Wonderful Mattie
Alfred F Jones was enjoying the scenery of his statue of President Lincoln, while waiting for the other personification of North America to arrive from Canada; he was visiting Washington DC for the weekend.
"Hey Alfred!" A friendly voice called out causing his brother to turn his head.
"What up Mattie?" Alfred greeted throwing a peace sing in his sibling's direction.
"Ok I got BIG news! I met… Quebec!" Mattie exclaimed a huge grin painted on his face.
"Quebec? Isn't that one of your states?" Alfred asked, tilting his head to the side a little.
"Provinces and yes he is. I think the same is with states, he knows Maine, and he also says that the states already know you exist and such," Was the answer to Alfred's question.
"Ok, cool, so the hero's states have people too?" Alfred asked, now getting excited.
"Yea, I already rounded up a few of them; you know that super mall in Virginia? The really REALLY big one?"
"Oh yea! Wait you found some of THE HERO'S states before THE HERO! NO FAIR MAN!"
"Yea, shut up you'll thank me later; well we managed to get your 13 original colonies, and the 5 Pacific Ocean states to be there." Mattie said, now equally excited.
"WELL WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR DUDE! LET'S GO!"There was now a variety of people around them giving them looks.
Alfred raced to his American flag painted 'Dodge Challenger' at top speed. ((YES THE ONE FROM THAT COMMERCIAL))
Mattie hoped into the passenger seat, while Alfred slipped the key into the ignition, the engine giving a menacing purr as it started up.
"Are you SURE you know where you're going?" Mattie asked as the tires skidded slightly on the pavement.
"Mattie, I've been here MY ENTIRE life! I know these streets better then the back of my hand, who actually KNOWS the back of their hand anyway?" Alfred comforted.
Mattie sighed, feeling slightly better, but slightly not.
As they pulled into the parking lot, Canada immediately told the smaller nation where to park, claiming it was so the 18 states would know they were there.
'Tysons Corner Center' in big letters was shown on the building's front.
The Canadian first led the American to Nordstrom, where the first thing either of them noticed was a brown hair green eyed man standing awkwardly next to the jewelry counter, next to him a blonde with bright blue eyes.
Alfred nudged Mattie "Are they some states?"
"I don't know, I only invited the official ones through Facebook." Mattie guiltily admitted.
"Well the Hero's gut says they are, but the hero isn't positive so we shall wait." Was Alfred's conclusion.
The blonde latched onto the other's arm, his rain jacket making a loud crinkle. "I don't get why you INSIST on wearing that in the store." She complained.
The brunet blushed, which the blonde didn't notice, but then sighed at her comment. "I insist on wearing it because I don't feel like carrying it."
"I'll carry it." The blonde stated.
"No Mary Ann, I'm fine with it on."
"But James, you look like your cold!" 'Mary Ann' protested.
'James' sighed, "Dose it really matter?" he was already taking the coat off, and it seemed as if he had done this several times before.
"Yes it does!" Mary Ann replied taking the coat and placing it in a magically appearing Borders bag.
They walked into a Claire's, where the James looked even more awkward, but seemed happy to find another male in a similar situation.
"Hey Michael! How you holding up?" He asked. This teen had white hair, violet eyes, and a 'please help me' expression on his face.
"Ok, that one is a state!" Alfred commented pointing to 'Michael', the two countries had been stalking James and Mary Ann.
"Holding up? IT'S WORSE HERE THEN IN ALASKA!" Michael cried, earning an annoyed look from the store manager.
James laughed and turned to Mary Ann, who was now talking to another female, the one who had dragged Michael to 'The Shop from Hell'.
"Mary Ann, Abigail, I'm borrowing Michael and heading to Game Stop, be back later." He said to another brunet girl, around his age, this time with a more mossy shade of green eyes, and a more earthly brown colored hair.
'Abigail' rolled her eyes, "Just because you," she put hands up and did air quotation marks, "'Invented' the X-box doesn't give you the right to show it off to everyone." Alfred noticed she had two rows of metal stuck to her teeth.
James smirked, "Oh yea, and were heading to Starbucks later." Abigail rolled her eyes again.
"Should we talk to them in game stop?" Alfred asked the larger country.
"You're states." Mattie responded." Maybe." He added quickly to the end… too quickly…
Alfred smirked, "So they ARE states!"
Mattie winced, "I've said too much."
Unfortunately, it's impossible for Alfred to stay quiet for too long, and Mary Ann and Abigail heard him.
"Mattie! You gave away the surprise didn't you!" Mary Ann said walking towards them.
Canada shook his head, "NOW the surprise is over."
"Damn it," she muttered." Well try and guess who we are anyhow!"
