I know I've said it a million times at this point, but thanks for all the reviews. Honestly means a tonne.
I know I've taken ages to get this out, but I've made this chapter much longer than the first two, so I hope that makes up for it. Hope it doesn't disappoint :)
Chapter Three -
The Beach Trip
The girls' bedroom was filled with a peaceful tranquility. Apart from both the very faint sounds of the outside breeze and the tiny, barely audible snores of the three sisters, not a sound could be heard. And even though everyone inside of the room was sunken into the far depths of sleep, there was an air of excitement.
Because, of course, today was the first day of the road trip.
The three girls couldn't stop talking about it the night prior. They'd stayed up for an hour past their bedtime, quietly conversing about the mounds of fun they were sure to have. Or, the mounds of fun they were hoping to have. They could only guess, since they'd never been on a road trip before. From the excitement in Lucy's voice when she announced it, it must be an enjoyable experience.
However, saying that, the early morning wake-up was a lot less than ideal. What need was there to wake up at 4am? It wasn't like they had to catch a flight or anything, since this whole road trip was planned and set up by Gru alone. Maybe he was just so excited, that he didn't want to waste any time sleeping, which was fairly understandable.
And then finally, as the ticking clock clicked over to 4am, Dru exploded through the door and into the dark room, hammering the tranquility to pieces.
"WAKKKEEEE UPPPPPPPPP!" He sang, as he energetically switched the bedroom light on and off at an uncomfortably rapid pace.
"Wha...what's going o-" Agnes murmured, as she sat up in bed perplexingly. However, before she could finish, the reminder of today's events hit her like a battering ram, and her face immediately brightened up like the sun. "ROAD TRIP!"
As if she'd acquired the energy of a million energy drinks, the bubbly six-year-old leaped out of bed and speedily sprinted out of the room, not looking back for a second.
Margo could only chuckle and jog after her, however, at nowhere near the pace that her youngest sister was using. Unfortunately, unlike Agnes, she didn't possess an indestructible ball of pure energy, that would be there no matter what the time of day.
But, from one extreme to the next, Edith literally couldn't move.
This was way, way too early for her. In fact, it was so ungodly early, that she was completely failing to comprehend the existence of her surroundings. Was she even alive? She could barely tell.
Finally getting tired of flicking the light switch on and off, Dru raced over to her bomb bed and shook her dead still figure, only receiving a very faint moan in response.
"EDDDDIIIITTTTTHHHHH!" He yelled at an uncomfortable decibel level, all the time retaining a beaming smile. "COME ONNNN! Eet's time to wake up!"
"...wha...?" She replied. That was the only word her brain currently remembered, if you could even call that a word. Tired of trying to speak to someone who was clearly incoherent, Dru picked her up out of bed, flew out of the bedroom at pace, and started his way towards the kitchen...
Even though he was fairly fatigued, Gru was running frantically up and down the house, his mind deep in concentration. In his hands, he held a clipboard, which he'd attached a list of necessities too. On that list, he'd detailed things like money, clothes, the house key, and the girls, you know, just in case he forgot about them.
As he stood in the upstairs hallway, absentmindedly tapping the clipboard with his pen, he took a quick glance at his digital watch. According to the red LED's, the time was '4:01AM', meaning that he'd now been awake for forty-five minutes.
Considering the sting at the back of his eye-lids, maybe staying bed and getting more sleep would've been a good idea, but also considering how excited he was to get the road-trip going, the thought of wasting time under his sheets was ludicrous.
And on the subject of wasting time under the sheets, Gru went over and knocked hard on Jack's bedroom door, to ensure that he would definitely wake up to the sound of it. Obviously, akin to Edith, he was a very deep sleeper, and when it came to waking up, it was sometimes a battle to leave his bed.
However, to Gru's surprise, when he opened the door to enter the bedroom, the teenager was already awake, fully dressed, and lifting his dumbbells in front of the mirror.
For a moment, Gru could hardly believe his eyes, since he was expecting a long and hefty argument about how he needed to wake up right now and get himself dressed if he wanted to avoid a series of unsatisfying consequences.
It appeared that wasn't the case.
"Did you want something?" Jack mumbled, not looking away from the image of himself in the mirror.
"Oh...I just..." Gru started, still a little perplexed. "Wanted to make sure yoo were awake."
"Hmm...well, I am." The eighteen-year-old replied, seeming extremely concentrated on the heavy-lifting. Even though he wasn't particularly delighted about waking up at this time, he also wasn't particularly annoyed about it either.
How could he be annoyed when the excitement was running through his veins like a train on tracks? This would obviously be the first family road trip he would ever be involved in, since this was the first time he'd had a proper family, and he just couldn't wait to get started.
There wasn't much in Jack's mind that topped spending every minute of the day with the six people that meant the absolute world to him, and the very thought was making him giddy with glee.
"Okay, well...great!" Gru exclaimed, happy that the need for an altercation was non-existent. He turned around and stepped out of the room, looking down to spy the next item on the checklist. "We'll all be downstairs when yoo're ready."
"Wait! Gru?" Jack called at the last moment, finally putting the dumbbell down. Looking back up from the clipboard, the former villain turned back into the room and offered Jack a questioning gaze. "Could I ask you something?"
"Uh...sure..." Gru replied, that questioning gaze growing stronger. "What ees eet?"
"What's the deal with this road trip?"
"De deal?" Gru replied, seeming perplexed. "What do yoo mean 'de deal'?"
"Well, you looked like you were gonna bust a blood vessel yesterday." Jack started, recalling Gru's aggressive outburst in the living room the previous day. "You seemed, like, proper angry with everyone. And now we're all suddenly going on some happy jolly family road trip. What's the deal with that?"
"Oh, well...dere eesn't a deal." Gru stated, shrugging casually. "Why does dere need to be a deal? Why can't I just want to go on a road treep weeth my famil-"
"It's the job, isn't it?" Jack questioned knowingly, crossing his arms. "You're just tired of being director and you want an excuse to ditch it, don't you?"
He wasn't wrong. But, since Gru didn't want him to think that he was only doing this for himself, and not at all for his family, he wasn't going to just stand there and admit to it.
