III
Domino
~~~

"Gar?...Gar?" Rita calls from the passenger seat.

"Tch. I bet he's asleep." Steve scoffs.

"He's on that DS thing."

"Wait, did he fall asleep with it?"

"Yep."

"Ha!" Steve laughs with no regard for Gar sleeping peacefully in the back amongst their furniture, suitcases, and boxes. Yet, this does not wake him up. He's pretty deep in it too. On the brink of snoring, letting out small noises from his nose. With his DS resting gingerly in his hands on the precipice of his knees, very close to falling into the black hole that is the bottom of the car, overflowing with objects. His feet have already been swallowed whole by it.

"Hey, Gar? Gar?" Rita attempts to wake him up gently, but it doesn't take her long to get frustrated with his inactivity. "Grrr, GAR!" she shouts. Finally fed up, she turns her whole torso as best as she can in her seat and reaches both arms into the back seat of the car. Barely grasping his shoulders due to the seatbelt doing its job, she shakes him as best as she can whilst calling his name.

"WAH! I'm up I'm up!" Gar looks around in a state of shock and with the sudden jerking, causes his DS to fly off of his lap into the endless sea of knick-knacks and duffel bags beneath him. He forgot he was stuffed in a car with all his belongings beside him. The small white car was rumbling down a bustling highway, filled to the brim with their things. The rest of their furniture -- the big things mainly -- were in the moving truck behind them. They really only needed one. They didn't have many things, let alone many things that couldn't already fit into their car.

"We're almost there, Gar," Rita says in a much calmer voice.

"Cool..." He says groggily, not really realizing what she said. He rubs his eyes and tilts the bill of his baseball cap up away from his eyes. "What...time is it?"

"About 6 AM," Steve says from the driver's seat.

"What? Rita! Couldn't you have let me sleep longer...?" He complained, sounding extremely lazy as he did it. "This is a road trip, not school...!"

"It's a permanent road trip."

"Ah, potayto potahto. Same thing, right?" He said, way over-pronouncing the 'ay' and the 'ah'. He sounded thrashed. Like he came back from a party that he doesn't even remember.

"Sure, Gar," she says rolling her eyes. "Just get your stuff together and be ready to help us bring everything into the house."

Gar gave a weak thumbs-up, a small, half-witted smile, and then went straight back to sleep.

"Great."

~~~

Gar woke up and was visibly shaken, sweat starting to roll down his face, panting like he was running for his life from something.

"Oh, God, I'm still in the car." He tries to calm himself down but he's borderline hyperventilating. His heart rate is probably twice, or even three times the speed it's supposed to be. Eventually, he does regulate his breathing, but the shock is still through the roof. He took a deep, long inhale, and exhaled the same.

What. Was. That. He thought. What kind of cruel dream was that? Or a nightmare... Can I even call that a dream? He looks at himself in the rearview mirror in the front seat. Can I even call that a nightmare?

He looks out the window. The car is parked in front of a two-story house, a prim lawn that looks like it's kept up twice a day leading up to it. It's pretty wide and tall, with the roof coming to a point. It was the house everyone would think of when they hear the words 'American Dream.' All the commercials, all the inconvenient internet ads.

The roof is the hard, strong color of fresh charcoal and the siding is the shade of the cotton balls overhead. The shudders drew attention to the windows with the vibrant, lipstick-esque hue of dark red they're painted with.  The door is a simple white color, double-paned. It has been left wide open (which initially scared the ever-living crap out of him) so Steve and Rita can go in and out the house unimpeded.

It's the two-bedroom house the three of them had fought over for the longest time.

"I should probably get out and help..." he says to himself. Reluctantly getting out of the car, he gathers some of his easy-to-carry things and starts helping. But as soon as he gets into the house he just drops everything and decides to look around instead.

The foyer isn't bad. It's a small room with an open door frame leading to the living room. There isn't much to it other than the tiled floor. But he knows there will be a ton of framed photos in here by the time they're all moved in.

