Spring Fever
Chapter 2: World’s shortest road trip
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Notes: From Charlie’s point of view.
Cecilia
leaned over the seat and patted Fred on the shoulder. She’d been very
energetic, especially now when she knew that she was driving Fred crazy.
“What?” Fred
growled. It was the second time in less then two minutes that she’d been
bothering him.
“Can you
give me one of your tic-tacs? I feel all dried out.” Fred looked at her like
she was an alien from outer space.
“I don’t
have any more.”
“What’s that
in your mouth?” Cecilia asked suspiciously. It was hard to tell if she was
being serious or not.
“My own
tic-tac. I have been sucking on it for a while now, and I won’t just give it up
like that. Suck on your own lozenge. Better yet, suck on...”
Charlie
cleared his throat loudly. “I think that’s enough for now. Fred, behave now.
Cecilia, sit down and stop bugging Fred, okay?”
“‘key,”
Cecilia smiled. “Fred? Can’t I just have it for a while?”
Fred
sighed. “You really want my tic-tac?”
“Do you think
I’m afraid of getting cooties? I’m having a bad throat, and I don’t think I’ll
ever get rid of it, unless somebody gives me a tic-tac. Maybe I’ll die with a
rare disease, caused by a... a dried out throat. Maybe bouncing up and down can
heal it; I’ve heard some diseases in Africa get cured like that. I better start
try at once, so I don’t die here on the spot...”
“Just take
it, then,” Fred said, taking the little round lozenge out from his mouth, and
gave it to Cecilia. She didn’t seem to bother at all, and threw it into her
mouth.
“Gross,”
Adam wrinkled his nose, looking disgusted. “Can’t you two behave like normal
people?”
“Tic-tac?”
Cecilia asked with a smile.
“No,
thanks. I’m fine.” Adam gave her another repulsed gaze and turned to talk to Guy
instead. Cecilia shrugged, leaned back into her seat and looked out the window,
chewing on the tic-tac.
Charlie
turned his attention to the road. They had been driving for three hours, and
they began to get on each other’s nerves.
He had been
able to talk Mike into lending them the little mini-van that the team used
sometimes. Mike had told Charlie to not let anyone without a drivers-license
drive, but of course, Adam had refused to drive, so Fred got the privilege to
do it instead. Mostly because he had the money to pay for a ticket, if they got
pulled over.
Cecilia had
crawled up on the middle seat, next to Adam and Travis, and was now trying her
best not to bug Fred.
Guy, Connie
and Luis was sharing the backseat, trying not to get on each others nerves that
much. Luis was moping around, because he couldn’t spend spring break with his
girlfriend, so he wasn’t much of a company.
Ever since
they left, Cecilia and Fred had been bitching with each other. Charlie didn’t
understand why, as far as he knew, they’d been spending last night together. It
wasn’t until this afternoon that they had begun to behave like this. Actually,
it had started on that last lesson, for some reason.
“Can’t we
stop for a while?” Cecilia asked. “I’m tired, and I need something to eat.”
“Fred’s
saliva wasn’t enough for you? Are we stopping so you could steal some dog bone
along the way?” Guy sneered. It was an obvious sign for a long car-ride. Guy’s
mood was at an all-time low point.
“No, we’re
stopping to get some fresh air,” Fred replied, taking Cecilia’s side, strange
enough. “I’ll throw up, if I get stuck in this car for another hour.”
“We still
haven’t decided where to go,” Charlie pointed out. “Are we going to Mexico, or
are we going...”
“No,” Fred
interrupted. “We’re not going to Florida.”
“Why? It’s
a tradition for spring break. Everybody goes to Florida. Right, Luis?”
Luis
mumbled something about being in hell, but nobody noticed him. “All I’m
saying,” Charlie continued, “Is that we should reconsider your Dad’s offer.
Beach house by the... beach, obviously, and it have all the luxury we could
imagine.”
“I rather
kill myself, by not chewing tic-tacs and suffer from that dried out throat-thing.”
Cecilia
squeaked happily when she heard Fred use her expression for his explanation.
Fred smiled briefly at her. Charlie sighed.
“Could you
just consider it anyway? For us? As a favour to us, we could use a break from
our usually dull life. I’ve never stayed in a house having all the luxury in
the world. Anyone here who has?”
Everyone
shook their heads, looking at Fred with begging eyes. “Please, Fred,” Connie
pleaded. “I’d love to live in a big beach house.”
“I’ll think
about it,” Fred muttered. “Don’t count on it, though. I hate asking my Dad for
favours.”
Cecilia
tapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t be so dull, Fred. Smile and be happy, it’s
spring break. Need a tic-tac?”
Charlie saw
that Fred had trouble keeping a straight face when he replied to her. “No,
thanks, darling. I’m fine. You can keep those germs to yourself.”
“Sure?”
