This shouldn't happen so often (Dani)

[Brendan James]

Brendan probably shouldn’t have been spending so much time with Hammel students. Sure, there were unavoidable people, like his little sisters and his two roommates. But now Sammy? Which was entirely Vincent’s fault. And Dani? Which was completely Eugene’s. This could possibly lead to trouble if it were ever discovered. But… Well, he liked to throw caution to the wind when it came to making friends.

Of course, taking said friends on little, impromptu road trips was probably a different story. Oh well. It was his motto that it was easier to ask forgiveness than permission anyway.

They pair wasn’t really sure where they were going, but the drive there would be fun. Mika’s Grace Kelly was playing on the radio, and you better believe that Brendan was singing along at the top of his lungs, wiggling around and doing what he called ‘Car Dancing’.

“So Dani. Today is your day. Where is it you would like to go? The beach? Chicago? I think Vegas or Disney would take a bit more planning, so I think those are outta the question. For today at least. Maybe some other time.” He took his eyes off the road for just a moment and turn and smile at the girl. I should probably call Vin, let him know where I am, he thought to himself.

“I think we’re in Maine. Not really sure. Pretty sure. Not a hundred percent.” Brendan wasn’t a big believer in maps. Worse came to worse on their return home, they could stop somewhere, get a map, and ask for some help.

[Danielle Cooper]

Running off with an older man to go on an adventure out of state probably wasn’t the best idea, but it was Brendan, and when Dani was with Brendan, she always had fun. Most of Dani’s crazy stories involved him. So there she was, sitting in the passenger seat, jamming out with Brendan. She didn’t exactly tell anyone where she was going, or how long she’d be gone, because she wasn’t exactly sure herself. She knew she’d get back in one piece, and that was all that mattered. Well, she was pretty sure she’d get back in one piece.

“But my heart was set on Disney!” Dani gave her most adorable pout she could muster, before letting her grin take over, “Maine, eh?” She bit her lip in thought for a moment, “well, we could always hit the beach, Maine is known for them. And there is always the beach towns to go check out too.” She had never had a chance to be on an East Coast beach before, nor had she ever visited Maine before. “Oh! And we could go blueberry picking! Did you know Maine produces ninety-nine percent of all blueberries in the United States?” Dani added in, simply unable to contain her random trivia.

[Brendan James]

Brendan’s heart actually tugged at Dani’s pout. She was a cheater. An absolute cheater, making him feel bad for not being able to take her to Disney. Because at this point, she absolutely had to know what her little pout did to his heart. “I promise darling, one day, I will take you to Disney. And I’ll even get you one of those hats, with the ears and your name on it.”

“Oooh! I love little beach towns! They’re just so quaint and have the best little shops and the most interesting people. Granted, things are usually expensive as heeell, but oh well. Because they’re awesome.” It was true. As much as he loved beach towns and going into the non-chain shops, they had to jack their prices up to be able to survive. He understood that. And that was why he liked them most. Besides, they usually had more unique things anyway.

With a laugh, he shook his head. “No, I didn’t know that. But we can most certainly go berry picking too.”

It was then that his car began making a kind of… high-pitched, grumbling noise. “That doesn’t sound good.” After pulling over to the side of the road, he popped the hood and stared at the engine. “This would be a lot more impressive if I knew what I was looking at.” Quickly admitting defeat, he called a tow truck.

“Welp… The guy’s not gonna be here for a few hours. Apparently his tow truck had to be towed. I don’t know.” Looking around, he was grateful that they at least weren’t in the middle of nowhere. “It looks like there are some stores over there. Lets kill some time.” Kneeling onto the ground, his back to the girl, he offered himself as a ride. “Piggy back ride anybody?”

[Danielle Cooper]

Dani grinned, knowing very well that she wasn’t being fair by pulling the pout, but it was just fun to tease poor Brendan. “I look forward to that day, but you’ll need to get a hat too!” The idea of Brendan wearing a Mickey hat was probably one of the more adorable things Dani could imagine.

“Those shops are so cute, and it’s okay to spend a little extra sometim—“ Dani paused mid-sentence when she heard the car start to make strange noises. “Hmm, I wonder what that could be…” Dani wondered aloud while Brendan pulled over. She hopped out of the car and went to look at the engine as well. She gave a laugh at the other’s joke, but also had no idea what was wrong with the vehicle. A computer was easy to fix, but a car? No way.

Figuring she would at least try to do her best to help, she grabbed both the negative and positive end of the battery with her bare hands, after a few seconds of concentration, she let go. “It’s not the battery.” Not that the battery would make that sort of noise, but the least she could do was check.

Although they were in a not-so-great position, Dani couldn’t help but to giggle at the news of the tow truck needing a tow. Well, that was life. And it could be a lot worse, Dani imagined, the car could have blown up, and then where would they be? At the offer of a piggyback ride, Dani took no hesitation to run and jump up on Brendan’s back. “Allons-y!” She announced, pointing forward.

