#girl'strip

[eviesmyspiritanimal]

Girls’ Trip Part 2

Summary: Evie, Mal, Uma, Audrey, and Jane go on a road trip to the beach for a three-day weekend. Evie’s driving and has road rage, Uma constantly pesters Audrey, Mal thinks it’s all kind of funny, and Jane’s wide-eyed and lovably clueless as usual. Friendship feels plus Jaudrey, Huma, Jarlos, Bal, as well as Hades and Mal father/daughter feels.

  “Look, you people, I’m going to sleep. This endless driving is boring me to death,” Audrey told them, shifting in her seat to get more comfortable. After a moment of positioning herself between Uma and Jane, Audrey closed her eyes with a contented sigh.

  Mal looked to the back seat, raising an eyebrow at Audrey in quiet consideration of how the trip had been anything but uninteresting for the pink princess all thanks to Uma.

  So far, Uma had spent all of her time shooting comments at Audrey and firing up an argument. Now that her main source of amusement was going to sleep, Uma likely wouldn’t know what to do with herself.

  Jane was peacefully looking out the window at the passing scenery, and Uma was sitting there with a bored expression on her face. Of course, Mal was sure that Uma was bored because she seemed to find it necessary to be fully entertained throughout the entire drive.

  Uma happened to look over at Audrey and her face lit up in the thrill of whatever idea that must have popped into her head. The pirate caught Mal’s gaze and she glanced between her foot and Audrey as she attempted to silently convey to Mal what she was planning.

  Mal immediately knew what Uma was planning and she just stared at her, unimpressed.

  Uma grinned wickedly as she comically waggled her eyebrows at Mal. Mal just shook her head, simultaneously trying to convey disapproval but also attempting to avoid laughing at what Uma was about to do.

  The dark-skinned girl first peeled off her shoe and sock carefully so she wouldn’t disturb the sleeping beauty beside her. As soon as she had removed the layers off of her bare foot, she leaned against the window and lifted it up toward Audrey’s face slowly. She just managed to press the bottom of her disgustingly sweaty foot against Audrey’s lips when the brunette’s eyes flew open and she started screeching loudly.

  “MY GOSH, GET YOUR GNARLY FOOT OUT OF MY FACE!!!!!” Audrey jumped as far as her seatbelt would let her in the opposite direction and successfully managed to elbow Jane in the stomach, knocking the breath out of her.

  “Audrey!” Jane wheezed, bringing her hands up to protect her torso from any more blows as she desperately attempted to recover from the hit.

  “Can’t I get a moment’s peace?!” Audrey shouted, and Uma just cackled loudly in response. Mal couldn’t help the smirk that came onto her face at the pink princess’ expense. She subtly looked over at Evie to see if she found it humorous, too, but she disappointedly noted that Evie was nowhere near as pleased as Mal was with the little trick.

  For a several moments, things were quiet except for Uma’s occasional laughs. Until Mal heard Audrey sniffing hard and coughing.

  “Why does it smell like a nasty, greasy hamburger in here?” Audrey questioned, dead serious as she looked at Jane. The young fairy girl just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders cluelessly. Mal watched Uma’s lips wobble in an attempt to keep the grin away, and Mal immediately knew what the smell was as soon as it hit her nose.

  After only a moment of consideration, Audrey seemed to quickly catch on.

  “EW! Your feet are absolutely horrid!” Audrey cried, hiding her nose under her shirt as she tried to avoid the stench.

  Uma just grinned widely, chuckling. Jane quickly followed Audrey in her hiding. As soon as it hit Evie’s nose, she started gagging, her eyes watering while she tried to focus on her driving in the midst of the pandemonium. Mal shrugged her shoulders, mostly unbothered by the smell.

  “Dang, you remember when we were little and we’d compete to see who could smell the worst?” Uma asked Mal, and the green-eyed girl nodded her head with a smile.

  “Heck, yeah, I do! That was what we were raised on. Foot funk and fish breath,” Mal shared a laugh with Uma. Evie’s eyes went wide as she glanced at Mal.

  “You two competed over that?!” Evie squeaked, and Mal shrugged her shoulders.

  “Yeah. It was practically the glue that held us together,” Mal grinned as she looked back at the pirate. Uma just grinned, offering up her hand. Mal hit it in a high-five and Uma laced her fingers with Mal’s, squeezing firmly.

  “You guys are disgusting,” Jane mumbled as she rolled the car window down to get some fresh air.

  Mal let go of Uma as she readjusted herself in her seat with a contented look on her face.

