ANOTHER CLUE
Wow, I had some issues on this chapter… Sorry they prevented me from updating! I’m trying to sort out everything that I thought I had figured out, but we all know how that goes… But fear not! Things shall get better from here on in! - Dis/Claimer - Hilo, Reviewers! LoL… x) Wakizashi - Thank you! I was hoping to keep people in character as much as possible, and so I thank you for letting me know that I have done a worthy job thus far! I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I hope that you conitnue to! Thank you for reviewing! Enjoy! x) Creamic - Haha, traitors make great situations available to every story, lol. Thank you for reviewing, and I hope you do still enjoy to read more! Here you are! x) Sylence - The Party should be next chapter or chapter after that... within the next three the course of the party will take place, so I hope you stick around to see what happens! Thanks for the review and enjoy the new chapter! x) StarLightStarBright567 - He didn't, lol. Carolyn just has issues with life, haha. Later on things will explain themselves, tohugh, so I hope you will read on! Thanks for reviewing and enjoy! x) wildpiratecelt - Thank you very much! Hope to hear more from you! enjoy the chapter! x) Pearl - I hope you stick around, too! Thanks are going to get interesting! Thanks you for reviewing, and enjoy the new update! x) Jessica Marie Evans - Yes! Thickening plot... like oatmeal, lol... nevermind... And yes, Carolyn is Ian's younger sister! I have let the cat out! Bwaha! Thanks for thereview, and I hope you like this little bit of a longer chapter! Enjoy it! x) Ermine aka Tree - I will gladly take that chocolate and use it to power drive my next writing session for this story on Thursday, lol (tomorrow and Wednesday's my LotR days, so Thurdsya and friday I'm working on this again). And of course she's evil! But is she? shifty eyes... lol. Thanks for reviewing again! Enjoy the new chapter! .: Hey-howdy-hey! Another chapter here for you today! Wow… excuse my weirdness, please… :. x x x . Chapter Three . “Okay guys,” Riley said, dropping his sleeping bag beside the tent, “while you set up your things in the tent, I’m gonna go make a smores and Sunny Delight run.” Charlie and Sally cheered as expected and stormed inside of the tent, immediately starting a pillow fight. Riley’s smile lessened to that of a feared expression and one of surprise also; if they acted like this without sugar, he was afraid he would be just like those pillows by morning. Feathers were starting to fly around in the tent in large amounts. He bit his lip nervously with his head swimming, but then he left a large sigh out. He didn’t feel too much better about having his brains beat out my five year old twins with excessively high sugar levels in their systems. “Alright!” he shouted, finally finding his voice again. “If the fort is not orderly by the time of my return, you can say goodbye to the flashlight tag!” Both twins gasped, and the movement in the tent dropped drastically, save for a few stray feathers floating down to the ground. There wasn’t a sound for a whole five seconds. It was another new record. “Okay,” Sally whined in disappointment. “Right,” Riley said, nodding. “You two just stay put. I’ll be right back.” He was about to turn to head towards the house, but he paused a moment to see if he heard any more pillow whomps coming from Charlie and Sally as they rolled out their sleeping bags. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t hear any. He smiled, satisfied with himself; he was getting this authority thing down pat. “Oh! Uncle Riley!” He jumped, cursing himself mentally for it. “Uh, yeah?” he asked, scooching away from the tent a bit to sound farther away. “Don’t let the Boogie Man get you!” Sally warned. “Be quiet or he’ll find you like that!” She tried snapping her fingers, but eventually gave up. Riley smiled. “I won’t,” he reassured her as he now started walking across the yard towards the house. “You just stay in there or the Boogie Man will get you,” he added for dramatic effect. He kept walking with a humorous smile. “Don’t’ say that!” Charlie suddenly yelled after Sally had whimpered a bit. Riley turned around, now just remembering that the younger twin had a terrible fear of the undefined shape-shifting monster. He felt stupid, unfeeling, and two inches tall now. “Oh, I’m sorry!” he called back, walking backwards now with his hands