WARNING: Fangirlism alert!!! :D Okay, enjoy! (also, I know that there aren't any tabs... For some reason they won't work =.=)
Garth packed the last of his clothing that he would need on his trip. He was going camping, and picking up a friend of his. He patted the passport in his pocket. She had been right that they were expensive, but he didn't think it was too bad. He looked around his house one more time. It still felt empty. He sighed and locked the door, then headed out to his car.
Garth put his suitcase in the trunk, along with the sweets that he was bringing for the trip. Then he got in and shut the door, and turned the ignition. The engine roared to a start, then quieted a little to a comforting hum. He shifted to reverse and backed out into the street, starting the long journey with the map in the passenger's seat, there to help him if he lost his way. He
In America, specifically a little town called Ketoporoa, sat a girl in front of her computer screen, smiling at her inbox on Deviantart. She had gotten a message saying that he was taking her with him. She didn't dare to believe it though. It was too fantastic. While it was a marvelous idea, the actual effort was too romantic to ever come true. She replied, chuckling and going along with the joke, and waited for his reply while she went about her normal life.
Garth came at last to the border after a six hour drive. He loved to travel; he just did not love the side effects, such as the time differences and the fatigue. Luckily he wasn't traveling to a different time zone, but driving without much rest for hours on end was tiring. He rested while he waited his turn in line to let the guards look at his passport and let him through to the other side. He pulled the little booklet out of his pocket and looked at it, wondering how such a small thing could cause so much strife only because it was missing. He dismissed the thoughts and started looking around at the landscape and cars around him. The grass looked soft, and with his window rolled down, a slight breeze teased him. His legs ached to take a walk. Unfortunately he could not leave his car. It would simply be foolish. He sighed and inched closer, and started trying to imagine how she would look. She had described herself a little bit, but it still wasn't very much to go by. His artist's imagination was bored.
Finally he got to the little box that sheltered the guard from the weather, and handed him his passport. The guard requested some money, which Garth gave to him. It wasn't very much, and it would get him through. That was the main thing. He drove on and on, wondering at how the landscape changed. It went from his flat hometown, to mountainous and woodsy, then flat again, then started going up in little hills, sagebrush growing everywhere. He watched the landscape, watching the light brighten and fade when the landscape stayed the same for a long while.
It was almost dark when he came to a sign that read, 'Ketoporoa, next exit'. He had almost missed it in the red and golden light that was clinging to the sky. He took the turn, and looked at a little note he had written again. It had her address, and directions from Google Map on how to get there. She had posted her information on Yahoo! Messenger. He had been bored on a slow day at Devinatart, which was rare, and had downloaded the messenger and had been looking around at all the new features that it had. He had seen her information, and had written down most of it. Sometimes she was too honest for her own good. He took the turns that he was quite sure was right, and eventually came to a quite large house at the end of the block. It was the only one with the lights off. Did he come to the wrong one, or was her family just that antisocial? She had said that they were antisocial, but he hadn't thought to that extent. He parked his car by a Chrysler Concorde that was parked in the driveway, tilted on the slight hill. She had said that she drove a Concorde. This must be it.
He walked up to the door and rang the bell. A dog inside barked. He looked through the uncolored stained glass window. A small white dog that he recognized from a picture was running around, barks reverberating through the house. A big man came to the door, unlocked it and stared at him, confused. He wasn't fat, but he was taller than Garth himself, and muscled.
"Who are you?" The man asked, confused. Garth answered smoothly, expecting the question, and gave him his name and asked if the girl he was looking for lived there. The man stared at him suspiciously, then looked him up and down. "Come in," was the answer, then he yelled the girl's name down the stairs.
"Are you a friend of hers?" The man asked her. Garth assumed it was her father. He confirmed her father's theory. The taller man nodded and glanced at the stairs, of which a girl was peeking around the bend in the wall to where the stairs turned. She had blue eyes and curly hair.
"Yeah?" She asked, then noticed Garth. She blinked and stared at him carefully, as though she didn't know him but recognized him somehow. Which made sense, when he thought about it.
"It's one of your friends, or that's what he says," Her dad answered, seeing her confused face. She looked at her dad, then back to Garth. Before she asked something unwise that might set the big man against him, Garth said,
"I've come to pick you up." She blinked and tilted her head, the curls falling off of her shoulder and down. Her hair really was down as far as she had said it was. She mouthed what he had said, then her eyes widened, then she was wearing a straight face again. Garth started to doubt if he had seen the change in her face.
