Chasing Secrets

7

"Suspended?" My dad was in complete shock "But it wasn't even your fault"
"Yeah but if we make it a bigger deal than it already is she's gonna sue us"
"For what? She has no right to do that"
"Her father is Richard Jones dad"
"Screw him! Screw the whole family, god damn it"
"I'm just as upset as you are dad, but we can't do anything about it"
He sighs
"Oh I forgot to ask you, Lilia and Logan have invited me to go to their vineyard this weekend, is that okay?"
"Yeah sure of course, have fun" he plants a kiss on my forehead then goes and sits on the couch, I go upstairs and pack my bag before Juniper and Ace get here.
Alexis and Rainer come into my room
"Hey" I say to them as I continue packing
"What are you doing?" Rainer asks as him and Alexis sit next to me
"Packing my bags because I'm going with Lilia and Logan to their vineyard"
"Cool! Can we come?"
"No Rain, I'm sorry. It's far away from home and I'm sure you're gonna miss dad"
"But we haven't hung out since you became friends with Lilia and Logan" Alexis said
"The Dyer County Fair is next weekend, I promise I'll take you guys, deal?"
"Deal" They both say in sync
"Now, help me pack please, they'll be here any minute"
We finish up packing and I get a text from Juniper letting me know that they're here
"Do you guys wanna come down and meet them?"
"Yeah" Rainer says
"Sure" Alexis replies
"Let's go" I grab my suitcase and follow them downstairs
They're already outside and I try to catch up but the suitcase is making me struggle, when I finally make it outside I introduce my siblings to Juniper and Ace
"Guys, this is my sister Alexis and my brother Rainer"
"Aw, you guys are so cute" Juniper says as she pulls them into a hug
"Hey big guy and princess!" Ace greets them "Let me take that from you fumbles"
"Wow! What a gentleman, ugh you two would be so cute as a couple" Alexis says
"Alexis!" I nudge her "You know I have a boyfriend"
"One that I've never met, I'm starting to believe you made him up" she says
"Oh hush, you'll meet him next weekend I'll invite him"
"Okay fine"
I hug them and get in the car then we drive off, we arrived at the airport and I was confused as to why we were there when we were supposed to go in their flying saucer since their vineyard is on Mars
"Why are we at the airport?"
"Because that's where we keep our flying saucer" Juniper answered
"But wait, wouldn't anyone see it?"
"No, we have it stored away in a huge garage where no one can open it, no one even knows the garage exists" Ace adds
As we arrive at the rooftop of the airport, Ace parks the car and we walk over to the garage, Juniper puts the pass code to open up the garage and the flying saucer slowly appears. It's the exact one from my dream, gray, big, and perfectly round, there was also a glass window for us to see outer space
"Right this way" Juniper lead us, well me to the flying saucer
As the door opened a lot of smoke came out and that caused me to cough a lot, but Juniper and Ace weren't coughing at all so I gave them a puzzled face
"You get used to it the more it happens" Ace says
And I nod while coughing so much, Juniper climbs the steps, I'm behind her, Ace is following me, as I make it inside it was just like my dream
"This is so weird, it's exactly like the one I saw in my dream" I told Juniper
It was huge from the inside, bigger than the outside, there were a bunch of pictures of Juniper and Ace on the walls, but no sign of their parents
"Hey random question" I was curious to know why they don't have any pictures of their parents, or if they even exist
"Shoot" Ace responds
"I don't know if this is too personal, but where are your parents?"
They exchange looks
"Um, well we lost them to an evil alien named Mortimer happened to take our parents when we were kids because my parents almost came out as aliens but Mortimer didn't like that so he took them away from us and we've been trying to save them for as long as we remember, we still haven't stopped" Ace says
"Oh my, I'm so sorry"
"It's okay, you didn't know"
"I still feel bad for asking"
"Don't worry about it, we were gonna tell you either way, and now we have...we need to ask a huge favor from you"
"Sure, anything, lay it on me"
"We think you can help us save our parents" Juniper says
"What? Me? In what universe?"
"Well Mortimer is afraid of humans and he is too weak to fight you, if you battle him we have a huge chance to beat him, so we really need your help" her eyes start to water
"T-that's a lot of pressure" I look at them "But I'll think hard about it" I hug them
"Okay enough sobbing, we're on our way to Mars for heaven's sake" Ace says and we all laugh
"Ace's right, now, let's blast some music and make our way to Mars!" I say loudly
Ace hops in the driver's seat, Juniper in the middle, and I'm on the far right, we play some music then we dance and sing the whole ten minute flight. As we make it we take off our seatbelts and float our way to the door
"Oh by the way there's gravity on here but it's difficult to walk down the steps so I'll help you" Ace says
I let them go before me, I try to balance myself going down the steps but I almost fell until Ace grabbed my hand and helped me down
We made our way to the vineyard and it was breathtaking, I couldn't believe Mars would have a place like this, we made our way to their house, which was an actual house built on Mars, as we walked inside it was ginormous, the living room was the first thing you walk into, it had long leather sofas and a couch, decorated with throw blankets, a real fireplace, a plasma screen tv above the fireplace, and a coffee table in front of the sofas, behind the living room is the kitchen, my favorite part of the whole house, it was big, but not too big, just the right size for a kitchen, it was mostly white, besides the cabinets, they were wood, and the walls were a pretty shade of gray, what centered it is the kitchen sink, it had a bunch of drawers filled with everything you could imagine a kitchen would have, there were also cabinets above the stove and oven area, those were filled with cups, all kinds of cups, wine glasses, mugs, plastic cups and so much more, on the counter were several different drinks, two wine bottles that was freshly made at the vineyard from the grape vines, a bottle of Louis Roederer Champagne, which happens to be one of the most expensive bottles of Champagne, and a bottle of Gérard Bertrand's Côte des Roses Rosé, one of the finest rosé's, to the far right of the counter is the fridge, it was filled fresh fruits and vegetables, the finest meats and chicken, and all kinds of milk, to the far left of the counter was the microwave, there was a mini bar across the kitchen sink decorated with two real succulents and a random mirror, from the kitchen there were stairs leading up to the bedrooms, my bedroom was at the end of the hallway, as I opened the door and entered the room I was in shock, I love my room, the walls were painted a lovely shade of off white, the bed was a king size, covered by gray blankets and white pillows, opposite of my bed was another plasma screen tv, above my bed were stunning pictures, one of them was a painting I saw in my dream of humans on planet Mars overlooking the Earth, it looked so much more delightful in real life, by the window there was a seat decorated with throw pillows and a throw blanket, there was also a wall that had a bookshelf installed to it filled with different kinds of books, it was like this room is made just for me
"I absolutely adore my room, it's perfect!" I tell Ace and Juniper
"We're glad you love it" Juniper says "It took us quite a while to make it just how you would want it so you could enjoy it"
I smile at them then pull them into a hug
"Also you are able to open up the window, sit on the rooftop and stargaze, your room is the only room that has that" Ace adds
"Cool!" I reply
We make our way back downstairs, there was a random room that had a pool table, we then went outside to check out the dining table and balcony.
"This house is literally my dream house"
"We should get going, we have a day full of activities, we don't wanna be behind schedule" Juniper says
"What kind of activities?" I ask
"Oh you know, skydiving, snorkeling, parasailing, flyboarding"
My jaw was dropped
"Those are just today's activities, now let's go"
As we leave the house, there was a golf cart sitting outside the house
"Can I drive?"
Juniper hands me the keys and we get into the cart, I drive as Juniper navigates me, we drove by the vineyards and they were all alluring, the smell of fresh grapes made mouth water, I just want to live here forever.
Once we arrived to the skydiving area and we got out of the cart, it hit me that I'm going to be jumping off a plane, my heart started to race and my hands were getting sweaty
"What's wrong fumbles?" Ace asked
"I'm going to be jumping off a plane" I said staring at the plane not able to even look at Ace
"We're gonna do this together, look at me"
I turn my head to face Ace
"You're not alone, nothing's gonna happen to you, we're all together, this is just to get your adrenaline rushing, you're going to love it, and if you don't do it I promise you you'll regret it big time"
"I don't know what I'd do without you guys" I smile
"Probably none of these crazy adventures" Juniper replies
"Let's go"
We run to the airplane, once we get inside and we're in the air it was time for us to jump, we stood up and we all held hands
"Who's jumping first?" I asked
"Me" Juniper says and jumps off the plane
Ace jumps off behind her and I'm stuck alone with the professional skydiver, I feel like I can't breathe or move, my heart starts racing again, my mind fills with thoughts like what if the parachute doesn't open,? Or what if I somehow die?
"Ready?" the skydiver says which distracts me from thoughts
I nod in response still in shock, I stand at the edge of the plane then look down, it was dark and I couldn't see anything, I closed my eyes while taking a deep breath, I spread out my arms like bird then jump off the plane, the rush came to me, it was a phenomenal feeling, it felt like I was flying, I was glad Ace and Juniper forced me into this, my adrenaline was definitely rushing, the skydiver pulled the parachute, the next thing I knew I was back on my feet. I jumped up and down saying "I loved it, I loved it, I loved it! Thank you!" and I pulled Juniper and Ace into a group hug
"See? Nothing to worry about" Juniper replies after I let go
"What's next?!" I was piqued for the next adventure
"Well next is parasailing" Ace
"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" I run back inside the dressing room and change out of the skydiving outfit.

