"I smell blueberry!"
"I smell muffins!"
"Blueberry muffiiiiiins!" The two best friends shouted together. Maddie and Robbie laughed at one another and then quickly ran downstairs. All the adults were at the table, while Mitch and the twins were still getting ready.
"We were wondering when you two would wake up," Margaret smiled, pushing a plate over to her daughter.
"We were really tired, we did swim all afternoon," Maddie said in defense. Both kids started eating their muffins, a satisfied "Mmmm" interrupting their chews. Touched, the lolliman smiled at them and offered them two more muffins.
"So, what are you guys gonna do today?" Mordecai asked after taking a sip of milk, "More swimming?"
"Or pwaying in the swand?" Rigby asked, his mouth full.
"Actually, we were thinking of something different," Maddie answered.
"We were wondering if we could walk around town, you know, go to different stores and stuff," Robbie said, explaining their plan. This was a whole new town, and a beach town at that. There was bound to be cool stuff to buy.
"You guys are going shopping?" Mikey said as he finished coming down the stairs, "Great, I could use a couple things. I'll come with."
Both kids groaned. "Awww, do we have to?" they asked, looking at each of their parents, silently pleading for them to say Mikey couldn't come.
"Hey, my kid is just as responsible as your guys's," Muscleman said, "and he's older, which means he's probably more responsible."
"What!/You can't be serious!" Mordecai and Rigby both shouted. The three dads quickly started arguing with each other. But before any trouble could start up, Benson slammed his plate on the table.
"Hey!" Everyone went silent. Benson looked at the three kids. "Look, I say, as long as it's okay with all of your parents and as long as you all promise to behave, I don't think there's any reason for you guys not to go." He looked around the table. "Any objections?"
"As long as they stay safe and have fun, I don't mind," Eileen said.
"Same here," Margaret added.
"I don't have to worry about my little lumpkin getting into trouble," Starla said (making Maddie and Robbie snicker a little).
The three dads looked at each other, and then at their kids. "Okay, you guys can go," Mordecai said finally. The three all cheered. Even if they all had to hang out together, it was a small sacrifice to make for a fun day of shopping and exploring the town.
As soon as breakfast was over, the three got dressed and grabbed their cash. Maddie and Robbie both had saved up allowance, add that to the twenty dollars their parents gave them, and they each had a little over thirty five dollars. Mikey didn't bring any money, but his mother happily gave him forty dollars.
"Sweet!" Mikey said happily. Then, he quickly switched to his 'polite little angel' routine. "Thank you Mom," he said politely with a sweet smile.
"Aww, no problem pumpkin," Starla smiled, giving Mikey a small hug. As soon as she left the room, Mikey dropped the angel act.
"Okay sixth graders, let's go," Mikey said, opening the door.
"Wait." He looked back and saw Maddie and Robbie glaring at him. "We need to set some ground rules," Maddie said, sounding a lot like Benson (Robbie would have to remind himself to tease her about that later) "We can go to the stores you want to go to, but in return, you have to go to the stores we want to go to. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Now I- wait what?" Maddie and Robbie blinked.
"Dude, did you just agree without a fight?" Robbie asked.
"Yeah," Mikey replied, "I told you, I've got some stuff I need, and if I argue with you guys about where to go, we won't be able to go and I won't get what I need. But I'm only going to the lame stores you want to go to until I get what I need, and then you guys have to do what I want."
"Okay, fair enough," Maddie said with a sigh. At least he was giving them half the day.
"Okay. Then let's go!"
()()()()()()()()()
As soon as they entered the shopping district of the town, they saw several clothes and knick-knack stores. "Cool," Maddie commented, looking at all the sweatshirts and hats in the windows.
"Let's go in here," Mikey suggested, actually pretty politely.
"Um, okay," Robbie said. The pudgy green boy smiled and walked into the shop. "Hey, is it me or is it weird not having him be a jerk?"
"I know," Maddie replied, "But we know he's going to start acting like one again eventually, he said so himself, so let's just try to make the best of it."
The three kids looked around the huge store. It sold mostly tee shirts and sweatshirts, but there were toys and novelties too. Novelty license plates, plastic animals, magnets, snowglobes, stuff like that.
As Maddie looked at the baseball caps, she couldn't help but notice that Mikey was looking at the jewelry, specifically the necklaces. 'Why would he be looking over there?' she wondered.
"Hey Maddie! Look what I found!" The bird looked up and walked towards her friend. He was standing in front of a giant claw machine.
