D-D-DING DING DING DONG!
Lance yawned, trudged over and opened the door. “AJ? What’re you doing here?”
“Close the door!” AJ said quickly.
The 23 year-old leapt at the curtains and yanked them closed. Then he sat down on the couch.
“What? What’s going on?” Lance asked, fully awake now from his nap.
“Someone…caught…me,” AJ panted, bending over. Then he leaned back against the material of the couch and fought to regain his breath.
“What?! Are you shittin me?” Lance asked, his green eyes wide.
“Shh! No! Is Stacey here?” AJ asked.
Lance shook his head. “She left two hours ago- that’s why I took a nap.”
“Ok. I was in my yard, you know, target practice,” AJ paused for effect, “and this kid- couldn’t be more than 10- caught me. Goes running off and screaming like a freakin Banshee! Man you’d think that they’ve never seen a fire shooting ring before.”
Lance scoffed but he let it slide. “So he took off? Did he tell anyone?”
AJ shrugged. “I can’t just go and check. What if he knew who I was?”
“How hard can this get?” the 21 year-old sighed. “Fine you can crash here. But don’t…melt anything, ok?”
The bearded man smiled. “You can count on me boss.”
“Why does that not assure me?”
+ + +
No one noticed the lone figure walking up and down the streets, looking for her. But then again, no one was supposed to.
He stopped at a market and reached out to grab an apple when the owner looked away. He hid it in his brown cloak and hurried away.
+ + +
“Brian come on,” Kevin said, nudging his cousin- still lying on the couch.
“He’s still your best friend,” Nebula called over.
“Just…just gimme a minute,” Brian said.
“We’ve given you an hour now get off that lazy butt!” Nebula called again.
“You know you can be such a smart ass sometimes,” Brian smiled.
“This planet’s getting to me,” she muttered, tapping away at the spaceship’s computer.
“Found anything?” Kevin asked, looking at the woman.
“Nope.”
Suddenly Brian sat up. “Guys.”
“What?” Nebula asked, still staring at the computer screen.
“I have another ring.”
“What?” she asked, her head snapping towards him in attention.
“I was goin over to Nick’s house and I…” Brian’s eyes widened and his head flopped backwards as he groaned, “Oh no…”
“What?”
“Nick- he’s one of us.”
“You make it seem like we’re a new species,” Kevin muttered.
“Are you sure?” Nebula asked, ignoring the older man.
“Yeah…I dropped my ring, and I went to pick it up, and I found another one,” Brian explained, taking out the two rings. “This one’s mine, this one’s Nick’s.”
“Turquoise,” Kevin reported, the closer of the two to the rings.
“The seas.”
“Knew it,” Brian half smiled. “He loves the ocean.”
“But…”
“I don’t think he’s gonna do it,” Brian sighed, staring at the rings.
“Why not?” Kevin asked.
“Well for one thing I practically kicked him out of the house, and Chris…I dunno.”
“Chris? You mean that other dude with him?”
“Yeah.”
“Weird fellow isn’t he?” Nebula asked.
Brian laughed. “Yeah. And he’s older than me.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“SO…” Kevin said loudly, attempting to get them all back on track. “What do we do now?”
“Get Nick down here,” Brian said determinedly.
“And we would do that how?” Nebula asked.
The tan haired man stared back at her.
“NO. Brian NO,” she shook her head.
“COME ON NEB!” Brian pleaded. “It’s not like we can send KEVIN down there!”
“Hey…”
His tone was ignored.
“Neb please? Come on…you’re a girl, he’ll listen to you,” Brian said pointedly. “I know that he won’t listen to ME.”
Nebula stared at him. “You’re sure?”
“Told ya you liked him.”
“Ok we’re back to this. Brian, no.”
“Please?”
“No.”
“Perty please?”
“No.” Her gaze wavered.
“C’mon. Your planet- our planet- depends on you,” Brian said, knowing he’d strike a nerve.
Nebula stared at the wall. Then she looked at Brian. “You’re POSITIVE?”
Brian smiled.
+ + +
“How do I get myself IN to these things?” Nebula mumbled, slamming the door of her Cruiser.
Letting out a breath she strode to the door and stopped.
“Damn feelings,” she muttered, ringing the doorbell.
No one answered.
The Princess furrowed her eyebrows and knocked. “HELLO?!”
Nick stared at the ceiling, ignoring the pounding on the door. “Go away.”
But when the pounding kept on, with shouts of, “I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE!” and “Get out here!”, he threw his legs over the side of the bed.
“Damn salespeople.”
