I'm back! This is a sequel to "Disaster" and so this continues on in the Karena series. This takes place a month after "Disaster!", and the intro is a little bit longer than I expected. It would help if you read my two stories "Catastrophe!" and "Disaster!" first so that you get the picture of what's going on between Karena and Wilbur. I hope you'll enjoy this story and please R&R. I do not own anything related to "Meet the Robinsons", and here we go!
A month has passed, and I still wonder about what to say to my dad or how he will feel about my decision to live in Todayland. I move on the 26th of this month, two days after my graduation. There are times when I wish my mother Evelyn was here to help, and there are times when I just need a nice night out with my boyfriend Wilbur. But right now, I decided that I needed a break from thinking and just get ready for dinner.
I put the dress Franny got me back on. I had taken it off earlier because I was hot just from thinking all day since my last day early dismissal from school, and my hair was already up since this morning; the only difference is that all the curls were turned into waves. I then walked over to the kitchen and got all the materials and ingredients needed to make my favorite dish: lasagna. But, as I prepared to turn on the sink to put water in the pot, I felt a hand on my own.
"No need to do that, Miss Edwards. I already got plans for this occasion."
I turned to that familiar voice, and I couldn't believe my eyes; it was Wilbur Robinson! I dropped the pot, and I hugged my boyfriend of one month. We looked into each other's eyes after a minute, and I gave him a playful smirk.
"You know better than to sneak up on a lady, handsome. How are you doing, birthday boy?"
"You haven't forgotten?" Wilbur gave me a look of shock, and then he broke into a smile.
"Nope," I replied. "As a matter of fact..." I took the teenager's hand, and we walked toward my very messy desk. I scuffled through my papers until I found a painting. I carefully took the painting off my desk, and I put it in Wilbur's hands. "Happy 14th birthday, Wilbur Robinson."
The boy looked speechless with wide eyes as he traced the painting with his finger. The picture was of Wilbur himself, chargeball in hand, ready to fire. The background was that of the chargeball symbol directly behind him, and there were orange skies surrounding the symbol.
"This is perfect," Wilbur said in awe.
"I did it myself," I replied smiling. "I could tell when I watched you play chargeball in your room that you love the game, you love adventure, you love sunsets, and Laszlo told me your favorite color is orange. So I took it upon myself to draw it with the lessons I had in art class."
"You really should be an artist," the black-haired Robinson said with a smirk. "I love it! Thanks so much."
"You're welcome," I replied. "And actually, I want to be a music teacher."
"No wonder you and my mom get along so well," Wilbur said with a laugh.
"So what are you doing here?" I asked. "Just making sure I didn't forget about your birthday?"
"Good point, but actually, I have good news: I'm not grounded anymore."
"I thought your mom grounded you for life," I replied as Wilbur shrugged.
"She was just so mad with me for almost ruining the time stream, so I guess she was exaggerating."
"Well, that's a nice birthday present. Did you get anything else?"
"My dad only said to wait until graduation." I laughed at my boyfriend's response.
"I guess that makes sense. So, did you eat yet?"
"No, but I'm saving for something special."
"Dessert?"
"Well, yes, but there's something else." Wilbur smirked, and he took my hand. He pushed a button on a remote, and all of a sudden, we were in the garage of the Robinson house. Still holding on to my hand, the teenager led me to the time machine. I was amused that Cornelius, his father, did not put away the time machine a month after Wilbur nearly put his family in danger, even though it wasn't his fault.
"Madam?" My thoughts were interrupted as my boyfriend held out his hand out to help me get in. I giggled as his strong arm lifted me up from the ground on to the wing of the time machine.
"Where in time are we going?" I asked.
"Oh, we're not going back in time," Wilbur replied with a smirk and a wink. "We're going someplace special."
"It's your birthday," I replied. The time machine roared to life, the garage door opened, and we were off, heading toward the beautiful Utopian city of Todayland. "Do you time travel as much as you used to?"
"Nah," Wilbur answered. "I'm starting to feel content when I'm at now. Once in a while, I would time travel just for fun."
