Departures (15 page)

By the time Jana had eaten half of her chicken Caesar salad, she
was acting like a different person. When they hit the mall again, her attitude was much improved. Almost too much, because now Jana wanted to make the decisions.

“I think we should go shopping first and then go on more rides,” Jana said.

“I think we should use up the tickets first,” Gregg said. “They weren’t cheap.”

“I know, but we have plenty of time.” Jana looked more cheerful, but she also looked determined.

“What about you, Sierra?” Gregg asked.

“Log ride would be at the top of my list. But I can go along with what everyone else wants to do.” Sierra realized that growing up in a big family and not being the youngest certainly affected her attitude in situations like this. It was more important to be a team player than to get one’s own way.

“And what do you want, Tim? Shopping or log ride?” Gregg asked.

“Legoland,” Tim answered with a quiet smile.

“We have to all stick together,” Jana reminded them.

“But that doesn’t mean we have to do what you want to do the whole time.” The moment the words were out of her mouth, Sierra regretted them.

Jana looked hurt. “We’re not exactly doing what I want. I wanted to stay at the airport, where it was safe.”

“We’re here now,” Sierra said before Gregg had a chance to say anything. “Can you just make the best of it and not ruin the fun for everyone else?”

“How am I ruining everyone else’s fun? I’m not ruining anything!
All I suggested is that we go shopping. After all, this is a mall, not just an amusement park. And shopping is fun.”

“Fine!” Gregg said, stepping in and showing by the tone of his voice that his patience had run out. “Let’s go shopping and stop wasting our time arguing about it.”

“Well,” Jana stammered in a calmer voice. “We can go on a ride first, if that’s what you guys want.”

Sierra closed her eyes and let out a frustrated huff.
Why does everything have to be so complicated?

“How about this,” Gregg said, regaining the control of the situation. “Why don’t we go to Legoland first and then the log ride? That should use up all our tickets, and then we can go shopping.”

“Fine,” Sierra said.

“Fine,” Jana answered in a high-pitched voice.

“Legoland!” Tim said with a little-boy grin on his face. He began to tell them how Legoland would have been a dream come true to him ten years ago. He led the way into the maze of walls, tables, and castle arches all made of Legos. Half a dozen areas were set up in the corners where people of all ages sat making Lego creations. Tim immediately plopped down and finished a helicopter someone had left on the table.

“Can you make another one of those, only a little larger?” Sierra teased. “Then we can fly it to Montana.”

“Don’t laugh,” Gregg said, looking up at the large Lego airplanes strung overhead. “It’s probably been done. This is amazing. If I were six, I’d want to spend the whole day here.”

“Good thing you’re not six,” Jana muttered.

“I’m almost done,” Tim said, searching a mound of loose pieces.
“Help me find a little red one shaped like this.” He held up a tiny, square, red bit of plastic. Sierra found the needed piece, and Tim snapped it into place.

“There,” he said. “What do you think?”

“A work of art,” Sierra said. She had to bite her lip to keep from adding, “And now can we go on the log ride?”

Tim smiled at Sierra. “I couldn’t have done it without you,” he said, playfully overdoing his admiration for her.

As Sierra glanced at Tim, she noticed he was still looking at her and smiling. Warmly. It was different than the way he had ever looked at her before.

Why is he looking at me like that? He and Gregg are both too old for me. Or I’m too young for them
.

“Log ride,” Gregg reminded them. “You ready, Tim?”

Tim nodded. He seemed to be having a hard time walking away from his completed helicopter.

Sierra felt like laughing. None of her four brothers had ever expressed such loyalty to any of their Lego creations, at least not that she could remember.

Tim rose, and to Sierra’s surprise, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and said, “Thanks for finding the missing piece. You made my day.”

Sierra could feel her cheeks flush. She laughed and said, “Doesn’t take much to make your day, does it?” Sierra noticed that Jana wasn’t laughing.

“Can we go now?” Jana asked, stepping closer to Tim. He had taken his arm off Sierra’s shoulder, and now Jana stood right beside
him. She cast a glance at Sierra that Sierra knew all too well. Jana had switched into her competitive mode.

What are you doing, Jana? Do you think Tim is showing interest in me so you have to step in and challenge my right to his attention? It’s not like that! Tim and Gregg are only “baby-sitting” us. I think. But what was Tim’s look about?

Jana moved closer to Tim as they walked to the line for the log ride. “This should be fun,” she said.

Tim gave her a startled look. Her sudden transformation from group grump to sweet flirt was a little too fast. He gave Jana a quick nod of agreement and echoed, “Yeah, it should be fun.” Then he caught up with Gregg’s long-legged strides and asked him if he still had the tickets.

“What are you doing?” Sierra asked, coming up beside Jana.

“I’m trying to relax and have fun. Isn’t that what everyone has been telling me to do?”

“Yes, but what’s with the flirting?” Sierra asked.

“I wasn’t flirting.”

“Jana,” Sierra paused, not sure what to say next. She felt like lecturing Jana the way Tawni often lectured Sierra, but she already knew from personal experience how much good that did. “Jana, he didn’t have his arm around me as a boyfriend thing.”

“I know.”

“This isn’t a sports event. It’s supposed to be vacation.”

“I know!” Jana looked at Sierra with exasperation. “I’m just trying to find my comfort zone, okay? Sorry if it seemed like I was competing with you.”

