Hey! Thanks for checking out my new story! I have high hopes for this one. Lots of angst and suspense. I hope it intrigues you. Read and review to find out more.

Standard Disclaimers apply: I do not own the Plum-verse now the characters whome inhabit it (except those I've implanted). I am not making money from this story.

That Froghurt Guy

Chapter 1

Definitely not what I would have chosen, but it's better than nothing,I thought surveying the street as Mom made her way toward the gihugic mystery building across the road, her brown curls bouncing energetically with every step she took. For a moment I wondered if my hair did that when I walked, but cast it the thought aside as I began my preparations. I grabbed a towel from the back seat, my half empty slurpee from the cup holder, and reached out to toss them on the bonnet of the car before digging my iPod out of my purse. Once I had it was wailing my Gothic-Doom playlist through the car speakers, I slipped from the passenger seat and spread the towel on the hood of the car. Having set up my makeshift tanning bed, I was reaching for the hem of my black lace over shirt when a familiar stern voice cut across my music.

"Don't you dare even think about disrobing in public, Amabel!" my mother yelled.

That's me, BTW and FYI. Amabel. Like Annabelle, but with an M. Trust me, I totes didn't choose it. Most of the time I don't even like it. So you can call me Mab. I mean it. Mab of get your face chewed off.

I rolled my eyes and finished pulling the shirt over my head. "Relax, Mom," I called back to her, gesturing to my camisole. "I'm not exposed."

She shook her head and continued on her way, leaving me to wonder, not for the first time, about this stupid trip. Really, who hijacks their daughter's summer vacation but refuses to tell her where she is being taken or why?

My mother. That's who.

Two days ago I had just arrived home from my last day of school for the year to find two suitcases stuffed into the back of Mom's car and the woman herself waiting for me on the front porch. "Go inside and get changed," she told me, barely able to stand still. "We're going on a road trip."

I'd tried to ask her where and even complain a little about having my vacation reefed out from under me, but she'd simply pushed me inside with the instruction to grab anything I may want or need that she hadn't thought of. So I did as I was told and ten minutes later we were on the road heading for who knows where.

I was rather alarmed by the entire ordeal because a) I was supposed to be heading to the beach with my friends the next day, and b) this was the most spontaneous thing Mom had ever done. She's a planner by nature and doesn't do anything until she's double checked the route to take, printed out approximate checkpoints as a guide and (if necessary) made accommodation arrangements. I shudder to think what I might have turned out like if it weren't for Dad and his random adventures.

So here we were, two days and minimal sleep later, in some random street somewhere in – of all places – Trenton, New Jersey. Why? Still no idea, but Mom apparently had an appointment in Mystery Building that would take 'upwards of half an hour', so I figure I may as well catch some rays in the mean time.

I leaned back, slipping the straps of my bra and top off my arms to avoid an unsightly tan line and was just getting comfortable when my cell registered a text. I pulled it out and groaned in jealousy. It was a pic of Carlz and Soph at the beach. Both were grinning widely, giving a thumbs up. And no wonder. When I looked to the background I noticed a mostly naked, Adonis of a male towelling off. Of course they couldn't resist the temptation to rub it in.

I swiped and tapped my way out of messages and into the camera app. Then, thinking of my tan once more, I rolled the bottom of my camisole up to under my breasts before leaning back on one elbow, pulling an unimpressed face and snapping a selfie of me and my urban tanning bed. After sending off, I got settled, belting out the guitar interludes and singing along with the haunting melodies.

My eye were closed not much later as I noisily slurped up the last of my new melted beverage.

"You should probably turn over, Miss," someone said from directly beside me, interrupting the perfect silence between songs. I was so startled that I nearly fell off the car. Sitting up a little so I could see him, I nearly fell off the car again. He was huge – like, body-builder huge – and gazing down at me. From what I could see of him, he was dressed entirely in black. Black cargos. Black, uber tight tee. Can we say drool check?

"What?" I uttered in that oh-so-eloquent way I have when confronted with a hot guy.

"You should turn over so you don't burn," he explained. "My ex says she has to turn every three minutes to avoid an uneven tan."

I stared at his gorgeous green eyes as he spoke, so I was only vaguely aware of what he actually said, but I'm pretty sure I would have been just as confused if I was listening properly. "Huh..." I murmured. It was somewhere between an 'is that so?' and a 'what?'; the kind of utterings that most adults just brush off. Lucky for me, though, my buff stranger spoke teenager.

"You've been here for approximately seven and half minutes," I was informed. "I thought you might like to turn over so you don't burn. Unfortunately, red skin is only attractive as a candy."

Giving him a curious look, I began to turn over, just to satisfy him, but paused to check my phone when it bleeped another text notification at me.

At least ur getting sum sun :).

I read the message quickly and a small smirk crept onto my face as an idea hit.

"Do you mind if I take a photo with you?" I asked Mr. Tall, Dark and Concerned for my Tan. His brows drew together slightly, but he gave a slight nod. I rolled my eyes. "Was that a 'yes you can take the picture' or a 'yes, I mind if you take the picture'?"

"You can take it," he confirmed.

"Awesome," I commented, flashing him my award winning grin and adjusting my sunglasses. "Lean over here a little, would you?" He did as instructed and I snapped a couple (just to be on the safe side), immediately sending one off to Soph and Carls with the caption 'Ur rite. Things Rnt all bad.' "Thanks!" I told the guy, grinning back up at him as the message jetted off to the beach without me.

