Authors Note: Hey everyone, thanks for the awesome positive response to the first chapter :) I'm glad that you all enjoyed it! So nobody guessed correctly who called Mercedes I'm sorry to say but some of you were VERY close. Anyways, as always make sure to check out the website for new outfits, and to see the promo video if you haven't seen it yet. I also have a second one posted on my LJ :) It's actually my favorite one but I can't post it on my website because it's not a Youtube video. Anyways -- enough chit chat coming from me. On with the story! I hope you all enjoy Part Two! Also, don't be afraid to send a review. I accept anonymous reviews so even if you don't have an account on here, feel free to tell me what you think anyways :)
Happy Reading,
- RIP.
PS. Someone mentioned in Part One that the chapters are long. I do apologize for that but just to warn you, the chapters is this segment WILL indeed be very long. I think there is only one chapter out of eleven that is under 6,000 words. But hey, that means more to read and more to satisfy right? :)
PLAYLIST:
I Wish You Were Here
- by -
Incubus
It's The Fear
Skeleton In The Closet: Part 2 of 11
Mercedes POV
- Wicklow, Ireland 2009 -
I checked the caller ID and was a little shocked at what it read. Dustin tried to get a look at who it was but I quickly brought the phone to my ear and pressed send, completely forgetting that he was even with me, "Hello?" I said anxiously as my heartbeat picked up.
"Mercedes!" Came a cracked voice from over the receiver.
"Ayden!" I cried.
I felt Dustin tense beside me when I uttered Ayden's name but didn't pay any mind to it. I was too excited that Ayden had actually called, but at the same time, I was actually kind of worried. His voice told me that something was the matter. My heart sped up and stopped all in the span of a few seconds. I wasn't sure why in the hell I was getting myself so worked up. Maybe it was because of the fact that Ayden never called me. Never. The only times he ever called my phone was if it was an emergency. My overreacting thoughts immediately came up with a long list of things that could've happened.
The line was dead silent for a long time. Only the sound of his heavy breathing could be heard. Then finally, after what seemed like forever on my side of the line, he spoke, "How are you doing out there?" Ayden asked me quietly.
I sighed, "Uhm…it's great. I'm in Ireland right now but I'm getting ready to leave for the Czech Republic in a couple hours." I told him.
"The Czech Republic?" his voice came out in an incredulous manner. I could just see him running his hand through his jet black shaggy hair. "What's in the Czech Republic?" he asked curiously.
I snorted, "A haunted castle."
"Obviously, I mean you aren't going to go to a non-haunted location, you are a Ghost Hunter after all." he reported playfully. His voice sounded much more relaxed—not at all like the broken voice that I had heard over the phone.
I had really missed the playful banner between Ayden and I. It had only been a couple weeks, but I found myself growing extremely homesick. I found myself missing Whitefield and going to my parent's house for a Sunday afternoon lunch despite the long drive I had to make to get there. I even missed messing around with my little brother like I was now. I missed all of it.
"So is there a reason behind this call or are you just trying to bug me or something?" I asked teasingly.
I heard his booming laugh and had to pull the phone away from my ear, "Can't a little brother call his big sister to have a little chat every once in a while?" he asked.
A smirk crossed my features, "Normally yes, but in your case, no. You never call, so what's up? I know it's something." I pushed. There was a few moments of silence before I finally heard him mumbled something, "What was that little brother?" I asked with my smirk still in place. As the words left my mouth I finally felt Dustin relax behind me. It hadn't crossed my mind that I hadn't told him about Ayden so he would obviously be a little curious as to who Ayden actually was.
Ayden mumbled something else—breaking me from my other thoughts. It sounded like he was cursing under his breath at me. "I didn't quite catch that." I added in for the fun of it.
"I said……I miss you. There, I said it. I miss my big sister. Are you happy now?" he spat in an exasperated tone.
"Yes, quite. It's nice to know that you show some form of emotions. Usually you are off in your room sulking like a little emo kid or messing around with your precious Black Beauty." I giggled. Actually, that wasn't completely true because Ayden was usually a pretty cheerful person although, he did have his brooding moments.
I heard him gasp, "You did not just insult Black Beauty!"
"It's a guitar…" I trailed off, stressing the word 'guitar'. "It won't care if it gets insulted because it won't know. It doesn't have ears or anything."