Alfred smiled at this. "Eeerrmm…..Carolina? No, that's not one of the colonies….Hawaii?"
Mary Ann's eyes went wide and she shook Abigail, "OH GOD WE FORGOT LEILANI!" And with that both girls took off back towards Nordstrom.
Alfred threw Mattie a questioning look, and Mattie shrugged back.
TO LEILANI!
Leilani was comfortably asleep on one of the mattresses, before she was RUDLY shaken awake by a woman in a blue apron.
"Excuse me miss, but you're not allowed to sleep on the mattresses."
"Huh?" Leilani sat up and looked around while rubbing one of her eyes. "Where's Michael? And Abigail? Mary Ann? James?"
The shop clerk looked just about as confused as the girl before her did.
"OH MY GOD LEILANI WERE SOO SORRY WE THOUGHT YOU WERE AWAKE BUT YOU WERENT AND WE SPLIT UP AND THEN FOUND DAD AND THEN HE THOUGHT I MIGHT HAVE BEEN YOU AND THEN WE REMEMBERED YOU!" A blonde girl came running up to the two confused people in the Bedding Department, a brunet trailing behind her.
The blonde hugged the black-haired girl tightly; who truth be told, was still half asleep.
The brunet squinted at the clerks name tag, "Ok…Sarah, you see, our friend here has a habit of falling asleep on us, she was raised in Hawaii so she is used to sleeping all day and such, please excuse her."
The clerk nodded, attempting to stay in authority, and left as a 'Code Three in Kitchen Supplies' boomed almost out of nowhere.
"It's ok Mary Ann; really, I just slept the entire time…" Leilani confessed.
Mary Ann smiled, "OK! Let's head back to Dad now!"
Leilani nodded and hopped off the mattress.
The three girls raced down the corridors of Nordstrom, Leilani now energized after her nap.
They finally reached their destination, two males, around the same age, one wearing a red sweatshirt and jeans, the other in khakis and a bomber jacket. The second was texting intently on his phone, the other watching people walk by with little interest.
"Sorry…..Were late… Leilani … Was sleeping….." Abigail panted, she was in good shape, but it was a good size mall.
The black-haired girl nodded and held out her hand to Alfred, "Leilani Jones, nice to meet you…?"
Alfred smiled and shook it warmly, "Alfred F. Jones! Nice to meet you too! So you're Hawaii?" He asked pieces together the facts.
Leilani nodded and smiled at him, she liked him already.
Mary Ann, her breath now caught, walked over to the two, "So you never guessed what states Abigail and I were!"
Alfred nodded, " Errrmm…..I can only think of a few states that would reasonably have blonde hair, and since I'm figuring the James dude and the Michael dude are other pacific states, along with you, " he nodded to Abigail, "My best guess is California…"
Abigail grinned, "Oh he's good, but my brother and I are almost the same, can you tell who's who?"
At this, the 'hero' frowned. "Hmm….Hint please?"
"One of us is Western Washington, the other is Oregon. Oh and he gets on my nerves all the time reminding me that he 'invented' Starbucks and the X-box…."
Alfred thought for a moment, "Wait, there's two WA's?"
"There are actually three Washingtons, Western, Eastern, and DC." Abigail clarified.
The country nodded, "I'm going with Western Wa because I think the X-box is Portland's Invention."
The brunet shook her head, "Go ducks! I am Or-E-Gon."
Almost on cue, James and Michael walked back from Game Stop.
"Ah! So you guys found the old man!" The silver haired teen exclaimed, tossing a wave in Alfred direction.
The other brunet held up a coffee cup in greeting, "Hey, oh and sorry Abby, we went to Star Bucks without you."
Mary Ann attached herself back to James' arm, making a slight blush creep across his cheeks and a small sigh to escape his lips.
"Can we tell him yet?" James asked Abigail.
"Oh yea! He might already know cause I kinda sort blurted it a little, but you really don't care do you?"
"No its fine," He turned back to Alfred and nodded, "James Jones, not to be confused with my brother Joseph, who is East WA."
"Can I tell him my name?" Michael asked suddenly, it was uncommon for the state to go this long without talking.
"Yea of course!" This time it was Mary Ann who answered.
"My name's Michael! All the states last name is Jones, so it's not worth it putting it on the end, but yea! Oh and I'm Alaska!" The cheery silver haired teen exclaimed, shaking hands with Alfred, who couldn't get a word in this conversation for his life.
Just then Abigail flipped out her phone, "Yes? Sure! See you soon! Virginia is at the Food Court with Pennsylvania!" And the three female Pacific Ocean states were gone.
Mattie, who had quietly been sitting and watching with Michael, spoke up for the first time for…awhile, "Five down thirteen Forty five to go."