“That’s okay,” Sierra said. “I’ve just never seen you like this before. I don’t know what’s going on.”

“I don’t know what’s going on, either, and all this random stuff is driving me crazy.”

They stepped into line behind the guys at the log ride. “It’s fun,” Sierra said. “An adventure.”

“How can you enjoy this?” Jana asked. “You never know what’s going to happen next.”

“That’s what I like about it,” Sierra said.

Gregg elbowed Tim and motioned with his eyes for Tim to look at something to the left of them. Sierra kept talking to Jana but followed Tim’s and Gregg’s line of sight.

Two girls who were probably close to Gregg and Tim’s age were standing there. They both had on shorts and were studying a map and then looking around. One of them pointed in the direction she apparently thought they should go. She had beautiful blond hair, and her legs were a dark, golden tan.

Sierra watched Gregg’s and Tim’s unsubtle glances at the girls and the guys’ elbowing each other. She felt sure that if Gregg and Tim weren’t “baby-sitting,” they would have left the line for the log ride to help the lost girls find their way around Nickelodeon Universe.

The girls took off, and Gregg turned his head, watching them go.

“Don’t strain your neck,” Sierra said sarcastically.

Gregg quickly looked at Sierra. He seemed surprised at having been caught. But then he bounced back with a tease for Sierra and said, “Be patient. One day that will be you, and you’ll be glad someone is watching.”

“What are you talking about?” Jana asked.

“Nothing,” Gregg said. He gave Sierra a smile, and with his expressive eyes warned her not to explain.

Sierra felt warmed. Gregg had just paid her a compliment. He thought one day she would be the kind of girl who turned heads. No one had ever hinted at such promise. It was always Tawni people raved about.

Sierra liked being away from her sister. She liked being around these older guys and being taken into their confidence in these odd little ways. She loved being on her own and having such freedom.

Jana nudged Sierra. “What were you guys talking about?”

Sierra leaned over and said quietly, “They were just looking at some girls.”

“You?” Jana asked.

“No, they weren’t looking at me. They were checking out some older girls that walked by. It was nothing.”

Jana seemed upset. “I think that is so rude. I can’t stand it when guys do that.”

“I know,” Sierra agreed. But she was thinking,
Unless you’re the one they’re looking at
.

ana seemed to relax after the log ride, even though they got wet when the log made a splash landing. As soon as they hit some of the shops, she was even more at ease. When she found a pair of sandals she liked and the store had them in her size, she cheered right up.

“You know,” Jana said as she and Sierra left the shoe store to join the guys, who were sitting on a bench in front of the shop waiting for them, “I think I owe you an apology, Sierra. I was acting a little too neurotic about coming to the mall.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sierra said. “It is kind of bizarre when you think about it. This morning we woke up in Pineville, this afternoon we rode a log in Minnesota, and tonight we’ll sleep in Montana.”

“Don’t say it that way,” Jana said. “It makes me freak out all over again. I like things nice and slow and predictable.”

“Where to now?” Gregg asked, checking his watch. “We should only stay another hour—or less.”

“Let’s go this direction,” Jana suggested.

Sierra saw a Christian bookstore and convinced the group to check it out. Gregg and Jana’s family went to the same church as Sierra’s family, which was one of the reasons her parents had agreed to
let Sierra go on this trip. Tim attended the church too even though his parents didn’t come to the services.

Once they walked into the store, they all found things they wanted to buy and ended up spending more time than they had planned. Gregg left with three new CDs, and Jana was happy to find the next book in a series she liked. Sierra was tempted to purchase a T-shirt but decided her budget couldn’t handle the expense. Tim didn’t buy anything, either.

Sierra wondered if he was on a limited budget like she was. Gregg and Jana’s family was well off and had paid for Tim and Sierra’s airfare so they could come on the trip. Sierra’s spending money for the weekend had decreased greatly after she had pitched in for the cab ride and her portion of the Nickelodeon Universe ride ticket. Plus, they still had the expense of the cab fare to the airport.

“We should head back,” Gregg suggested.

“Could we go to one more store?” Jana asked. “I saw a candy store on the way in.”

“You want to go to a candy store?” Sierra questioned.

“I wanted to get some licorice. It’s fat free. And maybe they have some sugar-free chocolate.”

“Do you mean the candy store that was right where we first entered the mall?” Gregg asked. “That’s the opposite direction of where we are now.”

“We have to go that way to get a taxi, don’t we?” Jana reasoned.

“I don’t know. It seems we could catch a cab anywhere. If that’s what you want to do, let’s start walking that way.”

“Maybe we should call a cab,” Tim suggested. “I didn’t notice any hanging out by the entrance when we came in.”

“Good idea,” Gregg said.

They hoofed it through the mall back to where they remembered entering. But no candy store was in sight.

“I know it was here,” Jana said.

“It didn’t move in the last five hours.” Gregg was beginning to sound irritated. Sierra guessed he felt responsible for getting them back to the airport safely, and time was slipping away from them.

“I know what the problem is,” Jana said. “We’re on the wrong level. We have to go down a level.”

“Let’s call the cab first,” Tim suggested. It was the only opinion he had expressed all day, aside from Legoland, but he was holding firmly to it.

“Would it be okay if you guys called while Sierra and I go down one level to the candy store? We’ll come right back up and meet you here,” Jana said.

Gregg had already pulled out his cell phone and was ready to call for a taxi. “Just come right back,” he said.