Okay, don't get bored too quickly with Pim's separate plots, because that's just the…umm, I dunno, buttering up? If you got what I was trying to say there, you totally get a cookie or something.
It would be too tedious and difficult to write like that the whole time, so it won't always be that way, like it sometimes is in the show. Just wait :)
And I'm very sorry about the no updates for a while thing. Life happened, school happened, finals are almost happening…you know, that kinda stuff. Almost summer:)
Anyway, this should be interesting… I'll stop talking so you can read read read :)
Chapter 8
"Right foot blue, left hand green," Keely called out. She looked up, biting back a giggle fiercely.
"Aha!" Mandy exclaimed. "Would ya look at me! I'm on a roll! Goooo Mandy!" She laughed aloud, her face bright red as a result of being upside down.
"Oh, not so fast, Mand. You're forgetting that I was runner-up in the National Twister Finals back in my college days!" Robert retorted.
Melody, lounging in the armchair, screwed up her face in confusion, watching her father and aunt stumble over each other on the white, color-spotted mat spread out on the Teslows' living room floor. Slight mortification tainted her features. "The National Twister Finals, Dad?"
Keely held the spinner on her lap, stealing a glance at Phil. From his position beside her on the couch, both their feet resting placidly on the coffee table that had been shoved up right in front of them to make room for the game, she saw the corner of his mouth turn up. That was Phil's "laughing on the inside" face.
Melody raised an eyebrow. "What the heck are the National—"
Robert chuckled, stretching out an arm as far as he could to pat his daughter's leg. "Try not to ruin my glory, honey," he remarked, jokingly. Melody just looked baffled.
"Your old dad still has some of the spark in him, let me tell you…WHOA!" At the perfect moment, he lost his balance, falling to a heap on the mat.
"HA! HA, HA, HA!" Mandy shouted, still holding out her incredibly uncomfortable looking position, causing Keely to jump and place one hand over her ear. "WHO'S THE TWISTER CHAMP NOW! WOOOHOOOOO!"
"Oh, my..." Keely looked down at her lap, unsure of whether she should burst into laughter or hide her face.
"What a way to spend the first day of a family reunion, eh?" Phil whispered.
"Oh, yeah, this is exactly how I pictured it." She giggled, but watched her victorious mother warily, as if she and her excited outburst (although Keely had grown accustomed to her still having a lot of pep left over from her cheerleading days) were a threat to society. Across the room, Melody's expression showed the same.
Finally, though, Mandy sat down on the mat, sighing. "Good game, Robert. Now, anyone else feeling…flexible?" she challenged the three teenagers in the room.
"Oh, uh, no, no…" All of their declines came at once. Keely laughed. "No thanks, Mom. You're a tough component." She set the spinner down on the coffee table.
"Well, okay then." Mandy laughed. "Whew, that was quite the game. I'm beat."
"I'll say." Robert rubbed his neck stiffly. "I forgot that I'm not 21 anymore. That was a few years ago." He grinned goofily. Melody rolled her eyes.
"Well!" Mandy proclaimed, standing up to her full five foot and a few inches. "It's almost dinnertime already! What do you say instead of cooking here, we all go out to eat, to celebrate Melody and Robert's first night with us?" She smiled at the group.
"Well, Mandy, I think that'd be great," Uncle Robert replied. He stood up too, with some difficulty at first, but straightened himself out. "Mel, what do you say?"
"Cool." She nodded. "Will I have time to get ready, though? 'Cause it was a looong drive and it's, like, way hot out." She fanned herself off with her hand.
"Of course you'll have some time, honey," Mandy assured her. "Keely needs her time to beautify, too." She winked. Keely smiled, a little awkwardly.
"Yeah…kind of makes me wonder what you guys really look like," Phil joked.
Melody smiled, and Keely laughed, poking his side. "Please, Phil," she remarked quietly. "You've seen me at my worst."
"Funny, I don't remember a 'worst'." He smiled at her.
She tried to roll her eyes at him, but she found herself grinning back. She took his hand gently.
"Well, what's everyone in the mood for?" Mandy asked cheerily.
"I'm up for just about anything," Robert responded. "What's good around here?"
"Well, we've got a great Chinese place, and a cute little Italian bistro on Seventh Street, oh, and there's also this nice little German restaurant called Otto's Pink Pig…"
"Oh, we love Italian food!" Robert said enthusiastically.
"Great! And Phil, you're invited too, so please come with us," Mandy added happily. "What do you guys think about Italian?"
Keely nodded. "I could go for that." She smiled.
"I'm really up for anything," Phil agreed. "And thank you for inviting me."
"Oh, honey, it's no problem at all." She smiled. "So, Giordano's Bistro it is!"
"I'll just call home to make sure it's okay," Phil said, taking out his cell phone. He quickly dialed the familiar number, waiting as it rang. "I'm sure it will be. Oh, hi…Pim? Is Mom there?" He paused. "Well…can I talk to her? Wait, what are you doing? No, you can't use my…uh…computer for that." He glanced at Keely quickly. "Listen, just give Mom the phone, okay? Yeah. Thanks." He rolled his eyes. "My younger sister," he explained to anyone in the room who wasn't already familiar with her antics.
