During the next two days, Pickford seemed to hold the interest of Keely's dad and uncle pretty well. It was a mystery to her how, but they always seemed to find something to do. The first day, it was golfing. She didn't even know her uncle, much less her dad, did that. Then it was the music store downtown, then the movie theater…
Basically anything other than staying at the house for very long.
Melody, of course, hadn't exactly come any further out of her shell. She'd be sleeping by the time Keely went up to her room at night, and she'd come downstairs way later in the morning than anyone else. Her days consisted of watching TV, taking long showers, and then hanging out in Keely's room, strumming at her guitar or scrawling in a notebook that she seemed pretty protective of.
To be honest…Keely kind of felt like doing the same as her lately.
Unfortunately, she didn't have time to curl up under her covers with her journal and a pint of ice cream and hide from the situation.
The day of the party was here. Finally. After all the hassle of planning, it was now a welcome relief. It gave her a time slot of several hours to push aside her father related worries, and she was determined to.
She was on the phone with Via by 3:30 in the afternoon, two and a half hours before it even started. Half the contents of her closet covered her bedspread. Her makeup bag was overturned on her desk, brushes and eyeliner and a rainbow of eyeshadow scattered everywhere. She rushed around in a Lady X t-shirt, a pair of PJ shorts covered in hearts, and her hair curly and tamed only by the pigtails she had pulled it into.
"Tell me again what you're wearing?" Keely asked Via, picking up a pair of wedge sandals from the shoe organizer in her otherwise unorganized (at least right now) closet.
Via just laughed. "You forgot already? Are you that worked up about this?"
"No!" Keely protested. "I just don't…you know, want to show up all freakishly coordinated with you and then everyone will think we did it on purpose because we planned it together. You know?"
Her friend laughed, again. "No, I don't," she answered. "You American girls and your parties. Can't they just be fun?"
Keely stopped, rolling her eyes. She had to kind of laugh at herself, but still. "Via, don't hold this against all American girls," she said. "Just me, your insane best friend."
Behind her, sitting on the low bed that had been set up for her, Melody eyed her cousin curiously every once in a while. Her notebook lay on her lap, a pen in one hand. Her guitar case wasn't far from her. Her blonde hair was down and hung around her shoulders.
"Okay, okay," Via answered. "I'm wearing a white strappy tank top, my navy blue tiered skirt, white sandals. Probably a beaded necklace. Going simple with the makeup. Got it now?" Keely could hear her smiling practically.
"All right, yeah." She ran a hand through one pigtail. "I guess I can take it from here. Sorry for freaking out. I'll see you in like, an hour okay?"
"Yes, definitely don't freak out. You'll look amazing. Oh, but don't forget those cakes I told you to bring, okay?"
"Cakes?" Keely exclaimed. "What cakes?"
Via burst out laughing. "See? You're freaking out," she retorted. "I was kidding. Just bring yourself, your cool, and Phil. Oh, and Melody. See you."
Keely hung up her phone and sighed. "I am losing it," she said softly, mostly to herself. "I'm losing it and it's all over Via's freakin party."
"Thought you were excited," Melody said.
Keely spun around as if suddenly remembering her cousin's presence in the room. "Oh," she laughed sheepishly. "Yeah. Well, I am. I was. I…I don't know."
Melody nodded, gazing down at the notebook, which she had propped up so only she could see its pages.
"Yeah. I know." She sighed, scribbling. "Losing it has been pretty easy lately."
Keely just gazed at her cousin, whose eyes were focused intensely on the page. When Melody glanced up, Keely did her best to make it seem like she'd never been looking.
"So, uh," she continued, sifting through the clothes on her bed. "You…you're still going, right? I mean, do you want to?"
She instantly hoped she'd said the right thing.
Melody was silent for a second. "Do you think I even should?" she asked.
Keely paused, looking over at her, surprised. "Yeah, I do," she said earnestly. "I want you to, that is."
Melody hadn't looked up again. Keely wondered if she'd even heard her when after several seconds, she hadn't answered.
She turned back towards her bed, picking up a lacy blue tank top.
"Does your friend, Via, want me there?" Melody continued.
Keely stopped as she held the shirt up against herself, puzzled. "Of course she does," she answered softly, looking at her cousin again.
Melody nodded, quiet again.
Keely was completely unsure of what to say. Quietly, looking at Melody with concern, she pulled out her pigtails, shaking her hair so it fell loosely around her shoulders.
