The Ghosts of Royal Cactus
Chapter Three
By Missy

SERIES: Goosebumps!
SUBSERIES: Ghosts of Royal Cactus
PART: three of five or so for this arc
Author: Missy
Email: lasfic@yahoo.com
RATING: PG-13 (For language and possible memories that are a bit explicit)
PAIRING(s): L/L; S/C; S/R

DISTRIBUTION: To LW, Kai, and FG so far; any other archives are welcome to ask (Please Email Me), but disclaimers must be included, my email left intact. send a URL, and provide full disclaimers as well as credit me fully. Please inform me if you are going to submit my work to any sort of search engine. Please do not submit my work to a search engine that picks out random sets of words and uses them as key words, such as "Google"

Please contact me in order for this story to be placed on an archive, or if you want know of a friend who would enjoy my works, please email me their address and I will mail them the stories, expressly for the purpose of link trading. MiSTiers are welcomed! Please do inform me that you'd like to do the MiSTing, however, and send me a copy of the finished product. I'd also love to archive any MiSTings that are made of my work!

DISCLAIMER: Laverne and Shirley, of course, not my property and belongs to its creators.

CATEGORY: Epic Drama
CANNON/SPOILERS: Pre-Reunion Show Cannon; set five years after the series' conclusion.
FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!
SPOILLER/SUMMARY: Can Laverne trust Lenny? A return to an old disaster causes them to wonder if they were meant to be together. Also, Squiggy and Rhonda hear wedding bells.
NOTES: The third chapter in the fifth portion to this series, "The Ghosts of Royal Cactus"

****


She stiffened in his arms, then, with one firm shove, knocked Lenny right out of bed.

His body made a solid-sounding "thump" upon making contact with the floor; awakening instantly, he sat up and glared at Laverne.

"What're ya doin'?!" He whined.

She glared down at him, "Whatt're You doin' in my bed, Len?!"

"Huh?!" He blearily asked, then took a look at their surroundings, and his eyes widened, "I was cold." He explained, but Laverne had already climbed to her feet and was stomping to the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

"Laverne?" He walked over the bathroom door, then began pounding on it. "C'mon, Laverne."

"HEY!" a person shouted from a neighboring room, "I'm trying to get some sleep here!"

"Sorry!" He shouted. Minutes later, Laverne emerged from the bathroom, fully dressed, and shoved him aside on her way to the bed. "Vernie..."

"Ya didn't pay attention ta what I said, Len!" She snapped.

"I was cold!" He whined. Then, at her lack of response, he stomped into the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

Laverne paused, shuddering, and realizing suddenly that Lenny didn't understand how much understanding her wishes meant to her. The last man who didn't listen when she said 'no' almost raped her....

She shoved her feet into an old pair of sneakers, trying to put away the notion that Lenny might hurt her. He emerged from the bathroom, a pout upon his face, and fully-dressed. As he sat on the bed opposite hers, stuffing his feet into his sneakers, he blurted.

"I don't believe ya think I'm gonna hurt ya. I ain't never, and I ain't gonna!"

"You have!" She snapped back, grabbing her luggage.

"Where are you goin'?!" He cried.

The motel's phone rang, and Lenny picked up his wake-up call. He stood up, seizing his own suitcase, "I guess we're BOTH goin'."

"Fine," Laverne snapped, as she opened the motel's door, "But I ain't talkin' ta you!"

"FINE!" Lenny replied, allowing her to exit the room ahead of him. When the door slammed shut, his heart shattered.

***

She wanted to remark on the relief upon the owner of the Royal Cactus' face as they checked out of their relatively clean, undamaged room. He wanted to mention that he loved the way she ordered pancakes at breakfast that morning. Instead, they remained in stony silence, staring out the window as dusty trails turned to concrete overpasses and traffic jams.

When they parked curbside at Laurel Vista, Lenny remorsefully tried to pluck Laverne's suitcase from the floor; she was quicker, picking up the vessel and opening the door. He followed behind, his expression surly.

Laverne wasn't surprised to find everyone in Rhonda's pink-plastered apartment, trying to arrange the wedding. Rhonda welcomed her with an overly-friendly hug, then began babbling about her becoming a bridesmaid. She kept insisting that 'Elke' would show up as the Maid-Of-Honor; Laverne listened with a polite smile, then grabbed Shirley, dragging her into Rhonda's bedroom for a talk.

Within minutes, Laverne had poured her neuroses out to Shirley, and the little brunette, still shell-shocked by her own pending divorce, reacted in a far more blunt way.

"Oh, Laverne, just grow up!"

Shirley didn't even realize why she had blurted those words out, but Laverne's face fell. "Grow up?! You're the most babyish person in the room!"

At that moment, Squiggy shoved the door open to the room, "Hello!" He piped, and the girls groaned.

"Squig, we're tryin' ta have a private conversation." Laverne snapped.

"Yeah, well, I got somethin' ta say, so keep yer privates under wrappin's." Squiggy responded.

"What do you want, Andrew?" Shirley asked him. He stood stock-still, shifting back and forth, "Well?!"

"Don't rush me, Woman!" He snapped, "I gotta say this right?"

"Yeah?" Laverne asked, "Whaddya do, figure out a new use of mayonnaise?"

"Yeah It makes a yummy beverage, but I ain't up here bout that." He took a deep breath, "Laverne, Shirley, I'm sorry."

The girls shared an incredulous look, "For what?"

He shrugged, then half-smiled, "Fer everythin'," He grabbed a scrap of paper from his pocket, "Look! I made a list!"

The girls groaned, then settled in to listen.





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On To Part 4






















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