It's been a couple weeks since I was sent back by England and the others; I landed in my bed right where I left from. I had about a hundred messages on my phone asking where I was, why I didn't show up at work, have I run off with some man (that would be my sister Ellie who is always trying to set me up with someone). After meeting up with my mother to prove my not being dead and making up a story about getting the flu and not being able to talk so I wasn't able to call anyone, things finally settled down. But Ellie persists in calling me and asking what really happened, she's always been such a nosy pest.
*ring ring!* I'm sitting on the couch catching up on missed tv shows when my cell rings and I quickly pause my show before flipping it open,
"Hello?"
"I'm two blocks away, are you dressed yet?"
"Ellie?"
"Yeah it's me, are you even up yet or are you still moping around?"
"It's only eight and it's Saturday, there is no reason for me to be fully up yet, and for the thousandth time, NO I'M NOT MOPING OVER SOME IMAGINARY GUY!"
"Sheesh don't blow my eardrum out, anyway you're just in denial so get over it, get dressed and ready, we're going out!"
And with that she hung up on me. I might as well go with whatever she's planning, she'll just bang on my door 'till I let her in or she'll resort to picking the lock . When she was eight she went on a James Bond kick; she was always picking locks, she broke two telephones trying to figure out how to tap wires, and nearly gave our eighty year old neighbor a heart attack when she surprised him in his garden while trying to sneak about "ninja style".
After stopping my show and switching off the tv, I get dressed in some jeans, sneakers, and an old comfy hoodie. I'm just getting my purse out of the hall closet when I hear banging at the door,
"Claaaaaaaaire!" yells Ellie from outside. I sling my purse over my shoulder and open the door to almost getting nailed in the face as Ellie goes to bang on it again.
"Claire! It's been ages, why do you ignore me so?" Ellie says dramatically laying a hand over her heart.
"I just saw you last Tuesday, you act like I've been shunning you for years!" I say as I lock the door and start down the stairs outside my apartment to the parking lot.
"Well a week is practically years!" she say, linking arms with me as we go down the stairs. We round the corner of the building to the parking lot, but her car is nowhere to be seen,
"We aren't walking are we? It's starting to rain and I don't want to get soaked." I grumble as she steers me across the lot,
"No silly, my car's right here!" She throws her arms out game show host style at a sleek black and very expensive looking car parked in the back of the lot.
"Where on earth did you get the money for that thing!" I say shocked walking over to look at it, the windows are tinted almost so darkly that they appear black and there's chrome galore adorning the wheel rims and trim.
"Ok, it's not technically mine, Jack gave it to me for the weekend since he's busy at work with meetings."
"Who is Jack?"
"Only the dreamiest hunk of man to walk the earth, I met him at Currents downtown and we hit it off big time" says Ellie slipping into the car.
Currents is a bar/night club Ellie frequents with a posse of friends from her highschool, most of them are employed at the same law firm, where Ellie is a receptionist. Ellie always ran with the "popular" crowd at the high school we went to and always had a friend on hand to come over on the weekends. I didn't have nearly as many friends, but the ones I have I've kept in touch with and we're all still pretty close. I have a feeling if Ellie's friends had gone to another law firm she wouldn't still be in the same circle as them. Ellie also had a string of relationships a mile long through highschool, but she was never very broken up when they ended so I suppose she never took them very seriously, she's always been a huge flirt, a bit like a certain Frenchman I know.
As we drive the rain starts to really pick up and it's pouring by the time we get to the cafe Ellie wants me to see, she says their coffee is to die for. Luckily we get a parking spot right next to the entrance so we don't get too wet as we sprint over the sidewalk and through the doors. Ellie slips off to the restroom to fix her hair that barely got wet, she can't stand to have a single strand out of place.