Keely rolled her eyes knowingly. She pushed the coffee table out of her way, then stood up.
"Okay. I will. Thanks, Mom. Bye." Phil flipped his phone shut, shoving it back into his pocket. "She says it's okay. She wanted me to tell everyone hi, too."
Keely smiled. "Your mom's so nice."
"Yeah," Phil replied. "Just one reason I have trouble believing that my sister came from her."
Melody chuckled. "Maybe it's not so bad being an only child," she remarked.
"Count your blessings. Both of you." Phil smiled from Keely to Melody.
"Oh, Phil." Keely laughed. "You don't mind hanging out for a little bit while I get ready, do you?"
Phil stood up. "Waiting through a little primping time never killed anybody," he replied, with an adorable grin. When a guy has a sister and a girlfriend who's his best friend, it's nothing he's not used to.
"Awesome." Keely turned to leave, then paused. "Oh, Melody. You know where the shower is, right?" she asked kindly.
"I'm pretty sure." Melody nodded. "Thanks."
"No problem." Keely smiled at her mom and uncle. "I won't be long," she promised them, as she and Phil headed up to her room.
Melody watched them go. She watched Phil place his hand gently on Keely's lower back as they left the room, she watched Keely's face light up as she looked back at him.
She looked down at her lap, at the summer-tanned legs and cut-off shorts she'd brought all the way from Arizona, and tried to sort out her thoughts. She gave her necklace a tug, and then went to get ready.
…………
She paused just short of the door, checking both directions over her shoulder. She could still hear her mom and dad in the kitchen, but she could never be too sure.
Pim was clever, but Mom had a knack for outwitting her anyway.
She finally reached Phil's door, checking the knob to make sure it wasn't locked. It swung open gently. With one final check over her shoulder, she slipped inside.
She wasn't supposed to be in here. Permission had been denied.
But what part of that did he think was going to stop her?
"Now," she whispered to herself, "if I were Phil…ugh, just speaking hypothetically …where would I keep my Replicator?"
She moved quietly around the perimeter of his room, checking in drawers, on his desk, under his pillow. Throwing it back down, she coughed. "Holy moly, Phil, enough cologne?"
Out in the hallway, she heard her mom's voice.
"I'm just taking some of Phil's laundry into his room, sweetie," she yelled to Lloyd. "I'll be right down to show you how to work the blender the right way!"
Pim froze. "Rat snacks." Her baby blue eyes darted around frantically. Her mother's footsteps drew closer and closer.
Throwing up her hands in defeat, she dropped down to the floor, hidden from her mother's view by Phil's bed.
"They've always gotta make things harder around here," she mumbled.
Just as the words left her lips, she caught sight of an object that lay just a few feet out of her reach, almost on the other side of the bed. Her eyes brightened. "Bingo!" she whispered, reaching for it.
Barb appeared in the doorway then, glancing around Phil's room as she entered. Humming quietly, she placed a basket of his laundry at the foot of his bed. She glanced at a picture on Phil's nightstand – him wrapping his arms around Keely from behind, both of them wearing huge, brilliant grins. She smiled fondly, arranging it just right. "Aww," she said quietly.
Pim watched her feet from underneath her brother's bed, tensing up as they got closer. The Replicator lay barely an inch away from them. If I could just grab ahold of it… she thought.
Just then, Barb swiveled around. Pim watched her leave the room, humming on her way out.
Pim released the breath she'd been holding. "About time." Stretching as far as she could, she finally grabbed the Replicator and pulled it over. Maneuvering out of her hiding spot, she stood up.
"Yeahhhh," she laughed to herself, nodding proudly.
She glanced at Phil's desk, noticing a haphazard stack of magazines sitting on top. She hurried over to it, sifting through them. She picked up some kind of ridiculous-looking sports magazine, picturing some kind of soccer player on the front.
She shrugged. "Mom thinks Pim needs a buddy this summer, and she's probably right." She smiled. "I love when things are this easy."
Flipping through until she found a page about a girls' soccer team, she nodded thoughtfully, pressed a button, and ran a blue ray over the page.
……..
Three teenagers and two adults, stuffed with spaghetti, breadsticks and mastaccioli, sat sprawled on the couches of the Teslow living room.
Keely sat next to Phil, who was absentmindedly winding the end of her sparkly headscarf around his finger. Mandy sat on the other side of her, and they faced Melody and Robert, who sat together on the other couch.
"That's the thing about little towns like this," Uncle Bob said pleasingly. "Everyone seems to have their place. There's just…an atmosphere here. Nobody rushes. Things don't change so quickly." He smiled. "I think it's just what Mellie and I need right now." He put an arm around his daughter.
Melody looked up at him. She nodded, slowly, as if it had been rehearsed. Like that's what was expected of her. Then, she shrugged.
"Sure," she responded. "The city of Tuscon has nothing on…Pickford." She concentrated indifferently on the pattern in the denim of her jeans, tracing it with a finger.