I heard a soft snort come from beside me and saw Dustin trying hard to hold back his laughter. I reached down and grabbed one of his hands in mine, twining our fingers together. Once Dustin had relaxed after hearing Ayden was just my little brother, he had switched from his previous position. He was now comfortably leaning back against the tree with his eyes closed and one hand behind his head while the other was held lightly in my grasp.
"Whatever, you're just jealous because you can't play the guitar. You tried and epically failed." Ayden retorted.
I frowned, bringing up the memory in my mind of when Ayden and I had decided to take guitar lessons back when I was in High School and he was in Junior High. Ayden had excelled quickly while I struggled with the simplest things, like strumming the damn piece of equipment. I was much better at singing than playing an actual instrument. Ayden never let me forget about how horrible I was at guitar and how good at it he was. When he entered High School, he formed a band. To this day they still played at local bars and were quite popular in our hometown area.
Ayden and I chatted about his band for a while. Since I had brought up Black Beauty (aka, his guitar) I decided to ask him about the band. Ayden and his three best friends, Parker, Brice and Seth, were part of a hard rock band called Empty Threat. Ayden played the guitar and sang vocals, Parker played bass, Brice played lead guitar and back up vocals while Seth played the drums. I was close to both my brother and the three guys which was a surprise to most people. I went to all of their shows and helped get them advertised and was in charge of booking shows. I was an extremely organized person while Ayden was the complete opposite. Come to think of it, Ayden and I were complete opposites. No one really even believed that we were related until we told them and even then, they had a hard time believing it.
I could understand why people didn't believe us though. Ayden and I acted completely different. Don't get me wrong, I am a cheerful person who likes to have fun, but Ayden takes it to a whole new level. He is up for just about anything, call him an enthusiast. When Ayden is in a mood, it is extreme. Usually he has two moods. He is either extremely happy, jubilant and excited or he is extremely moody and brooding. He isn't bipolar, he just has strong emotions. Ayden was horrible at hiding his emotions but I was an expert at it. While I had dark auburn hair and blue eyes, Ayden has jet black hair with blonde accents and dark hazel eyes. I had a simple clean look to me while Ayden had more of a grungy and 'emo' style to him because of the band. I always was teasing Ayden calling him emo, even though he really wasn't. He just looked the part, he didn't act it.
As I chatted with my brother, I noted that Dustin's breathing had gotten heavier and I figured that he had fallen asleep against the tree while I gossiped with Ayden. I grinned at the thought and removed my hand from his before standing up to give Dustin a chance to rest. I didn't go far and instead walked a few feet closer to the pond and took off my shoes and socks, placing my feet carefully in the cool water. It was a little chilly, but not that bad. The entire time I was doing this, I listened to Ayden tell me excitedly about how they had done a lot of a really good performances over the past few weeks. I was disappointed that I had missed them but Ayden told me happily that he had one of his friends videotape it for me. That nearly brought tears to my eyes.
"You know, despite the fact that you're my little brother and you can be a twerp at times, you aren't all that bad." I said softly.
Ayden chuckled over the line, "I knew that you would hate missing the shows. Chloe was happy to do it anyways." he said, shrugging it off as if it was no big deal.
"Chloe huh?" I asked teasingly. Chloe was one of Ayden's friend's twin sisters. Ayden had always had a thing for her but never told her. I thought it was cute and often teased him about it.
"Yes, Chloe did it. It was no big deal. Just drop it, sis." he said again.
"Well, thanks anyways." I replied.
After Ayden told me about how he and the band was doing, he brought up the subject that I had really hoped that he had forgotten. "So, what are you going to do about your birthday?" he asked. "It is in two days after all."
I sighed and picked up a pebble, throwing it into the water, "I don't know Ayden. I think I'm going to be on an investigation that day so it doesn't matter." I said nonchalantly.
"What do you mean it doesn't matter!" he exclaimed. "You're turning twenty-four!"
"So?"
"How can you not be excited?" he asked.
I groaned, "Ayden it's just a number…" I told him in a flat voice.
"Mom and Dad don't think so. They were going to plan a grand old party for you just like every year." he teased.
For a moment, I took a few seconds to think about his words. Memories flashed before my eyes of all the parties my parents had thrown over the years. They were rich, they had lots of friends and they liked to entertain. Although, their idea of entertaining was quite a bit different than mine. I was actually kind of happy that I wasn't going to be home to suffer through another party.