  “I think I’m going to puke,” Evie spoke after a few moments and Mal could see the strange look in her eyes as she gripped the wheel tightly. Mal grunted in response before laying her head back against the seat.

  “Uma, put your shoe back on,” Mal instructed. Uma groaned in resignation and she pulled on her sock and shoe. Mal rolled down Uma’s window from her panel on her door, and there was a collective sigh of relief amongst the three suffering girls.

  “Auradon’s made you a fun-sucker, Mal,” Uma grumbled, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the wind in her face while they cruised down the road.

  All of a sudden, however, there was a loud thump, and everyone was thrown upward in their seats. Mal clung onto the armrest and Jane was deathly quiet.

  “The heck?!” Uma shouted and Audrey squeaked. There was thunderous rattling and shaking and Evie quickly pulled over.

  They sat for a moment on the side of the road, their eyes wide and not really knowing what to say.

  “What was that?” Jane finally questioned, and it seemed that Evie was spurred into action. She hopped out of the car as fast as she could, and she hurried over to the front of the car.

  She kneeled down beside her prized Jeep and to her horror and surprise, it was a very much flat tire that had sent them into the wobbling frenzy. Evie straightened, looking quite perplexed indeed as the other girls slowly poured out of the car.

  “E, what happened?” Mal asked, and Evie furrowed her brow in thought as she silently considered what they were going to do.

  “Looks like a flat to me,” Uma pointed out finally as she kicked the tire on her way by. Evie shot her a nasty look for kicking Charlene, and she moved around to the back of the Jeep to look at the spare on the back.

  “Hey, Mal, Uma, can you two come help me?” Evie called, and the two in question strode over to assist.

  Uma took the left side, Mal took the right, and Evie grabbed the middle as they heaved it upwards. Once it was off of its mount, they scurried over to the left side of the Jeep.

  “Good grief, did you have to pick out the biggest dang tires available?!” Uma grunted as she hauled the tire.

  “I wanted something with a little lift,” Evie breathily replied as they sat it down and leaned it against the flat tire.

  They stood there catching their breaths for a moment until Mal finally addressed the inevitable.

  “How are we going to change it?” Mal asked bluntly, looking over at Evie with an eyebrow raise. Uma shrugged her shoulders and looked at Audrey wickedly.

  “So, Princess, you gonna show us how it’s done?” Uma challenged with a grin. The pink-clad girl glanced over at her and she was swiftly approaching a state of hysteria.

  “I don’t know how to change a tire!” Audrey cried, pacing around the side of the car. “We’re going to be stuck out here in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no help and no food and no water and no WIFI!!!” Audrey screeched and everyone looked over at her with an unimpressed expression. Audrey sobered a bit, seeming to realize how ridiculous that sounded. “Well, you know… the no help part is really bad.”

  “I think I have some tools in the back that Carlos left in there. We need to raise Charlene up,” Evie decided, and looked pointedly at Mal, Uma, and Audrey. They stared blankly back at her for a moment and then it dawned upon Uma and Mal exactly what she was asking them to do.

  Mal silently walked over to the side of the car and Uma followed her with a groan. Audrey still hadn’t gotten the message, so she was just gaping at them as they grabbed the underside of the car, trying to lift it.

  To their aggravation, they couldn’t even get it off the ground, but they still worked to raise it up. Audrey’s eyes went wide as she realized what she was asked to do.

  “No way! I am not putting my hands underneath that nasty, greasy vehicle!”

  “Don’t call Charlene nasty! It’s okay, baby, she doesn’t mean it,” Evie patted the metal of the door as she went around the Jeep and started digging through the back of it.

  “Hey, you finding those tools back there?!” Uma called after a moment, her voice strained. Mal’s brow was furrowed as she worked to hold it up.

  “And while you’re back there, do you think you could look for a jack?” Mal added smartly and glanced at Uma.

  “Jackpot!” Evie suddenly cried and came around the Jeep with a jack in tow. Mal and Uma let go of the vehicle quickly, sighing in relief at the feeling of not having to lift a heavy car.

  “You know, that was kind of funny. Me saying jackpot because I found a jack,” Evie laughed suddenly as she recognized the irony of her statement. Jane joined in until Uma and Mal looked at them both with a bored expression. Their giggles died down quickly and Evie cleared her throat awkwardly.

  “Okay… I think me and Uma should take care of this. You and Jane have to get back in the car after your horrifying attempt at humor,” Mal directed and Evie just poked out her lip in protest.

