All right, so it took me two years to write five chapters for this story.... that's pretty sad. I'm going to finish this story over the summer, cross my heart! I edited each chapter because I started writing this when I was 15... and I'd like to think I've become a little bit of a better writer since. So if you've already read the first chapters you might as well just skip to the new chapter, but I did change some things.. less quotes and more action! ^_^ Thanks everyone for reading!
Oh and I have to put a general disclaimer here. I refer to random books, bands, songs, and probably other things. And I don't own any of them or National Treasure. Thanks for Listening.
Chapter 1: Riley, Riley Poole
Those walking down Main Street see a 5'5 blonde skipping down the path. She's listening to an ipod way too loud for her own good. It is blasting a song so loud, the people around her can hear it. People can see her mouthing the words if they look close enough. It is pretty easy to see the slight dance in her step as she walks to work. She enters the door and as she walks in she hears, "Jenny!"
It was loud enough to be heard over the music so she turns it off and replies with a similarly loud response of, "Carlie!"
"I missed you lover" says Carlie, with an over-exaggerated flirtatious wink.
"Har-de-har-har", the blonde replies, "sorry I have a boyfriend", she continues, "His name is Mamba bar".
"I told you mamba's come in packs, do we need to start this again?" yells Carlie.
"Ok, Ok, no worries mate" replies Jenny with a cheeky smile and an oddly real sounding Australian accent.
"You know what? Just get to work! I don't know why I try..." Carlie says sadly.
"Aw you know I love you Carlyle the Crocodile!" cheers Jenny with a huge bear hug added for good measure.
"I love you too! Let's never fight again!" responds Carlie goofily.
Both girls head off to their separate offices after the manager yells at them to get to work. Jenny gets in her office and puts her forgotten ipod on the desk. She proceeds to turn on her computer and then sits on her comfortable rolling office chair. She then rolls over to her phone when she sees the blinking number one. "Ooh I have a message" she thinks out loud. She presses play and she hears a voice she hasn't heard in a very long time.
"Hey Jennifer, it's me... Ben. I know it's been a while but I have some very important news! Please call me back at 555-1234."
By then Jenny was fuming. She calls him back immediately and before he even finishes saying hello she screams,"5 freakin' years, I thought you died man!"
"Nope I'm doing fine, but I don't think you are talking to the right person because I have no clue who you are", the man on the other end of the line says.
"Uh... isn't this Ben Gates' number?" asks Jenny, obviously embarrassed.
"Yep I just thought I'd answer it for him... He's in the shower. I'm Riley by the way, Riley Poole. Do you want to leave a message for Ben?"
"Um... no thanks Riley", sighs Jenny.
"He'll probably be done in a few minutes if you want to call back" says Riley, "Mrs...?" Riley adds questioningly.
"Ok I'll do that thanks Riley!" She says. "Bye", he replies to the already dead line.
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"I wonder what that was about", Riley thinks out loud, hanging up the phone.
"What, what was about?" asks Ben.
"Oh just some crazy girl just called me screaming, well called you technically".
"Jenny, already? She's all grown up and waking up early", he says glancing at his watch which reads a slightly blurred 8:03. He rubs his eyes.
"Oh well I told her to call back in a few minutes", Riley says.
"Okey dokey" says Ben.
"okey dokey?" Riley asks, confused at Ben's word choice.
"I think I'm too close to Jenny for my own good" jokes Ben.
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"Okey dokey Bob, on your desk by tonight at 5:00, gotcha." Jenny says into the phone. He continues to talk about the historical importance of the job. When he's done listening to himself talk Jenny says goodbye and leans against her comfy chair. She hurriedly types up the remaining page of the paper. "Six and half wasted pages.", She says to herself, "and who knows how many hours".
"Oh no!", She shrieks, quieting down immediately once she sees the not so friendly glares of her coworkers in hearing distance. "Ben", She grinds out with a menacing, and slightly creepy, smile on her face. She glances at the clock on the wall which reads a depressing 10:10. She dials his number and waits.
The phone rings four times before a slightly breathless "Hello" is heard.
"Hello Ben", She replies in an angry voice. "Do you realize how long it's been? We used to be best friends and then you just decide to... What? move on?!" she continues.
