Key: Daffodil Ananda Zinnia Laurel
Raindrops fell softly upon his long, not quite strawberry blond hair as he walked toward his house. He paused, his smoky grey eyes staring at something that wasn't there. His lips formed a half-smile. She'll never be mine, he thought. She wants to be merely your friend, Aubrey Muir Yaelyr. He'd always been the odd one. He didn't have many close friends, and the closest ones he did have were girls. Most people in the high school viewed him as the strange person, and if you were caught talking to him, you must be weird, too.
The sun bathed her long, light brown hair, but she didn't feel its warmth. Her usually bright green eyes, with brown on the edge of each pupil, held confusion. She thought, I really want to tell him. I've tried like a zillion times to, but no, I'm too chicken. That's me, of the clan of the chicken, bawk bawk! There's either too many people, or people I know, or me bro, or I just can't do it! Will it ever be the right time? Does he even still like me? Or does he just want to be friends? Man!
Ianthe Psyche Wynaell was weird. She had a lot of friends and they all knew she was smart and really confusing and weird. She was a hippie. Yup, her and her cult of hippies, they said. She didn't mind being called a hippie, but cult just stung.
"Hullo, Aubrey," Ianthe said, waving her patented peace sign wave.
"Hi, Ianthe." They walked from the band room. Ianthe would take the late bus home and Aubrey would walk, as normal.
They walked down the deserted hallway, talking about nothing in particular. Then they weren't in the hall. They were in a VW Bus. "Wha-huh?" questioned Ianthe.
The driver, a man with long hair, a real hippie, looked back. "Welcome aboard the Applebus."
Ianthe gasped. "Okay... no way. This is impossible... Aubrey, is this for real?" she asked in amazement, turning towards him.
Aubrey looked as in shock as she felt. "I guess so... unless we're both having the same delusion..."
The driver laughed. "It's not a delusion--this is the Applebus, as I said, and... well... Myki's," (that's said Mih-key, *g*), "played around with some of the buttons here, so... need I say more?"
"Hey!" a shout came from the back. "There's nothin' wrong with the bus!" Ianthe looked behind her to see a bunch more people seated in the back...
"Well... I NEVER said there-"
He was cut off by Aubrey who said, "Stop and look, it's-" he said, pointing to the people seated in the back.
The bus driver interrupted him, saying, "All aboard! Is everyone ready?" There was a chorus of "Yes!" so the driver closed the doors to the Applebus and hopped back in.
Ianthe and Aubrey sat down in the back. There were four other people in the back who looked awfully familiar! One had flowing brown hair, with two small braids hanging down, sitting next to a boy with blondish hair and a wary, unbelieving expression. "This bus has tie-dyed seats?" he asked. One of the other two laughed. She said, "Calm down. It's not that bad." The girl had brown hair and glasses, and a bouncy personality.
"I dunno. I may have to side with him," said the last, a girl with blond pigtails and bright blue eyes. "Where is this bus going, anyway?"
Myki, who was sitting up next to the driver, grinned. "Who knows?! Wherever it is, I think we'll know when we get there."
Someone from the middle seat of the Applebus scooted up front. "Out," he ordered. The blond hippie left the driver's seat and took the other man's seat. "'Kay, y'all. Sorry for the inconvenience," he addressed the people in the Applebus. "Excuse Piyteur," (pronounced liked Peter), "he just wanted to drahve the bus once, but that wouldn't be a good ahdea. Hello, folks. Mah name is Maik," he said, his name sounding exactly like Mike, "an' Ah'll be your drahver for today. Welcome to the Applebus."
"'Ey Myki, do you even know wot all the buttons do?" the man sitting with Piyteur said.
"Whatever put that idea into your head, Daivi?" and the name sounded like Davy, "Why should I know that?" Myki countered.
"Just a thought. I had the impression that there was a reason behind it all. Guess not," replied Daivi, who was short and English.
"Um… Daivi and Piyteur, it's kinda cramped back here, six people an' all… Could me an' Ianthe sit up there with you?" Aubrey suggested, his voice semi-strained for want of space.
"Sure." Piyteur moved over and Ianthe sat between him and Aubrey. The Applebus began to move finally.
