Because Dandelions Are Pretty

Bill was more than surprised to see Noah standing in front of him with the doorknob clutched in one hand. A maintenance guy – probably a janitor – was standing a little ways behind Noah, looking utterly bewildered that there was a freakishly tall German boy locked in a supply closet.

Bill leapt up from his sitting position and gave the much smaller boy an enormous, grateful hug.

"Glad I found you buddy! But don't be so surprised to see me. Aubrey would castrate me if I ever left you behind," Noah said, shuddering a little.

Bill laughed silently and cocked an eyebrow, pointing at Noah inquisitively as if to ask how he got back on the ferry.

"I kind of...jumped."

Bill's eyes turned into huge, round saucers.

"Into the water."

The mute vocalist clapped a hand to his forehead in exasperation. There were definitely easier ways of getting aboard than leaping into the frigid water.

Noah scrambled to explain himself. "I knew the people in the ferry wouldn't leave me to drown. They picked me up with a life preserver and pulled me on board before they tried to find a way to send me back to shore. I ended up slipping away from the captain while he was debating on what to do."

Bill looked over Noah's head to stare at the greasy-looking janitor, who was still looking at Bill in surprise.

Noah noticed who he was looking at and said, "I need him for his keys. I tried opening a few doors upstairs but they were locked, so I wanted to check if you were inside. He said he wouldn't let me use them unless he came with me to monitor what I was doing." Noah rolled his eyes.

Bill cocked an eyebrow at the janitor, but the other man was too surprised to find a boy in the closet to bother saying anything by way of a response.

"Well come on!" Noah yanked on Bill's arm and began to drag him back through the dimly lit hallway. "Everyone's waiting for you. I bet Aubrey had a bitch fit when she saw that I jumped into the water..."

Bill smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Well they would've sailed all the way back to the start of the river with you if I didn't do something," Noah said, defending his rash action.

The captain of the ferry was more than shocked to find out that there was, indeed, a boy stuck in the lower deck closet, but he nearly had a heart attack when he realized who the boy was. Apparently the captain's daughter was a huge Tokio Hotel fan. After signing a quick autograph and waving off the one hundred and eighth apology in less than ten minutes, Bill and Noah were given a little lifeboat to sail back to shore.

"Can't the ferry turn around?" Noah whined a little. "I hate rowing."

Bill jokingly shoved the younger boy off the lower level gangplank into the bright orange lifeboat before pointing to the obvious electric engine attached to the back of the boat, indicating that there would be no need to row.

Noah stuck his tongue out at Bill, who yanked on the rudder cord a few times until the engine roared to life.

---

The first thing Aubrey did when she rushed from the parking lot to greet Bill and Noah was smack her younger brother on the back of the head.

"Are you insane? Do you realize what could've happened to you? You could've died! You could've drowned! Do you even think-?"

"Why yes, Aubrey, Bill is perfectly unharmed, thanks for asking." Noah tried to divert her attention away from him.

"Bill!" Aubrey threw her arms around the other boy's neck. "Where were you? Why didn't you leave as soon as the ferry docked?"

"He was locked in a supply closet," Noah piped up, already feeling confidant that Aubrey was busy making sure Bill was alright.

"Locked in a closet? How'd you manage to do that?" Aubrey asked.

Bill tried to figure out how to answer when Tom nearly rammed him into the ground with a hug.

"Only my little brother is skilled enough to get locked in a closet on a ferry," Tom said, pretending to sob with happiness that Bill was found.

"Tom. Go die in a hole," Bill mouthed very clearly. He only had to repeat it once more before Tom got the message.

Tom huffed and gave Bill a shove. "Arschloch."

"You didn't answer my question," Aubrey began again. "How did you disappear like that?"

Tom handed Bill his marker board and marker, watching as Bill furiously scribbled away with the red ink.

Ask your good friend the French pansy.

The other three spun around to face Nicolas accusingly, but he was already gone.

"Damnit!" Aubrey stomped her foot. "And I made an appointment to practice fencing with him tomorrow!"

"Why would you do that?" Tom asked incredulously.

Aubrey glared. "Well it's not like I knew he was a crazy jealous lunatic. Jeez."

A small chattering noise silenced everyone as they tried to figure out where it was coming from. Bill looked around curiously only to find out that the source of the noise was standing right next to him: Noah's teeth were clicking together.

Aubrey rolled her eyes when she, too, realized who was making the noises. "Noah, I swear to God, if you get pneumonia from jumping into the water-"

"-you'll kill me," Noah finished for her, nodding. "Yeah, I get that every time."

Bill scribbled again on the white board.

If Tom and the others don't mind, you guys can come back to our house and let Noah warm up.

He was delighted when Aubrey's face lit up. "That'd be great! You wouldn't mind?"

The twins shook their heads simultaneously, smiles etched across their faces.

Aubrey grinned back at them. "Then I guess we're going to the Kaulitz house."

"House party!" Tom yelled, throwing his hands in the air and running across the parking lot to the Escalade.

"No house party! Tom! Get back here!" Aubrey yelled, running after him.

Bill watched, amused, as his friend tried to tackle Tom into the car. Noah stood next to him, equally entertained but a lot more uncomfortable due to his wetness.

"I think they're crazy," Noah commented as Aubrey and Tom stood there laughing at each other's idiocy.

Bill chuckled silently and kept his eyes on Aubrey.

I think she's perfect.