Oh but he let me go

[impy]

Fandom: Sweet Valley
Title: Threes
Characters/Pairings: Lila/Ken
Word Count: 882
Notes: This is the only one I had at the ready when I actually signed up for the Summer Mini Challenge. It was also the one I was sure would grow and take out the rest of the prompts. That didn't happen. I got bogged down with the details after this little bit, so things were put on hold for awhile. Then I went back and cleaned things up and chopped a bit off the back end.

  SVC/TSL broke my brain in varying ways, but one of the things I did like was the good ship Lila/Ken. I can see them working and while it goes against all my years of Bruce/Lila being endgame, it still sprouted plot bunnies for me. Thing is, I hated about 98% of the execution. By the time Lila's 27-30, she shouldn't be less of a developed character than she was when she was 16. I'm not saying this makes her particularly complex, but it also doesn't slap a bad dye job and a boob job on her and call that character development. :P



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   It just figured. If bad things came in threes, she was in the middle of a third set of threes.

  There was the moth incident Tuesday, which led to the heel incident and subsequent hospital trip Wednesday morning.

  Then there was being stuck at home Thursday, which meant the visit with Caroline she'd meant to 'postpone' lasted all damn day, and surely that counted as three horrible things since she couldn't even drink due to the painkillers.

  And now? Now she'd gotten word that her best friend in the world was getting married. Again. Sort of? Did the first one count since it was annulled? She'd have to look that up sometime.

  Did it really matter?

  Lila sighed. All her friends (and she was using the term loosely) were getting married and she was still alone.

  True, she'd already been married, briefly, when she was eighteen, but he'd died tragically and that was almost a decade ago. Lila Fowler was simply not meant to be alone unless she chose to be.

  Unfortunately, she'd chosen to be alone after she and Bruce Patman broke up shortly after they graduated from Sweet Valley University. She'd only meant to take a short break between relationships, but she'd failed to find anyone who could live up to Bruce or the memory of Tisiano. When you'd had the best, why bother to settle for anything less?

  Time had then run away from her and now she just felt sorry for herself. Not that she'd ever admit anything of the sort to anyone else, ever. No, as far as Sweet Valley was concerned, Lila's life was something full of enviable luxuries. Pity was just simply not an option for a Fowler.


  Still...



   She sighed and glanced at the delicate silver watch on her wrist. One of the area papers, she could never keep up with them, was supposed to have sent over a reporter to cover the latest charity fundraiser Lila was spearheading, but they should have arrived well over an hour ago.

  No one kept Lila Fowler waiting.

  The doorbell rang and Lila heard the door open, followed by muffled voices and then footsteps echoed through the hallway.

  “The reporter from the Sweet Valley News is here,” Eva, the housekeeper, announced.

  Lila looked up to see what kind of lousy reporter couldn't even call to say they'd be late... and nearly fell out of her chair in surprise.

  Standing in the doorway was Ken Matthews, looking far more handsome than she remembered.



  For a second, Ken forgot to breathe, forgot his name, and forgot why exactly he was standing in the doorway of Fowler Crest.

  Just for a second, he was fifteen again.

  Just for a second but it was enough to throw him.

  Lila had always had that effect on him. Funny, he would have thought he'd have outgrown that by now. Maybe some people were always meant to turn your world upside down with a smile.

  Or, in Lila's case, with a smirk.



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   “Sorry I'm so late, Lila. Car trouble and my phone never keeps a charge when I need it,” he explained with a rueful smile.

  Lila felt her lips quirk up in a smirk that wiped the frosty look off her face almost entirely. “Of course it doesn't. Have a seat, Ken. Would you like a drink?” she offered, certain that he hadn't noticed her staring at him.

  “Sure. Lemonade?”

  Lila's smirk widened. “Nothing stronger?” she motioned for Eva to refill her own drink.

  Ken grinned and flicked his blond hair out of his eyes. “Much as I might like something stronger, I'm still working and they tend to frown on midday drinking on the job.”

  Lila shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  While Ken got himself situated, Lila took a minute to really look him over. It'd been ages since she'd seen him, but time had been kind. He wasn't quite as tanned as he'd been back in high school, but she doubted he spent his afternoons out in the sun playing football these days. She'd heard something about his knees going out in college, which was a shame since everyone had agreed Ken could have had an amazing NFL career and now he was stuck behind a desk somewhere, writing about the sports he used to play. Still, he obviously kept in shape and whatever he was doing agreed with him.

  Lila narrowed her eyes. Ken wrote sports. His column was good enough that they'd feature his stuff on the front page or online as a selling point for the paper but he still wrote sports. So why was he writing a fluff piece on her?

  “Branching out. Human interest. Local stuff is really popular these days and they want a behind the scenes look at a Lila Fowler Gala,” he told her when she asked. “You might not realize it, Li, but you've got a reputation."

  She arched one perfect eyebrow. “Oh, and what might that be?”

  Ken's blue eyes twinkled as he leaned forward. Apparently she really didn't know. “Any charity you help turns to gold.”

  Lila blinked. “What?”

  “All of your charities lately? Before you get involved, they're barely treading water. After? Donations keep pouring in, long after the initial buzz has worn off. It's uncanny. And it's why I'm here.”

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Oh, and before I forget...

One more note: Ken's writing career springs from SVH: SY. He does do a bit of writing in SVH but SY makes him a sports writer when he can't play on the team for whatever reason. Anyway, the upgrade, if you want to look at it that way, from sports to sports and fluffy local pieces is based very, very, very loosely on a writer at the paper here. They'd use his column to entice people to actually buy the damn paper and while I don't give a lick about sports, his local column was usually a must read. It broke my heart when he retired.

Comments

[luxken27]

Well now you've done it! I want more, LOL :P Like I said in one of my earlier comments, I have a thing for OTPs that break up and then reunite sometime later - years later, if it takes them that long to mature. And I can certainly see the interest in adult!Lila/Ken, after all they went through. Their lives didn't turn out they way they thought (but then, who's does?). If I can't have Lila/Bruce in the end, this ship is certainly a close second, as far as potential goes.

If I beg and plead and cajole, could I wring more of these stories from you?

*gives you best Jessica-like puppy eyes*

*desperately needs an SV icon*