"Breathe Jenny," he chuckles.
"Breathe?" she screams frantically, quickly quieting down to a menacing whisper she adds, "Breathe?, she sighs and asks, "what did you call for Ben?".
"Jenny, the Charlotte." he says and a gasp is heard before she drops the phone.
"Jenny are you there?"
"Yep I'm fine... Ben! Why didn't you say that earlier? Where is she? What is she? What's going on?", says Jenny, getting louder by the second.
"Jen, settle down, I am going to tell you. Ok first of all she's a ship. In the Artic." Ben says.
"The Artic? Awesome! You're gonna find her right?? Ben you have to find her!" she says.
"Of course, I've only been looking for her since I was ten. Now what I called to ask about is whether or not you would like to come for the ride." Ben says teasingly.
"Of course! Where are you? We have the same area code so you came back, huh? We should meet up have some coffee or something?", Jenny says excitedly.
"I don't think you need any coffee Jenny", Ben says smiling, "but sure, do you know where that little bakery called The Cookie Shop is?"
"Yep", Jenny replies quickly.
"Ok then, meet me there in a half an hour, alright?"
"Ok see you soon, Bye!" she says.
"Wait I'm bringing...... ah well guess it'll be a surprise." Ben says while hanging up the phone.
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Jenny walks out the door to her office some 15 minutes after the aforementioned phone call and heads to her bosses office. "Bob!" she screams walking in to his office. No one's there so she drops off the work that was due and quickly exits, thanking her lucky stars he wasn't there and not wanting to risk him coming back. She pulls out her ipod and once again cranks it up to an ungodly volume and starts dancing again... Slightly more obvious this time as proven by the 20 or so people staring at her as she dances across the street. She is now listening to some other random song. Those passerby's listening can hear her singing the song under her breath. By the time she reaches The Cookie Shop she has listened to 5 songs and is now belting out the opening line and dancing slightly crazily, she happens to love this song... or so the people surrounding her assume.
She realizes she is at her meeting place and quickly makes sure her layered black and red tank tops and knee-length white skirt aren't in disarray. She decides she's decent and walks in the door just then realizing that about half of the store was staring at her through the big front window. She turns beet red at the cafe full of people staring at her in silence when Ben stands up and starts clapping. A few other people followed suit while some just laughed. She is now beyond mortified and without a single clue what to do glances around quickly and spots her target... Ben.
People around them can almost see the smoke come out of her ears as she more or less charges. She tries to keep a low profile as the people in the shop finally went back to their own business but she is at a quick-paced walk.
"Ben" she says through gritted teeth when she finally reaches him, "I'm gonna kill you!"
"You know you love me too much to do that", he says while he picks her up in a hug lifting her about 2 inches off the ground "Besides, who would tell you about the Charlotte if I was dead?"
"You lucked out this time buddy", she says smiling slightly. When Ben puts her down she practically tackles him in another hug saying, "I missed you, ya know, is it that hard to call every once in a while?"
Ben chuckles and responds, "I suppose not, but let's get down to business. Oh yeah! Jennifer this is Riley Poole, Riley this is Jennifer Cassidy... Ok now you met."
But he was quickly interrupted by two voices shouting almost simultaneously, "You're that crazy guy/girl from the phone!!"
"So you already know each other?" Ben asks.
Jennifer, at a loss for what to say, not to mention slightly embarrassed from their previous conversation, drops her gaze to the floor... under the table she sees a familiar pair of high top black converse. "Nice shoes", Jenny says smiling slightly.
"Thanks?" he replies then glances down at her shoes and says, "Ah, I like yours too" he says smiling cheesily.
"Ok then", Ben says "now that's done with lets get down to business."
Ben then goes into detail about how everyone is getting there and about the other member of our group. A man named Ian who apparently is the one funding the expedition. Everyone is supposed to meet him the next day to go over the supplies for the trip. Jennifer kind of started daydreaming around there, so she missed the discussion about how they were getting to the artic. All of a sudden, Jennifer sees Riley lift one of his eyebrows up in a confused manner and all of a sudden she feels someone put their hands on her shoulders. Then in an extremely familiar voice, she hears someone whisper:
"We had such a nice night and you never even called me back."