  “I thought it was funny,” Evie pouted. Audrey rolled her eyes, looking up from her phone as she studied the bluenette.

  “It was good for a dad joke,” Audrey deadpanned and Mal and Uma couldn’t help but laugh at Evie’s expense.

  “Alright, Evie put your jack down here and let’s see what we can do for ol’ Charlene,” Uma instructed, and Evie placed the jack beneath the underside of the Jeep. Evie looked through the tools that Carlos had in the container and she furrowed her brow.

  Uma and Mal closely examined the tire and Uma shared a glance with the faerie before jerking the hubcap off of the wheel. Evie immediately glared at the two.

  “Be careful with her!” Evie scolded, as she went back to trying to see which tool she should pull out. Out of sheer boredom, Audrey strolled over to look over her shoulder at the tool selection.

  “Y’know, I think Chad used that one when he changed my tire,” Audrey pointed in a vague direction at some tool. Evie held one up.

  “This one?”

  “No, that one,” Audrey waved her hand again, mostly focused on her phone that was not currently working.

  Mal furrowed her brow as she examined the lug nuts. Uma raised an eyebrow and she turned to face Evie, who was very conveniently holding the tool she needed.

  “Hand me that, would you?” Uma requested, extending her hand. Evie gave it to her as she started sifting through more of the assorted paraphernalia that was in the box.

  Mal wordlessly waved Jane over while Audrey was still trying to help Evie pick a tool.

  “Jack us up,” Mal instructed, and the blue-eyed girl quickly complied as she kneeled just behind Evie.

  “I’m telling you, Audrey, this looks right,” Evie told her, holding up a screwdriver. Audrey rolled her eyes.

  “Nope, that is definitely not it. Does that look like it’s going to loosen anything besides the screws in your swing-set behind your house?” Audrey questioned, quickly shifting her gaze back to her phone as she raised it up higher in an attempt to gain connectivity.

  “It might go faster if you help me look, Auds,” Evie stated just before the flat tire came down on the ground beside her with a thud. She jumped in surprise and looked over at the three girls bent down beside Charlene.

  Mal and Uma eyed her with a smirk and Jane looked quite pleased with herself.

  “You think you could stop trying to help us replace the tire and help us replace the tire?” Jane suddenly told Evie, and Uma looked over at the shy girl with wide eyes.

  “Dang, girl, did you really just sass her? You took my opportunity!” Uma cried and Mal chuckled in response, clapping her on the shoulder.

  “I’m proud of you, Jane. You’ve learned something from me after all,” Mal expressed with a mischievous smile sent toward Evie.

  The bluenette rolled her eyes and she got up to help them lift the tire. The three of them heaved it upwards and slid it onto the lug bolts. Uma tightened the lug nuts while Mal and Evie held the tire steady.

  Jane then lowered the jack slowly and the car gradually sunk to the ground. Uma did some final checks and then high-fived Mal as they stood up.

  Just as Evie was about to speak, Audrey suddenly interrupted.

  “Hey! I’ve finally got internet connection!” Audrey cried victoriously, but quickly quieted upon the realization that everyone was getting back into the car. She ran over to Jane’s side of the Jeep. “Wait for me!”

[eviesmyspiritanimal]

Girl’s Trip Part 9

Summary:  Evie, Mal, Uma, Audrey, and Jane go on a road trip to the beach for a three-day weekend. Evie’s driving and has road rage, Uma constantly pesters Audrey, Mal thinks it’s all kind of funny, and Jane’s wide-eyed and lovably clueless as usual. Friendship and family feels.

  Jane took the phone to start dialing the number. She sighed heavily, dreading deeply the conversation that was about to follow her call.

  “Here goes nothing,” she murmured under her breath before pressing the numbers and tapping call.

  It rang for a few moments, and to Jane’s chagrin, the person on the other end answered.

  “Hello? Fairy Godmother’s office, how might I help you today?” Fairy Godmother questioned and Jane took in a breath to speak.

  “Hi, Mom…”

  “Jane! Hi, sweetie, are you at the beach house? Tell me, have you seen any dolphins? And is dear Uma behaving herself with Audrey?” her mother bombarded her with questions. Jane cleared her throat nervously, preparing to finally drop the bomb.

  “Well… We didn’t exactly make it to the beach house,” Jane told her.

  “What do you mean? Are you broken down on the side of the road? Jane, dear, don’t unlock the doors in case of unsavory characters,” Fairy Godmother instructed, and Jane sighed.