Later that night after all the adventures I decided to sit on my rooftop, I started to remember how much I miss dad, Alexis, Rainer, Harley and Pietro, I knew they would love it here as I was staring at the sky, I just hated the fact that I couldn't tell them about Ace and Juniper. Suddenly, I feel the presence of someone sitting next to me, I turned to my right to face Ace
"Hey fumbles" he greets me
"Hi"
"What are you doing staying up so late and outside?"
"Just thinking. I miss my family. And Harley. And Pietro."
"You'll get back to them soon"
"Yeah I know, it's just... I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with them"
"Well, plan something with them"
"I did, there's a county fair next weekend and I'm taking them with Pietro"
"That's good. I'm sure they'll enjoy it"
"I hope so. How's the planning for getting your parents out going?"
"Nothing yet. I really hope we come up with something soon, it's been long enough." He gazes into my eyes
I look at him "Don't worry, you'll come up with a great plan. I'm positive of it" I smile
We were left staring at each other for a brief moment until I got up and said "I should get to bed, it's really late and I'm tired from this incredible day"
He gets up after me "Yeah I should get back to my room, goodnight fumbles" he gets back into my room through the window and I walk him to the door, I open the door for him and as he walks out I respond
"Goodnight Ace" I give him a quick kiss on the cheek, I back away smiling then shut the door. I instantly regretted kissing his cheek. Why did I do that? I thought to myself. What has gotten into me? I shook my head in order to avoid all those questions so I could sleep, I turned off my room light, headed to my bed, got inside and turned off the table lamp, then fell asleep.