"Pfft...how stupeed!" Gru exclaimed, frowning defensively. "Dat ees not de case at all! I just want to spend time weeth my family! Do yoo have an eessue weeth dat!?"
Gru narrowed his eyes in iration, seeming to provide Jack's theory with more evidence. The teen slumped his shoulders and offered him a fatigued gaze. He wasn't necessarily in the mood for an argument, since he really wanted the first day of his first ever road trip to go perfectly.
"Gru, you're getting angry just talking about it." He said, now in a much softer tone of voice. "I don't really care if you are. I'm just interested."
"Well, don't be." Gru stated firmly, with a tad too harsh tone. The former villain turned towards the door and left, leaving Jack to stand there with a frown. "Just get ready and come downstairs."
At the sound of his door being slammed shut, the exhausted teenager sighed and rolled his eyes. He wasn't fantastic in deducing expressive cues and actions, but it was painfully clear that Gru was stressed and tired.
A large part of Jack was genuinely worried about him, since, even though he wasn't an expert in psychology, he was fairly sure that being stressed regularly was very bad for you.
Well, maybe this family road trip could be the ideal solution to that problem...
Gru paced quickly into the kitchen, where inside, Margo and Agnes were sitting quietly at the table, eating breakfast. Along with them, sitting atop one of the red stools, was Dr. Nefario, who was reading the newspaper with a cup of coffee.
"Ah, dere yoo are, Nefario." Gru spoke, strutting over to him. The tired elderly scientist didn't offer him much attention, as he was obviously, and quite understandably, frustrated with being awake at four-in-the-morning. "So, are yoo okay weeth feedeeng Kyle and Lucky while we're gone?"
"'Okay' isn't the right word." Nefario mumbled, still not offering any eye-contact.
"Great!" Gru exclaimed, ignoring the snarky response and substituting it with the words he wanted to hear. "Now, last chance, are yoo sure dat yoo do not want to come weeth us?"
Just as the question left his mouth, Dru came thundering into the kitchen with Edith laying mostly asleep over his shoulder, and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"I'M SO EXCITEEEDDDD!" He bellowed deafeningly, as he practically threw Edith down into the booth seat and sat down opposite her. At the sound of his voice hammering the sound-barrier, Nefario winced uncomfortably and lowered his head further in frustration.
"Very sure."
At that moment, Jack happily wandered into the kitchen, his mouth curled into an extremely bright and jolly smile. He gave his sisters a wink as a greeting, and in return, Margo and Agnes responded with a smile.
Edith, on the other hand, was still not functioning in the slightest. She had her head lulled back comfortably into the booth seat, and very slowly, her mouth was starting to hang open.
The teenager rolled his eyes and moved over to the kettle, which had already been boiled by Gru a few minutes earlier. He grabbed a mug, filled it with a whole ten teaspoons of coffee granules, poured in hot water and milk, and then moved over to sit beside Edith, who was now beginning to snore.
"Jeez, I thought I loved sleep." Jack commented, marveling at his little sister with a chuckle.
"Yeah, she's always been like that." Margo said, shrugging as she continued to eat her cereal. "The amount of times she's fallen asleep at school is crazy."
"I don't blame her." Jack replied, cringing at the old memories of sitting in complete boredom inside a school classroom. "School suckkksss."
He took a sip from his mug, and upon tasting the bitter strength of ten teaspoons of coffee granules, he couldn't help but recoil and grimace. Like a lot of people around the world, he drank coffee on a daily basis, but it was usually of a more tolerable strength. This cup of coffee, on the other hand, was far from tolerable.
However, he needed that strength in order to keep himself awake throughout the day. Considering the fun he could be having with his family, the thought of falling asleep and wasting precious road trip time was less than ideal, so this coffee would hopefully act as a sleep deterrent.
And that's when he got an idea...
Edith was now slowly starting to lull her head against Jack's arm, and as she did so, the teenager grabbed her and gently shook her awake.
"Edith." He whispered, as she steadily cracked open her eyes and gave him a sheepish glare, which Jack was finding annoyingly cute. He pushed the mug of coffee directly in front of her and pointed at it. "Drink this."
Edith sluggishly looked at the cup in front of her in confusion, and upon realizing how much energy was required for her to lean forward and grab the mug, she ignored his request and lulled her head against his arm again. Jack huffed and glared at her in annoyance, while Margo leaned over and curiously inspected the contents of the cup.
Once the incredibly strong smell hit her senses, it didn't take a genius to realize what it was.
"Is that coffee?" She asked, giving Jack an irate look.
"Obviously." Jack replied as matter-of-factly, not seeming to understand the reasoning behind the furious look she was giving him.
"You can't give her that!" She exclaimed. "She's only ten. Ten-year-olds shouldn't drink coffee."
Before Jack could respond with his non-caring scoff, Edith's rebellious side took heed to her older sister's words, and with the very little energy she had left, forced herself forward to grab the cup.
Even though the taste was almost unbearably bitter, Edith kept downing as much of the drink as she could, to the point where even Jack looked pretty worried.
At this moment, Gru absentmindedly looked up from the checklist to snatch a glance of his daughters, just as he usually did when his concentration hadn't been on them for a little while. Once he'd seen Edith drinking from Jack's mug, he felt his heart skip a beat in fear, hoping sincerely that what he thought he was seeing wasn't true.
"Jack...?" Gru started, his voice drained a little in trepidation. "Ees dat...are yoo...deed yoo just give her cof-"
However, before Gru could finish his sentence, Edith slammed the cup down and leaped onto the table effervescently. For a few seconds, she simply stood there, her whole body vibrating with pure energy.
She looked like a bubbling volcano that was simply waiting to erupt.
"I tried to tell him, dad..." Margo muttered, knowing exactly what the next few hours were sure to entail.
Without warning, Edith then leaped down to the floor and started sprinting swiftly around the kitchen in circles, giggling the entire time. While Gru and Margo were both giving her apprehensive looks, as if they were unsure as to what she was going to do next, Jack simply sat back and smiled, as if he'd just pulled off the most satisfying victory.