The living room was huge since it surrounds the kitchen. You can see whatever is going on in the kitchen from there through the two large, open doorways embedded in adjacent walls. Two doorways leading to the same place. The living room is carpeted with a soft, tan, shag carpet and dark cherry walls. The window in the living room is large as well, so curtains will definitely be needed.

The living room already has its own furniture. There's a cozy black leather couch and a TV stand against the wall. There are even chairs to match the couch. The couch cuts the room I half. Behind it is virtually nothing, which they will have to fill.

The kitchen is black, white, and red. The wall is a dark red but not maroon, the backsplash lining the wall right above the countertop is made from black tile, the ceiling is off-white, and the appliances are all matching with a shiny black and white finish. The cabinets are black and white as well, but made out of the darkest mahogany Gar has ever seen and artificially white wood.

Gar, now thoroughly bored, decides that he's done looking at the house. At least, this part of it. All he really wanted to see was one room anyway.

Now, the question is, how do I get up there?

He opens a door that's hidden between the kitchen and the hallway that's lined with doors. Behind it are two staircases, one ascending and one descending.

Why are the steps behind a door? Weird ass designers. Who thought this was a good idea?

He climbs the steps, surprised that none of them creak as he shifts his weight back and forth between his feet. When he reaches the new floor, he's greeted with more doors.

Ok, maybe these are the bedrooms.

Again, he doesn't really care. Through the window he sees Rita and Steve outside near the pool. He nodded to himself, thankful that they are leaving him to his own devices.

He scans the ceiling back and forth, eager to find his McGuffin hanging from the ceiling.

"Aha!" Jumping to grab it, he tugs on the string and the ladder unfurls itself and falls to the floor nearly missing his head. Ignoring that, he excitedly climbs up.

The attic is absolutely pristine. Brand new, just renovated. No dust, no mildew, no spiders, or rats, or anything of the sort. The floor isn't just wood either. The whole room is built up to actually be a fully functioning room. Drywall, flooring, and everything in between from insulation to heating. How they are going to get his bed up there, even if they do broken down, he doesn't know. Especially the matress. But he's just happy they listened to his special, and rather inconvenient, request. It's just what he wanted.

"Doesn't even feel like a new house." he states triumphantly. This is the first time he's been this happy in a long while.

"Gar!" Steve yells from downstairs.

"Coming!" He climbs down the ladder and almost slips on the hard wood flooring of the hall in his socks.

"Rita and I are going out food shopping. Want anything?"

"You guys already know what I want." he says with a cheeky grin.

"Dammit, Gar, I meant what else do you want besides frozen vegetarian pizza and fruit roll-ups?"

Gar laughs, "Anything you think I'd like then. I'm gonna try and move some of my stuff up here."

"Fine. Just try to be productive." Steve replies with a sigh.

"Yeah yeah." Gar waves him off and goes back up to his room. After shutting the door, he groans. Whenever Steve tells him to 'be productive' he means 'don't start playing video games.' Jokes on him. Gar plans on going to look around town when he finished getting his stuff up into the attic.

Feeling giddy knowing that Steve is wrong for once, Gar gows down to the moving truck and searches for his gaming stuff. After examining the truck, he spots one of the boxes that say "Gar's Room," with a red dot on it, remembering that that he made that red dot to be able to recognize which boxes his computer and controllers are in. The box is much bigger than he remembers. He reluctantly walks up the ramp into the back of the truck, regretting using such large boxes. He kind of wishes he had asked Rita and Steve to stay to help, but they're gone now. So oh well.

Back and forth he goes, trudging as he carries stuff inside and upstairs and walking back downstairs and outside to get more. It took about three hours for him to just get his stuff up there and by the time he actually finished he was far too tired to plug everything in and set them up. Completely sick of cardboard's smell, feel, and even the sight of it at this point, he makes sure he has his keys and his phone and texts Rita that he's done and he's going out.