Jennifer tries very hard not to laugh one she realizes who exactly is standing behind her. The looks on both Riley and Ben's faces are priceless but she goes on with their little weird tradition as she turns around the chair looks him straight in the face (he's kneeling), takes both his hands off of her shoulders, and says:
"See, what had happened was.." Jennifer couldn't help but laugh here but quickly calmed down. "I lost your phone number?" She asked, seriously trying to keep a straight face, and failing.
He is a very good actor and the only way Jennifer could tell he was trying not to laugh was the very slight twitch of his frown trying very hard to become a smile. But when she accidentally giggles, he chuckles along with her. Then he stood up and she saw a very small flash of ink at his belt line and asked, "Charles Victor Robin, did you get a tattoo?"
"Maybe", he replied with a cute smirk.
"Charles... don't you lie to me young man." she replies.
"Young man!" he says, acting scandalized, "I'm two years older then you whippersnapper!" he says jokingly.
"Ha ha, please just show me the tat... now!"
"Ok, ok" he says with an evil smirk on his face. He pulls down the left side of his pants and she can tell by the way he's staring at her that he's waiting for an embarrassed reaction but he's going to be waiting for a long time because he's not the only one that can act.
She decides to try and mess with him so she looks at it very closely and yelps, "Oh my gosh, you're cheating on me?"
He looks surprised and she has to cover a smirk as he stutters, "Uh…It's my mom's name".
"No" She responds, turning her back to him. "Your mom's name is Caroline".
"Ok fine you caught me" he says "She's my girlfriend. She's really smart, and funny and nice... here look at this picture". He takes out a picture of a very pretty red head with really pretty green eyes.
"Wow, you're right, she is pretty" Jennifer says "How long have you guys been dating?"
"About three weeks, she's really cool, you should meet her." he says.
"Well I'm kinda busy... Oh my gosh!!" Jennifer turns around quickly and says "Riley, Ben, this is Charles. Charles this is Riley and Ben."
"Nice to meet you Charles", Riley responds, standing up and shaking his hand.
"Nice to meet you too Riley", Charles says with a tone that makes him sound like he's asking a question. Charles glances over at me asking silently, "what's up with this guy?" Jennifer responds with a silent kick in his shin. After about ten seconds of him jumping up and down holding his leg, he responds loudly with, "Oh! So you like him!" Jennifer can't help the red tinge that streaks across her cheeks, making Charles laugh and scoop her up in a side hug. Then, he starts messing up her hair and says, "Awwww, little Jenny-benny's all grown up!" in an impossibly annoying fashion.
"Shut up", she quietly growls.
"It's ok; it's your first crush. It's alright to be embarrassed." Charles says mockingly.
"Any who!" She says loudly, in an obvious attempt to get him to shut up, "We", Jennifer says gesturing to Riley, Ben, and herself, "were having a very important conversation before you so rudely interrupted so if you don't mind..." She trails off.
"I suppose" he sighs dramatically, "Adios mi amiga!"
"Bye", She says, without much enthusiasm.
"Well, that was interesting" states Ben after Charles left.
"Indeed", She responds lamely.
The rest of Ben, Riley, and Jennifer's meeting went by uneventfully. They decided to meet back at Ben's apartment later that evening. Ben asked Jenny if she would like to spend the night since they would have to meet Ian at Ben's apartment at 9:00 the next morning anyway. Both agreed and Ben gave Jennifer his address and told both to meet him there at 6:00 p.m.
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"What to do..." Riley says out loud as he walks down some street, "Wow the sign is actually cut in half. How in the world does that happen?" He says out loud once he see the sign reading "Lin" and has a jagged edge where the rest of the sign should be connected. He spots a Starbucks and decides to head over. With nothing better to do, he decides to sign on his laptop computer to their internet connection. He already ordered a Carmel Macchiato and he takes a sip of it.
He was just getting logged onto the internet when he hears a familiar voice say, "Can I have a White Chocolate Mocha please?"
She must have gone to a different counter than him because a deep male voice, unlike the teenage female voice of his barista, asked, "Tall, Grande, or Venti?"
Riley turns around and hears, "Um... I'll have a Grande please. Oh! And can I have an orange push-up too? They're my favorite".
"Sure", the man answers with a smile in his voice. He leans in close to her and...
