"Hey, Zack." He hadn't even heard his sister get home yet, let alone come up the stairs and appear in his room's doorframe. Maybe he had just been too engrossed in his game of Super Mario World to hear her coming. Maybe some of Carmen's tricks were starting to rub off on her. Not that he'd ever bring up that possibility with his sister; Carmen was the last person Ivy would ever want to be compared to. "Come outside for a sec, would you?"
"What for?" he asked in confusion, although nevertheless pausing his game and following her out without even receiving the beginning of an answer yet.
"Because I told you to, little bro." she replied with a roll of her eyes, even though her tone was one of playfulness, rather than of anger or harsh sarcasm. Leave it to Ivy to make her natural bossy attitude sound like a joke, he supposed.
"What, you mean I paused halfway through Soda Lake for an answer like that?" He stopped in his tracks, folding his arms across his chest and grinning. If she wanted to joke, then two could play at that game. "That's bogus."
"Just come on." Ivy answered, taking his wrist and tugging him along gently. Or, what would've been gently if the tugger wasn't Ivy. Zack found himself stumbling forward with her first few yanks. "I've got something I wanna show you."
Suddenly, his interest and curiosity were piqued. "You mean like a surprise?" It couldn't have been anything too urgent; otherwise Ivy wouldn't have been taking the situation so lightly. There was no way it was a case; the Chief would've already called in and be laying down the facts. On top of that, Ivy had left early in the morning; he vaguely remembered her waking him before his alarm had even gone off to tell him that she was going out for…something. He was barely awake to process that information at the time and he was asleep again within next fifteen minutes. In fact, when he woke up an hour or so later, the only reason he knew he hadn't dreamed up the whole thing was because Ivy had left a note on the refrigerator door restating that she was out and would be home in a few hours. Maybe she had gone out to get something special… "Did you get me a present?"
She must've sensed the curious overexcitement in his voice because she laughed and gave him a look over her shoulder. "Settle down, Zack. Not exactly." Well, that was disappointing. But then again, Ivy going out for an early morning surprise present shopping spree did sound a little out of character. Not that he would ever protest to receiving surprise presents.
"Alright, not a present…" he said aloud, more to himself than to her. What could it be then? It was sort of funny; the second he had been provided with that vague hint, his mind began to assess the situation in the same way it would if he had been presented with a Carmen clue to crack. Except he assumed that this time around, an info-scan on surprises wouldn't help all that much. He puzzled it over for as long as it took them to reach the living room before his curiosity got the best of him. "What is it, then?"
It was at that point where Ivy relinquished her grip on his arm and craned her neck towards the front door. Zack took notice of the look of content pride on her face. "It's right out front."
Now, Zack wasn't sure what he was expecting when he opened the door, but whatever it was, it certainly hadn't been a car. It sat parked right out front on the street, a bright and shiny red convertible. Looked new, too, he observed. He walked down the stairs of the front stoop onto the sidewalk and got just close enough to it to get a big whiff of its scent. Yup, that was definitely new car smell.
His sister leaned against the door frame and crossed her arms, still looking quite pleased with herself. "Well, what do you think?"
Zack wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to think, to be honest. Rather than answer the question directly, he instead chose to pose his own. "You bought yourself a car?"
"Yup." Ivy replied, joining her younger brother on the sidewalk and laying a hand on the smooth glossy paintjob of the hood. "And you wouldn't believe how long I've been saving up for this." He could imagine. Just how many paychecks did she have to stow away into savings to buy this thing? She ran her fingers down one of the grooves on the side of the car and looked at him. "Do you like it?"
"Well, yeah, of course. It's a pretty impressive machine." Zack just kind of assumed it was an impressive machine; he couldn't claim to know all that much about cars. His specialty was computers, not automobiles. However, he figured that Ivy had known what she was doing when she bought the thing. "Let's just hope that Carmen doesn't end up stealing it, huh?" he joked with a playful shrug of his shoulders.
Ivy chuckled a little at that one. "She better not; I still haven't fully paid it off yet."
Zack had himself a good laugh as well before scratching at the back of his head. "So, uh…" he shrugged vaguely and shoved his hands into his pants pockets, "is there any other reason you wanted me to come look at your new car?" Then his face lit up excitedly like a kid on Christmas morning. "Unless you're gonna let me drive it?" He made no effort to mask the giddy hopefulness in his tone.
Ivy playfully shoved his shoulder. "Dream on, little bro." He visibly deflated in disappointment, huffing a little with a sideways glance. Figures, he thought, but at least it was worth a shot. "I wanna know what you think. Go on; take a better look at it, huh?"
"Uh…okay." The request puzzled him, but he complied nonetheless. He wasn't exactly sure was he supposed to be looking for – after all, it was just a car, right? – but he began closer inspection of the vehicle.
