Road Trip--5 (G/t)

        "Abby, Abby no. You can't eat an entire potato chip in one sitting." The human took one hand off the steering wheel to wrestle the snack out of her hands and finished it in one bite.

        "Well you get a whole bag. It ain't fair."

        "I'm twenty times your height! Cal, what are you doing on my phone? How'd you crack the password?"

        "Facebook," she answered passively, "and you say the combination aloud when you're opening it." He tensed up and she must have noticed. "Calm down, will you? I'm just messaging Sam. She... she wants to meet me."

        His eyes widened. “Well, we’re three hours from home now... is it near my house?” Cal nodded. “Huh... I guess?”

        Abby cheered, then realized she didn’t care. She sat back on the passenger seat with Cal, right before they hit a bump in the road and the two tinies were thrown sideways. Adrian cursed quietly and his first reaction was to check on the pair. They were shaken, so it seemed, but still okay.

        “Seriously, guys, at least consider the seatbelt? Or maybe go in the carry-on bag or-or my hood again or one of the cupholders or anything besides the passenger seat? Please, you’re giving me heart attack after heart attack.”

        “Geez,” Cal scoffed, “When’d you get so protective?”

        “I’m tired, alright? And my nice quiet vacation ended in total disaster!”

        "What, you think yours was bad? I didn't even want to come in the first place and now my entire species is in danger!"

        The car fell silent after that, the settling anger in complete contrast with the cheery rock music playing in the background. Adrian jerked the car over without warning, the violence of the action nearly throwing Cal and Abby into the cup holders in between the seats. Adrian didn’t say anything.

        “Why’d we stop?” Cal grumbled, sitting up and rubbing her head. Adrian offered her his hand and she climbed in with barely a second thought. Abby scrambled on right behind her.

        “Remember that oasis we went to on the way here? We’re back.”

        He got out of the car, slamming the door behind him way too harshly and his quick movements causing Abby a bit of nausea. The building was quite a bit more active than it had been when they were first there. Heads turned towards them, probably first attracted by the giant mass of pink fabric and then kept lingering by the two tinies in Adrian's hand. He noticed that people were staring at the Panda Express too. The tiny who had tried to choke him and the girl that he was friends with were talking.

        As he approached, both heads turned to look at him. "Hi again," the girl said, "You're back early."

        "Yeah, yeah," Adrian grumbled.

        "How you two--three--holding up? With the news and everything?"

        He groaned and rubbed his temple, letting the girls off his other hand. "I am so incredibly stressed. My vacation was cut short, I accidentally kidnapped a child, thank god we got that cleared up. And, you know, panic in the streets!"

        She opened her mouth to say something, but her friend cut her off. "Panic! In The Streets. Ha ha. You're hilarious." The girl glared.

        “So, anyways,” she continued, “Where’d you get this one?”

        “New York. Family didn’t mind us taking her all that much.”

        “I can’t see,” Abby added in, the statement an obvious lie as she was looking at the girl right now. “I mean, good. I mean well. I can’t see well.” The other tinies didn’t outright say it, but their intention behind letting her go so easily was fairly obvious. As a kid with bad vision, she wouldn’t be too helpful in stealing. Adrian hadn’t told her this, but he had been doing a bit of research into getting eyeglasses her size.

        Adrian’s phone buzzed. Shit, his mom was calling. “Mom. That reminds me, we should get going. Good luck, you two.”

        “Same,” the tiny man piped up, “Try not to get yourself strangled.”

        He nodded and, with a pause to let Abby wave goodbye, turned and left. Even more heads had turned their way, the conversation attracting a small audience that was trying to be discreet and failing miserably. Adrian ignored them and left.

        The wind had picked up and Cal’s hair was threatening to choke her. Adrian moving the two closer to his chest and cupped his hands around them. He was already feeling bad about his little outburst. He could’ve injured the two badly.

        “Hey, guys... I’m sorry about snapping. I’ve been stressed.”

        Cal sighed and laid back on his palm. “Me too. What are my parents gonna think? Assuming they're free and alive. I mean, I'm living with a human!"

        Adrian got into the car and let the two back onto the passenger seat. "I don't know. Maybe we'll get along." He smiled at her warmly and she grimaced back. He lost the smile.

        "Oh well. At least I'm not dating one..."

        He nodded in agreement, turned on the music, and put his focus back on the road. The next few hours were mostly silent with occasional bickering between the inhabitants, mostly over control of snack food. No one really seemed to be a big fan of Adrian’s “I’m big, so I get more” policy.

        Eventually, houses and small businesses started to pop up as they entered the suburbs again. The car stopped in front of a more unfamiliar apartment building, squat and old and comfortable-looking. Adrian ushered the two into his hand and came out of the car, locking it behind him. “It’s your sister’s place,” he explained. “Found out the address, thought we might visit.”

        Cal’s face had lit up right as he started talking. “We’re gonna visit Bella?”

        “And Sammy, yeah. I thought it might be fun.” He went up to the door and rang on the doorbell labeled “Sammy Gutierrez”, then stood back.

        A series of heavy thuds proceeded and the door swung open to reveal a tall, thin girl with sunken cheekbones. She stared curiously at Adrian for a few uncomfortable seconds, cocking her head and pursing her lips. Then she glanced down to his hand and her face lit up. “Oh, right! You must be Adrian. Cal, and... Abby, right?”

        The girl nodded happily. Sammy turned and went to the stairs, Adrian taking that as his cue to follow and close the door behind him. The building had about five floors and no elevator to speak of, so it probably hadn’t cost her too much. Felt like a place that would have a lot of elderly people living in it. Maybe that’s why she lived there. Less disturbances and curious neighbours.

