8So...Um, obviously, this is my first story. I wrote a few chapters of this already, but about halfway through November, I kind of lost my motivation. I want to finish writing this. I don't want to abandon it, so I figured if I post it and get a bit of good feedback, I could...bring it back to life!
I intend to bring romance into this, just not the first several chapters. I could change it, thought, as I'm already considering editing everything else I've written.
*edit: also, I noticed that the page breaks I put in place weren't showing up, so I'm trying to fix it. There was only one in this first chapter, but it still must have been confusing.
Lia drummed her fingers on her seat in the truck, thankful for the few days off she would be getting. Cleaning houses everyday wasn't the most difficult job ever, but it certainly got boring after a while. And she had been doing that for much longer than a while. She was tired, not in the mood to talk so early, and neither was the man driving the truck. He appeared to be deep in thought, so Lia only leaned back against the headrest and looked out the window.
They were driving on a narrow road between a set of railroad tracks and a cornfield. The expanse of vegetation lay to her right, and the stalks were bathed in the warm golden glow of the rising sun. The sky was a pale blue, a sharp contrast to the shamrock green stalks of corn. A shadow was suddenly draped over the field and the truck, making Lia turn away from her window and peer through the water stained windshield, looking for the cause.
A train had come between them and the sun, blocking it from sight. The man glanced at it, but only for a second, then looked away. Lia's eyes flickered to the old green air freshener dangling from the rear view mirror. It served no purpose as it had lost it scent long ago, and was mainly there for decoration. The train gradually moved past them, and both the set of tracks and the road turned away from each other, veering in opposite directions . After almost an hour, the cool air from the country faded away, and the stuffiness of the old town plus the sun's new position high in the sky made for a really hot day. They made a few turns before pulling up in front of a building painted in two different colors, with a vertical sign that read KINCL in bold black letters hanging in front of it. There was a man walking down the front steps of the building, and he quickened his pace as the truck pulled up in his direction to avoid getting hit. Lia spoke as she was becoming extremely bored. "Cade, why are we going to the movies, again?"
Cade shut off the truck. "A theater," he corrected. "They're closing it down and the owners want to get rid of some of the stuff they have there. If we're lucky, we'll find something useful." Lia wanted to answer but noticed an all too familiar black Mini Cooper with white stripes park on the corner across the street. A loud voice was "singing" very badly from inside, and a blonde man with wild curly hair stepped out of the Mini with a tool chest in hand.
"Freaking Lucas…" Lia muttered. "Does he have any consideration for our ears? Can he even hear himself?"
"Well at least he decided to show up for work." He and Lia got out of the truck, both taking care not to slam the door. Cade grabbed a tool bag from the back of his truck and both he and Lia started to approach Lucas, who was sporting bright red sunglasses. They almost matched his reddening skin, which was usually fair. "What, surf report no good at South Padre?" Cade asked, loud enough for Lucas to hear him.
"The waves are flat and I got no gas," Lucas replied. "You know that, Cade." Lucas began to cross the street only to have a truck hauling a trailer of some sort drive right in front of him. He watched it roll by. "Dude," he reproached, "rude." He strolled by two women, one a brunette, the other a blonde, blatantly eyeing them. "Look at these two junebugs. Wooh! My, my!"
Lia leaned sideways, closer to Cade. "Remind me again why he still hangs around?" She saw his shoulders shrug out of the corner of her eye.
Lucas had almost reached them. "Hey, you're paying me on this one, right, Cade? Please tell me I'm getting paid."
"You know, Lucas, a lot of guys are just happy to have a job at all," Cade answered, taking off his glasses.
Lucas was close to stopping. "Yeah, I suppose."
Cade pointed the glasses at him. "You got any cash on you?"
Lucas pointed at Lia. "Why don't you ask her? She always gives you money." Lia gave him a look, but said nothing. Cade would just interfere as he always did.
"Don't talk about her like that," Cade defended. "Her money is well earned, alright? She already pays for like a ton of stuff, so just stop."
Lia cleared her throat. "I'm right here."
Lucas finally looked at her. "So...Do you have cash?" Cade frowned, but looked like he wanted to know himself.
Lia groaned. "Ugh, yes! What do you think?" She started walking across the street. "Now let's get a move on!" she ordered impatiently. "I'm dying out here! It's so hot!"
The men watched her walk away for a moment. Lucas whistled. "As much as I don't like her, you've got to admit, she's hot."
Cade elbowed him. "Dude, she's like fifteen years younger than you."
Lucas shrugged and followed Cade to the theater. It looked old and run down, with a few tarps hanging over some of the letters of the name of the theater. Lia was already waiting beside a man with a light blue button up shirt and a white cowboy hat.