on his head. “I didn’t mean to!” “Stop yelling!” Sally cried. “The Boogie Man will hear you!” “No he won’t,” Riley said. “He’s not even real!” “Yes he is!” Charlie argued. “No he isn’t!” “Yes, sir! Because you told us that if we left the tent he would get us!” “I didn’t mean it!” he half-laughed. Riley stood there with a very confused and twisted expression on his face. He could not believe that he was standing there arguing with them over the existence of the Boogie Man. Of course, ridiculous as it was, the fight continued. Only ridiculous fights persisted in this household and its backyard. “Stop – yelling!” Sally said in a hysteric whisper. “I’m sorry!” Riley whispered loudly. “I-I… I’m gonna go get the… stuff…” He turned back around and started jogging towards the backdoor now. He shook his head in disappointment with himself. How do you get so flustered that you can’t talk right with those two arguing against you? “Be careful, Uncle Riley!” Sally called. “Yeah, yeah, okay,” Riley, mumbled back. Honestly… you try to make a little joke, and you end up upsetting and confusing everyone… How does that always happen? Neverminding the stupidity he had just gone through, Riley heaved a big sigh and sprinted across the remainder of the yard until he reached the patio. Once there, he slowed and opened the door. From the kitchen, Abigail and Carolyn turned their heads to watch Riley jog lifelessly over to them and open the fridge. It had been their first real distraction all day, and Carolyn knew if something would happen, it would be because of him. She rolled her eyes and continued to stretch out some pie dough as Riley pulled the half-full jug of Sunny Delight from the refrigerator next to her. He chanced a glance at her, but he she looked up quickly with a mean face. Riley jumped away swearing to high heaven she had major issues, and returned his state of mind to that of collecting food for his campout with Charlie and Sally. “Hey, Abigail, where did you put that plate of smores for the kids?” Riley scanned the island countertop in front of him that was covered in various cakes, pie, and other wonderful deserts and baked goods with a craned neck to see if he might be overlooking them. Abigail turned around quickly still stirring her bowl of batter and also looked at the sea of food they had made that day. “Um, over there next to the apple pie I believe,” she said, issuing to the right edge of the counter. Riley looked in front of him and saw the plate there just on the edge and lunged forward to grab it. He juggled the large plate and the jug of Sunny Delight with some difficulty at first, but then he regained his balance. But then his face fell; he still needed three glasses, napkins, and plates. Why didn’t he just bring the kids with him? No, he thought. If he had done that, they’d still be out in the middle of the yard arguing about the Boogie Man… Nonetheless, he needed help, whether he liked to admit it or not. “Um… hey…” Abigail and Carolyn both turned around from their stations again, Carolyn expressing great annoyance on her face. Riley didn’t have time to return this one unless he wanted the snacks to go toppling out of his arms and to the floor. “Could one of you… just… grab that?” Abigail rushed over just as the plate tipped and helped to settle it. She and Riley both sighed in relief of avoiding an unnecessary mess. “Carolyn? Could you help Riley take this stuff out to the tent?” Abigail asked, still helping Riley. Carolyn stopped stretching the dough, very close to losing her patience with this stupid idiot Riley Poole. He was the biggest cry sissy on the face of the earth, and she was about to kill him for it and the pool incident that afternoon. But then she remembered her cover, her brother, and her mission… she had to obey everything asked of her while she was there; at least until tomorrow night when she could get the painting. But this guy almost made it worth blowing her cover just to give him a good bust in the mouth. Slowly she turned after leaving her revelry towards Abigail and that sickening little imp. She walked over to them with an indifferent expression, taking the plate of smores out of his arm as calmly as she could. Riley was equally as thrilled, but he wasn’t gonna be the bad guy if the smores got squashed. “Oh, I need some glasses for this,” Riley said to Abigail as he shook the Sunny Delight, “and maybe a few napkins.” “I’d feel