Cali Crew - East Bound and Down

Nikita was up and showered before dawn. That’s not to say she was an early riser, but having passed out early with Nikka, she had plenty of sleep. She briefly thought about the shop, but mechanics were a dime a dozen, she could always get another job. Besides, she had to stay positive, for Nikka.

Nikka was second to rise mostly from the smell of bacon being cooked in the kitchen by Bishop's mom. They did run a coffee shop and then ment early days. But also … she just had a lot of trouble sleeping. It just kept running over and over in her mind. Wondering why it always just seemed to skip out at exactly the wrong moments. He yawned sleepily until Nikita was done and she could take her turn to clean herself up.

“Mrs. Bishop made breakfast,” Nikita said loudly, knocking on Bishop’s bedroom door. They had gone “dreamwalking,” Nikita snickered to herself. “Bacon, eggs, French style even. Hurry up or Nikka and I are going to eat all the bacon.”

"Be down in a sec!" Bishop called back. "Gotta finish hating the morning first." He said in a lower voice.

Nike giggled. “Five more minutes,” she told him, snuggling back under the comforter. Chances are, it’d be a while before they had any alone time - Nike wanted to make the most of it.

“Only five? Can we pretend we fell back asleep again but didn’t?” Bishop chuckled holding Nike close to him.

“ALL THE BACON!” Nikita called up the steps.

“We’ll always have dreams,” Nike giggled. It was worth missing out on bacon.

With everyone dressed and showered, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop sufficiently hugged a dozen times, the girls and Bishop went to scout out the bungalow for snoopy reporters.

Bishop drove carefully past the bungalow a few times to make sure no one was lurking about. Make sure no vans or psychos were milling about ready to cause trouble. “Okay it … looks clear … you guys good?”

Nikka nodded like she was prepping for a relay race. As much as she loved Cali and wanted to stay the notion of getting away for a little bit was starting to sound good. It wasn’t forever. It was a road trip. Then they would come back home and things could go back to normal.

“Keep it running,” Nike said, stepping out of the car. “We’ll be quick.”

Like tornadoes, the girls moved inside the bungalow to pack. Drawers were opened and emptied into duffle bags, one jacket, one sweatshirt, each. Swimsuits were a must. Flipflops, sneakers, boots and one pair of strappy sandals, ready for any occasion. It was something they had grown accustomed to with Klaus, the notion that at any moment you had to pack up and leave, and their proficiency showed as they loaded up the trunk with their bags. Nikita had opted to bring a blanket and pillow for the back seat that she and Nikka could share. “New record!” She sang out happily, climbing into the back.

“Why didn’t I think to bring a blanket and pillow …” Bishop said impressed.

“Cuz you don’t have siblings that fall asleep on you … duh.” Nikka teased.

“Lonely only,” Nikita chimed in, getting snuggly.

“True but that just meant I didn't have to share.” Bishop pointed out and they drove out and hit the highway. “We have a list! I hope you have things you want to add because we are so going to visit the two hotels from that horror movie - maybe bring home a ghost. They have tours and stuff.”

“I’m in,” Nikita decided. “ Supposedly it’s really haunted.”

“How far are we going?” Nikita asked.

“Coast to City. We turn around when we see the City.” Bishop explained.

“Okay, really important question. Which one has the Hedgmaze and can we visit the Nintendo store? I don’t need to buy anything I just need to soak in it.” Nikka sqeeed.

“We will see it all,” Nike promised. “And you can even buy something from the Nintendo store.”

“Dibs on license plate key rings if we hit any new ones,” Nikita said, yawning.

“We’ll even go out of our way to round out the collection.” Bishop smiled into the rear view and gave a quick look to Nikita. Everyone seemed in much better spirits. Nothing like late-night cookies, and a road trip to make things better.

“It’s going to be great.” Nikka said snuggling up to her sister. “A real road trip. Like in the movies but better because it’s real.”

“Bad diner food and seedy motels,” Nikita giggled.

Nike rolled her eyes, but it was good to see Nikka happy again. “First stop?" She said. “The Woods. They have trees so big you can drive right through them.”

"There is a whole thing there now from where they filmed that whole chase scene from the sci fi movie." Bishop noted

"You know way too much about movies." Nikka chuckled.

"Everyone needs a hobby and debating if Evil Dead is really Evil Dead without Ash? Is one of them." Bishop explained.

"Wait, they made an Evil Dead movie without Bruce Campbell?" Nikka balked.

"It's like telling a child there's no Santa … you're an adult now Nikka." Bishop joked with a smile.

“We are going to watch so many movies,” Nike promised.

"Oh we can all visit the vintage cinemas too! Like that cute place that had the first showing of Princess Monenoke! Oh oh oh or the Spanish one before he got really famous!" Nikka perked.

"The Devil's Backbone, Guillermo del Toro?" Bishop answered.

"Yes! Yes! Omg that … that was good!" Nikka nodded.

“And the twine ball,” Nikita chimed in. “You promised.”

"It's on the list!" Bishop reminded. "We're going to take so many pictures, maybe make a scrapbook."