So the gang is now headed into Ocala to do some shopping, what fun. All your reviews are so great, I love reading them! Today might be a short-ish chapter, but hope it's remotely funny or something. Read on!
"Coop!" Summer squealed, "A Paul Frank shop! Damnit Chino, vamanos!" She pointed to a large parking lot and orange and red colored building.
Ryan turned the steering wheel and swerved into the stores parking lot. They parked and headed into the alpine themed store. The large Swiss columns and shingles lined the identical stores along the road. "This must be like heaven for them," Ryan thought.
"Oh, this is so cute," Summer put a shirt with a tropical scene and some weird writing up against Seth's chest and pinched one of his cheeks.
"No, it's ugly," Seth whined. Summer gave him her best sad face and he complied, going into the dressing room.
"What's wrong Chino, they don't sell wife beaters?" Summer noticed a bored looking Ryan, sitting on the bench by the dressing rooms. He pointed to one of the rooms, she ducked to see Marissa's ballet flats and nodded.
Marissa appeared, wearing a light green dress that fell just above her knees. It was tattered at the ends and had one sleeve, spanning low across her chest, and then up onto her shoulder and back. She put one hand on her hip, the other in the air and spun, the dress swirling with the movement, "What do you think?" She looked to Ryan, who was just staring, wide eyed. She noticed his expression and smiled.
Summer grinned, "It's great."
"Ahem," Seth interrupted, standing behind them, looking in the mirror. He had the ugly shirt Summer had given him. It barely hung onto his small shoulders and made his head look way too small. Below his shirt he had tried to squeeze on a terry cloth asymmetrical skirt, that came to the top of his thighs.
Summer gasped, "That… Wow, Cohen. I'm glad you took this opportunity to come out of the closet. Dressing room, whatever. It's beautiful," She couldn't help from cracking up.
Seth acted like he was hurt, putting his hands like Marissa did, and spun. It didn't work as well for him. The skirt was too tight and he only made it part of the way around, slowly facing back to them, "Someone left it in there. Just thought you guys would enjoy the view," he stretched out his left leg, trying to pose.
"No one wants to see that," Ryan managed to get out in between his fits of laughter.
Seth rolled his eyes and headed back into the dressing room, sticking his head out and looking to Summer, "So do you think I should really get it?" Everyone was relived when they noticed the sarcasm in his voice.
"It's a keeper," she winked.
"We went shopping and you two didn't even buy anything?" Ryan took the passengers seat this time, letting Seth drive.
"Didn't want to over load the car. We'll be going many places, need to save room for the important stuff we'll buy."
"Like?" Marissa nudged Summer.
"Like, I don't know. Clothes? Just not from there. We have those stores back home, we can get tourist stuff! Yes, we get to be tourist."
"Tourist are annoying and smelly. Summer, they wear ugly Hawaiian shirts and khakis, you wear tank tops and mini skirts. Why would you want to be a tourist?" Seth snickered, thinking about how bad of a tourist Summer would be.
"It's not fair that we have to put up with them, so other people should have to, too."
"So where are we going?" Ryan interrupted, not knowing where their conversation was going.
"Lunch? We could go to Hampton. My Mom built a development there, it's down the road from a great Italian restaurant," Seth suggested. They all nodded and started talking about where else they should go.
Ryan and Marissa sat in the back, arguing about who's music pick was better, while Summer got into the drivers seat, and debated with Seth on which way to go. They finally agreed to go north more, where to, no one knew.
The four friends drove for about 2 hours, talking about what they planned to do the next summer and college. Ryan was off to USC as was Seth. Marissa and Summer didn't exactly know what they wanted to do, but figured that's where they'd end up too.
They were driving along the highway when Summer saw a younger couple, sticking their thumbs out, looking for a ride, "Hitch hikers!" She pulled over to the side of the road.
Seth, Ryan, and Marissa all looked back at the couple, then to Summer, "Are you sure about this?" Seth was worried about the strangers in his Mom's car.
"Hey, where are you going?" Summer gave the couple a genuine smile.
"Where ever, our car broke down a ways back. Need to just get into town," the man was polite and Summer motioned for them to get into the back of the Land Rover. They were sitting behind all of the luggage, since there wasn't really room for them anywhere else.
After a couple minutes of silence Seth spoke up, "So.. Where are you two headed to?"
"Um, San Francisco. It's our honeymoon," the woman gave a seductive grin to her husband, clasping his hand. None of them even saw what was going on in the backseat.
"That's great, where are you from?" Summer questioned. After a few seconds when they didn't answer she looked in the rear-view mirror to see them making out. She abruptly slammed on the brakes, breaking them apart and sending them smashing into the luggage, "No hankie-pankie in the backseat!" She yelled.
"Summer, don't say hankie-pankie," Seth scowled. She shrugged and got back to speed, checking back at the embarrassed newlyweds.
"Thanks for the ride, bye," the two hitch hikers waved goodbye.
"That was fun," Marissa sighed. Hitch hikers weren't as fun as they sounded. She snuck a quick glance over at Ryan, who was staring intently at the map. He looked up at her when he noticed she was staring and gave a quick half smile.
"Where to now?"
"Well Ryan, now we drive for hours on end, making our way to… Ta-frickin-daa…" he points to the map Ryan is holding, "Bangor. See the brochure? We're staying at the Radisson hotel. It looks nice. Better than the last one we all stayed in."
"Bangor, here we come," Marissa raised her bottle of water.
"Bangor," Ryan tapped his soda against Marissa's raised bottled water.
That's it for now. It's getting late and I'm about to fall asleep here. But I hope you all liked the hitch hikers, and Seth's cross-dressing. We'll have a drunk Ryan and some revealed feelings in the next chapter. Plus loads of chapters of random fun and laughs. Another update on this or 'Truth Is' in the morning. Goodnight!