CCX: Again, sorry for putting this on hold for so long. I’m trying to decide when the best place to pick this up is. Do I go through with a possible plan to pick it up the very next day, or skip ahead to spring break? Both such tantalizing possibilities…Agh, so hard to write this if I’m not in the right frame of mind!

Chapter 9

March 7, 2008 (yeah, I skipped ahead)

“So you’re bringing me down to your family’s beach house in Florida…but I’m not going to get any ‘special time’ with you because Brandon’s coming also, and you guys are bringing a fourth for appearances’ sake?”

“Yep. You’re going to have to at least pretend to be straight.”

“Wait…where exactly in Florida is this?”

“Apollo Beach.”

“Apollo Beach…” Caroline looked it up on a map of Florida and saw exactly where it was. “You’re going to drag me to Yankees spring training games, aren’t you?” she asked similarly.

“You bet your sweet ass I am.”

“Yeah, well, you can forget all about that sweet ass, Mari. Geez, if our vacation was a little later, that’d be okay, but…”

“Disappointed that the game against the Red Sox isn’t on there? Okay, yeah, I guess I am, too.” She looked at the schedule. “Why the hell are they playing so many games against the Devil Rays, anyway?”

“I think they officially dropped the ‘Devil’ from their name.”

“I should care why?”

“…Good point.” (…the author writes as the Rays are a mere six outs away from clinching a spot in the World Series. And, yes, I’m actually working from the Yanks’ spring training schedule.)

“Well, I’m sure I’ll find someone nice down there.”

“Way to be positive, Pixie.”

“Why must you continue to call me that?”

“Because you’re small and perky, and it’s both really endearing and really annoying.” (CCX: Speaking of annoying, you want your continuity gag, go back a chapter. Technically, Chapter 9 of Dream was only the eighth chapter anyway.)

“You really do love me, don’t you?”

“I’ve stopped hating you. It’s still fun to torment you, though.”

“Yeah, I feel the same way. Especially about your unwillingness to admit to yourself what you are.”

“You’re not exactly out of the closet yourself, sweetie.”

“I made my confession. I just did it while pretending to be drunk. What people often forget is that the problem with drunks is that they have no restraint and often blurt things out that they’re not supposed to. Like secrets. There are probably some people who saw my confession there as real.”

“Assuming they remembered it the next morning. Most of us were pretty wasted. How, precisely, were you not, anyway?”

“You just assumed I was a lightweight because I’m so tiny. Obviously you’ve forgotten my Irish heritage. Also, I started watering my drinks down once it started to look like I was going to lose the bet.”

Marisol rolled her eyes at this explanation. “We were drinking beer. Out of cans.”

“…So?” Caroline replied.

Marisol laughed. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Throw me to the ground and ravish me?” she asked teasingly, and maybe slightly hopefully.

A few hours later and a number of miles further south…

“The boys will take care of our stuff, won’t they?” Marisol said pointedly to Brandon and Justin.

“You’re not seriously going to make them do everything, are you?”

“Well…Fine, I guess I can help. You go ahead.”

“That’s…sweet. I think…I haven’t decided if it’s really a backhanded insult that you don’t want me to carry anything.”

“No, it’s just the ‘gentlemanly’ thing to do,” she cracked back. (Yeah, and so much for “six outs away” This was written during Game 5.)

“Yeah, whatever…” She took the key and opened the door, and it was fortunate that she wasn’t carrying anything, because she no doubt would’ve dropped it. “I’ll, er, come back later…”

“Is something wrong, Caroline?” Mari joined her. “Oh, hello, Ricky. I see you have company.” (Upon further review, we already did the “naked first impression” gag with Caroline and Marisol’s initial meeting. However, this gag came to me separately, as I was preparing to once more go off to college to live on campus, and still under the impression that I’d be having a roommate. I just imagined walking in on my new roommate and finding him with a girl in the room and not expecting me to arrive.) “Hi. Marisol Sanchez.”

The blonde in the bed looked stunned. “…Tanya Bellero.”

“We’re going to have to get better at coordinating these things,” her partner replied, and she turned to him and said, “What about the voice?”

“Not now, Tanya; we’ll have time for more games later.” He got dressed.

“The voice? You been doing your Antonio Banderas impression again?” Ricky nodded.

“Ah, Ricardo, I didn’t know you were going to be here,” Brandon said, arriving with the rest of the stuff. “You remember Justin, right?”

“Only vaguely. I thought you and Mari broke up.”

“We did. We just haven’t stopped seeing each other.”

“Is someone going to clue me in?” Caroline asked.

“You’re a smart girl; you should be able to figure it out,” Mari replied. “This is my older brother Ricky. He’s a senior at West Point.”

“Wow. Is that where you met Tanya?”

“Nah, she's a Vol. I don’t remember this girl. Friend from Conn. A&M?”

“Yeah, this is my roommate, Caroline O’Grady. Justin’s really only here so Caroline doesn’t feel like a third wheel.” Caroline elbowed her roommate. “If you really wanted me to feel comfortable, you’d have brought another girl,” she whispered, before saying, “Nice to meet you.”

“Same here. I hope my little sister hasn’t been making your life too miserable.”

“Eh, I have my ways of keeping her in line.” Mari shuddered imperceptibly, thinking of some of the things Caroline had done. She had to admit, she did enjoy being with the tiny redhead, both in regular social situations and in intimate situations, but still…it wasn’t the same as being with a guy. It…wasn’t that it was worse, just…different. But not better, either! Overall, men were still what attracted her, but Caroline… “Stupid pixie magic,” she muttered.

“Hmm? What was that?”

“N-nothing, Pi—Caroline.” She tried not to blush. Was Caroline right? Was Marisol actually falling for her?

CCX: So, yeah, now we’ve got them in the vicinity of Tampa. I used a map to pick out someplace in the Tampa area that wasn’t actually Tampa for this. Bear with me; this should get interesting. Until next time!

Edit: I just looked back at the first chapter, and I realized I'd already put a mention of Ricky (not by name) in there, so I had to make some changes. If you read this in the first couple of days it was up, excuse the inconsistency.