AN: I'm so happy that so many people are reading this story. I was so worried that no one would like this with the other regular characters in it, but judging by all the wonderful reviews that I keep getting in my inbox I can tell that you all really like this. So here's a new chapter for you guys. Hope you all like this one. PLZ R&R!
Disclaimer: See first chapter.
Chapter 7: Moving Day
Ryan awoke early the next morning to noise outside of his room. He slowly sat up as the door opened and Kirsten appeared in the doorway.
"Time to get up," she smiled at him. "Today is the big day."
"I'm coming," he slowly got up from the floor, where he had slept on a pile of blankets the night before.
"We're not eating breakfast before we leave. We'll just stop at a gas station and grab something to go." She told him as he started folding up the blankets. "So do what you have to do, and come help us load up. The U-Haul should be here in a few minutes."
"Got it," Ryan went down the hall to the bathroom as she went back to Seth's room to make sure that he was actually getting up.
Ryan came downstairs and saw two guys in uniform lifting boxes and taking them outside. Ryan started to help them as Kirsten pulled Seth downstairs.
"Why are we starting so early?" Seth grumbled.
"We don't want a lot of people finding out," Kirsten reminded him. "If we only take one break, we should get to the new house by evening."
"Got it," Seth started loading up the U-Haul with Ryan as Kirsten double-checked everything.
An hour later, Ryan and Seth had back packs slung over their shoulders as they waited by the rover. Kirsten was writing out directions for the moving truck drivers as they saw Rose pull up the driveway.
"My husband will be there if you get there first," Kirsten told the driver as her mom approached her. "Mom, what are you doing here?"
"Saying good bye to my family," She told her. "And I brought you all coffee, bagels, snacks, and drinks for the road."
"Thank you," Kirsten put it all in the front seat.
"And I have something for the boys," she gave them each a plain, small box. "Hopefully they'll keep them occupied on the trip up there."
Seth and Ryan opened the packages and saw e-readers, along with gift cards to Amazon. They hugged and thanked her as Kirsten smiled at the sight.
"When you turn them on, there's a website that I bookmarked for you that offer free e-books every day." Rose told them. "You can download music and videos onto them too."
"Thank you, mom." Kirsten hugged her. "We'll call you tonight, and at least once a day."
"I'll be expecting it tonight." Rose hugged Seth next. "Try not to drive your parents too crazy."
"I wouldn't be a teenager if I didn't try to drive them crazy." Seth smiled at her as she hugged Ryan last.
"Give them a chance, Ryan." She whispered. "You all need each other."
"I'll miss you," Ryan told her earnestly.
"Come on, boys. We need to get going." Kirsten called and they climbed into the rover; Seth in the front seat, and Ryan in the back. "Mom, if anyone asks-"
"You're all on vacation," Rose interrupted her. "I'll cover for you as long as I can."
"We'll be getting new cell phones in a few days; ones without GPS tracking in them. I'll call you with the phone numbers."
"I understand," Rose smiled. "You better get going. You have a long day ahead of you with two teenagers in the car. Good luck with that."
"Thanks," Kirsten hugged her mom one last time.
Kirsten handed out coffee and bagels before starting the car and pulling down the driveway. Ryan turned around and waved to Rose and she waved back as she watched their car disappear down the road.
They had been driving for a few hours when Kirsten decided that they needed to stop for some lunch. She glanced at Seth and Ryan and saw them both sound asleep. She took her right hand and shook Seth, who was next to her in the front seat.
"Seth," she shook him again.
"What-" he slowly sat up and looked around.
"Are you getting hungry?"
"I'm always hungry." He told her.
"Ryan?" Kirsten raised her voice a little. "Are you hungry?"
"He can't hear you. I gave him my I Pod to listen to." Seth turned and shook Ryan, and he startled awake. "Sorry, dude."
"What's going on?" Ryan removed the ear buds.
"We were going to stop for lunch. Are you hungry?" Kirsten asked him.
"Yeah," Ryan sat up as Kirsten pulled into the parking lot of a Subway.
They all climbed out of the car and started inside. They all waited in line and took turns placing their orders. After they got their drinks, they all silently sat at a table and started eating.
"How long until we get to the house?" Seth asked.
"A couple hours, maybe more." Kirsten told him. "The movers should be there by the time we get there."
"What is there to do in Berkeley?" Ryan asked suddenly.
"There's quite a bit," Kirsten smiled at him.
"If I remember correctly, the marina is near our house." Seth spoke up.
"Ryan might not like sailing or surfing like you and your dad." Kirsten spoke up. "There are also art museums, libraries, outlet malls…"
Ryan silently listened to them tell him about all the sights of Berkeley and what they thought he would like to do. Seth was trying to convince him to go sailing with him since his little catamaran was on its way to the new house with the rest of their things.
"So have you been anywhere other than Chino Ryan?" Seth asked.
"I used to live in Fresno." Ryan said softly. "We moved to Chino when I was about eight or nine I think."
"Why'd you move?" Kirsten asked him.
"Well-My dad was arrested…"
"It's ok, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
The rest of lunch was spent in awkward silence as they finished eating and headed back out to the rover. This time, Ryan sat in the front and Seth climbed into the back seat. They both promptly fell back asleep within ten minutes of being on the road again.
Kirsten started getting drowsy as the trip was almost to a close. Her phone started to ring and she greeted Sandy on the other end.
"Hey honey," she heard Sandy's voice. "How are the boys?"