Finally, Melody shut her notebook, sliding it underneath her pillow.
"What about your boyfriend?" she asked.
Keely whirled around. "Phil?" She laughed. "Melody, don't worry about him. First off it's not his party, and second, he—"
"No, I was just asking…if he was going," she responded softly.
"Oh." Keely went silent, feeling stupid suddenly. She nodded. "Right. Yeah, he's going." She smiled and went back to her outfit coordinating, a feeling that she wasn't liking so much hanging in the air.
She expected her cousin to stay silent for at least several seconds after that, so she made sure she was busy. Somehow though, Melody surprised her again.
"What should I wear?" she asked.
Keely smiled to herself.
"Whatever you want," she replied, turning back around. "Maybe something…beachy. It's nothing fancy really. Just relaxed and fun."
"Beachy…" Melody nodded. "Let me see if I have anything that qualifies as that."
Keely laughed. "If you want, I could help you." She corrected herself. "I mean, you know, if you want me to, not that you…um…"
Melody laughed, standing up.
"What?" Keely questioned.
"You are freaking out," her cousin giggled, walking past her.
…….
He listened to his sister downstairs, amused as he brushed his teeth – rather laser cleaned them, the 2121 way. Pim had been arguing with their mom for a good twenty minutes. Over a WIZRD. Hers, to be specific.
Ever since she'd gotten it taken away and had to borrow Phil's, he'd made it tough on her every chance he got. He knew she'd eventually get tired of having to actually ask someone permission for something, rather than just taking it. He liked being able to hold the fact that the WIZRD belonged to him over her tough blonde little head. It was cool having something on her for once.
Now, she had finally resorted to bartering for her own WIZRD back.
It was hilarious.
Meanwhile, Phil had a party to get ready for, one which started in an hour. He still hadn't decided on what he was going to wear, so he stood in boxers and his Lady X t-shirt in front of the bathroom mirror. He reached for his hair gel – a 21st century product he actually really liked to use – and squeezed some onto his hand. He whistled to himself cheerfully.
"UGHHHHHH!"
Phil jumped nearly a foot as the bathroom door banged open. There was Pim, looking furious.
"Pim, what the heck?" he demanded, realizing that in being startled he'd squirted hair gel all over the mirror, sink and his shirt. He wiped some of the clear sticky gunk off of Lady X's picture the best he could.
"Oh. Sorry," Pim grumbled. "Thought the bathroom was empty." She made no attempt to leave.
Phil wiped a glob of gel off the edge of the sink, staring his sister down. "Well, looks like it's not," he replied. "So…"
Pim looked down at the floor. She had begun mumbling to herself.
"You know we have another bathroom, don't you?" Phil asked irritably.
More mumbling.
He rolled his eyes. "All right, evil genius," he said. "And I use the term 'genius' loosely. What's with the mumbling? I know it means you're ticked."
"Well," Pim answered, "wouldn't you be if all the sudden, Mom wanted to take away our future gadgets?"
Phil blinked.
"All of them? From both of us?"
He dropped his gel bottle in the sink.
"What? Why?" he demanded. "Is she serious?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say," Pim answered. "Well, you tell me if 'I'm thinking of limiting your use of future gadgets for awhile' sounds serious or not to you." She sighed. "It just started with me asking if, hypothetically, a nice crisp Ben Franklin would be a good exchange for a WIZRD…"
Phil looked nervously down at his laser wand, the one he had cleaned his teeth with moments before. "Well…she said limited," he reasoned. "That just means we can't use them as much."
"Please," Pim said, rolling her eyes. "You know Mom. She's serious about stuff. She could mean 'limited' on a whole different level. Like, mega limited. Like, so limited we'll never see any of them again and we'll have to learn to do everything like everybody here does like when Dad took the batteries out of everything and we'll DIE, Phil!" She grabbed his arm melodramatically, shaking it.
Phil sighed, pushing her hands off gently. "Okay, Pim, I don't know about dying," he said. "But…that would definitely suck."
"You're telling me."
"Well, what about Dad? Did he say the same thing?"
"Do you think he'd say any different? Let's face it, Mom has our father whipped."
Phil just sighed, nodding. Couldn't disagree.
"Anyway, here's what I'm thinking."
"Oh, geez…"
"Just listen. Hide any of them you can. Starting with this." She grabbed the cleaning laser from the counter around the sink.
