You're doing it wrong {Wilbur!}

[tigerlilysully]

Torrence was a very stubborn and strong willed southern girl who tended to get herself into trouble often. Take today. Her aunt and uncle had gotten a pet rat the week before, and Torrence detested it. Honestly, the fact that it was a rat didn't bother her. Torrence could have easilly ignored the rodent. But it bit her. She took it to mean that Peter wanted out, so that morning Torrence had decided to let him out.

Her aunt and uncle were extremely pissed, so to escape their tyraid, Torrence had fled to the park for the day. So far, it had been an abnormally boring day. Torrence had conquered all the trees multiple times, and there weren't many promising victims for one of her pranks. You had to be special to be deemed worthy of a Torrence Kirkpatrick prank, like her old tutor from South Carolina. Well, no, it was more that he deserved having a legion of frogs unleashed in his car.

No. He was not trying to do that.

Across the way, Torrence saw a guy about her age wading in the pond, trying to capture a duck and epically failing at it. Torrence let out a snort and jogged over to guy as he tried once again to sneak up and grab the waterfowl. With a mischevious smirk, Torrence splashed into the crisp water and said, "You ain't gonna catch it if that's what you're tryin' tado." Her country accent as thick as the chocolate brown waves on her head. Going into stealth mode, Torrence creeped up on a different duck, slowly stretching out her hands. Not taking a moment to hesitate and spook the bird, Torrence jumped towards the bird and snatched it up, falling into the water. Shit. Her shirt was a light color.

Rising up with a sqawking and wildly flapping duck, Torrence grinned proudly towards the guy. "And that's how ya catch a critter." Keeping her grip firm, Torrence stretched her arms out in an offering. "Ya wanna hold 'im?"

[WILBUR HICKS]

Wilbur didn't know how on earth he could be expected to stay indoors on a beautiful day like this. The sun was just making everything bright and chipper, and he'd be damned if this weren't the warmest day so far that year. Any person in their right mind would be out in the park or leaving the city for the countryside to get a chance to soak up the delicious Vitamin D! Heck, back home, Wilbur would have been out on the banks of the river for hours now, along with half the other kids. They all would have gone for a quick swim in the water at least once or twice by now just to cool down from all the fun they were having!

But no. For some reason people in the city were like, half zombie or something, because they clearly preferred staying cooped up indoors when they could be outside playing and running and laughing and, well, anything else that you could do outside. Already, Wilbur had spent most of his day running about the park like a mad man, occasionally getting some of the little kids who came to the park to play with him, because they were ALWAYS fun, but then their parents would inevitably look at Wilbur weird like there was something wrong with him and take their kids firmly by the hand and walk them off. It was too bad, really, Wilbur was just trying to have some fun.

Now, though, he had found something better to do. Waist deep in the muddy waters of the park pond, he was getting ready to get one of the little ducks that dabbled and waddled around in the waters. He didn't want ta' HURT the little thing, God no. He just wanted to see if he could catch one. He figured that if he could get like, a feather, or even maybe just a picture with one then he would INSTANTLY have bragging rights to all his friends for like, well, EVER. NOTHING could top catching a duck!

Rubbing his lucky rabbit foot for good luck, he took a deep breath and went diving, flailing wildly the hole time, at the nearest duck. In an explosion of water and loud quacking noises, Wilbur suddenly found himself utterly drenched and without a single duck to make up for the ordeal.

Getting ready to go after another duck, his moment of zen-like preparation was broken into by what sounded like someone laughing at him. Now, Wilbur was ALL for laughing at people, in fact, he often did it quite a lot every day, but when someone was laughing at HIM, well, that was a whole other kettle of fish.

He turned around, ready to beat up whatever idiot thought they could get away with making fun of him. Oh yeah, he was gonna have a proper scrap with whoever it was! It would be a no holds barred whirlwind of punching and kicking and - hey, was that a girl?

As she jumped in the pond, Wilbur didn't particularly know what to think. SURE - she was quite a looker, but still, he was totally mad at her for laughing at him! Unless.... it was good laughter? In which case....he liked it? Maybe? All this nonsense about having it be a girl had him all turned around and mixed up. Why couldn't girls just stay home reading or something instead of making him all confused!

" And that's how ya catch a critter. Ya wanna hold 'im?"

