged.

“Well, it’s just that we’re not as close as you and your friends seem to be.” He said. “Considering they’re your best friends and all.”

Liv exhaled out a chuckle. “Okay, I see your point.” Liv was trying to think of what to say next, when someone started yelling in their direction.

“Hey! Lloyd! We’re going to Denny’s, get your ass over here!”

“That’s Kai.” Lloyd sighed. “I guess I’m leaving? I drove some people here, so I’m their ride, and-” Lloyd started explaining quickly.

“Oh! That sounds fun!” Liv nodded fervently, trying to stamp down the disappointment that she felt.

“Denny’s?! I want to come to Denny’s!” Alyx scrambled out of the pool, dripping all over the concrete.

“Alyx, don’t just invite yourself.” Sophie muttered, shaking her head.

“Classic Alyx, inviting herself to places.” Liv said to Lloyd quietly with amusement. “Last summer she invited herself on my family’s vacation. It was okay though, my parents were happy to have her.”

“You know, you guys can come.” Lloyd said, sounding rather hopeful. He was gathering a green sweater in his hands from off of a pool chair, shrugging his one shoulder again. “I am one of the chauffeurs.”

“Really?” Liv sounded relieved, then tried to play it off. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to intrude, I don’t want to ruin team bonding- if that’s what you guys are doing-”

Lloyd reached out and grabbed her shoulder, looking slightly frantic. “Please come.”

Liv responded immediately, just as urgent. “Okay.”

[sodaboard]

AAA forgot to post it on here, happy birthday Ninjago!! Thank you for giving me one of the most memorable seasons from a show :^)

[spo1led-m1lk]

I finished it yay