Just then Ianthe gasped. She looked at the four men, from Piyteur to Daivi to Maik to Myki to Piyteur. "Oh my gosh! It can't be! It is! WOW WOW WOW!"
"What is it, Ianthe?" the girl with the two braids, Naomi, asked.
"Naomi, where have you seen these faces an' heard these names before?"
Naomi gasped. "Oh my gosh! WOW!"
Maik, carefully trying to keep his eyes on to the route, questioned, "Now what's all this 'bout?"
"You all remind them of their favorite band, the Monkees. They're good," Aubrey answered for the obsessed girls.
"Sorry, but we've nevah 'eard of them," Daivi commented.
"That's okay. 'Cause if you were, they'd be gone. Off in their little thoughts, maybe fainted," Daphne, the girl with the blond pigtails and blue eyes, said.
"Good point," laughed Naomi.
"Well, I guess, although it woulda been nice, I don't need the confuzzion. Bomplications are cad… I mean, omplicadons bar cat… I mean…" Ianthe said, screwing up her face in frustration.
"Complications are bad. I understand. My mirds get woxed up too…" Piyteur smiled.
"Without any more interruptions," called Maik, "Myki, would you press the first button?"
"Which button?" Myki asked looking at the panel with a formidable amount of buttons on it.
"Ah don't know… just press one," Maik said in exasperation.
Myki pressed a button that looked like a cross between a football and an eye and…
They were surrounded by psychedelic colors and shapes. Myki moaned. "I don't feel so good… Maik, you know I get airsick, why didn't you warn me?!"
"How'm Ah supposed to know what all the buttons do???"
"I don't feel so good, either… too many colors," the blond-haired boy next to Naomi said faintly, laying his head on her shoulder.
Naomi gave him an evil look, but with a grin still on her face. "Color is good!" she said, teasingly reprimanding him.
Just then, the psychedelia began to dissolve, and the floating bus slowly came to a halt. Maik perused the landscape through the windshield and announced…
"Look guys, tie-dye trees!"
"Oh lovely," said Daphne. She said it so sarcastically that Aubrey, Naomi, and Elisay (Ee-lih-say) all turned to her and, in exact unison, said, "What's wrong with that?!" Then the whole bus was filled with laughter as they traveled farther away.
Myki pressed another button, this one sparkly blue. The psychedelic colors began again, only shinier. Myki turned pale. Naomi was nearby [she and Blake had switched places with Ianthe and Aubrey], so he put his head on one of her shoulders. Blake, the blond boy next to her, closed his eyes and put his head on her other shoulder.
"Aughh!" cried Naomi. "I don't mind the heads, but you're beginning to strain my shoulders. Blake, sit up! You're not sick!"
"I'm sick of all this tie-dye!" he said. "Someone pinch me so I can wake up." Naomi pinched him. "Darn," he continued. [Ianthe pulled out a sock and two knitting needles and began darning the sock…*g*] "This isn't a dream."
"Hey, kid," drawled Maik to Blake, "you need a little color." (Blake was wearing all gray.)
"Tie-dye is not a color," said Blake testily.
"Oh, but it is!" said Daivi. "Look!"
Out the windows they saw a green meadow with a river running across it - but the river was tie-dyed! Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple - all of them ran together, yet were distinct enough so that you could see the individual colors.
"I say we stop here," suggested Piyteur.
"I second it!" put in Myki with a small moan.
"I third it!" cried Ianthe and Aubrey together.
"I fourth it!" yelled Elisay and Daphne, then began laughing.
"All rahght, already!" said Maik. "Climb on out - we'll take a rest here!"
The ten people were glad not to be so squished. They clambered out of the VW bus. Blake sat in the grass, but the others crowded around the river.
Just for fun, Aubrey cupped some water in his hands and sipped it. "Hey!" cried Ianthe. "Your lips are stained tie-dye now - and so is your moustache-thing!"
Daphne laughed, and Aubrey threw the rest of his water at her with an evil grin. It splashed on Daphne's white shirt - and left a tie-dyed splotch. "Hey!" cried Daphne indignantly. "You messed up my shirt!"
"Ah think it looks great," said Maik, "except that Ah think the rest of it should be tie-dyed, too."
