Road Trip Part 1
"Okay, okay." Cricket said as he threw yet another empty Splish can into the air. "I'm definitely feeling this one."
"I believe in you brother." Tilly reaffirmed as she watched the aluminum cans come crashing back down. Time seemed to slow as Cricket squared his shoulders and punched his fists into the air like wild, randomly trying to connect his fists with as many cans as possible.
Time resumed its natural flow when Cricket looked over his shoulder with wildly hopeful eyes at his sister.
"I counted fifteen that time." Tilly answered before going back to brushing Melissa.
"Gosh darn it." Cricket groaned, snapping his fingers. "I'm never gonna beat my own record."
Tilly shrugged, mumbling. "I still believe in you.."
"Well it's probably about time we headed in anyway." Cricket said as he peaked up at the evening sky.
With Gramma and Dad gone at FarmCon, no one remembered to get groceries earlier and since the pizza money had long since run dry, tonight's dinner was a healthy serving of 19 cent ramen with a side of BBQ flavored potato chips.
So not too bad actually.
"Tilly, could you pass me another Splish?" Cricket asked as he twirled ramen around his fork like spaghetti. Just as Tilly was about to hop off her chair though, Gloria put a hand on her shoulder. "Cricket, you've had four already. I think that's enough."
"What?! C'mon!" The ten year old cried, throwing his hands to the air. "This is our last night on our own-"
"And the last thing any of us need is a hyperactive Cricket jumping from wall to wall." Gloria nagged.
"I second that." Chip chimed in, having yet to look up from his phone. "I've still got fresh bite marks from Tuesday."
Cricket huffed crossing his arms. Of course the one thing those two agreed on was picking on him.
The table fell into relative silence again, and it wasn't until Chip bothered to look up his phone that it ended again.
"Soooooo, how was everyone's day?"
Gloria's gaze flattened pretty fast as Tilly perked up and folded her arms across the table. "Well today me and Andromeda discussed the possibility of Officer Keys being both an alien, and a lizard person."
"I almost beat my can punch record, almost."
Chip nodded over his folded hands. "Very cool, just keep at it and you'll get there."
Gloria rolled her eyes. "Ok you can stop pretending to fill in for Bill now?"
Chip scoffed, looking offended. "Fill in for Bill? Please, if I did that, who would fill in for lovable me?"
"You're lovable?"
Cricket gritted his teeth, looking away as another petty argument unfolded between the two. Wasn't exactly uncommon with Gramma and Dad gone.
Thankfully within the next minute or so the sound of the front door opening interrupted them.
'I'd never thought I'd be saying this ,but please be Dad, please be-'
"Hey." Mom called as she walked in. Okay not, Dad ,but still a welcome surprise!
"Mom!" Cricket and Tilly cheered as they hopped out of their seats and darted into the redhead's arms. Mom laughed half heartedly, and Cricket had to arch his brow at the noticeably frustrated look in her eye.
"Is everything okay?" Cricket asked as he slid down her leg.
Mom sighed. "Actually sweetie, I've got some bad news. Gramma called me and apparently she got t-boned on her way to pick up your dad from the hotel this morning."
"Are they okay?!" Chip suddenly asked, jumping up from the table. He sat back down with an awkward cough when he realized everyone was staring. "Heh, I mean, they're not injured or, whatever right?...You know, not that I like care..I just.." Chip coughed again, finally shutting himself up.
Cricket fought the urge to roll his eyes. 'Nice save Chip.'
"They're both fine." Mom clarified. "It's just, the car isn't-good thing it was only a rental-so now I've got to drive all the way to Medium City and pick them up or else they're stranded."
"Oh," Cricket said with a tight frown. Poor mom, why did FarmCon have to pick Medium City of all places to host this year?!
"So do y'all know where Bill keeps the truck keys?" Mom asked, nonchalantly going through the drawers and cupboards.
"Wait, Medium City? That's an eleven hour drive, you can't go by yourself." Gloria argued, standing up from the table.
"Hm? Oh I'll be fine, I'll just have to make alot of stops and..probably pack a couple of energy drinks .." Mom trailed off, sighing in tired uncertainty. "I'll be fine, really."