much better giving you plastic than glass.” Abigail crossed over to the cupboard and produced three tumblers and stacked them together, grabbed a handful of napkins from next to the sink, and Riley took them carefully in his newly freed hand with a pleased smile that all disasters had been averted thus far. Abigail looked grateful, too. “Thank you!” Riley said quickly to her before he turned on heel to go. Carolyn started to follow as if she were attached to him with ball and chain; she was going against her will and did not like it one bit. “You take care of them, Riley,” Abigail said, returning to her bowl of batter on the countertop. “When haven’t I?” Riley asked in mock offense. “Well, there was the time you went up in the attic, the time you let them ride the lawn mower, the time you-“ “See you in the morning!” Riley yelled loudly to drown her out. Abigail sighed with a fond smile, hand on hip, as they went out into the backyard. Carolyn closed the patio door behind her and continued to follow Riley in the utmost loathsome fashion. Riley was quiet with much stubbornness as Carolyn walked up next to him carrying the plate of smores. He was tempted to look over at her, but he just kept his eyes fixed on the direction of the tent. “Do you always risk the well being of your friends’ kids, or is it something you do without knowing it?” Carolyn suddenly asked smartly. Riley got disgruntled instantly (another record). No one, and he meant no one, annoyed him as much as the person walking beside him. But he breathed deep once and countered it with: “Are you always irritating on purpose or do you just do it without thinking?” He smiled curtly at her and kept walking as she stopped with angry eyes on him. Carolyn wanted to hurtle the glass plate of smores at his face right then and there, and she was almost going to loose control just because he was getting to her. But she kept trying to remember her goal. The painting, she thought. Think of the painting and after you get it you can just kill him. The thought was too tempting. She was just going to pretend to trip and hope for the best that the plate would hit him in the back. It was so tempting. But instead, she just marched up right next to him again. “Enjoying yourself?” she asked. “Very much, yeah,” Riley said happily. “Having an off day?” “I’ll have you off,” she muttered. “Now that’s not very nice,” Riley said, reprimanding her sarcastically. “Didn’t you learn any manners in Pretty Girl School?” “More than you did in Loser Bum College.” “Speaking of college, where are you applying? The Kiss-My-Butt-I’m-So-Much-Better-Than-You Academy?” “No, try the Massachusetts College of Art.” It was Riley’s turn to stop as she kept on walking. “She’s an artist?” he asked himself. At this, he ran up next to her. “Whoa, wait. You’re an artist? So what do you paint? Nightmares?” “You wouldn’t look too nice on a canvas,” she said, having her fun at stabbing him now. “Haha, you’re hysterical,” Riley said, opening the tent flap and diving inside. From outside, Carolyn heard Charlie and Sally squeal with delight, and she knelt down at the opening to pass the plate of smores inside. Sally gasped. “Carolyn! You’re coming to sleep out with us?” she asked hopefully. Carolyn smiled somewhat sympathetically to let the little girl down, but there was no way she was camping out. Especially not in the same tent as that moron… “I’m sorry,” she said. “But I’ve got to get up early to help with decorating the party,” she lied. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” “Can’t you please come out?” Charlie asked, now ganging up with his sister. “We’re gonna have lots of fun! Uncle Riley’s telling ghost stories!” Carolyn looked over at Riley with an arched brow, wanting to laugh. Riley returned with a smart look. “Yeah,” he said. “Uncle Riley’s telling ghost stories and organizing flashlight tag.” He clicked on his flashlight and pointed it at her challengingly with a scowl. “You game?” he asked. The twins giggled as Riley’s face stayed fixed on her. Carolyn only smirked. God was he immature and retarded beyond all belief… “Sorry, but I have other things to do,” she said to him before withdrawing from the tent. Charlie and Sally openly moaned in disappointment, and Riley joined in just for the fun of it as he stepped out of the tent and stood in front of Carolyn with the flashlight. Charlie and Sally peered out of the tent flap, looking up at