"Okay Dad, thanks," She said, then grabbed Garth by the shoulder and started spouting about something random that was obviously a cover-up. Her father nodded and told her to tell Sarah to come upstairs. The girl paused and 'okay'ed, then resumed her blabber. Once they got out of hearing range, the girl turned on him and asked tentatively,
"Ga.. Garth?" She said, eyeing him up and down. He looked the right height and his eyes were blue. So so blue. She felt herself falling into them before he answered,
"Hai," Which awoke her. She stared up at him. His features were handsome, like a prince out of a fairy tale or dream. Maybe not quite like she had imagined, but close.
"What are you doing here?" She asked without thinking. Then remembered his last message, and that she hadn't gotten a reply yet. Her mouth dropped. "You weren't serious about picking me up, were you?" She asked, making it sound almost ridiculously wonderful. He raised his eyebrow. She had thought he was joking? He answered with another 'yes'. The girl got the look of wonderously ridiculous again and the next thing he knew was that her arms were around him and she was making a strange.. Purring noise, he guessed he could describe it. Or maybe a cooing. He hugged her back, then she pulled back and ran into a room. He heard an excited voice say who was outside, then a "NO WAY!!!" Then a blonde-headed girl peeked out of the room. That must have been Suta-chan. She peeked her head back inside the room, and he heard,
"Is that really him?!" Then a confirmation and then the girl came running back outside the room and pulled him inside, then was pushed back outside. These girls were almost as crazy in real life as on the internet! Suta and the girl started fighting about whether he could come into the room or not. Apparently it was Suta's room. The girl with curly brown hair came back outside the room and then her mouth dropped.
"I haven't packed!" Then ran into a room that was farther down the hall. He heard her rustling around inside. She had shut the door out of habit. He knocked softly. "Oh! Come in!" She said, and he opened the door and the girl was cramming clothes into a suitcase.
"How long are we going to be gone?" She asked, stuffing the small bag. Garth chuckled to himself. Shouldn't she have known that before starting to pack? Oh well.
"Pack for a week," He said. Even if they got bored of camping before it was over, he still wanted her with him for some of the rest of his vacation. She beamed at him, then rushed to stuff the bag. After a few minutes of cramming, she started pulling everything out. "What are you doing?" He asked, confused.
"The bag's not big enough. Sorry about this," She said, then rushed out and into the hall to grab a bigger suitcase. She got a big red one, then started folding her clothes and putting them in the best way that they would fit. He tried not to watch. She had to pack her… Delicates… As well as everything else. She rushed about the house, grabbing everything that she would need, along with a new sketchbook and a mechanical pencil. That made him smile. A couple of his own were in his car. She looked through her suitcase a couple of more times, double-checking that she had everything that she needed, then glanced at her watch. "Twenty minutes," She complained to herself. She had taken longer than she had wanted to.
"It's fine. I was thinking that we could head out tomorrow. It's a long drive and it's dark now," Garth told her. She nodded. She hadn't really noticed when he had flipped on her light switch.
"Where are you going to stay?" She asked. He blinked. He was thinking of staying in a hotel, but if they were willing to lend him a room for the night, that would be just fine.
"Do you have a spare room?" He asked. He hadn't really gotten a good look at the house yet. Of what he had seen, it was very nice though. High standard-like. The girl wasn't so much into it, but he thought it was nice.
"We do and we don't," She said. He gave her a confused look, then she continued with, "Well the one that is supposed to be our spare-room is 'under construction' but we do have a bed in the theater room that you might be able to stay in," She said. He nodded. That made more sense. "Let's go ask my dad if you can stay, okay?" She said, then started out the door and upstairs. She looked in a room, then headed down another short hallway and knocked on the door at the end of it. Garth followed.
"Yes?" A muffled voice asked from inside the room over the dog's barking.
"Can my friend stay the night in the theater room? He's not from around here, and he needs a place to stay," She said, being just vague enough to get by. A muffled, 'okay' came from inside, then the volume of the TV was turned up. The girl twirled around and asked,
"Did you hear that?!" Then rushed to his side and hugged him again. Garth nodded, a little relieved. He hadn't wanted to spend money on a hotel. They cost a lot of money just to sleep in a bed for a few hours. The girl grabbed him by the arm and led him around, giving him a tour of the house. It wasn't as big as it looked from the outside. She saved the theater room, or his temporary bedroom, for last. She showed him inside. There was a big screen TV and a bed which had been folded out of a couch with rumpled sheets on it inside the room, along with shelves of movies stacked against the wall. The girl sighed and took the sheets off of the bed, then went upstairs and put the sheets in a room quickly, then went across the house to a closet and pulled out some fresh sheets. She apologized for the inconvenience, and he forgave her, which made her smile softly. The smile lit up her face, making her face look a little more round and pleasant than it already did.
