Stranded

“Excuse, me, what?” I asked choking on my pancake

“I’m not a genius on body language or relationships but I know when I see two people who love each other even if they don’t realize it themselves, it’s a bit of a gift.” She responded looking at Alex and me and giggled a little. We both pulled Jack down in the seat between us at the same time.

“Soo… Anyway… Hayleigh I’m guessing you want autographs but, since your familiar with the area, would you like to hang with us and show us around to the awesome places here, cause it’s your town.” Makahla suggested

“That would be cool I guess but I have to call my mom…” she sighed

“How old are you hun?” Gabe asked

“16, but mom expects me to be home soon so I have to call her so I don’t get in trouble, but on the bright side I have a car we can all fit in!” Hayleigh said smiling, some how she went from shy to excited, a lot like Makahla!

“DUDE! You have a purple15 passenger van!?!” Zack almost squealed which is really weird considering his appearance!

“Yeah, we have a huge family and it’s the only one that could hold my 7 siblings and my parents 5 foster kids.” She shrugged like it was no big thing, and it wasn’t… at least to me, but I guess I’m use to it, having 7 siblings and all, but everyone else looked shocked “Yeah, I’m the youngest and everyone else is away at college so I got the choice of a new little car or this baby! I love it because it’s purple and I can fit all my bands equipment in.,” she explained jumping up into the drivers seat. She looked pretty odd (haha pun) up there, as she was really tiny and the van was HUGE! “Well are you guys just gonna gawk at my wheels or get in?” she asked we all jumped in and sat down, I got in the front seat because I’m cool like that! After I put my seat belt on I had a very strange thought!

“Hayleigh, you aren’t going to do like ‘Taking 5’ and kid knap all of us but leave one person STRANDED in a parking lot are you?” Makahla asked from the seat behind us, which is ironic because it’s what I was just about to ask.

“Well…” she sighed shrugging, but couldn’t hold it in that long because she started to crack up. “Wanna know the scary thing about that question?” we all nodded “After I watched that movie for the first time I asked my best friends if we could go kid knap you guys!” she told us, which made Makahla and I burst out laughing because that’s the exact same thing she asked me after we watched it! (A/N true story about ‘Taking 5’) “So anyway, where do you wanna go first?”

“We need to go to a book store because I need some new sketch books and new manga.” I answered,

“Okay I know the perfect place then! It’s a locally owned bookstore and the owner is a totally awesome nerd and obsesses over manga and the supernatural so there’s a great selection, and it has the best selection of Holly Maria S. Rae I’ve ever seen!” she gushed, Makahla and I looked at each other and giggled little.

“What are you guys giggling about?” Alex asked

“Nothing, just how much Hayleigh seems to fit in with all of us!” Makahla responded smoothly… she really didn’t want anyone to know her secret. After a few more minutes of driving we pulled up to an electric blue house.

“Is this the book store?” I asked, because if it was I was definitely marrying the owner!

“Yeah, awesome huh?” she grinned grabbing Alex’s and my wrists and dragging us up the steps and into the house, “Gandalf! I brought customers!” she called

“You announce that every time you come in don’t you?” a guy in about his early twenties asked from the stairs in the corner. “OH MY GOSH! IT’S ALL TIME LOW AND ½ OF COBRA STARSHIP!” he freaked out almost dropping the coffee cup he was carrying,

“Hey there!” Vicky T giggled at his fan girl moment,

“So how can I help my most favorite people today?” he asked

“HEY! I thought I was your favorite person!” Hayleigh said in fake hurt

“Not when someone with the vocal chords of Alex Gaskarth and Gabe Saporta or the butt of Zack Merrik!” Gandalf said rolling his eyes, Zack, Gabe and Alex looked at each other and shrugged, I guess they were use to being hit on by both sexes.

“Before I request the grand tour, is your name really Gandalf?” Makahla asked

“No, my name is Ian. Hayleigh just calls me that because I have an obsession with Lord of the Rings and the guy who plays Gandalf is gay and so am I… She calls my boyfriend The Holy Grails Black Knight, because he’s a big black man, unfortunately when we’re together she starts singing the fast part of the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny.” He explained shaking his head, in almost unison everyone except Ian and Rian started singing the fast part of the song, because its so dang catchy! Who wouldn’t? After we finished singing we got the grand tour. We started in the attic. It was dedicated to manga and anime. After seeing all that he was officially my hero! He had EVERYTHING I’ve ever read or planned to read! Which trust me is A LOT! It was great! The next room was on the third level, which was basically a loft with one small room on the side; inside the room was a complete surprise!

