It was seamless. If you didn't know any better you would have believed that Sally and Adam had been together for years. Even Cindy took a few moments every now and then to think that maybe they were, behind everyone's back, and then remember that Sally would bask in the glory of winning Adam and wouldn't be able to contain such a good secret. Even the introduction was spot on once Sally grabbed her bearings, when she stopped suddenly and stared at them, Cindy knew that it was because Adam had told her of his fibs to his out of town friends. Cindy had to give it to her, the girl was quick in a jam, she touched the top of her head shook it off, "Got dizzy for a sec, sorry." she walked over with a huge smile that looked almost real and gave a small wave, "Morning newbies, I'm Sally." If you didn't know her you wouldn't have noticed the exhaustion that hid behind her eyes, if you didn't know her you would see this girl with such a sweet disposition, if you didn't know her you would know that this moment was the time that you saw the real Sally Wilcox. Once you made your way into her heart, Cindy knew from experience, Sally pushed you away with immense force.
They were best friends, and understood one another on a unspoken level. They fought constantly because they were both alpha females who thrived on control; unfortunately they resided in Spooksville where they possessed no control. Cindy loved the town, but sometimes really wanted it to be normal so her friends could live normal lives. Normal. If her friends were normal, especially Sally, her brother would be dead. Yep, thanks to good old softy Sally Wilcox and the little finger she has Watch and Adam wrapped around, they investigated the mysterious disappearance of her younger brother Neal. Granted it had been just recently when Cindy would discover that Sally begged the boys to aid in this quest. It had indeed caught her off guard since Sally rarely wanted to do anything that meant putting herself in a highly dangerous situation.
When her mother packed them off and moved to Springville, she hoped that she would find a way to connect to her late father that was raised here, but meeting her dead grandmother was not exactly the way she had planned. Sally looked at Cindy and gave her a soft encouraging smile as Denise requested to see the burning light house. Cindy feared the lighthouse, not because her ancestor still haunted the place, but because she thought that maybe one day she may see her father looking down needing to be rescued. It was silly, but it was something that she couldn't shake.
"I think," Sally said looking at her new friends "we should check out the beach and show Miss Denise the lighthouse. How about a picnic?" Sally said looking to Adam, "You love a picnic; Cindy can make you those sandwiches you like so much." He looked into her eyes and smiled and moved a strand of hair behind her ear as if he had done it a million times.
"We are eating right now." Watch whined throwing a bit of doughnut after her, "we just going to eat all day?" Sally ran her fingers through her hair and rolled her eyes "Since when have you ever had a problem with a plan like that?" The whole table laughed, and then Sally added"Sammy, Mike and Denise just showed up this morning, why don't you take them to your place and get them settled in?" Everyone seemed to agree and they began to split ways. Cindy and Sally were going to get the food prepared while the others would go and unpack and change for the beach. "I am going to come help you ladies out," Bryce said taking Cindy's hand, if she could have one favorite thing to keep for the rest of her life, it would be her hand in his.
"Of course you are, you two are attached at the hip." Sally joked pulling herself out of the booth. The group kept a keen eye on her, she may have made a miraculous recovery and thought she was as good as new, but she was still weak. Cindy did not agree to her keeping the long hours, but no one could tell Sally what she could or couldn't do. Cindy respected that independence and wished that she could be more like that, fight for passion no matter the consequences.
"Meet us in about an hour?" Adam asked caressing Sally's back, she looked at her watch and nodded, "yeah if it takes any longer i will txt you guys. Word of advice bring extra clothes, you never know what we may end up doing throughout the day." She looked at the visitors, "Sounds exciting." Sammy responded with bright green eyes, he reminded Cindy of someone, but she couldn't put her finger on who.
They walked to the end of the street "see yah in a bit." Adam finalized giving Sally a kiss on the cheek, it was surprising to Cindy how calm and normal Sally reacted to this sudden affection. Watch grabbed Adam's arm "Come on loverly," he said dragging him across the street. Sally turned and flames flew from her eyes, " I am going to kill him." she said and stormed off in the direction of her house. Bryce giggled in Cindy's ear, "thats our Sally".