  “We got pulled over by the police,” Jane started, and her mother gasped.

  “Is Evie driving like a nutcase again?! Goodness, I know we should’ve let Jay teach her how to drive instead of Mal.”

  “She got pulled over for speeding… And we’re kind of sort of in,” Jane trailed off, glancing around the whole place, “jail…”

  “Bibbidi bobbidi, you’re where?!” Fairy Godmother nearly deafened Jane’s right ear. The blue-eyed girl winced, holding the phone out from her ear in the midst of her mother’s screeching.

  “Mom, they think we stole stuff from this gas station, and they’ve brought us in for questioning,” Jane explained desperately, knowing that her mother was already past the point of no return as soon as the word jail passed her lips.

  “WHAT!” Fairy Godmother cried out. “I can’t believe they’d do this! Did you tell them who you were?”

  “Yeah, and Mal and Audrey did, too. They didn’t believe us… I really thought that they would’ve recognized Audrey, though.”

  “Which police station are you at and what’s the name of the officer that brought you in?” Fairy Godmother suddenly questioned suspiciously.

  “We’re in Cinderellasburg. And his name is Barney, I think,” Jane told her. Her mother immediately groaned at the name.

  “That explains it. Ooh!” Fairy Godmother angrily exclaimed. “That nincompoop! He always used to arrest people before he found all the proof! I guess he’s still in the habit of it.”

  “Can you get Ben and everybody and bring them here to fix this? This stupid police station is keeping us in this holding cell so we don’t run away while they’re getting ready to question us,” Jane informed her, hoping to keep her mother from the rant that was sure to follow.

  “Of course, dear, we’ll be right there,” Fairy Godmother assured her.

  They exchanged a few final words and Jane finally hung up.

  “’Bout time you were done!” Barney cried out, handcuffing her and pulling her along back to the holding cell.

  Jane complied without a protest and soon she was back in the exact same position that she was when she had first mentioned making a call. Barney unlocked her handcuffs and set her free inside the cell with the other four.

  Mal immediately stood up and strode over to her, taking her hands.

  “Who did you call?” Mal asked, and Jane sighed.

  “I called Mom, and she’s bringing everybody to come and undo this mess,” Jane told her. Mal nodded, squeezing her hands fondly and moving over to the bars to lean back against them casually.

  However, just as she did, a policeman brought in a man through the halls, taking him to another lockdown area. Mal glanced behind her and looked away in boredom.

  As the man moved down the hall toward them, he looked up and spotted Audrey standing there. He suddenly got a big, wolfish grin on his face as he unashamedly looked her up and down.

  Evie couldn’t help but immediately feel sorry for Audrey, knowing how it felt to be leered at like that.

  “Hey, there, baby!” Audrey shifted her gaze to him, and her eyes widened at the sight of the disgusting man. She took a step back in disgust.

  “How about you shoot me your number and we can have some fun after our time in the pen, just you and me?” he asked her, and Uma grinned at the look on Audrey’s face at the very implication of that statement.

  “I have a boyfriend!” Audrey proclaimed angrily.

  “What about a manfriend, hottie?” the guy flirted, and Audrey turned her back to him. He wolf-whistled and Audrey quickly turned back to face him, completely offended by his behavior.

  He just chuckled at her expression as the cop shoved him past their cell.

  Uma walked up to the bars and watched until he was out of sight. As soon as he was gone, she turned to the pink princess with a big grin.

  “So, hottie, you gonna get you a manfriend?” Uma asked with a cackle and Audrey growled in response.

  “Jay’s all the man I need,” Audrey ground out, still creeped out by the man.

  “Really? ‘Cuz that guy didn’t seem to think so,” Uma pointed out with a wicked smile.

  “How would you feel if it was you that he asked?” Audrey asked.

  “I’d punch him in the face so hard that he’d have to run his toothbrush up his rear end just to brush his teeth every night,” Uma laughed, and Mal raised an eyebrow, impressed.

  “Wow… You go, girl,” Mal expressed with a thumbs-up.

  “Well… Well, I’d slap his face so hard that it left a mark!” Audrey announced, trying to top Uma’s comment.

  “Sit down before you hurt yourself,” Uma pointed at the bench. Audrey just huffed in response as Evie stood up and joined Mal nearby the bars of the cell.

  Mal smiled at her sweetly and Evie gladly returned it with one of her own.

  “How long do you think we’ll be here before the boys come?” Evie asked. Mal shrugged, not really having a particularly good answer to that.

