A/N: Here you go, guys.
"But, but—it's North Carolina! It's practically a law to go to a rental cottage! This is the land of vacations and swimming and sun and sand!" Nudge looked pitifully at me.
Oh, jeez. There's no way I'm going to do this. Fang looked at me solemnly, as if to say, not my decision. Of course. The one time I don't want to hear that, he says it—kind of. And now I'm the dream crusher.
"But we're on the sand, in the sun, and we just went swimming. And we don't have to spend money if we don't need to. So why bother?"
"Because we can! Land of sun and sand and vacations! Didn't you hear me before?"
I inwardly ground my teeth and tried to compromise. "Okay. Yes, I did hear you. But I just don't think"—
"Iggy!" she cut in, snagging him from rifling through his pack. "Iggy! Don't you want to stay in a rental? Think about the air conditioning and showers and food! And you could actually cook! Like, on a real stove and oven and stuff!"
She really must have wanted to go, because something got through to Iggy. Sort of.
"Uh, sure. Sounds great. Would you let go of me now?"
Nudge released her grip on his sleeve, turning back to me. Her eyes were wide and pleading, entirely innocent. Angelic.
And then I knew.
"Oh, no. You can't do that to me, missy. Bambi-eyes don't work on me. No way."
She stepped closer.
"Uh uh. Nope. See, not working!" I turned my back on her. "I can't see you! I can't see you!"
My eyes were squinted tightly shut, but I could still feel her approach.
"Max," she said pleadingly. "Max."
"Nope. Not gonna happen. No way. Not a chance."
---
"Uh huh. And why are we doing this again?"
Against all instincts, I was leading the group forward onto a brightly lit main street. Why? Because I am a leader. I am sincerely and honestly interested in the others' well being. And because of the fact that Nudge wouldn't shut up until we slept on something other than sand.
"We," I said, searching for one sign that would help us, "are going to find a place to sleep, since Nudge decided that now was the time to behave like actual humans. And because you really need a bath," I added.
"But where are we"—
"Ha!" I called. "There it is!"
A neon blue sign blared at us from across the road, buzzing angrily and flickering in different places. I smiled.
"Motel Six?" Gazzy exclaimed.
Nudge gaped. She looked more than odd in the dingy light coming from the streetlamps.
"Yep," I said happily. "Only the best for you all. Crème de la crème, indeed." Fang shot me a look.
"But I thought we were getting a rental!" Nudge wailed.
"We are," I said. "It's just a little smaller."
I caught her expression, though. "Look, guys, this is for fun, right?" They nodded. "Well, we're here to have fun. Chances are that there'll be no one else here, so we'll have the hotel to ourselves. Less chance of being found out."
And better chance of hearing Flyboys, I thought, but I didn't say it out loud. They're faces weren't quite so forlorn anymore. Except for one.
"What about me?" Total said, annoyed. "Most places don't let me in."
"Well, they'll have to make an exception this once. Whether they know it or not."
Twenty minutes later we were lounging on beds that to the rest of humanity were probably inhospitable, but to us were incomparably brilliant inventions. I knew that I, for one, was not getting up for a loooooong time.
The idiot who ran the front desk wouldn't let us get only one room, because apparently there was a limit on the number of people you could cram in one space. Yeah, like that's stopped us before. We have slept in freaking cars. Us. Six long-legged mutants. Plus a dog.
And we couldn't fit in one room? I don't think so. One room was plenty.
But the fire laws couldn't be disobeyed, could they? I thought about arguing the point with Mr. Snotty-Pants, but that would make us conspicuous.
So we got two rooms to sleep in—guys in one and girls in the second. They were connected with this handy little door, though, so we were still near each other.
Someone blissfully groaned on the bed next to me.
"It's just so…perfect, you know?" Nudge smiled at the ceiling, sliding her eyes toward me. Spread out, she took up almost the entire bed.
"Yeah."
We sighed in unison, then laughed.
It really was great, as much as I had resisted coming. My eyes closed lazily.
An extraordinarily loud banging made me jolt up from my half-dozing stupor and look around.
Iggy stood on the opposite side of the connecting door, looking amused and holding the door handle.
"Door works," he said.
I rolled my eyes and lay back down, only to spring back upright a second time. The door was now all the way open, creaking as loud as I had ever heard.
"What"—Angel said, looking up from petting Total.
Iggy grinned. "I'm guessing this hasn't been opened in a few decades, give or take."
Fang came up behind him, brushing his shoulder to let him know he was there. He scanned our room, seemingly looking for something.
"What?" I said testily.
He just raised an eyebrow. "Nothing," he said innocently, and left.
Gazzy bounded toward me. "When's dinner?" he asked excitedly.
Food. Nourishment. Right.
"Find a pizza number, we'll order in."
"Where?" Angel said. "Oh," she added, reading my mind.
"Angel…"
"I know, I know," she muttered hastily. "I won't read it again, it's in-moral, all that stuff."
I smiled through my sternness. "Good. I have taught you well, grasshopper. And it's immoral, not in-moral."
"Okay, whatever. Now where is the number?" Nudge said. Big surprise.
The pizza was good. So was the continental breakfast the following morning. We all had deliciously warm showers and as many prepackaged danish's as we could take without the management getting on our case.
And sleeping? Let me tell you, whichever caveman decided sleeping on something other than rock was the Stone Age Einstein.
We had a great time.
Now what?
A/N: Yeah, yeah. I'm sooo late it's insane. Sorry! School is … well, honestly, school is school (l'école, en français). Busy, painful, and totally destroying my self-worth.
Okay, if you don't review this one, I'll understand. It's been a while since I updated, so I'll let one chapter slide. (That actually means, review like crap or I'll feel bad. [ But whatever.)
Sorry again. Also, does anyone have any ideas about what to write? I've got a few but they all aren't very inspiring. Let me know.
I didn't write about Max and Fang sharing a room (gasp) and having…ONLY ONE BED! OH MY GOD! WHAT A SURPRISE!
-meEe