The Crazy Adventures of Aqua Girl

Chapter 34 - Late Night Adventure

Ignoring the evening chill, I sauntered down my apartment block's stairs and rushed out onto the eerily quiet street. Throwing my skateboard down onto the pavement, I hopped aboard and began rolling through the streets of San Francisco, heading nowhere at all. Rufus trotted by the side of my board as we rushed down the sidewalk, gaining distance between the apartment and ourselves. I just needed fresh air and time for my own thoughts to arrange themselves. Soon enough, I found myself in a different district of my city, and came across the Mission Dolores park, a large green space which was usually packed full of tourists during the day. Yet right now, on a dim, chilly evening, there was only a few singular dog walkers, ushering their dogs quickly through the park. 

Rufus and I crossed the silent road and entered the park, before he rushed off into the bushes to find squirrels. Weird dog. I bet all that goes on in his head is

SQUIRRELS SQUIRRELS SQUIRRELS FOOD POOP SQUIRRELS!

Seriously.

I sauntered down the path towards the center of the park, glancing over at Rufus occasionally as he ducked in and out of the bushes. As I continued walking, I noticed another figure in the park, wearing a hoodie and advancing towards me, on the same path. Knowing that some weird people would be out at this time, I began cutting across the grass, towards Rufus in the bushes. Glancing behind me, I noticed the figure began following me.

Shoot.

Speeding up, I dashed into the borderline bushes with Rufus, and ducked behind a large tree trunk. As the figure approached, they lowered their hood from their face, and I recognized the face as Aidan Smith.

"Cascade? Is that you in there?" He asked, squinting into the bushes where I was crouched. Sheepishly, I stood up and made my back into the dim evening light.

"What were you doing in there?" Aidan continued, arching an eyebrow. Rufus dashed out of the bushes and began lapping at Aidan's legs. Aidan grinned and knelt down to stroke the happy dog.

"I was...inspecting the leaves." I replied, remembering Blaze Boy's reply to the police officer in the woods after our escape from ElectroNite's headquarters.

"Right..." Aidan replied, standing up as Rufus rushed off again. 

"More importantly, what are you doing out here at this time? I'm walking my dog, but I don't see a puppy following you." I declared, as Aidan cleared his throat. This boy was weird. There was no good reason to be out in a deserted San Fran park in the evening. I could think of a million better things to be doing.

"Stuff. You don't need to know." Aidan muttered, pulling his hoodie back over his head. "Anyway, I had better be going now. See ya tomorrow, Mademoiselle Cascade."

I scowled at Aidan as he quickly walked away, and turned a corner to head onto a main street. Creep.

"C'mon, Rufus." I murmured, ushering Rufus to follow me through the center of the park. My dog trotted a few feet ahead of me, occasionally sniffing at a particularly interesting patch of grass. Dogs are so strange. They find interest in the most dull things. 

A small area of damp concrete.

Woah! Let me sniff this place for a good 10 minute and make my owner wait!

Another dog's butt.

Wow! Let me sniff this butt for a while, whilst the owners stand awkwardly in silence!

A cat.

Stupid darn cat! Let me chase it and race off into the horizon and my owner can chase me!

No joke. Rufus does all of the above, and more. But it would take all day to list them all, so I'll just leave it there.

Rufus and I strutted through the park, and soon we were back out on a fairly busy street, with beeping cars and rushing people. Luckily for me, Rufus was pretty trustworthy when it came to crowds, and he stuck by my side unless there was another dog's butt available, or a cat. I joined the rush of people heading down the street, and gazed into the shop windows as I walked, admiring the glossy, overpriced clothing in the window displays. I didn't like handbags anyway. The girls at my school that had them were all brats. Lacey and Harriet Williams included. Soon, the street panned out into a residential area, and the traffic and people slowly died away, leaving Rufus and I with a few businessmen and lost tourists taking pointless photos of the suburbia. I was strolling along, eavesdropping on some Australian torusits ahead of me that were examining a map and getting confused, when the distant sound of a roar of flames echoed into my ears. I looked up to the evening sky to find Blaze Boy shooting steadily towards the ground. He lowered himself to the sidewalk as the Australians turned around and gawked.

"Good evening." Blaze Boy said, winking at the tourists as he landed. I rolled my eyes. The tourists looked thrilled.

"Oh my good god. Are you one of those superhero folks?" One of the male tourists asked, sauntered up to us with an over-sized camera around his neck.

"You could say that." Blaze Boy replied, looking over at me and smirking. Idiot. The tourist turned back to a woman of the group - presumably his wife - and said something inaudible, before turning back to Blaze Boy and I. He looked over at me, just a normal girl walking her dog in the evening.

"Excuse me, ma'am, would you mind takin' a photo of my partner and I with this fella?" The man asked, thrusting his surprisingly heavy camera into my hands. I couldn't believe how ironic this was. A superhero taking a photo of another superhero with tourists. Unbelievable.

"I'm sure the lady wouldn't mind." Blaze Boy drawled, grinning at me as the two tourists placed huge smiles on their features and crowded in next to Blaze Boy. Sighing, I stood back and squinted at the camera's screen. I focused the camera on their cheesy faces and clicked the shutter a few times, before handing the camera back to the Australian man.

"Thank y'all." He murmured, before rushing off to join his pack of fellow tourists with his partner. As they sauntered away, buzzing with excitement and the sensation of being lost, Blaze Boy approached me and Rufus, who was busy licking his paws.

"Yes, thank you for being a great photographer there, Miss Cascade." Blaze Boy retorted, smirking. I kicked his shin.

"Not funny." I replied, watching as Blaze Boy knelt down to stroke Rufus, who was now wagging his tail in recognition of his savior.

Hang on a minute.

Miss Cascade.

Mademoiselle Cascade.

Aidan Smith.

Blaze Boy.

Something was adding up here. I knew I couldn't just go ahead and ask Blaze Boy if he was Aidan. He was brutally deny it, even if he was. No. I had to figure out a honest approach to this.

"So, what brings you out here this evening, Blazey Boy?" I asked, studying Blaze Boy's masked face as he looked at me.

"I was just passing by the neighborhood and spotted a gal walking her dog. It just so happened to me you, Aqua Girl." Blaze Boy replied, as his black hair flopped over his left eye. 

"Mhm, right."

"What happened to your face? GoGo didn't do that, did she?" Blaze Boy said, looking concerned and putting his hand up to the cut on my face. I batted his hand away.

"No, it was just a bit of debris when I getting out of my school."

"What, did a fellow student try to attack you or something?"

"I flew out, you imbecile." I muttered, glaring at him. He simply contiued smirking.

"Anyway, I actually came to find you to ask you something, Aqua Girl." Blaze Boy stated, glancing down at Rufus. 

"Yeah?"

"How would you like to come on a late night adventure?"