Disclaimer: I only own Megan.
AN: My computer mouse is effed up, so that's why this chapter will probably look different. Whatevs. I'll fix it when I can.
Enjoy..
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Chapter 8
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"I cannot be-lieve what that guy did with the Batman movie! Oh my God, dude!" Jude cried, rubbing his eyes furiously. Megan grimaced.
"Oh, gosh, I know! I didn't even know that was possible!" Megan shook her head back and forth. "Ugh, so what time are we all going to go to the beach?" she asked. That morning they had all decided to go to the beach tomorrow after work.
Jude shrugged. "Honestly, bra, I don't even know if I can. My family is having some sort of barbeque thing for my cousin who's going away to university in two weeks."
"Okay," Megan pouted. "Maybe next time we have such nice weather..."
Jude looked worried. "I'm reeeally sorry," he began. Megan giggled.
"I'm joking, Jude," she kissed his cheek before jumping over the counter. "It's alright." Megan grabbed a rolling-shelf of DVDS and began stocking them back in their proper places. Jude strolled behind her, his hands in his pockets.
"I'll uh, be right...uh...back, okay?" he asked. Megan turned to look at him and glanced around the store.
"Sure," she replied. The video store was empty and quiet, except for the hum of the pipes in the ceiling. Megan finished stocking the DVDS and sat down behind the counter. She grabbed a magazine she bought with her breakfast that morning and began reading.
"Any good?" Jen asked as she strolled in. Shaking her head, Megan closed the tabloid and slid it back under that cracking counter.
"Oh, you know. Celebrity rehab, drunken hook-ups. Good fun," she cracked sarcastically. Jen laughed.
"So, how are you and Jude doing?" Jen asked.
Megan shrugged. "Really good.You know, hanging out and stuff." Jen nodded.
"That's cool. So, have you-" Jen was interrupted by a loud crash, and the girls turned around to see Jude sprawled on top of a tipped-over cart and a bunch of just-brought-back DVDs. "Oh my gosh!" The girls rushed over to help him. Jen grabbed his cellphone from under a shelf and Megan helped him get to his feet.
"Are you okay?" the said in unison. Jude nodded and grabbed his skateboard.
"Happens all the time, dudettes. I'm used to it," he chuckled. "So uh, can I talk to you for a minute bra?" he asked Megan, glancing nervously at Jen, who quickly scurried away with a promise to come back after her shift ends.
"Uh, yeah," Megan laughed. Jude took her hand and led her to the back of the store. Wayne eyed them through the rows of VHS and DVDS. "Well this is sort of kinky," she nearly snorted with laughter when she realised they were standing by all the pornos. Jude looked around and quickly moved over by the comedies.
"As I was saying," he began. "Remember how I told you about my family barbeque thing tomorrow?" Megan nodded. "Well I just called my mother.." Jude looked nervous.
"Um, Jude, you okay?" Megan asked, swinging their linked hands back and forth. He nodded.
"Sorry, Megan, I'm not good at this stuff. Anywhoooo, I told her how the gang wants to go to the beach but I can't because of the barbeque, soooo...she invited you to my house so they can all meet you." Jude finished hurriedly. Megan paled and swayed so far she nearly fell. Jude caught her and stood her upright. "If you don't want to, that's totally cool...I mean, the barbeque is at 3, and goes until 6. I guess I could meet up with you and everyone after.." he rampled again. Megan gently pressed her index and middle fingers to his lips.
"Calm down," she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "What time should I be there and...where's your house?" Jude smiled and they walked back up to the front of the store.