Shaking his head in indignation, Wilbur spit back at her, "Hell no I don't! What do I look like ta' you, some kinda' charity case? I don't take kindly to other people stealin' my ducks, especially when they're girls."

[tigerlilysully]

If there was one thing Torrence could rid the world of, it'd be chauvanistic pigs. Growing up with her fancy momma and daddy, she was always expected to act like a lady and be pretty and proper. Torrence wanted nothing to do with that; she was always out climbing trees, gator fishing, rope swinging and many other non-girlish things with that boy Cash. Sure, it had taken a few months and a broken arm to prove to the boy that she wasn't just some girl, but Torrence had showed him. In fact, she'd beat him at a lot of "boy" activities. Out of the two, Torrence worked her ass off to make sure she caught the most fish, climbed the most trees and got the dirtiest. There was no way in hell she was gonna let herself get cast off into frilly and pink "girl world". No. Way.

And now this guy, who she didn't even know, just called her a girl. Like she couldn't do anything but sit in a kitchen and act all blubbery about everything. Like she couldn't be in the sun without melting; like she would moan about breaking a nail if she even tried to climb a tree. How [/I]dare[/I] he call Torrence Kirkpatrick a girl!! Andhe obviously thought he could get away with it too!

Oh hell no. That aint happening.

Clutching the angry bird, Torrence said, "Oh, yer one of them boys who done think girls can't do nothin, huh? Think I can't handle no rodeo or somethin. Like I'm worried bout breakin' one of my delicate nails." The more worked up she got, the redder her face got and the thicker her drawl became. There was one thing about true country girls that many people failed to know; you don't mess with them unless you're prepared for the consequences.

Torrence's grip on the waterfowl had gotten a bit tighter then she had meant and it began to quack and flap like some crazy drunk man. Well, drunk men don't quack, but they sure do holler a lot, and this duck was an expert at hollering. A wicked grin on her face, Torrence launched the flurry of feathers at the guy, bent down into the murky water, scooped up handfuls of mud, and slung that at him. Mud splattered both Torrence and that stupid boy. Not that she minded. It wasn't like she was concerened with ruining her clothes. "Think I'm just a girl now, d'ya?"

Huh. Now that Torrence looked at him, he was pretty cute.

[WILBUR HICKS]

Golly, who the heck did this girl think she was? She clearly ought to have seen that WILBUR was busy trying to grab a duck or goose or whatever, and then she just comes flaunting in and takes it easy as pie! That clearly weren't the way manners and chivalry and all that worked. Ladies weren't supposed to just swoop in and get dirty and grab waterfowl! they were supposed to - well, frankly, Wilbur didn't KNOW what it was that girls were supposed to do. He kind of just assumed that it had to do with lots of shoes and eyeliner and magazines and all that boring stuff. Never in a million years would he have thought that female activities included leaping into ponds to show up boys who were CLEARLY just warming up and obviously could have caught his own damn duck if she hadn't gone and ruined the whole thing for him.

He had to admit though, it was kind of, well, it was kind of awesome that she could catch it. Not that he was complimentin' her or any of that stuff, but... it wasn't all that easy to catch one of those little bastards, and she kinda' just went and made it look like it was nothin', like it was something' that she did every single damn day. He was, well, he weren't IMPRESSED or nothin', but it was- dang, what was the word? He didn't know WHAT it was but it was a good feeling.

Well, it WOULD have been a good feeling if he didn't have the sinking suspicion that he had just been totally shown up by a girl. He could only hope that no one saw. It would be the death of him if any of the guys found out about it. He was sure he'd never be able to live it down.

She certainly seemed mad though. He couldn't imagine why. He was the one who ought to have been angry! She had just stolen his duck! Well, his duck which presently came hurtling at him in a series of splashes and feathers and quacking noises. It flew overhead (thank goodness) but he'd barely had time to recover from the experience of being nearly hit in the head by a flying fowl when he was being suddenly assaulted by mud.

"Think I'm just a girl now, d'ya?"

A sly grin slipped onto his face as he thought of a way to get back at her. He hated to admit it, but this girl was actually proving to be some fun. More fun than he'd had all day, in fact.

"Well, I dunno, but ya' certainly THROW like one!," he replied, grinning from ear to ear. She certainly wasn't hard on the eyes, neither, but he was gonna see if he could fix that. If she looked just as nice while covered in mud then it'd be a miracle.