"They're both sound asleep," she told him. "How's it going at the house?"
"The U-Haul just got here. How long until you guys get here do you think?"
"According to the GPS, we have about another hour."
"All right," she heard Sandy sigh. "I'm going to help the movers unload the trucks. I'll see you guys soon."
Kirsten slowed down a little while later and pulled down a side street. Both Seth and Ryan slowly sat up and looked around.
"Are we there?" Seth asked.
"Almost," Kirsten told him.
They drove for a little longer until Kirsten slowed down and pulled into a driveway. Ryan saw Sandy unloading the U-Haul as they all climbed out of the car.
"Hey, you all made it." Sandy smiled at them. "We're just about done unloading here."
"Is my boat all right?" Seth rushed over.
"It's fine, son." Sandy assured him. "It's in the garage. We'll move it to the marina in a few days, and get all the permits and things."
Ryan walked to the U-Haul as Sandy greeted Kirsten with a tight hug. Ryan started to grab a box and took it into his new house.
"Are you all right?" Sandy looked down at Kirsten.
"I'm just exhausted," she sighed. "Almost seven hours of driving, plus we left so early."
"We'll get everything unloaded for now, just get the beds put together for tonight, and start on the unpacking tomorrow."
"Sounds good," they started into the house as the boys came back out to get more boxes.
"All right," Sandy came back into the house after tipping the movers and saw the sea of boxes. "For now since all the boxes are labeled, we'll just put the boxes in the rooms that they belong. All the bedrooms are upstairs. You guys go ahead and pick out your rooms."
"I want my old room," Seth grabbed a box and rushed upstairs, with Ryan following behind him.
Forty five minutes later, all the boxes were in the appropriate rooms. Ryan and Seth came into the kitchen as Kirsten was searching the boxes for something.
"Is there any food here or are we ordering pizza again?" Seth asked.
"There are a few things here, but we do need some more." Sandy took fifty dollars out of his wallet and handed it to Ryan. "Why don't you guys go find a grocery store and get us some things?"
"What kind of things?" Ryan asked.
"Just get the basics for now," Kirsten handed the keys to the rover to Seth. "Bread, milk, eggs, lunchmeat…"
"And if you guys want some snacks, get those also if you have any money left. You pick some things out too, Ryan."
They both left the house and they heard the rover start up and fade away. Sandy turned to Kirsten as she sighed in defeat.
"Honey, we'll find everything tomorrow." He assured her. "You need to relax and get some rest."
"I know," she sat down on one of the barstools at the counter.
"What else is going on?" he sat down beside her.
"I got a little taste of Ryan's life when we stopped for lunch. He said he used to live in Fresno?"
"Yeah, they moved once his father was sentenced."
"Do you know what he was accused of?"
"Armed robbery," he told her. "I think it was a gas station or something."
"How long is he in there for?"
"He won't be getting out anytime soon. The attendant that was working there was shot in the middle of the hold up."
"There's so much that we need to learn about him," Kirsten sighed.
"It'll be all right. We have all the time in the world." Sandy assured her.
Seth and Ryan returned a little while later with their arms weighed down with grocery bags.
"You got all this with just the money that I gave you?" Sandy started unloading it all.
"We found an Aldi's," Ryan told them. "It's a discount store. It has all the same things that the franchise store has. It's just not name brand."
"Great find kid," Sandy told him.
"We also passed a Dollar Tree," Seth told them. "Ryan said that almost everything in the store is a dollar."
"We'll check out the rest of the town in a few days." Kirsten told them.
"Can we order pizza yet?" Seth asked.
"Go ahead," Sandy handed him a takeout menu. "One of my colleagues gave me that. He said that we'd probably live off that place the first week that we're here."
"Let's hope not," Kirsten stated. "I am determined to learn how to cook."
"Oh god," Seth mumbled. "I'm putting this number on speed dial."
"Very funny," Kirsten turned to Sandy. "Ryan decided that he wants to teach me how to cook."
"We told him that wasn't necessary." Sandy told her.
"It was my idea. Besides, it's a way for us to bond a little more."
"Maybe I should find something for us to bond over." Sandy watched Ryan put the bag of snacks on the counter by the sink.
Ryan collapsed on his bed after getting ready to turn in for the night. This was the first time in a long time that he could remember going to bed before ten o'clock, but he was so exhausted. They just decided to put the beds together so that they all had a place to sleep on that night, and just start on everything else in the morning.
Ryan got under the covers and looked around his new room. He liked their new house; it wasn't a mansion like the Cohen's house in Newport, but he thought it was the perfect house for the four of them. When you walked in the front door you were standing in the foyer, where Kirsten said she wanted to put the formal dinner table. To the right was the family room, to the left was the kitchen, and set back a little ways was the staircase.
Through the back of the kitchen was a sliding screen door that led to a big backyard. There was also a small room off the kitchen that Kirsten told them was the laundry room. Upstairs were four bedrooms; the master bedroom, two bedrooms for Ryan and Seth, and a guest room.
Most of the appliances were provided for them; there was a stove, refrigerator/freezer, dishwasher, and a garbage disposal in the sink. Seth was happy that there was an ice dispenser in the freezer door. The only things they needed to get was the washer and dryer, which Kirsten said they would go shopping in a few days.
Ryan could definitely see himself settling in here with his new family. He slowly drifted off to sleep, thinking about all the new memories the four of them would make in this house.
AN: So what'd you all think of this latest chapter? I hope you liked it. PLZ R&R!