  “I really don’t know. Hopefully soon. I’m getting sick of being in the slammer,” Mal told her with a slight laugh. Evie nodded in agreeance.

  There were a few beats of silence and Audrey suddenly spoke.

  “I have to pee.”

  “Dang, what is with you and bodily fluids?!” Uma questioned disgustedly.

  “I don’t know, I just have to pee,” Audrey told her. “Where am I going to go?”

  Mal glanced around the room and her gaze homed in on a particular item in the cell.

  “Thorn, your deluxe latrine is awaiting you in the corner,” Mal told her. Audrey looked where Mal had mentioned, and she nearly turned inside out at the mere sight of the toilet that was sitting there.

  Audrey hesitantly approached it, and was very thankful when she saw that it wasn’t clogged like the toilet at the Jify-Journey. However, there was a serious privacy issue and if absolutely anyone walked through that door, they’d see her.

  But she guessed that a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do. There was no other toilets and her only option was to go right in front of everyone.

  Audrey swallowed hard, trying to collect all of her nerve before even attempting to use it. It was so hard for her to let go of her accustomedness to nice, clean commodities.

  “Okay, you guys all turn around and keep an eye out for anybody that might come in,” Audrey instructed with a deep sigh, and Evie and Mal easily complied, facing the door to provide a barrier between Audrey and any intruders.

  Jane joined them and Uma slowly turned around as well.

  The four of them stood along the cell’s bars as they kept Audrey covered from view.

  Uma raised an eyebrow as she glanced at the other three with a wicked smile. Mal returned her look, wondering what she had planned.

  “Hey, Officer,” Uma suddenly spoke to the empty hall. Mal held back the urge to laugh.

  “What’re you girls doing?” Evie surprisingly spoke up in a surprisingly good impression of Barney. When Mal looked at her in questioning, the corners of her lips curved up in a mischievous smile. Evie and Uma kept their face positioned forward so Audrey couldn’t see that it was them talking.

  Because they were standing in front of the bars, Audrey also couldn’t see that there was no one in the hall at all.

  “Oh, nothing. One of us is just taking a whiz. She won’t be long,” Uma couldn’t keep up the act and she laughed. The other girls quickly joined in, enjoying Uma’s joke.

  “My gosh, I seriously thought he was coming! You guys are mean!” Audrey cried out in frustration.

  They were quieted for a little while save for the occasional chuckle until Audrey spoke up.

  “What am I supposed to wipe with?”

  “There’s two options here. You either shake it off, or you wipe with your sleeve. Since you aren’t wearing long sleeves, I reckon it’s gonna be your arm,” Uma cruelly explained, and Audrey cried out in horror.

   Mal tried to avoid finding humor in it, but she inevitably snorted at Uma’s assessment. However, Evie and Jane looked severely grossed out.

  “You are disgusting!”

[eviesmyspiritanimal]

Girls’ Trip Part 5

Summary: Evie, Mal, Uma, Audrey, and Jane go on a road trip to the beach for a three-day weekend. Evie’s driving and has road rage, Uma constantly pesters Audrey, Mal thinks it’s all kind of funny, and Jane’s wide-eyed and lovably clueless as usual. Friendship feels plus Jaudrey, Huma, Jarlos, Bal, as well as Hades and Mal father/daughter feels.

  “Hold your tongue out of your mouth and say pirate ship,” Uma instructed, and Evie couldn’t resist using one hand to try it out.

  “Pile-a shi,” Evie spoke and she confusedly listened to her voice as Uma burst into boisterous, and nigh drunken laughter.

  “Pile-a shi!” Evie exclaimed once again, and Uma just laughed harder. Mal shook her head with a grin and couldn’t help but enjoy Uma’s humor.

  “I think you’re trying to get her to say a dirty word,” Jane told her, her statement quickly followed by a big yawn.

  “That’s kind of the idea,” Mal told her with a tired chuckle. Audrey yawned in response and closed her eyes as she leaned back against the seat, the darkness of the outside starting to lull her to sleep.

  “Let’s look for a place to stop,” Mal murmured to Evie, noting the exhausted aura emanating from the backseat. The bluenette nodded, feeling her own eyelids start to grow heavy at the idea of stopping.

  Mal reached over and put her hand on Evie’s that was resting on the wheel, squeezing it gently in an attempt to keep her awake. The bluenette looked over at the green-eyed girl gratefully and she removed her hand from the wheel, lacing her fingers with Mal’s firmly as she straightened.

