Heyy, well I'm writing again today and I actually like this story so far... hmm... that's kinda unusual. I'm sure I'll feel faulty about it soon enough xD
Disclaimer: I do not own Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. Got any change for two llamas and an otter?
Instead of packing like I should have been, I'd gotten caught off guard by my bed. I came home and felt totally wiped out, plopped down on my bed and fell asleep.
I should have been grateful for the fact that I didn't have another dream about Ned or his stupid sandwich.
I turned to see my clock reading 4:30. We were leaving at about 5, and I'd barley started to pack. I jolted out of bed and ran to my closet in desperate search for appropriate road trip outfits.
5:10 suddenly approached, I'd knew I'd be in for it, but then again I was only ten minutes late and I'd finished all of my packing plus a triple check of my list. I'd say that was pretty good timing.
My phone rang, causing me to trip over my bag as I tried to answer it.
"Hello?" I muffled.
"Moze? Where are you? Ned and I are waiting at his house next door! We're already ten minutes behind!"
"Oh, give it a rest Cookie, I'm coming now. Thanks to you I fell over my bag and twisted my ankle."
"Sorry... anyway just be here."
"Got it. Coming now."
I hung up the phone and assesed my ankle for damage. I decided I'd had worse falls from volleyball so I walked it off. I walked down the stairs and just as I was about to leave, Ned was at my doorway.
"Oh... hi."
"Hey, I heard you hurt your ankle, here let me help you with your stuff."
"No, I'm fine, thanks."
"We have a spare crutch at my house, you want it?"
"No. I'm fine, Ned."
"Oh... okay."
Ned turned from the doorway and walked away, looking at his feet. I had to admit, that was a sweet gesture. Suddenly a thought came to me. What was Ned crying about yesterday...?
I shook it off as I placed my suitcase and bag in the trunk.
"Everyone ready?"
"Yeah, I'm good."
"Same" Ned replied.
"Okay, so I'll take first shift. Cookie, do you want to do directions?"
"No, I'm really tired. I need to sleep for a while, Ned can do it for you."
Inside I really just wanted Cookie to be in the front with me, but I had to put on the show...
"Okay, that's fine."
Everyone got in the car, and as promise Cookie fell asleep about ten minutes into the drive. It was just Ned and I. We talked for a while, mainly about school.
"How were your finals?"
"They were alright. I kicked ass on the math one though. Oh and woodshop too."
"You always were great in math." Ned laughed.
I smiled a little.
"Take a left on the next exit."
"Okay." It was pretty nice; I mean we had a totally civil ride to the hotel. The problem started when we actually arrived.
"Woah."
I stepped into the large hotel lobby filled with all of these corporate idiots running around. Aside from the corps, I was pretty impressed. The twenty foot ceiling space made the place feel kind of free and airy.
The lobby was actually really large and spacey, but also kind of cold. None the less, it seemed very elegant and out of my leauge.
"Cookie, are you sure this is okay by your parents?"
"Yep, they booked all of our hotel stays."
"Woah. Thats... thats... thanks Cookie." I leaned in to give cookie a hug.
Ned walked next to me and whispered "Seems like the corps are taking over the world, starting with this hotel..."
I started laughing a little too loud. No one seemed to notice except for the few non-corporate people. The few normal people seemed to include a vacationing family who looked really happy. There was a surfing crew... I guess. Really it was just ten guys in surfer clothes, who by the way looked not too shabby from my point of view.
There was an old couple who were bickering over which drink to buy from the vending machine. They seemed to be such opposites too. The man had an old vintage hat on and was really short. The woman was a tad more stylish, and was awfully tall. Suddenly the couple compromised and became all lovey dovey.
There was a little boy and what seemed to be his father. It was heart breaking because the father was yelling really loudly at the little boy for what seemed to be no reason at all besides him being in a pissed off mood. Suddenly he hit his son and the little boy let out a screech.
I cringed and Ned put his arm around me. I shoved it off and walked to the front desk. Ned knew that I'd witnessed that way too often with my cousin and uncle. He'd always hit Drake, my cousin, for no reason at all. Mom said that we couldn't interfere.
Luckily Drake got up enough courage to call child services when he was thirteen and they took his father away. Now he is 19, sometimes lives with us, and he is one of my best friends.
"Hi, I'd like to check in. The Nelson-Cook reservations for three."
"Right, okay, you have two rooms set up that connect. The fifteenth floor, room 1583 and 1584."
"As if you have fifteen thousand rooms..." Ned interrupted.
"Don't mind him, he's just being his dopey self. Thanks."
The receptionist handed me the two swipe card keys and we headed up stairs.
Before we left, I took one last look at the little brown headed boy, tears streaming down his face. His father was grabbing onto his arm rather tightly.