        He entered the apartment, a small place with simplistic furniture. A tiny girl, looking oddly similar to Cal but much more grown-up, was laying lazily on a footrest and looked up when the group entered.

        Cal waved frantically. “Bella! Adrian, put me down.” He let her off and the two sisters instantly ran into a hug. “Ugh, I’m so happy you’re safe.”

        She laughed and hugged back. “You too.” Bella pulled back, and looked at Adrian, who had moved off to converse with Bella. She looked her sister dead in the eyes. “You’re sure this guy is good news?”

        “Yeah. I mean, he’s been nothing but nice so far, if a bit obnoxious.”

        Bella nodded. “Good. It’s incredibly dangerous for a tiny to live openly with a human, especially now that everyone knows about us.”

        “You’re one to talk!” Cal laughed, “You’re dating a human.”

        “A human that I’ve known for years. I stayed at least five feet away from her for the first few months of our friendship. First time she even touched me was when I had fallen and injured my leg and that was by my own request.”

        Cal remembered that. Despite her injury she had been absolutely euphoric that whole week, if a bit panicky and more withdrawn than usual. Her being with a human explained a lot of really weird events, actually. How she was able to get incredibly rare items without even trying and all those days she came home whistling.

        "I'm guessing Mom and Dad don't know," Cal sighed.

        "No way in hell. They'd freak if they found out Sammy had ever even seen me. Oh, speak of the devil."

        Cal had no idea how the girl had managed to sneak up on them. She thought she would've been able to notice the gigantic presence of a human, but maybe she was losing her touch after hanging around one for so long.

        "Sorry," she said.  "I tend to sneak up on people."

        Bella nodded in agreement. “Tried to make her wear a bell, but didn’t go for it.”

        Cal giggled and looked up as Adrian knelt down by them with Abby on his head. “Sammy and I were talking. Trust me, Bella’s safe here.” Sammy smiled and hit his back playfully and he smile at her. “So, Cal, you ready to go home?”

        “Sure. Yeah, why not."

        Cal was panicking and it was obvious. The hair-wringing, the pacing, the lip-biting... she was nervous, plain and simple. Made enough sense. Her family was visiting today. Not Bella, no, she wouldn't be this scared for Bella. Bella visited all the time. This time it was her parents and younger brother. The ones that still had no idea she was living openly with a human and a ten-year-old they had kidnapped in New York. She slipped through the hole in the wall into the study and hit Adrian's ankle, then quickly backed up to a distance where it wouldn’t feel like she was talking to a skyscraper.

        "Addy! Are you ready?"

        He looked down and his face lit up when he saw her. "Yeah! Definitely!" He reached across the desk and showed her a large jar with holes stabbed in the lid. "Totally prepared! See, breathing holes and everything!" Cal's face contorted into pure rage and he started to cackle. "Think I should show them? Dude, I'm totally gonna show them. No, here's what's gonna happen, I'm gonna put Abby in the jar and then I'm gonna-"

        "ADRIAN! Are you capable of taking anything seriously?" She groaned and rubbed her temple. "Don't talk or acknowledge us or anything until I give the signal. Don't talk to Abby either."

        He pouted. "Can't I pretend she's my pet or something? I mean, you both are, legally, so..."

        "It's a big no-no to stay with humans who keep tiny pets. And pets in general."

        Adrian looked at the desk's surface and frowned. "I kinda want a dog. Like an old one, you know. A nice, lazy, old dog."

        She rolled her eyes. "No. No pets. Just sit there and don't talk to either of us."

        "Right, right..." he muttered, turning his attention back to whatever he was doing on the desk.

        Cal gave one final approving nod and rushed off. She slipped back into the wall, quickly slipping the bandana over her mouth and making her way through the wires and dust. She ran into Abby, hanging onto a wire upside down with her legs. Cal nodded to her and she sat up, then jumped down and started to follow Cal.

        The two reached a cleaner spot in the walls and pulled their masks down. Abby's ecstatic grin was revealed.

        "Is your family cool? I mean your family besides Bella. Bella's super cool."

        "They're alright," she muttered absentmindedly, walking forward with powerful strides. "They're gonna be here really soon. I'm nervous. What if they don't like Adrian?"

        Abby rolled her eyes. "How could someone not like Adrian?"

        Cal sighed and nodded. They quickened their paces for the final stretch to the door and Cal opened it, the miniature living room inside with its scrappy furniture and warm-colored wallpaper a welcoming sight. Not that she still wasn't stressed.

        "Alright," Cal sighed, "We've got about half an hour before they arrive. I already talked to Adrian, he's all good. Abby, you need to remember what I told you. Don't mention that you're from New York, don't even talk about Adrian, just think over anything you want to say before you say it and make sure it won't make them suspicious."

        Abby groaned loudly and flopped over onto a loveseat. "Come on, Cal! They're gonna find out anyways."

        "I know... I just want it to be good. Like, if they saw you two playing they'd all freak out and dad would probably have a heart attack because Adrian plays mean and that could easily be interpreted as actually trying to kill you."

        A woman’s shriek rang through the house, slightly muffled by the layers of wall but powerful nonetheless. Adrian's voice followed, screaming panicked apologies. "Ma'am, I'm so sorry, I-"

        "Don't you touch my wife!"

        "Jesus, I'm not! Look, hands behind the back. Not touching anyone. Do you wanna see Cal or--oh God, no, I didn't capture her! No, no, please don’t cry, I- CAL! We need you over here.