His hand slipped below the surface and grabbed a handful of the thick muck lying on the bottom of the pond. "Y'see, only a GUY can throw without flippin' his wrists around like limp little rag dolls. Like this!" He whipped the mud at her, guffawing out loud as he did so. He hadn't had a proper mud fight in forever!

[tigerlilysully]

Torrence did not understand why there were such defined gender roles. Not to get overly serious, because Torrence didn't, and not to sound like a feminist, because Torrence wasn't. Just the fact that everyone expected her to act a certain way and for boys to act a certain way baffled her. Couldn't people just do what they wanted? Torrence sure as hell could; there was no way she'd let her aunt and uncle hog tie her like that. Shoot, they didn't have no power over her. Yeah, them yankees thought they could boss around a little stubborn spitfire. But they didn't have any more control over her then a farmer does of when his crops are done. Torrence was the sailor of her life. She didn't need no stupid adults tellin her what to do.

But back to Torrence's inner rant on gender roles.

Sure, she was born with a vajayjay and two boobas, but why did that have anythin' tado with what she was supposed to do? Torrence liked mud. She liked getting dirty, she liked messing up perfectly good clothes, especially the reckless feeling she got when her aunt yelled about doin laundry and tryin ta get the stains out. And shoot, if she liked it, by golly she was gonna do it!

Did he just say she threw like a girl?

Torrence drew herself up, cocky swagger and all, and just as she was going to come back with a damn good retort, mud splattered all over. Ok. He wanted to play dirty. Torrence understood that. Cash had never held back just cus she was a girl, and this guy better not either. "Oh I get it. I got me some right floppy wrists, huh? Well, shoot, if I can't throw nothin at ya..." Torrence strode, or waded, right up to that good-fer-nothin totally attractive, and kindof cool boy, placed her muddy hands on his shoulders, and shoved him down into the water. Unfortunately for Torrence, she lost her balance, and fell laughing right on top of him. Golly, this sure was fun! Scooping up more mud, she pulled the guy's shirt (what was his name anyways?) out and dropped the muck right down his shirt. Hopefully he wouldn't do the same to her. She did have lady parts after all.

"Hm, I think that took care of my floppy wrists, didn' it?"

[WILBUR HICKS]

Laughing like some kind of goon, Wilbur was having the time of his life. Heck, he could almost forget that she was well, a girl. Even AFTER she got splattered with mud, she kept right on acting like just one of the guys. Wilbur had kind of expected her to run of screaming and cursing herself for getting in way over her head. Instead though, she just kind of seemed to get more pissed off, which to Wilbur, who LOVED messing with people until they reached their breaking point, was a much better and much more acceptable reaction. The fact that she had yet to absolutely snap meant that he had at least a bit more time of playing with this apparent impossibility of a girl and more time to gather evidence that he would later repeat ad nauseum to his friends about how he had just so happened to come across this totally awesome, totally thrilling girl in the park who threw mud.

He crossed his arms and put on his best cocky grin as she walked right up to him. He didn't know what was in store, but he knew that it had to be good. He had come to have high expectations of this girl in the short time they'd been fighting/playing together. As she shoved him into the water, the cocky grin went flying off his face as it was replaced with a look of surprise. He had certainly not been expecting anything so-well, manly. A million excuses quickly flew threw his head (He was tired! He had been off balance! He wasn't ready! IT WASN'T HIS FAULT! HE TOTALLY HADN'T JUST BEEN SHOWN UP BY A GIRL!) he kind of simultaneously came to the conclusion that, yeah... maybe he HAD been shown up by a girl. And really, he kind of liked the feeling that it gave him.

With her straddling him, he was in a rather awkward position. His head resting just above the surface and his entire body now thoroughly soaked, all he could really do was laugh and accept it as she shoved the mud down his shirt. It wasn't like he really minded.

"Hm, I think that took care of my floppy wrists, didn' it?"

Flashing her another grin, he did his best to take advantage of the element of surprise. Jerking suddenly, he flipped her off of him into the water next to him. He was a little concerned that he had been too rough on her, what with her being a girl and all, but he was sure that he could explain it away. Heck, the pond was hardly deep enough to do any proper swimming, and they were in a section shallow enough to just rest on the bottom and sink into the mud a bit. For a girl that was that feisty what he'd done could be considered quite gentlemanly.

