Wow! I actually got reviews! I'm soooo happy!!! Thank you The-cat's-meow and crazychickie4life for your reviews. I will use some of your tips in the upcoming chapters. For now I'm going to just type the rest of what I have written down already. It does end sort of abruptly again so sorry bout that.... Okay then, enjoy!

Chapter 4

The four of them took off down the nature trail. It wasn't long before they were completely surrounded by trees. All that they could hear was the chirping of birds.

"Oh, it's beautiful! I can't believe we didn't come here sooner!" Aya exclaimed as they walked.

"I know! It's so peaceful! I love coming here," Chidori said.

"Yeah, it's actually kind of nice. Hey, I'll race you guys to that rock up ahead!" Yuuhi said.

"You got it!" Aya replied.

"I'm in," Chidori said.

"Count me in too! You're going down lover boy!" Suzumi said smugly. "Ready, go!"

Chidori, Aya, and her took off running. Yuuhi on the other hand remained in disbelief of what Suzumi had just said.

"Whaddya mean "lover boy"? I'm not a lover boy!" he yelled trying to catch up to them. Suzumi won the race touching the rock first. A little after her came Chidori. Aya, on the other hand, stepped in a small hole and tumbled to the ground scraping up her elbows and knees. Yuuhi halted to a stop next to her.

"Aya, are you all right?" he asked helping her to her feet.

"Yeah, just a few scrapes and... OWWW!!!" she winced in pain.

"I think you twisted your ankle. You need to keep off your feet. Hold on a second," Yuuhi said lifting her up in his strong arms. "Guys! Aya twisted her ankle!"

"Oh, Aya, are you okay?" Chidori called running to her and Yuuhi.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just can't really walk."

"So we see," Suzumi said raising her eyebrows at Yuuhi as she arrived shortly after Chidori.

"We need to get her home and put some ice on her ankle. Suzumi, do you have a phone with you to call Mrs. Q.?" Yuuhi asked.

"No, I told Mrs. Q. to wait for us back at the beginning of the trail at 4:30."

"Great, what do we do now?" Yuuhi asked.

The group remained silent as they thought of a plan to get home. There had to be some way. They just needed to jog their memory a bit. Chidori bit her lip and racked her brain finally coming up with the solution.

"Hey! I remember passing a pay phone near the beginning. We can call from there," Chidori said smiling. She was proud of herself for coming up with the answer to their problem.

"Okay, let's go then," Yuuhi said walking back the way they had just come from. The three of them headed back to find the pay phone with Aya still in Yuuhi's arms. Yuuhi hadn't really given much thought to the fact that he was carrying the woman he loved. His sole concern had been to make sure Aya was okay. When this fact finally sank in, Yuuhi stopped dead in his tracks with his eyes wide open. Chidori and Suzumi kept walking not noticing that Yuuhi had stopped. They were too caught up in their conversation.

"Yuuhi? What are we stopping for?" Aya asked him.

"Oh, um... er... nothing," he answered nervously continuing to walk again.

Images of her sitting in the bath tub just barely covered by bubbles filled his mind. Again the sensation of wanting to kiss her filled his body. He wanted their lips to touch, to feel her soft lips against his. He wanted to taste her. He didn't know it, but Aya felt the exact same. This had been a scene out of her very own fairytale. Her prince charming came to her rescue, scooping her up in his big, strong arms. His sole concern was of her own safety.

She looked up at Yuuhi smiling. He was obviously nervous. She layed her head on his shoulder. It was so comfortable. This was the way it was meant to be. This was where she belonged. She didn't want to reach the pay phone. It would only mean that Yuuhi would put her down.

"She just layed her head on me! Why did she... Does she - does she... like me? Does she love me?" Yuuhi wondered with beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Um... Aya?" he asked hoping she would volunteer the information he wanted to hear.

Aya knew he was wondering about the motivation behind her action, "Sorry, I'm kind of tired."

"Oh, no problem. No problem," Yuuhi replied quickly enjoying having her head resting on his shoulder.