He shuts the door and heads down the driveway to lock the moving van. He doesn't notice the person leaning up against the truck until he begins to walk away from it.

"Oh god! Jeez, dude, you scared me! I didn't see you there." The figure stands up from the van. He looks at them and he sees he's made a mistake.

"Did I scare you?" It's not a guy. It's actually a girl. A very pretty one at that. She doesn't look like a girl at all in the black hoodie she has on though. Her thin, light brown hair is laid down on her shoulders, spilling out from the hood. Her green eyes exude mystery and the cigarette she holds screams delinquency. She brings the cigarette to her lips, inhales, and then pulls it away. As she exhales, a plume of gray smoke is freed from her mouth. "Sometimes I have that affect on people."

"Not much," Gar replies. The girl maintains her blank yet slightly flirty look. "So what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for my old friend. She lives on this street. But I saw your moving van and you going in and out of your house so I came over here instead." she took a drag, "Looked more interesting." She drops the cigarette and grinds into the asphalt with her black and blue Nike's. "You're by yourself," she thinks aloud, "I highly doubt you moved here by yourself. Where are your parents?"

"Well, I...uh, I don't...really have any." He says awkwardly. An uneasy feeling flickers in the pit of his stomach. To his suprise, she smiles lightly.

"What do you know. I don't have any either."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I live with my uncle." she says.

"Hey! I live with my aunt and uncle! Well sort of... They went to the supermarket."

"Huh. Who knew we'd be so alike?" She pulls a lollipop from her pocket and pops it into her mouth. After she walks around to see his new house in full she says, "Nice house, buddy."

"Thanks. But I have a name you know." Gar claims, crossing his arms.

"What a coincidence. So do I. " she says with a strangely sudden and foreign lilt.

"Then what is it?" Gar asks innocently. The unnamed girl chuckles.

"Didn't your aunt ever teach you not to trust strangers?" she says choosing her words carefully. "But alright. I guess since we'll be going to the same school this won't be the last time we meet." she stretches out her hand, seemingly awaiting a handshake. "The name's Domino. Domino Ivy."

"Domino?" he repeats and grabs her hand, thoroughly roped in.

She nods in secondary confirmation, "I know, don't hear someone with that name every day do you?"

"No kidding. But it's really cool!" They shake and she's got a firm one. No nonsense.

"Ha. Don't try to flatter me." She pulls her hand back and the lollipop from her mouth. She lets her inquiry show a bit and gazes at the shiny strawberry flavored candy.

"My name's Garfield Logan, but most people call me Gar."

"Well, Gar, since I'm sure my friend doesn't want to see me right now, you want me to show you around town before school tomorrow?" she offers. "This is a one time deal buddy. You'll get to know me and realize I don't make offers often, much less make the same offer twice, and even less so to the same person."

"Ok ok I get your point. I'll take you up on you offer. I was done with what I was doing anyway."

"Good. Do you have money?"

"Uh...yeah?"

"Good because we're going to the 16 Handles." she says and pops the lolipop right back in her mouth. She turns on her heels and starts walking, leaving Gar far in her wake.

"Hey! Wait!"

Domino led him all around the city. She showed him the police station, then the city hall, then the post office, and all the weird places where the high schoolers hang out on Friday nights. Finally, they stopped at the 16 Handles. It's well known lime green exterior immediately drew your eyes and the bubbly pink logo kept them there.

"This is another popular after-school spot. Everyone always comes here on Friday afternoons so you'll want to be careful. Unless, of course, you don't mind getting ambushed." They walk through the pristine glass doors and she looks around. To Domino's suprise, there are only three people here. A middle aged father — probably in his late fourties — who has an unfortunate muffin top, his young son who was basically a carbon copy of him, and a young blonde woman who looks like she's had too little sleep and too much coffee.

"Slow day." Gar remarks.