The father looked at me in the eyes and suddenly released the boy, realizing that he was in public.
"Okay, so I'll take a room and you can share a room... how does that sound?"
"You can't be serious Cookie... I mean, I'd like my privacy... I am the girl here."
"Okay, that makes sense I guess."
I took my own swipe card and entered the room. I was blown away... it was HUGE. The room was decorated in such an amazingly modern way. There was a large HD television in the far corner of the room and on the right there was a private bathroom. There was two beds for some reason, but I didn't mind.
There was a large window facing the mountain range in the background. I watched the little people and cars go by for a minute or two and then started to settle in.
There was a sudden knock on my door.
"Come in."
"I can't... you have the pass key."
"Why don't you just come in through the connected doorway?"
"Oh... right."
I started to turn on the television when another knock errupted at the door.
"I can't find my pass key."
"Well get Cookie to answer the door..."
"I can't."
I sighed heavily.
"Why?"
"He's in the shower..."
"Fine."
I got up and opened the door. Ned was shirtless and had a bit of ruffled hair. Suddenly I had to restrain myself from running my fingers along his chest. He wasn't the six pack kind of person, but he was fit. He had more of a two pack thing going on.
I shook my head and laughed.
"Ned, why are you shirtless?"
"I uh... don't know. I was just hot." You certainly are... I thought.
"Well here, you can get in through this way."
"No, I came to talk."
"Oh."
"Can we please just talk this out. Please? I've been feeling so bad and I'm trying to apologize here."
"I guess." I mean, if I was going to give him a chance in the first place, the least I could do is hear him out. Actually the least I could do is nothing, but whatever.
"Moze... Suzie and I broke up."
"O-oh. Sorry about that."
"Uh... yeah. Whatever, she's old news."
I could tell there was way more to the story than what he was saying.
"Ned? What's going on with us? You haven't spoken like this to me in years. What's really going on here?"
"Moze, Suzie and I, we just... we weren't good together anymore. She always yelled at me... we couldn't talk to each other anymore and I guess I'm still hurting. I can't believe I'm even opening up to you like this after how awful I was to you."
"Yeah, you were. I lost my best friend."
"I miss you so much. You were my best friend too."
"Why did you stop talking to me?"
"I don't... I don't know. I mean, I just kind of felt like everytime I talked to you, I was betraying Suzie somehow."
"That's why? You stopped talking to me because you felt you were betraying your girlfriend for your best friend? How about how you betrayed me? Did you feel like that at least once?"
"Honestly? No, not really. I felt like Suzie was what I needed... and no one else."
I couldn't help but choke back tears... but I kind of knew the feeling... of course it was about Ned, but still I knew how he felt.
"Ned, I think you should go."
"Why? We've been acting so... nice to each other... I just wanted to know if we could save this friendship..."
"Not tonight... I'm tired. Just leave."
"But Moze..."
"LEAVE, NED!"
Ned's head dropped and he silently obliged. He left through the door connector and sighed.
As soon as he left I let the tears fall hard. I climbed onto the bed and pulled the blankets up to my chest tightly.
I grabbed my cell and dialed Drake's number after about ten minutes of sobbing. I needed to just gather myself together and move on as best I could. Talking to Drake would be just the trick.
"Hello?"
"Drake? It's Moze."
"Hey sis! How's the road trip going?" Drake had become accostomed to calling me his sis, even though I am just his cousin. I guess we've lived together for so long that we'd just grown a sibling bond kind of thing.
"It's great. I'm having so much fun with Ned and Cookie. How's college life treating you?"
"Not too bad. I finally have a girlfriend. We met about a year ago and just now got together. PLUS... I just got an intern at D&T Fashion boutique. I know, it sounds frilly-"
"Oh, yeah, it does."
"Shut up. Anyway, they are going to let me be junior designer. They saw my work and hired me on the spot. I even get paid sis! It's amazing."
"That's great! Really!"
"Sis, is something wrong?"
"No, why do you ask?"
"Because, you have that "something is totally wrong" tone in your voice."
"Well... it's Ned again. He's trying to save the friendship... but you know I just... I really like him Drake. It's not that crush anymore. I hate that I like him and I hate that he doesn't know or seem to care."
"If he's trying to save the friendship, don't you think he cares a little?"
"No... not like that."
"Did he tell you why he didn't talk to you for so long?"
"Yeah. It was because he felt like he was betraying Suzie. That's so stupid, isn't it?"
"Heh, yeah. Sure. Hey, I've got to go now, I have class in like forty minutes and Stella is on her way here."
"Stella?"
"My girlfriend."
"Right. Well later then. Sis out."
"Drake out."
Drake hung up and I flipped my phone shut. I could tell that Drake knew something I didn't, but I was too tired to care at this point. I just hoped tomorrow would be better and we could just move on for a while.