her with their innocent faces. “Aw, what’s wrong?” Riley asked in a babyfied voice. “Is wittle Carolyn afraid of the dark?” The twins giggled again as Carolyn looked at Riley with utmost hate. She wanted to knock him senseless and claw his eyes out as he stood there with big google eyes batting his eyelashes and said, “Pleeeeeease?” “Pleeeeeeeease?” the twins asked, mimicking him. Riley smiled at them, looking back up at Carolyn who was thoroughly disgusted. “Oh, come one now, Carolyn,” he said, kneeling down beside the twins and hugging Sally. “You aren’t gonna say no to these adorable little faces are you?” Sally smiled cutely as Riley stroked her hair. Charlie beamed up at her, but she still had a level look of annoyance on her face. She weighed this issue. If she stayed, she had the chance to ‘accidentally’ injure this idiot and get him out of the way temporarily. She saw him as a threat in stealing the portrait; knowing her luck, he come in just as she was walking out with it and would nail her and possibly Ian and the others. She could try to take him out if she stayed, but if she left, she had the opportunity to think over the heist more and discuss it with Ian. She had to meet him at ten that night anyways. It was about nine now. Oh, Ian would live until morning. She hadn’t had any fun lately besides busting Ian out of federal prison, and that was complicated, so it wasn’t much of an amusement as it was a chore. But tripping someone and making them fall into a tree… now that was fun… “I’ll be right back,” she said, taking up him challenge with a sassy look to him. “Prepare to die.” She turned around and walked back to the house in a hurry with Charlie and Sally cheering, but it left Riley a little questionable. His enemy would be bunking with them. Things were going to get interesting… x x x Carolyn walked briskly towards the tent, sleeping bag and pillow under her arm and a flashlight swinging at her side in her free hand (all provided from Ben’s nifty Closet of Everything). She could not believe she was going to do this. He right mind told her that she had just dropped her maturity levels to the unknown by doing this, but her vengeful mind told her full steam ahead; he was going down. As she closed in on the tent, Riley emerged and folded him arms across his chest to assume a more threatening position, but Carolyn just rolled her eyes before she got close enough for him to see it. Right before she came to a stop in front of Riley, Charlie and Sally came out on either side of them with their flashlights in hand. Carolyn dropped her things beside her, giving Riley a stony glare. Riley just narrowed his eyes. “It’s guys versus girls,” he said simply. “Can you handle that?” “More than you fail to realize,” she said right back. Riley became uncomfortable at her statement, cleared his throat, and backed up a little. Why did she have to seem so threatening and scary and dark-minded? She was a girl. Girls were not supposed to act like that. Most of the ones he had ever been around did, but Carolyn just scared him. He regretted ever saying a word to her that morning. What was wrong with her anyways? He didn’t even do anything to her! On purpose… He looked back up at her a little more fearfully and less confident now while Carolyn remained very impatient. Riley smiled somewhat nervously. “Right,” he half-laughed. “Um…” –he cleared his throat again – “okay. It’s Charlie and me versus you and Sally. You good with that?” “Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes for the umpteenth time as she gathered up her things and threw them inside of the tent carelessly. Sally ran to her side proudly with a straight back and big smile up at her partner. Carolyn smiled at her a little awkwardly, but it satisfied the child enough for the time being. She and Sally faced their enemies in front of them as Charlie tried to brandish a mean cover. Riley just smiled at him before confronting the girls. “Flashlights on,” he said. Simultaneously, four small clicks sounded accompanied by four bright beams of light. Riley and Carolyn looked at each other briefly, but for once it wasn’t to see who could give the meanest look. It was just a passing glance that had no expression, which was weird in Riley’s book. Carolyn had just dismissed it, though. “All right,” Riley said, “here’s the rules. If you are spotted for longer than three seconds, you are frozen until your team member