"Ooo! I want some of that!" Agnes exclaimed, as she leaned forward to snatch the mug from the table. However, thankfully for the family's sanity, Gru had reached it first.
"I don't theenk so." He said firmly. He immediately picked up the cup, moved over to the sink, and drained the remnants down the plughole, ensuring that no other child could be filled to the brim with frustrating energy.
However, as he turned around, he didn't notice Edith sprinting right in front of him, and once he had, he tried to pull himself backward in order to avoid hurting her. But, in doing so, his worn-out muscles gave up, and he ended up falling to the floor in a heap.
"Dad! Are you okay?" Margo asked worryingly, as she jumped up from the table and rushed over to him.
"Yes! Yes! I am okay." Gru responded gruffly, rubbing a hand over his tired eyes. At speed, he lifted his head and darted it around the room, preparing to target and yell at his middle-daughter.
However, she was nowhere to be found. She must've realized her mistake quickly and raced out of the kitchen before she faced the consequences.
Lucy then confirmed that suspicion when she entered the kitchen, giving the occupants a perplexed glare.
"Uh...why is Edith running up and down the hallway?" She asked. But, before she received her response, she was met with another question that needed answering. "And...why are you on the floor?"
"Ask heem!" Gru snapped, getting up to his feet and pointing a finger at Jack, who simply turned away and shrugged.
"Long story." He muttered nonchalantly, in a voice that implied his innocence. After a moment, he turned back to Gru and gave him a victorious smirk, one that pushed Gru closer to the edge. "Told you I'd get you back."
Pushing back the explosion of rage that threatened to burst from his mouth, Gru growled and tried with all of his might to calm himself down. There was no need to get so angry over something that would surely be beneficial in the end.
It would be better to have Edith awake and energetic than asleep and silent, wouldn't it?
Right?
Either way, there were still things to be done, and in order to avoid wasting another second that they could spend on the road, Gru turned to his other daughters and indicated for them to follow.
"Come on, gurls. Let's get yoo changed."
Thirty minutes later, after continuing his way through the list of necessities, Gru carried everyone's bags into the camper van that was parked outside, where he found Dru sitting on the sofa, bouncing up and down and squealing to himself.
Wincing, Gru huffed and dumped the bags on the floor, panting as he gave his brother a stern glare.
"Dru! Could yoo just..." He started, taking a moment to reduce the anger in his voice. "Be quiet for a moment."
"Oh...uh...sure theeng, brother!" Dru exclaimed. Frustratingly, his assertion of being quiet was louder than ever. "Do yoo need any help weeth anytheeng?"
"No, no, everytheeng's done." Gru muttered, rubbing his temple. He was finding Dru's time of questioning quite enraging, since he'd decided to ask just before they were about to leave. If he'd asked a little earlier, there were a lot of things he could've helped with. But, again, there wasn't any need to get angry over something so small. "Once Lucy's done preppeeng de gurls, we should be ready."
He moved over at a slow pace and slumped heavily into the driver's seat. He leaned over, placed his keys in the ignition, and turned them, making the speedometer and many other components light up.
There were a multitude of different colored LED's, and honestly, it looked extremely fancy. In fact, the entire interior of the camper van was pretty fancy. Even the small toilet was kind of nice. It was definitely worth the price tag, however, it would probably be a good idea to avoid mentioning the money involved.
He did spend a lot of it at the end of the day...
After a few more minutes, Lucy came trudging into the van with a stressed and fatigued expression. She was softly massaging her temple with her fingers, proving that something had occurred that was giving her a headache.
"Yoo okay, sweetie?" Gru asked, looking up at his wife with a worried expression. "Yoo're lookeeng kinda tense."
"Ugh...it's Edith." Lucy muttered aggressively, as she practically fell down into the passenger seat. "I love her and all but...god, she's a pain when she's got energy."
"What's she been doeeng?"
"She would not get dressed." Lucy stated, using her arms to express her frustration. "She just kept running, and running, and running, and running. I had to give up in the end."
"Well...ees she dressed?"
"Half and half..."
"What does dat mean?"
"You'll see when she gets here." Lucy replied, as she leaned down and grabbed the thermos from her bag, where she poured herself a small cup of coffee.
After a few more minutes of sitting around and waiting, Jack and the three girls emerged into the van, all of whom held smiles of pure joy.
Gru turned around to face them, where his sight was instantly caught by Edith's disgruntled appearance. She was wearing her pink sweater over her onesie, which she only had one arm through, and only wore one boot on her feet, with the other foot left bare.
Obviously, she was still wearing the pink hat, which looked in peak condition.
Instead of saying or doing anything, Gru scoffed and turned back to face the steering wheel. Again, he just had to keep himself calm. They were all going to be in the van for a few hours anyway, so she didn't necessarily need to be properly dressed...
"So, where are we going first?" Agnes asked joyfully, as she leaped on to the couch and gave both her parents elated looks.
"Oh, well, I have many different ideas," Gru started, as he reached down into his bag and unloaded a dozen notepads, each one full to the brim with activities, information, phone numbers...basically anything you need for any activity ever. "So, let's just peeck and choose."
"Woah." Dru spoke, eyeing up the notepads in surprise. "Dat's...a lot of notepads."
"Gru, honey, don't you think that's a bit over-the-top?" Lucy questioned, receiving a baffled look from her husband in response.
"Over-de-top?" Gru exclaimed, smirking. "Dere ees no such theeng as over-de-top on my road treep. Anytheeng yoo wanna do, I've got all de stuff we need to do eet, right here!"
"Great! How about we start with a trip to space, then?" Jack requested sarcastically. "I've always wanted to visit the moon."
"Okay, well, dat's over-de-top." Gru responded, rolling his eyes with a sigh. "Anyone got a real suggestion?"
"Ooo! Can we start with the beach?" Agnes shrieked, looking up at Gru with those hopeful eyes of hers. Upon hearing her response, Gru looked down at the notepads and scanned his eyes across them quickly. After a second, he found the one he wanted, and after a moment of turning through the pages, he came to his desired set of notes.
Upon the small A5 page, he'd written the location of a hidden beach called Diamond Stone Cove, that was situated behind a moderately steep cliff. He'd chosen it specifically, since it was located in the middle of nowhere, and they had a very high chance of having the beach all to themselves.