Instead of waiting the probably fifteen minutes I have in front of me until she emerges, I go ahead and order our coffees. There isn't much of a line so I'm able to order rather quickly, a twenty-ish looking man takes my order with a smile and directs me to a vacant table in the back corner. A few minutes later he deposits our drinks with another smile and goes back to manning the counter and attending to the other customers that occasionaly drift in, although it seems like almost everyone else has had the good sense to stay in out of this hellish rain.
I'm looking out through a circle of glass I've swiped clean on the fogged up windows that line the interior of the cafe when Ellie finally emerges from the restroom.
"So spill" she says taking a long sip from her probably cold coffee.
"Huh?"
"Don't act dumb with me, I know you have Mom convinced but I can smell the gossip you have burning to be let out, so just tell your big Sis the whole story!"
"Ugh, why won't you just let it go!?" I let my head droop onto the table and hold my coffee between my freezing hands.
"So you admit that there is something to be go of?" she crows triumphantly and lifts my head to stare into my eyes until finally I give in,
"Oh fine!" I huff and settle into the booth waiting for the impending barrage of questions, 3 , 2 , 1
"What does he look like, where did you meet, how tall is he, what does he work as, how much does he make, is he funny or serious, does he have a brother-" I interupt her here,
"What do you mean does he have a brother, don't you have a boyfriend already, umm Ja- Jasper?" I say trying to remember.
"It's Jack, and it pays to keep a girl's options open!" she says.
"Ooooh, well maybe you shouldn't have that car of his then." I say glancing out the window at said car.
"You are just trying to distract me from the main topic here, you haven't answered a single question!"
"Well when you load me down like that how am I supposed to start! Well, he only a bit taller than me, has brown eyes and hair, he works, ummmm, he works for the goverment, why would I know how much he makes?" I cut off. "It's an important thing to know!" says Ellie. "Hmmph well he has a brother, but I don't think you'd like him much."
"Why not?"
"Well he's a bit crude and I think he's already in a relationship with someone else". The whole Spain/Romano thing seems to be pretty complicated so it's best for her to stay out of that, although it's not like she's ever going to meet any of them. With that thought my mood goes south, I guess for the last couple weeks I have been expecting one of the nations to just pop up and say "Fooled ya!" and be able to laugh with them again. But as more and more days go by, I feel like there is less and less hope of seeing them again.
"Hey what's up? Don't tell me you like his brother too?" says Ellie looking worried momentarily at my sudden change of countenance.
"Oh no nothing like that!" I say waving my hands. "It's just I miss him" I finish lamely.
"Well why don't you just go and see him? If you're trying to play hard to get, making yourself miserable is not a part of the process".
"No it's just, it'd be very difficult to see him again."
"Why's that?"
"Well ummm, I met him on a trip through another friend so he lives quite far away from here."
"Just how many friends do you have that I don't know about?" Ellie asks, and she spends the rest of the afternoon grilling me, and I spend it trying to make up convincing lies that won't make her think I belong in a loony bin because I think I've been hanging out with cartoon characters. I get a brief break from the third degree when she gets up to order a new coffee, but she only stops when we finally get up to leave. After we've gotten into the car and are driving back to my place she says "Well I'll just have to meet this mystery guy, I just have to make sure he's safe for my only baby sister!". That's easier said than done, I think to myself as we pull into my apartment parking lot.
Ellie ends up coming back up to my place and we watch a couple movies waiting for the rain to abate but it just keeps coming down harder and harder. I get up to change into some pjs and happen to look out the window over the kitchen sink as I get a glass of water, even though it's still raining I can just make out the moon paley shining through a thick layer of clouds. The clock on the stove says it's fifteen minutes to twelve, and Ellie's already dozed off on the couch so after grabbing a comforter from my room, I drape it over the two of us and start to go to sleep.
Unbeknownst to the two girls, as soon as the clock flips over to midnight a familiar glow envelops the two and they vanish!
Da da da! So this is the last chapter of A Spell Gone Wrong! But don't worry because a sequel is in the works, and Ellie will have a major roll to play in it! What do you guys think of the new character? Anyone you hope to see in the sequel? R&R pretty please with pasta on top!