She shifted the sheets in her arms, then headed downstairs. Garth caught up to her and started helping her make the bed.
"Oh, Garth," She said, touched. It showed in her voice. "You don't have to do that," She said, pausing.
"It's okay, I don't mind," Garth said softly. They looked at each other for a moment or two, still amazed that they were actually together in person. The girl blushed a little, then went back to her work. Garth went back to his work as well, working up the courage to say something.
"De-Ji, thanks for letting me stay the night," He said. It was only partly to thank her. He had mostly wanted to try saying her name to her. She waved her hand from side to side in a manner that was humble.
"It was really nothing. And if you want, you can call me Deej if you want. It's actually my nickname that everybody likes to call me," She said. Garth nodded, making a mental note for later. They both went back to work, and had soon finished making the make-shift bed. After they were done, they sat on the bed and sat in silence for a little bit. Deej looked at Garth and blushed a couple of times, but said nothing.
Eventually Deej got up and started going through the movies that were on the shelves. She eventually picked one out and asked Garth if he had seen it. He hadn't, and said so. She asked if he wanted to watch and he nodded, so Deej put the DVD in the player and sat down by Garth and watched it with him. When it got to the end, they said good night to each other, in Japanese just like they did whenever they talked. Deej reluctantly left and went into her room to get some rest before the big traveling day.
Garth realized that he hadn't brought in his suitcase, and therefore didn't have any pajamas. He just shrugged and took off his shirt and got into the bed, and couldn't help but hear through the thin walls what Deej was doing. She was humming tunelessly. He was glad that he could make her so happy. Eventually he heard the light switch click off, and they both fell to sleep.
In the morning, Deej's alarm went off. She got up to switch it off. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and tried to think. Her eyes shot open, tiredness forgotten. She contained her laughter and rushed around, taking a few things out of her suitcase and headed toward the bathroom for a shower. She hurried slightly, but took the time to make herself seem more attractive. She finished and went back into her room and dressed. She chose one of her black shirts and a ripped pair of jeans, since they were going camping. The black shirt was thin but had a hood on the back of it, and pink numbers like a jersey and the cotton-like material clung to her still-moist skin, the manufactured rip in the front widened a little from use. The jeans were of a medium thickness and tightness, just enough to look good but not tight enough to look like she was showing off; they had a whole in the right knee from being worn so much and played in since they were her favorite jeans. They were also torn a little at the bottom of the legs where she had stepped on them because they were so long, but she liked their length. She put on her black hiking boots, that also had a couple of holes in them from frequent use, and giggled to herself and checked the time. It was 7:30 in the morning. She figured that she would give Garth more time to rest and wake him up in an hour, if he wasn't already up by then and sketch while she was waiting. So she sat in her rocking chair and started putting lines on a page, without a preplanned idea.
Garth woke up in the dark, except for a sliver of sunlight. He panicked for a second, not remembering where he was. He stumbled in the dark until he found the door. He opened it, letting the light pour inside, lighting the room as well as his memory. He sighed and found the light switch, turned on the lights and shut the door. He put on his shirt and headed to his car and grabbed his suitcase, and knocked on.. Deej's… Door. He had to remind himself of her nickname. He heard a clatter and pitter-patter of shoes on linoleum, then the lock turning and the door opened, Deej smiling brightly.
"Ohayo gozaimasu!" She greeted him. He smoothed his hair a little, and asked if he could use a bathroom to take a shower in. "Of course! There's one right by Suta's room, did you forget?" She asked. Garth looked over at it and sighed. He had forgotten.
"I must not be awake yet," He said, chuckling, then thanked her and headed toward the door. He went into the bathroom and took care of business, moving a little slowly due to the foreign placement of soap and shampoo and the like. He didn't take too much time, and quickly dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, then packed his things then went to Deej's room and knocked on her door softly so that the door wouldn't bang open and expose her in case she was busy with anything. He heard similar noises again and the door opened.
"Ready to go?" He asked, then shook his head a little to get some of the water out. It splashed onto Deej. "Oh, I'm sorry," He said when she put her hand over her heart.
"Don't be, and yes," She breathed. He looked closer and there was light dancing in her eyes. He sighed inwardly. It was still a little weird to be admired so much by anyone. She ran inside and grabbed her suitcase and her sketchbook then stood in the doorway, waiting for him to lead her to the car. He turned and walked to his car, carrying his own suitcase. He unlocked the doors and opened the trunk, and put his bag in the back. Deej put her bag beside his and walked around his Chrysler making appreciative noises like 'ooh!'. Garth chuckled a little and got into the driver's seat after closing the trunk. Deej got in and settled a few things that she was bringing up front into the space around her. He made sure she was comfortable, then set off on their journey. Garth glanced at the clock. It was 8:30 a.m. So far they were making good time.
