An Invitation

Author's Note: Attention readers, after a short break I've had plenty of time to brainstorm for another Wayside story. Though, before the story begins I think I should get through a couple of premature warnings.

First off, this story continues the events of New Standards, so I'd recommend if you haven't read my last one yet you should probably start there. Some things happened in it that wouldn't make sense if you only read it here. And secondly, while most of this story falls into the T rating, there will be some M rated things closer to the end, and at a bare minimum I'd respectfully rather not get any negative reviews for that. But if you're a hardcore shipper of Todd and Maurecia, then this story might just be for you. I feel like many Wayside fanfics so far have had attempted romance but few of them reaching their full potential. Unlike the last one though, this one will be around 50/50 for character time and it takes place a year later. Let's start with Todd.

Sunday

Todd's POV

It's December 20th and I've just settled in for my Christmas break. Originally school was planned for Monday and Tuesday, but a massive blizzard is expected so Mr. Kidswatter dismissed the entire school on Friday. My parents have planned a week at Las Vegas and even invited me to go with them. But as cool as the hotel probably is, I would probably get bored. I told them I'd rather spend the week here at the house. They were worried I'd get lonely but I denied it. Now it's been two days since they've left. I left for school on Friday morning and now I haven't spoken to anyone in person since I came home on the bus that day. I was truly wrong about not getting lonely. I already miss my parents. But, even though I've had a couple of days for online gaming, it's not always enough. I do it so I have some people to talk to but gamer buddies come and go.

I turn to my left and discard my controller. I'm done playing video games for a little while. I spot my phone and suddenly catch an idea. My parents are gone and won't be back until Christmas day at the earliest. I should call my girlfriend and have her spend a night or two with me right? It sounds like fun and now that we're freshmen, we ought to have some way of showing responsibility. It'll be like we're living together… temporarily of course. I know Maurecia has wanted to reach the end of high school so we could get married and live life together, though I'm not fond of looking in that direction now since I'm only fifteen, but I'm not uncomfortable with Maurecia thinking that way anymore. I know now that I love her so it doesn't bother me.

Man a relationship sure can be scary. We wouldn't even be together if I hadn't knocked her out for a couple of days. It's kinda sad to look at it that way, but at the same time Maurecia forgave me immediately and changed her ways of being a rough dominant. Nowadays she treats me like I'm the one in charge, which is tough to believe based on who she was the first time we met, but a relationship isn't hard to manage once you get used to it. And it's easier for me knowing that Maurecia won't cheat on me for anyone else no matter what. If we were to break up it'd be my choice. But trust me, it's not worth it, Maurecia isn't worth giving up. It used to be, she'd punch me on the shoulders at least once a day against my will. The only way I could've stopped her was if I fought back, which I did. Looking at it now it wasn't worth doing, but who cares? That was a year ago and now we're closer than ever before! I take out my phone and begin texting.

"Do you want to come over for a night?" I say as I put the words into the phone. "I'm all alone this holiday week and I could really use some company. I miss you already, and I don't really want to wait until January to see you again. If you're available, I'd enjoy spending some time with you this week." I feel a passionate smile on my face as I read over the text. Ever since Maurecia and I have warmed up to each other she stopped punching me and I no longer had to ignore her. And boy am I glad that's over? I was worried I'd have arthritis in the future. Though I think this message isn't complete quite yet.

"I love you." I add. I feel like the message alone is going to make her day. I just hope she's available because I really would like some company, and no one could provide company better than my close girlfriend. I tap the send button. I'm immediately a little timid now because the text is out there and there's no going back now. I can't undo the message after it's sent so all I can hope for is that she'll read it and respond positively. I get back onto my Xbox and resume my game. I'll just have to wait a while to earn a response.

Maurecia's POV

Ah, just another Sunday night. This one doesn't feel like Sunday though because I don't have school tomorrow. Some people look at school like a place they have to go, I look at school as something I get to go to. And it's all worth it getting to see my one true love, Todd. He's the one and only boy of my dreams and every time I see him I feel like I'm in another world. A world where there's no feelings except for love, a world that he guides me through as a path to his heart. And I'm so fortunate to be Todd's girlfriend. For the longest time I've been trying to win his heart but my damn fist kept getting in the way. It wasn't its own doing though, I couldn't get close to Todd without feeling embarrassed or desperate so I'd punch him to hide my feelings. But it never meant anything. When I was finally ready to give up punching him forever, he actually punched me, and I experienced his degree of pain the next couple of days in the hospital. But an impact I didn't try to make hit Todd as well. He felt pain under the shame for hurting me and eventually came to make sure I was okay. Little did I know he also safely escorted me to the medics before I could bleed out. He took care of me, and when he was present while I was unconscious, he woke me up. I wish I could take care of him sometime, but he's so independent and tough that he seems incapable of needing me to care for him. That's sad on its own. Sometimes I'm worried Todd doesn't need me. He's done so many things for me so far and all I could do was say thank you. I really miss him right now, and I won't get to see him in school for two weeks, a full fourteen days without him is going to feel like a month for me!

"Hey Fluffy?" I call lightly to my pet porcupine. "Do you miss Todd?" He yawns and shrugs. It's 8:30 and we've already eaten but Fluffy's pretty tired. "Do you want to see him again this Christmas break?"

"EYEA!" He shrieks and gets back into a ball lying down. He's been in a pretty bad mood since winter started even though it's mostly my fault. I don't want him to go into hibernation like my old pet. I used to own a hedgehog when I was in fifth grade, but one cold winter night, the house got kinda cold and I found him asleep on his side. I assumed it was just an early nap but the next day he wouldn't wake up when I tapped him. Hibernation is lethal to their health and I know porcupines are extremely similar to hedgehogs. Every morning I take Fluffy's heart rate to make sure he's not slowing down, and furthermore I limit his nap time and his snacks so he's not able to attempt hibernation.

