I Apologize, I went on a vacation for two weeks, and well, I meant to take down the whole "3 reviews" thing but it turns out that my grandparents don't have internet up in Iowa… So, my bad I'll try to leave some note next time before I take off and I won't require reviews, though I still like them. And incase you were wondering, my vacation was pretty good, I learned how to ollie on my skateboard while I was there.
Disclaimer: I'm not making any money off of this, and I don't own Avatar, Wal-Mart, Doc. Phil, Toyota, Panic at the Disco, Gable Apartments, Kraft Mac & Cheese, or Big Gulp. Wow talk about your product placement, the disclaimer is about as long as the story.
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Shelby was 28 years old, she lived in San Antonio Texas and works at a dinky-ass Wal-Mart. She had strait brown hair, and big dark eyes, due to the bit of Native American heritage in her. Shelby generally didn't take-in strangers off the street, but she had been listening to some new Doctor Phil "Be nice to people" tapes, and they apparently were working.
She stared up at the boy who was leaning into her car. He had a big scar across his left eye and no home, to Shelby this just screamed "I'm a poor abused boy with no place to go, please help me!" He wore the clothes she had help pick out for him earlier, and seeing that made her feel almost like a mother.
The expression of the boy turned from weary to self disappointment as he got into the car. She could see that he didn't want to be helped, but was smart enough to know when to give in. Shelby smiled to herself over her small victory, as he shut the door.
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The Woman looked over at Zuko, she had a smile on her face, "Buckle up!" she said merrily.
Zuko glanced at her "What?" he replied emotionless.
"Your seatbelt, I wont go unless you have it on, 'cause if I get arrested… Well let's just say my driving record if less then perfect." Most of what she said went right over Zuko's head, but he saw that she was holding a type of harness at her chest, and realized that it was coming from near the car door. Presuming that this was what the woman was talking about, Zuko took his own belt and maneuvered it to buckle into a small box towards that bottom of his seat. The lady seemed satisfied with this and the beast moved forward.
"What is this?" Zuko asked looking around at the interior of the car.
"Oh," The woman sighed, "Just an old Toyota I bought from my cousin in Austin." The Beast/Toyota seemed to move in the direction that the woman turned the wheel positioned in front of her.
"It's very fast!" Zuko complemented, the speed and agility to the Toyota took him by complete surprise.
The woman giggled at his comment, "Ya, compared to a model-T?" The car sped out of the parking lot and soon onto the highway. "You know what, we haven't even been properly introduced, my name's Shelby."
Zuko had to think quickly "Lee" he replied, using he favorit alias. Zuko wished that he could tell people the truth, but if word got around that the fugitive prince was here, bounty hunters would be all over him.
"Lee huh? Where'd your parents get your name from?"
"I donno." Zuko stated flatly.
"Hmm," The woman was disappointed that her attempt at a conversation failed. A few minutes of awkward silence filled the car until finally Shelby spoke up again. "Do you like to listen to the radio?" She asked. Not getting much of a reaction, she turned it on. After turning a knob, she finally got it to a station and stated; "Most of the kids I know like this station. Zuko was stunned by what he heard. It sounded like a person was trapped in the creature, but instead of screaming he was singing;
"Oh! Well in fact, well I'll look at it this way, I mean technically our marriage is saved
Well this calls for a toast, so pour the champagne, pour the champagne
I'd chime in with a 'Haven't you people ever heard of closing a goddamn door!'
No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality."
The fact that someone was inside the mouth of the Toyota, performing because Shelby turned a few knobs, weirded Zuko out. And not wanting to end up like this poor old singing soul, Zuko stayed quiet for the rest of the trip.
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For the rest of the car ride Shelby felt the awkwardness cloud inside the car. Instead of Lee becoming more comfortable, the radio seemed to make him draw away even more. Finally Shelby saw her familiar Gable apartments, and happily drove through the gates.
Lee, breaking his twenty minute silence, spoke with astonishment in his voice. "You live here? How many bedrooms do you have!"
"Just a two room place, I have a futon in the second bedroom, you can sleep on that." Lee slouched lower in his chair.
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Zuko had seen the many roomed building, and was relieved that once again he would be sleeping in a palace. But his happiness was smothered in dissatisfaction when Shelby revealed she only owned a section.
The duo got out of the car and walked on stone path, they went up a staircase and passed a few doors. Zuko guessed that behind each of these doors was another peasants' quarters. Soon they reached Shelby's door, after unlocking it they walked in. Shelby seemed relieved, she threw her purse down on a chair and walked into the kitchen. Zuko just stood in the doorway and watched. "Come in and shut the door, your letting all the air out." Zuko ignored her stupid comment and walked over to the couch leaving the door wide open.
"You have a bit of an attitude problem don't you?" Shelby said as she went over to the door and shut it herself. "The remote's on the table, you welcome to turn on the TV. Do you like Kraft? 'Cause I'm making Mac and Cheese for dinner."
"I don't really care." He answered her. Zuko looked on the table for the thing the woman said was there (remote). Thankfully it wasn't that hard to figure out what a remote was, because the only other things on the table were magazines. Zuko took the hard black box and pressed a few red bumps on top of it. Nothing happened, so Zuko pressed a few more. Finally after pushing one at the top of the small box, a bigger black box only a couple feet away sprang to life. This scared the crap out of Zuko, and with instinct he sprang up into a fighting pose, and his hands exploded into fire balls.
"OH MY GOD YOU'RE ON FIRE!" Shelby screamed from the kitchen.
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Shelby quickly grabbed a big-gulp cup from the counter and filled in the sink. She ran over and threw the water at Lee. Quickly the flames went out, but instead of thanking her, he shot an accusing look. Shelby didn't care, "Let me see your hands!" She said, still in her protective mother mode.
"I'm fine." Lee said, but Shelby took his hands anyway. After close inspection she ordered him to run cool water over his hands for the next five minutes.
"No." He retorted.
"Yes!" She replied, irritated that he wasn't obeying her.
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"NO, I'm fine." Zuko ripped his hands from her grip and held them up to show no marks.
"How the hell did you even light yourself on fire! Did you bring a lighter in here? And what about that scar, did you do that to yourself too?"
"DO YOU THINK I WOULD DO THIS, TO MYSELF!" Zuko yelled at her. He pointed a stiff finger to his scar, and a bit of steam poured out of his ears. Pain flooded his body as the memories from his past surfaced. Then in a flash he grabbed his bag of clothes, and huffed out of the apartment.
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Shelby could tell that she had crossed an invisible line. She wasn't sure what to think about the flaming hand incident, but whatever had caused that horrid scar on Lee's face, was a bad memory that he harbored dark feelings about.
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Alright my peeps, I promise I'm not going on another vacation for a while, so I'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP. Oh, and Ally should resurface next chapter.