Litter Bug

- One-shot -

"Yet another day of school to look forward to," Elisa muttered grumpily, craning her neck to watch for the bus.

Reena grinned at her friend and pulled her back just as she lost her footing. "Think positive, Elisa - when today is over, we have one less day of school left in the year!"

"Thanks," Elisa muttered, referring to the near-faceplant Reena had just saved her from. "And Ree, you really need to stop being so damn chirpy!"

"Cheerful and chirpy are two different things - oh, here comes the bus!" Reena pulled out her student identification card. "Chirpy implies I'm a bird."

Elisa rolled her eyes and climbed onto the bus, flashing her ID card at the driver. "To the back?" she asked Reena over her shoulder and, when she received a nod, headed to the back of the crowded bus.

"There are more people on here today," Reena commented as they stood, pressed side-to-side, near the back door. "I wonder why?"

A tall man on her other side spoke up, "They cancelled the bus that runs on the street parallel to this one - all the kids from Browning have to take this bus now."

Browning was the all-boys Catholic school located a few blocks down from its sister school, Marsh, which Reena and Elisa attended.

"Oh," Reena said with a smile. "Thanks for letting us know."

"No problem," the man grunted, turning away to stare out the window.

"Does this mean we'll be seeing a bunch of cute guys in uniform?" Elisa whispered to Reena with a grin. "The nuns aren't going to like this!"

"We don't have nuns at our school," Reena responded with a laugh. "You really have to stop reading those romance novels of yours."

Elisa was too busy peering around at the other passengers to respond. She mentally discarded some of the boys, and kept a tab of the ones that were cute. "Hey, isn't that Ted?"

"Ted who?" Reena asked, following her friend's gaze.

"Ted my cousin?"

Reena eyed Elisa incredulously. "You're asking me if that's your cousin? Shouldn't you be able to tell?"

"He's boring...why would I pay attention to him?" Elisa shot back with a yawn. "Damn, I just want to get back home and sleep! Is that too much to ask?" Her tone was dangerously close to a whine.

Reena shrugged and continued watching Ted, trying to see any resemblance between him and her best friend. Both had light brown - almost blond - hair but, while Elisa was pale with green eyes, Ted was of average skin-tone and had brown eyes. They also had completely different facial structures and builds. "You guys don't look anything alike."

"Thank God for small wonders!" Elisa leaned against the nearest pole, her arms wrapping around it as she let her eyes close.

Grinning at her friend's theatrics, Reena's eyes shifted back to Ted. She was just in time to see the guy beside Ted pull his hand out of his windbreaker; a package of gum fluttered out after his hand, and fell to the ground. The guy continued speaking to Ted as if he hadn't noticed.

Deciding he must not have noticed, Reena pushed her way to his side and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, excuse me?"

He turned his face towards her, and raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Sorry to interrupt," she said politely to Ted, "but I noticed from over there-" she pointed towards Elisa "-that you dropped your gum." It was on the other side of his body, so she pointed at it instead of crouching to pick it up.

"That's not mine."

"Isn't that Elisa?" Ted asked at the same time.

"Yeah it is," Reena said, "and yeah it's yours - I saw it fall out of your pocket."

"It's not mine," he repeated, glancing at Ted.

"I told you - I saw it fall out of your pocket!"

He nudged it with his shoe. "Even if it was, it's an empty package. Thanks anyway."

"Oh."

"What?" he asked after a minute, when she continued watching him and made no indication of moving away.

She looked at him expectantly. "Well...aren't you going to pick it up?"

"What for?"

"To throw it out?"

He rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Come on...don't tell me you're going to litter on the bus!"

She looked so offended at the notion that he couldn't help but laugh.

"It's not funny."

He shrugged. "If I pick up the wrapper, will you go away and leave me be?"

Reena was a little offended at his tone, but she copied his shrug. "Sure. I wouldn't have any other business here if you did that."

With an exaggerated motion, he crouched, picked up the empty gum package, and pushed it into his pocket. "Satisfied?"

"Very." She whirled on her heels and pushed back to where Elisa was.

"Why'd you go talk to Ted?" Elisa asked, relinquishing her grip on the pole so that Reena could wrap her fingers around it for balance.

"I wasn't."

Elisa bared her teeth in a scary smile. "Ohh, Miss. Chirpy is grouchy all of a sudden - what just got to you?"