"I think it may have helped yer' case 'bout floppy wrists, yeah," he said lazily, the fight going out of him. He was far less concerned about claiming that he was in fact the rightful bird catcher and much more interested in finding out more about this strange girl.

Rolling over onto his side in the water, he stared straight into her eyes. "So tell me, girly. You got a name? Or am I just gonna have to start calling you Mud Wrestler Barbie?"

[tigerlilysully]

Torrence hadn't had a mud fight in...well, forever! Of course, the pond was lacking in the threat of a gator chompin off your rear, and there was no chance of noodling in this little nothin piece of water. But, shoot, this was the most damn fun she'd had in a long time!

Now by this time, most girls would have run away screaming about how her shirt by some French designer named Ronald Laurent or something was forever ruined. She'd be crying about her hair, and how long it's take to wash it, and how they'd have to use some sort of mayonaise wrap. Honestly, Torrence prefered mayonaise on chicken wraps. Not hair wraps, whatever the hell that was.

Then there was Torence. As she was pushed back into the water, Torrence couldn't stop laughing and got a mouthfull of the nasty brown stuff. Surfacing, Torrence spit it all back out, making a little gagging noise. She didn't care who you were, that shit was gross once it got in your mouth. She splashed the guy playfully, the fight gone. A little mud wrestling had been the perfect cure for the concrete prison feeling New York gave Torrence. Even though it had been two years, Torrence felt a fresh wave of annoyance for the city everyday. How did people live like that? Stay indoors all day, be surronded by gray. Yuck.

So, he wanted to call her mud wrestler Barbie. Honestly, Torrence couldn't give a care. If he wanted to call her that, as long as it wasn't "girl", there was no skin off her back. "My name's Torrence, but if y'all wanna be callin me that, I aint goin ta get worked up." Torrence said and stood up, her feet getting sucked into the water. She peeled her shirt off (Torrence did prefer that her shirt be dry, it got a little chilly in New York) to reveal a white tanktop, now soaked to the bone and covered in mud. "Would ya lookit that! You can see my tattoo right through this here tanktop!" Poking her hip where the vibrant image of a tiger lily sat, Torrence laughed and sunk back into the water , laying on her side and facing her possible new friend. "Now, what can I call ya?"

[WILBUR HICKS]

For the first time, Wilbur had the opportunity to look her up and down. He meant REALLY look at her, not just notice that she was there like he usually did. He had to say, even covered in mud and half submerged in aquatic vegetation, well... she WAS awful pretty. He didn't know what it was. The nice, long hair, or the face or well... just the overal shape of her (drenched clothing did an awful lot to make sure there wasn't any guesswork involved when estimating the general shape of a person) that made her all so appealing. Well, not that Wilbur was checking her out or anything, because he was sure that was poor form. You couldn't just go ogling every girl that managed to cross your path.... could you?

He didn't exactly have time t mull over this admittedly difficult concept of morality versus human nature, as Barbie got o her feet and, for lack of a better word, began what Wilbur could only hope was the first of a series of strip teases.

He gave a kind of low whistle of surprise at the reveal of her vibrant tattoo. He'd always loved a girl with a tattoo. Well.... he'd never met one before, but after seeing Barbie show that one off then tattoos were definitely on his list of good attributes a girl could have. A tattoo said a lot about a girl. They said that she was daring, that she didn't care what her parents thought, and most importantly, that she was a fucking awesome badass. That last attribute was by far the best.

He could only wonder if there were OTHER surprises hiding other places on her body.

As she slipped back into the water, Wilbur was hardly aware of the large, childish grin slathered on his face. He was sure that it was rather inappropriate, or at least some adult wouldthink so, but he couldn't quite seem to shake it.

"Well, if we gotta take Mud Wrestler Ken off the table, then I suppose that you can call me Wilbur, doll." He rolled back over onto his back, hands behind his head and gazing up at the blue sky marred by only a few puffy clouds. "Now, I'm gatherin' with that twang of yours that you aren't from 'round these parts, huh?"

[tigerlilysully]

Despite Torrence generally being against cutesy girly...things, she loved to flirt with guys. Well, Torrence didn't describe it as flirting, persay. She just enjoyed to have them falling all over themselves for her. In her opinion, it was silly how men would act like a complete idiot to try and get in some girl's pants.

Not that she didn't appreciate the effort.