"Good idea, Agnes." Gru said, receiving a wide-smile from the young girl in response. "Let's get goeeng."
Just as he turned around and grabbed both hands on the steering wheel, the sounds of bumping and slamming behind him caught his attention. He turned around and inspected the van in confusion, and to his annoyance, he saw Edith hyperactively jumping on the couch.
He turned to Lucy sheepishly, as if to ask for help, but she'd already put her headphones in and was looking out of the passenger-side window peacefully, ignoring the goings-on inside the vehicle. With a deep and defeated huff, Gru turned back to the steering wheel and pressed down on the accelerator, pulling out of the driveway and onto the street.
As he did so, his hand was gripped unnaturally tight to the wheel, something he was only doing subconsciously...
Vector could feel the weight of the 9mm, 18-round, glock in his pocket. There wasn't going to be any messing around this time. No piranha guns, no conversations, no stupid useless weaponry. He was going to break into the house, shoot and kill Gru, and then kidnap those daughters of his.
He wasn't sure what he was going to do with the girls just yet. He would either kill them, which seemed a little too cruel for his tastes, considering their age, or sell them to another family.
He could keep them, but he didn't necessarily fancy being a father. There was just too much responsibility. He was far from an expert in looking after children, and chances are, if he kept them, they would just starve to death.
That would be a problem solved, though.
As he quietly leaped over the fence and into Gru's back garden, he couldn't help but feel like such an invincible bad-ass. Before, when he was wielding those impractical marine-life guns, most people would just laugh in his face when he threatened them.
Now though, he had a feeling that Gru wouldn't be laughing when his handgun is pressed firmly against his skull. Nor would he be laughing when his brains are exploded across the floor, either.
God, he couldn't wait to teach him a lesson. All those months that he'd spent on the moon was complete and utter hell. Most of his memories were a complete blur, since the lack of gravity and oxygen seemed to take a toll on his brain, but somehow, he'd survived.
One thing he could remember though, was the day when his father had finally got the funds to build a rocket and save him. He also remembered the stern beration he received because of the financial issues the bank was now facing due to the price of his rescue. However, the following weeks after that were, again, just a blur.
He'd fallen into some sort of mental problem, that he was almost completely sure of. He wasn't sure what it was, or what it was making him do, but all he knew, was that the therapy sessions and medical treatment cured him and brought him back to his prior mental state.
Well, apart from the want to be a villain.
He couldn't deny it, villainy was the most repetitive and boring occupation in the world. It's just a cycle of proving yourself to other villains with deadly schemes, and then being beaten by another villain who came up with a better deadly scheme than you. He couldn't take a life of that for much longer.
Although, there was a certain aspect of villainy that was enjoyable.
Murder.
And, back to that subject, Vector was now situated right outside the backyard door, listening into the house. There was no light coming from the back window, and he could hear no sounds coming from the other side. That wasn't too surprising though, considering it was around 4:30 in the morning.
Since Gru was going to die anyway, Vector wasn't too fussed about making a lot of noise, so instead of finding a more stealthy way to gain entrance to the house, he just grabbed a large rock and threw it through the window.
Carefully avoiding the large spikes of glass that were sticking up, Vector used his lean figure to slither his way into the house, where he found himself inside a large corridor. All the lights in every room were shut off, which again, wasn't a surprise.
He unleashed the handgun from his pocket and cradled it evilly in his grasp. He was itching to get upstairs, startle Gru from his sleep, and then, as he begged him for forgiveness, put one right between his eyes. The very thought was making him feel a little giddy inside.
Not wanting to waste another second, he started creeping his way through the hall, searching for the way to the upper floor.
Eventually, after a few minutes of checking each room to ensure that the bald idiot wasn't downstairs, he found the spiraled staircase. With a devilish grin, Vector happily leaped up each step, the anticipation building as he got closer and closer to meeting his target.
As he got upstairs, he was met with a door that was covered in drawings, pictures of boy bands, dinosaur posters, and a large banner that read 'Beware of Children'. Obviously, this must be the room of those little brats.
He would deal with them after their father was dead, since he wanted to see their distraught reactions once they'd found out.
He continued slowly down the upstairs hallway, walking past the bathroom and study, neither of which caught his attention. That is, until he came to another door that caught his eye. This one was covered in rock-band posters, pictures of sports cars, a child-like drawing of someone with long hair, and another large banner that read 'Beware of Coolness'.
He wasn't sure who it belonged to, but in all honesty, he didn't really care. Other occupants can be dealt with later, Gru must come first.
Finally, after a few more seconds of walking, he reached the door to the master bedroom. Preparing the handgun, Vector gripped the handle and took in a deep breath.
This was it.
It was finally time for him to get his revenge. He had been waiting for this moment for over a year, and now, it had arrived. The man who put him on the moon, the man who ruined his amazing plan, the man who turned him into a disappointment in his father's eyes, was about to get his comeuppance.
Why waste another second thinking about it, when he could just do it?
Vector quickly turned the handle and instantly pointed the handgun at the large bed, his finger ready and trembling on the trigger.
"Put your hands up, Gr-"
However, to his complete shock, the bed was empty. He spun both his gaze and the gun around the room at speed, trying to identify whether or not he was hiding somewhere else within the room. But, alas, he was nowhere to be seen.
Growling under his breath, Vector quickly turned and hurried down the hallway again, this time aiming for the girl's bedroom. He thundered his way in, and again, all the bomb beds were void of human presence.
In slight disbelief, Vector dashed over to each bomb and threw the covers up, trying to ensure that the young girls were indeed absent from their beds. And, confirming it once for all, they were nowhere to be seen.
Holding his head in his hands and punching the mattress aggressively, Vector snarled with ire and disappointment. Where could they have disappeared to? He probably shouldn't have made all that noise when he broke in, because maybe, Gru had grabbed his daughters and fled the house before he could get to them.
But then, fortunately for him, Vector picked up on the sound of a nearby engine. He lifted his head up again and looked out of the window, where he spied a camper van on the street. He moved over to the glass and investigated it with his gaze, and after a moment, he identified his target at the steering wheel.