  “Pirate ship,” Uma mumbled under her breath with a chuckle, nearly incoherently as Audrey subconsciously frowned at the sound of Uma’s mirth.

  After a few more long minutes of driving, Evie spotted a small, cozy-looking motel on the side of the road that looked like it would work excellently for an overnight stay. She slowed Charlene and turned her carefully so that she was in the parking lot of the building.

  Evie turned off the car with a sigh and looked at Mal with a soft, loving smile. Mal responded with an upward curl of her lips as she turned to look back at Uma, Jane, and Audrey.

  The pink princess currently had her head resting on Uma’s shoulder as she snoozed quietly, and Uma’s head was leaned against the window, her eyes shut as well. Jane was awake but barely, and her head kept dipping and raising back up in a manner that was reminiscent of a sleepy toddler.

  Evie and Mal got out of the car quietly, locking the doors on the car as they headed for the inside of the motel to buy rooms for the five of them.

  They walked in and the first thing that Evie noticed about the place was that it desperately needed a change in lighting. The harsh fluorescent glow of the bulbs hanging from the ceiling did not give off a welcoming atmosphere.

  There was a wrinkly old man and woman working behind the counter and when Mal and Evie approached them, they turned quickly. Evie sucked in a breath of terror upon the sight of the two of them.

  They were almost like twins from a creepy movie. Their eyes were wide and were almost protruding from their skulls and they suddenly smiled at the two girls.

  Evie glance at Mal, bordering on completely horrified and ready to run, but noted that Mal seemed completely unbothered by the two elderly people.

  “Hello, sweeties,” the old woman spoke to the both of them with a snaggle-toothed grin. “What can we do for you?” She sounded so falsely sweet. Almost like the wicked witch with Hansel and Gretel that almost ate them.

  Evie was about to bolt when Mal grabbed her arm firmly, keeping her grounded there beside her.

  “Yes, actually. We would like a room. There’s five of us in all,” Mal explained and the old man slowly tilted his head to the side.

  “Of course. We only have one bed, though. I hope that’s not a problem,” the fellow explained, and Evie could’ve sworn that he was practically leering at her with his creepy gaze. Mal hesitated for a moment, considering what he had said, but she quickly recovered, agreeing easily.

  “No, that’s not a problem. Will this work for payment?” Mal questioned, offering her credit card. The two smiled widely and nodded eagerly.

  “Certainly. Just give me a moment,” the woman took the card carefully and scanned it before handing it back to Mal.

  “Here’s your keys,” the old man offered them to Evie with a wink, and she couldn’t restrain her flinch as his hand approached her. Mal fortunately saved her from having to take them from him, simply grabbing them herself.

  “Oh, and my name’s Rose and his name is Ross. We’re twins,” the elderly woman introduced, and Evie felt a jolt of fear run through her veins upon the realization that they were just like those creepy twins that she had remembered.

  “We’ve got a pool out back if you feel like taking a dip,” the man told them. “And if you need anything at all or have any more questions, be sure to just come down and ask.”

  “Okay, then! We’ll get our friends and head upstairs,” Mal smiled sincerely, turning and starting for the door. Evie stayed close behind her, feeling increasingly unnerved as she considered the experience.

  As soon as they were out the door, Evie launched into her desperate plea.

  “M, let’s not stay here!”

  “Why not?”

  “Did you see those people?!” Evie frantically questioned. “That old man was ogling me!”

  “Evie, he was not ogling you. He looked at you only twice.”

  “He winked at me!” Mal simply rolled her eyes as she started to open her door on the Jeep.

  “Oh, and they’re twins! That’s a definite sign of evil demons!” Evie quickly added as she clung onto Mal’s arm tightly in the midst of her fear-induced hysteria.

  “E, you’re practically smothering what could be considered an evil demon right now,” Mal couldn’t help but remind her as she waited patiently for Evie to release her.

  “Yeah, but you’re a sweet demon,” Evie explained, letting go of Mal finally. The purple-haired girl sighed and shook her head at Evie with a small smile before opening the door.

  She leaned in and looked at the three in the back before climbing in and gently shaking Jane awake.

  “Come on, we’re stopped for the night. We’ve got a room at this place,” Mal spoke softly, but still loudly enough that she would perhaps awaken the other two as well.

  Jane blinked drowsily and looked up at Mal with a confused expression, shifting her bleary gaze over to the sign just outside her window. She stretched slowly, trying to wake up enough to get out the car door without falling on her face.

  Uma’s mouth had actually managed to fall open, and drool was oozing ever so slightly out the side of her mouth as she snored quietly.

