Sorry, this is a really short one. The next chapter may clue you in to where I'm heading with the storyline, I'm still setting up the game plan so I hope you're hanging in there?
Thanks again for the fabulous reviews.
It was late, Tintin was in bed watching the beginnings of a storm outside her window. Rain had began to run down the glass distorting the flashes of lightning in the distant skies, the sound mixed with the rumbling thunder was peaceful beyond words, it was a sound she could have fallen asleep to.
That was until her phone gave a shrill cry, cutting through her drifting thoughts she was forced from her reverie to roll over and check the screen. Unknown Number. Accept call?
She sighed, taking a moment to decide whether she wanted to know or even bother with finding out who the mystery person on the end of the line was, especially at that time of night. She debated declining and sending the caller straight to her voice mail with the pretence that she was already asleep like the quiet house around her.
Curiosity soon betrayed her though and before she knew it a familiar voice broke into the storm filled air.
"Hey, Tin."
She smiled widely, rolling onto her back and staring up at the ceiling. Thankful to her curiosity. "Hey yourself! What's with the new number? I almost didn't pick up."
"Ah, sorry about that, I'm actually on a payphone. I'll pick up another cell at some point but I just wanted to say hi… How are things?"
She thought Alan sounded more upbeat than the last time they'd spoken, the stress in his voice had decreased and the amused tone he'd always carried in the past was resurfacing. It was a nice sound, it beat the storm.
"I'm good Allie. Missing you, wondering what you're doing, you know. How are your adventures? I haven't received any of the countless postcards or emails that I am in no doubt that you've been sending."
Alan had sent her cards in the past, especially through his college years. Looking across her darkened room she could see them tacked over the messy desk in a rainbow of different colors, lit up by a flash of lightning with the smiles and embraces of the photos surrounding them. Some of the cards were just to say 'hey, what's up?', and others were for birthdays, valentines, Christmas. Anything he could have found an excuse to send a card for.
He laughed lightly, the sound lifting her soul. Damn, she missed him. So did Fermat for that matter, but Tintin missed Alan in a whole different way, she just wasn't sure he realized the extent or whether he reciprocated the emotion or understood just how much those cards meant to her.
"You should come out Tin, spend some of that vacation time you're due. I'm loving being on the road but it would be great to spend some time catching up."
"You miss me?" She grinned madly to herself, wondering how annoyed everyone on the island would be if she followed suit and 'did an Alan' so to speak. Not literally of course. Ha.
"Of course I do! Come out to the mainland… Just for a week or so, keep me company for a while. Be my travel buddy."
"I'm not sure Allie, your brothers are pretty upset that you're talking to me and not them. I'm not going to be the source of any arguments between your family and you."
Since her outburst things had been awkward to say the least, her anger had rode that wave of emotion for a few long days but eventually she'd given up even trying to make them see how upset she was. They were worried about their brother, Jeff was worried about his youngest son, and Fermat and Brains were worried about their latest prototype exploding. That brooding anger seemed pretty pointless when no one paid attention to it.
"What if I talk to them?" He asked, hope in his voice tainted by something akin to dread. "They'd understand that I want to see you, I know they would."
She frowned, unsure whether it was an offer to take up or not.
"You'd speak to them just to secure me some vacation time?" Maybe it would work, though she was old enough to make her own decisions her worry was that she was employed on the island. If she lost that then she wasn't quite sure where she'd stand. Not that they'd ever fire her, but with anger brewing as it was you never knew. "You know Scott is still pretty pissed with the whole vanishing act you pulled."
"Yeah?" Alan laughed slyly, his voice mixing with the increasing downpour of rain on the island. "I'm inviting you over Tin, I didn't invite Scott, or John for that matter, and I didn't agree to be taken home. It wasn't a vanishing act so much as a 'thank for coming, see you later' kinda thing. I just didn't hang around for the oncoming lecture and potential kidnapping."