"So cool!" Robbie said, "and look at the prizes!" There were the usual stuffed animals and three eyed aliens, but there were also things like DVDs, CDs, DS games, iPods, gift cards to various stores, and more. "I'm going to get that iPod," Robbie said, getting out a quarter.
"Dude, those things are such ripoffs," Maddie said, rolling her eyes, "They loosen the hand just enough so that you can never get-" She then noticed something towards the bottom of the machine. "... Dude. Is that a Edward Elric plushie?"
Robbie gave her a look. "Have you been watching anime again?" (A/N See 'Little Moments', chapter 2 number 25)
"Shut up, I call next turn," Maddie said, slamming a quarter on the deck of the machine.
After several attempts from each of them, neither one had been able to claim their prize. "Stupid machine!" Robbie yelled, kicking it.
"Come on, dude," Maddie said, "Let's just go."
"Hey, there you guys are," Mikey said, walking towards them, "I've been looking for-... did you guys actually try playing this?" They nodded, and he smiled. And let me guess, you didn't win anything?"
They both sighed. "No."
Mikey laughed in their faces. "Oh man, that's hilarious." He shoved the two out of the way and took out a quarter, "Let a pro show you two sixth graders how it's done. Hmm, I'm going to get that movie, it's awesome!" He deposited his quarter and maneuvered the claw to the dvd box. The claw lowered, the metal fingers pinching the dvd in between them. Slowly, Mikey raised the claw and moved it towards the drop box. But, just when it was only half a foot away from the box, the dvd slipped through the claw and into the pile of other lost prizes.
"Aw what!" Mikey shouted, clearly pissed off.
"Come on dude," Maddie said, "It's impossible. Let's just go."
"No! I almost had that!" Mikey protested.
"Sorry dude, just let it go," Robbie said.
"No! I want my prize!" Mikey then started shaking the machine, rocking it back and forth.
"Mikey, stop it!" Robbie shouted, pulling on Mikey.
"Yeah, you're going to get in trouble! Just let it go!" yelled Maddie, also trying to pull him back. As she did, she noticed the machine was slowly falling towards them. "Look out!" she shouted, pulling both Mikey and Robbie out of the way.
The machine fell with a thud, the glass shattering all around them.
"Mikey, look what you did!" Maddie shouted, trying to keep herself from punching him.
"Now we're all going to get in trouble!" Robbie yelled.
"It's not my fault the machine's so cheap," Mikey said in his defense.
"Huh? What?" The three looked down and saw one of plushies, a small stuff dog, look around. It's tail started to wag. "Oh my! We're free! Thank you strangers! Come on everyone, let's go!"
There was a small shout of cheer and all the stuffed animals jumped up and ran towards the store exit, shouting things like "Thank you!" behind them. When they all left and the store was silent once again, the three kids just stood there.
"... Well, that happened," Maddie finally said.
"Yep," replied Robbie, "... We should probably get out of here."
"Wait!" said Mikey. He bent down and picked up the dvd he had tried to win, "Okay, now we can go."
()()()()()()()()()()
"Hey guys look!" Robbie said happily, "a sweet shop!"
"What do they sell?" Maddie asked.
"What do you think? Sweets, duh!" Robbie laughed at his joke. "Get it? Sweet like 'Oh sweet!' and sweet like candy and stuff?" Maddie gave him an unimpressed look. Robbie scowled at her. "Fine, let's just go in the shop." One day he would make her laugh with one of his quote unquote 'corny' (her opinion only) jokes.
As soon as the three entered the shop, they were practically smothered with the scent of chocolate, baked goods and candy. "Aww, this is awesome!" Mikey said, taking a good long whiff.
"This must be what Heaven smells like!" Maddie smiled.
"Hey, put a few video games and toys and stuff in here and it would be Heaven," Robbie added.
"Welcome kiddies!" A woman said, blonde and wearing pink, reminding them of their kindergarden teacher's sister, "I sure hope you enjoy some sweet treats here today! We've got everything from apples dipped in caramel to zesty lemon gumdrops! And today only, we have free samples of fudge!" She pointed over to a table with a model of an Aztec Pyramid made entirely out of fudge!
"You don't need to tell me twice!" Mikey shouted as he ran forward, "Move it lady!" He was at the table in five seconds flat, stuffing his face with fudge.
"My my, someone's an eager beaver," the candy lady smiled. She then looked at the two remaining kids. "Well, what are you waiting for! Dig in!" The two friends looked at each other, and smiled. In a heartbeat, they were both right beside Mikey and stuffing their faces as well.