Torrence knew that "Ken" was checking her out, and having a moment of pure arrogance, Torrence couldn't help but be unsurprised. Why wouldn't a guy take advantage of the wonderful sight that was Torrence? Of course, he didn't look so bad, either. In fact, he was very attractive. And, like icing on top of the cake, he had a twang that was far from a New York accent. Was it possible that Torrence had found a southern guy in the big city?

"Well, Wilbur, yer right. I aint from 'round these parts. I'm from Charleston, South Carolina." Remembering her home, Torrence's eyes grew wistful and her drawl slowed down to that a true Low Country tempo. "I miss it right good...you could go'an catch a gator right in yer backyard and fry 'im up fer dinner...But I got in too much trouble so my momma and daddy shipped me up here to this city." Just saying the word city created a slightly sour look on Torrence's face. Taking a break from rambling on, Torrence wrung her thick hair out. It had already begun to twist into waves and a few loose ringlets, all a deep chocolate brown. She didn't like to admit it, but Torrence took some pride in her hair. It was so soft and pretty...wait a minute. Torrence brought herself out of girl world, ashamed that she had gotten there in the first place. Yuck.

"I reckon you aint from here, either. Where d'ya call home, Wilbur?" Resting on her hands, Torrence looked up to the sky. A solitary cloud floated across her vision, barely missing the sun as it blew by.

[WILBUR HICKS]

Huh, Wilbur definitely had to admit, this was one girl that he would have to keep in touch with. For the most part he was content with just hanging ot with perfect strangers every day, metting new people for every new day and then only seeing them again if destiny decided to send them in the same place at the same time ever again. Barbie, however, seemed to be worth the time and effort Wilbur would have to put in in order to actually stay in contact with her. She was... well, she was unlike any other girl he'd ever known, to be honest. Until Barbie here, he'd always kind of assumed that girls were just made to think about what color to braid their hair, or what celebrity they wanted to kiss and give cooties to the most. That was about the extent of the female mind according to Wilbur up till this point.

"Hey, a Carolina girl! Y'know, I've never been down thur' ma'self, but I've heard only good things bout the states. Heard only some might fine things." He was lying, of course. He doubted he would ever come across ANYONE who had heard ANYTHING about the Carolinas, but he figured that it would make her feel better, or at least more wanted or whatever, and for some reason that was important to him. At least when it came to Barbie doll here anyway. He could care less about other people's feelings.

"Well, barbie, I'm from a little place called Cedar Hill, Mississippi." He said, trying to act nonchalant about it. "It was a real cute lil' town, I suppose. I didn't get to see much of it growin' up. I was usually right down at the riverbank, playin' with come a the other kids or somethin' like that." He ripped one of the reeds out from the water, rolling it around in his fingers. "It was good fun, y'know. I wouldn't say that it was more fun than MUD WRESTLIN' or anything, but it was nice. Jus' down there on the banks with nothin' to do but watch the river flow on by." He didn't mention the fact that his mother died of cancer. he didn't mention the fact that when he was staying with his Pa the only thing to do had been to hide out down by the river in order to keep out of his drunken way. Nah, she wouldn't want to hear about that. Too sad.

Squeezing one eye closed, Wilbur stuck out his tongue slightly in concentration and traced the path of the river down through the air. "There she was, the big 'ole Mississippi. She was gorgeous. Brought down boats and trees and logs. Every day there was somethin' new." Sighing contentedly, he began to compare it to his current lifestyle. "Nothin' like that up here though... Say, why'd your parents hip you up here for anyhow? A Southern Bell like you? You belong down South, not cooped up here!.... Not that I'm complainin', mind you, just wonderin'."

[tigerlilysully]

Torrence sat and listened to Wilbur talk about the river. It was nice to listen to, to imagine being on the riverside every day. Of course, Torrence would make sure that she would be fishing (either with a pole or without one), or some other stupid idea. When Wilbur asked why she had been moved up to New York, Torrence lit up. Oh the stories she could tell, all the times she had gotten into trouble. "See, I'd always been right close with this boy Cash. We did everything together, even though he didn't like me at first cus he thought I was just a girl." At her last comment, Torrence shot a smirk at Wilbur. Today hadn't been her first rodeo; he was one of many guys that Torrence had had to prove herself to. "See, when I first met him, my momma and daddy still forced me into those stupid little dresses. But soon we were gettin inta all kinds of adventures; like this one time, we made a fake gatorand put 'im in the water where all the youngins were playin, and pulled 'im around with a string. All the mommas were more scared then a turkey on Thanksgivin! And then, when I had to this stupid dinner party once, me an Cash showed up with are fancy clothes all torn up, an covered in mud."