She rolled her eyes, wishing she'd seen the look on Scott's face once he;d realized Alan had them bamboozled. John seemed relatively accepting of the whole thing, he'd been annoyed at first but he'd gotten over it after a few beers and some light Gordon humor. Scott though? Scott was wallowing in self pity and scheming on what he was going to do to Alan when they next met. He was a walking rant of 'woe is me', taking the Royal Shakespeare Company on at amateur dramatics.
"Are you going to speak to him?" Again, part of her would have liked to witness that.
"I know I said I'd speak to them but I was hoping he didn't count."
"You've got to apologize, you know that." She'd heard about the hangover and it had not sounded pretty, any brother willing to see Alan through that kind of humiliation was worth their weight in gold, potential kidnapper or not she thought that the kind of love that warranted was priceless.
"Yeah, I guess. It was pretty funny though." A rumble of thunder on her end mixed in with a chuckle of his dry familiar laughter.
"Alan!" She glared at the phone but smiled all the same, missing that 'devil may care' side of him. "I'll see what I can do about taking some time off. Where are you anyway?"
"I'm actually heading to New York, I'm not really sure what I'm wanting to do so I figured I needed inspiration."
"In New York?" She frowned, remembering the busy streets and hectic lives the people there lived, it wasn't somewhere she particularly liked. She wasn't entirely sure why but she imagined him stood somewhere bright and filled with sunshine, skin as warm as his smile as he intermittently slotted coins into the payphone and smiled down the line.
"No silly, I rang you. You inspire me."
She full on chocked with laughter, if she'd been drinking she would have spat it out. "You're turning hipster on me Allie, peace, love and rock and roll. I'm feeling a vibe of love."
"What!" He laughed along with her, the sound of another coin breaking the air for a second. "Just think about it, ok? A phone call isn't really the same as being face to face, and you know I'm not ready to come home. There are things on the island that I miss, and you have a vacation due, put that together and you've got a plane ticket to buy." He was beginning to sound smug, he knew he had her the moment she'd decided to accept the call.
"Talk to your brothers and then we'll talk."
"Ok..." He answered hesitantly. "And Scott?"
"Even Scott."
A comfortable silence passed between them, the sounds of the storm on Tracy Island mixed with the sound of a car passing wherever Alan was gave a calming ambiance.
"Is Fermat mad at me?"
She frowned, a tinge of guilt settling in her stomach as she realized she'd forgotten one of her best friends in the situation, too concerned with herself and when she'd get to see her best friend again. "I actually haven't seen him much recently," She admitted, rubbing her eyes sleepily and making a mental note to seek the guy out the following day, "he's been working with Brains on something. Haven't you spoken to him?"
"I've been an idiot Tin. I didn't think things through and then I was all caught up in myself and my ridiculous issues, I've really let you both down." He breathed out a long weary sigh. "I'll call him tomorrow, it'll be the first call I make… though without a phone it's kind of hard, but as soon as I find a payphone it'll be the first!"
"I'll hold you to it. And don't beat yourself up, neither of us blame you for wanting to be away from the island. I'm on your side Alan, I always will be."
"I really do miss you, Tin." He said quietly. "I'll make things right, I'll make my Dad and brothers proud, and when I do come back? It'll be for the right reasons."
"Alan…"
"Talk again soon, ok? Keep smiling for me."
"Alan?"
As the call went dead Tintin lay back on the bed, the uncertainty of how the situation between the young blonde and his family would end making her all the more nervous as to what the future would hold. None of them could stand anymore hurt, yet neither side would back down.
"D- d- father, if we can create a re- reverse magnetized pull we could cre- cre- make a shimmer type apparition. But the effect of the magnetic interference may ma- m- cause problems."
Nodding at his son, Hiram leant over his shoulder and looked at the computer screen he sat behind, eying the calculations. "I'm imp- press- pleased son, we can work with this."
The cloaking device was one step closer to reality. With ever growing public interest on the Thunderbirds it was well needed.
Bug me enough and I'll make sure the next chapter is out quicker.
I've just started a really good book so you need to distract me from it!
