A/N: The next chapter has arrived! Well, technically not, since the chapter isn't even written as I write this and it's Tuesday, one day before I am to start editing both this and All My Brothers, so I highly doubt that they'll be up by Sunday like I planned, but whatever… Anyways, read on! It gets really good soon, so stick with me!
Luke and I made it back to the rink after visiting with George and his family, then catching a quick lunch (fast food again… But Wendy's has really good salads if you go light on the dressing. Besides, I usually bring my own. Believe it or not, I'm a raspberry vinigrette person. Weird, huh?)
Back at the rink, the hockey players had once again taken over our rink, so we had to run them off. Again. And find the Zamboni driver. And get him to smooth the ice over. And then make him leave, because he decided he wanted to watch us work on our routines, picking them apart bit by bit and then putting them back together. We finally had to call security to make him leave.
It's a bit weird, having a stalker, no?
We left the rink about 6 or 7 runs later, tired as anything. Especially me. But I had an excuse—I'd been up since 4! My internal clock allows me to be up at 4 on any day except weekends, but boy howdy, when something wakes me up at 4 on a weekend, I'm deader'n a doornail. (A/N: Wait a minute… where did that phrase come from, anyways? Aren't doornails usually dead? Come to think of it… I've never seen a live doornail.
Anyways. After we left, we dropped by Twee's. Twee was an elderly Japanese lady that George had met one night in the hospital waiting for his third daughter, Elizabeth, to be born. Twee was waiting on her grandson. Anyways, the two got to talking, and when George figured out that Twee liked to sew (and did so for cheap) he asked her to make our skating costumes. Most of the time, people would have ordered them, but when we found someone who, when you took into consideration the cost of fabric, and embellishments, and a small salary, still made them cheaper than you could order them, it seemed like a good deal to me. And George.
Luke came out and modeled his for us. It was spandex, once again. A rather interesting side story on spandex, if you have time and want to listen to me poke fun at Luke. George and I have often questioned his masculinity, since, if you are male, you have to have little or none to wear spandex in the first place. Luke just shrugs it off.
Anyways. Luke's was spandex. The first song we were skating to—Dances from Crete—was roughly 5 minutes long. Actually, it was just the second movement of the song, since the whole thing put together was between 18 and 24 minutes long. I still think that the only reason we were skating to it in the first place was because Renae had come to one of our practices a few weeks ago with her piccolo, and when Luke and I went on break George talked her into playing something for him. He said it sounded like an angel's music. I thought it sounded like a train wreck. The first movement was about a minuotaur—this demon half cow half human kind of thing that was locked underneath the aqueducts or something and was fed human sacrifices of little Roman children. YUCK! Thankfully, we were not dancing to the demon cow song. We were dancing to Tik, the second movement of the same song. Tik was, apparently, a dance about the "sensuous movements of young women". When one is playing Tik, one should feel the beat 'like a Cretan peasant on the threshing floor'. According to Renae, at least. Can you say GROSS?
Thus, our costumes were red.
Well, red and black, actually. Luke had on plain black pants, like always, and a skintight red short sleeved shirt underneath a black mesh top looking kind of thing.
Me? Yeah, I had on a skirt up my butt, like always, and a plain red leotard. With a really low cut neck and various little frilly thingies all over the place. And a big V down the back. Actually, the darned thing was backless and pretty near being frontless. If I got taken to court for this thing, we couldn't hold trial because of insufficient evidence. (A/N: Get it? No leotard, no evidence? Haha… Ok, that was lame. Sorry, guys.)
"One… two… three!" We said in unison, turning to give each other a once-over before looking at ourselves. It was this stupid little tradition we'd had since… well, I'd had it back when I was skating alone, only I'd show Renae or Marny or Cary or Mom or Dad or anyone else who happened to be with me. I don't know how long Luke had had it. Anyways, I glanced at him. He looked… wow.
