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Chapter 12: Camping Out

"It was a normal day," Aiden began. He sat up straight and closed his eyes lightly as he spoke. "I was out on the dunes playing with Sandshrew and my sister, Amanda, was off spelunking in the cavern wall."

"Um, spelunking?" Katie said with confusion.

"Cave exploring."

"Oh, continue."

"Sure," Aiden considered taking a bite of his pizza but recalling the whole moment

ruined his appetite. "Sandshrew had noticed something amiss and brought me back home. I assumed her Trapinch would have done the same as they are sensitive to the desert…"

Aiden was feeling the guilt wash over him again. He lowered his head further and continued.

"She…she never came back." His eyes began to water as he let himself put his head on the table and hide his face with his arm.

He felt Katie slide into the spot next to him and put her arm over his shoulder.

"Its alright, that's as much as you need to say." Katie said in a soft calming voice.

After a few more moments Aiden regained his composure and said to Katie,

"Your turn."

"Hmm, where to start. I guess I ought to ask if you want the long or short version?"

"What ever tells the whole story." Aiden said with a playful smile.

"Well, sit back and enjoy the food. This might take awhile." She said with the same smile. "Well for one we were not dating like you think."

"I thought nothing of the sort. I would have put my money on you two being family." Aiden said with one eyebrow raised.

"Wow," Katie was a little surprised. "How could you have predicted that?"

Aiden just gave a small chuckle and motioned for Katie to continue.

"Tom is my cousin, kind of. He is my aunt and uncle's son that died in some sort of accident."

"I'm sorry." Aiden said with genuine sympathy.

"Its fine, I never knew them anyways. Tom was then adopted by the son of a close friend of my grandfather's. Tom was always arrogant and played the dead parent card so often I doubt he really cares about them."

"How old was he when they died?"

"About six I think." She said with a bit of uncertainty.

"So he was definitely old enough to remember them."

"Yea but you never know. Like I said before nobody has told me much about them."

"I suppose that satisfies me."

Aiden looked down at the half eaten pizza.

"I wasn't as hungry as I thought." He said with a shrug.

"I had eaten a little before you asked me…well, you know."

Aiden smiled to himself as he realized what he started. His mind wandered a bit about what was to happen in the near future. His thoughts this time were not interrupted by an unpleasant force but instead by Katie's arm around his shoulder. He turned to her and smiled with and felt redness in his cheeks.

"Well, it's obvious were both done eating, split it half and half?" Katie said with some awkwardness."

"Sure. That being said, I have no idea how this works in a not restaurant thing."

Aiden heard Katie's muffled giggle as she slid out of the booth and went behind a large table with a fountain drink machine hiding her from view. She came back with two Styrofoam containers. Aiden put two slices in each and handed one to Katie as they began to walk out to the car.

"Seems like the traffic has actually moved backwards, I don't think we could pull out of the parking lot." Aiden said as he peered down the sidewalk.

"Well we might as well put these back in the car and see what's going on. I think there is a park up ahead anyways."

As they walked Aiden decided he would make another risk. He slid his free hand into hers as they walked. He felt like he could explode in the split second it took for her to grasp his own hand. They walked like that all the way from the car to the park. The end of the jam was still not in sight.

"Wow, we might be stuck he awhile." Katie said as they took a seat at the bench.

"What in the world would cause something like this?"

"I have never seen one this bad. I think I recognized a few of the cars on the way back." Katie yawned as she finished her sentence.

Aiden checked his watch.

"7:00, might as well call my parents and tell them I might not be able to make it home."

"Do you mind if I call my parents and tell them what's going on?" Aiden asked Katie, who was beginning to drift into sleep.

"No problem, I already told my mom."

Aiden wondered when she called as he waited for one of his parents to pick up. He then heard his mother's voice say,

"Hello?"

"Hey mom, its me. I just called to say that we might not make it back for awhile."

"Traffic jam?"

"I imagined you would hear something about it on the radio. What is going on?"

"They never said, must be something pretty secretive if the press isn't allowed to talk about it."

"Well, I ought to go…"

"Of course Aidie, I don't want you to seem rude be talking to me all day on the phone."

"Bye mom." Aiden said with a smile.

He hung up the phone and turned back to Katie. He found her asleep on his shoulder.

"Wow, she must have been really tired. How did I not notice her on my shoulder though, she's pretty stealthy. Well, there's no way I can get her back to the car myself…"

His solution came when Katie was woken by the horn of an aggravated motorist.

"How long was I out?" Katie asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"Only a couple minutes, wouldn't you rather camp out in the car than in the park."

"Yea, it gets pretty cold here at night."

They both stood up but Katie quickly sat back down. Aiden looked at her inquisitively and she said,

"Head rush."

Aiden nodded and offered his hand to help her stand up a bit more slowly. They walked back to the car the same way they came from it, hand in hand.

"Good thing she has a bigger car than Jed's." He thought they approached the parking lot.

"How are we going to fit?" Aiden asked.

"Like this."

Katie folded the back row of chairs down and then reclined both of the front seats back as far as they could go, which was about a 145 degree angle.

"This is the best it does but it beats a wooden bench." Katie said. Her tiredness was obvious in her voice.

"Plus it has cup holders." Aiden joked.

Katie smiled as she started towards driver's side door. Aiden stopped her and said,

"The passenger's side will be more comfortable than the driver's with the pedals and all."

"If you insist." Katie said with a smile on her face.

Aiden felt pretty good about the night as a whole, despite the fact that they were stuck in traffic without even being on the road. He began to fall asleep and felt Katie who was once again on his shoulder. This time, Aiden knew it was voluntary.

A/N: Yay, writing hiatus is over. I have decided to scrap my Star Wars story for now, it just didn't turn out quite right. Also you need to get the thing done before the next chapter, you know who you are. Hmmm, I wonder what the traffic jam was about coughplotdeviceuncough I know it may be kinda obvious but it is all with good reason. The next dream sequence (I told you there was a reason) will start to kick up the action/adventure part of this and because I'm the author I get to write in my favorite Pokemon!!

A/N A/N: that was a freakishly long author note…