"Hey, Lucas Flannery." Lucas held out his hand after greeting the stranger casually. The man peered at him through his glasses and took Lucas' hand. Lucas shook it, and stared at the man's arm awkwardly as it flopped around like a fish out of water. Lia snickered.
As they entered the theater, the stranger's grandfather joined them. Apparently he was the landlord. His grandson started talking, and Lia got herself ready for a history lesson. She really didn't have the patience for lectures.
"Place has been in the family since twenty eight," the man began. "Grandaddy ran it all his life, ain't that right, Grandaddy?" He sighed. "Real soon, he's gonna sign it over to me."
His grandfather grunted. "The movies, nowadays, that's the trouble. Sequels and remakes, bunch of crap." He hobbled over to a poster of a movie called El Dorado and pointed at it. "I love that one. Oh…" He walked past it.
His grandson faced Cade. "He's deaf and senile," he whispered to him.
The old landlord walked more briskly, as if irritated. "Heard that," he muttered. Lia fought the urge to laugh.
"Guess he isn't so hard of hearing after all," she whispered to Cade. He shot her a smile before his serious face returned. Lia took the liberty to roam around before following the group into the projection room.
"Now these just need some spit and polish," said the man with the cowboy hat, pointing at the old projectors. "I believe they're digital. Possibly IMAX!" he finished with a grin, gesturing to the machines grandly as if he had just accomplished some great feat.
What Cade said next wiped that grin off the man's face. "Yeah, they're not. Mister, we'll just have a look around if you wanna leave us to it, okay?" Lia almost felt guilty. Cade had probably noticed that she was starting to look bored, and wanted to skip the tour and look around with her; show her everything himself. She just knew it.
The old grandfather spoke up from the far end of the room. "You know, folks used to come from miles around to see the dancing girls with the big cha-chas." He wiggled in an attempt to imitate the dancers, but failed.
Lia rolled her eyes and growled when she saw Lucas' grin. "I didn't sign up for this crap," she muttered. She got out of there and went into the actual room where you went to see the film. The giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling caught the little light shining into the room, making it shine, and even sparkle at a certain angle. She walked down the main aisle, which was relatively free of junk, easily. The red velvet seats were covered in a layer of dust, and she punched a few of them as she walked by, watching the dust released into the dank air. "Whoa. This place really let itself go. Sure it looked kinda crummy before, but now…?"
She reached the lane in front of the front row seats, where the empty floor became cluttered with old, useless objects. Then the exploring became slightly less dull. She caught sight of a worn, stained football, the laces dirtied and yellow with age and use. Looking away from the ball, she spotted a mountain of junk on the left side of the room and challenged herself to climb it, trying to alleviate her boredom. Once she reached the top, she looked around, wondering if the room would appear different from her heightened perspective. She noticed the second story of seats above the seats on the first floor, having previously thought they were part of the ceiling. She also saw a large, square shape at the opposite end of the room.
"What the hell?" She jumped off the top of the mountain of trash, careful not to accidentally land on the seats. "No need to fall today. Not after the way Cade reacted last time." She sprinted in the direction of...whatever that was in the shadows. Halfway there, she could see what it was.
It was a truck. Several rags were draped over it, but Lia could still see the terribly poor condition it was in. She reached out to touch one of the countless holes on the truck's surface, but pulled away when a voice invaded silence.
"Lia? Lia, you in here?"
Lia ran back to the row of seats nearest to her, spotting Cade at the main entrance to the room. She waved at him to get his attention. "Here!" Cade saw her and smiled, nodding. He walked farther in, with Lucas on the next lane over.
"Remember this place when we were kids?" Lucas asked him. "How many girls you think you brought here in high school?"
Cade reached the front lane and shined his flashlight on the same football Lia had seen. "Only remember one." He let his arm drop and picked the ball up. It brushed against something and made a sound like a zipper would, and he readied the ball in his hands. He turned to the left to face Lucas. "Hey, heads!"
Lucas stood there dumbly, and didn't even start to raise his arms once Cade threw the ball. It hit him straight on his forehead, knocking him over onto the mountain Lia had scaled with a grunt of pain. He sat there with a hand on his head, and a few car rims fell to the floor beside him. "Ow…"
Cade spread out his arms. "That's why you didn't make the varsity team," he taunted. Lucas got up with the ball in his hand and walked to an open spot, dizzy. He touched his forehead again and got ready to throw.
"Alright." He patted the ball twice, similar to the way a basketball player dribbles a ball before shooting. "Go long." He flung the ball, but let go of it too late, throwing it downward. It bounced off one of the seats and hit the wall behind Lucas, breaking something. It finally landed in a spot in the red seats far ahead of Cade, who just stood there with awaiting hands.