"Who did you send them to?" he asked. He had a weird almost expression on his face and I wasn't sure if he was just being curious, or if he was being interrogation-y. His tone was cryptic and his face was harder to read than Josephine's handwriting when she was on a caffeine high, but he totes looked like he'd be at home in an interrogation chamber. Scary!

Flipping my hair in what I hoped was a nonchalant gesture, I replied coolly, "Just my friends. I was supposed to go to the beach with them this vacay, but Mom dragged me out here instead."

He made a show of glancing quickly up and down the street and even in the back of the car. "Where is she now?"

I rolled my eyes again. "In that building over there." I pointed vaguely in the direction of Mystery Building and all its shininess. "In some appointment. Knowing my luck, it's work related."

"You don't know for sure?"

"Nope!" I said with fake enthusiasm. "I have absolutely zilch information on this trip. Bogus vacay much?"

"Perhaps this is merely an errand she has to run on your way to Atlantic City," he suggested, eyeballing the suitcases again.

"Live in hope," I mumbled, finally finishing my turkey-esque rotation and resting my head on my arms. "Thanks for the tip, Mysterious Stranger, but I should be getting back to it."

With another slight nod, he set a bottle of SPF 30+ on the bonnet beside me before walking back across the street. Of course this gave me the perfect view of a very well toned backside. YUM! I once again had to check for drool as he disappeared from my line of vision.

I set the timer on my phone to remind me to turn over in five minutes – three just seemed too soon – and was about to set it down when it started going nuts in my hand.

"You're on with Mab," I greeted.

"OH. EM. GEEE!" Calz squealed in my ear. "That is some serious dude-age you picked up! Spill! Spare no deets!" In the background, Soph said something I couldn't quite make out, which prompted Carlz to say, "Oh, you're right. Hang while I conference Soph in? It's too noisy to speaker you."

"I'll be here," I confirmed and waited until I had both their ears before dishing my goss. As always they were the perfect audience. They oh'd and ah'd in all the right places and sighed dreamily right along with me as I described my mystery advisor.

*o*

"Well?" I prompted my mother an hour later as she reefed my iPod from the jack, causing a sudden pressing silence to tickle my skin, and flung her handbag into the back seat. I hopped off the bonnet, rolled the towel up and readjusted my clothing, slipping the lace over shirt over my head before sliding into the passenger seat. "How'd it go?"

"Fine," she said tersely, and I could see the tension riddled throughout her body. My guess would be that she was anything but fine, but instead of explaining, she surprised me by asking, "What do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

I grinned widely as she put the car in gear and pulled from the curb. "You mean you didn't plan every single second of this trip?" I teased.

Thankfully, this got her to relax, if only a little. She eased her white-knuckled, death grip on the steering wheel and rolled her shoulders. "Course not," she assured me. "This is vacation time."

But when has that ever stopped you trying? I thought idly to myself. "Seems a bit like one of Dad's random adventures to me," I informed her, then took on a TV voice over type voice as I did my version of one of Dad's spiels. "Clouded with mystery, the journey begins. Just two women, a car and the road. Where will they end up? What will they discover there? Will they be home in time for dinner?"

She gave a nervous chuckle at that, and I felt a little sorry for her. She always got anxious when things weren't completely planned. "I'm pretty sure we won't be home for dinner, Amabel. At least not tonight."

I rolled my eyes at her but had to laugh as well. "I know, Mom, but Dad always added one completely ridiculous one on the end."

Sighing and shaking her head, she agreed. There was a pause before she said, "I'm glad you caught your father's adventure bug. I don't think you would like it end up like me."

"There's nothing wrong with being organised." I told her. "If it weren't for you we might have missed getting home from random adventures in time a lot more often than we did." I glimpsed her sad smile and knew where her thoughts were. "It's alright to miss him, Mom. You know that, right? You don't have to be strong and brave every second of the day for me anymore. I can handle it. I can be strong for you when you need it too. I'm here for you if you want to be a little vulnerable every now and then."

"You look after me so well," she said warmly, reaching over to squeeze my hand and sending a grateful smile my way. "If it weren't for you I'd probably still be a wreck."

Her words sent a warm liquid ooze into m y heart and I found myself squeezing her hand back. The last six months had been emotionally taxing on both of us, but one way or another we managed to pull each other through. "I feel the same way about you," I assured her. "You pulled me out of a dark and depressing place right when I needed it."

Smirking, she glanced over at me, running a critical eye over the purple streaks in my otherwise brown, curly hair. Her gaze snagged on what she could see of my dark eye shadow and thick eyeliner before moving on to the bat pendant on the end of my leather cord necklace, the black on black layers of my tops and the slightly torn, black short-shorts teamed with black and white converse sneakers. "Pulled you out, did I?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Must have forgotten to dip you back in the happy colour pallet."

"It's a fashion statement," I told her defensively for the zillionth time, even though I knew she was just trying to get a rise out of me. "I like the way it looks, so sue me."

"I was just teasing," she said. All the tension had now dissipated and she was back to being plain-old Mom. Maybe this vacation wouldn't be so bad after all. "So what do you want to do?" she repeated.

I took a moment to recall what the guy had said earlier before replying. "You promised me the beach this vacation. Atlantic City isn't too far from here, is it?"

Another smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "Sounds perfect."

Thanks for reading the first chapter! I have another chapter and a half written, but I won't be posting until I know that there are people interested in findout what's going on.