She was barely finished speaking when there was a hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you," Barb said, plucking the gadget from her daughter's hand. "I'm glad you found it. Makes my job a little easier." She smiled. "Phil, I assume your sister has filled you in?"
He sighed, which she took as a yes.
"Mom," Pim began, turning to face Barb. She widened her baby doll eyes, stuck out her lower lip, and looked up at her mother through her lashes. "You don't have to do this."
Barb just stared back.
"Because…I love you?" Pim tried, smiling.
Barb patted her head.
"And I love you, Pim. I love both of you enough to look out for your best interests." She pocketed the laser.
"Best interests?" Phil cried. "Mom, I don't mean to whine, but don't you think that our best interest, as kids from 2121, would be to take care of ourselves in a way we know how?"
Barb sighed. "Phil, sweetie, we've been here since we landed in 2003," she said. "Almost three present day years. You use your future gadgets a lot, but even so don't you think you've picked up on how to do things around here by now?" She shrugged. "Even I'm getting better at cooking, little by little. Washing dishes, too. Pim, you and I even found the right place to put them!" She nudged her daughter as she smiled.
Phil and Pim looked at each other.
"Phil, don't forget, you've got Keely to help you out with things," Barb reasoned.
"And Pim, you made a new friend! Maybe Ashley doesn't know about where we come from, but I'm sure you could still pick up some pointers from her."
Pim looked like she was trying not to laugh, for just a second.
"And it wouldn't be just you two giving up your gadgets," Barb continued. "Your dad and I have also agreed to give it a try."
"Oh great," Pim retorted. "And Dad just finished growing his eyebrow back, too."
"Listen, we'll talk about this later," Barb said. "Phil, don't you have your party to go to?"
"Yeah…" He sighed, looking down at the sink. It was a sticky, goopy mess. His gel bottle was almost empty now. "Well, forget this."
"Wow. What happened in here anyway?" Barb questioned, looking around the bathroom.
"Ask this one." Phil jabbed a thumb towards Pim.
She didn't even fight back. She just looked utterly ticked.
"Pim, it's not that bad, really," Barb said, taking her by the shoulders. "Hey. Maybe you and I could have a nice old fashioned popcorn and movie night tonight? And…possibly Curtis too?"
Pim sighed. "That depends. Think you'll be able to figure out how to work an old fashioned DVD player?" she shot back.
Barb just laughed, and with her arm around Pim, guided her towards the stairs. "Phil, check in with me before you leave," she called over her shoulders.
"Will do."
Dejectedly, he turned back towards the sink. "Well," he mumbled. "I guess I've got my first challenge here. Cleaning up hair gel the 21st century way." He shook his head. Whatever, Diffy. You've got a party to go to, and a gorgeous girl to meet in less than an hour. Hair gel isn't the big issue.
He ran his fingers through his hair, sighing. Maybe I'll just forget the hair gel altogether. Quickly, he combed it and shook in into place. It didn't look so bad this way. He saw a lot of guys leave their longer hair ungelled around here. If he was going to have to start cooking food and cleaning their way, he might as well try this.
Warily grabbing a handful of tissue, he began blotting the gel off the mirror. It didn't seem to work too well.
After a moment of frustration, Phil casually glanced at his watch. "Oh, gee, getting late," he commented, tossing the tissue into the trash and hurrying out of the bathroom.
……
Twenty minutes later, Phil bounded down the steps, checking his reflection one more time in the mirror on the wall at the bottom. Everything was in place…his distressed jeans, white T-shirt with a faded brown "73" on the front, gray zip up hoodie, brown flip-flops, hair. So far, so good.
"Okay," he said to himself. "Anything I need before I go…" he snapped his fingers. "Cell phone." He turned around to head towards the stairs, and nearly had a heart attack.
"Geez," he said, jumping at the sight of a random blonde in front of him.
Ashley.
"Uh, hi," he said. "Whoa, you scared me."
Ashley smiled back at him. "Good game," she said, holding out her hand.
"Um," Phil raised an eyebrow. This girl was officially creepy. "I beg your pardon?"
"Ashley!" Pim yelled, practically diving in front of her from out of nowhere. Phil watched her, surprised. Why was everyone so jumpy tonight!
"You're…you're early!" Pim exclaimed, laughing.