(Five Minutes Later)
The three were sitting on the floor, chocolate lining their mouth and their stomachs cradled in their arms. "Why, did we do that?" Maddie asked (more like moaned).
"We're so dumb," Robbie said.
"I'm never, gonna eat, again," Mikey said before falling to the floor.
"Oh my," the candy lady said, still smiling sweetly, "Looks like your eyes were bigger than your stomachs! Hehe! Well, I certainly hope you'll take some for the road!"
"No way, lady," Robbie said.
"We're done for the day," Maddie agreed. The lady scowled at them.
"Au contraire, my sweeties." The blonde pointed at a sign that read 'If you take more than one free sample, you must purchase something.'
"Oh fine," Maddie said. They should get something for their families anyway. All three kids got each of their parents a bag of assorted candies. Mikey also got Matt and Sammi a bag of M&Ms, and they all chipped in to buy a bag of lollipops for Pops, a bag of white chocolate for Skips (they all knew the guy couldn't resist the stuff), and a small bag of cookies for Benson (they couldn't really give him candy because, well, he was candy!)
"Thank you!" the candy lady said, smiling once again, "Hope you have a super duper sweet day! Bye bye now!"
"She nearly gave me a cavity just listening to her," Robbie commented. Maddie giggled.
"Yeah, she-" Maddie stopped when she heard munching. They turned to look, and saw Mikey eating another piece of fudge.
"Dude, you're eating more?" Robbie asked.
"What happened to, 'I'll never eat again'?" Maddie asked.
"I got better," Mikey replied with a shrug of his shoulders, "Now come on Sixth graders, to the next store." The two glared at him, but followed anyway, they still had a lot of ground to cover.
()()()()()()()()()()
It was almost noon by the time they had reached the end of the main street. They had stopped inside a couple random stores but couldn't really find anything to buy. The only thing they had bought so far was the candy, and Maddie bought herself a new baseball hat with a picture of a sunset on it.
"Maybe we should think about heading back," Robbie suggested.
"Yeah, there's still time to go swimming," Maddie added, "and it's about lunch time, so-"
"No, not yet," Mikey said. Obviously he wasn't done shopping. He looked across the street and saw a store with an interesting window display. Mostly beach shells and coral with standees wearing tee shirts and hats. But, there was a small wooden box that caught his attention. "Let's go in here," he said. Before anyone could argue, he ran across the street.
"Come on, let's go catch him," Maddie said to Robbie. The two quickly across the street and inside the store. It had a very casual setting, and the things they sold there weren't the usual 'corny souvenirs'.
"Look," Robbie said. There was a couple small wooden shelves, one filled with books, the other filled with magazines and comics. The raccoon was instantly over by the shelf, looking at all the different titles and taking books off the shelf. The violet bird giggled, and decided to look at the magazines.
Meanwhile, Mikey was over by the window display, looking at the small wooden box and the five objects inside. After looking at them all, he decided on a gold necklace with a small baby blue shell attached to it. He quickly looked over at the two animal friends. They were still looking at the books.
Hastily, he made his way to the cashier. "Uh, just this," he mumbled.
"Alright," said the cashier, "five dollars." Without another word, Mikey handed the cashier the money, who in return gave him the necklace in a small bag. "Thank you for shopping here."
"Yeah yeah," Mikey mumbled. He turned and practically ran right into Maddie and Robbie. "Whoa!"
"Hey!" Maddie looked down at the bag. "Mikey, what did you buy?" she asked curiously.
"None of your business!" Mikey replied, glaring at the girl. Not paying attention to Robbie, the raccoon was able to sneak a peek inside the bag.
"A necklace?" Robbie said. Surprised, Mikey quickly grabbed Robbie's collar and yanked him back over to Maddie.
"Stay out of my bag!" Mikey shouted. But instead of being mad or arguing, the two just smiled at him.
"Dude, you don't have to be embarrassed," Robbie said in a kind tone.
"Yeah, I think it's kinda sweet you're getting something for your mom," Maddie smiled.
"... It's not for my mom," Mikey mumbled. The two blinked.
"Is it for your sister?" Robbie asked.
"No, Sammi's too young for jewelry and all that other girly crap," Mikey replied.
"Is it for you then?" Maddie asked.
"No way!" Mikey shouted, "I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a girly necklace, unless it had a skull or something cool on it."
"Well then, who is it for?" Robbie asked. Mikey looked away from them.