[Brendan James]

“Oh better BELIEVE I’m getting that hat too! And then every picture we take together in Disney, we’ll have to be wearing them. Otherwise I’ll be angry. And nobody likes an angry Brendan.” Not that Dani would know of such a thing. Brendan thought anger was a waste of an emotion, favoring happiness and ridiculous instead. Though, sadness did seem reasonable though. “Oooh! And matching princess hats too! Because they have this sheet thingy hanging from it! And it’s like a cape for a hat. Plus, I could totally rock the princess look.”

Brendan’s heart flailed when Dani grabbed the battery. Yes, his heart grew arms and flailed. “NOOO! What are you doing?! Are you crazy! Stop that!” And he flailed his own hands at her, only stopping and relaxing when she released them. “Jesus H. Christ. Dani! You can kill yourself doing that! Like… get electrocuted or something I think.” Obviously, Brendan’s knowledge of cars is minimal. He can name a few car companies and that’s about it.

Managing to not be knocked over when she ran and jumped onto his back, Brendan strode forward. “You must call me Silver Dani! Hi ho Silver! That’s the only way to go, got it?” He stopped at the edge of the street, waited for a break in traffic, and raced as fast as he could to the other side.

Once on the other side, in the store’s parking lot, he began galloping and neighing. Because that’s what horses do obviously. And even when the entered the grocery store, the automatic doors opening for them, he kept her on his back. “Neeeeiiiiigh! Lets find my some carrots. Oh! And sugar cubes!”

[Danielle Cooper]

…And this was why Dani absolutely loved Brendan. “You were born to rock the princess look. Cinderella has nothing on you.” She confirmed, unable to hold her laughter back. When he panicked as Dani gripped onto the battery, she guffawed, almost falling to the ground. “I think you might have forgotten something, silly.” She extended her hand, poking Brendan in the stomach and giving him a light shock. Not enough to hurt, but enough to make his short hair rise from the static until she stopped touching him. “It’s pretty hard to electrocute me.” In general, she just loved to tease Bren, because sometimes he made it so easy to do so.

There were very few people on the planet that could make Dani laugh as much as Brendan was able to. She pet his head affectionately as if he were truly a horse and grinned. “Hi ho, Silver, awaaaaaay!” She yelled out, holding onto the other’s shoulders as he ran off across the street and into the grocery store. Dani was not shocked, nor embarrassed, that he continued this act inside the store itself. After all, the fun was only just beginning.

“I see the produce sign!” Dani pointed towards the left corner of the store, past the bakery and deli section. “I’m not sure where sugar cubes would be, but we can get those after. For now…away we go!”

[Brendan James]

“PSHT! Cinderella?! More like SHITerella compared to me!” … Yeah, he just said Shiterella. I’m so proud. Staring at her in shock, he relaxed fairly quickly after being shocked and a squeaky ‘Ahh!’. Yes, he often forgot about people’s powers. He didn’t put much thought into them. And he chalked that up to never putting much thought into his own. Or ever using it really. “Oh… Oh yeah…” Chuckling, he shrugged. “Right. Sorry about Sweetie.” He slung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close for a moment.

Honestly, it would’ve been disappointing to Bren had she been shocked or embarrassed. After all, this was normal behavior for him. And he’d taken her under his wing because she was so awesome and adorable and because she didn’t mind the way he acted.

“Neeeiiiigh! Away we go!” Brendan began galloping, rutting and shaking his head along the way as horses sometimes do. When they got to the produce section, they were getting more than a few stares, people actually stopping what they were doing to look at them. “Carrrrrrots! I require carrrrrrots!” As he walked down the aisle, eyes open for carrots, he spotted the tank filled with lobsters at the other end. “Ugh. I hate that. The lobsters always look so sad.” He said, dropping the horse act.

[Danielle Cooper]

Shiterella. Only Brendan would be awesome enough to say something like that. It was just so… him. Dani let out a giggle at his squeak. For someone pretending to be a horse, he sure sounded like a mouse in Dani’s opinion, but it was okay because Brendan was the cutest horse-mouse-man-thing that Dani ever knew, and that wasn’t just because he was the only horse-mouse-man-thing she knew. It was because he was Brendan.

As Brendan galloped away in the store, Dani continued to play along. She would have slapped his bum if she could have reached it, but she couldn’t so she lightly smacked his cheek affectionately. “I will buy you five bags of carrots, and you better eat them all!” When the older suddenly came to a stop, Dani looked around, automatically assuming management was heading towards them to try and bring to an end their fun. She followed Brendan’s gaze over to the lobster tank and frowned. “They don’t even have room to swim or anything…” Dani rested her chin on Brendan’s head and let out a sigh.

She inspected them carefully; the lobsters barely moved in their tank and most of them were just stacked on top of one another. It really was sad. “I’d hate to be a lobster like that; I’d want to pull a Finding Nemo and escape to get back in the ocean.”

