Chapter 7~

Can't you just be happy with me writing this? Fine. Nick and Sage make food and eat it! :D Not that you even read this, but it's cool. I don't read them either.

~Present day~
I managed to wake up before Nick the next day, which usually happens when we have to sleep in the car. The sun was directly above the car, so it must have been noon. I turned on my phone and checked. It was half passed noon! That was a good feeling. I got out of the car and leaned down to pick a dandy-lion. It was his turn to receive a rude awakening. I opened the door by his head and leaned in, poking him with the stem and squeezing the dandy lion milk all over his face. I put the flower under his nose, moving it around until all of the seeds had fallen into his nose, stuck to the milk, and fallen all over the seat. He took a deep breathe and his eyes flew open, as he began sneezing. I stood up laughing. He cursed at me and viciously wiped at his face. “Why did you find that necessary?”
 “Why do you find it necessary to wake me up before anyone else in America?”
 “Gee, I don’t know, maybe so that you won’t do anything like that to me?” He wiped his face again and looked at me angrily. I smiled as he stumped out of the car, picking the dandy lion seeds out of his nose and eyes. “For this, I’m making you ask for directions.” My heart sunk. I should have known that would be my punishment.
 “Okay…get in the car. I’m driving!” I began running for the driver’s side door, but Nick tossed himself back into the car and into the front seat.
 “No you’re not. Get it, loser…we’re going shopping.” I looked at him questioningly. “After we get directions, I’m starving.”
 “Mean Girls though?” He smiled as he began driving back towards the highway. He pulled into a short driveway and pushed me out of the car. “Dunce,” I mumbled, walking through the grass and up to the front door. I knocked on it. Soon the door opened to reveal a small child, looking up at me. I knelt down. “Hello! Is your mom or dad home?” He shook his head, just as a girl around my age appeared behind him.
 “May I help you?” She asked, pushing him behind her as I stood back up.
 “Um, yeah, my brother and I were in Chicago and trying to get to New Orleans, but we got lost, so could you possibly give me directions to the nearest town or city?”
 She nodded. “Sure, get back on 55 South and drive. It’ll switch numbers, but don’t worry; you’ll be in St. Louis in no time. ” She gave me more specific directions and I thanked her. I told Nick what she had told me as he drove back to the highway. Soon, we arrived in St. Louis, Missouri and pulled into a 7 Eleven. Nick went to look for a car charger for his phone and I got a large soft drink. I began looking at a local newspaper as I waited for Nick.  Nothing interesting was happening except for the comics on the back page and my horoscope matching pretty perfectly with my life. Soon Nick returned to me, paid for the car charger as I put the newspaper back down, and we walked out of the convenience store. A few seconds later, we were back in the Opel and driving down the road. He turned on his GPS on his phone, put in our destination and we began driving down the road towards New Orleans.
 The drive was going smoothly. I was intently watching the arrow on the GPS to see us pass off ramps at the same time. There are only so many things to do when you’ve been in a car for longer than an hour or two. The screamo songs and GPS lady became background sounds, and car games were becoming boring. I was starting to bruise from slug bugs, the words “yellow” and “car” next to each other was actually making me sick to my stomach, and license plates could only make so many words. Just when my eyes started to shut, I glanced at the GPS screen once more. The screen went black, and then began flickering. “Nick?”
 “What?” He glanced at me and then the GPS as I held it up. Suddenly a voice came through the flickering phone. At first, it was the voice of the lady, and slowly it became familiar. “Nicolai Lloyd! I have been trying to get you all morning’! Why has your phone been off?!”
 Nick looked at the phone as though ready to throw it out the window. I smiled as I recognized the voice. “Hi, Leslie!” Nick’s facial expression smoothed a little.
 “Hi, Sage, I seemed to have a problem gettin’ through your GPS. Why is that? Oh, right, right! Ya don’t have one! Upgrade your dang phone!”
 “Leslie, it is a phone. You could just call me, you know that, right?” My eyes drooped.
 “That’s borin’! Anyhoo, I found this new recipe and I want ta try it. It’s for cheesy taters. Come over tonight.”
 “Leslie, we’re crossing the border of Arkansas to Tennessee! We’re going to drive by Elvis’ house! We can’t just get to South Carolina by tonight,” Nick started, but then there was a blinding flash, then we were flying through a dark and stormy tunnel of sharp clouds, like cotton candy after it has touched air and started to crystallize again. It was hotter than noon in Death Valley, but colder than a metal x-ray table at the North Pole. I could not move. It was like Colleen’s tunnel, but a thousand times worse! I was more claustrophobic and I was suffocating! I couldn’t focus on anything except the tunnel changing between black, dark purple and putrid green. It seemed to last an eternity. Soon I could tell that the tunnel was ending though. I could focus easier. I realized we were both sitting on the front seat of the car again.