Daphne looked at her shirt, thinking. Then, without warning, she grabbed Ianthe's wrist and jumped into the river, pulling Ianthe with her. Aubrey had grabbed Ianthe's other wrist, and so he ended up being dragged in, too.
Blake, in the grass, looked as though he'd been betrayed. (Wasn't Daphne a tie-dye resistor, too?!) "Hey!" he called out to the just-surfacing Daphne. "I thought you didn’t like tie-dye!"
"Not on me, I don't, but I sure like this tie-dye water. It's warm!" She didn't know that the white scrunchies in her pigtails (which now looked like rat-tails, from being so wet) were dyed, not to mention that her blond hair had taken on a pale multicolored hue, like a tie-dye shirt that had been washed many times.
Piyteur was the first to cry out, "Hey, groovy idea!" and jump in after them. Then, one by one, everyone but Blake leapt into the tie-dye river with a splash.
"Blake, come on!" urged Naomi.
"No. Just because all of you want to look like tie-dye Oompa-Loompas doesn't mean I should," the spoilsport replied.
"Fine. I'll get out." Naomi climbed onto the shore.
"Hey, where're you goin'?" asked Myki.
Naomi made as if to get into the Applebus. Then, Piyteur, Aubrey, and Ianthe pounced on Blake (for they had been sneaking up behind him when he had turned to watch Naomi walk over to the bus) and dragged him over to the river. He was unceremoniously dumped into the tie-dyed waters.
"That's better," said Naomi, who had run after the dunking committee. Blake scowled up at her. He sat there looking vaguely like a cat would when dropped in a lake, except that it was all in a kaleidoscope.
"Welcome to Tie-dye 101," said Maik, who had a green face.
"Here. You hate it so much, I'll help you out." Naomi extended a hand from where she stood on the bank to help Blake out. Instead of allowing himself to be pulled up out of the water, he yanked Naomi back in with a giant splash.
They cavorted in the torrent for a few hours. As they were leaving the warm waters, Blake looked sternly at the girls and Aubrey. He said, "You will NOT tell anyone at school."[*G*]
Elisay responded, "That is assuming we do get back to school. We might not."
Blake rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "You mean I'll have to put up with tie-dye for the rest of my life? Ohh."
The explorers were reseated in the Applebus after their little refreshing escapade. Daivi leaned forward and pressed the next button. It was in the shape of a horse.
No psychedelia occurred this time. Instead a darkness enveloped them. Even with the windows closed, it got in.
Ianthe was still fairly wet, wetter than anyone else for no apparent reason. [The long hair, maybe.] Everyone was cold, but she was freezing because the wind cut right through her chilled clothes and skin to the bone. She shivered from head to toe, and snuggled closer to Aubrey's side. He put his arm around her quaking shoulders and squeezed, attempting to convey extra warmth into Ianthe's quivering mass.
The world they emerged into was bleak and barren. All around were grey, brown, and black stones. They sky was filled with dark clouds. The harsh wind continued to blow, but not so strongly.
Everyone disembarked the bus. Ianthe stood where she had hopped out. Aubrey removed his Orioles jacket. "Here."
"A-a-aubr-br-brey, y-y-y-you're g-g-g-gonna f-f-f-f-freez-z-z-z-e," Ianthe protested.
"No, I'm not. You're already freezing, and I was getting a bit too warm. Wear it," Aubrey insisted.
"Y-y-you s-s-s-sure?" He nodded. "Th-th-th-thank-k-ks-s-s-s." Ianthe gathered the black and orange coat around her quaking frame.
Just then a creature approached them.
Floating about a foot above the ground, it looked like an over-grown dust-bunny.
It hovered before them silently, seeming to be surveying them. It must have approved, as it floated away into the distance.
"Don't tell me we shrunk, and we're under my bed…" Naomi muttered. "Feel better now, Blake?" she asked, her hand in his.
He nodded, a giant grin on his face. "Yup!"
Naomi groaned.
"I vote we push the next button," Elisay said. All agreed except Blake. Maik went to push the button anyway, but it was stuck. All of them [the buttons] were slightly damp from wet people climbing in the bus and getting splashed on. Since it was cold it was starting to frost them. "Uh-oh… this is not good," said Aubrey. "Not only is it a terrible background, it's getting cold."
