AN: Ooooh, wow. 4 years, it's been. And believe it or not, this chapter has been sitting on my hard drive for 4 years as well..
Well, I figured, since I had it, why not post it, am I right? Who knows, maybe I'll write up an end for it.. (Best not to hold your breath on that one.) Do I still have active people for this to alert? Hahaha..
Let's continue this then, shall we?
So as it turned out, Genovia really was a real place, and at the moment, Ari (who was being known as Anna) was stranded there because she did not want to hitch from the Grand Canyon to Phoenix. Some would say she was being immature about this; be independent, get back home. She said no.
Despite her calm about the fact that was just teleported miles away from her house, she was a tad excited to have had the perfect excuse. Her parents had left for a week on a business trip, one of the few times her mother had to accompany her father (for support and whatnot). The thing was they thought she was at a friend's house like both of her brothers.
What they didn't know was her friend's family had to leave the state for an emergency and Ari had opted to stay home. She could take care of herself, and her parents would never know. (She just had to say she arrived home earlier than them the same day.) Then again, she hadn't really counted on a strange guy to destroy her room via teleportation …then accidently fall through the portal (Griffin snapped at her for calling it that. It was a Jump scar, he had snarled.) and end up in his place, the Jump scar already dissolved.
At the moment she was sitting on his worn couch, legs drawn up, wondering whether or not she was dreaming. That was when she spied the PS3 sitting, glistening under his old TV, the wireless controller discarded to the side. With a small, smug little grin, she slid forward and retrieved the controller and proceeded to snap on the TV.
When Griffin, who had gone out for Chinese food (which she assumed was actual Chinese food) arrived back, only gone for ten minutes because of a particularly long line, he found her pounding away at the controller, shooting and exploding various people and things.
"Who said you could play that?" He exclaimed annoyed, still baffled on how she got here when she continually claimed to not be a Jumper. She spared him an irritated glance then blew up a tank.
"Who said I couldn't, O magical one?" she countered, saving the game and shutting the console off. "Honestly, you left me here alone; what did you expect?" she said not un-kindly.
"You really need to go," Griffin said, probably for the thousandth time since she arrived an hour ago.
"We're in Genovia, right? And the closest to my home you can get is a quarter of a day away? I'm not only broke from lack a preparation," she gestured at her pj's, "I don't have a passport to take a plane. I do not want to travel across the state like this, thank you very much."
Griffin glared at her, wishing she would just shut up and leave. The problem was she wouldn't leave him alone! He tried to Jump her to the Grand Canyon despite her protests and found she just stepped back into the Jump scar before it faded and followed him back. He did this several times, in fact, all with the same results.
Frustration had increased his hunger; he was already hungry from the battle that had originally led him in desperation to Anna's room. He wasn't even sure how that happened, let alone the fact of Anna's arrival. To clear his head for a few minutes and maybe to shut her up with some food, he had Jumped to China.
"Hey," Her voice held a somewhat serious tone as she gazed at him levelly then continued, "Could I, perhaps, um, borrow some clothes? Not really dressed for the occasion you see," she glanced at her pajamas again then gazed longingly at the door, which was locked when she had tried to open it earlier while he was gone, that she thought held his clothes.
"What does this look like, a hotel? You can't have my clothes. I just got you food, isn't that enough?" His aggravated look increased when she shivered a little, rubbing her arms. This place was pretty cool, and she didn't get cold easily. And she may have exaggerated a tad…
With an irritated sigh, he Jumped to his room: a busted bed, more papers, boxes, a faded yellow lamp, and a small dresser containing his changes of attire. It was only a little bit bigger then a walk in closet. He snatched up the smallest pair of jeans he had, faded, ripped at the bottom from a near-fatal experience with a Paladin, than grabbed a black t-shirt and a belt he never wore.
She had thrown the shirt on immediately over her shirt then waited for him to leave to put on the pants. Both were too big, but they were clothes and comfortable so she didn't care, using the belt on the pants and a hair tie kept on her wrist to tie the shirt back.
They had eaten, not really talking, Griffin expertly with his chopsticks, Ari a little more slowly. She didn't eat Chinese food that often and as a result she didn't have as much experience; she still owned her brothers at it though.
"You said you wouldn't leave because you didn't want to travel, right?" Griffin said when he finished as a piece of chicken slipped from Ari's chopsticks, to her irritation, and she picked it up again as she nodded. "Then I'll just take you back myself." He told her forcefully. That way she'd be gone so he could plan his counterattack…
"I'll follow you back if you dump me at the Grand Canyon. Haven't you learned that yet?" Ari looked at him carefully, he'd been nice so far...okay, he'd been acceptable so far, but you never know… She felt a bit terrible with a side of guilt, forcing herself into staying with him, but she had a bad feeling about going home. Something just not right.
"So I'll get you a ride back to Phoenix." Griffin shrugged. Anything to get her off of his back; the less time she spent with him the better.