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Next morning
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Megan was running around her house the next morning, practically tearing her hair out of her hair. Right after work she was going to take the bus to Jude's house. Since he traded his shifts, his ended 3 hours before hers today, and he couldn't take the bus with her. Thankfully Jude gave Megan directions, though, or she never would be able to get there. After nearly half an hour of deliberation she decided to wear a nice white ribbed tank top, a soft brown zip-up hoodie(half zipped), and mid-thigh length fitted jean shorts that she cuffed about an inch. Then she brushed her hair into her normal ponytail. As Megan looked in the mirror she frowned. She looked nice, yes, but something about her outfit seemed off. 'That's it!', Megan realised as she kicked the white rubber thong sandals off her feet and slid her feet into her black converse slip-ons. That was much better. After the 'what-outfit-will-be-nice-enough-to-meet-Jude's-parents' debacle, Megan slicked some peach flavoured lipgloss across her lips, stuck the tube in her pocket, and swept a small amount of shimmery skin-coloured eyeshadow across her lids before giving her lashes two coats of 'Verrry Black' mascara. Megan's mum had called to her several times already, but this time Megan was ready. She grabbed her bag that had her aqua-coloured tankini, thin-but-long terry cloth towel, sunscreen, minimal make-up, hairbrush, and work stuff, and ran down the stairs. "Finally! Baby, if you were any slower I'd think you'd turned into a turtle over night! Now come on, you're going to be late for work as is!" Mrs. Maxwell gestured at the clock. Quarter to nine.
"I missed the bus!" Megan screeched as she grabbed her mum's hand and flew to the awaiting minivan. Mrs. Maxwell jumped in the drivers side, and Megan jumped in beside her, and they were off.
It took nearly half an hour to get there thanks to the unbearable 9:00 traffic. "There you are, Megs," Mrs. Maxwell leaned over and half-hugged her daughter. Megan hugged her back and jumped out of the van.
"I'll see you around 11:00, 'kay mum?" she hollered. Her mother nodded and waved as she drove away. When she was out of sight Megan raced across the parking lot, through the doors, and up to Underground. Wayne and Jude were at the counter talking, and looked up when she ran in, red-faced and out of breath.
"Sleep late, Megan?" Wayne asked. Megan shook her head.
"No, sorry Wayne. It usually only takes about 10 minutes to get here, but there was an accident or something on Main Street and it took half an hour," she told him. Wayne stared at her blankly.
"Whatever," he rolled his eyes and went to do whatever he does all day. Megan walked over to the counter and hopped up next to Jude. She kicked her feet up in the air, and let them fall with a soft thud against the wood.
"You good, bra?" Jude asked. Megan nodded and released her hair from the ponytail for a moment before gathering her hair into a loose bun.
"Yeah. Nervous, though," she admitted. Jude chuckled.
"Don't be nervous! My family is crazy, but excited," he told her.
Megan stared at him quizically. "What for?" she asked.
Jude snorted, "To meet you!"
Megan just leaned back and stared at the ceilings. "Are we going after wor-" with a loud shriek she toppled backwards over the counter. Jude started to laugh, but within a few seconds jumped over to help her. "Ugh," Megan groaned as Jude held her up. He looked her face and arms over and poked her legs. She laughed.
"Anything broken, bra?" he asked. Megan shook her head.
"Nope!" she announced, slapping a bandaid on the one scrape she had attained on her elbow.
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Lunchtime
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Megan, Jen, and Nikki sat at a table infront of the Hotdog Vendor, munching on the new all-real-meat hotdogs, topped with mustard, onions, ketchup, and relish. "Oh my GOD, this tastes so good right now. I didn't have time to eat anything like, all day!" Megan mumbled through a mouthful of condiments, meat, and bread. Nikki and Jen mumbled back in agreement. Once they finished the hotdogs they all went over to the ice cream parlour and got Rootbeer floats.
"So, are you excited to meet Jude's family?" Nikki teased.
"Yeessss...why are you talking like that?" Megan replied nervously.
Jen snickered. "Oh, his parents are nice. His sister and brother are nuts, though. Twins. They don't shut up."
"Yeah, you know the kind that always, no matter what, can like, read your mid? They always finish each other's thoughts too. That can be fun to listen to for hours on end...hours, and hours..." Nikki's eyes twitched.
"Thinking about his 14th birthday party?" Jen smirked.
Nikki shuddered. "Oh yeah." Megan decided not to ask.
"How's the rest of his family?"
Jen shrugged. "Everyone's pretty normal. His uncle and grandparents on his Dad's side are a bit...um...crazy, but they are nice."
"Good. Okay, let's go back to the Big Squeeze," Megan suggested as she clasped her still-half-full cardboard cup. The three girls got up and walked out.
As they reached the Big Squeeze, they saw that everyone else was there. Megan stopped a few meters from the table and hurriedly slurped down the rest of her Rootbeer Float. "Oooookay," she announced. "If I make this shot..." she thought for a moment. "You boys all have to wear whatever I bring here tomorrow morning all day long! Don't worry, it won't be to embarassing."