"I'd go back to when my mother was still alive if I could go back in time."
"Speaking of which," Wilbur said, and he stopped the time machine and turned to face me. "I told my mom about your mom. She cried for five minutes. Just last week she came up to me with an idea, but I have to wait until next week to show you." I smiled, but I looked down, remembering my mom and the flowers that I had planted in her grave for eleven years. I felt a hand in my hand, and the other hand was cupping my chin, and my face was brought up so that I could stare at his kind chocolate-colored eyes. "It's alright. I'm here." We went into a hug, and we stayed that way for two minutes while Wilbur rubbed my back. We broke apart, and we smiled at each other. The Robinson boy then turned around, and he got the machine flying again until we approached a restaurant.
"Futureburgers?" I read the sign. "Is this a parody of Hardee's?" Wilbur cracked up.
"Oh my gosh, no! Have you heard of Portillo's?"
"All I know is that it's very popular in the Chicago area."
"This is like the Portillo's of Todayland," Wilbur told me. "You'll love it."
We walked into the restaurant, and right at that moment, I loved it. The atmosphere was so full of life; the music wasn't from this time, but from the 1920s-1960s, and the place was also full of antiques from the good old days. We approached the counter after a long wait, and we gave our orders to a robot waitress. Wilbur ordered a hot dog and a large fry to share with me while I ordered a cheeseburger. We both got bottles of water because it was hot here in Todayland. Wilbur paid while I waited for the food to be called out. I found out that the robots here only took orders and kept the place clean while the people cooked the food, which I found to be interesting.
After we got our food, Wilbur led me upstairs to a balcony, which was outside, and to a candlelit booth.
"Isn't it already hot as it is?" I asked. "Maybe I should change clothes."
"No, Karena," Wilbur stopped me from getting up. "You look stunning in that dress, and it's perfect for the occasion."
"And yet you're wearing a t-shirt and jeans?" Wilbur gave me a glare with a raised eyebrow.
"Touche. Anyway, it's just the two of us, I remembered this spot, and so we're having a candlelight dinner. I don't care what we're wearing."
"Well, this is very nice," I replied. I took a bit out of my burger, and I had wide eyes. "Golly, this IS good! Nice pick, dear."
"Yeah, I went to Portillo's during one of my time travelling experiences. It was so good I decided to try a food in this place; Chicago has brought wonderful beef to Todayland." The teenager finished his hot dog and got up from the table. "What's your favorite type of ice cream?"
"I love strawberry," I answered, and Wilbur left the area. I was curious about what was in the burger, and so I lifted up my bun. I found pickles, red onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise, and I really loved the burger. After a few minutes, Wilbur returned with ice cream, but it didn't look like regular ice cream; as a matter of fact, it looked very familiar to me.
"Dippin' Dots?" I broke into a grin. "No way! Your world is full of surprises."
"They have these in your world?" my boyfriend asked as he placed the ice cream on the table.
"Yes! The serving size is really good, and the texture is very unique."
"Okay, different subject. Is there anything you can do other than karate, color guard, and art?"
"I played the percussion instruments and I sang in my four years of high school," I replied. "I was also quite the trackster. As a matter of fact, I just earned 6th place for the mile run in state competition."
"Congrats to you," Wilbur said, raising his cookies n' cream ice cream. "You should sing to me sometime."
"Only when you need it," I replied, and I took a bite of my ice cream. "I'm guessing your mom taught you to sing?"
"Yup. I even know how to play the saxophone, the trumpet, and guitar."
"Oh, how nice!" I finished my ice cream, and I wiped my mouth off with a napkin. "I'm done."
"Me too." We got up to leave hand in hand, and we walked toward the time machine. This time, instead of helping me up onto the wing, Wilbur scooped me into his arms and had me seated on the wing. Wilbur took a few steps backwards before whistling in awe at me.
"You just look so beautiful with the moon behind you." I blushed at his comment and his flirt.
"I had a lot of fun," I replied.
