Aubrey Garcia's Journey home.

Chapter Thirteen.

(Warnings)

Aubrey glared at the bathing suit that had been haphazardly thrown into the corner of her room. Today was the day they were supposed to head out to the spring, which meant that she actually had to get ready. She stood there, shooting daggers at the bathing suit. It was mockingly silent. She huffed and picked it up, examining the dark blue cloth. It was a midnight blue bikini with strangely silky fabric, made for cutting effortlessly through water. She hated it. Aubrey sighed and dropped it into her day bag filled with towels and water bottles for 'anti dehydration methods' or something.

She made her way downstairs, still clutching the day bag in one hand as she stepped into the living room. Liam sat sprawled out across the entirety of the sofa, looking far too relaxed for Aubrey's liking. The dog sat next to Leon, resting his head on Leon's shoulder. She dumped the day bag directly on his feet and snickered when he yelped and dropped the newspaper in his hands. The ten year old narrowed his eyes at her and sneered. "Well then," he grumbled "guess I won't tell you that James called on the landline." Aubrey blinked and rushed over to the landline phone mounted on the wall and tried to ignore Leon, who was busy laughing at her. She quickly punched in his number, pausing while she waited for James to pick up. "Hello?" His voice crackled over the phones speakers, "Hey, did you call?" 

"Yeah, I didn't get an answer though. Hey, I'm about to run out and pick up Eliana so I'll be at your house in about fifteen minutes." Aubrey nodded and attempted to force the numbers into her memory. "Got it," She said, "see you then."

"See you then" James agreed, and he hung up on the other end. 

Aubrey sighed and placed the telephone back on it's mount, turning to raise an eyebrow at Leon who had gone back to reading the newspaper. "You weren't lying." Leon scoffed and flipped the newspaper around, reading the article on the back. "Well, duh. I can't keep lying all the time." Before she could thank him Leon said, "then you'd come to expect it. Got to keep you on your toes." She just rolled her eyes at that, and shot him a frosty expression. "Well, I promise not to assume your telling the truth next time."  

"Well good. I have a reputation as an annoying kid to uphold." Aubrey grinned "and I have a reputation as a monster sent to torment you, specifically." 

Leon paused at that and looked up from the newspaper he had seemed so engrossed in just a moment before. "You know I don't hate you, right? Just loathe you." When Aubrey rolled her eyes he responded with, "trust me, there's a difference." 

"Uh-huh. You tell yourself what you need to, kiddo." 

Leon muttered some very colorfully worded insults under his breath before going back to the newspaper at hand, and Aubrey made the decision not to comment on the fact that it was upside down. 

                                                                                               ----

Aubrey heard the sound of a car pulling up to the driveway and sprinted to the door, slinging her day bag over her shoulders. She quickly flung open the door and came face to face with James, who had a hand hesitating over the doorbell. Arthur immediately leaped off the sofa where he had been lounging peacefully and barked loudly. James made a comically sheepish expression as he knelt down to pat the dog. "Sorry... forgot about Arthur." He admitted with a small smile. The dog barked happily and rolled over which prompted more pets. 

"It's fine, you ready to go?" She asked, and he nodded in response. She followed him towards his car, spotting Eliana in the back seat waving at her. She stepped in the car and satin the front seat. 

"Hey Aubrey!" Eliana chirped from the back of the car. "You exited?" Aubrey nodded and placed the day bag at her feet. 

"Cool, cool, cool. Hey have you guys had breakfast yet?" Aubrey and James shook their heads. "Okay cool! There's this new chinese place, and-"

"For breakfast?" He interrupted and Eliana grinned, "What, would you rather have eggs?"

James just smiled and shook his head. After a tense negotiation, they decided on Burger King, because why not? They drove for a good two hours before arriving at the spring. The drive was strangely fun, their time spent either doing their own thing, joking around, chatting, or having ridiculously heated debates. Like how to pronounce GIF, or the true evilness of people who bite their ice cream, (JAMES). The drive was peppered with lots of random questions, conversions, and arguments. It was honestly one of the weirdest and most fun conversations Aubrey had ever had. Eliana explained the entirety of this random video game that Aubrey immediately forgot the name of, and James was still trying to explain to Aubrey why the person in the middle seat of an airplane should get to use both armrests. They arrived midway through that little debate, and James parked the car then turned to her.

"So, since the window seat can lean up against the window the middle seat should obviou-"

Aubrey cut him off angrily. "What if the window seat doesn't want to be squashed up against the window?"

"Well then, DON"T GET THE WINDOW SEAT IF YOU DON"T WANT TO BE SMUSHED!!" James shouted, attracting the attention of a few people walking by in the parking lot.

Aubrey was sure that people were probably staring, but she didn't care. This was far too enjoyable for her to just give up. "Yeah? Then why does the aisle seat not get it?"

"Because the aisle seat gets the extra leg room from the aisle!"

"Well, then you can take your leg room and shove it right up your-"

She faltered seeing Eliana in the back seat of the car, munching on popcorn. James turned to see what Aubrey was looking at, the frowned "Where did you get popcorn?" 

"While you love birds were bickering I went and bought snacks." She said and shot a strange look at the two of them. Aubrey felt heat rise to her cheeks and she looked away. James  however, seemed completely unfazed by the comment asked for a bag of chips.

"HAH. Catch me if you want them." Eliana teased, shaking the bag of chips in front of his face. He reached out for them but she pulled her hand away at the last second. "Game on." He said with a laugh as they both dashed out of the car. Aubrey smiled and grabbed the bags from the backseat of the car. She felt at home.