• Published 28th Aug 2019
  • 421 Views, 2 Comments

An Ocean Away - Tennis Match Fan



Adagio is looking forward to spending the summer with her boyfriend, but when he announces that he's going to the Amarezon Rainforest, thinks get complicated.

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Chapter 4: Tidying Up

Tethystle met them at the door. Before today, Adagio hadn't crossed paths with her. The familial resemblance between Tethystle and Cap was evident in their identical complexions. However, Tethystle's hair was light and rose-colored, contrasting with her son's dark mop.

"Hello, Captain. Green Cycle and Paisley arrived a few minutes ago," she said. Placing her hands on her hips, she turned in Adagio's direction. "And this must be Adagio Dazzle, the girl who ruined yet another shirt." Her green eyes appraised Adagio coolly, most likely hiding her distaste.

Adagio mustered her classic innocent, good-girl smile. "Nice to meet you, too. I'm sorry about his shirt, my hand just... slipped." To illustrate her point, Adagio rested her left hand on Cap's arm.

A tight smile appeared on Tethystle's face. "That's what I'll choose to believe. Now, you two better hurry on upstairs. Especially you, Captain Planet, before Miss Paisley packs you all the wrong clothing."

You packed all the wrong clothing, Adagio thought, scrutinizing her boyfriend's mother. Tethystle wore a melon-colored "Save the whales!" shirt and khakis. Ugh, that's not doing her figure any favors.

"Good advice, Mom." Cap clasped Adagio's hand in his own and led her through the house and up to his room.

"Wow, I can see why a stained shirt would annoy your mother," Adagio remarked. They stood in the doorway of Cap's room. She had never been in his room before (strange but true), yet she had mistakenly assumed Cap kept it tidy. His dishelveled blue bed sheets were inches away from falling off the mattress. And the walls! Either Cap had never taken down his middle school comic posters, or he was recycling the posters as wallpaper; either choice was viable. Plain white tees littered the floor, and in the center of the mess stood Green Cycle and Paisley. Green examined a tiny trinket from the floor; Paisley sniff-tested various articles of clothing.

"Cap, please take it upon yourself to wash your clothes," she said, tossing a pair of jeans onto his bed.

"So I guess you made up with Adagio, huh?" Green looked up. His grin was wide, not entirely suited to the occasion. He wasn't high, was he?

"I apologized to him." Adagio replied before Cap could. "And now I'm here to help dear Cap organize his luggage!"

"Dude, where do you keep your suitcases?" Green asked, tossing the trinket onto the bed. "I haven't been able to find them."

"They're under my bed." Cap crossed the room and pulled out two large suitcases. Blue, of course.

Paisley immediately dumped a pile of white shirts into the nearest one.

Adagio pulled out the top drawer of Cap's dresser and began rummaging through the contents. "Cap, why are flip flops in your drawer?" She held up a pair of woven sandals.

Cap grinned sheepishly and plucked them out of his girlfriend's hands. "I haven't seen these in a while. Thanks, Dagi."

"Hey, Adagio," Paisley said, and Adagio turned towards the pale girl. Paisley tossed a dirty sock at Adagio, and the article of clothing landed on Adagio's head.

"Ew!" Adagio shrieked, leaping away. The sock fell on the floor. "Cap, where is your hamper?"

"What makes you think he has a hamper?" Green joked.

Adagio said, "I'm sure his poor mother would've kicked Cap out if she had to pick up all his dirty clothes by hand."

"Are you guys just here to tease me?" Cap pouted. Adagio smirked softly and elbowed him.

"It's my job," she answered. Cap and Adagio smiled at each other until Paisley coughed.

"I hate to break this up, but we have an actual job to do!"


Paisley and Adagio proved their skills when, after a half hour, Cap's room was tidier than it had ever been in the past four years.

"Wow, I can see the floor!" Green remarked as he dumped the remaining shirts in the hamper.

"Me? Having a clean room? I could never." Cap chuckled.

"Okay, your room is looking very nice." Adagio nodded in approval. "But there's still all the clothes in the laundry bin."

Paisley prodded a suitcase with her foot. "He already has seven outfits in here, that's enough."

"For the whole summer?!" Adagio's eyes bugged out.

"Yeah bro, haven't you ever heard of a washing machine?" Green asked. He leisurely tossed a pillow in Adagio's direction.

Adagio batted the pillow away and sighed. "Of course, but this is Cap we're talking about." She glanced meaningfully at her boyfriend. "Do you think he's gonna remember to wash his clothes?"

Cap shrugged. "I'm not that incompetent."

Adagio . "Well sure, of course you aren't. But the idea of spending three months in the same outfit is revolting." Her gaze dropped. For a moment, she wasn't wearing a sundress; she wore a ratty hoodie and tattered sweatpants. "Trust me, I should know."

"If it reeeeally means that much to you, I'll bring a couple extra shirts and stuff," Cap agreed, clasping Adagio's hand in his own. "I'll be fine, don't worry about what I'm wearing, Dagi. That's not the important stuff."

Someone knocked on the bedroom door.

"Come in, Mom!" Cap called.

The door opened, but instead of Tethystle, Sweet Leaf and Starlight appeared in the doorway.

"Guess who brought cookies!" Sweet Leaf cheered. "Freshly baked and 100% vegan!" She tossed an eco-friendly burlap sack onto Cap's newly made bed.

Starlight followed her in, marveling: "You guys really cleaned up Cap's room!"

Paisley grinned at the compliment; Adagio smirked. Arms folded, she replied, "Well, organization is one area in which I happen to excel."

"Anyways," Sweet Leaf said, flopping down next to her bag, "here's some yummy cookies for all of your hard work!" She withdrew a drawstring pouch from the bag and opened it.

"Thanks babe!" Green immediately shoved his hand into the bag.

"Leave some for me!" Adagio cried. She wormed her hand into the pouch and withdrew two cookies. Green did the same and passed the bag to Starlight and Cap.

"Yum!" Green remarked, stuffing his mouth full of cookies. "Sweet Leaf, these are delicious!"

"They don't call me 'Sweet' for nothin'!" Sweet Leaf giggled. "Haha, actually baking has nothing to do with my name."

Adagio agreed whole-heartedly with the Green's statement; Sonata's chocolate chip cookies couldn't compare to Sweet's oatmeal raisin cookies. They were moist, chewy, and tasted vaguely of cinnamon.

"Green, did you take all the cookies?" Cap asked, raising an eyebrow. He held up the bag, devoid of all edibles except for a few meager crumbs.

"...No?" Green grinned sheepishly.

"I'll bet that's why you were your lame hat all the time," Adagio remarked dryly. She deftly plucked the grey beanie off of Green's head. To no one's surprise, half a dozen cookies tumbled out.

"In my defense, they're really good," Green said, raising his hands like a criminal caught at a crime scene.

Cap picked up a fallen cookie and began chewing it. "You're right about that!"

Adagio's left eye twitched. "You just ate that off the ground? Do you know how dirty the ground can be?"

Cap smirked good-naturedly. "Well, we did just clean the room..."

Adagio paused. Starlight, Paisley, and Sweet Leaf giggled. "Ugh," groaned Adagio, "as long as you don't get sick."