"The more accurate question would be 'who' just got to her." Ted reached out and grabbed the pole, just above Reena's hand. "Sorry about Vince - he was just enjoying getting a rise out of you."

"Vince who?" Elisa demanded. "Wait...don't tell me he's Vincent Kristof?"

Ted snorted. "Yeah. Him."

"Vincent who?" Reena echoed, except she was speaking to her friend.

"You don't know him?" Elisa gaped. "Ree, what world have you been living on?"

Ted and Reena exchanged amused looks. "You're Ted, right?" Reena asked, ignoring her friend.

"Yeah...you must be Reena? Aunt Georgina is always talking about you, and how great it is you keep Elisa from getting into trouble."

"I resent that," Elisa growled.

Reena shrugged. "It's true though."

Ted nodded his agreement.

Elisa poked a finger in Ted's chest. "Why are you here? Go back to Vincent!" Her eyes took on a dreamy quality as she spoke the name.

"He's getting cornered by girls from your school...I'd rather not get elbowed in the you-know-what by one of his crazy stalkers."

"Jealous, Ted?" Elisa taunted. "Ree, do you want to-"

"No, we are not going to join his followers," Reena responded firmly. "Besides, we're getting off just about...now," she finished as the bus jerked to a stop. "See you around, Ted."

"Bye Reena. Elisa." He made his way back to Vincent, grateful that all the teenage girls had gotten off at their school. "Finally some peace!"

Vincent grinned at his friend. "Where'd you run off to?"

"You mean, what'd I run away from! Do something about your fan club, man...it's irritating to see them get all hung up over you."

"Jealous, Ted?"

Ted rolled his eyes at him. "You sound like my cousin," he said.

"Was that her?"

"Which one? The one who came over, or the one who was sleeping with her face planted to the pole?"

"The spitfire with dark-brown hair and blue eyes."

Ted grinned. "Well, 'spitfire' better describes Elisa - my cousin - but the physical description suits Reena."

"Reena," Vincent repeated. "Interesting."

"She had you picking up trash, so you bet she's interesting," Ted teased. "I think I'll start a fan club for her myself - I'll call her 'The Girl Immune to Vincent Kristof'."

And wasn't that just a kick in the ass? Vincent thought, intrigued.

Reena and Elisa clambered onto the bus after school and were grateful to see the bus was not crowded, and that there were seats available.

"Thank God," Elisa voiced, dropping onto a seat. "Remind me again why I let you convince me to take physical education - even though IT'S NOT REQUIRED?" She was screeching by the end.

"Because it's good for you," Reena responded, sitting down beside her. "You need to fit some exercise into your daily routine - and no, running for the bus does not count!"

"Whatever," Elisa retorted, leaning back and closing her eyes. "Wake me when it's our stop."

Shaking her head at her friend's perpetual sleeping, Reena looked around the bus. She waved at a few girls she knew from around school, and turned to look towards the back of the bus when her eyes caught on something.

With narrowed eyes, she got off the seat and picked it up; sure enough, it was an empty gum package, identical to the one she had made Vincent pick up that morning.

Grinding her teeth together, she shoved the package into her sidebag and plopped back down beside Elisa.

The moment they climbed onto the bus the next morning, Reena scanned it for a certain black-haired, green-eyed boy. Finding him, she stalked over, leaving Elisa behind.

"What is this?" she demanded, waving the gum package in front of his face.

Vincent's eyes flickered away from the girl he was flirting with, and a smirk appeared on his lips. "That, my dear Ree, is a gum package. An empty one, if I'm not mistaken."

"I know what it is!" she said with a glare, not bothering to question how he knew her name - or her nickname, rather; Ted probably told him.

"Then you shouldn't have asked," he responded in a pitying voice.

"Argh-"

"Hey Reena!" Ted interrupted, appearing at her side before she could erupt. "How are you?"

Good breeding made her take a deep breath and relax her face into a smile. "Hi Ted. I'm good...how are you?"

"I'm Elisa!" her friend jumped in, having finally navigated herself to the back of the bus. "Nice to meet you!"

"Elisa, I know who you are..." Ted responded with confusion.

She glared at him. "Not you, dimwit! I was introducing myself to Vincent."

For the second time in two days, Reena and Ted exchanged amused looks.

"Um...nice to meet you too Elisa," Vincent responded. The girl he had been flirting with earlier shot equally disdainful glares at Reena and Elisa; Reena recognized her as Wren, a girl from their school.

"Vince, you were just about to ask me to the movies," Wren cut in.