Phil examined them closely. Despite the fact that Pim was clinging to her and two seconds away from wrestling her to the ground, Ashley looked clueless, almost emotionless. Who just randomly showed up inside their friends' houses, anyway?
And…hadn't she been wearing that outfit the last time he saw her?
"Pim," he said slowly. "Can I ask you something? Or, actually, your friend?"
"Depends." She eyed her brother anxiously.
"Yeah, well, Ashley, I hope you don't take any offense at this," Phil continued. "But…hm, how do I say this…are you a fake, replicated human?"
"Phil, what kind of a question is that?" Pim demanded. "Ashley and I have stuff to do…"
"Like put her back into the magazine she came from?" Phil responded.
"Shhhhhhh!" Pim silenced him, looking around to make sure neither parent was within earshot. "Just keep it down okay? Yes, I got her from a magazine, but only so Mom would calm down about me getting someone to hang out with until my other friends…or enemies, depending on how you look at it…get back. She bought it, so it wasn't an entirely bad idea." She shrugged. "But, I guess I could have…picked somewhere else to Replicate her from. Even for a repli-girl with no actual brain or independent train of thought, she's got a few screws loose." She rolled her eyes.
Phil scoffed. "Pim, where exactly did you get a Replicator from?" he asked curiously. "I thought Mom took your stuff away after you got caught for changing your grades."
"You're gonna be late, Phil." Pim swiveled on her heel and made a break for the stairs, dragging Ashley behind her.
"No, I think I'm doing okay on time," he called after her. "But I know someone who's not gonna be doing that great on anything as soon as her brother tells —"
"Okay, shut up!" Pim whisper-yelled, facing her brother again. "You know, you're banned from gadgets now, too."
"But that wasn't because I stole a Replicator from my sibling's room." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"Okay technically, 'stole' would mean that I still have it," Pim reasoned. "I'm thinking more like 'borrowed'…."
"You used it, is my point," Phil said. "Pim, I'm just asking that you don't take my stuff without my permission anymore, okay? It's kind of frusterating." He shrugged. He eyed Ashley strangely as she began doing lunges on their living room floor.
"Well, it's not like I'll have anything left to steal…borrow," Pim corrected herself. "Since Mom and Dad are bent on depriving their kids of anything that could possibly make life easy."
Phil sighed. "Well, where is my Replicator? Did you put it back in my room?"
"I tried," Pim responded, tugging Ashley to her feet as she was in the middle of a stretch.
"Tried?" Phil demanded.
"Um…well, turns out, Mom was upstairs. When I left my room…"
Pim flashed back. She had stopped at her door, looking every which way before stepping outside in a mad dash for Phil's room. She figured if she tossed the Replicator and ran, he'd never suspect a thing.
"Hi, honey!" Her mom came out of nowhere. "I didn't know you were up here."
Pim froze, holding it behind her back. "Um, yep."
"Listen, your dad and I are making smoothies downstairs. Well, we're going to try." She smiled sheepishly. "So if you want one, come on down. I'd better get down there before he tries doing it on his own though…"
"Oh, yeah, you better," Pim urged her, nervously.
"You okay?" her mom asked, eyeing her.
"Yeah." Pim tried to look confused. She felt trapped, knowing her mom was going to figure something out eventually.
"All right…" her mom responded without taking her eyes off of her daughter, but Pim took an opportunity while her she was distracted for just a second by adjusting an earring, and whipped the Replicator backwards into her room.
She cleared her throat to try and cover up the sound of it hitting the floor. When that was somewhat successful, she proceeded to "scratch he r back", since the weird sudden jerking of her arm had to look like something.
Barb of course, still looked a little wary… until there was a loud roaring followed by a series of other questionable sounds from downstairs.
She sighed. "Lloyd, I told you to wait for me!" she yelled, running down.
"…And it's still in there," Pim said, finishing her explanation and bringing them back to the present time. "It's just…"
"What?" Phil demanded. "Is it broken, after you chucked it like a softball?"
"No, not broken," Pim said slowly. "Just…incomplete."
"Huh?"
"Listen, can we talk about this somewhere else?" she asked. "Mom and Dad are going to figure out that she's a replicate the same way you did if I don't get her out of here."
"Sure we can," Phil answered in annoyance. "We can go upstairs and you can give me my Replicator back. Oh, and that little thing about it being incomplete? Yeah, you can explain that too."