Cindy couldn't quite understand why Sally could be so angry, she was finally receiving the attention she always wanted from Adam, and to be honest it did appear that Adam had feelings for her. Twenty minutes later it all was very clear. Sally wasn't saying much as she pulled containers out of her refrigerator, she placed every item in a specific order, vegetables on the farthest left side beginning with lettuce and tomatoes, then came the meats and condiments. then she disappeared to get the picnic baskets. Bryce grabbed a tomato and ate it "She's an angry being," Cindy broke the silence, "thought for a second she was going to be down for all of this." Bryce shook his head and finished swallowing " it doenst matter how much you may like someone, you never want to be manipulated."
"you think thats what he is doing?"
"does he really like her?"
"it looks like he might yeah." Cindy found herself actually rooting for the relationship, it would be nice to see Sally get something she desired for years.
"That is just it though, will she ever believe that he does after something like this? To her it is all an act to get him out of a lie he told his other friends. A relationship based on a lie would never work." he spoke from a place of experience and she wanted to kick herself for being so slow at realizing why.
Years ago when Ann Templeton was going to depart from Earth to a Pleiades, she gave each of the kids an opportunity to make a wish, Cindy selfishly for the love of the boy she loved. Turned out that she consciously love Bryce, but also had a faint flame for Adam. They forgave her the moment she told them, but it took her some time to forgive herself. She wanted to be loved as much as could towards another person, "I wasn't talking about us." Bryce said breaking up her thoughts, "However, doesn't it feel better to know how I feel, instead of a spell telling me what I should be feeling." Cindy smiled at the boy she cared for, the one she hoped would be by her side until they day she died. He took her by the arm and pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.
"you going to help me or make out?" Sally asked barging into the kitchen with three baskets and blankets. Cindy pulled away from Bryce, she took a moment to take Sally in, did she want to talk or did she want to get all of her aggression out? When Sally threw the baskets on the counter Cindy knew she need to vent, here we go, Cindy thought and stretch her neck to prepare herself. "you're going to break them." Cindy said using her most annoyed voice, "don't take it out on the inanimate object, it didn't do anything to you." Sally stiffened and slowly turned her head toward Cindy. "Its a basket I think it will survive."
"Thats the first time i think i have ever heard you claim something could survive, speaking of survival, I am shocked that you aren't giving your usual welcome wagon routine to Adam's friends. going to take a moment to warn them about the crabs at the beach?" Sally took a deep breath to respond, but she didn't utter a word, she just began to make the sandwiches. Cindy and Bryce looked to one another with deep concern, Sally didn't even want to argue. " Sally?" Bryce spoke softly, " you wanna talk about it?" Sally kept working as they waited for a response, and they got it just not in a way they expected. Sally sniffed away her tears and looked at them, "I have no idea how I am feeling right now, I mean who can take any of this seriously? What is Adam thinking? Who in their right mind would believe that Adam would fall for me when someone like her wants him?"
"Denise?" Bryce laughed," are you really selling yourself that short?"
"What do you mean?"
"She's horrible."
"No," Cindy began, "We are not going to start bantering at the expense of Adam's friends. We didn't spend a lot of time with them at breakfast and have many days ahead of us. Sally, you are being a very good friend to Adam for helping him out. That and I think you two are very adorable together, so who knows maybe this will bring on something that is long over due." Sally took that into consideration and made a face that Cindy couldn't decipher, but it seemed almost disgusted, but then Sally smiled and looked to her friends, " you know what you're right, I died and came back from the dead, made a miraculous recovery and have no clue when all of this will end, so i might as well enjoy it. That and if Bryce doesn't like her then what ever displeasure this circumstance brings for her I will just have to live with. Bryce your on toasting the bread."