He caught the disgusted expression on Reena's face. "Oh, was I?" he asked Wren, knowing he definitely had not been leading their conversation in that direction.

"Yeah," she simpered.

"Interesting." Vincent turned his body away from her and towards the other three. "Did you want me to do something with that package?" he asked Reena sweetly.

Reena could see the hurt expression on Wren's face as he cut her off from the conversation. She stepped forward and pressed the gum package into his hand. "Throw it away - properly this time." And then she yanked on his arm to bring his face down to her level. "And that was very mean," she whispered. "Nobody deserves that kind of treatment."

Vincent watched in surprise as she said goodbye to Ted and dragged Elisa further down the bus. He continued watching as they got off a few stops later and playfully jostled each other as they walked towards their school.

"Where's Elisa?"

Vincent turned away from the girls he was speaking to at the sound of Ted addressing someone. "Hey Ree."

Reena simply nodded at him and turned back to Ted. "Elisa caught the cold," she told him. "She can't even complete a sentence without sneezing ten times in between."

"At least that'll shut her up for a few days."

She smacked Ted's arm lightly. "Be nice to your cousin."

"Yeah, yeah...you sound like my mom now."

Vincent finished his conversation with the girls and turned back to them. Feeling a little daring, he reached for the pole - which made his arm press against Reena's back. "Except Ree's too beautiful to be mistaken for anybody's mom," he said, referring to their conversation.

He felt her stiffen, but was pleased when she made no move to shy away. "I'm sure Ted's mom is beautiful," she said with a grin up at Vincent, knowing she was sticking him in an awkward position.

"She is...I mean, not that I've looked at her that way, but..." Trailing off, he bumped Reena's hip with his own. "Stop laughing."

"I...haha...you should have seen your face!" she cried, looking towards Ted, who was grinning. "You looked like you were- Hey! Pick that up!" She glared down at the scrunched up paper Vincent had 'accidentally' dropped.

He looked at her innocently. "Pick what up?"

She made a growling noise in the back of her throat. "You know exactly what I'm talking about! Pick up that ball of paper!"

When he smirked at her and made no move to pick it up, she grabbed it herself and threw it at his face. It bounced off his cheek and fell back to the ground.

"Hey!" he protested. "That wasn't necessary."

"It was. Pick it up."

"And if I don't?"

In response, she picked it up and threw it at his face again. This time, it hit his forehead. Before she could blink, she found herself pressed to the pole, with Vincent's body against hers.

"I don't think you want to try that again," he murmured.

"Ah...can we have this conversation with some sort of...um...space between our bodies?" she squeaked out. Over Vincent's shoulder, she could see the amused grin Ted wore on his face.

Vincent didn't ease back. "You'd just throw something at my head again."

"I won't...unless you deserve it."

"Sweetheart, we have different ideas of what I deserve."

She fought back the shiver that threatened her at the way he said 'sweetheart'. "Just...just throw the paper out, and I won't throw it at you."

"And if I don't?"

"I'll-"

"Reena, it's your stop," Ted called out, pulling his friend away. "We'll see you on Monday?"

Reena nodded, wide-eyed, and dashed out the door without a second glance at Vincent.

Ted gave Vincent a knowing look as the bus cleared of teenage girls.

"What?" Vincent demanded, scooping up the wadded paper and shoving it in his pocket.

"You were flirting with her," Ted noted with pursed lips. "What do you have in mind?"

Vincent dropped onto an available seat. "What, you're her dad now?"

Ted ignored the question. "She's a nice girl...I just hope you're not after her because she's not falling at your feet."

"I'm not after her."

"Sure." The word was filled with disbelief.

"I'm not. She's not even my taste."

Ted snorted. "Beautiful and nice girls are not to your taste?"

"You know what I mean..."

"If you mean your stream of blonde, ditzy, cheerleader types...then yeah, I know what you mean. Reena's different."

Vincent glared up at his friend. "If she's so great, then why don't you go after her yourself?"

"Maybe I will," Ted responded with a smirk. "Seeing how you're not interested, I don't have to worry about keeping my distance anymore." He knew the words, although not true, would bring out the honesty in his friend.

Vincent sighed. "Fine, maybe I am interested," he admitted. "I don't think it's going to get anywhere though - she hates me."

"Since when does Vincent Kristof give up so easily?"

The weekend passed by very quickly, and Reena soon found herself boarding the bus in front of a red-nosed Elisa.

