Gah! My sincere apologies for the looooooooooong wait since the last update. I've been pretty busy. Sorry! Thanks for all the reviews and followers who stick with the story. As for the recent flame thrower, saying "this is not a flame" before posting your flame doesn't really cut it. I never said I didn't do my research, I was just making a statement. I decided to make everyone seniors, not sure what wasn't believable about that. After all, this is fanfiction, not an evening with Marcel Proust.
Anyway, here's the next chapter, and I guess this is kind of a bridging chapter for the next part of the story so it's not very long, but rest assured, more is coming soon!
It had taken them a lot longer than expected to reach Los Angeles, owing to the fact that they had to stop twice for Brian to empty to the contents of his stomach, and once for Allison who saw fit to follow suit.
The rest of the day was a write off, with the former comatose and the latter tucked up in bed, being fussed over by a far-too-anxious jock.
Much to his disgust, Bender found himself being dragged around LA's wealth of shopping malls, carrying the bags.
The following day was a different story however, and the five of them met in the hotel lobby just after 9 o'clock.
"You okay?" Andy asked, turning to look at Allison as she trailed behind him out of the elevator.
"Uhuh."
"Did you bring the address?" he pressed.
"Ya."
"You alright?"
"Good morning campers!" Bender called cheerily, waving a little too enthusiastically from across the room. "How are we feeling today? All better?"
Allison just nodded. "I'm fine."
"Am I glad to hear that Klepto. You'll be relieved to know that Big Bri here is also back to his old self," Bender said, giving Brian a firm slap on the back. "Isn't that right, Einstein?"
"Yes. And uh, you know... I'd just like to tell you all that I'm sorry. I have never gotten into that state before, and I promise you guys it will never happen again. It will not," Brian told them all, looking very concerned.
"Forget about it man," Andy waved it off, giving the skinny boy a reassuring smile. "It's all good."
"Heart warming. Truly heart warming," Bender declared, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye.
Claire, who had up to now been rummaging through her bag for some time, gave him a look. "Do you ever stop?"
"Oh. You're still here? And there was I thinking that your purse was far more important than all of us," he smirked.
She sighed impatiently, turning to Allison. "Do you have any lip gloss? I'm all out."
Allison stared her down for a moment, but didn't dignify the red head with a response.
"Oookay. Guess not," Claire muttered.
"So what do you guys have planned for today?" Andrew asked, leading the way out front.
Bender looked at him as if he was insane. "We're going to find Klepto's mom, remember?"
"Is that a group activity?" the sport asked, returning the look.
"You think I came all this way to miss this?" Bender commented.
Claire dug him in the ribs. "We were thinking like for moral support, that's all."
"I told you this might not be such a good idea guys," Brian put in. "And like I said, maybe Allison would prefer to go do this on her own. Or... you know, with just Andy. She might not want an audience..."
"It's fine," Allison said.
"Party on!" Bender fist pumped the air.
"You sure about this?" Andy asked her, sceptically.
She nodded, folding and unfolding the small scrap of paper in her hand. "Let's just get it over with."
"You heard the lady," Bender said, opening the back door of the car. "All aboard!"
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Are you sure this is the place?" Andrew asked, when they pulled up outside the house, just under an hour later.
"Well Sporto, I've been driving around in circles on your say-so for some time now, so it better be," Bender said, winding down the window to get a better look. "That's a pretty big freakin' house."
"It's a nice house," Claire said, non-committally.
"Who knew you were a secret richie?" Bender teased Allison.
"Ignore him," Andy told her, reaching across and taking her hand. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"
Chewing her lip, Allison tore her gaze away from the house and turned to look at him.
"Ally? Cause if you're not, you don't have to go in there. We can always come back tomorrow," her boyfriend assured her. "Or hey, not at all. Not if you don't want to."
"We just drove the length of the United States of America. Get your ass outta this car Klepto," Bender told her, flatly.
"You keep out of it, ass wipe," Andy warned.
Bender mimicked him, and Allison took the opportunity of the distraction to open the car door and step out onto the sidewalk.