"They throw a party for me every year," I pointed out stiffly. "And they do the same for you. The only difference is that I don't sneak out half way through when all the adults are too buzzed to notice that the center of the party is gone. Unlike you, I try and respect them, even if they are drunk out of their minds and start trying to do karaoke on our parent's mini-bar." I said, giggling slightly at the last comment.
Ayden laughed freely at my comment, "God, I will never forget Aunt Marisa doing that at your twenty-first birthday party. Only she could jump on top of the mini bar and start singing "Best Days of Your Life" to all of your guests. What can we say, our parents have crazy friends—especially when you put alcohol into them."
"That will definitely be a night that I'll always remember. But I mean, I'm happy that I won't have to go to a boring party, but at the same time it's going to be weird not celebrating my birthday with the whole family." I told him truthfully.
"At least you'll have Aisha."
I bit my lip, "Yeah, but I made Aisha keep quiet about it so the guys don't know when it is either. So basically my birthday will go by in two days without any of them knowing. That's the day of our investigation as well so it's probably a good thing if they don't know."
"I wish we could be there with you, at least for your birthday." Ayden said sadly.
I felt my lip trembling slightly, "I wish that you guys were here too but you guys are back in the States and I'm getting ready to head out in a few hours. It's just not going to work out this year. I can't fly home and miss the investigation when I just started GHI." I explained.
"That's not what I meant…" Ayden replied. He sounded thoughtful, like he was up to something. "What if I flew out there myself to see you? I have the money for a plane ticket and after your investigation is over we could go out to dinner for your birthday, me, you and Aisha. You could even bring your other crew members if you wanted." he offered.
My heart beat raced up a bit. It was a good plan, but I would have to ask Robb about it and if I did that, I would have to tell him why my brother was flying out to see me. I made a quick pro and con lists and the pros heavily outweighed the cons. "It's a great idea, Ayden." I told him. "But I'll have to talk to Robb about it first."
I could practically hear him grin over the phone, "Well talk to him and then call me and let me know."
"I will," I promised.
"Well," Ayden said finally, "I should probably get going. You need to pack and I need to stop running up my international bill." he joked.
I smiled, "Okay, I'll call you as soon as I know for sure. Make sure to tell Mom and Dad hi for me and ask them if they want to come as well. Bye Ayden. Love you." I said.
"Will do," Ayden replied. "Oh and I love you too, sis."
I heard the phone click and knew that he had hung up. I pressed the red button, ending the call and placed my phone back in my pocket. I heard a throat clear just seconds after. Surprised, I turned to see Dustin staring at me with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed. 'Shit!' I thought. 'He heard me?' I thought in a panicked way. I knew I was in trouble.
"How come you didn't want to tell us your birthday is in two days?" he asked me.
"I thought you were sleeping…" I mumbled, ignoring his question that I really didn't want to answer.
Dustin shook his head, "No, I was just resting and when I overhead you tell your brother about keeping your birthday from us, I was a little troubled." he told me.
"I'm sorry Dustin, it's just…my birthday is the day of the investigation and I don't want you guys to even worry about it being my birthday. Honestly, it's not a big deal." I said.
I watched as he frowned, "It's your birthday. It's got to be a little bit of a deal." he argued.
Shrugging, I shook my head lightly, "Not to me. It's just turning a year older. I mean, I'm going to miss my family but other than that…it's completely fine with me if no one even bothers with the fact that it's my birthday."
"What did Ayden want you to talk to Robb about then?" Dustin asked.
I shrugged once more, "He wanted me to ask Robb if it was okay if he flew in for a few days so he can see me and take me out to dinner after the investigation was over. Ayden has his own money from his hand and I think that even if Robb says no, Ayden will fly out anyways and do everything on his own." I said. "Ayden is stubborn like that."
"I don't think Robb will have much of a problem with it, especially if Ayden takes care of everything by himself—like the flight arrangements and all that." Dustin reasoned.
"You think?" I asked.
He simply nodded in reply.
"Should I go talk to him now?"
Again, Dustin nodded. He wordlessly held out his hand to help me up and then together we left the garden. As we left, I turned and took one last look at the place where Dustin and I had been sneaking to for the past week. It was sad to say that I was going to miss our little rendezvous spot.
Dustin noticed my longing stare and poked me in the side, "Cheer up, we can always come back someday." he told me.