Later in the day, Deej was slumped in her seat, her eyelids were drifting downward. Garth kept glancing from her to the road. He was a little tired himself, but he couldn't sleep. He was driving.
"You know Deej, You can sleep. I'm not going to kill you in your sleep," He said. She chuckled and scooted up in the seat a little.
"Or are you?" She asked jokingly. He laughed a little, turning it into an evil laughter mockery. She gave him a funny look and patted him on the shoulder, then settled her head on the bottom corner of the window and yawned and closed her eyes. Soon her breathing slowed and her chest rose and fell softly. Garth grinned ever so slightly, then went back to watching the road.
There wasn't very much anything interesting on the road, and Garth was tired, but he endured. They weren't kidding about the road being hypnotizing in driver's ed. Just line after line after line. It got monotonous enough to make him yawn after a while, and look over at Deej, of whom he was a little jealous at the time. She looked so peaceful, napping there in his seat. She shifted slightly and murmured, then went back to her dream, probably of him. He went back to looking at the road.
Eventually, they came back to the Canadian border. Garth stopped behind the car ahead of him in line, then shook Deej softly. She woke up with a small jerk, then looked around and rubbed her eyes.
"Where are we?" She asked, and looked around, her eyes brightening when she saw the trees.
"The Canadian border. You brought your passport, didn't you?" He asked. She nodded and shifted some of her stuff around while responding.
"That's a little late for that question, isn't it?" She asked him back, teasing. She started rummaging faster. He heard a hiss of her taking in a worried breath.
"Something wrong?" Garth asked, started worrying. She hadn't given him a straight answer, but her tone had suggested that she had it…
"AHA! FOUND IT!" She said, then pulled out a little blue booklet that had 'Passport' printed on it, and handed it to him. He gave her a look and took the tiny book, and put it in the door's pocket with his own. Deej looked around again. "It sure is pretty up here," She said, awe in her voice. Garth nodded.
As they inched ever closer to his country they started a conversation that was interesting but didn't really have a point other than to entertain. They both enjoyed it and continued it for longer than they both expected. It continued until in due course it ended. They sat in silence for a while until Deej started reading her book. Garth started paying attention to the road again, taking the right turn-offs so that he would be able to make it to the camp-site in time. He checked the clock. They were making good time. He had thought that getting into Canada would have taken longer than that. But it was okay, because if he was early getting to camp, he would still be the last one there because he had gone to pick up Deej, which he did not, nor would not, regret.
At last, they got to the campsite just before sunset. Garth told Deej to stay in the car for a little bit until he came for her. She nodded, and watched him get out and greet his family. After a little of the catching up was done, he told them that he had a surprise. He walked back to his car, followed by his curious family. Garth opened the door, "accidentally" blocking his family's view of what was in the car. Deej stepped out of the car and waved shyly at them. Their jaws dropped.
"So she's why you're so late?" One of Garth's brothers asked. Garth nodded. Deej smiled a little bit, but the fact that she was nervous was obvious.
"Sorry, but I didn't even know he was coming for me," She said. They looked at her kind of funny, until she explained the rest of it. They nodded and rolled their eyes. They started asking Deej questions, and Deej answered as best as she could while Garth unpacked the car and set everything up.
"So where is she going to sleep?" One of Garth's brothers asked. Garth smirked. He knew they would ask that.
"I'm going to sleep on the end, and she's going to sleep by me so that she doesn't have to be by any of you guys," He said, half-teasing them. They took it well and laughed, and everybody helped to set up the campsite to everybody's liking, just as the sun had starting setting. Deej hung around Garth, following him like a puppy when she was finished with her responsibilities with the camp. When Garth was done, they watched the sunset together, and Deej grabbed onto his arm and sighed contentedly.
…
In Ketoporoa, The Grice family was listening to the radio, not really paying attention until a warning interrupted the broadcast.
"Warning, a convict escaped today. He was charged with attempted manslaughter and arrested. He is believed to be armed and very dangerous. His name is Brent Busto. He is six-foot-three, heavy-set with short blonde hair and with a large scar from a burn on his left cheek. Be on the lookout for him and alert authorities if you happen to see him. Now back to your broadcast," The announcer said, then the music resumed. The Grice family looked at each other and whistled lowly, then continued with their activities.