spots you and unfreezes you. All flashlights must stay on at all times.” The twins nodded vigorously while Carolyn looked bored out of her mind. Riley continued. “You have to stay in the yard; no funny business running in and out of the house.” Riley stopped when he saw Charlie’s hand next to him shoot up into the air. He turned to him. “Yeah?” “Can we go in the woods?” he asked quickly. “Please please please please pleeeeeeeese? It’ll be fun!” Ben and Abigail would kill you, Riley’s subconscious told him. Of course, Riley wanted the kids to have fun and be safe at the same time, but he had to think like a kid – fun and safe did not mean a thing in a sentence together except absolute boredom. He sighed. Being a kid was much more fun, even though he was an adult now. Plus, he could tag Carolyn and leave her in there… yeah… “Uncle Riley?” And maybe pretend to forget she existed- “UNCLE RILEY!” the twins shouted together. Riley shuddered as he looked at Charlie and Sally with big eyes. “What’s wrong with you two?” he asked. “What happened to ‘don’t scream, the Boogie Man will hear you’?” he said mimicking Sally’s voice as he leaned towards her. Sally whimpered and hid her face behind Carolyn, and the young woman looked at Riley to make him feel miniscule again. Riley stood up, biting his lip. “Um… yeah sure,” he said. Charlie and Sally jumped with joy as Riley’s face fell. The things he did… “Erm… shall we start?” he asked nervously. “Good idea,” Carolyn said. “We’ve only been standing here forever.” “Well since you girls are so much more impatient than us guys, you can go run around first while we count to thirty,” Riley said. “Fine,” Carolyn said, starting to walk away with Sally. “Come on, Sally. We’re going to win this game flashlights down.” “Ha! You wish!” Riley said loudly as they went off into the darkness. “Oh, shut up and count,” Carolyn said. “Yeah, Uncle Riley,” Sally said. “Shut up and count!” Riley’s mouth suddenly hung open at this. Sally had never told him to shut and count before! Carolyn was corrupting her sweet little mind into that of a monster. That was uncalled for. “Uncle Riley!” Charlie nudged him in the side and said, “No peeping!” “Oh, sorry,” he said, shutting his eyes at the young boy’s command. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t doing too well with the authority thing now that he was being told by five year olds to ‘shut up’ and ‘no peeping.’ He was never going to live it down… Why did he ever agree to stay with his friends? Why? If he had just gone out on his own and lived his own life, none of this would have happened… No trip to England, no camping trip, no Carolyn, even if she was pretty. He was having serious issues with her. That was obvious. Issues he thought he could never resolve. And probably wouldn’t. “Thirty!” Charlie suddenly screamed from beside him. Riley jumped a little at the unexpected shout as Charlie tugged at his arm. “Come on! Run!” he said before running off. “You go to the woods and I’ll look around the yard!” “Kay,” he replied with a quick nod. At that, Riley turned around and ran around the tent into the small patch of wooded area behind the tent. The trees were large out front, but as he went in farther, they got smaller and thicker, and- “Ow!” Riley recoiled his hand from a thorn bush he had run passed and examined it with his light. Four small little droplets of blood were coming out of the side of hid hand, but he just wiped it on the side of his jeans and returned himself to the game. He looked around for any beam of light that wasn’t being issued from the moon and let his shoulders sag; he didn’t even see a stray of a bright light anywhere near him. But then he felt a light on his back. His eyes widened and he leapt behind a tree, keeping his light to the ground. He heard a giggle and footsteps start to race towards him and smiled; it was Sally. He started to run away from her. Looking back, he could see her flashlight’s beam swinging around in her hand as she ran towards him from a ways’ off, but he then collided with something. Or someone… He fell backwards and landed straight against the trunk of a tree. He snapped open his eyes, thankful for the tree stopping his fall to the ground. But he still knew what he had run into was not a tree since it had shrieked when they had collided and fallen back as he had. There was a muffled moan from somewhere on the ground as he stood there and listened. He