"I know," I replied softly.
We walked hand in hand until we reached the back door. Then, like always, we dropped our hands and walked in separately. I decided to stop by my room first to pack my stuff and talk with Aisha about the conversation I had with Ayden and then after all that was done, I was going to talk to Robb. Dustin and I murmured goodbyes to each other as I entered my room and he continued quietly down the hallway towards his suite.
When I entered the suite, I found Aisha sitting on the bed curled up with a box of tissues watching the TV screen with a heartbroken look on her face. To say I was a bit shocked at the scene before me was a bit of an understatement.
"What are you doing?" I asked loudly.
Aisha jumped from her spot on the bed and looked down sheepishly, "I uhm—I was watching this sitcom…" she mumbled.
"I take it that it was a depressing sitcom?" I asked while placing my hands on my hips and narrowing me eyes. "Or was it something else?" I prodded.
She looked up at me and shook her head, "Honestly, this has nothing to do with Barry if that's what you think. It really was a sad show…and I kind of…well I miss home a bit." she sniffled.
I ran over and hugged her, "I miss home too." I said.
"Really? It's not just me then?"
I laughed, "No it's not just you. Ayden called me today and it got me thinking…" I trailed off.
Aisha held up her hand, stopping me from continuing, "Wait—Ayden called you? Is everything alright back at home?" her voice sounded worried.
I nodded, "Yeah, everything is just fine. He was just missing me and wanted to talk to me about my birthday…" I trailed off.
She raised an eyebrow, "Really now?" Aisha giggled.
"Yeah, he wants to fly out here to spend some time with me after the investigation is over. I told him I'd have to talk to Robb about it though. What do you think?" I asked.
Aisha shrugged, "I don't know. I don't see why Robb would have a problem with it as long as they don't bother you when you're working."
"Yeah that's what Dustin said." I blurted out.
Aisha's eyes narrowed as my face lit up with a slight blush. 'Fuck!' I chastened myself. 'If I don't fix this…this could ruin everything!' I thought.
"What do you mean, 'That's what Dustin said'?" Aisha asked sternly. "Are you hiding something from me?" she accused, pointing her finger at me.
I shook my head firmly, "I ran into him in the hall," I lied. "I asked his opinion on it."
"Then why are you blushing?"
I really wanted to kick myself for my darn tendency to blush at the littlest things, "You know I blush over everything," I reasoned. "I'm not hiding anything from you. I was just blushing because I was thinking of how cute he looked today."
'It's not a complete lie. I did think he looked really cute today…' I told myself.
"Oh," Aisha replied. Sitting back down on the bed and started picking up her tissues before throwing them in the trashcan between our beds, "I should have known. You're my best friend. If something happened with Dustin, you would tell me…" she said.
I shuffled slightly, turning away from her and making my way to my bed where my suitcases were sitting and ignoring her words. I guess Aisha had dragged my suitcases out for me and put them on my bed because the last time I had checked, they were in the suite's closet. I didn't answer Aisha and instead started packing up my clothes.
"Wait…." Aisha started. I almost groaned, "You would tell me, right?" she asked.
I turned around and plastered a smile on my face, "Of course I would." I lied. "I could never keep anything big from you."
Aisha nodded, satisfied with my answer and transfixed her eyes on the TV, continuing to watch the sitcom. I decided to continue packing. As I was folding up my clothes and placing them neatly inside the suitcase, I realized that I felt horrible. I got a gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach. 'Liar!' It shrieked at me.
I tried my best to ignore the feeling and continued packing up my stuff. It didn't take me too long as I really didn't take much out of my suitcase without putting it back in later. I tried to stay as organized as possible so that I wouldn't lose anything. The only things that I really didn't have packed up already were my toiletries in the bathroom. But, packing all that up only took about five minutes. After scavenging around and not finding any loose items that I had forgotten to pack, I decided that I hadn't left anything behind.
"Hey, Aish?" I called out from near the door. I heard a sniffle and assumed that there was a sad part of the sitcom, "I'm going over to Robb's for a minute to talk to him about Ayden." I told her.
The only answer I got was the sound of someone blowing their nose. I scrunched my own nose up in slight disgust as I grabbed the key off the little table near the door and left the suite.
I walked quickly down to Robb and Dustin's suite and knocked on the door. I heard voices inside and then Robb flung open the door and eyed me with surprise, "Did you forget something?" he asked.