Gru was escaping.
A second later, the camper van's engine roared loudly and the former villain took off down the street at speed, Vector watching him closely the entire time. He cackled evilly under his breath as he did so, grinning as he watched the vehicle disappear around the corner.
"Oh, you can run, Gru..." He muttered aloud to himself. "But you can't hide."
After three hours of driving, the Gru family were finally nearing their destination. Diamond Stone Cove! The air of excitement within the van was vivid to the touch, what with each person inside donning their own bright smile of anticipation.
"I can see de SEAAAA!" Dru screamed, as the view of the ocean was now visible out of the window. Everyone peeked their head upwards to look at it, all apart for Edith, who was still jumping uncontrollably around the van.
None of them knew how drinking half a cup of coffee could give her this much energy, but they did know one thing...
...never let her drink it again.
"Thank god..." Gru muttered, his eyes only half-open. "I thought dis drive was never gonna end."
However, at that moment, he was reminded that the drive was still yet to reach an end, as Edith jumped up to stand on the table with a frustrating pound. She happily leaped up and down on it, uncontrollably giggling as she did so.
The noise was beyond irritating.
"Edith...could you get off the table, please." Lucy requested softly, her voice sounding especially fatigued.
"Why!?" Edith blurted, still jumping up and down and giggling.
"Because it's unhygienic." Lucy replied.
"Why!?"
"Because...we have to put food on that table..."
"Why!?"
"Because...because...just please get down!" Lucy pleaded, still trying to keep her voice as calm as she possibly could.
"Why!?"
Lucy was now done with the conversation, and instead of proceeding with it, she just turned back around with a tired scoff. Things were getting stressful, but Lucy was used to dealing with stress, and she could always find ways to calm herself back down.
On the other hand, Gru was far from great at dealing with stress, and the sound of Edith jumping around the van for three hours was driving him crazy. He was doing everything in his power to contain his anger, and in order to get to the beach before he snapped, he was putting his foot down harder and harder on the accelerator as time went by.
Margo had been dealing with Edith, energetic or not, for the past six years of her life, so she found it fairly easy to cope with the noise. Even with her younger sister making so much racquet and occasionally bumping into her, she still managed to read eight chapters of her new book.
Agnes was endlessly laughing the entire journey at Edith's behavior, which only seemed to make her older sister more energetic.
Jack was finding the annoyed expression on Gru's face quite entertaining, so he didn't necessarily mind the amount of noise his little sister was making, even if it was starting to bug him a little after the third hour.
Dru would occasionally join his niece in jumping around, before getting tired, sitting back down, and then loudly pointing at things outside the window. Having Dru in the van was literally like having another kid, except he was probably more annoying than most children around the world.
Finally, the family of seven arrived at the beach's parking lot near the edge of the cliff. As predicted, there were no other cars parked around, and everything was dead quiet.
Gru and Lucy couldn't help but gasp at the beauty that surrounded them. Not only did the sea stretch right over the horizon, but the parking lot was surrounded by huge fields full of flowers and small trees. Gru wasn't expecting it to look this beautiful.
As he came to a stop in the parking lot, Lucy stood up from her seat, took the keys out of the ignition, grabbed a few bags full of supplies, unlocked the door, allowed her family to jump out, locked it back up and then put the keys in her handbag.
After getting out and taking a moment to stretch his muscles, Gru walked over to the edge of the cliff and looked down over the beach. He smiled to himself as he admired the beauty of the rocks and the waves. He also had his theory entirely confirmed as he saw not a single other person in sight.
"Come on den!" He proclaimed excitedly, turning around to his whole family. "Let's get down dere!"
Dru, Jack, and Edith cheered in elation before sprinting down the steps to get to the beach. Lucy and Margo chuckled happily as they too followed on behind.
Agnes, on the other hand, ran up to the first step, but halted as soon as she could get a better view over the cliff. Even though the steps had actually been built inside the cliff, and even though there was solid wall bordering over the edge to prevent you from falling, the drop was still very far...
Gru noticed how his youngest daughter's expression changed from pure excitement to the exact opposite in an instant, and strolled up to stand beside her.
"What's wrong sweetie?" He inquired softly, as he knelt down to get to her level.
"I-it's..p-pretty...f-far...d-down." She mumbled, all the while shivering in fear.
Gru chuckled a little bit at her reaction, as it reminded him of himself at her age. He was dead afraid of heights as well, even if the chance of you falling was slim to none. Gently picking up the small girl into his arms, Gru gave his youngest daughter the widest of reassuring smiles, in order to try and revert that fearful expression on her face.
"Don't worry, kiddo." He spoke softly. "I won't let yoo fall."
Smiling back, Agnes cuddled in closer to her father and buried her head in Gru's chest. That way, she would only be able to see complete darkness, which was a much better alternative than the view over the horrifyingly scary edge.
Gru started slowly down the steps with Agnes in his arms, and as he started stepping down, he could feel the young girl's body tremble. Seeing her this afraid was genuinely upsetting him, since the sight of any of his daughter's looking unhappy was truly horrible in his eyes.
After stepping off the last step and onto the beach's sand, Agnes almost instantly switched from scared to excited again, as she opened her eyes, jumped out of her father's arms, and ran off to join her siblings, who were already playing in the sand.
Gru watched on with a warm smile. It was times like these, as he looked around at his whole family having fun, where he felt like his happiness could never be extinguished. The morning sun shining across the horizon was also burying his mind further in a blanket of comfort.
He'd missed this feeling. When he was stuck at work, plowing through criminal report after criminal report, the only feeling he ever felt was that of boredom and fatigue. Coming home always made him feel better, but it just couldn't compare to spending time with his family on one of the quietest and alluring beaches he'd ever seen.
Breaking himself out of his thoughts, Gru wandered over to his wife and twin brother, who had set down a red mat on the sand to sit on. He promptly sat down beside them and laid back, simply admiring the view for a moment.
"I told yoo dis beach ees nice, didn't I."
"It's beautiful!" Lucy cheered, lightly picking up her spouse's hand. "Just like a certain someone I know..."
