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They had been Turbo Rangers for nearly a week now, and Adam still hadn’t stopped sulking. Tanya was worried. She knew that her boyfriend was taking Justin joining the team pretty hard. She missed Rocky as well, but he and Adam had been best friends forever. Adam being upset about it was understandable.
Still, the brooding wasn’t that attractive. If she wanted brooding, she would have dated Tommy. There was only one thing to do. She had to go talk to him and see if she could cheer him up.
Adam wasn’t really hard to find. He was exactly where she’d thought he would be. He’d been practicing almost constantly in the youth center, going through kata after kata. She just stood there watching him, after accepting Lt. Stone’s offer of a free smoothie. Adam was pretty impressive when he was working out, and Tanya could have stood there and watched him all day. But she was on a mission.
“Hey,” Adam said, walking over to her after he’d finished his workout. His face was flushed from the exertion. “I didn’t know you were stopping by.”
”I thought we would go for a walk,” Tanya suggested. Getting out of the Youth Center would probably be a good idea, especially if they were going to talk about Ranger things. Not that anyone ever seemed to notice, but still.
“Sure,” Adam said. “I’ll be ready in a minute.”
~*~
When Adam got out of the shower (and oh, what thoughts Tanya was having imagining him doing that) they headed out to the beach. They didn’t talk very much on the way there, instead just being content to enjoy each other’s company, and Tanya reveled in the feel of Adam’s arms around her waist. It was only when they were sitting on the beach that Tanya brought up the reason that she’d brought him out there.
“What’s been bothering you, sweetie?” she asked him. She could feel Adam tense, and she reached out, cupping his face with her hand. Adam flinched away from her gaze.
“Adam,” she said pointedly. “Talk to me.”
“It’s really nothing,” he answered quickly. “Just not used to the Turbo powers yet.”
”At least we got to keep the same colors,” Tanya said. “I’m not sure I’d be able to spring for a whole new wardrobe.”
“Most of us kept the same colors anyway,” Adam said, and the sheer amount of hurt radiating off of him alerted Tanya to the problem.
“Rocky’s going to be fine,” she reminded him.
“But he isn’t a Ranger anymore.” Adam was so quiet that Tanya could barely hear him.
“He’s still our friend,” she reminded him.
“I’ve seen it happen before,” Adam sighed. “You stop being a Ranger, and then it just… all goes away. It doesn’t matter how much we try to hold on to it, he isn’t a part of our lives any more. And I don’t know if it’s safe for him to be. I couldn’t stand it if he got hurt again.”
“But he’s your best friend and you don’t want to lose him either.”
“Yeah,” Adam acknowledged.
“Having Justin probably doesn’t help either,” Tanya couldn’t help adding.
“He’s a kid,” Adam said disgustedly. “We lost Rocky for someone who hasn’t even gone through puberty yet?” He sighed. “It doesn’t help that he got a better car than I did.”
“What’s wrong with your minivan?” Tanya demanded to know.
Adam stared at her. “It’s a minivan. Kat and Tommy got racecars, you got an SUV, and Justin got a pickup. I got stuck with a minivan.”
“There are some serious advantages to having a minivan,” Tanya told him.
“Name one!” Adam challenged her.
Tanya grinned. “Why don’t we head over there and I’ll be glad to show you.”
~*~
A few hours later, Tanya and Adam went back to the Youth Center. Adam looked far more relaxed than he had since before the Turbo switch, and Tanya was sure that she was smirking.
“Hey!” Tommy called as he waved them over to the table that he, Kat and Justin were sitting. “Where have you guys been?”
“Oh, we were just discussing the advantages of minivans,” Tanya said nonchalantly. “They certainly are far more comfortable than say… the back of a volkswagon.”
Tommy and Adam both turned bright red and Kat nearly spit out her drink.
“What?” Justin said. “I don’t get it.”
“We’ll explain it to you when you’re older,” Tanya assured him. It was nice to see everyone happy again. Maybe the new status quo, and the minivan, wouldn’t be so bad after all.