Cecilia handed him the now even smaller tic-tac. Fred turned her down with a
frowned glare.
“A rest stop,
for crying out loud,” Adam shouted. “If you don’t pull over, I have to strangle
you, Charlie.”
Charlie
sighed again. “Fine.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
This was
the hardest part of being in charge over half a dozen hockey-players. To keep
them all from biting each other’s heads off, and also to get everybody to agree
on the sleeping arrangements.
Charlie was
glad that Travis had decided to tag along too. Now when Cecilia was behaving
like she was a lunatic, Fred was a nerve-wreck, Connie and Guy couldn’t stop
being mushy, Luis was moping like the end of the world just occured, and Adam
was annoyed with Cecilia, there wasn’t much that were actually going according
to the plans.
At least
with Travis help, Charlie could keep some things together. Keeping an eye on
Cecilia was taking up way too much time. That was usually Fred’s job, but he
seemed to have his mind occupied with other stuff.
“I’m not
sharing room with Adam,” Connie said. “I want to share with Guy.”
“Could you
say anything more obvious right now?” Charlie complained. “Back on track,
everybody.”
“I want to
share room with Adam,” Cecilia spoke up.
Charlie
shook his head. “I won’t have you killed at our very first day of the trip.
Let’s save that for later, shall we? Now, Cecilia, you can share with Fred if
you want...”
Cecilia and
Connie started to talk at the same time, Connie was telling Charlie how unfair
it was to place Cecilia and Fred together, when he didn’t place Guy and Connie
together. What Cecilia was talking about was hard to tell.
“Shut up,
both of you,” Charlie said with as much patience as he could bring.
“Fred is
too boring, he’s complaining and he’ll get me depressed,” Cecilia explained. “I
want my first day of spring break to be a happy memory, not a dull one.”
“I don’t
give a damn right now. Trav, help me out?”
Travis
grabbed the keys from the counter. They were standing in the lobby of the
motel, trying to work their disagreements out. Fred was talking on his phone
over by the window, and Adam was buying something to drink at the store next
door.
“Fred,
could you pay attention for a while?” Travis asked. “Where’s Adam?”
Charlie
never understood how Travis could keep his patience during times like this. He
could work out any situation that was about to get out of hand. The others
listened to him when he spoke up, because he usually didn’t speak, unless it
was important enough.
“We have
four rooms, so this is how it’s gonna be. Luis, share with Adam. Guy, share
with me. Connie, share with Fred. Charlie, you can have to honour to share with
Cecilia. We leave at nine tomorrow. That’s all. See you tomorrow.”
Travis
threw around the keys, as he was talking. There was some complaining, but
nothing major. Charlie was still puzzled. How could Travis be so good at making
the others behave? When Charlie was talking they could all just as well run
around like chickens with their heads cut off.
“Fine,”
Fred mumbled, probably relieved that he didn’t get paired with Cecilia or
anyone else as energetic as her.
“I’m content
with that, as long as Cecilia doesn’t sleep with Fred,” Connie said.
“I was
about to say the same,” Fred muttered, obviously still annoyed with Cecilia.
“Let’s just
go to sleep now, okay? Nine at the parking-lot.” Charlie waved them away. “If
you stop being hyper, I’ll let you have the bed.”
Cecilia
bounced around him. “I hope you mean that, Captain.”
Charlie
sighed. This was going to be hell.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Cecilia was
lying on the bed with an opened bag of chips next to her. Charlie was sitting
on the floor, trying to ignore her.
“I never
got why they made chips all riffled,” Cecilia said, sounding sleepy. Why
couldn’t she just pass out already?
“Maybe
because it would make people like you choke on them easier? Be quiet now, Cee.”
“Why are
you watching that stupid program? Can’t we watch a movie instead?”
“I really
enjoy being your Adam-substitute and all, but I will not, under any
circumstances, have a movie-night with you.”
“I’m tired,
can’t you turn it off?” Finally, maybe if he turned the TV off and kept quiet,
she would eventually doze off.
Cecilia
closed her eyes and started to breath heavily. Charlie threw an eye at her
direction. Was she sleeping?
“You think
it’s called a cottage, because people used to storage cotton in it?”
Oh no, a
stupid question. Could that mean that she wasn’t going to sleep at all?
“Shouldn’t
you put on your jammies and take a sleeping pill or something? Brush your teeth
and crawl into bed?”
Cecilia sat
up and grinned at him. “I would like to make a call first. I think Fred is
still awake.”
Charlie
moaned. “Don’t bother him, he’s in a bad mood, you know.”
“Look!”
Cecilia shouted. “I think there’s a spider in the corner.”
“Oh joy,
let’s have a party. A spider in the corner.”
Cecilia rolled
off the bed and went towards the bathroom. “I want to point out, that I’m going
to brush my teeth now. Hopefully, I’ll still be sleepy when I come out again.”
Hopefully?
Ha!
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