"I look like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," Elisa complained, pressing a fresh tissue to her nose.

"No, you don't," Reena assured her. "I think you look more like a clown."

She quickly ducked under an arm to escape the smack Elisa was sure to follow-up with, and found her butt on the ground as the bus suddenly braked.

Adding insult to injury, something fell on her head and rolled into her lap. It was a wadded up piece of paper.

Having figured out the owner of the pair of legs beside her, Reena grabbed hold of the denim and pulled herself up.

"Next time," Vincent ground out, "just ask for a hand." He adjusted his jeans, which had come dangerously close to sliding off his hips.

Reena ignored him and shoved the trash in her sidebag. She made to move further back, but his fingers closed around her wrist.

"Ree, what's wrong?" he wanted to know.

"Nothing." She peered over her shoulder - not to look at him, but rather to find out where Elisa was. Or so she told herself.

Vincent's fingers squeezed her wrist lightly. "You don't have something biting to say?" he asked. "Nothing to throw at my head?"

"No." Reena pried her fingers free and headed towards the back door.

He followed her, ignoring the girls that called out to him on the way. "Are you angry with me?"

"No." She could see Elisa and Ted arguing a few feet away.

"Then how about a proper conversation, instead of one-word responses?" he demanded in frustration.

She shrugged. "How's Wren?"

"Wren?" He looked confused. "Who's that?"

Reena looked at him in amazement. "The girl you took to the movies on Saturday? How could you not remember something as simple as a name?!"

"What are-"

"I didn't think you were this big of an asshole!"

"Ree, shut up." He clamped a hand over her mouth to ensure she did so. "I'm not going to comment on my reputation, because you're not going to believe me...and because a lot of it may possibly be true...but I swear to you, I didn't take any girl out on Saturday. Hell, I didn't even leave my house on Saturday!"

She pulled his hand away. "So you stood her up," she stated flatly.

"What? No!" Vincent ran his hands through his hair. "Listen, I realize now who you're talking about - the girl who you said I was being mean to, right? I apologized to her for my rudeness - don't look so shocked - but I didn't ask her out." He took her earring between his fingers and tugged lightly. "I didn't ask anybody out."

"Whatever," Reena muttered. "ELISA! OUR STOP IS NEXT!"

They watched as Elisa shoved her cousin and came over. "Hey Vince!"

"Bye Vince," Reena corrected, shoving her friend out of the bus as the doors swung open. "Oh, and Vincent?" She turned back to shoot him a killer smile. "Throw this out." She lobbed the crumpled paper at his amused face - just milliseconds before the doors shut.

"Are you humming?" Ted demanded, looking at his friend in concern.

Vincent immediately stopped. "No."

"Sure." Ted did not look convinced. "What's the progress with Reena?"

"Progress? She's not some cake I'm baking."

"Vincent Kristof baking? Now that's something I'd like to see." They looked over to see Elisa grinning at them.

Vincent looked out the window and then frowned at her. "Why are you getting on here? And where's Ree?"

Elisa shrugged. "I usually walk over to her stop, since it's only a few minutes away, but I was running late today so I had to get on at my own stop."

Sure enough, Reena boarded at the next stop. She flashed her ID card and then scanned the bus. Her eyes lit up with her smile as she saw and headed towards them.

Vincent felt a tug on his heart when he saw her smile. Oh boy, you're in trouble, his brain told him.

"Hi guys," Reena said as she stopped beside them. "Late start today?" she asked Elisa.

"Yeah, alarm didn't go off."

"Hey Reena," Ted said with a smile.

"Hello Ree."

Reena shot Vincent a puzzled look, noticing the gentle tone in which he had spoken her name. "Are you okay?"

He smiled at the worry behind her words. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I don't think I hit you that hard yesterday with the paper ball..."

Vincent's smile grew. "About that...we need to talk."

Reena stiffened and pulled Elisa in front of her as a shield. "Let's not."

He frowned at her actions. "What's wrong? Why are you hiding?"

Ted laughed. "Remember the last time she threw something at you?" he pointed out. "You practically molested her!"

Vincent glared at him. "I did not."

Elisa was craning her neck to see her friend's expression. "He did what? Why didn't I know this?"

"He didn't molest me," Reena said, blushing. She stopped using Elisa as a barrier to prove her point. "What did you want to talk about?"

Vincent shook his head, disappointed. "Never mind. I didn't mean to scare you - I was just teasing that day."

