Date at WcDonalds

Chapter 8 - I Think They Ship It

Cole awoke that morning to the sound of loud and obnoxious whispering. The next thing he became aware of was how sore his back was. He felt stiff and very uncomfortable before realizing that he had been sleeping in a sitting position.

"Do you mind?" he muttered grumpily, rubbing his eyes.

"Agh, he moved!"

"Don't worry, I still got a good one – check it out!"

Cole froze. He recognized those voices. His eyes darted over to see Jay, Kai, and Zane clustered at the edge of the table where Cole and Seliel had spent most of the night.

"What are you guys doing here?!" he asked. He had specifically asked them not to come!

Zane wore a slightly bemused look as he explained, "After the rain ended and you still did not return, we got worried and came to see what happened."

"Now I get why you didn't want us to come get you," said Jay, barely able to contain a fit of laughter.

Seliel was now very awake as well. "What do you think's so funny?" she asked Jay, clearly as annoyed as Cole was.

"Just that you two are so cuuute!" Jay gushed. "Check it out, I even got a picture!" Jay waved his phone in front of Cole's face, and Cole was horrified to see a picture of himself and Seliel side-by-side in the booth, fast asleep.

"Give me that!" Cole made a grab for the phone, but Jay was too quick.

"No way, I'm keeping this forever. Toughest ninja? Not anymore!"

"Ooh, can I see?" Seliel asked, much more enthusiastic.

Jay showed her the phone, but this time he was much less prepared, and she snatched it out of his hand.

"Hey!"

Before he had a chance to take it back, Seliel scrambled out of the booth and across the room. Cole darted out to block Jay before he could pursue.

"Aww," Jay groaned. "I was maybe gonna use that against him someday."

Cole grinned. "Nice one, Seliel!"

"So . . . now that the rain's over . . ." said Kai. "Are you gonna come back home or what? Or do you just live here now?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. I just got tired waiting for the rain to stop, but now that my life isn't in danger, I would like to go home."

Kai nudged Cole and had the decency to at least lower his voice when he said, "Don't act like you didn't enjoy being stuck here with her all night." Cole's only response was to shove him away.

"Hey, can I have my phone back now?" Jay asked.

"Just a minute," Seliel answered.

"You better not mess with anything on there. It doesn't take that long to delete a picture!"

"You know, I think I'll just grab something to eat," said Kai. "In the rush to get here, we didn't have time for breakfast."

"I wouldn't recommend it," said Zane. "The meals from fast food chains like this are terrible for your nutritional health."

Kai waved his hand dismissively. "Ah, haven't you ever heard of the phrase ignorance is bliss?"

"Catch!" Seliel tossed the phone back to Jay, who fumbled and nearly dropped it. She turned to Cole. "I guess I should be going, too. I'll see you around."

Cole's heart sunk. It had been so long since he'd last seen her, and this had only been a chance meeting. Who knew when they might run into each other again?

But then, he thought, she probably wasn't that anxious to see him again, anyway. Sure they'd had fun, but Seliel was only being a good friend. Who would ever want to be with a ghost?

"Yeah, I'll . . . see you around," he said, the words feeling dry in his mouth.

Seliel waved and Cole watched her go. He went to join his brothers while they ordered a quick meal, and then they finally finally left that little restaurant.

The Bounty was hovering just above the city and they used Airjitzu to get back on board. Just as Cole landed, his phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a message with a picture –

– the picture.

Cole was ready to go clobber Jay before he realized that the message had been sent from an unknown number. There was a text with it that read:

I had fun last night! Call me soon, we can hang out again sometime ;)

A grin broke across his face. She wanted to hang out again! Maybe there was hope after all. And, admittedly, the picture was kind of cute.

Seliel's head rested on his shoulder, her pretty face serene in slumber. Her bright hair was even a little mussed after a long day and night, but it didn't take anything away from her appearance. It was really only himself that Cole wasn't too fond of in the picture. His head lolled back, his mouth parted slightly in a position that had given him a sore neck he was still feeling. He thought he looked rather silly. But then again, Seliel seemed to like the picture, so maybe it wasn't so bad.

"What's so funny?"

Cole looked up and hurriedly moved his phone out of sight as Jay approached. "Nothing. You wouldn't get it."

"Well Sensei Wu thinks we've wasted enough time rescuing you, and he's not too happy we compromised our diets either." Jay chuckled. "You should've seen the look he gave Kai when he caught him with half of a bacon burger stuffed in his mouth. Though, come to think of it, he might have just been disappointed we didn't bring him anything."

"In that case, I won't even mention all the junk I had last night. You're right, we better get going."

Cole followed Jay below deck, but not before taking one last look at the picture and message. He couldn't keep himself from smiling again. Things were finally starting to look up.

. . .

A/N: Yaaay for happy endings! Sorry for leaving Lloyd out at the end, but he was kind of just being a fifth wheel, y'know? Well this was so much fun to write, I enjoyed thinking of things for Cole and Seliel to do. I hopeyou all liked reading it as much as I liked writing it. Thanks so much for reading!