Posters and Polaroids

Snooping Expert

-Luke's POV-

Jaw set, I stalked into the living room and set the laptop on the coffee table. Everyone turned their attention to me at the sight of my serious expression, and I cleared my throat. "I want to find these two girls." I tapped the closed laptop with a finger.

Ashton raised an eyebrow. "Why?" I scowled, somehow not knowing the reason myself. All I knew was that I had to meet them. "Because.." I racked my brain, stalling for time. Luckily, Calum jumped in. "Because they seem like wonderful people, and we'd like to get to know them." I nodded to him, grateful for his timely excuse. Micheal shrugged, "I mean, it sounds like it would be interesting. Why not?" He glanced at Ashton, as did the rest of us.

"As long as it doesn't interfere with our work, I don't see why not." I grinned and high-fived Calum. "Now," Ashton pointed out, "How do you expect to find them?" "Well," I scratched my neck, "I'm not actually sure about that bit." Micheal grinned. "Then you are lucky you have me." He pulled the laptop out from under my hand and clicked open the feed. Fern and the blonde girl were still curled up in bed.

"Well, one clear indicator is time. If they're in another country, then we can figure out which one by checking the timezones." He started clicking madly away, and I saw that he was using the settings panel to readjust the camera. "All we have to do is find a clock." He hit a few more buttons, then hit Focus with a flourish. "Ta da!" I looked over his shoulder and saw that he had managed to get a clear picture of the clock on their nightstand, and it read 8:47
"So," Ashton asked, "In what country is it 8:47?" Micheal did a quick Google search.

Calum and I glanced at each other. "They're Americans?" He asked. I shrugged, "I did notice they had a bit of an accent. I just couldn't tell what country it was from." Also, I thought, they seemed very comfortable showing off their bodies, which was a rather American trait. Or at least Fern was. I chuckled quietly, thinking of her tickling the blonde girl in her underwear. I mean, she could pull it off, but it was a rare thing, back home, to see something like that besides at the gym or swimming pool.

Suddenly I felt ashamed of my train of thought. Fern had been in her own house, and I had been spying. It wasn't as if she was waltzing in the streets in that attire. So I, the intruder, had no room to judge what she did and didn't wear in the privacy of her own home. Calum interrupted my self-derogatory thoughts by asking quietly, "Do you know what the brunette's name is?" I started. "It's Fern. Do you know the blonde girl's name?" He looked a little confused. "Of course. Her name's Tillie. Fern, you said? Americans have such odd names." I nodded.

"Then again," Ashton spoke up from the couch, "Americans probably think our names are weird." Micheal looked up from the laptop where he was typing away. "It all depends how and where you're raised, really." I nodded again. "So what are you doing Micheal? Arranging a kidnapping?" He rolled his eyes, "No, I'm just looking into some stuff. The next time we're going to be traveling to America is.." He squinted at the screen. "Four months from now." I groaned. "That's so long!"

Calum put his hand on my shoulder, and I took a deep breath. "Okay. So four months. What will we do to make sure we meet them? We can't exactly just show up at their doorstep, even if we did manage to find their address." Ashton frowned thoughtfully. "If we could find out their full names or address, we could send them tickets to which ever concert of ours is closest." "Premium tickets?" Calum asked hopefully. Micheal grinned, almost wolfishly, "Well, of course."

I sighed in relief. Even if I had to wait, I would get to meet Fern. And Tillie, of course. I wondered again at who would name their child such things. Fern was a type of plant; didn't Americans normally have names like Sarah? And what about Tillie? Maybe it was short for something. If it was short for something, then getting their real names might be more complicated than I'd thought. We'd have to find out her first and last name before we could even get started.

After Michael had done everything he could in terms of narrowing down their location, we decided to get food. It was almost 1 in the afternoon, and all I'd eaten yesterday and today was PopTarts. I was starving, to say the least. "Pizza?" Micheal asked. We all glanced at each other, and I realized how much I wanted a change. "Or we could get some spaghetti?" I suggested. "Spaghetti sounds great." Calum agreed. "We could go to Olive Garden." Ashton piped up. He looked at Micheal, "You okay with spaghetti?" He just nodded and set the laptop aside so he could stretch. "As long as it's food."

~Tillie's POV~

It had been a long time since Fern had cried like that. The last time she had cried that hard was when her childhood cat, Moonlight, had finally passed away. She'd had a good, long life, that cat; 13 years old, and had died peacefully in her sleep. That was what scared me, really. She'd been in so much pain when Moonlight died, crying for days. Did she truly miss love that much?

And the deeper fear, beneath that: Was I not enough? I knew what she'd said, that she knew that I loved her, but it still terrified me. Was I not being a good enough friend? Was I too hard to live with? Did I not show her my love enough? These thoughts swirled through my head, tormenting me as I lay in the dark snuggled against Fern's side. Maybe I could make her breakfast tomorrow? And not complain about the plants as much. Maybe, if I tried harder, could I be enough?

I desperately hoped so.