Reverie - Slimecicle x Reader

chapter thirteen.

After about two days, two movie franchises, and way too much sodium, the storm had passed. This meant the fun part: Checking the damages.

You sighed to yourself as you pulled on a pair of Doc Martens that you kept exclusively for this sort of situation. There weren't any leaks you found upstairs, and no windows were broken, but damages could be hidden.

Slipping outside, you took a close look around the siding and gutters first. Most of the paint had been torn off, as had the gutters, which were just collapsed in the driveway. You got pictures of the damage, and carefully got onto the roof. Lots of shingle damage, but luckily, no major problems. You sent the pictures off to the insurance company, and sent the claim information to your parents. They answered with pictures of the restaurant, left unscathed. Talk about lucky.

"I gotta get back to check on my house," you heard Calico say as you got back inside, "oh, Y/N, can you come with me? For moral support?"

You could tell she was anxious, so you agreed. The boys also wanted to check on their place, so you left Nittany at yours and took off for the main island. 

The island was definitely in shambles.

"Wow," Ted muttered as he carefully drove, "it's... definitely different to how it was when we got here."

Calico bit her lip as she looked to the damage, "at least some of the beachfront houses seem to be staying up... Maybe we got lucky?"

"You might have," Charlie said, "it seems to be lightening as we get toward Nags Head."

Once they pulled up to the neighborhood, Calico pounced out, making a mad dash for the place.

It was in sticks.

The entire group was stunned silent as they looked to the pile of house remnants, unable to begin to comprehend how this was possible. Every other neighbor's place was standing, sure with varying degrees of damage, but none were in sticks! 

"This is insane," you gasped as you stared at the house, "how is this possible?"

"I don't know," Cal answered, keeping a perfectly straight stone-face, "Ted, do we have bins in the car?"

Luckily, you were smart enough to pack some bins in case. Anxiety always wins in some situations. You wished it lost, because Calico was absolutely on the edge of tears and refusing to let it show, but there was nothing you could do.

"Wait, you need to change," you said, grabbing her arm before she could start searching, "you're in sandals and shorts, Cal, and when did you have your last tetanus shot?"

Cal kept quiet, not trying to fight you, "tetanus was when I turned eighteen, Y/N, you got it the same time as me. Can I please search now?"

"At least get pants and closed-toed shoes," you huffed, "don't be impulsive."

"You're telling someone with ADHD to not be impulsive?" she grinned to you over her shoulder, "don't worry. It's fine."

You glanced to Schlatt, who was getting pictures for her insurance (she'd forget otherwise), "you're the one she'd listen to, help me-"

"Cal, listen to mama Y/N and get some safe clothes."

Calico rolled her eyes, stepping back from the rubble. She very clearly didn't want to listen, but she will if more than one person says something important. It was very evident that she was close to tears by now.

"We'll start looking for things," you said as you enveloped her in a hug, "go sit in the car with Schlatt, kay? Cry on him for a bit."

She gave a bitter smile, and sat in the back, "now I'm extra glad I brought my book collection. I'd go feral having to replace all of that."

Schlatt sat in the car with Calico, watching as you, Ted, and Charlie started going through everything. Anything and everything you found, you packed into the bins, so long as it was small enough.

A couple pictures, plushies, and some of Nittany's stuff was all that was salvageable, though. It made you really sad to know that you couldn't perform a magic spell and save everything, or even fix the house back to how it was, but that's how things were. That's how life was, and it absolutely made you furious to know you couldn't help your friend.

"I'm going to have to go back to the Northeast, probably," Cal sighed as you opened the trunk, pushing the bins in, "my uncle recently passed away, I got a house put in my name. The sad part, though, is that it's all in Pennsylvania. I can take Nittany with me, which will be nice, but the place is in the mountains."

You rose a brow, poking your head into the car, "you can't be thinking of moving away from me, are you?"

"Y/N, I just lost the house I got from my grandmother," she said bluntly, "I don't have a place here. I prefer the mountains for Nittany over sand, anyway. He likes that too."

"Don't make this choice on impulse," Charlie frowned, "think it over, yaknow?"

"I will, I will," she shook her head, leaning into Schlatt's side, "I just know the place is a big fixer-upper. I can take the insurance money from this and use it toward the other place. It's in a mountain valley in Central Pennsylvania, for goodness sake, I won't have to worry about any natural disaster again."

"It does sound attractive," you mused, "would you want help with that?"

"Definitely. There's a bunch of houses for sale there that are in the same condition, and they're cheap too."

Your mind swirled with the thoughts of having your own place in the mountains. Would that really be something you'd want? All you knew was Manteo and Nags Head, did you really want to move to some small town in the Northeast? Where it could get cold and snowy?

Now that you thought about it, you've never really seen snow before.

"I'll think about it," you said softly, looking out the window as Ted drove from the remains of the house, "I don't have an answer yet, though. When were you going to leave?"

"I haven't thought about that," she answered, "but, probably next May. I prefer doing projects outside when it's warm, I don't want to do stuff in the cold."

A thoughtful silence ran through the car, everyone trying to think. It was hard to think with everyone being worried to death about Calico's wellbeing, especially now. 

"For now, Cal, you can take the guest room," you said, "stay with me. My parents won't care."

"Ohhh, alriiight," she said with a dramatic sigh, "thank you, Y/N."