[Brendan James]

“Neeeeeiiiiigh!” was Brendan response to Dani saying she’d buy him five bags. What? He’s a horse! He doesn’t talk! But, like all horses, he has the special ability to translate. “In horse, that means, you better make it eight. Because I’m hungry. Like really hungry. And don’t forget my sugar cubes like last time! Or I’ll knock you on your skinny, little butt.”

Brendan wrinkled his nose in distaste as he stared at the tank. “You know, lobsters mate for life. And sometimes, when they have room, you can see an old lobster couple swimming around the tank together, holding claws.” Bren’s love for late 90’s, early 2000’s sitcoms knows no bounds. “Not kidding. It’s kinda cute. That’s where the expression of somebody having ‘found their lobster’ comes from.” Yeah… that’s not even kinda an expression. But he really wanted to make it one.

Horse Bren galloped over to the tank, getting sadder the closer they got to it. But Dani’s idea… Well it took a minute. He had to mull it over. But looking at the little tank they were all piled in, with how little room they had, it only took a minute. Less than actually. “Lets do it. We’re doing.” He spoke in a hushed tone to no staff would hear.

Bren carefully slid her off him so they could plot. “Ok. They have to sell buckets here, right? We’ll buy a bucket, sneak the lobsters into it, then walk out. When he walk out, I’ll carry it up on him shoulder, that way people passing by can’t just look in.” The adult looked around to assure himself nobody was listening. “Then, we’ll go to the shore, and let them go. Got it?”

[Danielle Cooper]

“Yeah, well this skinny, little butt can kick yours.” Dani grinned, tugging at Brendan’s ear lightly. “Maybe I should cut you off from your sugar cubes if you keep up the act, Silver.” She teased, although she would still get him sugar cubes anyway, just ‘cause it was Brendan and she kinda wanted to spoil him (and see if he’d actually eat all the sugar cubes. She’d even stick them to the walls for him to lick off of!)

She smiled at Brendan’s story, and decided to not inform him that lobsters mating for life was just a myth. It’d break his poor little heart. Not to mention, the expression ‘found their lobster’ was just plain awesome. “I like that.” She giggled, thinking that if anyone could make it an expression, it would be Brendan.

Dani’s eyes widened at Bren’s sudden plan. He was talking about theft, and was serious. She wasn’t sure how to react at first, and remained silent, but as Brendan slid her off his back, she looked at the sad looking lobsters. “Okay. Let’s do it.” She nodded, turning to him. This plan was absolutely ridiculous, but she couldn’t honestly think of a better one. “Want me to turn off the lights for a bit of distraction? It’ll turn off the cameras, too.” Dani muttered, glancing around nervously. She had never realized how her powers could aid in doing something like this. Not that she would do it, other than for the sake of happy lobsters.

[Brendan James]

Brendan laughed and nodded. “Yeah, your skinny little butt probably could kick my ass… maybe I should take up kick boxing for something. That way little girls can’t beat me up.” It was funny, if not a little pathetic, because it was true. Dani could beat him up. Probably even without her power. “Oh noooo! Not my sugar cubs! I promise, I will absolutely behave. Just still get my sugar cubes!” He whined.

“As well you should. It’s a wonderful story.” Brendan smiled, knowing Dani was playing along with him for no other reason than to be silly. And he loved it. “One day, you’ll find your lobster.”

“Yeah. Good idea.” Brendan’s eyes shifted around the store again. Was this really a good idea? Stealing a tank full of lobsters? Dani was only 17. But still, doing this, if caught, would probably get them in trouble with the law. And he wasn’t willing to really risk that. “Not just yet though.” He dug in his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and then handed her a twenty. “Here, go find a bucket, the biggest one they have. If it’s not enough for all of them, get two. I’ll be back in just a few minutes. Meet me back here, ok?” He would make… a slight revision to their plan. Only in an attempt to ensure nothing lawfully happened to them.

[Danielle Cooper]

Dani laughed, “Yeah, yeah. True love, all that stuff.” Dani rolled her eyes in a playful manner. Dani wasn’t exactly the type of person to settle, or at least she thought so. Oh, how little she knew.

Dani had never done anything that could get her in trouble with the law. Yeah, she snuck out of her dorm at night, but that was really as badass as she got at times, so this was something very new to her. But… the lobsters needed their help. She watched Brendan as he looked around, and she couldn’t help but to glance around the store nervously, too.

“Huh?” It took Dani a couple seconds to catch up with Brendan’s sudden change of plan, but she decided to go along with it anyway. Buckets made sense, after all. She took the twenty and nodded. “Alright, I’ll be right back!” With that said, she skipped off to the store’s tiny toy section. Luckily, it was still summer weather, and they had a variety of buckets made for building sand castles. Hmm, none of them were quite big enough though… Oh! Perfect. Dani grinned, finding one of those big plastic tubs. That would be more than enough to hold all the lobsters. She could even fit in it. Dani grabbed it and rushed off to the checkout lane to buy it before quickly returning their rendezvous.