Lia burst out laughing. "Dude, I can throw better than that!"
Cade nodded at her. "Anyone can throw better than him. Seriously." He smiled at her, and she laughed some more.
Lucas waved them off, giving up on the football. "Leave it."
Lia straightened out and sighed. Her attention returned to the truck, and she walked back to it. She was positive that the holes covering it like spots on a dalmatian were created by bullets. Why the truck would be shot at with such repetition, however, was a great point of confusion. She was so engrossed with the vehicle before her that she didn't notice Cade had walked up behind her.
"Look at it," he whispered.
"What do you think I'm doing?" she answered sarcastically. "Writing 'im a letter?" Climbing up to the door, she heard Cade chuckle. She held on as the truck rumbled and shifted, creating a loud crash. She calmly opened the door to have a waterfall of dozens of golden cylinders pour off of the driver seat and pool at Cade's feet. She picked one up and looked at it with a raised eyebrow, as did Cade. Her eyebrows rose when she realized what it was, and a second guess from Cade further confirmed her own.
"Mortar shells?" he breathed. She turned around and looked down at Cade to see her expression mirrored on his features. Setting the object in her hand back onto the seat slowly, she gave it a perplexed look.
"What the hell happened to you?" She clambered into the passenger seat to let Cade have a look. His gaze met hers, and in an instant she knew he was thinking about buying it. It felt like groking. "Ask how much it costs," she told him slowly. She sounded like a mother whose teenage daughter kept asking for permission to go to a concert, and could no longer take the begging.
Cade got down and walked away as Lia got out. "Hey, Snakeballs," he called out to the landlord's grandson. Lia stared at the cowboy hat-wearing man blankly. She hadn't noticed he was even there. "How much for the truck?"
The man looked up at Cade with apparent confusion, as if he had no idea what Cade was talking about. "Truck?"
. . .
Lia breathed in the clean air from the field with closed eyes and a small smile. One could easily tell the difference between the air from the town and the air out in the open country. She poked her head out the window to see Lucas in his car and the tow truck right behind him. She drew her head back in and sighed.
Cade had bought the truck. Well, she and Lucas had bought the truck. She knew they'd get an earful once Tessa found out, and that would most definitely be soon.
"You think Tessa will be mad?" she asked Cade.
He sighed and his shoulders slumped. "Let's worry about that later. Okay?"
Trying to obey, she tried to focus on their surroundings. That was when a large sign jutting out from somewhere in the cornfield came into sight. She had seen that sign several times before, and it always caused mixed emotions within her. As they drew nearer, she could finally make out what the sign said. Not like she hadn't already memorized it.
REMEMBER CHICAGO
REPORT ALIEN ACTIVITY
855-363-8392
She had lived on Earth for many years, arriving only months before the aliens the sign was actually referring to. Ten years ago. When they had, she had been disguised as a ten year old who lived on the streets of a small town in Texas, coming out only at night to look around for food just for the sake of eating. The aliens, who she later found out were called Transformers, were located much too far for her to try to find without risking being caught. Instead she went on with her life in her human disguise.
She started working at the UPTOWN theater at "sixteen" years old as an usher, not being able to go to school. That was when she met a thirty two year old Cade Yeager, and his thirteen year old daughter, Tessa. They got to know each other, having a chat whenever Cade went to the theater. That same year, she got the position of concessionist. They had to stop when Lia's boss threatened to fire her if she kept holding up the line. Ever since, they started to hang out, and now he was letting her rent at his house.
Memories of her job at the theater only a few years before it closed down flooded Lia's mind as the sign turned into a tiny speck in the distance. Her reminiscing was interrupted, however, when Cade turned from the paved road onto the bumpy dirt path that led to his house. Plenty dust rose behind them, clouding the path for anyone directly behind them.
"Do you think he'll be able to see through all the dust?" Lia asked, looking into her side mirror.
Cade glanced at the rear view mirror and nodded. "Lucas knows the path well enough by now. He'll be fine."
Lia pinched the bridge of her nose. "I meant the guy driving the tow truck."
Cade's mouth made an "O" shape. "Oh. Uh, yeah, I'm sure he'll be fine, too."
They parked at the edge of the house to leave room for both Lucas and the tow truck to park. Cade and Lia got out, and Lia walked over to the old truck all the way in the back to check it out in the bright light, leaving Cade to tell the tow truck driver how far to go. Outdoors, she could see the faded red flames against the rusted body, which she guessed could have once been a shade of blue. After it had been paid for, Cade had told her he wanted to buy the truck for spare parts. Lia also felt that there was a need to buy the truck, but not for parts. A questioning exclamation caused Lia to turn around and see Tessa storming out of the house toward Cade.
