She doesn't know how it happened. Maybe it was the booze. Maybe she was lonely. Maybe it was because of his or their insistence. Regardless of how it happened, Britta Perry was driving her children—the twenty-one-year old ex-star quarterback, former prom king Troy Barnes and twenty-mm-year old, film student, possible Asperger patient Abed Nadir—to Comic Con-oh-eleven.
"Road trip!" Troy yelled in singsong, while lifting a six-pack of Yoo-hoo over his head. "We're driving one thousand miles to go see—"Troy threw the Yoo-hoo in the back of Britta's strangely new Prius—"Thor and... and Ironman and Sheriff Grimes!"
Abed silently walked up behind Troy, like a ghost, and threw a sleeping bag into the back, "I hope they'll show something for the Avengers. I'd be disappointed if they didn't."
"Yeah", Troy said as he and Abed did their high-five, "I hope it's not like the third X-Men", Britta and Pierce came out of his mansion, talking, "That sucked."
..."Thanks Pierce for some money, though I doubt we'd use it, but thanks anyway", Britta said, gently taking five or six hundred-dollar bills.
"Ah, well, I just want to make sure that you three get back alright", Pierce said as Abed and Troy got in the backseat.
"So, Pierce", Troy said, leaning out the window, "whaddya going to do while I'm gone?"
"Oh", Pierce said as he leaned against the car, "maybe I'll have my girlfriend over"—everyone rolled their eyes—"have a couple parties. I don't know. I don't play by any rules, y'know."
"Okay, Pierce", Britta opened her door, "just don't overdo it, okay? We don't want you back in a wheelchair again."
Pierce moved closer to Britta, looking deeply into her eyes, then placed his hand on her shoulder, and slowly started to stroke her, "I won't", he said in a low voice. A painful, awkward silence overcame the four, as Pierce stared at Britta, who was shifting her eyes in uncertainty.
"Well", Britta said slowly as she gently, but vigorously took Pierce's hand off her, "we better leave so we'd get there by tomorrow morning." Britta got her into her car and started it; the car quietly rumbled to life.
"Why don't you call and hang out with Jeff?" Troy said, leaning further out of the window.
"He's not here", Abed said, matter-of-factly. "He told me he was going to explore the galaxy for intelligent life", Abed paused to think, "although that could have been sarcasm."
"I think it was", Britta said putting the car into drive. "Goodbye Pierce", she said waving her hand out of the window as Pierce stepped back and as a sea of "goodbyes" was emitted from the back of her Prius.
"Bye!" Pierce said, waving, "drive safely!" Britta pulled out of Pierce's long and curved driveway and headed south. They were on the road by nine, surprisingly, a half-hour ahead of schedule. Britta was surprised and was amazed on how long it didn't take for the goodbyes and the hugging and the kissing from Shirley and Annie. It usually took, at least, twenty minutes for everybody to say his or her goodbyes after studying for an hour, even though they would see each other the next day at the same time. Honestly, it took not even thirty minutes for their goodbyes and tears, with a heavy and long lecture from Shirley on driving safely and how to carefully take off spandex to avoid loss of blood circulation and rippage.
It was quiet in the car for a while before Abed asked, rather frankly, "I wonder where Jeff is. I haven't seen him since classes ended and he hasn't responded to any of our calls."
"He hasn't responded to any of my calls either", Britta muttered as she took a right.
"What was that, Britta?" Troy asked, leaning towards her seat.
"Oh, nothing, nothing. I just said he's bonded to his balls or something so he probably went out to find a woman to get laid or...something", Britta said, timidly and quickly. Troy and Abed both knitted their brows together in confusion and Britta, now trying to change the subject, asked Abed, uneasily, "So Abed..." Abed looked at Britta's direction in interest, "what did you have to do to allow your father to let you go on this trip?"
"Oh, well, I asked him if I could go to San Diego since it is the falafel capital of the U. S. and maybe I could learn a thing or two there", Abed said, coolly.
"San Diego is the falafel capital of the U. S.?" Troy asked Abed.
"That's what I told him", Abed said, nodding his head, "and it seems like he believed me as he told me to take notes."
"Abed", Britta said gently, "you shouldn't have lied to your father. You should have told him that you were going to Comic-Con", Britta flickered her eyes to Abed in the rearview mirror; "I think he would have understood."
"Nah, my dad thinks that comic books denigrates Middle Easterns, especially now, and he also thinks that the paper would be better used holding falafels and not stories of castles in the sky and wild, fun adventures that don't show the hardships and sorrows of real life."
"Doesn't show the hardships and sorrows of real life?" Troy screeched, anger bubbling over, "Obviously he has not read an issue of Batman!...Or Spiderman!...Or The Hulk! Especially The Hulk! Y'know it's not easy being green."
An uncomfortable silence overcame the car as soon as Troy finished his rant, 'Why does an awkward silence always happen in my car?' Britta thought, biting the inside of her cheek. She sniffed loudly and turned on her radio to break the silence.
