“Let’s go. I’ll drive,” Steph said standing up.
“What?” I looked at her a bit confused. “We don’t have to be to work for almost two hours.”
“Get your butt up and let’s go! I’m not going to sit here and watch the members of my favorite boy band be knocked off, one at a time. Are you crazy? We’ll come up with a plan on the way.”
“A plan? For what? What exactly do you think we are going to be able to do?” I stood up looking at her.
“I don’t know yet,” she shrugged. “But, I DO know that if AJ gets hurt, I am gonna have to kill somebody!”
“AJ, huh?” a slight crooked smiled formed on my lips, “I thought AJ and I were tied for your favorite? If we go there, I am for sure going to get knocked off.”
“Oh, please. I will protect you,” she smiled.
“You are going to protect me, huh?”
“Well, yeah. I’m tough,” she flexed her arms. Sure, she had some muscle but there was NO way she could protect me.
“Are you out of your mind? I can’t go anywhere! Kev and D are right,” I sighed. I felt so defeated. I wanted so badly to help my friends; for all of this to, just, GO AWAY!
“Hello?” she answered her ringing cell phone. I was completely baffled as to how she got any signal. I mean, I had a hard time getting internet and cable but she has signal on her cell? “Whoa, calm down. What?”
“What’s wrong?” I questioned quietly but she waved her hand and shook her head at me to get me to shut up.
“I know, Dani, I saw it. Yeah, I am a bit upset over it too…I know…yeah…WHOA! Back it up…what?” she began laughing loudly. “You…you think…” she continued laughing as she tried to speak. “You…honestly? JR? Nick? You can’t be serious! Oh, he does not! Okay, maybe he does KIND OF look like Nick…NO! I don’t think…you do? Nuh uh. Whatever! Bye, Dani!” she hung up and burst into more fits of laughter.
“Dani is freaking out and on her way over here, huh?” I had a feeling that my guess was right on the money.
“Yeah. She is totally going to jump your bones if we don’t get out of here!”
“Damn it.”
“You have about 45 minutes. She will have to find an outfit, change it ten times, do her hair and apply makeup before she comes over here. After all she wants to look good for her future husband…” she began cracking up again.
“You know, I don’t find any of this even remotely funny,” I looked at her with raised eyebrows.
“Well, the situation isn’t, but Dani’s reaction, sure as hell, is,” she told me. I gave her another glare before I began rushing around to gather my things. I hadn’t acquired much since I moved from Florida so I still only had the two suitcases, duffel bag, and 2 boxes. I was ready with in a half hour and we packed up the car. I grabbed the rest of the sodas and snack foods from the kitchen and we drove off toward Steph’s house.
“You want me to wait here?”
“Hell no, you aren’t safe by yourself! Come on,” she responded as she shut the engine off. Steph rushed around grabbing the essentials and stuffing them into a few large bags. She grabbed photos, a couple keepsakes, and a book too. I gathered sodas, bottled water, and anything else I could find for drinking or snacking plus canned goods and her can opener.
“Ready?” I asked as she zipped up her last bag.
“Yep. I will call Keith on the way to tell him we won’t be in. Did you grab the WPP number?”
“Tsh,” I scoffed, “I know it by heart.”
“Good, they need to be called, too.” She continued talking as she grabbed her purse, locked the door and we began lugging the items down to her car. It was a good thing that I had not deposited any of my money into a bank and I still hung on to a credit card from a previous identity. I let out a deep sigh as she pulled out of the parking lot heading toward the highway.
“This is going to be a long ride,” I sighed again.
“I brought pillows and a blanket,” she looked over at me.
“Why are you doing this, Steph? I mean, you said you would be a friend but this is above and beyond anything I would have asked of you.”
“It’s all good. Should we stay with our current names or come up with new ones? I brought all the cash I had…about a grand,” she shrugged. “I didn’t have much in the bank anyways. Oh, but I did bring a couple boxes of hair dye that were laying around. Dani tried getting me to let her dye my hair a few times but I refused. She ended up leaving the boxes and I kept them around.” She explained as she pulled onto US 131.
“What colors do you have?”
“Black, red, and bleach blonde,” she answered keeping her eyes on the road.
“Well, I have been all three so it doesn’t really matter. But I brought along the color contacts from my previous identities. I still have a box of green, a box and a half of hazel, and a box of brown.”
“Oooo, I want black hair and brown eyes!” she smiled.
“Okay, I will go with red hair. Since my hair is dyed a dark brown already, the red will turn out pretty dark and then I will go with…” I trailed off, thinking.
“You should do brown eyes then. I will go green.”
“Sound good.”
“Now, for names…”
“I still have a credit card from my last identity which was, Elliot Robert Strickland.” I looked over at her and we locked eyes for a moment before she turned her attention back to the road.
“Elliot it is, then.”
“What about you? You need a new name, too. How about Mariah?”
“How about…NO.” she laughed.
“Okay, you will have black hair and green eyes…so…” I looked at her picturing what she would look like. “I think Chelsea would be a fitting name.”
“Chelsea, what?”
“Chelsea Jean Strickland?”
“So what? Am I your sister now?” she started laughing.
“Nope, wife.”
“WHAT?” she choked and looked at me with wide eyes.
“If I have a wife, people are less likely to think I am Nick Carter.” I reasoned.
“But we would have to ACT like we are married.”
“Big deal. All that consists of is holding hands and pet names, when we are in public. When we get a hotel room we will have to get a king size bed or whatever but I can just sleep on the couch or something,” I shrugged. “Have any better ideas? We have to make sure no one recognizes me.”
“What about wedding bands? Huh? Don’t married people USUALLY have those?” she questioned.
“Well, I can just use this gold ring,” I said transferring said ring from my right hand to my left. “For you, I will just have to stop off and by something. After all it doesn’t have to be a REAL wedding ring…just as long as it LOOKS like one. Pawn shops would be a good place to look,” I spoke as I opened a soda for her and then one for myself.
“Well, honey bun, I am sure that will work just fine,” she said in a strong southern accent.
“I sure am glad that you agree, sweet pie,” I replied in the same accent.
“I am not sure why we moved to Michigan last month, dear. Louisiana is just so much warmer,” she smiled.
“Why do we even need to bring up Michigan?” I asked seriously.
“Our plates, dear. We have Michigan plates on the car. But why would people in Michigan have such strong accents unless they just moved to Michigan?”
“Duh. I am such a blonde,” I rolled my eyes. We were getting near Gaylord now and had been driving for quite some tome so she pulled off into a McDonald’s for some food. We ate quickly so we could get back on the road to make the best of the daylight hours. After talking about it, we decided that we shouldn’t drive a lot after dark so we agreed that our traveling would be done, taking turns, between 7am and 10 or 11pm. As we left the parking lot, my wife *wink* put some music into the car’s stereo as I was now driving.
“Turn onto the interstate up here,” she pointed to the ramp that I had to take.
“Sure thing, babe,” I chuckled. We were doing our best to talk with the accent in the car, too, so we wouldn’t forget when we were in public. Admittedly, it was kind of fun, even if we did sound like dorks. It was several more hours before we pulled into a small hotel for the night. Both of us changed into pajamas and collapsed on top of the covers. Sleep consumed both of us before I could move to the couch or either of us could cover up…we were just sprawled out on the bed and I am pretty sure both of us were snoring.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tahnks, as always, to everyone who has been reading / reviewing! Feel free to leave detailed reviews...I like to hear what you guys are expecting or predicting to happen...sometimes it helps give me ideas.
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