The couple shared a passionate kiss, that was until Dru looked over his shoulder and interrupted them.
"Ewww." He groaned disgustedly, turning away. If he wasn't so tall, you genuinely wouldn't argue the claim that he was, for all intents and purposes, a child. "Yoo two should get a room."
Gru was about to chuckle in response, but before he could, Dru's exclamation brought back a memory.
"Oh, dat reminds me!" He exclaimed, fishing out another one of his information notepads. "I gotta call up a motel and book a room for us."
"Pfft...boring!" Lucy yelled, using her smile to mock him. Gru simply responded with a slightly puzzled expression. "You can sit here and do all that stuff, I'm gonna have some fun!"
As soon as her words left her mouth, Lucy got up and ran over to Jack and the girls, where she joined them in running around on the sand, frolicking freely. It didn't take too long for Dru to get jealous and soon follow on behind her.
Gru's previous smile quickly faded into an irked frown, as he proceeded to take out his phone, dial the number he had written on the notepad, and hold it up to his ear. After a few seconds of ringing, an automated voice answered and gave Gru some very frustrating news.
"Hello, and thank you for calling Sandy Waves Motel." The robotic voice greeted. "We apologize but our receptionist works from 9am to 5pm and you have called outside of that time range."
Gru looked down at his digital watch, where he was met by '8:11AM', clarifying that piece of information. Before he could angrily scowl, the voice continued.
"We currently have one room remaining. If you would like to book this room, please consider visiting our website, and booking it there. Thank you."
Gru's eyes widened at the sound of those words.
Hanging up the phone, Gru quickly stood up from his spot on the mat and darted towards the steps. If there was only one room left, then he had to quickly get to the laptop in the van and book it there before someone else beat him to it. He sprinted up the staircase, muttering curse words under his breath, before finally reaching the van with tired gasps for air.
He pulled the handle of the van's door, and upon realizing that it wouldn't budge, felt his mind fill up with rage. The door was locked, and if he could remember correctly, Lucy had taken the keys out of the ignition and put them in her bag...
...which was currently left on the mat on the beach.
"Ughhh, yoo've gotta be pulleeng on my leg..." Gru groaned, burying his face in his hands. Realizing that he was wasting time that somebody could be using to book the room, he took in a deep breath and bulleted back down the steps, his target being the white handbag on the mat.
Gru was both completely shattered and completely angry when he finally reached that target. The sounds of the rest of his family laughing with glee wasn't helping either.
Desperately attempting to ignore them, Gru kneeled down and started frantically fishing through Lucy's bag, in search of the van's keys. Upon finally finding them, the director quickly turned around and ran as fast as he could up the steps again, but this time, he could only manage a weak, fatigued stroll.
Once he'd made it back to the van and unlocked the door, he stammered into it and practically collapsed onto the sofa. He took a second to unwind his mind and collect some oxygen, before grabbing the laptop off the table and opening it up.
He quickly navigated to the internet browser and searched up 'Sandy Waves Motel' into the address bar, where he was met with a listing for the website of the motel in question. He quickly clicked the link, and upon spying the message that immediately appeared in front of him, had to hold back the urge to throw the laptop across the room.
'There are currently no vacancies left. We apologize for any inconveniences we may have caused.'
Looking around the van in thought, Gru racked his mind senselessly for a solution. Was there another motel nearby? From the research he'd conducted prior, the only other was one located several hours away, and he wasn't necessarily in the mood for another long drive today.
It seemed he had to give in and accept defeat, as the only way out was to fall back on Plan B.
He stood up from the seat with a heavy sigh and moved over to the many different bags he'd left carelessly on the floor. He grabbed his black sleeping bag, that had the letter 'G' engraved on it, and laid it down across the floor.
They were just going to have to sleep in the van.
He could only hope that everyone else had remembered to bring their sleeping bag, otherwise, they were going to have to sleep without cover. With yet another sigh, Gru trudged his way out of the van and sulked his way back down the steps to the beach.
The main part of this whole 'Plan B' was the argument that was sure to unfold about who got to sleep on the couches. There were only four of them, and each one only had enough room for only one person to lie down on, so a war was almost certain to break out over it.
When he got back down to the beach, he saw that everyone was now paddling and splashing in the sea. There was an endless amount of laughing ringing around the beach, that coupled with the sound of feet splashing in the water.
Tired of being the odd one out, Gru kicked off his shoes and rolled up his pants before racing over and joining everyone in the water, where he immediately started splashing his wife, who spluttered and giggled before retaliating with her own splash.
Everything was going fine, and Gru was really beginning to enjoy himself, up until Edith unexpectedly leaped onto his shoulders and sent him crashing face-first into the water.
Everyone laughed at his expense, all except for Margo, who helped him back up.
"You okay, dad?" She asked, this time nonchalantly, considering that this was now the second time that Edith had caused him to fall that day.
Gru decided against responding. His clothes were completely soaked to the bone, which was making the air much colder than it was before, and his expression was looking sincerely worse for wear. He tried to spin and yell at Edith, but just like before, she was nowhere to be seen.
"Wha...where deed she go?" He asked, shifting his gaze all around the beach.
"I'm right here!" Edith called out loudly, the energy in her veins seeming absolutely invincible. The whole family turned in a multitude of directions to try and find where she was, but still, she was nowhere to be seen.
"Where are yoo!?" Gru called back. There wasn't any response, only the distant sound of distinctive giggling. "Stop hideeng Edith, otherwise dere weel be severe consequen-"
However, before he could finish, the girl in question appeared from seemingly nowhere and jumped back onto Gru's shoulders in an attempt to knock him down again. This time, however, he steadied himself and caught her in his arms, dangling her upside down as she uncontrollably squirmed and giggled.
"Can yoo please just...calm down!" Gru yelled, as she continued to giggle and sway back and for in his arms. "Right, eef yoo do not calm down right dis second, I am driveeng us all back home!"
That was a lie, but judging on Agnes's petrified gasp, it must've been a pretty convincing one.
Instead of taking it as a threat as Gru hoped she would, Edith took those words as a challenge and started squirming harder in an attempt to break free. Finally, she escaped his grasp and sprinted away from him at a pace that would give professional runners a run for their money.