“And this is the room dedicated to Holly Maria S. Rae and her illustrator Sara Michelle. I personally LOVE both of their work! Sara’s stuff moves and intrigues me as much as art can.” Ian explained with a look of admiration as he gestured to some of my paintings. I don’t think I’ve ever blushed as much as I was then! “And Rae’s writing is just so amazing!!!!! I would honestly go straight for that woman, that’s how amazing it is! All her books about the supernatural are so awesome and actually have a plot, and action, not just vampire sex or the likes! And her realistic romance series is amazing too! It is actually really realistic and sounds as if it were her stories!” he went on. Makahla was just standing there looking very interested, I don’t know how she did it, she didn’t want people to know who she was so she didn’t have much public relation practice! I mean she went to book signings and interviews in a bee suit and voice distorter for heavens sake! “Sara, why are you blushing so much?” He asked looking over at me, “OH MY GERARD!” he exclaimed. He figured it out! Dang it! “You’re the artist! You’re Sara Michelle!” he freaked out

“Yeah, that’s me…” I smiled and blushed more.

“Wow!” then, he started giggling it was very strange… “Will you sign my copy of “The Great Clan”? he requested almost begging, “It’s my favorite Rae book and You’re Cover is what made me pick it up!” Makahla and I both giggled, I guess she finally broke! But I was wrong!

“Wow Sara! I told you, you were amazing!” she said hugging me, in case you’re wondering, it had been a couple weeks and her ankle with the boot was strong enough to walk on it some.

After a few minutes of his fangirling we convinced Ian to move on with the tour. The next room was the actual loft. It was full of music. The next floor there were four rooms, one was dedicated to Vampires and werewolves. The second was all other supernatural. The third room was Sci-fi, and a room with drawing supplies. The main floor there were four bedrooms, (yes the house was massive) one with just romance, and another with non-fiction and reference, the third were horror novels, and the final was historical fiction. There was also a kitchen dining room and a living room, they had made them into a small café and the living room had plenty of comfy furniture and served as a reading room. Then there was the basement… it was, as the rest of the house, gimongo and contained a fairly large stage for the size of the space.

“This is where some of the local bands play, actually it’s a pretty frequented hangout with the scene kids, I have it open after everything else is closed so they can hang with music and all that jazz without alcohol or anything like that.” He explained,

“So if I asked if we asked Matt if we had time to show here after the show we could randomly play?” Alex asked

“Yeah! That would be great! We can keep it a secret too so it’s a super intimate thing if you want.” Ian looked super excited, I’m pretty sure he had never had 8 famous people in his shop at one time ever! And he didn’t even know that Makahla was his favorite author!

“Oh and before I forget, there’s a room back in the utility room that’s full of adult films you need me to get in because I have it locked under a key code but there’s a bunch in there, even homo stuff its just in the closet.” He added Makahla and I looked at each other with horror all over both of our faces. “Enjoy shopping, come get me if you need anything I'll either be in the kitchen or behind the desk.” He finished and grinned at us before going back upstairs. We all decided to go back up stairs, but by the time we got to the main level Makahla could barley walk, this was the most she had since the accident, so she handed me her list of books she wanted and opted to sit on the couch in the reading room and rest her leg. Alex had disappeared; I had a feeling I knew where he went, which makes me shudder just to think about. Gabe, Rian, and Zack decided to go check out the music since they didn’t read much, Vicky and Jack went to the Rae room, and I went to the random rooms where the stuff on Makahla’s list was, the drawing room and the manga room. It only took me about a half hour at max because I just loaded up on the stories I read and a couple new ones.

When I got back down stairs Makahla was laying on the couch, several pages into one of the Vampire books she requested. I really have no clue why she gets them because she always complains that something about them doesn’t make since, but I guess when you’ve already made your own world any other one would be weird… Anyway I moved her legs so I could sit with her and she could rest her feet on me. I had just opened my book when Ian and Hayleigh came in and sat down across from us.

“We know your secret Makahla, we know you are Holly Maria S. Rae.” Ian started looking at us grinning, the look on Makahla’s face was horrible, it was a mix of fear wonder and horror.

“How did you figure it out?” she asked

“It wasn’t that hard. When you hang onto someone’s words about a certine author and then not get a book." he rolled his eyes

"Okay you got it, but please don't tell anyone... I don't want anyone 2 no..." she begged, i was actually a little worried about her!

"That's fine as long as you sign a copie of all of our books by you and you promise me a free signed copie of all you're future ones." Hayleigh bargined, that didn't seem too bad but it was Makahla so I didn't know what she was going to say.

"Fine, I'll do it, but if you tell i sue!" she agreed shaking both of their hands. She sat there signing everything, when we heard Jack comming down the stairs

"MAKAHLA!!!!!!!!!!! GUESS WHAT I FOUND!!!!!!" he squeeled running into the room "Why are you signing those?" he asked her face went pale and she dropped the pen. I only have 2 words... Oh Crap!!!!!