"No," I told him. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something…" I told him.
Dustin took the opportunity to peak his head around the corner, "Hey Mercedes." he said with a knowing grin.
I grinned back, "Hey."
"Well, what did you need to talk to me about?" Robb asked me, interrupting mine and Dustin's stare down.
"Well, my birthday is Wednesday, the night that we start the investigation." I started off.
I watched as Robb's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? Why didn't you tell us before?" he asked accusingly.
"I didn't want it to be a bother, especially when I found out that it was the night of our investigation. But, my younger brother called me today and wanted to know if it would be alright for him to fly out here on his own and see me after the investigations done. That is, if we'll be out there for a couple extra days like we were here in Wicklow." I explained.
Robb scratched his chin in though, "Well we'll be starting the investigation Wednesday night, then Thursday we'll all be catching up on sleep. Friday you have analyzing and then Saturday is the reveal. We'll be in the Czech Republic until Tuesday so if he really wants to fly over and spend Saturday, Sunday and Monday with you, I don't see any problem with it." Robb told me with a smirk.
"Really?" I squealed slightly.
Robb smiled, "Really."
"Thank you so much." I told him graciously. "I have a feeling that even if you would have said no, Ayden would still fly out to see me. He already told me that he is going to pay for all his own expenses so that won't be a problem. He just wanted to take me out to dinner one night but he'll be thrilled to know that he has three days with me." I said, mostly to myself.
"It's no problem," Robb said. "I can give him the information for the hotel so that he can book rooms in the same hotel as us if you want me too." he offered.
"That'd be fantastic. I have to call him back really quick first to let him know your answer." I told him.
Robb smiled, "We can fax all the info over to him before we leave. Oh, speaking of which, are you finished packing?" he asked.
I nodded, "Yeah both Aisha and I are finished. Aish is just back in the room watching TV. Do you know if Joe and Barry are ready?" I inquired.
"Yeah, they've been done and ready for a while. Why don't you call your brother and then when you are done, you can go collect Aisha while Dustin and I get Barry and Joe so we can all meet for a quick lunch before we check out and then head out." Robb suggested.
"Sure, sounds good." I said and with that, I exited the room.
I made my way back to the suite and excitedly told Aisha everything that Robb had told me as soon as I entered. Aisha was happy for me as well and we chatted excitedly about all the things we could all do together while Ayden was visiting. Aisha was really close to my family and sometimes, I think my parents loved her even more than me. Aisha would obviously be included in all the family activities that would take place while they were visiting. I also wanted to introduce Ayden to the team as well, so that he could meet the people I was working with. He was extremely curious about them after all. He'd been hearing me gush over them for years and now he could finally meet the people that I had looked up to for many, many years.
"We can use my laptop and Google things to do while in the Czech Republic." Aisha said with a small laugh.
I grinned, "Sounds like a plan," I told her. "But I really have to call Ayden first. Robb is going to fax over all the information on where we are staying to Ayden before we leave."
"Okay, well I think I'm going to go ahead and meet the guys while you call Ayden. I'll give you some privacy." she offered.
"Sounds good, I won't be that long. I'll meet you down there in a bit." I promised.
"'Kay." She called out as she left the room.
I quickly pulled out my phone and dialed Ayden's number. He answered almost immediately. "Did you talk to your boss?" he asked animatedly.
"He's not my boss, per say." I pointed out, teasingly stalling for time. "More like 'team leader' of the group." I giggled in reply.
I could practically hear Ayden rolling his eyes in response, "Whatever. What did he say?"
"Someone's impatient." I commented.
"Well after I talked to you, Mom called and I may have accidentally let it slip that I was possibly coming to visit you." He said guiltily.
I groaned, "Ayden! You didn't…" I trailed off.
He sighed before he spoke, defending himself. "Sorry sis but I did. They're completely thrilled about seeing you. They also want to know as soon as possible what the details are and I have a feeling that if you don't tell me soon so that I can call them, they will be calling you." he pointed out.
"Robb said that everything is completely fine with him but I just told him that you were coming, Ayden. I never mentioned anything about Mom and Dad coming as well!" I exclaimed angrily.
"I know, I know, I know but I blurted it out before I even had the chance to think about it. And you know how demanding and persuasive Mom is. There is a reason why she is a real estate saleswoman." He reminded me in a serious voice.