Gru really wanted to chase after her, but considering that Edith was obviously full up with energy, and considering how tired and wet he was, he probably wouldn't be able to catch up with her. Huffing in defeat, Gru slinked back onto the beach and over to the mat with a sluggish stride.
Once he arrived, the fatigue took over his muscles, and he practically collapsed to the ground. He stared up at the morning sky and rested his head comfortably against the mat's fabric. He just wanted to give his mind a rest for a few minutes...
But, the next thing Gru could remember, was his eyes fluttering open to the shine of the noon sun. For a second, he wasn't entirely sure where he was and what had happened, but as his basic senses regained their functioning, he slowly remembered what was going on.
He proceeded to roll over and inspect his surroundings, where he noticed Lucy sitting beside him, quietly reading a book. Once he started to stir, the redhead turned to him quickly and handed him a small warm smile.
"Hey, you're finally awake." She greeted softly. "Nice sleep?"
"Uhh...I theenk so." Gru replied, not entirely sure of the answer. He hadn't even realized that he'd fallen asleep until she mentioned it. "What time ees eet?"
Lucy put down the book and rolled up her sleeves, where she analyzed the digital watch on her wrist.
"Twelve thirty."
"Twelve thirty!?" Gru exclaimed. "How was...how deed I...why deedn't yoo wake me up!?"
"Because you looked so cute..." Lucy responded, grinning. "I just don't have the heart."
Gru rolled his eyes playfully and grinned back, before sitting up straight and looking around the beach. Dru, Margo, and Agnes were digging a huge hole in the sand, while Jack and Edith were energetically sprinting after each other, the teenager completely incapable of keeping up with his explosive little sister.
"Ees she steel hyperactive?" Gru asked, already deducing the answer by giving her a quick glance.
"I don't know how...but yeah." Lucy replied, giving a little sigh. She turned around and watched as her family had fun in their separate activities, taking a guess at what must've been in their minds by their faces and the time of day. "I think everyone's getting hungry."
"Well...I know I am!" Gru proclaimed, reaching into the supply bags and fishing out a load of sandwiches and juice boxes. "I prepared all dese dis morning."
"Good thinking." Lucy chuckled, winking at her husband before turning around and calling out to the rest of her family. "Lunch!"
At the sound of that specific word, everyone's head perked up happily in unison, and all five of them ran over to the mat at pace.
After around ten minutes of eating and talking, Edith finished her food before everyone else and almost instantly got back to sprinting around the beach.
"Edith!" Gru called out. "Could yoo wait a few meenutes before yoo start being...hyperactive again. Yoo're gonna make yourself sick."
Edith ignored his request and continued to sprint in circles, which in all honesty, didn't surprise Gru in the slightest. If you didn't know any better, you would think the ten-year-old was completely deaf.
"Leave her, Gru, she'll be fine." Jack said, looking up from his sandwich and shrugging. "She's like me. She's got a stomach of steel."
"So why did you throw up at Super Silly Fun Land then?" Margo asked, in quite a smug tone, as if she were proud of herself for remembering that moment.
Jack frowned and narrowed his eyes at her.
"I thought we agreed to not talk about that."
"Wanna bet?" Gru offered, holding out his hand to the teenager for a handshake.
"What?"
"Wanna bet dat she won't throw up? Eef she does, den yoo have to look after her."
Jack returned him a fearful look, obviously not as confident in trusting Edith's stomach as he was before. But, not wanting to be shown up in front of everyone, he nodded in agreement and went to shake his hand.
However, at the exact moment that Jack was going to agree, Edith stopped bouncing up and down for the first time in eight hours and hurled all over the beach. Everyone immediately turned their heads away and groaned in disgust, instantly losing their appetite and placing their half-eaten sandwiches back down.
Jack also instantly pulled his hand away and held it up, as if he were a soldier surrendering at gunpoint.
"I'm out!"
As a response, Gru growled and gave the teenager an angry frown, who was quickly exchanging his worried glance between his father and sister.
Gru subconsciously balled his fists together in anger...
Edith kneeled down and held her stomach tightly, as the pits of her tummy started stinging in pain. At this point, any other girl her age probably would've whined or cried, but with Edith being who she was, all she did was look at the vomit on the beach and weakly mutter to herself.
"...cool."
Edith was laying down on one of the couches in the van, clinging to her abdomen as it continued to sting in pain. After throwing up, it seemed all of the coffee's energy finally left her body, and the repercussions of constantly jumping around were starting to affect her.
Gru was angrily rummaging through multiple bags in search of a fresh pink sweater and fresh burgundy skirt, practically lobbing everything in his way across the room. Once he'd found them, he turned around to throw the items of clothing down in front of her aggressively, but he just couldn't do it when he saw the expression on her face.
She was giving him both an anguished and shameful look, and as much as he wanted to yell at her for not listening when he warned her and for being such a pain in the butt so far, it did seem that puking was probably punishment enough.
Sitting down beside her and gently putting a hand on her arm, Gru spoke as soft as he possibly could.
"Why don't yoo get some rest, kiddo?" He said, giving her a small smile. "Yoo look like yoo need eet."
Instead of responding, Edith gave her father a faint happy smile and slowly proceeded to crawl over to him. She rested her head against his leg and cuddled up to him, and after a little while, she fell fast asleep.
Although he was happy that Edith was now quiet again, the fact that she'd fallen asleep against his leg had practically imprisoned him to the couch. If he was slow and gentle enough, he might be able to escape and get down to the beach with everyone else, but he didn't want to risk leaving her all alone.
What if something happened when he was gone? What if she got to Lucy's thermos, drank more coffee, and got energetic again? What if she woke up, did something reckless and hurt herself? Or what if someone found the van, broke into it and-
He didn't even want to think of such a possibility.
No, there wasn't a chance he was leaving her here on her own. Even if he was itching to get down to the beach and have some proper fun with his family for the first time today, it just wasn't worth the risk.
Spying the book that Margo had been reading on the table, Gru shrugged and leaned over to pick it up. Reading some rubbish teenage novel was probably better than sitting in complete silence...