"Okay, okay…" She tugged Ashley. "Come on, before you cause me any more trouble."
Once upstairs, the three of them entered Pim's room. Pim went over to her desk and yanked open one of the top drawers. "Here it is," she said, taking out the Replicator. Phil grabbed it back.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
Phil turned it over in his hands, nodding. "So, the other reason I'm here?"
"Huh?"
"Pim." He narrowed his eyes.
"All right, fine. I'm bad at playing dumb anyways." She shuddered. "Anyway, I had her in the memory bank, but I needed to get the Replicator back to your room. So…I took out the memory bank. And then I was going to take it right back to your room—"
"Wait, what?" Phil asked, confused. "How did you know how to take out the memory bank?"
"Phil, when part of your ten year plan includes dominating most of the globe, you know how to take out a stinkin' memory bank."
"Uh, okay…" Phil sighed. "But what does that mean, then? I can't use it?"
"No, you can…but it just has no memory. In other words, none of the replicate information is stored, which means no intelligence is stored. So basically, all of your replicates will end up dumb as a post, kind of like this one." She looked over at Ashley, who had grabbed Pim's globe from her desk and was preparing to bunt it. Pim grabbed it away swiftly. "Which makes it hard to replicate stuff, because if there's no intelligence, you're going to have to supply that yourself. You're going to have to teach the clone basically how to speak and everything before it's useful at all."
"Okay…but, so what?" Phil asked. "Just put it back in. You used it for Ashley, and now you're done, so do it."
"Uhhh…I'll just come out, say it and get it over with. Don't exactly know how."
"WHAT?" Phil exclaimed. "Okay, so you can take it out, but not put it back in? My evil genius of a sister can't put a memory bank into a Replicator?"
"Right. I can take it out though."
"Obviously!" Phil sighed. "So basically, my Replicator is missing a crucial part right now. I've never had to know how to mess with the memory bank, so I don't know how to put it in either. The only person I know who would be able to figure that out is…"
"Dad." Pim finished. "And our parents have banned our future gadgets." She sighed. "Good thing yours is busted eh?"
Phil rolled his eyes. "Not help—" He noticed the clock beside Pim's bed.
"FIVE FIFTY!" he yelled. "I've gotta meet Keel now too!"
"Well, do you want this?" Pim asked, offering up the Replicator.
"I…I don't know!" he exclaimed. "Just…here. I'll put it back in my room…" He reached for it.
"Phil, there you are. Aren't you going to be late?"
Phil felt lucky to not have dropped the Replicator on his foot as his mom surprised both he and his sister suddenly, showing up in the doorway.
"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" she laughed, noticing the deer in headlights looks on both her children's faces. Then, she noticed Ashley.
"Oh, hi Ashley!" she said, smiling. "When did you get here?"
Before the clone could respond stupidly, Pim got her head together enough to do it for her. "Oh, just a few minutes ago," she answered.
"Oh, okay…" Barb nodded, as Phil and Pim tried not to appear too awkward and nervous, finding it near impossible.
"Well, anyway Phil," Barb continued. "Are you meeting Keely?"
"Yeah. Yep." He nodded, now finding himself in the same position Pim had been in, literally. Holding the Replicator behind his back.
Quickly, he shoved it into his back pocket.
"So I'd better go then." He smiled, slipping past his mom quickly. He positioned his hand casually over his pocket so his mom wouldn't see the weird lump. "Bye everyone." He made a break down the stairs.
Off to a party with a 22nd century cloning tool in his pocket. Well, at least he'd survived.
……………
Phil bounded up her front steps, breathless even though the walk, rather jog, to Keely's was just down the block. He rapped on the door, his own special and distinct knock. She'd know right away it was him.
As he stood there trying to catch his breath, he realized that in his hurry to get there before he was late, he'd probably ended up looking like a mess. He found a window (with the curtains closed inside) and checked out his reflection, brushing hair into place, smoothing out his shirt, even quickly checking his breath.
"So Keel…you know you're gorgeous, right?" he practiced suavely, but somehow nervously nonetheless, to an invisible Keely standing in front of him. "Because you are…"
"Phil?"
He snapped his head to the side so quickly he had to rub his neck. "Ow," he muttered. "Oh, Keel! Hi. Sorry, I…"
Wait. What was I going to say?
Well, whatever it was, he hadn't seen her look like this since…
Wow.