"I know—I guess I'll just have to let Robb know that my parents caught wind of our deal and are hitching along with you. But hey, we're headed out in a bit and Robb's going to fax all the hotel information before we leave." I explained. "But I may ask him to fax the stuff to Mom and Dad as well." I added.
"Seriously? They're all down with it?" Ayden asked excitedly.
I nodded, but then realized he couldn't see me. I mentally smacked myself in the forehead, "Yeah, they are 'down with it'." I said, teasing him for his slang. Ayden and I had a slight age difference. While I was twenty-three getting ready to turn twenty-four, Ayden had recently turned nineteen.
Ayden and I chatted for a bit longer, talking about the things we could do and how long they could say before I realized that I really needed to go meet the guys and Aisha for lunch.
"Hey I'm really sorry but," I started.
Ayden cut me off, "You've got to go." he finished.
"Yeah."
"Well I hope you have fun on your trip. Call me later tonight after you get there." he said.
I laughed, "Ayden, we won't be in the Czech Republic until late tomorrow. We're driving there, not flying." I told him.
"Why?" he asked.
"I don't know, Robb just wanted to drive. It's probably because it's less of a hassle to just to drive straight to wherever we're going than going through all that airport security." I said.
"Makes sense…" Ayden mused. "But hey, I'll let you go then. Just call me…whenever you get there."
"Bye Ayden, love you." I said.
"Love you too." he replied.
I heard the click of the receiver and slid my own phone shut, ending the call. Standing up and stretching, I grabbed my jacket off of the chair that I had thrown it on earlier that morning and headed down the halls to eat lunch with the rest of the crew.
Lunch was over quickly and before I knew it, we were grabbing all the things from our rooms and dragging them out to the vans to pack up and get ready to head out. Aisha and I ended up having a few more suitcases than the guys, so they helped up carry them out. I was quite entertained while watching Barry trying to discreetly show off his muscles to Aisha by carrying almost all of his stuff. Dustin offered to take some of my stuff by I declined his offer, stating that I could take care of all of my stuff myself because it wasn't that heavy.
I lied.
One of my suitcases turned out to be heavier than I thought it was. Dustin got to carry it out to the vans after all. When he came upon me in the hall struggling with the heavy case, he got a smug grin on his face as he picked it up with ease. I will admit that it was nice watching him carry my stuff. But, that was mostly because I got to see his muscles strain through the tight grey t-shirt he was wearing.
I sighed and followed him out of the hallway, through the lobby and out of the hotel where our vans were parked out front. I tugged on my jacket sleeves a little as Dustin threw open the vans doors and started loading that last of my luggage in.
"I could have done that myself." I pointed out with a slight pout of my face as he closed the doors once more.
Dustin looked around for a moment before walking up to me and pressing me against the van, "Nah, I liked watching you check out my muscles." he said with a grin.
I felt my face heat up in embarrassment as he leaned down and gave me a delicious but quick kiss that was over in a few seconds. He pulled away and started walking into the hotel, leaving me a little embarrassed and quite surprised.
"Where are you going?" I called out, placing my hands on my hips.
Dustin chuckled much to my annoyance, "I'm going to go see if the others are ready to go. You can join me if you like. You don't have to stand out here."
I decided to be stubborn and stay outside and wait for everyone. I crossed my arms and shook my head while Dustin just sat there and laughed at my obstinacy. He entered the hotel through the main doors and didn't return for some time.
I felt my pocket buzz and looked down. It was a text message from Aisha.
From: Aisha
Where are you?
–A.
I sent her one back.
To: Aisha
Waiting for you guys at the vans. Are you coming?
- M.
I waited a little while and it wasn't too long before I got a response—or actually two responses.
From: Aisha
We'll be there soon :)
- A.
From: Dustin
Are you still waiting outside? You could have come in with me…
- D Pari.
I was actually really relieved that despite the fact that Dustin used a whole bunch of slang when he talked verbally, that he used proper English when he typed things out or sent texts. You would not imagine how much I detested the short hand that teenagers made up these days. Even Ayden's got on my nerves and I forced him to use proper English when texting or emailing me. I decided to only text Dustin back since Aisha's wasn't necessarily a text I had to reply to.
To: Dustin.
Yeah, I'm still out here. But Aish says you guys will be out here soon. Hurry. :)
- M.