Keely gave Phil a sideways look, then let her eyes wander over to her mother. Only briefly did they make eye contact before Keely let her eyes retreat to her lap again, perplexed.
The silence hung in the air for a few seconds.
"Well," Mandy finally said, "change isn't always bad. Right?"
Keely felt Phil's fingers loop through hers.
Melody just looked up at her dad. "I'm kind of tired," she commented. "I might just…turn in, if that's okay with you guys." Her eyes were now on the rest of them.
Keely watched her warily.
"Well, it has been a long day," her father responded. "Maybe that's a good idea."
"You're right," Mandy agreed. "Do you need any help getting settled? Finding anything?"
"I think I'm okay. Goodnight, everyone. 'Night, Dad." She leaned in and gave her father a kiss on the cheek, which he returned.
"Goodnight, Mellie," he responded.
"Goodnight," the rest of them chorused.
She turned to go. Keely watched her long blonde waves settle with every movement.
After her departure from the room, a strange silence seemed to have found its way in again.
Keely looked at Phil, almost desperate. How he could help this situation, she wasn't sure, but she figured he was her best bet.
He cleared his throat. "I'd better be getting home pretty soon, too," he commented, still holding Keely's hand gently.
Mandy nodded. "It is getting late, isn't it?" she asked, looking at her watch.
"I might need to hit the sack soon myself," Uncle Bob replied.
"Phil, do you want me to walk home with you?" Keely asked.
"Oh, yeah, that'd be nice." He smiled. Keely returned it, her conscious feeling instantly lighter.
Both of them stood up. Keely reached for her jacket from the couch, and Phil helped her shrug into it.
"Keely, honey," Mandy told her, "I'm going to go help your uncle get settled in. I'd be happy to take Phil home instead, if you can wait a few minutes."
Phil and Keely looked at one another. Phil shrugged.
Keely turned to her mom. "Thanks, Mom."
Mandy smiled in response.
"Well, goodnight, Keely," Uncle Bob said. He approached her, holding out his arms for a hug, which she accepted. "Mellie and I had a wonderful first day in Pickford, thanks to you and your momma." He smiled.
You did, at least… she thought. "You're welcome, Uncle Bob," she told him. "I'm so glad I got to see you guys again."
Before leaving the room, he also shook hands with Phil. "I'm glad to see our Keely gets treated so well," Bob thanked him, grinning.
"No problem at all, sir," he responded, genuinely. At the way he said it, Keely felt her heart flutter.
"Goodnight," Keely said to her uncle, before he and Mandy left the room.
Their voices faded off, and the silence of the living room surrounded Phil and Keely.
"So," Keely said finally, as she played casually with her scarf. "How's the weather look tomorrow?"
Phil laughed heartedly.
Keely looked up at him, not expecting his response, but smiling at it.
"I don't know for sure, but I think," he answered, stepping closer to her, "I heard something about a ninety percent chance of stress lines in a really pretty forehead." He tapped Keely's gently.
Keely laughed. "Ninety-eight percent?" She looked down at her hands. "That low?"
"Oh, Keel." Phil smiled, tugging absently on the end of her braid. "I'm really wishing I could do something to help you."
She nodded, deep in thought.
"Anything?" Phil prompted quietly.
She smiled. Slowly, she turned away.
"Okay… or, you could just walk away," he laughed. "Where ya goin' Keel?"
"You wanted to know what'd make me feel better," she replied. "Come get me and you'll find out."
Phil raised his eyebrows.
"Oh, no," he laughed. "I think I've done my share of trying to get you, Keel. About two years' worth." Smiling, he slowly followed her anyway.
She looked at him over her shoulder, beaming. "And it looks like you're going to make me do more flirting on top of my two years' worth," she shot back. "Before you come over here and kiss me."
"Oh, that's what this is all about?" She could hear the joke in his voice.
Keely just laughed. "Okay…I'll stop," she forfeited, walking back towards her boyfriend. "I have to admit, I hate playing hard to get."
"Seriously? Because you do an awesome job of it," he assured her. "Kind of…um, drives me crazy…" He felt a small blush rise in his cheeks.
Keely bit her lip, finally reaching for his hand. In the background, they could hear her mother's laughter.
"You still get your kiss," she told him softly.
He almost did.
Then the doorbell rang.
Keely drew back, looking towards it.
"Oh, I love their timing," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. Phil chuckled.
Puzzled, Keely walked over towards the door. Phil hung back, watching curiously. He fumbled with his cell phone.
A look out the side window just gave Keely a view of her darkened front yard. So, flipping on the porch light, she pulled open the door.
The man pushed up the brim of his hat, meeting her eyes from underneath it. The porch light gave her a dim view of his face.
She froze.
For a second the man didn't say anything; he just looked back at her.
Then, he broke the silence.
"Keely?"
Had he not phrased that as a question, she wouldn't have even known how to respond.
Her hand, still on the doorknob, felt like it was shaking. Without warning, her heart rate climbed.
Completely without warning.
"Yes," she said finally. Her voice didn't sound like it belonged to her.
"H-hi…Dad?"