 Soon, the tunnel faded, everything went black, and we sat facing an old white plantation house surrounded by trees with hundreds of glass bottles hanging from them. I knew where I was, but I was too dizzy to concentrate on that for long. I felt my stomach turn and I quickly opened my door and fell onto the cool ground, trying to cool myself down. I heard the other car door open and heard a thump of Nick hitting the ground. Under the car, I could see Nick’s breakfast splattering across the ground. I was happy that we had decided not to eat lunch if that was his breakfast. I quickly turned to face the other direction.
 I looked up and saw Leslie standing on her front porch beside a column. She looked extremely disappointed. Nick forced himself up. I didn’t trust myself to stand up yet, so I stayed lying on the ground. “You’re lucky I like you kids. Come inside and help make dinner.”
 I sighed and forced myself to get off the ground. I still felt queasy, but I could trust myself not to make Nick’s mess any bigger, too. As we entered her big white plantation house, we asked why she had really made us come. “No reason, really, I just wanted to try a new recipe and catch up.”
 “Leslie, we were almost to New Orleans.” I complained. “I have never been there! I have to be the only Watcher to never be in New Orleans!”
 Nick joined in on my complaining. “No Sage, I haven’t either, and we were going to drive by Elvis’ house.”
 “You couldn’t just wait for us to come to you, or at least be done with the issue?”
 “Or, see Elvis?”
 “Maybe even half-way through the issue?”
 “Just saw the sign that it was ahead?”
 “Or just arrived into New Orleans?”
 “Fine!” Leslie frowned, looking at the old wooden floor. “I’ll just sit here, by myself, all alone…with my cats.”
 “Leslie, you don’t have a cat.”
 “See?!” She sniffled and wiped away a tear. “I’ll be all alone!”
 Our eyes drooped. She was a grade A actress and sometimes it amazed me. I squinted at her. “Leslie, really?” Suddenly she burst into tears and began making incoherent noises. I knew she was just trying to get us to stay, but her crying looked so real. “All I wanted to do was have a family dinner! It’s because I’m a demon, ain’t it? It is! If I were an angel, I bet you would eat with me!” Suddenly I remembered Colleen, the angel, and then had a strong feeling of déjà vu. A wall of guilt hit me because I had not even told Nick of the visit. I definitely remembered this, as though it had happened in a dream.
 I sighed and looked at Nick. He knew that I was going to agree and he gave me a look of disappointment. I sighed once more. I felt guilty and looked at Leslie’s make-up running down her face and agreed. “We’ll stay, besides, I would probably rather have a dinner with you than an angel.”
 “Do you really mean it? You want to stay? I don’t want to make you stay if you don’t want to.” I nodded with a reassuring smile. Her face literally lit up. Her make-up was no longer smeared, her eyes were not puffy and red, and there was not a trace of a tear.
 “On one condition. You zap us and the Opel straight to New Orleans right after supper. No detours.”
 “Okay!” She grinned and walked into her kitchen.
 Nick looked at me accusingly. He was still unsure about Leslie and if he should even start to trust her, after all, she was a demon. It was completely understandable. “What are you doing, making a decision without me? What the hell, Sage?”
 “Nick, it’s nothing. It’s just dinner. It is nothing like Hell. Calm down.” I turned to sit on a step and take off my shoes.
 “Nothing? It’s never just nothing for a Watcher! Nothing is always something and you can’t deny that or you’re a liar.”
 “Southern hospitality, Nick, ever hear of it?” I accused. “Oh, you haven’t? Why’s that, I wonder. Oh, wait. I remember.” I grinned for a half second, and then it was gone. “You left. You didn’t get to experience it.” I took off a shoe and threw it on the ground.
 Nick avoided the comment. “Sage, she’s a demon!”
 I threw the other shoe on the ground. “Nick! She is the only thing that kept me going for months! Months, Nick. It killed me when you left.” We glared at each other.
 “You kids gonna come in here?” We heard Leslie call in a perky way. I saw her peak around the kitchen doorway in my peripheral vision. Her facial expression did not match how she asked us.
 “We’re coming!” I snapped. Nick continued to glare at me.
 “Sage Lloyd! Don’t you ever use that tone with me again!”