A few seconds later there was another buzz.
A reply.
From: Dustin.
Why?
- D Pari.
I laughed and texted back my reply.
To: Dustin.
Because. Just try and get out here before the rest of them.
- M.
I pressed send and a few minutes later my phone was buzzing once more.
From: Dustin.
I'll try.
- D Pari.
I decided to leave it at that and placed my phone back in my jacket pocket. I leaned against the van door where Dustin had left me and waited for him to emerge from the building. It wasn't that long before I saw Dustin's lone figure walking through the lobby and towards the doors. I grinned at him and he gave me a smile in return but raised his eyebrows in question. Then, I saw the others following behind him but watched as they stopped at the counter to return their room keys. I had already given Aisha both of ours since she had volunteered to check us out herself.
I had been so lost in thought that I barely even noticed when Dustin's figure came to a stop right in front of me. I looked around him to see if any of the members were looking at us before I motioned silently for Dustin to follow me on the other side of the van. He raised his eyebrow once more but followed me obediently.
As much as I hated to admit it, I kind of like it when Dustin had pressed me against the side of the van and kissed me. It was a small, short kiss but somehow it still left me completely breathless with my head spinning. I wasn't sure what was happening to me. No one's kisses had ever made me feel like that before.
I leaned against the side of the van while Dustin stood in front of me. I silently reached up and grabbed his shoulders, bringing him forward and caging myself in between his body and the cold metal of the van. Dustin got the idea of what I was doing and brought his hands up, placing them on the van on either side of my head, grinning widely the entire time. His head bent down and our lips connected.
I pressed my lips against his firmly and opened my mouth slightly with a sigh to take his bottom lips in between my lips as he took my top one in between his. I tightened my arms around his neck as we kissed slowly. I brought my hands into his hair and messed with it slightly but was careful not to mess it up too much. I had learned that he got a little grumpy when I 'messed up his 'do'.
Trying to savor the kiss for as long as possible, I drawled out the kisses, each small kiss that we gave was long and slow. When he finally pulled away, I started pouting. I knew that over the next two days we would be surrounded by the rest of the crew constantly so Dustin and I probably wouldn't get to spend any time alone whatsoever.
Dustin confirmed my thoughts when he spoke, "Come on, you can last two days without touching this, right?" he joked and gestured to his body.
I punched his shoulder lightly, "You know what?" I said thoughtfully. "Just for that, I'm not going to. I won't touch you for two entire days." I added the word, "Voluntarily," when I saw Dustin's arms reaching out towards me.
"Fine, you're on. How much do you want to bet?" Dustin asked.
I shook my head, "We aren't betting money. It's just a game." I pointed out.
"Well, okay." Dustin said. "But I'm still going to win." he laughed.
I rolled my eyes at him, "Whatever."
Suddenly, four pairs of voices filled the air and I knew that the rest of the team had exited the hotel at this point.
"Where did Dustin and Mercedes run off to?" I heard Robb ask.
I jumped out from behind the van, "Boo!" I laughed.
Aisha was the only one who jumped at my outburst. She had been busy staring at Barry to even notice that I had been missing.
Robb laughed, "Where is Dustin?"
"Checking his hair is the driver's side mirror." I lied. Dustin really wasn't doing that, but I just couldn't resist teasing him. He was so cute when he was frustrated.
Dustin's voice came from behind me as he walked out from behind the van, "I was not!"
"Somehow, I don't believe that…" Robb said heartily.
Dustin crossed his arms over his chest, "Why is it that it's always me that gets picked on around here? It's never Barry, it's never Joe or Robb or even the two newbies, it's always me!" he ranted.
This caused everyone to go into a hysterical fit of laughter which seemed to piss Dustin off even more. After everyone seemed to calm down from laughing Robb spoke, "Well, I think everything is packed up, am I right?" he asked.
"Everything is all packed up." Joe replied happily.
"Well then I guess it's time to head out." Robb announced. "How about myself, Dustin and Mercedes ride in the first van while Joe, Barry and Aisha ride in the equipment van. Does that work?" he asked.
I looked over towards Aisha who was still staring at Barry and I knew that she definitely didn't have a problem with the arrangement, if she had even heard what Robb had said that is.
"Fine with me," I said.
Aisha nodded, "It's fine with me too."
'I guess she was paying attention after all.' I thought.