First, he placed his hand on the car as his sister had done and kneeled down to get a better look at the paintjob. The convertible was a bright and vibrant cherry red. Not a surprising pick of color; after all, red was his sister's favorite color. Ironic, all things considering, but that was a train of thought for another time. The polish of the car was impeccable; he could see his face reflected back at him in the shine. "…I like the color." he offered lamely, glancing up at his sister. She only offered him a wordless smile.
Next, he stood up right and took a look at the interior. He ran his hand along the back of the passenger's seat. The seats were dark black with a leathery feel to them. "It's nice upholstery." He wouldn't be able to deem it 'comfortable' until he got a chance to actually go for a ride, but it seemed good enough. He took another cursory glance at the interior until his eyes fell upon one particularly useful feature. "Nice, jumbo cup holders! Those are always handy." Ivy laughed at that one, commenting that she thought he would enjoy that.
After getting a good look at the interior, he circled around to the front of the convertible. Now, he supposed that if a professional or a car expert were in his place, they would go to pop the hood. However, Zack was neither of those. He wasn't sure how to identify what made a good engine or whatever else that hid under that sheet of metal at a glance. Plus, he figured Ivy wouldn't be too happy if he decided to go poking around under there with no experience. So instead, he shrugged awkwardly, gave his sister a sheepish grin, and said, "…No problems here."
Then he circled around the driver's side of the car. He took a look at the steering wheel, the dash, and the pedals, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Not that he had ever driven a car before. Rather than spend any more time on the interior, Zack glanced down at the tires. He gently gave the front left tire an experimental kick with the toe of his sneaker; that was the way you were supposed test tires, right? It seemed air pressure-y enough, so he shot Ivy a weak thumbs-up. "Tires are lookin' good." She just shook her head and rolled her eyes, giving him a weird knowing smile, like she was in a joke that he didn't know about. It was weird, but he figured he should at least finish her strange 'get a better look at the car' request first before questioning her about it.
Finally, he came around to the back of the car. He considered the idea of trying to open the trunk for a moment, but he figured that Ivy probably had it locked. Instead, he just lightly patted the top of the trunk, listening to the sound it made. Sounded pretty empty. He was content to finish off his car examination right then and there, until his eyes drifted a little lower. He paused with his hand still on the trunk.
"Problem, little bro?" Ivy asked, amusement creeping into her voice.
It wasn't a problem, per se. More like a curiosity. His eyes were caught on the license plate just below the trunk, right where license plates were supposed to go. More specifically, his eyes were drawn to the seven black letters in all caps printed into the plate.
'ZAKNIVY'. Zak N Ivy. Zack and Ivy.
Zack wasn't sure how to respond at first. He stood there in stunned silence, allowing his brain to realize that no, he wasn't just seeing things. After giving himself suitable time to let the message on the license plate sink in, his face slowly broke into a wide grin. He pointed to the metal plate in something akin to awe and looked over to his sister. "You had our names put on the license plate?"
"Yeah." Ivy circled around to the back of the car to join him. "Sorry that I couldn't get your name spelled the right way. It was either spell it this way or take out the 'N', and I think I like it better this way. Still…" she put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him in for a sideways hug, "it's the thought that counts, right?"
"Yeah…right." Zack never thought that seven little letters could have this kind of effect on him. It was a small gesture, sure, but it meant a lot to him. "…Thanks, sis."
"No problem, little bro." Ivy reached up and affectionately tousled his floppy bangs. He laughed and tried lightly pushing her hand away with cries of, 'Hey, stop!' and, 'C'mon, cut it out!' Her response was to laugh along with him and playfully attempt to mess up his already slightly unkempt hair even more. This bout of sibling bonding continued until it nearly became a play wrestling match on the sidewalk. Once they had settled down to catch their breath and dispel their case of the giggles, they took a seat on the curb, right next to the car.
After that display of sisterly affection from Ivy, Zack took the time to fix his hair just the way he liked it and decided to press his luck a little.
"So does this make it…our car?" he questioned slowly, testing the waters of his sister's temperament. While they had just been joking moments prior, he didn't want to trigger a rash mood swing. And on top of that, he didn't want to ruin the spirit of the moment they just shared.
Thankfully, Ivy didn't react to the question all too terribly. She only crossed her arms and gave him a slightly amused look. "Whoa, slow down there, Zack. I'm the one paying for it, my name's on the lease. Technically, it's my car." Once Zack slouched over with his elbows on his knees wearing what some might describe as a pout, she turned away and gave the sky a thoughtful look. "But…" As she trailed off purposefully, he sat upright almost immediately. "Maybe when you're a little older and I know I can trust you…I just might let you drive it."
"Really?!" He grinned wildly, eyes lit up with excitement. "Aw, you're the best, sis!"
Ivy chuckled and gave her brother a warm smile, but resisted the temptation to mess up her brother's hair again. Instead, she stood up from the curb and pointed a thumb to the car in question. "You want to go for a test ride with me?"
Zack jumped up from his seat all too eagerly. "You bet I do!"