 I broke my glare, turned away and walked into the kitchen. I heard the screen door slam shut. I shook my head at Leslie. I wanted to cry, but my pride was too large for my tears to get over…again. “Even though you guys are fighting, it’s better this way.”
 “Is it?” I asked. “Because I feel that it’s not.” She held open her arms and I stepped into them.
 “Sage Lloyd, don’t you talk that way. There’s going to be tension between you for a while. He left you when you needed him most, but it will pass. He’s your brother and you need him as much as he needs you.”
 “He doesn’t need me, Leslie. He has a home and a job.”
 “But, you’re his family. He may not need you now, but he will. Sage,” she pulled me back and looked me in the eye. “He will need you.” I reluctantly nodded and let her words make me feel better. “Now help me until your brother stops venting.” I smiled and walked into the kitchen. Leslie walked in wearing a classic white cook’s apron and threw me one. It was bright yellow with white polka dots.
 I sighed. “Really? I can barely look straight at it.”
 She raised a wooden spoon at me. “If you don’t want that one, I have a hot pink one in the back. I was gonna save it for your brother, but if y really want-”
 “Nope!” I smiled. “This one is perfect!” I quickly wrapped the strings around me multiple times and tied it in the front. A few minutes later, we had started making the cheesy taters and I was starting to feel better. I heard the front door creak open and then slam shut, then footsteps walking into the kitchen.
 I turned and saw Nick leaning against the kitchen doorway. “Nice apron,” he smirked. I smiled as our eyes said that the fight was over and we had forgiven each other.
 “Thanks! Yours is in the back,” I laughed, picturing him in hot pink when he normally wore blacks or dark grays. I must have looked pretty ridiculous too, because those were the main colors I wore as well, with the exception of a white t-shirt sometimes. Leslie turned around. “I better just be imagining those shoes being on your feet, Nicolai Lloyd. I will zap you to the deepest darkest part of the ocean. You know I will.” She glanced down at a spatula on the counter that, I suspected, would not be on the counter for much longer is Nick didn’t take off his shoes.
 “What shoes? Those are just-” he hit the back of the wall with his hand. “Who’s breaking into the Opel? I better go-” he quickly turned and ran. Maybe he didn’t trust Leslie, but he did believe that she would carry out her threats if she had to. I smiled and turned back to the food preparations. “Where did you say the other apron was?”
 Leslie pointed over her shoulder at the small closet under the stairs. “Under the stairs. There’s only one in there, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding it.” She turned back to me. “Will you grate this cheese for me? That stuff always gets under my nails.”
 Before I could respond, Nick walked back into the kitchen and shouted, “Seriously?!” He was holding up a hot pink apron.
 “Yes!” Leslie said, fighting back giggles, I couldn’t fight them back though.
 “It’s really your color, Nick!” I managed to get out. Leslie walked over to help him. Eventually she put the neck strap around Nick’s hanging head. Leslie stood beside me and we cracked up laughing. Across the front in big black Curlz font, said “Cooking Princess!” with a white poodle wearing a tiara in the middle of the words.
 “Stop,” Nick glared as his face began to turn the shade of pink that was his apron. “It’s not funny.” Maybe it wasn’t, but I always laughed long and hard when it was at Nick’s expense. It’s what siblings do. Maybe that’s why Leslie had him wear it, because she knew that my brother was my strong point as well as my weak point. He could make me strongest and happiest, but weakest and saddest as well.
 “Oh, but he’s right! That apron was a big part of my life! I won that a few years ago in…uh…I forget, but it was a big part of my life!”
 “I see,” Nick and I stated. Nick began to join in on our laughter.
 After a while, we sobered up and began cooking again. “Hey, Princess, will you get the potatoes out of the cupboard and peel them?”
 Nick blinked and then scowled. “Sure.” I chuckled as I grated the cheese. For the rest of the time, while making the cheesy taters, we continued to refer to Nick as “Princess” or “Cooking Princess”. We ended up having to help Nick peel and cut the potatoes. About a half hour later, the kitchen was a mess, but Leslie’s cheese taters were cooking in the oven. It almost seemed like Nick was starting to bond with Leslie, until she left him in charge of the dishes. Nick has never liked doing dishes and there was a considerable amount of dishes in the sink before we started piling in the ones we had used while making the cheesy taters.
 An hour later, the kitchen was spotless again, all of the dishes were put away, and we were hungrily shoving the cheesy masterpiece into our mouths. Just as I made Leslie promise, she zapped us, and the Opel, on our way to New Orleans.

Author's Note

You should probably comment on how you think this is going so far.