"Okay, well let's head out. We have a long drive ahead of us." Robb said.
We all piled into the vans and before I knew it, we were off.
- Europe, 2009 -
Dustin wasn't kidding when he told me that the drive was going to be outrageously long. It was, without a doubt, the longest car drive I had been on in my entire life. Since we had left the hotel in Wicklow at around 2pm, we had been in the car for about twelve hours, meaning that it was about 2 or 3am now. The drive in total was going to be close to twenty-two hours and that wasn't including stops to eat, switch drivers or just plain rest stops. So in all, we probably had fifteen more hours of driving, perhaps more, to go before we reached our destination: Krumlov, Bohemia, Czech Republic.
During the drive I had started out reading a book, then I listened to my IPod, for I while I texted Dustin and Aisha (Dustin secretly of course) and then I had chatted with Robb about the case that we were going on. Apparently the castle was called Cesky Krumlov and the paranormal activity was very spread out.
Then, a couple of hours ago, I had received a phone call from my very exuberant parents who were just gushing on how excited they were to visit me at the Czech Republic and meet my co-workers. We had only been talking for about ten minutes when my phone reception started getting bad so I had to let them go. But, before they hung up they once again told me how excited they were to visit Aisha and I in a foreign country. I didn't understand why they were so excited. They had vacationed in Europe many times. I didn't see why the Czech Republic was going to be so exciting for them.
We had stopped only once so far and that was around 8pm, five or six hours ago, to get a late supper at a small restaurant in the UK and switch drivers. Robb had decided that they would drive around five hours shifts. Aisha and I had offered to drive but Robb said that because we weren't used to European travel yet, that it would probably be better if we didn't drive. Robb and Barry had started out driving and now Dustin and Joe were driving, although we would probably be stopping soon to switch drivers again. When Dustin started driving, I decided to take a quick nap since I wouldn't be able to text him anymore. That quick nap had turned into a three hour long deep sleep. When I woke up, it was completely dark.
That was three hours ago. Robb was asleep and snoring slightly while Dustin was driving us down one of the highways humming quietly along to the radio. The darkness of the van was relaxing and the continuing movement of the vehicle was beginning to make me sleepy again. I wanted to stay awake for a while longer because I knew that we would be stopping soon.
"Mercedes," Dustin's soft voice came from the driver's seat.
My head snapped up and I looked around groggily. "Yeah?" I whispered quietly so I wouldn't wake up Robb.
Dustin's tired eyes met mine through the rear-view mirror. "Get some sleep, I know Robb said five hour shifts but he is completely out of it and I'm not tired." I knew he was lying about not being tired but I decided not to interrupt while he was speaking, "I'm going to let him sleep for a while and continue driving. I already radioed Joe and he said that Barry and Aisha are fast asleep too. We agreed to just let them sleep and keep driving."
I felt my eyebrows scrunch together in confusion, "You radioed him?" I asked sleepily.
"Yes I did, I think you are more tired than you realized. Go to sleep." he said tenderly.
I frowned, "Are you sure?"
"I'll be fine. I have the radio to keep my company." Dustin replied while gesturing to the radio which was playing some top-forty station that we had picked up.
An embarrassingly loud snort escaped me and I blushed before saying, "Oh right, that's fantastic company I'm sure." I told him.
"Mercedes, just get some sleep, you're tired." he said. "You can barely keep your eyes open…" he pointed out.
He wasn't lying, I honestly was having a hard time keeping my eyes open and the slow song that was playing on the radio at the moment wasn't helping matters much. Dustin gave me a reassuring smile, his eyes crinkling slightly at the edges and I sighed, giving in.
"Fine," I said. "But wake me up when you guys switch over."
"I will." he promised.
I closed my eyes and fell into a peacefully fatigue induced oblivion.
So, thoughts? Let me know what you think of the Part Two :) And again, you don't have to be a member of or have an account to send a review. Just go ahead and click the 'Send a review button' right below here and a separate window will pop up and let you send an anonymous review :) I won't be able to reply to your questions if you have any but I will answer them in my authors note in Part Three if I can. Anyways, please send a good word to a writer. It really does me alot to hear what you think of the chapters -- what I could work one, what you liked, you disliked and what I could do to make it a better story in general. Feedback and evaluations can be very helpful to a writer. Anyways, please do so and I look forward to posting Part Three in a few days. So make sure to stay tuned!