"A truck?" she cried, glaring at it for a second. "Dad, please tell me you didn't spend our money on this."
Lucas, who had been leaning on the hood of his car, stood up and started walking past her. "Oh no, don't worry, he spent my money, one hundred bucks of it."
Tessa gave her father a stern look. "You wasted one hundred dollars that weren't even yours on some old truck?"
"Actually it cost one fifty," Lucas informed her, leaning on a lonely section of fence. It looked like it could snap in half any second. It was a miracle Lucas' weight didn't speed up the process.
Tessa glared at Cade. "So you did waste our money!"
He held his hands up in defense. "No, I didn't spend a cent on this thing."
Tessa glanced at the truck and spotted Lia looking between it and them. Tessa shook her head, understanding who had paid the remaining fifty dollars. "Dad, making Lia waste her money, I can barely forgive. After all, she supports you endlessly," she added under her breath. "But I still can't believe you keep making Lucas spend his!"
Cade gestured to Lucas. "It was an advance on his regular paycheck," he defended.
"What regular paycheck?" Lucas asked, his arms on either side of him, gripping the wood that supported him. In the distance, Lia was leaning against the side of the truck with her arms crossed. The last thing she wanted to do was get between the trio's squabbling.
Cade, as always, had a lie up his sleeve. "Which you will get back."
"When?" Lucas pressed.
Tessa was walking past him, and tossed him an answer over her shoulder. "Never," she bluntly stated. "We're broke."
Lucas whipped around to look at Cade. "I knew it." He spoke with an accusatory tone.
"Sweetheart," Cade began, causing Tessa to stop and turn around. "Could you please not drive a wedge between employer and employee?" He made a cutting motion across the air before him.
Lucas was trying to piece together what information he had to get a clear picture of what was going on. "Hold on. I thought we were...Partners…"
"Look, I came up short, okay?" Cade admitted. "I had to buy her a prom dress." He pointed an open hand at Tessa, who was standing beside Lucas. "You want me to deny her a prom dress?"
"You might as well," Lucas reasoned, adjusting his position on the fence. "You denied her a prom date." From slightly behind him, Tessa looked at him and nodded in agreement.
Cade, however, wasn't about to give in. "No, I offered to take her and chaperone." He pointed at himself. Lia started walking toward them, seeing as the quarrel was reaching a likely nonexistent point.
Lucas' nose scrunched up with distaste. "Nobody wants to go to the dance with their dad, it's weird."
Lia reached them and stood beside Cade. "Listen, could you just get off his back? He has more important things to deal with than prom dates, okay?"
Cade nodded and put his arm around Lia's shoulder. The young adult didn't care much for Cade's sweat pressing against her, but she said nothing. "Yeah, just get off my case." He used his other arm to point at the truck. "Do you know how much the engine on this runs for? I can break it down and strip it for parts." His eyes landed on Tessa. More accurately, her short shorts, which were living up to their name. Cade obviously did not approve, given his frown. "And sweetheart, your shorts are shrinking by the second, okay?" Tessa rolled her eyes, and Lucas gave her a once over. "Cold water, air dry, please."
Tessa groaned and glanced at Lia, and walked away. Lia understood that Tessa wanted her to follow, so she also started walking toward the house.
Lucas squinted at Cade, as he was facing the bright sun directly. "I think she looks hot."
Cade sighed. "Not this again…" He blinked and narrowed his eyes at Lucas. "Wait, what did you say?" He had just realized that Lucas had been talking about Tessa, and not Lia.
Lucas raised both his arms in defense as if he were being stopped by a police officer. "Like a hot teen-" He hesitated. "-ager…" Lia growled and waited for Cade to say something. He wouldn't just let that slip, would he? Lucas had made many similar remarks behind Lia's back, but she was twenty years old. Tessa was still underage, at seventeen. And Tessa was Cade's daughter. Didn't it get him angry?
Cade gave Lucas a look of disapproval. "Oh, it's the 'teenager' thing that makes it better. Thank you." He stormed off toward the barn. Lia left in the same fashion toward the house, leaving Lucas with his befuddlement.
"I didn't say…It didn't sound like...What it meant…"
And that's it for chapter one! If you liked it, let me know. If you'd like to read more, also let me know! This is m first, so if there's a mistake in formatting or something, I apologize in advance. I'm still trying to get used to this.
Again, if you enjoyed it, please leave a review. Or constructive criticism, I'm sure there are going to be plenty of errors. Nobody's perfect! In the words of Craig the Mummy, "Pharaoh knows I'm not perfect. But, I strive." Thanks for reading!
"I appreciate you."-DJ Khaled XD (yes I am aware of the fact that I am lame and a dork)