The next day, both the Strider's and the Lalondes received their plane tickets. On their days of departure, Dave was being dragged inside the airport, while Rose was following behind her mother with her head down.
Bro handed the plane ticket to Dave, "Here you go. You have a pack of apple juice, and everything you else you might need. I also gave you a smuppet just in case you got scared in the middle of the night. Don't take any beverage offers from Ms. Lalonde, don't be a dick, and have fun!" He pushed Dave along towards his flight, and made his way out of the airport. Dave glared at his brother and grumbled, "Asswipe."
"Do you have everything you need, Rose?" Mrs. Lalonde asked. "Yes, mother." Rose replied in a mumble. "Good. Now uh," Mrs. Lalonde sighed and turned to face Rose, "beware of swords and strange puppets. Don't let his stupid ways effect your smarticleness. And lastly, don't get killed! Kay, bye." Rose watched her mother strut away and almost trip a couple times. She frowned and whispered to herself before catching her flight, "Love you too, mom."
Hours passed, Dave wrote new raps, and Rose read Goblet of Fire twice. Finally, after what felt like weeks of flying, they landed in their new destinations. Dave was now in New York, and Rose in Texas. Right as they got off their planes, they both were greeted by the exact opposite weather they were used to. Dave shivered in the cold, and Rose had to put her scarf in her bag. Rose spotted a man holding a sign that looked like it was made in Paint and saved as a JPG file with her name on it. Yes, written in Comic Sans. Dave heard a woman calling out the name, "Davey".
Rose walked up to the man, and grimaced up to him. "Rose?" he asked. She nodded. He held out his hand, "Bro Strider. Nice to meet you." Rose shook his hand politely, and her grimace turned into a confused expression, "'Bro'? I thought your name was Dirk." "Yeah, well, I go by Bro. Come on kiddo, we're going to my house." Rose sighed and followed Bro to his car.
Dave walked up to the woman, looking totally calm. "I'm Dave." he told her. The woman stopped running around like a chicken with it's head cut off and looked down at Dave, "Dave Strider?" Dave nodded, "That's my name. Don't wear it out." The woman awkwardly patted Dave's head and introduced herself as Roxy Lalonde, but told him he could call her Mom. "Alright,...Mom." Dave said, both confidently and awkwardly. Assuming that's possible.
"So, are you always this grim?" Bro asked Rose on the ride back to his apartment. Rose grumbled and glared at him as her response. "Imma take that as a yes." Bro said. The rest of the ride was silent, and Rose stared out at the window, resting her chin in her hand. She already felt homesick. She hated the heat, and wanted to go back to the nice coldness of her home. Even though her mother would be there, at least she wouldn't be with some guy who thinks he just walked out of a manga. After what felt like years, Bro finally pulled into the parking lot for a tall apartment complex. Rose looked up at it in slight amazement. Slight because she thought her house looked a lot better. The sound of Bro closing his car door shut startled Rose and snapped her back to the present moment. She scrambled out of the car and watched Bro take her duffle bag out from the trunk. "I can carry that." Rose said after Bro shut the trunk door. Bro insisted, "Naw, it's fine. I've got this." Rose remained stubborn, "No, really. I can carry it." "I've got it." "Bro, please give me my bag." "I insist on carrying it for you." "And I insist on carrying it for myself. I'm not an infant." "I never said you were."
Rose fell silent as a flashback played in her mind. Her mother's voice rang inside her head, "No, Rose! You're too much of a baby to do this on your own!" "Fine," Rose said quietly, "carry it." Without another word, Bro started leading Rose up the many flights of stairs.
Dave slid into the passenger's seat of Mom's car and immediately turned on the radio. Mom shook her head and turned the volume down, "No, no, no, honey. I've got way too much of a headache goin' on in my noggin that I can hardly stand loud noises right now. Let alone music." "Damn, that sucks. Why do you have such a huge headache?" Dave asked. His question was answered when he looked down and saw at least five empty vodka bottles by his feet. "Oh..." he realized, "Hey are you sure you should be driving?" Just as he asked, Mom backed out of her spot with such force that Dave would go flying backwards if there weren't anything there to support him. Dave swiftly grabbed the seat-belt and fastened it as quickly as possible, and held onto that-weird-handle-on-the-car-ceiling for dear life. Mom sped on, nearly running red lights twice. After a while, Mom drove up a snowy mountain and made her way to a large, white house (which looked like it could pass as a mansion to Dave), included with an observatory. Dave would be staring at it in it awe if he didn't have his cool-guy act on. Mom exited the car, accidentally slamming the door shut. When Dave jumped, Mom apologized to him through the window. He gave her a thumbs up, and finally released the handle. He could feel the coldness creeping rapidly into the car. He hurried out of the car and saw Mom already dragging his suitcase to the house. He closed the passenger door and caught up with her.
A/N: Sorry that this chapter took half a million years for me to publish, guys. At first it was because I wasn't all too motivated, but then it turned into being swamped with homework. So, yes, chapter updates will be slow. If this story is still going on around summertime, updates should be a little faster. So there's that to look forward to, I guess.