Let me say this: Luke is HOT! He's got this gorgeous curly dark brown hair and these really bright blue eyes and full lips. This is NOT saying that I could ever feel anything but friendship towards him. Ever. And no one seems to understand that. Renae is always going on about how we are going to get married some day and have little Adrianne-and-Luke babies. Eurgh. As if! At school all the seniors are swooning all over him. I swear, there isn't one girl who doesn't have his name scrawled across the cover of her notebooks… with little hearts around it, no less. And Luke? Ah, he just sits there and smiles.
Even Twee thinks we belong together. Um… may I point out that since I skate with him all day, every day, I know everything about him? And I mean everything. Right down to the his underwear (boxers, duh) and the type of socks he wears (when he's in skates, it's wool ski socks. When he's at school, it's Hanes ankle socks. When he's at home, no socks). I've seen him in his boxers so many times that I lost count, and vice versa. Well… I don't wear boxers, but you get the point. AND I know his deepest-darkest-never-tell-anyone-ever secret. Besides liking me, I mean. And everyone knows that, so… Anyways. His deepest-darkest-never-tell-anyone-ever secret? It's… THAT HE IS AFRAID OF BUNNIES! Like, rabbits. I don't know why. He swears it was because when he was little, one nearly bit wrist off, but I have doubts. Perhaps he is afraid of the killer rabbit on Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Hmmmm?
My deepest-darkest-never-tell-anyone-ever secret? I am afraid of elevators. No one could tell, cuz I can hide it really well if we're in a 2 or 3 story building. And then we get to those in a sky scraper… Then I send my luggage up with George and make Luke take the stairs with me. And there's this sort of "unspoken bond" kind of thing going on. He knows I know, and I know he knows. Our secrets, I mean. So when we're threatened to blackmail each other, we just have to remember that vital body parts could be "accidentally" cut off with the edge of a skate, right? Or that Luke's fear of bunny rabbits could be revealed to the entire school and all those notebooks with his name and hearts scrawled around them could disappear right into the trash bin.
"Wow, Annie." He said in this seductive voice. "You look…"
"Skimpy." I finished for him, tugging on the top to make it less skimpy, though I doubted much could be done to make it so, short of altering the whole thing. Which would have not made George and Twee very happy. George, because he picked the costumes (although I still maintain that I should have at least some say at how far up my butt the skirt goes) and Twee because she made them. Sometimes I think she makes mine skimpy so that Luke will be overcome by my beauty (PAH!) and make the first move. Although everyone knows I'd slap him if he did.
"Nah. You look like… an angel." He came towards me and brushed the hair out of my face. I grabbed his wrist. "What have you been smoking?" I paused. "I want some."
"Absolutely nothing, my dear Annie. Only the highest adoration for you."
"Ugh. Luuuuuuke, you know how I feel about that!" I paused again, then asked, "You can smoke adoration? Man, I really need to find a significant other!"
He grinned and shrugged. "It was worth a try."
"Do it again and I'll 'slip' during practice. You might find yourself missing a vital body part, no?"
He twitched and turned to examine his costume in the mirror.
"You like?" Twee asked in her broken English.
"Yeah. Thanks, Twee." He tugged on the mesh thing to make it longer, since it was riding up around his midriff.
"No no no no!" Twee exclaimed, rushing over to aid Luke in the mesh-tugging. "You gain weight? This fit measurements I take. Not fit you now."
"No… wait. Yeah. I gained weight… but only about 3 pounds! Nothing major!"
"You gain weight. Costume no fit!" Twee exclaimed exasperatedly. "Lose it."
"Huh?"
"Lose it." She repeated. "Costume fit if you not so fat."
"Hey! I resent that!" Luke knew she was just joking.
She laughed. "You lose weight by nationals, yes?"
"Yeah."
"Good." She held out her hand for the costume and he took it off… right there in the middle of the room. In front of all the other Japanese girls who had been looking curiously at Luke and talking in hushed tones.
Twee barked something in Japanese and they all snapped back to work, though I couldn't help but see them staring at his chest. Luke walked into the back room to get his clothes. I followed him, feeling rather embarrased at the lowness of my top. And if we were favored to win, I was gonna have to wear this thing on international TV! GAAH! WHY?