"Yeah. They're usually pretty busy." She shrugs it off. "The flavors are over here." As Domino shows him all the possibilities he could have he starts to get extremely overwhelmed. There were far too many desirable flavors to choose from. He looks like a kid in a candy shop. "And there's even more toppings for you to try."

"Really?!"

Domino nods.

"Hell yeah!" Gar goes all out. He gets pistachio, vanilla, and almond flavored froyo; one scoop of each, and then he puts those same nuts on it along with some marshmallows, gummy bears, and a absolute shit ton of whipped cream. After running through and pondering on practically every option there, he places the cup on the scale.

"$7.29 please." says the woman behind the counter. Gar whips out his wallet and almost throws the money at her in his excitement to eat. He grabbed a spoon and chowed down as soon as she rung him up.

Domino on the other hand is a lot calmer, and that shows in her frozen yogurt. She got plain strawberry with melted marshmallow fluff and a cherry on top.

"$4.41." says the woman. Somehow Gar has already finished half of his bowl before Domino's even walked over.

"You are such a pig." she states as she sits down next to him in the booth. "I guess I won't have to worry about rushing you though." She takes small spoonfuls into her mouth while Gar takes large ones, practically inhaling it. Somehow though they both finish at almost the same time.

"Where are we going now Domino?" he asks.

"You don't get sugar highs do you?"

He shakes his head. "I mean, technicallyeveryone does. But it takes a lot of sugar for me to get a sugar high. Like giant gummy worm kind of sugar. You know, those things that are basically giant snakes? They can wrap around you and stuff?"

"Why do you have such a tolerance for sugar Gar?" she asks.

"I dunno," he shrugs in reply. "Rita always said it's because I'm vegetarian, but that doesn't make any sense."

"Ah. Ok. So we won't go to the butchers just yet." She can't help it, a sly smile sneaks onto her face.

"What?! Hey!" Domino laughed at his slight childishness. She keeps asking him questions about himself on the way to their next stop. Mostly things about where he's from and why he chose Jump City of all places to move to. Especially the suburbs and not the actual city.

When they finally do get to their destination, he's absolutely ecstatic.

"Dude! A video game store! And it's right next to the comic book store! Hell yes!" Domino laughs.

"I figured you'd like this place, Beast." He almost didn't realize what she called him. And when he does, he stops celebrating and looks back at her in confusion. "What you think I didn't recongnize you? My brother and I are huge fans." she states calmly. "I just don't over react when I see someone famous."

Gar suddenly feels warmth in his cheeks, only imagining how dumb he looks right now with all the powdered cotton candy he's got on his face.

"Well, I'm not famous like that. People just like to see me playing games during competitions."

"Oh, are you kidding me Gar? It's more than that and you know it."

He looks down at his feet, a little embarrassed.

"Well, I'm glad you treat me like a normal person at least. Most of my fans when the meet me they treat me like I'm one of the Kardashinas or something."

"I get how that can get annoying after awhile. Celebrities expect praise and glory and attention when they meet their fans, so people tend to act that way in front of people who they think are celebrities or are just really famous."

Gar smiles.

They go into the store and Gar buys a bunch of games he couldn't find in Washington. And he's pleased to see that the comic shop is actually conjoined with the video game place, so they go in there next and he buys even more stuff.

Domino shows him a few other places in the city: The fountain that pretty much everyone in town somehow passes by on their first date, the pizzaria that half the city loves and the other half hates because "It's made by real Italians," or "It's way too greasy," and the family owned bakery that everyone's been to at least a hundred times in there life.

Once she's done with her little tour, she brings Gar back home. Their car is sitting in the driveway and the moving truck is gone. The men driving it must have come back from their lunch and taken it back to Washington.

"Thanks for showing me around, Domino."

"Don't mention it." she replies.

"I'll see you at school then?" he asks with a smile.

She nods, lights another cigarette, and leaves.

Weird girl. But she was really nice.

He watches her walk down the street, and then looses sight of her over the hill as the California sunset utterly blinds him.

"Domino..."

Word Count: 3337