Gloria frowned. "Why don't I just go with you? Then we can split up the driving. I'm sure the cafe can survive a few days closed anyway."
"What?! Heck no!" Chip shouted, standing up in indignation. "You can't leave me alone with them, more specifically Cricket!" The blonde dramatically gestured to Cricket. "No offense kid."
"Very much taken." Cricket replied with an arm cross.
Gloria sighed. "Now that I agree with."
Cricket pursed his lips as he watched the two break out into another squabble, Mom paid little attention, still looking for Dad's keys.
Urgh, things had certainly changed the whole pool incident, changed for the worst. Cricket hadn't seen this much fighting since back in the country when they had an ant infestation and Dad had to start setting out was livid, to say the least and they fought for days.
And they didn't make up til everyone eventually had to leave the house for two days so the exterminators could finally take care of it. They rode off to the nearest hotel which was about a six hour drive and…wait a second.
A light bulb went off above Cricket's head.
"Hey, I got an idea!"
Chip and Gloria abruptly ceased their argument as they looked down at Cricket. Mom looked up from her key search as well.
"What?" Everyone asked together.
"Let's all go!"
Everyone shared a look, then repeated. "What?"
"Let's go get Dad and Gramma together." Cricket pitched, looking to Tilly for support. "Just the five of us on an epic road trip, It'll be fun!"
Tilly frowned,scratching her arm. Uh oh, if he didn't get Tilly on board, this idea was sure to sink faster than the Titanic
"Um, are you sure that's a good idea brother?"
"Yeah! It'll be like that time we drove to Breakfast land."
"Cricket you hated that, it was a three day drive full of nothing ,but arguing, the occasional throw up, rushed bathroom breaks, plus more arguing."
"Yeah, and if we made it through that this should be a piece of cake!" Cricket argued. "Plus, who knows what new animals you'd get to see in Medium City and along the way." Cricket tried, elbowing his sister. He hoped the butter in his voice wasn't too obvious.
Tilly hummed. "New animals you say?"
Cricket grinned. "We can all fit in the Kludge no problem, so I say let's do it. Who's with me?"
The boy turned to his mother, Gloria, and Chip with open arms.
Mom hummed, scratching her chin. "It might be nice to have some company.."
Gloria frowned. "Hold up, you can't seriously be considering this. Two days stuck in a car with Cricket, and Chip is going to drive me insane."
"Aside from the fact you're not exactly a peach to deal with either," Chip snarked at Gloria. "Last time I left Big City with you Greens, we almost got stranded in the woods, and I don't really want a repeat of that."
Cricket gritted his teeth, uh oh he was losing them!
He cleared his throat and tried again. "Look either way someone's gotta go with Mom, and Dad's probably missing me and Tilly like crazy right now. Don't you think he'd love it if we surprised him like this?"
At Chip's notably raised brow, Cricket continued, casting his metaphorical bait into the water. "Imagine how overjoyed he'd be, maybe even proud that we made it that far together."
Cricket forced back a smirk as he watched Chip consider it, knowing he had the blonde hook, line, and sinker.
"Well, it's only two days..how hard could it be?" Chip asked with a smug shrug.
"You've never been on a road trip have you?" Mom said in amusement.
Gloria's eye twitched as she stepped back.
"Oh blort no, no way am I getting stuck in a truck for eleven hours with either of you." She wildly pointed between Cricket and Chip.
"Absolutely not. No way. Not happeni-"
"I hate, all of you." Gloria sighed as she rested her head against the rolled up jacket she was currently using as a pillow. Tilly hogged most of the blanket they were sharing as she slept on the other side of the backseat. "And just for the record if I do go insane and start trying to murder everyone y'all have only yourselves to blame."
"Well you certainly wouldn't be the first." Nancy joked, elbowing Chip as she drove. The former ceo rolled his eyes whilst Cricket struggled to hold in his laughter beside him.
Oh so they were allowed to joke about it!
The sun was on the precipice of setting in the distance as they finally reached the city limit. Chip couldn't help ,but look over his shoulder at the back window, he was almost tempted to wave goodbye as the office buildings and skyscrapers got smaller and smaller behind them.
Bye for now, Big City.