Finally the four of them reached the pay phone by the side of the road where only two hours ago Mrs. Q. had tossed them out of the car. It was a wonder that she managed not to crash into it earlier.

"Okay, who's got money with them? And as in money, I mean coins," Suzumi asked.

"Sorry," Chidori said emptying out her pockets, "I didn't bring any."

"Me neither. Suzumi, don't you have money with you?" Yuuhi asked.

"No, I mean we were just going for a walk."

"You don't?!" Yuuhi yelled panicking, "I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one! Don't you know that we might need coins to make a call in case of an emergency?!"

Aya pulled her head away from Yuuhi's shoulder in a daze. He had just yelled straight into her ear. She covered them in case he started up again.

"Me?! The responsible one? What about the rest of you? I mean shouldn't all of..." Suzumi fired back in return before being interrupted.

It had taken a while for Aya to recover from the shock in her eardrum, but once she had, she realized that she had enough coins to make one call.

"Hey!" she called out to end their fight, "I've got some coins. I guess I'm the only responsible one here."

Yuuhi rolled his eyes, "Yeah, right."

"Just put me down so I can get the change out of my pocket," Aya said.

Yuuhi gently set her down so all of her weight ended up on her uninjured right foot, keeping his arm around her shoulders as a brace. After she was sure she was steady, Aya dug around in her pocket pulling out a handful of change.

"There," she said handing it to Suzumi, "That should be enough for one call. Other than that, I've got nothing else. Better hope that Mrs. Q.'s at home and not joy riding around like she said she'd be."

Suzumi dropped the coins into the slot and dialed the familiar numbers to call home. The phone rang once.

"Ohh, she'd better be there," Suzumi thought.

It rang twice.

"Come on, pick up. Pick up."

It rang a third time.

"This is the last time she'll be joy riding for a loooong time."

It rang a fourth time.

"That's it. Somebody's gettin fired!"

It rang once more before playing a not-so-famliar message on the answering machine.

"Helloooooo! Pa-pa-pa-please leave a message after the beep,"Mrs. Q.'s voice rapped. "Cause Yuuhi and Suzumi are out with their peeps. Leave your name and a message and they'll get back to you soon, and never insult Yuuhi even though he's a buffoon. Ba-ba-ba-bye now!"

"Mrs. Q.!!!!!!!!!!!! I told her not to mess with the answering machine again!!! ARGH! Yuuhi is a buffoon though...."

Suzumi's face first crinkled up in anger, but then toned down as she heard the end of Mrs. Q.'s very own answering machine rap song.

"Is that a good face or a bad one? I can't seem to tell," Chidori whispered to Yuuhi.

Yuuhi shook his head in indecision with and "I don't know" look upon his face.

"BEEEP!" the answering machine message blurted into Suzumi's ear.

"Ahem, well Mrs. Q. apparently you're not there even though we need you to come pick us up because Aya twisted her ankle. Let me just say this, NO MORE JOY RIDING! And we'll talk about that answering machine message later," Suzumi said harshly into the phone. "...though I did admire the ending sentence," Suzumi mumbled into the phone with a laugh. "One more thing, when you get this message... COME PICK US UP!"

Suzumi hung up the phone and turned to the rest of them who had huddled together scared that she would lash out at them too. She smiled a fake yet sweet smile.

"Mrs. Q. unfortunately wasn't home so I guess we'll just have to wait here. No reason why we coudn't just set up our picnic right here while we wait."

"Sure, I am getting a little hungry," Chidori said setting down the picnic basket that she had taken over the duty of carrying now that Yuuhi was helping Aya.

"Yes, the noisy sound of the cars driving by will be soothing and peaceful," Yuuhi said sarcastically.

"Just sit down!" Suzumi scolded him. As he began to help Aya sit down, Aya suddenly noticed a familar car containing the exact person they were trying to contact driving down the road towards them.

"Hey! There's Mrs. Q. now!" Aya yelled pointing to the car. "Only she's got someone with her. I can't quite make out their face..." Aya gasped, "... Tooya?!"