I changed out of my costume and put it back in its rightful place—on a hanger—and handed it back to Twee so she could hold onto it for me. Everyone who knows me knows I can't keep track of anything for more than a few days, at the most. And Nationals were still a few weeks away, so giving me the costume was a bad idea.
A FEW MINUTES LATER…
About fifteen minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of the Space and Rocket Center, where Cary worked. Space Camp was in full gear now, but since I knew the schedule like the back of my hand, I knew they'd either be at dinner or on their way to it. Plus, I was hungry. And lucky me, Space Camp has a vegitarian menu. WOOT! Luke had to stay, since he'd driven and I didn't have my car.
I marched inside, then back outside, and around the rocket to the cafeteria. Space camp is set up in about 4 different buildings, and to get from one to the other you have to go through all of them. You first have to go through the dorms to get to the shortcut to the cafeteria. Then you have to go back outside, and around the big rocket (I forget which one it is… there's, like, 12) to the cafeteria.
I vaguely wondered if Cary would be counselloring for Odd and his group before yanking the door open and walking inside.
Yup. Cary was sitting at the table next to Odd, Jeremie, Ulrich, and Aelita. I plopped down in an empty seat next to him and smiled sweetly up at him. "Oh dear brother of mine… wanna go get me a salad? I'll watch them, I promise!"
"Go get your own." He laughed. I turned to Chase, who was sitting behind me and to the left. "Chase? Will you do something for future family?"
"What do you want, Adrianne?"
"Go get me a salad, please? With no dressing? I have my own."
"That's just sad, Annie." Luke took the opportunity to sit down in Chase's empty seat. "You carry a bottle of dressing around?"
"It's not as gross as it sounds. It's in a baby food jar. I keep it in a little cooler thing. I wash it out every night!"
"Yeah, but still…"
Cary cut in. "Aren't you supposed to be skating?"
"That's the fifth time I've been asked this question today, Care Bear. No. George is at the hospital with his family. I'm bored and we can't seem to hold the rink for more than an hour at a time, so… We just quit early today."
"Whatever." Cary turned back to some of the French people. I noticed one of them, a girl with long black hair and a big yellow headband, staring at him like he was an angel right out of heaven. I'd often wondered if this was true—honestly, the only thing he was missing was the halo.
"You like him?" I called in French.
She flushed and turned back to her friends.
"Annie, why must you chase away all my future girlfriends?"
"I thought I was the only one you'd ever consider being with?" I questioned, swatting him playfully on his back.
"Well, when cute French girls are brought into the picture, everything changes."
"She doesn't know you half as well as I do."
"So?"
"So… Meh. Date her if you want."
"I wouldn't." Acorn man cut into our conversation as Chase returned from the salad bar.
"And why ever not?" I asked in French, since he had a lot of trouble with English, aparrently.
"She's evil."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Oh." I relayed this information to Luke, who pouted before smiling. I dug into my salad. He stole a piece of lettuce. "Hey!" I cried in indignation. "Get your own!"
"No!" He pulled a face as the after-effects of my dressing hit him like a rock. "Gross!" He cried. "Annie, who can you eat this stuff?"
"Because." I answered matter-of-factly. "It masks the deflicted lettuce taste go away. And makes it taste something like a raspberry."
"That's just gross, Annie."
"Thank you, dear Lucas."
"You're welcome, oh wonderful girlfriend of mine."
"I am NOT your girlfriend. Nor will I ever be, so you can get rid of that idea now before I whack you in the face with my skates."
"Oh wow, I'm scared."
"Shut up." I turned back to my salad to find Cary, Chase, and the four French people staring back at me.
"What?" I asked innocently. "I can't help it if he bugs the living daylights out of me suggesting that we should go out!"
"So wait… are you are aren't you?" The girl with pink hair spoke in flawless English. Even her accent was good.
"We aren't. We skate together."
"Oh."
There was a long pause. Then, I turned to Cary. "Have you asked her yet?"
A/N: This is a deflicted place to leave it off, but I can't help it. It's a Sunday afternoon, and I just got this written. I have to have it edited and up tonight. See you next week!
No thank you's this time, sorry. I'll get them next week!