"Sure sweetheart," Jonesy called mockingly.
"Come on, Megan!" Caitlin cheered, clapping her hands. Megan made a big show of getting ready to throw the cup.
"On your mark...get set...THROW!" Wyatt shouted, then groaned at his own lame joke.
Slowly Megan stepped forward and chucked the cup. She gasped as it hit the lemon above the garbage can, but then grinned widely as it plunked down into the garbage can below. She squealed like a little girl and clapped her hands gleefully as she ran towards her friends. Jude was out of his chair, his arms open. Megan threw her arms around his neck. He lifted her off the ground momentarily before setting her down and giving her a kiss. A few moments passed before the 'stop its' and 'get a rooms' started. "Wow, you guys are getting more leniant with that!" Megan laughed as her and Jude sat in their chairs.
"Yeah, well,...oh. my. God." Wyatt's eyes widened as he looked past Megan's head. He reached over, without taking his eyes away from whatever he was looking at, and started slapping Jonesy's arm hard. Jonesy jerked his head away from Nikki and turned to Wyatt.
"What, Dude?" he asked, clearly annoyed. Wyatt leaned over.
"You know that...let's call it a prank...we pulled this morning?" he pointed past Megan again. Jonesy followed his line of vision, as did everyone else. They were all greeted by the site of a blue-skinned Ron the Rent-A-Cop. Boys quickly scooted back and bolted from the table. Ron began to chase after them, but the two were fast and weaved their way up the escalator before Ron even got to it. Everyone sat in stunned silence.
"What did they do?" Caitlin marveled as she watched Jonesy and Wyatt run along the second level and into Underground.
Everyone was still staring into the middle of the table in complete silence, but slowly Nikki began to chuckle, and soon they all burst into fits of hysterical laughter. By the time they were done any makeup the girls had been wearing was running down their cheeks. Caitlin passed around baby wipes and her compact mirror to correct the mess. "I don't even want to know how they did that...but dear God, those two are crazy." Megan tried to say through her heavy, catching breath.
A few minutes later Jude's watch went off, signaling lunch time was over. "Aaaall right, see you dudettes later, he said as he and Megan waved goodbye, linked hands, and set off back to work.
A grueling 3 hours later, Wayne let them go since buisness was slow. They got their stuff and went out front. As they looked around, Megan noticed their bus had already passed. "Oh, no! Now we're going to be late for the barbeque!" she cried. Jude took her hand.
"Don't worry, dudette, let's just get the subway," Jude flashed his metrocard.
"Oh. I didn't know you had one of those. I don't. How do they work?" Jude explained this to her as they ran through the busy Toronto streets and down a staircase to the subway station. Once they were onboard, Jude told her they could get off at the last stop on this line, and run for about 10 minutes and they'd be there by 4:00.
The subway car was smelly, dirty, and...ew, sticky. Megan wrinkled her nose. Yes, she'd been living in Toronto for almost a year, but she had never, ever dared to take a subway. There were no subways in the maritime province she had come from, and horror stories were all she heard from the girls at her first school here. Of course, they were the ones who's daddies hired town cars to drive them to school from the time they were in pre-school. Aside from the stinky, dirty, and stickiness of it all, there was a homeless man sprawled across the only empty seats. He kept staring at Megan, who looked up at Jude nervously. She moved closer to Jude and turned to face him instead of watching out the front window. "You okay, bra?" Jude asked as he saw her expression. Eyes wide, Megan stood on her tip toes and whispered;
"That homeless guy was staring at me!" she said shakily. "It's creeping me out."
Jude put his arm over her shoulder, and she pressed her cheek against his shirt and gazed out the side window, pretending to ignore the creeper, until Jude announced the next one was their stop. Megan hoisted her bag over her shoudler and followed Jude out onto the somewhat-busy mainstreet of whatever suburb this was. She followed him through shortcuts over lawns, down hills, and even through a random giant pipe. Soon they were standing in a normal backyard. "That's my house over there," he pointed to the house on the other side of the street. Lots of cars were parked infront of it. Megan gulped and clutched his hand. "Don't be nervous," he gave her a kiss before they proceeded to cross the quiet street.