Six hours later, Gru put the novel back down with a highly shocked look on his face. He was expecting a book that Margo was enjoying to detail vampire love or something else that was cheesy and stupid. But, to his surprise, the book that she'd been reading was a murder mystery novel, that quite frankly, gripped Gru's attention from the start through to the end and refused to let it go.
He wasn't sure where she got it from, since he'd never seen that paticular book in his library, but no matter where she'd found it, he was exceedingly impressed with his eldest daughter for getting so far into it. It possessed a particularly sophisticated writing style, that even Gru considered to be over-the-top at times, so the fact that she didn't struggle to read or get bored with it was certainly something.
She definitely was a unique little girl. Or, more crucially, she definitely was Gru's unique little girl.
As he set the book down and got back to sitting in silence, Gru could feel Edith starting to stir and roll over on his lap, which caught his attention immediately. He looked down at her just in time for her to look back up at him, and the two exchanged a warm smile as a greeting, one being a lot weaker and fainter than the other.
"Hey, sleepyhead." Gru spoke. "Feeleeng any better?"
Instead of responding to the question with words, Edith gave a small and very quick nod before changing the subject to something she found much more interesting.
"When's dinner?"
Gru couldn't help but chuckle a little. It seemed she was feeling much better.
"When de rest get here." He replied. He reached down into the nearby supply bags and unloaded several microwavable burger containers, which he presented to the blonde promptly. "How do dese look?"
"Awesome!" Edith cheered happily, as her eyes lit up as bright as the sun. At that point, the van's door opened up and the rest of the family entered the vehicle, all of whom seemed a mix of tired and joyful.
The sun had now set and it was gradually starting to get dark, so having fun on the beach was proving to be much more difficult than it was when it was light. That was a pretty big indicator that it was time to stop and get back to the van.
"We're back!" Lucy exclaimed.
"I missed you, daddy." Agnes said quietly, as she trudged over to her father with a solemn expression on her face.
"Aww, I meessed yoo too, sweetie." Gru replied, kneeling down to give her a little hug. It was true, he had missed everyone when he was stuck in the van. It sucked that he didn't get to have some proper fun with his family on the beach today, but it didn't really matter, since this was only the first day and there were sure to be many more chances for fun while they were on this road trip. "Anyway, I got sometheeng here dat should cheer yoo up."
Gru grabbed all of the microwavable burgers and moved over to the mini-kitchen, where he started preparing them one-by-one in the van's little microwave. As he did so, Dru, Jack, Margo, and Agnes strolled over to the couch and plopped themselves down next to Edith, who still looked a little rough.
"Hey, pukey." Jack greeted playfully, giving her a wink. "You feeling okay?"
"Yeah...I'm okay." Edith mumbled unconvincingly, slumping back further into the seat. It looked like she was still tired, even after sleeping all day. Although, eight hours of jumping around endlessly will certainly take the energy out of you. "What did you guys do while I was gone?"
"Built a sandcastle." Agnes informed.
"It was more than a sandcastle, Agnes." Margo corrected. "It was like a sand fort. We made all these huge walls, and a big moat, and a few little villages, and..."
Margo stopped herself after she noticed the frown on her little sister's face, who was clearly jealous she wasn't there to help build all those cool sand buildings.
"Eet sucks yoo weren't dere." Dru said, trying to cheer her up a little.
"Yeah, no-one was there to stomp all over it and destroy everything." Jack joked, making everyone giggle a little. At that moment, the microwave dinged to signal the first burger's completion, and all five of them turned and watched Gru like a hawk, waiting impatiently for him to finish preparing all of the burgers.
After all of them had finished eating around the table, an activity Gru thoroughly enjoyed, since he got to spend it with his whole family, everyone got themselves ready for bed and slinked into their sleeping bags. All except for Gru and Lucy, who were simply sitting in the front seats, conversing.
The battle for who got to sleep on the couches wasn't as explosive as Gru initially thought. It was mostly between Jack and Dru, since the two really weren't bothered by letting the girls sleep on them. Eventually, Jack gave in and slept on the floor, mostly because he was already tired enough and arguing with someone who always had tonnes of energy was going to be a fruitless effort.
Lucy took a moment to glance back and grab a look at her daughters, who were fast asleep and snoring quietly.
"I love this, y'know." She stated quietly, gathering Gru's attention and making him look back as well. "I mean, how did I even manage without all of you?"
"Tell me about eet." Gru replied, smirking. "My old life of villainy has notheeng on dis."
The two sat there in silence for a few seconds, simply watching everyone else sleep happily, up until Lucy turned to her husband and gave him a moderately puzzled look.
"So, if villainy has nothing on this, then what was all that about yesterday?"
"What?" Gru replied, returning the puzzled look.
"Y'know, all that 'I can't take this anymore' stuff." Lucy elaborated, still whispering in order to avoid waking anyone. She proceeded to turn away from him with a slight tinge of sadness in her eyes, one that immediately alarmed Gru. "You're not...bored of us, are you?"
"No, no, of course, not." Gru replied quickly, having to stop himself from exclaiming defensively. "I...I could never get bored of yoo. I love yoo guys, I just...I needed to get away from de AVL, dat's all."
"Are you sure?"
"One-hundred-percent." Gru stated, grabbing his wife's hand gently and cupping it in his. "Why would I go on a road treep weeth yoo eef I was bored weeth yoo? Like yoo said, I don't know how I'd manage weethout yoo."
Lucy dropped her head and smiled.
"Good." She said quietly, lightly grabbing her husband's hand in return. "Cuz...you've really had me worried."
Gru couldn't hold back the huge smile that spread across his face. He was so grateful to have a wife like Lucy. Someone who genuinely cared about him and how he was feeling. Sometimes, he felt like he didn't deserve her.
"Anyway, we should really be getting to sleep." Lucy said, standing up and grabbing her sleeping bag. "We've got another big day tomorrow."
Gru was completely unsure as to which activity the family would pursue tomorrow, but no matter what they decide upon, Gru just wished that he could actually spend all of it with his whole family this time.
Hopefully, nothing else will get in his way...
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Will return ASAP :)