'Who could it be for?' Maddie thought. The only girls Mikey knew were his mother, grandmother, sister, her, Kimi, Tay-... Maddie then remembered the sleepover a month ago. Taylor was the one who asked if they should include Mikey. Mikey did complement Taylor on her video game skills, and then blushed when he realized it. The two had even sat together most of the night without even realizing it.
"Mikey, do you like Taylor?"
The shop was silent. Mikey looked at them in shock, and then scowled, his face bright red. "No! Why would I like a dumb girl like her! She can't even talk right! Just, just get away from me!" With that, the pudgy green boy ran out the door.
"Mikey wait!" Maddie shouted, but he was already gone.
"Wait, so Mikey likes Taylor?" Robbie asked.
"I think so," Maddie replied, "but I don't think he wants to admit it."
'I kinda know the feeling,' Robbie said. He still felt that way about Maddie at times. He knew what it was like to have a crush, but not being able to say it out loud, although he had a feeling they both had different reasons for not admitting it. Robbie just thought it would be easier to stay best friends with Maddie. But Mikey, what could his reason be?
"Come on, we better go find him." Robbie blinked.
"Huh? Oh, right." The two walked out the shop door and started looking around for the eighth grader. Eventually, they found him by a lemonade and hot dog shop, eating his third hot dog. His back was turned to them, with hot dog wrappers sitting all around his chair.
"Mikey?" Maddie said, slowly walking towards them.
"Go away, losers!" he shouted.
"Hey, we're just trying to help," Robbie said, "Look, we don't care that you like Taylor or that you bought her a necklace or any of that. We're not gonna tease you for it. So just please stop being upset and just come back with us."
Mikey didn't turn around, but he did hear what the raccoon had said. "You aren't gonna tease me?"
"No, why would we?" Maddie asked. Mikey scowled. 'Why would you?' He wished he knew the reasons why his friends did.
Back when school was still in session, Mikey had been hanging out with Taylor a little more often. Not constantly, but he would say hey if he saw her. He started thinking about her, and smiling when he saw her. It wasn't much, but unfortunately, it was enough for his friends to make them tease him.
"'Cause, liking a girl is lame and sissy and all that crap," Mikey finally replied, still not turning around, "I'm the tough guy, the cool guy. I'm not supposed to... to feel like this."
Maddie facepalmed. "Mikey, what are you talking about? Everyone feels like this at least once! Even your parents!" Mikey looked up. That's right. His dad, the toughest and coolest guy he knew, the guy he always looked up to, had felt things like this. And, since (thankfully) his parents hadn't divorced, he was still feeling those things.
"Guys are allowed to be romantic and have feelings," Maddie continued, "They may not like admitting them, but they have them. And you know what, Mikey? The sooner you just shut up and except them, the sooner you can be happy with the person you like." Robbie looked up at his friend and smiled. She really did get her dad's awesome speech making abilities (even if it was a little corny).
Finally, Mikey turned around and looked at the two sixth graders. They were both smiling at him. And slowly, Mikey smiled too. "Thanks," he said quietly.
"No problem," Maddie said, with Robbie nodding. The green boy scowled at them.
"But if you tell anyone I like her, your both gonna be sorry!"
The two friends rolled their eyes. "Fine, we won't say anything until you're ready to say it," Maddie said. He may be a jerk at times, but at least he was a nice jerk. Even if he hadn't made them, they still would've kept his secret. After all, they were kinda friends.
"Good," Mikey replied, "Now here." He shoved two hotdogs still wrapped in tin foil in their hands.
"Hot dogs?" Robbie asked, confused.
"Yeah," replied Mikey, "I was gonna eat them but, I'm not really hungry anymore."
The three friends smiled at each other. "Well, it is almost lunch time." With that, the two sat down with Mikey, and ate their lunch.
()()()()()()()()()()
It was getting close to 2 o'clock. "Let's go," Mikey said finally, "there aren't any cool stores left."
"Fine by us," Robbie said, wiping the sweat off his forehead, "I'm so tired I can't even keep my tail up."
"Besides, our parents are probably wondering where we are," Maddie said. The three turned and started to walk back. They had walked about a block when the young bird noticed something out of the corner of her eye. "Hey, what's that?"
The two boys looked. On the corner of a street, there was a small pet store. "Huh, guess we didn't notice it since we were walking up the street," Robbie said.
"Come on, let's go check it out," Mikey suggested. Since they were curious too, Maddie and Robbie followed Mikey into the store.