Running his hand through his hair, he stepped down the stairs to the door, where the doorbell ringing still persisted.
“What do you,” he opened the door and stopped, “want?”
“Hi I’m Nebula. We met earlier today?” she said breathlessly, most of her hair out of her braid and in her face.
‘Pretty salesperson’
“Uh I’m Nick,” he said, giving her a smile.
“Yeah I know,” she said shyly. “Um the reason I came over here is…I need your help.”
“My help?”
“Yeah. Just…come with me please?”
The blonde just stared, hesitating. ‘Ah what the hell’ “Sure.”
+ + +
“What’s taking so long?” Brian asked frustratingly, looking out the window. “Picking him up can’t take THIS long.”
“What, it can’t take time to convince him?” Kevin asked almost mechanically.
“Look at her!”
“Point taken.”
“Finally! You would’ve thought that they went to the movies!”
“That was 15 minutes Rok,” Kevin said amusedly.
“Whatever,” Brian called carelessly, hurrying towards the front door.
His hand reached for the doorknob.
“OW!” Brian cried out, grabbing his forehead in pain. “What in Hades was THAT?!”
“Brian? Oh my gosh Brian are you ok?” Nebula hurried towards him, worried she had hit him when she opened the door.
“I’m grabbing my face, groaning. I’m peachy,” he said sarcastically.
“RACHELLA!” Nebula shouted. She caught the pained look on Brian’s face and winced. “Sorry.”
A woman about 25 came towards her. “Princess?”
“Find an icepack,” she said.
“Right away.”
“Don’t call me princess!”
“Yes Princess.”
Nebula rolled her eyes when Nick and Brian snickered. “Shut up.”
“Ok we’re here. Now what?” Nick asked brusquely.
Brian sighed.
“C’mon. Brian, you stay here and wait for Rachella, got it?”
He smiled. “Yes ma’am.”
“C’mon Nick.”
The blonde smirked and followed after.
“I understand that you and Brian are best friends?”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Nick…he didn’t mean to have it come across like that. You can say we’re on sort of a…a mission,” Nebula tried, turning the corner with her large strides. Nick jogged to catch up. “Mission?”
“Yes mission. And I know for a fact that you’ve lost something.”
He narrowed his eyes in suspicion as she opened a door by putting her hand on a control pad. “How did you know?”
“Connections. Come in.”
He stepped inside and his eyes rested on the figure at one of the many computers. “Kevin?”
“Hey Nick. How’s it goin?”
“So basically you’re all in on this…mission, right?” Nick asked, looking around the spacious computer lab.
Heavy-duty computers lined the room in six rows. It was unbelievable. Each computer was a transparent console that had so many plugs and wires coming out of it that it looked like a wad of multi-color vines.
“Yup. And so are you. C’mon,” Nebula said, walking toward an oak table.
Nick followed and his eyes narrowed, then widened. He ran over and snatched it up.
“HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD THIS?” he demanded, throwing her a furious glance.
She stepped back, surprised- and scared. “Uh just t-today. Brian-”
“BRIAN! I’m gonna kill him!” Nick cried, storming out of the room.
Nebula blinked. “Uh, that went well.”
Kevin rolled his eyes. “Wishful thinking.”
+ + +
“BRIAN!”
The sandy blonde froze. “Uh oh.”
“Brian! How long have you had this?!” Nick growled, shoving the ring in his face.
“I found it,” Brian spluttered, scared by the look in the younger man’s eyes.
“FOUND IT?!” Nick shrilled. “FOUND it?! How in HELL could you have just FOUND it? Like it was lying on the GROUND?”
“Actually yes it was.”
The blonde’s eyes narrowed to slits. “What?”
“It was on the ground when I found it,” Brian said quietly, being careful not to set him off.
“Nick!” Nebula cried, running up to him. “Nick what are you doing?”
“This,” he pointed to the ring. “This was my father’s. I swore not to lose it. You know how scared I was when I lost it? And all that time you HAD IT?”
“I’m sorry.”
Nick stared. “No Brian, I’M sorry.”
“Wha-”
“I’m sorry I can’t help you.”
Without another word, Nickolas Carter left the house with a slam of the door.
+ + +
“Brian I-”
“Stop. Just stop.” Brian buried himself in the couch. “He’ll be ok. I’ll be ok.”
Nebula stared. “We can’t do it without him.”
“I know. I’m sorry I ruined things.”
“Then help me.”
Brian looked up at the young woman.
“Help me find the others.”
After much thought, Brian sat up. “I’ll do all I can.”