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"Oooh a Starbucks!" Jennifer thinks out loud. "I could really go for some coffee right now". She walks up to the counter and sees a very cute red head. Jenny thinks that he may have caught her staring because he smirks when he asks her what she wants. She answers with a slightly embarrassed, "Can I have a White Chocolate Mocha please?" without succeeding in hiding the blush once again spreading across her cheeks.
"Tall, Grande, or Venti?" he continues.
She is slightly distracted by his smirk; he has very nice lips, but then realizing she had just been staring at him for about 5 seconds she responds with, "Um... I'll have a Grande please. Oh! And can I have an orange push-up too? They're my favorite".
"Sure" he says. Then he leans down to whisper in her ear, "Orange push-ups have always been my favorite too".
The blush is definitely back but she can't help the laughter that automatically builds up from such an odd phrase. She starts giggling but ends up in almost hysterical laughter. "I'm sorry." She gasps out between bouts of giggles that are still breaking free.
"It's ok", he chuckles.
"They are good aren't they?" She says in a breathless, trying not to laugh, voice. He chuckles again and she glances at his nametag and say, "Nice to meet you Paul, fellow orange push-up fan! I am Jennifer".
She holds out her hand for him to shake when he responds with, "The pleasure is all mine Miss Jennifer.", and a tight squeeze to her hand. He hands her the drink and her push-up, after she pays him the $4.75 in exact change, and walks off trying to find a table. She quickly spots Riley looking at her like she was insane.
She decides to go sit by him. "Hi!" She says to him, trying to be friendly.
"Hey", he says. "What was that about?" he asks pointing a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of Paul.
"He likes orange push-ups too apparently." She says while opening the treat and licking it.
"Ok then." He says, sounding even more confused then before. Having time to kill, She decides to start up a conversation and asks him all of the cliché 'get-to-know-you' questions. Before long they're laughing and chatting like friends.
Jennifer and I actually have a lot in common. It turns out we are both computer nerds, we both like similar books, videogames, and we both like to watch movies. She is actually really funny and interesting. She probably has some kind of jock boyfriend though, all the pretty girls do. Riley sighs. She and Ben seem pretty close too. Pay attention Riley, he sees her dimples showing again. "Wanna hear a joke Riley?" she asks. Wow, I like the way she says my name.
"Umm s-sure", Riley responds shakily.
"Don't worry it's not a dirty joke, silly", she responds confusing his embarrassment with apprehensiveness. "A man is drowning and along comes a boat to pick him up. 'Here grab onto this' the man on the boat says as he tosses out a round floating device connected to a rope. 'No thanks', the man responds 'God will save me'. The boat leaves and a helicopter comes along and flashes its spotlight on him. 'Don't worry', a man with a bullhorn says, 'We'll help you'. 'No thanks', the drowning man screams over the sound of the propellers, 'God will save me!' The man drowns and when he goes to heaven he asks God, 'Why didn't you save me?' God replies with, 'I sent you a huge boat and a helicopter you idiot!'". She starts giggling like crazy again showing off her perfect teeth and her adorable dimples and Riley chuckles along with her.
Riley glances at his watch and exclaims, "It's already 4:30! We've been here for three and a half hours."
"Wow", she says, "I guess time flies when you are having fun, huh?"
Riley almost blushes at the small remark showing she enjoyed his company. "So, we have to be to Ben's in about an hour and a half..." He says.
"His apartment is about 6 miles away and I need to stop at my apartment for some clothes which is actually only about five blocks from here. It's towards Ben's apartment too so do you wanna come with me?" Jennifer pleads.
It's very hard to ignore the sexual connotations of that statement but Riley actually succeeds in hiding the treacherous blush and responds with a quick, "sure, why not?"
She says, "Yay!" and gathers up both of their garbage and heads over to the trash can by the door. Riley quickly follows her and they are off to her house.
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How could I ask him to come to my house? I'm such an idiot. He probably thinks I'm some kind of pervert. "Here we are!" Jennifer says, trying to sound enthusiastic.
"Nice" he replies quietly while looking up at the big building.
"I am on the second floor. Apartment number 4." She says. They both walk up the stairs to her apartment door and she unlocks it and opens the door while saying, "Welcome to my humble abode" with an over dramatic curtsy.
