The doorbell ringing an hour later, Autumn sprung to the door again, as it seemed no one else knew how to answer a dang door.
Opening it quickly, Autumn had to fight to keep her mouth from hitting the ground. "Oh, Mr. Lanigan… Mrs. Lanigan… We didn't expect you today…" Autumn smiled meekly.
"It's Saturday. You know we visit on Saturdays," Mrs. Lanigan pointed out. Blaze's parents always came by for a visit, even though the band knew it was to check up on how things were going. They knew if the Lanigans ever found something terribly awry , they would take their daughter away from the hell hole and make her watch Nickelodeon nonstop to purify her again.
"Right! Where is my head…" This is bad, very bad. "Filly, why don't you get them something to drink while I get Blaze."
Nodding, Filly hurried into the kitchen, hoping that they had something to drink besides orange juice and beer. "Water! Water is good. Water is pure. Water won't get us in deep shit," she mumbled to herself as she fretted to clean out two glasses.
Mr. Lanigan chuckled. "Do you all still insist on using those band nicknames? Gabrielle is a perfectly good name for a rock band member."
Autumn laughed lightly. "Well you know Bl… er Gabi… She loves that nickname." Leading them into the living room, Autumn gestured for them to take a seat on the couch as she wearily looked upstairs.
"I'll just go get your daughter. She must be practicing away up there in her room," Autumn smiled sweetly as she bounded up the stairs.
Knocking lightly, Autumn whispered into the door's frame. "Blaze… Blaaaaaze… your par…" Just as she was about to finish the sentence, a loud moan seeped through the door.
"Oh crap…" Autumn whispered. As she started to whisper to Blaze again, she turned to see Mrs. Lanigan already climbing the steps.
Autumn was hit with a barrage of questions from the worried mother. "Was that my Gabi? Is she alright? Is she sick?"
"I, uh, um…" Autumn stuttered. She backed away from the door, knowing that as soon as Mrs. Lanigan found out what was going on, this house would be in uproar.
Ignoring Autumn's words, Mrs. Lanigan knocked on the door. "Honey? Are you okay?"
"Mom?!" shouted Blaze. Oh shit. This was horrible. Blaze's father was extremely old fashioned, and it was a miracle she was allowed to live here in the first place, but if she was caught with a boy in her room, there would be hell to pay.
"Yes dear! Did you forget it's Saturday? Are you okay in there?" her mother answered.
"I… I… Fine! I'm fine! Just… um, gimme
a second…" she called back.
"Something is wrong, isn't it?" Mrs. Lanigan frowned. "You must be sick. Dear,
open the door, let me have a look at you."
"Bums, off!" she hissed.
"One… second…" Bumlets panted.
"Offffff!" she glared.
"Almost…"
Rolling her eyes, Blaze heaved Bumlets off of her and he crashed to the ground.
Both wincing at the sound that made, Bumlets grabbed his pants as Blaze shoved
the rest of his clothes under the bed, along with anything else that was sure to
get her in major trouble.
"What was that?" Mrs. Lanigan asked. "Did you fall?"
"No, no, just knocked something over! One second mother!"
Scrambling around the room Blaze continued to hide as much as she could.
"Cigarettes, beer cans, ack! Playboys," she hissed, conducting a verbal
inventory as she pushed things under the bed and in the closet. "Why do you need
those playboys anyway?!" Blaze muttered.
Ignoring her question, Bumlets asked one of his own. "Where am I gonna hide?"
Spinning around in circles, Blaze threw up her hands. "Get out the window," she
snapped. As his eyes widened, Blaze frowned. "Just for a few minutes. Go!"
Groaning, Bumlets shoved open the window and climbed out. Lucky for him the
garage was adjacent to their room. His bare feet hitting the cool roof of the
garage, Bumlets crouched down under the window and pouted. "I hate interrupting
the lovestick!" he whined to himself.
With Bumlets out the window, Blaze pulled the window shade down, and finally
noticed that she was stark naked. Panicking, she threw on a shirt, hid anything
else that looked like incriminating paraphernalia, unlocked the door, and hopped
into bed, pulling up the blanket to her chin. "Come in!"
Bursting in the door, Mrs. Lanigan frowned at her daughter. "You are sick! Why
didn't you call me? Do you even have the proper medications to combat this? Have
you taken Vitamin C? What about orange juice? Coughing? Sore throat? Is your
nose running?"
"M-mom, I'm fine… just a little under the weather."
"You look terrible!" Feeling Blaze's forehead, Mrs. Lanigan frowned. "You're all
warm and sweating! You have a fever most definitely."
Blaze squirmed. "It can't be that bad Mom. I'm fine, I just need rest."
Shaking her head, Mrs. Lanigan looked around the room. "It's so dark in here…
you need some light. That will help. And we'll get you some soup and some ginger
ale." She started towards the window.
"No!" Blaze shouted. "Erm, I mean no Mom. I can't sleep with the shade open.
Keep it down," she pleaded. She knew if her mother opened the shade and saw a
half-naked boy on the roof, doomsday would be upon her.
Shrugging, Mrs. Lanigan turned to her daughter again. "Dear, you need to eat
better. None of this pizza and burgers everyday. And don't tell me that's not
what you eat. Your garbage outside is piled high with pizza boxes."
"I'm not the only one here… it's not all I eat," Blaze mumbled and gave her
mother the 'don't patronize me' look.
Mrs. Lanigan ignored her daughter as her eyes skimmed the room, looking for
anything considered 'hellish' by her standards. "I'm going over to Pathmark to
get you some good food, and not another word about it."
Groaning, Blaze pulled the covers over her head. "Yes Mom."
In an instant her mother was rushing down the stairs to collect Mr. Lanigan.
"We'll be right back!" she called as the front door shut behind them.
As soon as Filly and Autumn heard the car start up, they rushed around the
house, cleaning up anything they could find.
"We haven't got much time!" Filly screeched. "Hide the beer! Hide the beer!"
Nodding, Autumn collected the alcohol from the fridge and raced it up to her
room, hiding it in a drawer she specifically kept empty for just this occasion.
"Vacuum up the potato chips!" Autumn called down the stairs. "And don't forget
to cover the stains Spot created in the living room!" She shuddered as she said
the last part.
Bumlets cowered against the house as he watched the Lanigan's car drive off. As
soon as they turned the corner, Bumlets rushed into the room.
"That was quick!" he grinned.
"They're coming back…" Blaze groaned without peeking her head out from under the
covers. "Mom thinks I'm sick so she went to get me meds and food from the
store."
Pouting, Bumlets stripped off his jeans. "Then that doesn't give us much time!"
Climbing under the covers, Bumlets began to finish what they had already
started.