  Mal reached over and squeezed Uma’s knee gently in hopes that it would wake her up. Sure enough, it turned out that Uma was a very light sleeper and she jerked awake, wiping away the drool from her face as she stared at Mal wildly.

  “Uma?” Mal asked and Uma shook her head as if she were clearing it, quickly gaining a more alert look to her.

  “Did I scare you?” Mal asked. Uma shrugged and cleared her throat, looking down at the princess that had decided to make her shoulder a pillow. Uma moved her shoulder underneath Audrey and the girl slowly rose up, looking around in a daze.

  “Where are we?” Audrey sleepily asked.

  “At a motel. We’re going to crash here for the night,” Mal informed her as she pulled out her and Evie’s suitcases, getting out the vehicle. Uma was the first to join Mal and Evie, her arms raised in a gargantuan stretch.

  “Hmm… The Cozy Cottage? Sounds like something out of a horror story,” Uma commented as Audrey and Jane crawled out of the vehicle behind them.

  Audrey emerged with a suitcase that was no doubt packed to the brim with clothes, and Jane moved around Audrey, leaned in the backseat, and took her own suitcase out of the back of the Jeep.

  “Uma, do you want me to get your suitcase, too?” Jane offered and Uma agreed, yawning as she sidled up to Mal.

  Jane pulled out Uma’s suitcase as well as her own, and the five of them walked in the motel.

  “You girls have a nice night and sleep well,” the two old people synchronously expressed, and Jane nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of them. Uma was complete unbothered and didn’t even pay attention to them. Evie clung on tighter to Mal, and Audrey just looked at them with a strange expression.

  “You, too,” Audrey automatically replied, the lesson to respect one’s elders firmly instilled within her.

  The three of them went upstairs and Mal read the number on her keychain that she was given.

  “Number thirteen,” Mal spoke aloud.

  “That’s an unlucky number,” Uma unhelpfully noted. Mal just shrugged and was practically dragging Evie down the hall at this point.

   “M, this has got sudden death and murder written all over it! Let’s go back to the car!” Evie cried, pulling on the shorter girl. Mal grunted as she attempted to yank the bluenette behind her.

  “Evie, I promise it’s fine, c’mon!” Mal struggled, failing miserably at dragging Evie because the brown-eyed girl’s feet were locked into the carpet.

  “Thorn, do you mind carrying this for me?” Mal told her, proffering her suitcase in Audrey’s direction as she tugged. Audrey nodded, taking it from her easily.

  After a few more moments of this torturous endeavor, Uma took pity on Mal and grabbed Evie’s other arm. Between the faerie and the pirate, they managed to get her into their room.

  As soon as Audrey walked in, she was highly displeased.

  “There’s one bed?” Audrey asked. Jane came in behind the princess and Uma quickly shut the door before letting go of Evie. Mal tried to release Evie, too, but it didn’t work in the least because at this point, Evie was too freaked out to even think of letting go.

  “Yeah. They only had one available,” Mal informed her. Audrey winced, imagining what it was going to be like to share a bed with the one person that loved to torture her most.

  “Well, might as well get changed into your jammies,” Uma announced, taking her suitcase from Jane and throwing it onto the bed. She opened it and pulled out her nightshirt and thin tights. She then proceeded to rip off her shirt.

  Jane headed to the restroom with her clothes and Audrey returned Mal’s suitcase to her, waiting by the bathroom door for her turn to enter.

  Mal along with the blue koala bear on her back headed over to the other side of the bed to change. Mal sat her suitcase down on the bed and tried diligently to pry Evie off of her.

  “You need to change. I’ll be right here,” Mal told her, truly not understanding this absurd fear of Evie’s but she was willing to be patient with her.

   Evie hesitantly began changing and Mal quickly followed suit.

  Before long, everyone was changed, and they were trying to figure out the bed hierarchy.

  “I’ll sleep on an end. It ain’t no biggie,” Uma offered and Mal slowly nodded.

  “I’ll sleep on a far side, too. Evie and Audrey should sandwich Jane. She looks terrified,” Mal murmured to Audrey as well as Uma and completely inevitably to Evie.

  It was very unfortunately true. Jane was jumping at every sound and every motion, looking ready to bolt. The other three easily agreed with her idea upon the sight of the poor young girl.

  Mal pulled back the quilts with Uma’s help and Uma settled in on one side. Audrey crawled up and settled down a considerable distance from Uma.