looked around for his flashlight and saw it a few feet away, the beam pointing away from him. He leaned away from the tree, carefully trying to create a path towards it. “Hang on a second,” he said. “I’ll just grab my-oomph!” He tripped over the person and fell flat onto his face, receiving an unwelcome mouthful of dirt that he immediately spat back out. Riley felt sick. He had eaten dirt in his youth before, but I guess when you get older, dirt loses its appeal to the taste buds. He went to sit up slowly with a terrible aftertaste plaguing his mouth when a sharp series of stabs begin piercing his side and legs. “Ow! Ow!” “Get off of me! Off! Off!” Riley sighed miserably in the middle of his melee; it was Carolyn he had tripped over and was getting beat up by. How wonderful. His train of angry thoughts would have continued hadn’t he received a painful blow to you-know-where (wink wink). He winced and let out a strained groan as he lay there, the kicking having finally subsided as Carolyn sat up and eventually stood. He looked up at her with malevolence and a deserving scorn. She must die. But she only fussed over herself for a good fifteen seconds before stumbling through the dark to pick up Riley’s flashlight. She shined it on him with a face of mock pity as she walked back over to where he lay in agony. He sat up with a twisted face as the light shined down on him, and he sported the same look as before. Carolyn only rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her hip. “Come on, we don’t have all day,” she said. “Where is your flashlight?” Riley managed to get out as he rose slowly to his feet. “You’re supposed to have one on you.” “I dropped it somewhere and the bulb broke,” she said with much disappointment in telling the truth. “So sue me.” Riley looked at her, but she avoided his eye. “Does it kill you to tell the truth once in a while?” he asked. “Just shut up and get me out of this stupid forest,” she said, trudging forward. Riley sighed calmly, catching up with her in a few quick steps. “With all due respect, Miss, this isn’t really considered a forest,” he said not as sarcastically as he usually would have. “It’s more of a patch of woods-“ “Don’t get technical with me, geek,” she said warningly. “I know what it is, just get me out of it. I don’t take kindly to dark towering trees, okay?” “I take it you don’t spend a lot of time outside…” Riley dared to say quietly to the ground. Carolyn wanted to stop and slap him for the heck of it, but she just shook her head, realizing that the ugly truth had reared its head at her again. “So what?” she asked. “I bet you don’t spend a lot of time in front of a mirror…” “Wow,” Riley said. “Did you learn your insults from someone? Take lessons? Anything like that?” “No. The morons in this world just happen to inspire me. You’re my best inspiration so far, so thank you.” “Glad to be of service,” he laughed, “even though it’s not for the best thing in the world.” Yeah, something seemed a little wrong with that. “Oh, but you’re the best, trust me,” Carolyn said. “You give me lots of practice.” “You know, you don’t have to be so sincere,” Riley said uncomfortably. “Can you actually carry on a normal conversation without making a smart remark about something the other person just said?” “Yes,” she said. “Just not with you.” “Well why not try,” he suggested. “It won’t hurt you, I promise.” “I could carry on a conversation with you if you didn’t act the way you did.” “What did I ever do to you?” he half-shouted. “You’re just…. just so… weird and… stupid…” she said with a repulsive look in his direction. “And you are very annoying…” “Likewise,” he said stubbornly. “Which way now?” Carolyn asked tiredly as she stopped and scanned the area with Riley’s flashlight. Riley was about to let her find her own way out for her little remarks, but that was clearly a bad idea. They’d be stuck in there the rest of the night. He took the flashlight from her a little impatiently, and Carolyn frowned. “Hey, who’s lived here longer, huh?” he asked. Not arguing, Carolyn did as instructed when he told her to follow him. Not too much farther into their little trek did Carolyn see the sky lighten a little amongst the trees when Riley stopped. “What?” she asked curiously. “We can’t leave the kids in here,” he said, looking intensely back into the darkness of the bunched up trees. Carolyn knew he was about to do it, so she grabbed his