"So, where to?" Jack looked to the others, but it was apparent nobody had thought that far ahead. Merritt put his hand to his forehead while Daniel chewed on his lip, deep in thought. Henley fumbled through her pockets before pulling out her wallet.
"Dylan set us up with new identities, right? Let's use them." She pulled out a card and stared at the name on it. "I don't know what he was thinking with the new names, though. I mean, Lillian Hart? It's adorable, sure, but…"
"Hey!" Merritt exclaimed. "Don't you diss Lillian. That was my great grandmother's name."
"Exactly my point," Henley sighed. "What're all of your new names? We can't exactly go running around calling each other by the names that are plastered across every news station in the world."
Merritt pulled a thin piece of plastic from his pocket. His smile quickly dissolved into a frown as he studied card. 'Theodore Little?" He looked up. "You know, I'm not sure I appreciate Dylan's sense of humor anymore."
Henley managed to suppress her laughter, but Daniel and Jack made no attempt to do so. Merritt punched Jack in the arm. "Come on then kid, what's your name?"
Jack grinned proudly. "Jasper Knight. I guess Dylan likes me, eh?" He continued to beam through Henley and Merritt's outraged cries.
When the two of them had calmed down, Daniel spoke up. "Alright guys, let's get moving. I was thinking we should probably just check in to a motel, we can-"
"Hold up, you haven't told us your name," Jack interrupted. "Why, is it really that bad?"
"No, no, it's fine, but we should really be heading out," Daniel said in an effort to steer the conversation in another direction. He began to walk away from the group.
Henley jumped in front of him. "Not so fast, Danny. Out with it."
Daniel muttered something indecipherable. Merritt slapped him on the back of his head.
Clearing his throat, Daniel murmured, "Chester Chapman."
Merritt blinked. "I'm sorry," he began, "but did you just say Chester Chapman?"
Daniel pushed past him. "You heard what I said."
Merritt, Henley, and Jack turned to look at each other. Henley bit her lip, Jack pushed his hands against his lips, and Merritt took deep breaths.
"You know," Merritt started, "you know…"
Jack gave up and let out a loud guffaw before collapsing back onto the bench behind him. One arm crossed his stomach while the other continued to cover his mouth. His cheeks reddened by the moment. Henley and Merritt shortly followed suit, their laughter filling the silence of the park. Daniel stood facing away from them, his arms crossed and his posture hunched. But he smiled nonetheless.
After a minute, Henley wiped the tears from her eyes and Merritt resumed trying to control his breathing. Daniel turned around. Jack was still shaking with silent laughter, but Daniel chose to ignore it.
"Are we done?"
Merritt put his hand to his forehead and closed his eyes in mock concentration. "Nope," he said.
Henley punched him in the arm. "No, no, we're good," she said, mentally tacking a Chester onto the end. She looked over at Jack. "Jack, we're good, right?"
Jack stood up and took a few deep breaths. "Yeah, yeah, sorry man."
Daniel sighed. "Let's just go, alright? I remember a motel somewhere around here; they don't ask too many questions." With that, he strode off down the path, leaving the others to follow.
a/n: Wow, thank you all for the positive responses to chapter one! As promised, here is the second installment of their adventure. I should add that while some chapters will be all about plot and some will be all about romance, some will be full of stupid jokes like Chester Chapman. And I'm not even sorry.
- Julia