"Oh, I'm not done yet," Wilbur said with a smirk as the time machine roared to life once again, and we left the city. When we reached the Robinson house, the garage door opened, and Wilbur parked the time machine in place. As we got out, I saw Carl, Cornelius, and Franny standing at the door to meet us. I shook hands with the gold robot, and I hugged the couple.
"It's so good to see you again, Karena," Franny said. "I've got a surprise for you."
"We found you an apartment in the city, that has everything you need," Cornelius told me with a smile. "When do you plan to move in?"
"Wait, she's moving?" Wilbur interrupted with worry.
"Yes, Wilbur," I responded smiling. "I'm moving here next week."
"But your world will cease to exist," the boy replied somberly. I placed a finger on his lips.
"This is my choice. The only thing I have left in my world is my dad. Here, I have an amazing boyfriend, a wonderful new family, and a brand new future. The future in my world will only go to ruins because of President Obama's politics. Do you understand what I mean?"
Wilbur nodded with understanding. I kissed him on the cheek and grabbed his hand.
"Come on! Let's go to the music room."
"Can we go to my room first?" my boyfriend asked. "I wanna challenge you on chargeball."
"Your room it is." Wilbur led me to his room, and he set up the chargeball equipment. He explained the rules, which I already knew, and we both started game play. We had three very close rounds because we cleared each other's blocks, but Wilbur remained undefeated.
"You're very good for a first timer," he complimented.
"I've been trained by the best. Two out of three?"
"You're on!" We both fired our chargeballs with all our strength and might. I won the second game winning 2-1, and I also won the last game 2-0, leaving Wilbur shocked.
"Well, someone finally managed to beat me."
"To be honest," I replied. "I watched your moves one time , so I learned from that."
"Well, good eye," Wilbur responded. "Okay, we can go to the music room now."
We took the travel tube and landed in the dining room...and got hit by meatballs. Then we heard laughter coming from the other side of the room. Wilbur found his uncle Gaston while I found his grandpa Bud.
"That was perfect!" Bud exclaimed.
"You expected us?" I asked the old man.
"Oh not me. Gaston has excellent accuracy." We turned and stared at Gaston, who was laughing with embarrassment.
"I'll talk to you later, Uncle Gaston," Wilbur said with a smirk, and we walked out of the dining room. We finally approached the music room, and we found Franny's frogs in place. "Uh, what's the occasion?" All of a sudden, we heard music playing, and I saw Franny conducting out of the corner of my eye. I smiled as the "Canon in D" by Pachelbel was playing, and I turned to Wilbur, who was really confused at this point. I brought his right hand to my waist, I placed my left hand on his shoulder, and I held Wilbur's left hand and brought it out.
"Uh, I don't know how to dance," Wilbur said blushing.
"Well here. Let me help you. You take your left foot out on count one, and bring your right in on two. Then take your right foot out on three, and bring your left in on four. And you repeat the steps until the song is over. Just follow my lead."
Wilbur did just that while I was helping him count, and he learned very quickly, so I stopped counting. The dance lasted for about five and a half minutes, and Wilbur did include some twirling on my favorite parts of the song. When the song ended, his chin was resting on my head, and we were very close to each other. We heard applause; the whole family was in the room, and we both blushed at the sight.
We walked out of the music room with Wilbur's arm around my shoulders, and we headed toward Wilbur's room. When we got there, the boy pushed a button, and we were back in my apartment. Wilbur was quite shocked at the time.
"Time doesn't change here?"
"Unbelievable, huh?" I replied with a smirk. "I had a great time."
"It was the best birthday I've had so far," Wilbur responded. "Thank you for spending time with me, and especially for the painting."
"No problem, dear," I replied as our lips met for about fifteen seconds. "See you tomorrow? I'm off."
"Sure," Wilbur smiled. "Good night, dear Karena."
"Good night, Captain Time Travel." Wilbur laughed, and he reentered the vortex. I changed my clothes, and I got comfortable in my own bed. Thinking about what to say to my dad will have to wait until later.
Yes, I know, the intro was long. But I hope it's a good opening for this story. R&R please and thank you!
