Buying the Buick
Summary: For once, Daphne does not split up with Fred, but why the sudden change of heart? Well, to say the least, it has to do with buying a Buick.
Author's Note: This is a challenge write. Somebody challenged me to write it, and I got so into it…well, I took the challenge (duh!). Oh, and buying the Buick does not simply mean to "buy a Buick" as in the car; it has another meaning, too.
Disclaimer: Me no own-y Scooby Doo.
The date was September 25, 1969 and a group of teenaged children were piling into a brightly colored van. A proud looking blonde drove the car; and a superficially giddy red-head sat squished in-between the driver and the mousy brunette that sat in the shotgun. Lying in the trunk of the van was a scruffy, unkempt hippie and his all faithful Great Dane companion. The mousy brunette, named Velma, piped up, "So, I was thinking that a Chevrolet would suit me well," For, she was going to be turning sixteen in a week, and the present from the gang to Velma was her very first car.
"Vel-ma, I'm not going to let my best friend drive around in a Chev-ro-let!" The superficially giddy girl, more formally known as Daphne, added. As a matter of fact, Daphne was abnormally vivacious on that certain day; for, as anybody in the right mind could imagine, Daphne was normally quite bubbly, but never abnormally cheerful.
"Of course you're not, Daphne," Velma commented, while shaking her head at her friend's immaturity. Daphne only smiled in return, and twisted towards Fred, the muscular blonde, and gazed into his eyes.
"What car do you think Velma should get, Fred?" She quizzically interrogated.
"An Oldsmobile," Fred joked; but he only got a short laugh out of Daphne.
"For real, Fred, you're supposed to have a say in this too," She explained.
"Well, how do you expect me to know what car I think she should get?" Fred exploded; which turned Daphne's smile upside-down. If one had scrutinized her face carefully, one may have been able to see a tear or two. Of course, Fred did not closely examine her face, so he could not see the sadness within. "I'm sorry, Daph, I didn't mean to be rude or anything," But, even if he did not notice the sorrow, he still had a sense that he had hurt her feelings. The apology brought the light back in Daphne's face, and she started to beam all over again.
"It's okay, Freddy," Daphne forgave. The rest of the car ride was silent from then on; everybody was thinking about something-or-another, so they had no reason to talk to each other. Finally, the long drive was over and the gaggle of teenagers were piling out of the car: Shaggy, the hippie, and Scooby, the Great Dane, hopping out of the trunk. Once onto the free range of the classic car dealership, Velma ran to the nearest car that she saw (and liked).
"How about this one, guys?" Velma asked for the others' opinions on the gray 1969 Chevrolet YENKO sitting right in front of her. The rest of the adolescents stared at the hideous car and did not even look up at Velma's joyous face. Daphne turned away and starting browsing through cars on her own. She found a beautiful 1965 Mustang, and hollered to Velma to come over to that location.
"How about this one?" Daphne questioned while pointing the beautiful white convertible.
"Eh, I don't really know," Velma sighed. "It's not really me,"
"Nonsense!" Daphne exclaimed while calling for a salesperson. A short and scrawny man with a receding hairline walked up behind the girls. "Can we test-drive this one, please?"
"Show me your driver's license," The man croaked. Daphne held up her license and the man nodded.
"This car for you?" He asked.
"No, it's for her," Daphne pointed to Velma and Velma blushed; she hated having attention drawn to her.
"She have a license?"
"Learner's Permit, but I'm riding with her,"
"Speaking of which, this is the first time I have seen somebody take a good driver's license picture," He slurred. This time, Daphne was the one who blushed.
"Why, thank you," She annunciated. "Shall we get into the car now?"
"Yeah," The salesperson motioned for Velma and Daphne to get in on opposite sides. They fit comfortably in the long front bench seat of the mustang. Next, the salesperson slid in and closed the door. Velma turned the car on and started to drive. At first, the car drove beautifully; that is, until Velma looked in the rear-view mirror. When she looked in the mirror she witnessed a most horrendous creature. It was a man: but not exactly a man-man. The human was strangely pale and looked a bit green in certain places. Velma gasped and yelled to Daphne.
"Daphne, do you see anything in the back seat?" Daphne whipped her head back and saw the site.
"There's a man!" Daphne answered. "Do you see anything, Mr. Connelly?" That's what his name-tag read. Mr. Connelly looked at the back seat and his expression showed absolutely no change.
"Nope, I don't see nothin'" He answered. Velma and Daphne looked at each other and then at the salesperson and then at each other again.
Simultaneously, the two girls stated, "Well, thanks for the test-drive, Mr. Connelly," and they sprinted out of the mustang to go find the rest of their teenage-mystery solving team. Fred was the first they spotted.
"Fred! You'll never guess what happened!" Velma cried.
"What?"
"T-the car that Velma drove was haunted!" answered a panting Daphne. She did not like to run for long periods of time.
"What do you mean; haunted?" Fred asked, causing Velma and Daphne to tell him the whole story of their experience. When the girls finished, Fred said, his usual, "Looks like there's a mystery here to solve," Right at that precise moment, Shaggy and Scooby walked up to join the crowd.
"Oh, no, Fred don't tell me you said what I think you said," Shaggy hastily assumed.
"Well, we do, Shaggy, we do have a mystery to solve,"
"That's what I was afraid of," Shaggy whispered to the attentive dog standing next to him. "So what are we going to do first?" Shaggy questioned; obviously knowing what came next.
"We're going to split up," Fred clichéd.
"No joke," Shaggy rolled his eyes.
"Shaggy, you Scooby and Velma will drive the car again, and Daphne and I will search for clues in the office,"
"Um, Fred?" Daphne interrogated a little too perkily.
"What, Daph?"
"Velma and I really want to split up together," She happily whispered.
"But-"
"Not today, Freddy," Daphne grinned and turned to Velma. "It looks like we will be searching for clues in the office, Shaggy and Scooby will test drive the car, and Freddy will talk to the salespeople," Velma gave Daphne a questioning look, and the look in Daphne's eyes seemed to say 'I'll explain later.' Fred groaned and trudged away to interview some car-sellers. Shaggy and Scooby seemed rather pleased with their job, because all they needed to do was drive a silly old car; so they blissfully sauntered away, leaving Daphne and Velma alone.
"What'd you want to talk about?" Velma straight-forwardly inquired. Daphne took a deep breath and tried to find the words in her head to describe her dilemma; with no such luck. But, of course, she had a lot of explaining to do.