We got a problem

Even though Leo's eyes continue to flit about the park, Cassy's suggestion for doing something this weekend had not escaped him. "Only plans I got are to sleep in and I got to go down to Baxtor's Sunday night."

Was that a yes? Why all of a sudden was he having trouble just saying yes or no? It shouldn't be hard. He liked spending time with Cassy and he really had nothing going on this weekend, so what was the problem?

A car backfiring makes Leo jump and he laughs, knowing he must have looked terrified for a moment. "I must have had too much punch - I'm too wired for this late in the evening."

Standing up, Leo still leaves the question of the weekend hanging. Instead, he starts to back away, gesturing with his head for Cassy to follow him. "Come on." Leading the way to the center of the park, there was a large brick circle with lights and trees all around it. Not many people came to the city park after dark, so not many experienced the fairy-tale like world.

Ambling to the center of the circle, Leo looks down at the bricks, scuffing one with his sandal. "I have a memory of when I was little... I couldn't have been more than six years old. My mom had brought me here... not sure where Dad was. It was late and way past my bedtime, but she'd let me stay up. I can't remember why it was a special night. But she took me for a walk and we ended up here."

Standing still, Leo looks up through the trees to the navy blue sky, his hands slipping into his pockets. "She took my hands and started dancing with me." He chuckles. "She didn't know how to dance but I didn't know that. She didn't care that other people stopped and stared like she was crazy. I'd never had so much fun. She laughed and I laughed and we spun around in circles until we were both so dizzy we fell over there in the grass and looked up through the trees, listening for crickets."

Stopping, Leo gives Cassy a wry grin. It all sounded kind of silly now and he really didn't know why he'd wanted to tell her that. Perhaps he sensed she'd been trying to get to know him and it was the best he could do, without ever having really shared about himself before. Come to think of it... he'd never really told these types of things to even Ryan. He just... wasn't used to talking about himself.

A little color comes to his cheeks as his grin widens. "Crazy, huh."


"Yeah, yeah, we're on our way. Got hung up. I'll get the car there on time, no sweat. Later." Sketch stuffs his phone back in his pocket, never to admit his annoyance to Roth's face. Never did anyone question why Roth wouldn't trailer is own car to the races.

Sketch ambles across the dim shop, whistling as he went. Reaching the car, he yanks off the tarp, automatically starting to roll it up. "Yo, Crash, get the door and we'll..." his voice trails off into oblivion as his gaze finally lands on the bubblegum-pink car in front of him. "What the..." Coming closer, he looks inside to discover that this was indeed Roth's car. His face pales at the same time his stomach lurches in the most horrid manner.

"Wha...Cr... uh.... Crash?" He waves his friend over as he backs up to see Hello Kitty in full view. "We got... we got a problem."