CHAPTER 8: First Contact

"Can I drive?" Belle asks as we roll our suitcases to my old car. It's a dark red 2001 Ford Taurus called the Red Menace, and I love it.

"Not until we get to Wisconsin," I reply, popping the trunk. Belle just turned 16 a little over a month ago. She got her license about a week later, and had been dying to drive all the time ever since.

"Fine," she says, rolling her eyes. I make sure to lock the trunk before sliding into the driver's seat. The car starts up in just one try and we roll out of the parking lot, leaving the convention behind. We didn't end up meeting any new recording buddies, but that's okay. I got to meet Mitch, which made my year. I can't help but hope just a teeny bit that I'll be able to record with him sometime, even though I know it's highly unlikely.

We drive for a few hours, stopping around noon at a McDonald's for lunch. We get our food and finish it in about fifteen or twenty minutes. Belle makes a run to the bathroom, tossing our garbage on the way. While she's gone, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out, finding a text from a number I don't know.

'hey lily its mitch'

I take a deep breath. My phone slips through my fingers onto the table.

HE ACTUALLY TEXTED ME! THIS IS BEYOND AWESOME! My legs start bouncing frantically under the table as a huge smile invades my face. My hands are shaking when I pick the phone back up.

'hey dood! what's up'

I hit send and add his number to my contacts.

'nm just pissing off jerome'

I laugh at that and ask him why. Belle has come back from the bathroom. She grabs some money and goes to order drinks for the road. I walk into the bathroom as my phone buzzes again.

'were giving him a ride to the airport but i made him drive'

I giggle, and I'm about to reply when another text interrupts me.

'i'm poking him from the backseat and connor is singing twinkle twinkle little star'

I laugh as I push open the door of the bathroom and walk back to the table.

'XD lol im about to go back on the road but have fun :)'

I send off one "last" text before we leave the restaurant. He replies before we even get to the car.

'drive safe '

OH SNAP GURL, HE SENT A SMILEY FACE! WHAT COULD IT MEAN?

I'm just kidding. It doesn't mean anything.

'no promises ;)'

My reply is joking. Belle is checking her own phone, probably for texts from her boyfriend. I was surprised at how little they talked during Minecon.

'lol :) ttyl'

I reply that I'll see him later as I start up the car. Putting my phone in the console, I shift out of park. We leave the parking lot with me significantly happier than when we arrived.

-oO0Oo-

*MITCH'S POV*

I wake up to Connor trying to be quiet. He's tiptoeing across the floor, holding his breath. I throw a pillow at him just as he trips on the shirt I was wearing yesterday. He falls to the floor and starts giggling. I throw another one, then two more. All my pillows are gone and he's buried in a fluffy heap. I get out of my bad and climb onto his, grabbing two pillows at once and chucking them on the pile just as he tries to sit back up. He goes back down, and I grab the pillow that's within easy reach. I use my other hand to search behind me for the last projectile as I throw the first at him. Unable to find it, I turn around. It's on the far corner of the bed, out of my reach. I turn around and dive for it. In the two seconds I'm turned around, Connor launches two pillows in my direction. One hits my back and the other smacks into my head. I go down under the surprise attack, and Connor takes the opportunity to throw the rest of them onto me.

So here I am, buried under eight pillows. I hardly even feel it when Connor jumps on the pile. I let out a yell that's more like a roar and shove my way out of the heap. Connor yelps and scampers into the corner, where he promptly becomes invisible because there are eight pillows on top of him. I hear his muffled surrender as I search around for clean clothes. I laugh as I find some and head into the bathroom.

When I come out about 15 minutes later, all eight pillows are in front of the door.

"Goddangit, Connor," I say under my breath. I hurdle the fluffy stack and make my way to the kitchenette for breakfast. After a couple hours of picking up, we're ready to leave. We roll our suitcases out and shut the door one last time. Our wheels make no noise in the carpeted hallway. The elevator doors ding as the close behind us. Connor hits the button for the ground floor and we start to move.

"Did you have fun?" I ask, feeling a need to fill the silence.

"Yeah," he says. "Met some cool people."

I don't bother asking who his favorite was. To be perfectly honest, they were probably my favorite too.

I'm talking about GracefulGaming, of course.

Before I can think farther on the subject, the doors slide open and we step into the lobby. Jerome is waiting for us, and falls into step as we push through the revolving doors. We only go around once, thank the lawd. It takes us a couple minutes to find the car, then another couple minutes to stow all our stuff. Connor is already bouncing, having called shotgun as soon as the car was in view. I unlock the doors and toss the keys to Jerome, who slides into the driver's seat.

Connor starts humming as we reach the freeway. I reach into my pocket for my phone, wanting to put on music to block out my brother. When I pull it out, a piece of paper is stuck in the edge of my case. It has a name and a phone number on it. I don't remember putting it there.

And then I realize it's because I didn't put it there. Lily did. Apparently, her last name is Ross.

Connor starts singing more loudly. I look up to see him shooting me an evil smile. I grin back, then send off a text to Lily. I start poking Jerome in the sided, tucking my phone under my leg.

"Mitch, no! STAHP! PLS DOOD, I FAN!" Jerome says, somehow managing to keep the car straight. My phone vibrates. It's Lily, asking what's up. I say that we're pissing off Jerome.

"I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL CRASH THIS CAR, YOU TWO," says Jerome. I laugh and continue to prod him. My phone buzzes again, and I explain to Lily what's going on.

"I hate you so much," Jerome says, accepting his fate. Connor pauses long enough in his "lovely," multi-verse rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to let out a few giggles. Lily tells me that she's about to go back on the road, so I tell her to drive safe.

'no promises ;)'

I smile at that, and say I'll talk to her later. She texts back saying more or less the same thing. We pull up to the airport just as Connor hits a high note in his (hopefully) final verse of Twinkle Twinkle. I get out and say good bye to Jerome, then plop into the driver's seat. I spend the drive home drifting around in my own thoughts. Lily crosses my mind a couple times, but only a couple.

Well, a few.

Okay, several.

There's someone else who features more prominently in my thoughts, but she's too far away to even try thinking about.

A/N TIME! WHOOPEE-POO-HOO! : Wassup guys?! QD hmneah (say it aloud, it'll make sense) with the two chapters I promised. The play is over and it went well, for anyone who was curious. We performed Radium Girls. You should check it out sometime, it's pretty cool. Anyway, I just wanted to say muchas gracias for all the support! Here's the facts (since no one said stop and one person said go, they're staying :)) :

-I would totally drop my phone if something exciting happened, but it's ok because my phone is old and indestructible.

-I love annoying people (which is convenient because I'm pretty good at it) and would totally do what Mitch and Connor did to Jerome.

-It takes me forever to say goodbye when I'm texting people.

And for the fictions:

-I don't have a car. I am taking Driver's Ed now, though.

-My sister has broken up with her boyfriend since I started this story, but he'll stay for evil author reasons. [I do love you guys, I promise.]

-I'm really bad at pillow fights, mostly because I'm afraid of hurting people.

I think that's about it. Please favorite, review, etc. because it makes me feel happy inside. I like making you happy. It makes me happy. Then everyone is happy. Yay. You beautiful individuals are the bestest readers anyone could ever have! Much luv!

-Quiet Defiance

PS – if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm calling my "fans" (readers, whatever) beautiful individuals.