"Come on Fluffy." He sighs in annoyance as I pick him up and gently stroke his back. "You know it's because I care about you?" He shakes his head. "Boy is it going to be some Christmas for us this year. Two of my brothers are sick, my dad is defending a suspect, my mom keeps working night shifts, and we really don't have anything to do." Fluffy sighs again. But it really doesn't feel like a Christmas vacation when your two oldest brothers have already graduated for college, your dad is a lawyer doing a case in another state, your mom is never home when you fall asleep, and you're basically just on your own for meals since my oldest brother just sits on the couch and plays video games and the other healthy one is, I guess he's willing to cook for others, but he's not good at cooking full meals as opposed to one item for everyone. And having two more boys in the house while they have the flu is a pretty scary concept. If I don't keep my distance with them then I could randomly catch their ailments. I don't like getting sick and I don't think anyone does. Whenever I get sick on a school day I'm always annoyed because I don't get to see Todd for the day and that's just a bother for me as a whole in general. Fluffy suddenly pokes my hip.

"What is it Fluffy?" I ask as he hands me my phone. Then he gets back into his bed and wraps a small blanket over his body. He turns over at me and yawns. "You can sleep for now." I tell him as he rolls over and shuts his eyes. I then look back at my phone and notice I got a text. "Do you want to come over for a night? I'm all alone this holiday week and I could really use some company." My eyes widen a little as I read this and realize it's my boyfriend saying this. "I miss you already and I don't really want to wait until January to see you again. If you're available, I'd enjoy spending some time with you this week." I can't help but find that extremely adorable! Last year I could send Todd a message and he'd change his number before he even looked at the message, but now he's inviting me to come to his house? "I love you." I hold the phone in front of my heart for a second. This text message really made my day.

"Hey Fluffy!" I exclaim as he wakes up in an irritated mood. "Do you want to go to Todd's house for a night or possibly a little more?" Fluffy sighs in annoyance and holds his thumb up. "Okay! It's settled!" But I don't really feel like sending him a message now. I want to talk to him and hear his voice myself.

Todd's POV

After finishing my game and my dinner, I begin doing some experiments. I'm in the basement working on a couple scientific devices. It's winter time now so if I need to activate a generator for the house then I'm willing to do so. Using a couple of heatproof gloves I remove a pair of cold magnets from a cooling storage. By the time they're warm again they should have the strongest electronic current possible. I set them inside a Styrofoam box to negate their properties until removed and then go back upstairs. Just when I'm ready to sit down I hear my phone vibrating. I sit down and pick it up.

"Hello?" I answer to hear an unexpected voice.

"Hello Todd." It's my close girlfriend calling me.

"Maurecia! How are you?" I ask excitedly.

"I'm doing well sweetheart. I'm just caught in a very similar situation right now." She says in an adorable voice.

"Are you alone to?" I ask.

"Not necessarily, but my dad won't be home this week, my mom's never home at night, and right now I'm in a house, with four brothers that won't do anything for me. It feels pretty lonely having no one to talk to." I'm a little confused.

"Don't you have Fluffy with you?"

"Yeah, but he's been in a bad mood since winter began. I have to keep him out of hibernation so I've been keeping a closer eye on him." There's a real surprise. "But I'm sure he'll want to spend more time with you to." She sounds very eager.

"Okay then. Should I be prepared to see you tomorrow?" She chuckles a couple of times.

"If you don't mind I'd like to spend a little more than one night with you, if that's okay." I raise an eyebrow.

"I don't know. My parents aren't home right now and I didn't necessarily bother to check in with them first." I say.

"Oh really, but we are both in the ninth grade now." She says.

"What does that mean?" I ask confused.

"I think that's the age a child should be trusted at home alone for a night." I can't really disagree with that. "Besides, didn't you promise me last year that sometime we'd have a night in the future with just the two of us?" The memory comes back to me.

"Yes I did!" I say cheerfully. Maurecia responds pretty quickly.

"Then it's a date!" I hear her say with equal tone. "I cannot wait." I feel a casual smile appear on my face.

"Me neither sweetie. I love you." I say.

"I love you to cutie pie!" She giggles and I chuckle a couple of times. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"I'll look forward to it. Bye now."

"Bye Todd." I hear her say as I hang up the phone. I then raise my fist in the air.

"YES! Yes, yes, yes, yes!" I cheer as I get to my room and plug my phone in. It's finally happening, Maurecia is coming to my house for at least one night and maybe even longer! I cannot wait myself because we've been in a relationship for a little more than a year now, and only dated a couple of times. I've been to her house once and met her six older brothers. They seemed kinda nice but they also seemed like the type that would annoy Maurecia on purpose while I'm around just to have something to laugh about. Another time she came here but my mom, being the overly caring mother that she is, wouldn't take her eyes off us. I kept waiting for a moment of privacy so we could kiss but she wouldn't leave us alone. But not this time! This time there isn't anyone who can separate us or interfere… except Fluffy, but he and I are on good terms now that he knows I'm not a threat to his relationship with Maurecia. I doubt he'll do anything harmful. I turn off all the lights and get into my bed while my charming conscience treats me to relaxing dreams of my adorable yet super hot girlfriend. The thoughts of her arms wrapped around me made falling asleep much easier for me.

Author's Note: I'll stop there for now. Hopefully this story is as easy to get into as the last one. Next chapter is coming soon. Thank you and goodnight.