She walked slowly forward, holding onto the strap of the purse over her shoulder with one hand, and there was something soft and shy about her. Phil wanted to slap himself across the face before the steady pounding of his heart got any louder. You idiot, you've known her for years. Quit staring like you've never…
Never seen anyone like her in my life.
"Your hair," she said, smiling.
"My…what?" Correction, Phil. NOW you feel breathless.
She giggled, reaching up to touch it for a second. "Your hair is different," she noticed immediately. "I really like it, Phil. Looks so good on you." Her eyes were sparkling. As a guy, it's hard to notice makeup. But on Keely, he did. How does she do it like that? Does she have some kind of a professional artist at her house? How does she make it look so stunning but so un-cheesy and natural? That can't be easy…
"Oh. Oh, good." He smiled brightly. "Thanks."
"You always look nice," Keely continued. He knew she was earnest. He just always knew. "I've always thought so."
"Well, you…wow." He tried to think of some adjectives as he took another look. She was just so…classy. Beautiful. The way she carried herself just amazed him.
Her clothes weren't the only thing, but they helped. Her strapless white sundress with a small red pinstripe pattern, cowboy boots, a long heart medallion and pearls strung around her neck, and big sunglasses perched perfectly on top of her head somehow made his heart race; this wasn't something she would ever wear to school, or to hang out at the mall. She reached up to take off the glasses, and her hair…he loved it that way. It was long and down and in loose curls, just pulled loosely halfway back, just her bangs left hanging naturally. She looked so grown up and…dazzling. He even saw a shimmer of glitter across the skin on her chest…
At the same time, something was striking her about the boy in front of her. Sure it was his hair, which she'd never seen him wear that way before. But it was also…just him. His aura, or whatever people like to call it. The jeans and shirt and hoodie combo, the way they just hugged him in all the right places and brought out the warmth of his face and the brown of his eyes, made her feel so attracted to him. It was the dreaminess of his face, the friendliness of his eyes, the boyishness of his slight crooked smile. It was the familiarity of him but the newness of his look all mixed together. It was a weird time to think such a thought, standing on your front porch right before a beach party, but she thought it anyway…
He's gorgeous.
"Thank you, Phil," she said finally. "I tried, I guess." She smiled, and she realized that her eyes had never left his face.
She drew in her breath. "I…I just have to hug you, okay?" she said suddenly, wrapping her arms around him.
He smiled slowly, placing his arms on her back as he warmly returned it. "Okay," he said.
"Just because…you're Phil," she explained further. "And… because you look wow, too."
He laughed, but neither one was saying anything when Melody stepped out onto the front porch. Phil saw first, as he was facing the door. When she saw them, she stifled a smile and hung back a moment. She was dressed in a white polo, denim miniskirt, black leggings and red flip flops. Her hair was down and straightened, even longer than it appeared in curls, with a black and white checkered scarf tied in as a headband. She also carried a bag, with a slung over her arm.
"You guys ready?" she asked. Phil chuckled as Keely jumped.
"Sorry Melody!" she apologized, smiling. Phil noticed the sheen of gloss on her lips. "We're ready. Is Mom? I mean, my mom?"
Melody nodded just as Mandy bustled out the front door, excited to be playing chauffeur for the night. Of course… she had a camera.
After a few pictures satisfied her, the front door opened. Keely looked over just briefly to see her father, standing on the porch with his hands shoved in his pockets, watching.
She made eye contact with him, and forced a smile. He smiled back at her. Her heart felt heavy. With disappointment, regret, shame, she wasn't sure what.
As they prepared to load into the car, he crossed the lawn slowly to them. "Hey, Keely," he said, just before she got into the car.
She paused, looking at him, holding onto the top of the door. "Yeah?" she answered softly, a strange hopefulness in her voice.
"Have fun." He smiled and nodded. As he did, she saw her own strong and striking features in his face.
"Th-thanks, Dad." She smiled, nodded at him, and suddenly, thought briefly about hugging him.
He smiled, returned the nod, turned around and walked back into the house.
Keely looked down at herself, back up at the closed front door, and slowly ducked into the passenger seat.
………………
Sorry about the long descriptions of clothes for those of you who are bored with that stuff, but I'm super into it. Ask any of my friends or familia. : )
I have a ton of the next chapter written but it's too late/I'm too tired to post it now. It'll be up by like tomorrow night, late. Kay, thanks guys. :D