"I know that...I was just-"

"No...no, it's my fault," he said with a smile. "I'm just so used to girls throwing themselves at me that I don't realize there are limits to touching."

Reena frowned. "That's..." She shook her head.

"That's what?"

"Never mind."

Vincent reached out to take her arm and then stopped with his hand mid-air. "No, you can't just start a sentence and stop like that. What were you going to say?"

She hesitated before responding. "I was going to say that's disgusting..."

"That's nothing new," he said harshly. "You've made it clear from day one that you find me revolting."

"Vincent-"

"This is your stop."

He wasn't on the bus the next day, or the day after that. In fact, they hadn't seen him for the entire week. Ted was also missing, and it began to drive Reena crazy.

"Calm down," Elisa complained as Reena's head swerved rapidly to peer at the other passengers. "Ree!" she grabbed her friend's chin to hold her still. "Calm down."

"I am calm." The jiggling of her right leg said otherwise.

Elisa pressed a palm on the offending leg to keep it still. "I called Ted over the weekend," she said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah...Vincent is driving to school these days; Ted gets a ride with him."

"Oh."

Elisa watched her friend warily. "What's going on, Ree? You're not talking to me these days..."

"We do talk," Reena defended.

"We talk, but it's as if I'm talking to a stranger...you don't open up to me anymore."

Reena shook her head. "It's nothing, Elisa. I just feel bad for the way I spoke to Vincent."

"So it's about Vincent? Why do you care so much anyway?" Elisa probed.

Reena sighed. "I honestly don't know...he just looked so hurt that day, you know?"

"Do you like him?"

"No!" The refusal was automatic, but Reena froze as soon as the word was out. "I...oh God...maybe...do you think I do?"

Elisa rubbed Reena's shoulder. "I've never seen you act like this around anybody else...so yes, I do think you like him."

Reena hunched over to bury her face in her hands. "That sucks," she moaned.

"Why?" Elisa asked. "What's wrong with Vincent?"

"He has so many girls after him...I have no chance with him."

Elisa resisted the urge to yank on her friend's hair. "If he didn't care about you - if he wasn't affected by you - why would he run off when you were a little mean to him? Ree, I'm sure he feels something for you..."

"What if he just-" The bus driver suddenly braked, making Reena fall forward. As she reached out to catch herself on the seat in front of her, she noticed a small ball of white out of the corner of her eye.

"What's that?" Elisa asked as Reena picked it up.

Reena shrugged. "Trash, I guess." She was about to tuck it into her bag to throw away later, when something caught her eye. The paper had become less crumpled when he picked it up, and she was able to see red writing on its pristine white. She could barely make out the characters 'Ree'.

Curious, and not mindful of the dirt or germs the wad may have collected, Reena pulled open the paper and spread it flat.

Ree,

Chances are, you'll throw this at my head without even reading it...
...of course, if you threw it at me, you probably wouldn't be reading this right now...

On Friday, I pushed you against the bus and held you to me...
...and, dear Lord, I feel like a sappy moron writing this down right now...but I don't regret it at all...

You know, you're the first girl in a LONG time to reject me on sight...
...and that may be the reason I want you right now...but that's the truth: I want you.
You're probably bright-red because I wrote that...and I hope I'm there to see it...

I honestly don't know why I'm bothering with this...I should probably just ask you out directly...
...but you'd probably shove ME in the trash.
Yes, Ree, you scare me.

Don't smirk - I know I scare you too.

Go out with me?

- - V.K. - -

Reena blinked at the letter in shock.

"Is that supposed to be a poem?" Elisa wondered, reading over her shoulder. "It's pretty crappy as a poem...but 'aww'! And the best part is that he knows you so well already - you did throw it at his head that day!"

"What am I supposed to do?" Reena asked her.

Elisa rolled her eyes. "Well first, let's get off this bus...we're pulling into our stop."

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Reena asked Elisa for the umpteenth time as they piled onto the bus after school.

Browning finished a half-hour after Marsh, which is why the bus was relatively empty after school.

That day, Reena and Elisa had run over to the stop before Browning to get on the bus.

"Yes, it'll work," Elisa assured her, watching as the bus pulled in front of Browning and a group of boys began to get on. "I told Ted he had better get Vincent on this bus no matter what."

And then they saw the head of black hair. The two girls ducked in their seats at the far back.

Once the bus began moving, they tentatively lifted their heads to see where Vincent and Ted were sitting. As planned, they were right in front of the back doors - within throwing distance. Literally.

