Wednesday, March 10, 2010

It wasn't long before a mixed cd of music from their middle school days was blasting through the speakers of Alexia's shiny blue Miata. "You're the one for me, you're my ecstasy, you're the one I need!" The girls all sang at the top of their lungs. As the song ended, the girls all giggled and Allie turned the music down to a level where they could hear each other talking.

"Man, that was a long time ago. I can't believe I still remember almost every word!" Kay exclaimed, bopping to the beat of the Britney Spears song that was beginning to play.

"I know, right? Hey, did you guys know the BackStreet Boys are putting out another album?" Allie responded, flipping through Alexia's cd case.

"What? They're like, old farts now," Ela giggled. "I'll probably give it a listen anyway, for old times' sake."

"Isn't anyone curious as to where I'm taking you guys?" Alexia interrupted the reminiscing.

"I did ask where we were going. You gave me a noncommittal answer about starting an adventure. So, oh great and wonderful driver of this adventure we have apparently started: Where the heck ARE we going?" Kay asked, a hint of teasing in her voice.

Before Alexia could open her mouth to answer, her twin jumped in first. "I bet I know! To some jeweler or something. Isn't that what you were talking about before?

Alexia grinned and nodded, taking the next exit. "Yeah, I met him when I took a necklace in for a new clasp the other day, and we hit it off pretty well. I figured at the very least, he could get it open for us. And if we're lucky, he might even have more information about the locket itself, such as how old it is, how much it's worth, that sort of thing."

Alexia pulled into a small shopping strip and parked. Alexia led the way to a small but quaint little shop, with a sign that read in elegant script, "Jade's Jewelry."

"I thought you said it was a dude we were going to talk to?" wondered Ela as they walked through the door, jangling the little bell that alerted employees to customers.

"Well, I was referring to the son of the owner, Jade. Micah is the one I'm friends with. He's usually the one watching the store on weekends."

Kay chuckled. "Is his sister's name Ruby? They have a dog named Jasper?"

"Actually, my sister's name is Amber, my brother's name is Shale, I don't have a dog, but my cat's name is Onyx." A young man about their age had just emerged from the back room just in time to hear Kay's oh-so-clever geology joke.

The girls all stared. Ela was the first to break the brief silence. "REALLY??" she asked incredulously, in typical Ela fashion.

"Nawww, the cat's named Bob. Now how can I help you ladies?" Micah leaned on the glass display counter and smiled warmly at the girls. Alexia, noticing Kay's still beet-red face, took the locket from her and stepped past her to the counter.

"Hey Micah. We're wondering if there's anything you can tell us about this locket, or if you could just get it open without damaging it for us," Alexia explained, placing the locket on the glass for Micah to inspect.

No comments:

Post a Comment