The walls were painted bright blue and the shop was full of life. There were the normal pets like rats, fish and birds, but there were also more unique pets like platypi and hypnotoads. "Whoa cool, jelly fish!" Robbie said, looking up at a huge aquarium.
"Snakes! Awesome!" Mikey said, looking at the reptile section. "Maybe I can get Mom to let me have a lizard or something."
As for Maddie, she was looking at all the pets. They were all so interesting to watch. But when she arrived at one aquarium, she noticed that there was nothing in there.
"Huh?" she bent down to get a closer look. The water was clear, and so was the floor of the aquarium. But, there was a huge rock with a cave carved into it. "Maybe it's hiding in there." She tapped the glass twice, and in the middle of the pitch black cave, a pair of yellow eyes opened.
They looked almost human, only they were yellow instead of white. They were glaring at her, and Maddie felt a chill run down her spine.
"Just ignore that thing," an employee behind her said, "Found it caught in a tuna net, decided it would make a great pet. But that thing won't do nothin'."
Maddie made a face. "Well, maybe it's just homesick or something." She looked back at the eyes. They weren't deadly or ferocious, just defensive. "Aren't you going to come out?" she said quietly, looking straight into the eyes of the creature.
A moment past. Half a minute passed. Finally, after almost a full minute or staring down the creature, Maddie noticed it's eyes get softer. Slowly, it swam towards the light. She could see the very tip of a grey snout when...
"Hey!" Maddie jumped, and the creature swam back into the darkness. She groaned and turned to face the voice.
"Whoa, what is that thing?" Robbie asked as Maddie glared at Mikey.
"I'm not sure," Maddie said honestly.
"Maybe it's a water snake or something?" Robbie guessed.
"Do most water snakes have bug yellow eyes?"
"I don't see any eyes," Mikey said looking into the clear cage.
"Well, they were there until you made me scare it," Maddie mumbled.
"Well, whatever it is it's not coming out now," Robbie said, "We should probably get going anyway."
"Yeah, okay." As the three walked out of the shop, Maddie couldn't help but think back to those piercing yellow eyes.
()()()()()()()()()
"We're back!"
Mordecai and Rigby looked up from the game they were playing. "Oh hey guys," Mordecai greeted, "So, did you have fun?"
"Yep!" Maddie replied. She then held out the candy bag she got him. "Here Dad!"
"Aw sweet!" Mordecai smiled, "Thanks Maddie." He gave her a hug.
"Here's one for you too, Dad," Robbie said, handing him the bag of candies.
"Yea-yuh! Thanks," Rigby said as the two fist bumped (which was basically their hug).
By the time the three had finished tracking down the rest of their family and delivering the candy, Mordecai and Rigby had finished their game and the tv was free. "Awesome!" Maddie quickly grabbed the remote.
"Hey, why do you get to pick," Mikey asked, grabbing for the remote.
"Because Micheal, I touched it first!" Maddie argued. The two pulled back and forth on the remote.
"Just give it here, I'll pick something!" Robbie shouted, pulling the remote towards him.
"No way!" "Give it!" "I'll pick!" As the three pulled on the remote, someone accidentally pressed the 'on' button, and the tv flashed on. It was already on a channel, they were showing 'America's Funniest Home Videos'. The three stopped arguing just enough to see a guy fall face first in the mud after trying to jump over a trashcan. The three laughed and instantly forgot about their argument.
Just three friends, a funny tv show, and candy. Even on vacation, it was a great activity if not an enjoyable one.
"Well, nice to see you guys are having fun," Eileen said as she and Margaret came inside for a drink. While Margaret sipped her glass of soda, she sat up a little, noticing something outside.
"What is it, Mom?" Maddie asked, noticing.
"Oh, nothing. It's just, I thought I saw a dog running outside," Margaret replied, "but it looked soft, practically stuffed."
The three shared a smile. "Yeah," they said in unison.
Not my favorite chapter and I had a couple problems with it, but I still think it was good, at least 'average'. Also, small detail but deserves credit where credit is due. The whole 'Skips loves white chocolate thing' is from 'Bubble Gum and Lollipops' by J. Avery. Again, small detail but I still wanted to give her credit, especially since it's one of my favorite stories and she's an awesome writer (Seriously, read her stories. They're amazing)
Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and the next is on it's way (Good news everyone! The plot's finally starting! It should be enjoyable, I'm really looking forward to writing it). In fact, it's one fourth of the way written. If I can stay focused and nothing interrupts me, it should be up tomorrow. Please review and I'll see you soon!