"Ah have blankets in the outside compartment," Maik said. "Ah brought them for a picnic, but this will work!"
He slowly climbed out.
He rummaged in the compartment and found five blankets. "We'll have to double up," said Maik.
"I'll be with you, Elisay!" said Daphne immediately, and not without purpose. With them sharing a blanket, Daphne thought to herself, Aubrey would be forced to double with Ianthe, because Aubrey doubted that Naomi knew him enough for that, and he doubted that Blake liked him much at all. This would leave Naomi with Blake - also good.
Aubrey did flinch, though, when he realized that Blake didn't know anyone but her. Double with Ianthe, his secret romantic interest? "Um," he stammered to Maik, "do you have a 'buddy' yet?"
Daphne, seeing Ianthe's face fall, came to her aid. "Yes, they do. I saw them pick. Ianthe's the only one left, and there isn't room enough for three. C'mon, Aubrey, you read Middle Ages stuff. Where's your chivalry? Be polite to Ianthe."
To this, Daphne received two looks at once: a highly suspicious look from Aubrey, and a confused and questioning look from Maik, since they really hadn't paired up yet. But as Aubrey turned and looked back at Ianthe, wet and dripping, Daphne looked at Maik and his comrades and clasped her hands together (begging). When Myki mouthed "Why?", Daphne put her fists up to her shoulders in almost a hugging motion, the sign language for love. Myki didn't understand sign language well, but he got the idea, and by the time Aubrey had turned back, they had paired off Maik-Daivi, Myki-Piyteur. When Piyteur raised his eyebrows at Daphne, as if asking for her approval, Daphne grinned and mouthed "Thank you!"
"Why is everyone so quiet all of a sudden?" asked Aubrey. Daphne froze, knowing that Aubrey was very suspicious. But Ianthe returned Daphne's favor.
"I don't know," she said cheerfully. "Why is anyone ever quiet? Why is the sky blue? Why is anything the way it is?" (She could talk normally now, being warmer.)
"Why is everyone standing around freezing?" asked Daivi. "Shouldn't we go back in the bus and turn the heat on?"
"It doesn't work," replied Maik. "C'mon, guys. Let's huddle in."
Reluctantly, Aubrey pulled Ianthe's blanket over his shoulders.
Maik and Daivi were a ways away from the blankets of Elisay/Daphne, Naomi/Blake, and Ianthe/Aubrey. They looked on, with an occasional shiver.
"Nice of the pigtail girl to want them together," commented Daivi. "Wonder what he thinks, though."
"Hmm," said Maik. "Ah saw them holding hands earlier. She -the girl with the pigtails; was it Daphne? - probably figured they just needed a push."
"He'll land himself a nice girl if it works out," said Daivi. "She seems… oh, I don't know… young and innocent. A…"
"A… sweet kind of girl. Hmmm - yeah. They're all sort of like that, really. That Daphne girl trying to put Ianthe and Aubrey," (Maik pronounces Ianthe and Aubrey Ah-ayun-thee and Ah-bree), "together, and Ianthe being so innocent, and the one with Blake, Naomi, I think - she has more sarcasm with Blake than the others, but she obviously would do a lot for him and the rest of her friends. And Elisay, I think Daphne calls her, she just seems to have such fun all the time. Ah think they're all groovy kids."
"Yeah, sweet young things," said Daivi, still cold.
"Sweet young things… Ah lahke thay-ut," said Maik, in a moment of heavy drawl. "Maybe Ah'll use that phrase sometahme."
Meanwhile, Aubrey and Ianthe talked of unimportant little things, both a bit awkward at having wet clothes and wet arms pushed so close together. But Naomi was obviously enjoying her blanket-sharing. [Well, of course! *G*] Blake had closed his eyes and was falling asleep, and this left Naomi plenty of chances to grin at her friends, and to send a congratulatory look at Ianthe, who smiled shyly as she lost herself in Aubrey-land, as Daphne thought of it.
In mid-sentence, Aubrey stopped. He said instead, "Hold on. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere!"
Aubrey left the shelter of the Ianthe-warmed blanket and shivered at the absence of it. Ianthe shivered because two bodies in a blanket are warmer than one. She watched Aubrey walked towards the owners of the Applebus. "I'm confuzzed…" she muttered.