Torrence laughed, and tried to keep an upbeat tone as her story took a sour turn. "Then, when me an Cash let a chicken loose in my momma's book club, they decided that I spent too much time with Cash. They said I wasn't a proper lady, and was too much of a tomboy to be there daughter. So I was sent up here ta get some manners or somethin." Golly, did Torrence miss Cash. He was one of her only friends. All the girls at school thought she was weird and gross and never wanted to hang out with her. Not that Torrence wanted to be with such big sissies. She only had a few guy friends, because like the girls, all the boys at her private school had been sissies and were afraid of gettin dirty. They probably knew more about clothes and skin care products then Torrence did. Glancing at Wilbur out of the corner of her eye, Torrence wondered if he could be her "new Cash". A new parted in crime, somebody to get into trouble and adventures with. Because Torrence wanted to spend more time with Wilbur. It was that simple, really. She had no intention of letting him become just a stranger she had had a mud fight with. No, this wouldn't turn into something like a one night stand.

Torrence's eyes lingered on Wilbur a little while longer. The urge to plant a kiss on the guy's lips took over Torrence. Gosh, she wanted to, but what if he thought she was a freak, or a creep? Luckily, Torrence's over confidence saved the day. Wilbur wouldn't think she was a creeper because she kissed him. In fact, he would probably think she was even more of a bad ass then she had let on.

Of course that's what would happen.

Acting on impulse, Torrence leaned in a kissed Wilbur. She waited a moment for it to sink in (mainly because she had been taken aback by how great it was), before she said "Cmon! Let's race to that icecream cart! Course, yer gona get beat again,"[/b] like nothing had just happened.

Torrence lept up and started to run towards the cart, utterly determined to win.

Too bad her short litle legs made her slow.

[WILBUR HICKS]

Wilbur had to actively work to keep himself from breathing out a heavy sigh of disappointment. Well, disappointment or relief, he wasn't sure. On the one hand, he was rather annoyed that there was this "Cash" fella who seemed to be the apple of Barbie's eye and killed any possibility of Wilbur himself making a move. On the other hand, he was kind of.... well, he didn't know. He was kinda happy that there wasn't no chance of Wilbur gettin' involved. Since when did he want to get mixed up with any girls anyway? That was somethin' that Pa had always warned him 'bout. Don't get mixed up with no girls, he'd always said, and if he ever tried to get married or such-like, Pa had always said he'd punch Wilbur right in the face to knock some sense into him. Womankind were trouble, plain and simple. That was what Wilbur'd always been taught, anyways.

As the story went on about this dumb Cash kid, though, Wilbur's flighty joy that he was no longer in danger of getting hooked on Barbie's womanly wiles was slowly being replaced by jealousy. Who the fuck was this kid? Catching alligators and chickens? Wilbur was SURE that this punk didn't know the first thing about catchin' critters. He probably did it all wrong and messed up spectacularly and made poor Barbie here risk life and limb to fix his problems. Not like Wilbur did, of course. That had just been her plain swooping in before Wilbur'd had a chance to do it properly. No, he was sure this Cash rascal had forced for Barbie to go right down there and catch a gator when she oughta' been on the banks keeping her pretty little face nice and safe. Wilbur was sure that if he ever met this goon he would give him a right whoopin' just to prove that Wilbur was by far the better man in the situation.

Wilbur was busy thinkin' about all the nasty things he could do to that kid and ways he could break his face if he ever got the chance. He was too busy lost in thought to notice that Barbie had gotten rather quiet and was flashin' her big doe eyes all over him. He was too busy wonderin' exactly how many bones it was possible to break using only one's fists to see her lean in a bit closer. He was NOT too busy thinking about the various ways one could slam a head into the ground to notice her plant her lips on his in a flurry of movement. In fact, for that one moment most everything else flew out his head and he was left in a confused daze, like a deer in the headlights.

For a minute there he was caught just lying there in the water, like a dead fish, starin' straight up at the sky and trying to figure out exactly what had just happened. Torrence got up and got what was sure to be a ginormous head start, but Wilbur was caught feelin' all kinds of happy, not really wanting to get up and risk losin' that blissful feelin'.