He chuckles and responds with an adorable, "Looks cozy".
He plops down on Jennifer's couch and she says, "I'll be right back, make yourself at home" while glancing at his feet already propped up against her coffee table.
"Way ahead of you" he shouts at her retreating back as he grabs the television remote and starts flipping through the channels. Jennifer goes into her bedroom and quickly closes the door and leans against it with a smile on her face. He is too cute. She quickly gets two sets of clothes and changes her current outfit by throwing on an MCR hoodie and putting on some jeans that she had various friends write on.
She walks back out and hears him say, "What's with the change of clothes?"
She blushes slightly because he actually noticed that she changed, and replies with, "Ben is addicted to air conditioning and a rule of thumb: never go to a sleepover in a skirt." He gives her a weird look and says, "Trust me, it's from experience."
He says, "Ok then" and she grabs her huge bag of rice krispie treats out of the cupboard. She had made a pan full the day before.
He gives her a weird looks and asks, "Why in the world do you need a bag full of rice krispie treats?"
"It's a sleepover Riley" She replies in a "duh" voice. "Plus, I don't know when I'll be back and these don't taste as good after a while, you need to eat them quickly." She grabs one out and shoves part of it in her mouth while zip locking the bag closed. "Mmm" She says through a mouthful of marshmallow-y goodness. He gives her a disgusted look and she asks him if he wants one. He politely refuses and she says, "Your loss" with a big smile on her face.
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She's too adorable. Riley watches as she sticks part of a huge rice krispie treat in her mouth. Jennifer asks him if he wants one but he says that he doesn't because they look like huge bricks.
"Your loss" she responds with a cute smile on her face. "So…" she says "We can either walk to his house or we can take the bus."
"I vote take the bus" Riley says immediately, not wanting to walk all the way there.
"Works for me" she responds. "Ooh if we get the one at 5:30 Sheila might be driving!" she says.
"Ok then" Riley says, slightly confused "Who is Sheila?"
"She's a friend of mine." She responds. They get to the bus stop and she says, "Here hold my hand, if it's Sheila we will get a fee bus ride!"
"O-Ok" Riley stutters as she clasps her small hand in bus pulls up and she walks in and says, "Sheila!" in a falsely surprised voice.
"How are you honey?" the black woman apparently named Sheila responds with a hug.
Jennifer never drops Riley's hand and gives Sheila a one armed-hug. "I'm doing great!" she responds with a gorgeous smile and Riley sees Sheila glance at their clasped hands then at his face and finally back to Jennifer.
She gives a little smirk and says, "I can see that". Sheila apparently realizes the bus is being held up and says, "This ride is on the house honey, go sit down".
Jennifer smiles and says, "Thanks a million Sheila!" and walks to the back of the bus without dropping his hand. When they get to an empty seat she drops his hand and says, "Sorry, but see! We did get a free bus ride".
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Oh jeez, what if he has a girlfriend and now he thinks I'm hitting on him or something. I mean I didn't want to drop his hand. I can't believe I'm doing this, I just met him. I know Sheila would have given us a free ride anyway even if we weren't holding hands but I just… I don't know. I wanted to hold his hand. After Jennifer apologizes there is a very awkward silence and she knows Ben would quickly notice it so she decides to break it. She asks Riley about his job and they talk about him not missing his office job on this little trip with Ben.
Riley asks her about how she knew Ben and she just says, "Ben and I used to be best friends. He was almost done with college when I just started high school but we were still very close. His dad always liked me too. His dad always used to say, 'Benjamin, that Jennifer is a very nice girl she's a good influence on you'". Jennifer was laughing after she was done at the poor attempt at reenacting his deep voice. "I was eavesdropping once when I came over to their house."
"Oh" he replies, laughing with her, but apparently at a loss for words. They arrive at their stop and get off the bus. She thanks Sheila once again and makes sure to hold Riley's hand until the bus drives away. His hand is so warm.. one block that way and we are there. She looks at the watch on her right hand and realizes that it's only 5:40. "I guess we'll be a little early" She says with a smile.
Jennifer and Riley walk up to Ben's apartment building and right as they are about to open the front door of the building they hear a little girl scream.