After receiving a nod of encouragement from Elisa, Reena opened her bag and dumped the contents on her lap. Without giving herself time to back out, she grabbed handfuls and began throwing in the general direction of Vincent.

Those sitting between her and Vincent groaned and began lecturing, but her eyes were on the boy currently ducking to avoid her so-called missiles.

When she ran out of her missiles, Reena shrunk back in her seat and waited, her hand clenching Elisa's.

Vincent stared down at the piles of paper balls at his feet. Shooting Ted a confused look, he picked one up at random and spread it flat to read.

YES!

His heart picked up speed, and he quickly picked up another one...and then another...and then another. Each and every piece of paper said the same word.

"Which direction did these come from?" Vincent demanded of Ted.

Ted shrugged and pointed towards the back of the bus. "Probably from over there."

Without another word, Vincent stalked to the back of the bus, searching the area hopefully. And then his eyes settled on her.

"Ree."

Her own eyes, which had been focused on the floor, widened before looking up at him. "Vincent."

"Elisa." He looked at her.

"Vincent," she responded, just as coolly.

"Get out."

Elisa huffed, though there was a smile on her face. "I can see I'm not wanted," she retorted, getting up and walking over to Ted.

Vincent took her vacated seat. "Hi."

"Hi."

He felt like a stupid teenager talking to his crush. Oh wait, he was a stupid teenager talking to his crush...although she felt like a lot more to him. "What were you saying 'yes' to?"

Reena blushed. "Your letter...the question at the end."

"If...if you'd go out with me?" Vincent asked. He didn't want to get his hopes up too quickly.

She turned a deeper shade of red. "Yes."

"Good." He leaned over and placed his lips over her own.

Reena froze for a second and then her hands moved to wrap themselves around his neck. His hands cupped her face possessively and tilted her head to give him better access. She pulled at his lower lip, and he groaned deep in his throat. Vincent's tongue teased its way into her mouth, and they continued holding each other until they had to pull away for air.

As they fought to catch their breaths, Vincent grabbed Reena by the waist and pulled her onto his lap. He buried his face in her neck from behind. "You taste good."

"I had pasta for lunch," she said in a daze. "And grapes. I had grapes too."

He chuckled into her neck, making her arch back into him. "You're delightful."

"So...so are you," she muttered.

There was the sound of a throat being cleared. Vincent and Reena looked up to see the bus driver frowning down at them.

"You kids done making out?" she demanded.

Vincent grinned. "For now, anyway."

Reena wanted to bury her head in the sand somewhere.

"Well then...you do realize littering is an offense? You can be charged for vandalizing public property."

Reena's eyes widened. "I...I'm sorry. I'll clean it all up, I swear!"

"Ma'am, she didn't mean to litter," Vincent intervened. "Ree here was just trying to get my attention."

"Well it seems like she's got it good," the bus driver said, giving her position on his lap a significant look. "You'll clean it up?"

"Yes ma'am - we'll start on it right away."

The bus driver pursed her lips. "Fine then - I'll let you off with a warning this time. Get over there and start cleaning." She walked back to her seat.

Reena began to scramble off Vincent's lap, but the arms around her waist tightened. "Let go, Vincent."

"Not until you tell me one thing."

She sighed. "What is it?"

"I want to change the question I asked in that letter."

"To?" Reena sounded wary.

"From 'go out with me' to 'be my girlfriend'," he said softly against her ear.

Reena managed to break away from him and headed over to the pile of wadded up paper beside Ted and Elisa. "Are you guys going to help?" she asked them archly.

"Nope!" they chorused, going back to their discussion on Grandma Lester's insanely big hats.

"Gee thanks," Reena said to them, shoving the papers into the bag she had brought them in.

Vincent's arms brushed her back as he crouched to help her. "Well?" he asked after a few seconds.

"Well?" she repeated.

"What's your answer?" he asked, sounding a little unsure of himself.

Reena brushed the back of her fingers against his cheek and passed him the bag she had finished filling. "Your answer is in here," she said gently, pressing her lips to his in a soft kiss.

Vincent grinned and pulled her closer to deepen and extend the kiss.

When they pulled apart, Reena stood and brushed off her jeans.

"Now," she said with a grin, "go throw all these out."

A/N: Installation three of the 'Bus' series! Woot?!

My mommy bought Oreo ice cream cookies and I'm HIGH on them. (Seems like I'm always high on something, yes?)