And then, of course, his competitive side kicked in. Who cared if they had just shared what was most definitely the best kiss in the whole world that would put movie stars and professional kissers to shame? There was a race to be won! Jumpin' to his feet in a tsunami-like splash, Wilbur dashed out of the pond, ready to kick some serious girl butt.

"I don't think so, Barbie! I got ya' beat on this one!" He ran like a dog to catch up with her. In a split second decision, he playfully tackled her, the two of them tumbling to the grass. He figured that at this point she hardly counted as a girl anyway. She was way too adventurous and awesome for Wilbur to worry about breaking her with a tackle or nothin'. Grinning hugely, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek before jumping back to his feet. Sure, he was a bit like a manic squirrel, but he was a happy manic squirrel. He gave her a quick wink before starting off again. "See you at the ice cream cart, Barbie!"

[tigerlilysully]

Boys were trouble, that's what Torrence was quite sure of. Course, she liked to hang out with them cus girls were just plain silly, but anythin other than friends was never good or nothin. She didn't like to admit that she listened to her parents or her aunt and uncle, cus Torrence thought that authority and adults were right codfish, but Torrence remembered her daddy warning her about boys. To mess with a boy was like messin with a skunk: either you could get good results and you had a new critter friend or they just stunk up your life. This little thought was nagging Torrence in the back of her mind while she tried to outrun Wilbur. There was nothing wrong with havin a friend who was a guy, but a boyfriend? Somethin about that term sent shivers down her spine. It was just too cutesy! Torrence preferred "partner in crime".

All of a sudden, Torrence found herself on the ground. Her scrappy instincts told her to fight her way out, but then she realized it was just Wilbur. And just like she had done to him, he kissed her right quick, just this time on the cheek. Well shoot, the darn boy missed! Makin sure not to put too much force into it (cus Torrence had some serious punching skills), Torrence playfully punched Wilbur on the shoulder before he hopped up and took off again. Well dang flabbit, he saw that she had goodfernothin short legs that couldn't go faster than molasses in the winter time! That just wasn't fair, him takin off like that before she could even get up! Something obviously had to be done.

"You slow yer butt down right now or I'm gonna make you wish you hadn't even got up!" Torrence didn't give Wilbur a chance to answer. Instead, she scrambled up and started to run as fast as her legs could carry her. In Torrence's head, she thought she looked like a darn cheetah, but in reality, she looked kinda silly. After a moment, Torrence had caught up to Wilbur and she jumped right on his back. Laughin like a wild child, Torrence stuck her arm out and pointed towards the icecream cart. "Giddyup!", she managed to choke out between laughs.

[WILBUR HICKS]

Wilbur considered this to be one of his most productive days in ever. He could hardly think of another time he had been able to find a nice, proper adventurin' buddy, or even worse/better one who wasn't even a BOY! That was the rarest of all kinds of adventurin' buddies and everyone knew that! The non-boy variety always had the predisposed disposition to go and worry about things that were distinctly not-boyish, like nail polish and shoes and clothes and all those other gross things. This one, mud-wrestler barbie, well, she simply seemed as keen as pie and positively peachy to boot. It was kind of spectacular. He felt like the discoverer of some long lost treasure. He hated to think that anyone had ever known about her before. She was HIS discovery. She was HIS treasure now, all to himself.

At that moment, Wilbur's treasre felt the need to take a flying leap at his back, which he normally wouldn't mind for a regular old treasure of gold and silver and the usual riches, but when it was a treasure that he was actively trying to beat in a race, well, that made matters a bit more confuserin.

Stumbling a bit and laughing a bit more, Wilbur merely continued his awkward run, trying to hurry to the ice cream cart. He was sure that as long as he kept running he would figure out a way to beat the stupid girl anyway. He couldn't let her win by mere dint of the fact that she could hold onto him the longest! That was cheatin, that was! he had to admit, though, he was impressed by the amount of time she could hold onto him. She really ought ter have entered in a rodeo with all that riding ability, it was fer certain.

"You've got no idea what you just got yourself into, girly!" Wilbur cried as he began to serpentine and weave across the park grass, trying to make the trip as bumpy for barbie as possible. He had ta throw her before he got ice cream, OBVIOUSLY.