This chapter is coming with difficulties… but I'm forcing it out.
But first… ah, that can wait.
Phil and Keely hopped into Keely's car, and she started up the engine. "Did you… did you switch hats from earlier this afternoon?" she asked, noticing that he was wearing a gray one in place of the black one he had on before he yoinked Adam's…
"Huh? No… no I'm not…" he muttered.
Keely eyed him suspiciously but said no more…
So, after an hour or two of Phil watching Keely coming out of the changing room adorning different outfits, she decided on the ones that got the best reactions from Phil. He was shocked that she tried on so many different outfits and walked out of the store with three.
"Do you know how long I spent sitting in that chair?" he asked her as she smiled to herself happily.
"No," she muttered.
"97 minutes," he answered for her. "Why couldn't you get Tia to do this?"
"Because she had homework…"
"Since when is homework important to Tia?" Phil half-shouted.
Keely didn't have an answer for that… but he was complaining about getting to spend some time with her… and that made her think of another young man who wanted to spend time with her… she hadn't yet declined Jake's offer… what harm could a small experiment do?
The two arrived at the Teslow home, and Keely used the automatic gravitators to get into her room as Phil used the front door, saying a hurried 'hello' to Ashley, who was sitting at a coffee table, nearly buried by piles of what Phil saw to be drawings… the one she was working on was… well, honestly, a little disturbing to Phil… it showed a hand with somewhat long fingernails scratching a wall… a few of the fingernails had torn from the skin, stuck in the wall, and blood was pouring from beneath them.
Next to that picture, another happy one, which showed an arm hanging out of the bathtub, carved into it were the words, "I'm sorry"…
But there were others, ones much less disturbing. One showed a picture of rotting fruit (it was in actuality a still life- she thought of the idea but had so much to do that the fruit was rotten by the time she got to drawing it). Another showed a blond girl resting her head on a brunette boy's shoulders, the two overlooking a sunset. Phil liked that one the best.
He got into the room, and prepared to obliterate the KeelyClone, when Bonnie entered the room.
"Hey Phil. Hey, Keely," she said, "Tia called a little while ago, said that she wants you to call her back, so I just figured I'd tell you that. Anyway, I'm not here. Hey Keely," she added to the KeelyClone, and walked out, perfectly normally.
When she exited the room, she looked back at the shut door, a look of confusion spreading across her face. But, then, figuring she was losing her mind, she dismissed the thought, and went downstairs, where Ashley was working on a new drawing (one depicting exactly what the two had both seen that day, but what they both knew couldn't be true).
"Anyway, Keely," Phil said after obliterating the KeelyClone, "I guess… see you tomorrow at school?"
"Yeah, sure," Keely nodded. Phil left the house, and Keely made a few phone calls…
As I was saying earlier...
Okay, so how many of you saw Stuck In The Meddle With You? I thought it was great… I… never, uh, noticed Ashley Drane before that episode… wow! But… I'll let you relive your favorite moments if ya saw it, or wallow in self-pity if you didn't see it…