"Oh look, she took my advice," he said, in his usual sarcastic tone.
The four of them were silent now, watching Allison, anticipating her next move.
But it didn't come, given the fact that she appeared to be rooted to the spot.
Andrew leant across to the door, frowning. "Ally?"
She glanced at the house again, before turning her gaze to her feet.
"Would you..." she began, her voice barely above a whisper.
Understanding flashed through his eyes and he nodded, getting out of the car and taking her hand.
"Want us to drive round the block forty times?" Bender asked casually.
"Just stay here and try not to be jerks for five minutes," the jock suggested. "I know it'll be tough."
"You can say that again. But we'll all give it our best shot," he said, with mock sincerity.
"Hey, speak for yourself," Claire scoffed.
"Come on," Andy sighed, leading Allison toward the house.
They made it as far as the drive way before she stopped again, and he turned to face her.
"What's wrong?" he asked gently.
"I... What if she doesn't want to see me?" Allison asked, weakly. "Or she has a whole other family?"
"Hey," he reached out a hand, cupping it to the side of her face to encourage her to look at him. "What did I tell you about 'what if''s? Ally, I know you're scared. I would be too. But you could think up a hundred different scenarios in your head, and none of them might be true."
"I know. I just..."
"It's not too late you know? We can turn back," he reminded her.
For a moment, it looked as though Allison was considering it, but then she shook her head firmly.
"Like Bender said, we've come all this way," she told him, starting up the driveway again, with a little more purpose this time.
From the car, the other three watched with a mixture of anticipation and curiosity.
"So what do you reckon? Plastic surgery obsessed alcoholic or cocaine snorting rock star with no sense of responsibility?" Bender asked, eyes glued to the house as Allison rang the door bell. "Last chance to place your bets."
"Don't be such an ass hole. She might be perfectly nice," Claire scolded.
"Yeah. A perfectly nice, maternal woman who ran out on her kid when the going got tough."
"No body's answering," Brian observed.
Silence.
"Typical," Bender sighed, turning his attention back to the stereo player in order to eject the Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark cassette tape. "Who put this trash in?"
"Ssh!" Claire hissed, smacking his arm.
"Ow! Jeez!" he cried.
She gestured back towards the house, and Bender turned around to see the door ajar.
"Oh-hoh. Here we go kiddies," he said, craning his neck for a better look.
The door opened fully now, and a woman appeared.
"What the hell?" Bender muttered.
The woman was well groomed and well dressed, and looked good for her age. Yet there was no denying that age- and she certainly wasn't a day under 65.
"I'm guessing that's not Allison's mom," Claire said, under her breath.
"Maybe it is and she just had a real hard life," Bender snorted.
"Obviously that's not her mom," Brian said,matter-of-factly. "If I remember correctly, Allison told me that her mom was 18 when she was born. That would make her 36 now."
"This may come as a surprise to you Ralph, but even I can do the math on that one," Bender commented.
"Ssh!" Claire hissed again, trying in vain to listen to what was being said.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Hi there. Can I help you?" the woman smiled, looking between the two teenagers before her.
Allison opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
"Um, yeah. Maybe," Andy began, rescuing her. "We were looking for someone. Maybe we got the wrong place. This is Oaklands Drive, right? Number 202?"
"The very same," the woman nodded.
"Great. Well, we're looking for um..." he stopped, turning to Allison as it occurred to him that he had no idea who they actually were looking for- or at least not her name.
"Isobel," she said quietly. "Reynolds."
"Are we at the right place?" Andy asked.
"Sure, it's the right place but you're about a year too late," the woman told them. "I bought this house last July. She was the last owner."
"Oh. You don't happen to have a forwarding address for her, do you?" Andrew asked, hopefully.
But the woman shook her head. "Sorry, I don't think so."
"You don't? Or you don't think so?" he pressed.
"Leave it," Allison told him, taking his arm and pulling him back down the driveway. "Thanks anyway. Sorry to bother you."
They made it back to the car and were just about to get in when they heard the woman's voice again.
"Hey, wait a minute!"