Hello my dear readers! I'm sorry this chappie is late... I was away for vacation, but now I'm back! Yay!
Anyway, enjoy the reading! (P.S.- Reviews or feedback would be great! Let me know what you think!)
~IndigoTides
The flight to New York was pretty smooth. Literally and figuratively.
Uncle Elmer decided to take a private jet instead of the usual commercial planes with fancy drinks and leathery couches. Of course, Daniel drank up the view from the air and sent them to some of her friends back home through her laptop.
But the real excitement waited in the city of wonders. It was already around noon, and Daniel got to see 5th Avenue with all the shops, stop buy a few street vendors for snacks and watch a concert by some celebrity that was covered head to toe in feathers. Although Daniel couldn't tell what words she was singing, the thrill of excitement of the crowd gave her chills as it surged to the beat.
By the time it was over, Daniel's stomach was starting to mimic a lion's roar. Uncle Elmer hailed down a taxi cab, giving specific directions to head back to their hotel.
"Uncle Elmer? Do you think we could stop by a shop for lunch? I haven't eaten since the plane ride."
He gave her his famous grin. "Dani-girl, you're the captain of this ship. Tell me where you think is good to eat." The car hit a pot hole, and swerved hard to the right. Daniel banged her head on the window with a hollow clunk, the driver swearing like a fiend.
"Easy on the turns, please," Uncle Elmer requested.
"Yessir," came the response.
Daniel rubbed her temple, searching out the window for an interesting lunch spot. There were a couple minutes of silence as she searched.
"Uncle Elmer! I think I found-" Daniel started.
A cheerful noise interrupted her discovery, drowning out the noise of the taxi's engine. Uncle Elmer held up his index finger for the 'one minute' symbol and dug through his pocket. He triumphantly pulled out his flip phone, which was now in the midst of playing the Star Wars theme song.
"Doctor Green," he greeted curtly, cutting off the cherry tune. A serious expression wiped out his usual care free look, and he began stroking his chin in thought.
"Yes, I see but... of course sir... maybe I can schedule something for today. How does lunch sound at the diner by Mario's? Yessir... of course I'll bring it... yes...see you soon."
He shut the phone with a resounding snap and turned towards his niece.
"I'm sorry for such the late notice, Daniel. That was Mr. Saki, the director I'm meeting with for Derrin's idea. Maybe we can do that lunch with just us another time."
Daniel gave a small smile and said,
"No problem, Uncle Elmer. Besides, we have a full week until we head back, so that'd be plenty of time!"
Doctor Green ruffled her hair playfully and responded,
"Atta girl!"
The cab made another heart-stopping lurch forward, barely missing a group of business men on the crosswalk. While the car stalled, Daniel eyed the near missed men. They were identical, down to the last button on their suits. All of them in the group - which looked like four men - hovered at least six feet. The suits, she noticed, were all freshly pressed and shoes were shined.
She rolled down her window and nudged her uncle.
"Look! Quadruplets! Do you think they're in a show?"
At that remark, all four heads swiveled towards the car. But what startled Daniel the most were the faces. She'd expected them to smile, or wave, or keep walking like all native New Yorkers. Instead, they stared at her with the utmost expression of pure blankness. With half lidded eyes, they could've been thinking anything. And that scared her.
One of them reaching into his jacket's pocket, but another one of his buddies laid a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. He reluctantly took his hand out of the deep pocket, and the whole group departed to the sidewalk with odd, jerky steps.
"Eh? Quadruplets? Must be a street show or something..." Uncle Elmer returned his eyes downcast on the phone in his hand.
The rest of the cat ride carried on with no conversation, except for the driver occasionally pitting out colorful words because of close call accidents.
Then they were parked outside the hotel in only a matter of minutes, Daniel rubbing new bruises of her forehead. The driver turned towards his passengers and barked,
"That'd be $15.75 sir."
Uncle Elmer gave him a crumpled up bill and called over his shoulder,
"Keep the change! Come on, Dani-girl."
Daniel scrambled out of the cab to her awaiting uncle, who had retrieved his briefcase out of the trunk. Once the taxi peeled out of the shoulder, Uncle Elmer pulled a cream colored folder out of his bag and handed it to his niece.
"Would you mind slipping this into my room? Actually, you can keep it in your room if my key doesn't work. It's just some extra info on the Biomimetics project." He stood up strait and checked his watch. "I should be back around 2:00 at the latest for the lunch. There's still some of that leftover pizza in the fridge, if you want it. And stay out of trouble!"
Daniel replied sarcastically,
"Oh, you know me. The cops are on my trail like crazy!"
Her uncle smiled, and gave her a slip of paper with emergency contact information. He made sure she slipped it into her pocket left with a friendly wink.
Daniel scuffed the sidewalk with her toe, thinking,
I love Uncle Elmer, but he's always leaving for meetings with his work... if I was manager for Silver Studios, I would make sure all meetings would be short, sweet, and to the point. In fact, I'd move the company right here to the Big Apple. Yeah! The company would stand in a gleaming skyscraper, and we'd have thousands of clients and other people working with us! Every worker would get their own floor with a private lab, heck maybe even a balcony, and Derrin would be my secretary!
That made her smile. Derrin, the possibly big brotherly-ist person in the company working right next door to her! There would be office wars with the cool supplies, races down the hall on swivel chairs, and prank call to random strangers.
Although I'm here only for a short amount of time, Daniel thought, it seems as though I'm homesick already. There's the big labs, friendly people to hang out with, little cousins barging around, and- UFF!
Daniel struck something very tall and fell, landing hard on her bottom. She groaned and rubbed her elbow sorely which was peppered with bits of gravel from the fall. Stupid pole.
"Ow," came another voice. Daniel's head shot up, and she felt her face flush with embarrassment. She didn't walk into a pole… it was a person!
"Ohmygosh!I'msosorry!IguessIdidn' ?" gushed a very red faced Daniel. She's only been here for a couple of hours and had already showed off her clumsiness.
The other teen waved her off. "It's no biggie. Seriously, I've had a lot worse than just walking into people. Have you tried stop signs? Or taxi cabs? Yeah- they hurt!" She bent on the ground to pick up the scattered papers from Daniel's folder. Daniel followed her example, her face still flushed.
The girl, with the papers all collected in one hand, straitened up, hauling Daniel to her feet as well. Daniel collected the paperwork and shoved it into the folder.
She could now see up close of the other girl. She wore a red blouse with a pair of black shorts that reached her knees. On her feet were platform sandals-hence why she easily topped Daniel off by a good foot- and a matching headband to the shoes. Her long black hair was put into a low braid. But her eyes were really cool, almost like the color of fire. Bright red flames that seemed to dance around the pupil. This girl, Daniel thought enviously, could easily pass as a model! Daniel then said,
"Are you sure I didn't bruise you or anything?"
The other girl laughed and replied,
"Of course not. I'm Roxanne by the way."
"My name's Daniel, but most people like to call me Dani."
Daniel's stomach rumbled and roared, while Roxanne looked on with an amused look.
"I'm pretty hungry myself. I know this cute little café a couple blocks from here we could go to for a quick lunch," Roxanne suggested, hitching a thumb in the direction.
"Sure! I'd love to!" agreed Daniel. "But I need to run this up to my room before we go. Do you mind?"
Roxanne shook her head and smiled.
"I'll be right here. Just hurry! It gets packed by the lunch hour!"
The teen nodded, and sprinted in to the building. She couldn't wait! Had she just made a new friend on day one of visiting her dream vacation? Check. Mate.