Spring Break(2)

Chapter 9: Nap-Time and Nerf Wars

When you get back to the house you all head into the living room and turn on the TV. At the first commercial break of whatever show it was that you came in the middle of you all fell asleep, in varying positions. Danny: spreading out on the couch he was on. You: in your favorite curled up, but still sitting position that you usually take when you're on a couch with your head resting on Travis' shoulder. Travis: sitting slightly slouched on the couch with his head resting on your cheek.

Around quarter to 12 you wake up. Danny is still spread out on the couch, completely out, but Travis is awake, gently playing with your hair. You move your head up and kiss Travis' jawline. He looks down at you and smiles, then you both start kissing each other, that is, until you were rudely interrupted by a throw pillow thrown from Danny's side of the room. You and Travis pull apart and you pick the pillow up off the ground and throw it back as Travis says, "That is NOT why they're called throw pillows guys." You just sit back into the couch with a pouty look on your face and say, "Danny started it." Then Travis looks at you both and says, "Nerf battle?" Danny looks at him and says, "You're on." Then you all take off, Travis pulling you into his room to grab a gun while Danny goes to his room to grab his. You could tell that Elvis knew something was going down because you saw him retreat into the bathroom. Travis said, "Good boy, Elvis, create a safe zone." and closed the door.

You all met back up in the living room and Travis declared it was every man for himself and that the hall bathroom was off limits due to Elvis taking cover from the ensuing hell in the rest of the house. The yard was fair game, with the borders being the street and the beginning of their neighbors' property. Each player had five minutes to spread out and hide before anyone could start shooting. If you get shot once you are out of the game and have to help the person who shot you find the remaining player. For this reason, everyone got a walkie-talkie, only to be activated when another player was shot, at that time the channel of the walkie-talkie would be activated. From the way that Danny and Travis explained the rules caused you to realize that they had been playing this game since they were little, each randomly cutting in perfectly and continuing perfectly from where the other had left off.

After they explained the rules Travis said, "Your five minutes starts on go, ok? Ready; Set; GO!!!" All three of you instantly take off around the house, finding somewhere to camp out. 

At the time of the start of the game all three walkie-talkies were set to the same channel so you could hear the five minute call. The next thing you hear as you stand in the silence of your hiding spot is Danny's voice saying, "The five minute safety bubble is up, change your radio channel now." You were hiding in a curtain in the living room, you had cracked the window open slightly so you could escape if you heard someone coming from the living room, and so you could hear if someone was walking around the front porch so you could get away from the window or shoot out the window, hopefully hitting whichever one of the guys was out there, and not give away your position.

Suddenly, something you didn't plan on happened, footsteps came from both sides. You quickly analyzed the position and decided that, given the window you had chosen, if you lay down, whoever was inside wouldn't be able to see you, hopefully you could do it quietly enough to not alert him to your presence and you might get an even clearer shot out the window at the other. So swiftly and quietly you lay down and when you looked out the window you saw, not Danny or Travis, but Charles, he saw you and gave you a weird look, but you put a finger to your lips and pointed at the nerf gun in your hand. Thankfully he understood what was going on and nodded. You breathed as quietly as you could and listened to the footsteps of whoever was in the living room disappate and then you heard the front door open. You carefully looked around to make sure he was actually gone and then, seeing through the window that he had gone outside, got up to move somewhere else before he got near the window.

Quickly and quietly you walked to the other side of the house. You open the back door slowly and quietly, and slowly slid through the crack you created, just enough to fit through, you almost shut the door, but you hear leaves rustle on the ground. You slide down onto your stomach and army crawl to the edge of the deck. You look down and smirk. Though his shirt blended in with the shrub that he was hiding in, Travis' red hair was hard to miss. He's lying on his stomach, facing the other way, the door must've opened quieter than you thought. You see a spot where his long legs are exposed in the space between the shrub and the deck. Slowly, you take aim and then, you shoot. The nerf dart hits its target and Travis turns around, shocked. You climb down from the deck and Travis whispers, "You sneaky, child, that's my usual starting hiding spot, none of the guys have ever found me there." You smirk and say, "Channel 5."

With that you split up, going to search for Danny. You take the front yard as Travis goes to search the house. You peek around the corner at the front porch, Charles is still sitting there, and you quickly whisper into the radio, "Oh, did I mention that Charles is here, he's just chilling on the front porch." You hear Travis' reply, "Roger that, love. Continuing with the search for Danny." Carefully you check every shrub and tree, scanning for possible signs of Danny. The window that you opened earlier is still cracked, though slightly more so than before. You don't know whether it was the wind or if Danny was hiding where you had been, so you crouch on the ground by the porch and hiss, "Charles." He can't figure out where you're hiding, so he just addresses the direction your voice came from and says, "Danny told me not to say anything about where or which way he went."

Then, you hear Travis' voice through your radio whispering, "Target spotted, permission to shoot?" You giggle at how much it sounded like something a SWAT team member would say to an agent on the crime shows you watch and then answer, "Permission granted Agent Clark." The next thing you hear is, "Target missed, he was near the rear exit, retreating to the front exit, find somewhere to hide." The next thing you hear is the front door flying open and "Hi Charles, bye Charles!" as Travis runs to the tree and leaps up to the lowest branch, quickly hiding further up the tree. 

The next thing you hear is Danny running around from the back yelling, "I'm going to get you Travis!" You take aim at his lower back from your hiding spot between the porch and a bush. You slowly put your finger on the trigger, make sure you're gun is still pointed at him, and you fire. The dart hits its target and Danny falls to the ground dramatically. When he gets up he turns your way and says, "Well, I thought you were going for the tree Travis, what channel are you on?" You get up off the ground and say, "Channel 5. You lost Danny, Trav IS in the tree, but I got him already. Game Over." 

Travis sprang down from the tree, smiling. Danny looked dumbfounded. "Dude," he said to Travis, "This is the first time you've EVER lost a nerf battle." Travis continued smiling and said, "I can think of a few times I lost, but you still don't know my usual starting hiding place and that's the important part. The next time *your name* plays though, I have to find a new one." Danny looks at you and says, "Tell me where it is?" You just shake your head and say, "It's a really good spot, he would've gotten me first if I hadn't heard him move right when I got there." As you all walk inside, you realize something, and you whisper to Travis, "You weren't wearing that shirt when we started the game. Is that what you use the five minute bubble for?" Travis just looked at you, winked, and said, "The great champion never reveals his secrets."

As you all walked in Travis noticed the open window. "Was that open this whole time?" You say, "I think you opened it before we all fell asleep, since it was nice out." trying not to smirk, clearly neither Danny nor Trav had thought of the idea, and you wanted to keep it secret. Travis just shrugged his shoulders and you all went inside for lunch.