  “Evie, lay down, would you?” Evie didn’t really listen well, and Mal assumed she was still stuck on the old people from earlier. Mal looked Evie in the eyes.

  “Take a deep breath and calm down. It’s fine. Me and Uma could kick those old people’s butts easy. I have magic, and two little elderly twins aren’t going to be able to stand up to that,” Mal explained to her.

  “Is there any question of whether I could crack open a can of whoop-butt? I mean seriously, y’all. Check out these guns,” Uma confidently told them as she flexed her arms from her place laying on the bed. Audrey scoffed, rolling her eyes.

  “Jay’s got you beat by a mile. Have you seen his arms?” Audrey told Uma, a ridiculously dopey grin on her face at the mere thought of the muscles on her boyfriend.

  “Uh… No… But since we’re in a measuring contest with the boys, Harry’s biceps are bigger,” Uma smiled widely.

  “I think you’re a pirate ship,” Audrey told her, and everyone couldn’t help but laugh at Audrey’s attempt of using Uma’s phrase against her. It wasn’t very well-executed, but it was humorous.

  Mal could see Evie relaxing and unwinding from her earlier panic as she eased down and sat in the bed. Mal caught Uma’s gaze, mouthing a thank you. Uma just winked at her, keeping up her banter with Audrey.

  They settled in the bed, Jane in the center, and everyone couldn’t help but notice how crowded and hot and uncomfortable it was.

  “Get your cold feet off me!” Audrey cried out, jerking her legs away from Uma’s freezing toes. She paused before moving back over to the dark-skinned girl’s feet. “On second thought, bring them back, it might cool me down from this horribly uncomfortable bed.”

  There was a creak of the mattress as Audrey shifted on the bed, and Jane nearly came unhinged.

  “Guys, what was that noise?” Jane suddenly questioned, pulling the covers up to her nose as she gazed wide-eyed around the room. The many shadows dancing on the wall didn’t help her nervousness at all.

  “I think I heard it, too,” Evie suddenly spoke, and Mal resisted the urge to groan as Evie wrapped herself around the purple-haired girl.

  “Great, Jane, you’ve got Evie being paranoid again,” Mal couldn’t help but comment. “Girls, it was the bed making noise.”

  “I think you’re a hotbox or something, because you’re producing heat like a fire,” Uma told Audrey, trying to scoot closer to the edge and further away from the pink princess.

  “OW! Something bit me!” Audrey yelped, and Uma rose up a little bit to look at her. “You pinched me, didn’t you?” Audrey accused the pirate. Uma rolled her eyes, flopping back down on the bed.

  “Whatever you have to tell yourself. I didn’t touch you, though,” Uma replied. Audrey yelped again at the feel of another nipping sensation.

  “You’re pinching me!” Audrey insisted.

  “I’m not touching you! You see my hands?” Uma questioned, turning and holding them in front of Audrey’s face.

  “Don’t touch me, you pincher!” Audrey offendedly proclaimed.

  “I’m not touching!” Uma told her, edging her hands forward until they were almost in contact with Audrey’s face.

  “You’re touching!”

  “Not touching!”

  “Would you shut up?!” Mal finally exclaimed, and the other four jumped at her sudden outburst.

  “Ouch!” Evie suddenly squeaked, and Mal turned her head incrementally to look at her.

  “If you start whining about me pinching you, too, I’m throwing you off the bed,” Uma suddenly announced just as Jane squeaked in pain.

  “What is biting me?!” Jane exclaimed, and Mal finally felt what the three people in the middle were experiencing. Mal reached underneath her swiftly, pulling out the small perpetrator. Mal groaned and flicked the small creature across the room.

  “It’s bed bugs, you guys,” Mal groaned, and she steeled herself for the inevitable tirade that was surely to follow her statement.

  “Bed bugs?!!!” Audrey immediately screeched and Mal buried her face in the pillow with a groan, Evie still clinging to her smaller form.

  “You’ll get used to it,” Uma explained, repositioning herself on the mattress so that she was laying on her back.

  “I can’t sleep in a bed with bugs!” Audrey cried out.

  “Don’t worry, I don’t really think there’s that many anyway. You would be getting practically eaten alive by now if there were a lot of them,” Mal reassured her.

  Audrey shifted uncomfortably at the very idea of remaining in the bed. She didn’t want to stay in it, but she didn’t want to sleep in the uncomfortable car either.

   There were several beats of silence until Jane jerked, startling Evie who just grabbed onto Mal tighter.

  “Guys, I heard something!”

  “DANGIT, GO TO SLEEP!”