Aubrey had reached the four older men. He sat down, his shaggy hair still damp. "Hi guys. I need some advice."
"Wot about, Aubrey?" asked Daivi quizzically.
Aubrey sighed and lowered his voice. "I really like Ianthe, but I'm not sure if she really likes me of if she just wants to be my friend. And I hafta tell her somehow… but I don't know how!"
Piyteur smiled, causing his dimples to cut crevices in his cheeks. "Do what's in your heart to do. That's the best way. Don't be afraid to take chances. The result is usually worth it."
Myki grinned wide. He opened his mouth to say something and was about to say - [WHAT??? Daffy, don't leave me hangin' when it's Micky! - a Micky double, even! He was gonna say summat either not reassuring or inappropriate for Daffies. Ah. :::blows raspberry:::]
"Hold it rahght there, Myki. It's his heart, not yours. We're trahin' to encourage the man." Maik decided he was done yelling at Myki, and Piyteur took his hand off of Myki's mouth. Maik spoke to Aubrey. "Go get her, shotgun." [So after yelling at Myki for editorials, he throws in one of his own? *g*]
Aubrey walked slowly back, resisting the urge to just run over to Ianthe. When he finally did arrive there, Ianthe lifted the side of the blanket he'd been under, offering to share the warmth again. Under he went, allowing the comforting heat to seep into him. He could feel Ianthe's pulse from her wrist where it touched his arm. Then he did it.
"Ianthe," he said, the name coming out in a deep beckoning plea. In response, Ianthe turned her face towards him. For a moment they just gazed into each other's eyes. Then Ianthe leaned forward and kissed him.
Aubrey was at first shocked. He'd been about to do that, but he hadn't expected Ianthe to kiss him first. Then that millisecond of thought was over and he was lost in the pure joy.
A commotion started around them that they failed to notice. Myki, Maik, Daivi, and Piyteur all clapped and announced congratulations. Elisay smiled, and Daphne did too, but with a kind of satisfaction and shock. She hadn't expected Ianthe to do that! Naomi glanced at Blake next to her. He had woken up in all of the noise. He looked over at Ianthe and Aubrey and made a face. Naomi mock-glared at him and said, "Blake! Aubrey's not that bad. They like each other, so the least you can do is be nice!"
Blake rolled his eyes and sighed with exasperation. "Fine."
Myki crawled out from under the bus. (He'd climbed under after clapping and yelling.) "Hate to break everything up, but the van's working again. I hope."
Everyone got up and folded their blankets, which were put back in their compartments. That is of course except for Ianthe and Aubrey, who stayed where they were on the ground. Daphne tapped Ianthe lightly on the shoulder, then harder when she didn't respond. Ianthe pulled reluctantly out of the lingering kiss, and slowly raised her head to look at Daphne. "We're going to be leaving," Daphne prompted, pointing towards the VW van into which everyone else was piled.
Ianthe nodded, slowly digesting this information. "Give us a couple more minutes," she pleaded with a kind of suggestive half-smile.
Daphne smiled down on the pair. "Sure." She walked back to the psychedelic beacon in the monochromatic world around them.
Aubrey looked down into the deep eyes belonging to Ianthe. He laughed, "I certainly didn't expect you to do that. I was going to do about the exact same thing, 'cos I wanted to know if you just wanted to be my friend or not. I was tryin' to get advice from the guys, but they just told me to do what was in my heart. So I did."
"You didn’t have to worry 'bout that. For the longest time I've been worrying about how to tell you how I felt. An' this was the time I got brave enough to do it. It seemed like the best thing to do, an' I don't regret it at all." She swung her arms around his chest and rested her head on his shoulder. Aubrey gathered her up into his lap, and dropped a soft kiss on her forehead, and then glanced up at the Applebus.
Maik shouted to them, "Hey lovebirds, hurry it up!"
Aubrey whispered into Ianthe's ear, "They're waiting for us, an' I guess we'd better go. You warm enough? Dry?" Ianthe nodded. "We gotta get up." She hesitantly unwrapped her arms and helped him fold the blanet, which they returned to its compartment. When they were seated and buckled in, Piyteur, who now sat up front, pressed the next button. It was a plain black box.
Chapter Notes
On to the Black Box...