A/N: Hi. c: RER! (Haha… my own little version of R&R. Read, Enjoy, and Review.)
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Without looking up, Hobbes said, "You're going to take me to college with you."
Calvin relaxed. He wouldn't mind doing that at all. After all, Hobbes was his best friend. He breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled at Hobbes.
Hobbes was smiling back at him smugly. "And…"
Oh no. Calvin's smile faded.
"You're going to find Susie Derkins."
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Hobbes dropped his half of Calvin's suitcase on floor of the apartment. "Gosh, what did you pack in here, cement?" he said as he rubbed his arm and shoulders.
"Oh yes, definitely. But don't worry, I managed to fit some comic books in there, too," Calvin remarked as he set down his side of the load and looked at the room. He whistled. "Damn, Mom and Dad did really well this time. Look at this place!"
The room was indeed a paradise for the college freshman. There was a mini kitchen, a separate bedroom, a fireplace ("Can we make a fireball?" Hobbes remarked upon seeing this), hardwood floors and carpet where appropriate, and a big, plushy couch in the middle of the semi-small, but perfect for one person (or maybe two), living room. The walls were a blank egg-shell white, but that could easily be fixed. Calvin was thinking of a dark green for the walls. Out the window, Calvin could see his future learning domain in the distance. The sky was clear and a nice light shade of blue, and a cloud sailed by like a ship. Like a spaceship…
Spaceman Spiff, interplanetary extraordinaire, was tearing through space, zooming away as fast as he could from his adversaries.
"This cockpit is getting crammed…" Spaceman Spiff muttered under his breath. "I can barely fit anymore."
The small red ship was hurtling toward yet another unknown planet, and the Zorgs were on Spiff's tail.
"Zounds! The Zorg's have launched their missiles! I'm hit! Spaceman Spiff is going DOWN!"
CRASH! Spiff crawled out of the wreckage, miraculously unscathed. The earth erupted next to him, bubbling with toxic chemicals. The planet was a wasteland of acids and precarious cliffs. Looking around, it seems that our hero is utterly alone.
Spiff turns around to see an alien on the planet! It has made no move to attack, but Spiff stealthily drew his death ray blaster and pointed it at the monster.
"Calvin, what are you doing?" Hobbes asked him. Calvin had taken out the water gun and was pointing it at him suspiciously. Hobbes carefully took a step forward. "Calvin?"
"Blorkz?" the alien sputtered out. Spaceman Spiff kept his blaster trained on it. The Zork took a step forward. "Blorkz?" it repeated.
Spiff eyed it carefully. It continued to walk forward slowly. He kept his finger on the trigger, gently applying pressure, little by little. It was getting closer… and closer…
Hobbes snapped in front of Calvin's face. Calvin shook himself, coming out of the daydream. Hobbes looked at him strangely. "What was that all about?"
"What? Ah, oh, nothing," Calvin said. "Don't worry, I'm not going insane." I think…strange, he's never been in a Spaceman Spiff adventure before, he thought to himself.
Hobbes shrugged. "Alright." His voice became urgent. "Okay, unpack your stuff! Hurry!"
"What? Why?" Calvin started to rush in reaction to the tiger's urgent tone, and dumped his clothes from the suitcase onto the floor. His toiletries fell out as well, rolling under the couch and all over the room. Looking at the mess, he opened his mouth and closed it again. "That probably wasn't the best idea I've had," he said to Hobbes, who only chuckled to himself.
"Oh, well. At least you're unpacked. Come on, get out your computer. We have work to do."
"Work?" Then Calvin remembered his deal with Hobbes. He sighed and pulled out his laptop, plugged it in, and waited for it to load. Hobbes wandered around the apartment, exclaiming at the large queen sized bed in the bedroom.
"Woah! This thing is huge!" he said. Turning to Calvin, who was lying down on the floor in front of his laptop, he glared at him accusingly. "Hopefully it's big enough for you, space-hog. And I call the fluffy pillow!"
"What? No! And call me a space-hog, will you? We'll see about that, fuzz-for-brains!" He and Hobbes leapt towards each other at the same time. As they fought, they flung Calvin's clothes all over the room, creating a world of clothes chaos.
The computer sang out a blissful tune, making Calvin and Hobbes turn to look at it. "Oh, hey, it's done loading." Hobbes let go of Calvin's shirt as Calvin let go of Hobbes's ear, and they both went to lie down in front of the laptop.
"Alright, so where do you want me to go?" Calvin asked, as if their scuffle had not even happened.
"I don't know. You know this thing better than I do. Just look for Susie Derkins," Hobbes was tapping the screen, trying to figure out how to work the computer. "Amazing how much of our lives is still governed by machines, isn't it?"
"Yeah, yeah," Calvin said impassively. Swatting Hobbes away from the screen, Calvin typed in Susie's name to the California yellow pages. Instantly, a name came up, and Calvin recognized Susie's mother's name. "Got it!" he yelled, proud of his discovery. Hobbes grinned. "Alright… well here's Susie's house phone number, but I don't know if we should call. She might not live there anymore, you know?"
Hobbes put on a thoughtful expression. "Well…" he said, drawing out the vowel, "we could call and ask. That never hurts."
Calvin nodded slowly, uncertain on whether he should agree. He didn't know if he wanted to call. His original plan was to find out where Susie was and be done with it, but now that he had, he was getting more intrigued. What had happened to her? What was she doing? Did she remember him?
Calvin nodded again, more confident in himself. "Sure. I'll call."
Hobbes looked at him, surprised. It wasn't the answer he'd been expecting. Then he smiled. Calvin saw his eyes crinkle as Hobbes looked at him knowingly. They stared each other down for a few seconds before Calvin looked away. Hobbes continued to look at him, smiling slightly.
Calvin began to feel awkward, squirming under Hobbes's gaze. "What? I just want to find out, is all. Nothing special." Hobbes started grinning. "Stop looking at me like that! Shut up."
Hobbes got up and skipped to the bedroom. "I didn't say anything!" he said in sing-song.
Uncertainly, Calvin turned back to the computer, muttering to himself about the foolishness of some tigers. He stared at the name on the computer screen. Unsure of what else to do, Calvin got the phone number and steeled himself to call Susie Derkins's California home.
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A/N: c: Don't forget to review! I'd really appreciate it.