arm and turned him around. Riley panicked a bit when he came face to face with her and her strong scary grip. She is not a human, he thought with confidence. “Get me out of here first,” she said. “I don’t feel like walking around in here all night.” Suddenly, a bright spotlight shined onto Carolyn and Riley’s bodies, and they looked up in surprise. The light moved up to their eyes quickly. Both squinted and tried to shield themselves from the blinding powers of it, but it wasn’t working. “What’s the big idea?” Carolyn asked loudly. “Yeah, put that thing down!” Riley said. The light was lowered to their bodies again, and after a few quick blinks to regain their proper sight, Carolyn and Riley saw Charlie standing there behind the light that had impaired their sight in the first place. Riley sighed, but Charlie spoke. “Are you two still playing the game or trying to sneak off and kiss?” he asked with a bored look on his face Riley and Carolyn both looked at him a moment before realizing how this looked; then just as Riley dared to even look over at her, Carolyn suddenly shoved him away and began walking again toward the lighter-colored sky. “We’re lost,” she explained, walking away as Riley rubbed his chest from her forceful shove. “Riley can’t seem to find his way out.” “Follow me,” Charlie said, scuffling towards the exit of the woods. Riley followed, giving Carolyn that ‘what-the-heck-was-that-for?’ look. She just bit the inside of her cheek of a grumpy face and did not look him in the eye until they got out of the woods. “Are you two getting along yet?” Charlie suddenly asked, turning around once they were out. Sally then came bounding up beside them, and Carolyn and riley both stood there not knowing exactly what to say. Both wanted to say no; the other was still entirely too annoying but fun to harass at the same time. Riley was all for leaving her in the woods back there, and Carolyn was proud to say that she had successfully tripped him and caused him bodily harm in the making, but still, Riley saw no logic in why she was so stubborn. Carolyn, the same. Both guilty of the same crime, of course. Being self-centered. Riley still stood there and could say nothing to the twins. Charlie and his sister exchanged looks. “Look,” he said, “us generals have signed a peace treaty to end this war of flashlight tag because we’re tired and want to have ghost stories and smores, and mostly because we have to get along and sleep together in the fort tonight,” he explained. “General Sally has agreed with me. What’s say you Lieutenants Uncle Riley and Carolyn?” Riley looked crestfallen as he turned to her. She didn’t look too happy about it either, but for the children’s sake, each held out a hand and shook (and took an eternity in doing so as if the other possessed cooties of some sort). Riley took note of her strong grip, and Carolyn noticed that his hand was warm and comfortable (unlike some of the clammy and chapped hands she had come in contact with before). She felt as if she should trust someone with a nice handshake like this, but Riley was her enemy. It was encounters like this that ended the fun of annoying a rival. But it was… different. She withdrew he hand quickly once he looked at her and averted his eyes immediately. Riley stood there thinking that it could have gone a lot worse, but by the looks on Charlie and Sally’s faces, the handshake didn’t say everything. Carolyn couldn’t stand the silence as the two pairs of eyes stared at her. “Okay, so we’re accomplices,” she finally said, folding her arms before looking over at Riley and emphasizing sharply on “for the night.” With a glare, she went around to the front of the tent and left Riley to have the twins stare at him. “We’re cool,” he assured them. “Promise.” “Good,” Charlie said. “Now ghost stories! Come on!” “Alright! Let’s go!” Riley said in surprise as the twins ran over to his sides and brought him around to the front of the tent. “Smores, too?” Sally asked Riley hopefully. “Well I didn’t bring ‘em out to stare at them all night,” he laughed. Sally went into the tent with her brother happily, and Riley smiled. But his thoughts drifted to Carolyn somehow, and he didn’t really have an expression for that. So they were friends for the night… what exactly did that mean according to Carolyn? For some reason, Riley didn’t really want to know. . Please Review .
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