A Crack in the Ice

Chapter 11

The next day, we left New York City somewhat early, as Sarah told me that the trip to Chicago would have to be split into two days, as it was about a twelve hour drive.
The first day was pretty flawless, I mean, we did hit a bit of traffic, but that was expected.
The day after that, we had about a a three hour drive ahead of us.

"So, Elyse does know we're coming, right?" I asked as I leaned back a bit in my seat.
"Actually, no," Sarah said as she put her signal on to get over a lane on the road.
"...why didn't you tell her?"
"Quite simple," Sarah muttered. "I want it to be a surprise for her."
"Ah, makes sense," I nodded. "Anyways, how much longer until we get there?"
"Not too much longer," she said as she got on an exit ramp for Roselle Road. "Just a few more turns, and we'll be there."
I slightly smiled. "I'm sure she'll love having you make a surprise visit."
Sarah nodded. "Yeah. In fact, when I used to still live here in the states, I'd often visit her during the summer."
"So you two must be very close."
"Exactly," she said as she made another right turn. "Now...I always miss this final right turn..." she mumbled.
"Let's hope you don't do it this time," I chuckled.
Sarah slightly groaned as she put her right signal on. "There. I didn't miss it. Proud of me mom?"
I nearly facepalmed at her comment. "Sarah, how many times have I told you to not call me 'mom'?"
She shrugged. "Beats me. Regardless, I'm going to keep doing it, okay?"
"Whatever," I mumbled.
With a sigh, she pulled into the driveway, and put the car in park, and then turned to look at me. "Yurio, I have a job for you."
"What is it?"
She then unbuckled her seatbelt, and began to climb into the backof the car. "Go and greet Elyse or whatever. Tell her you're here alone, as I'm sick or something, and then I'll scare her."
"Um, alright," I said opening the door, and got out of the car.

I then went up to the front door, and took a deep breath before I rangthe doorbell.
"Just a second!" I heard Elyse call out from inside.
As I waited, I shoved my hands in my pockets.
About ten seconds later, I heard the locks in the door turn, and I slightly jumped. "Look, I'm a rent-" She then cut herself off when she realized that it was me. "Y-Yurio?! What are you doing here?" she cried out before embracing me in a hug, and I, of course, hugged back. "...more importantly, where's Sarah?"
I bit my tongue. "She's not feeling so hot. We're actually staying at a hotel not far from here, and she's back there resting."
"Oh, c'est une honte," she mumbled, obviously sounding disappointed.
"Um, Elyse...you do remember I don't know any French, right?"
She nodded. "Yeah...I was just saying that it was a shame that she couldn't be here..."
Elyse nodded, and broke away from the hug. "Anyways, why don't you come in?"
"Oh, actually, come to the car real quick. Sarah wanted me to give you something."
Elyse nodded, not a second thought crossing her mind. "Of course. I mean, Sarah does like to give me things time to time. I mean, I have no clue what it is, but I know I mentioned to her that I needed some new speakers..."
"Well," I said, stopping at the door of the car Sarah was hiding near, "it's a smaller box, and I'm not exactly sure what's in it. Do you want to grab it?"
Elyse nodded. "Sure. Can you open the door for me?"
I nodded. "Of course I can," I said before doing so.
"Gotcha!" Sarah suddenly yelled from the car before tackling Elyse to the ground, luckily taking her into the grass, rather than the driveway.
"Hé! Quelle baise réelle?!" she exclaimed.
"Izvini, khotel tebya udivit'," Sarah said with a smirk.
"Hey, it's true," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "She wanted to surprise you with this visit."
"But still!" Elyse exclaimed as Sarah helped her up. "You shouldn't have tackled me to the ground!"
"Sorry," Sarah said, scratching her head.
"Anyways," Elyse said with a sigh as she peeped into the car. "I figure the fact thst she bought me something is fake...but in that case, why are there suitcases in the back of the car?"
"Truth is, I said as I scratched my head, "we're not actually staying at a hotel."
"Oh," said Elyse. "Well, where are you gonna stay, then?"
Sarah slightly smirked. "That's the other surprise. I was hoping we could actually stay here."
Elyse as silent for a moment, obviously lost in thought. "...alright, yeah. That'll work out. Though...you will have to leave tomorrow, as I have a thing I have to fly out to Saint Louis for."
I sighed. "I don't see a problem with that."
Sarah nodded in agreement. "Yeah. That works out."
"Great!" Elyse said with a smile. "So let's get your stuff inside."
Sarah nodded. "Right."

===

It took about half an hour, but we eventually got settled into Elyse's house. The hardest part was figuring out sleeping arrangements, as Elyse only had two bedrooms, and neither of them had two beds, and the only big bed was in Elyse's room, and she made it clear she wasn't going to give it up. In the end, I took the sofa in the family room, and Sarah got the extra bed.

By the time all that was done, it was just about 3PM.
"So, what do you guys want to do?" asked Elyse. "I mean, we still have a lot of time on our hands for today."
Sarah sighed and leaned against me, wrapping one of her arms around my waist. "I dunno...I was thinking that today could be kinda lax. I've already been doing enough timezone jumping as it is, and I don't really want to stress myself too much..."
"I get what you mean," said Elyse. "In that case, we'll just chill here for the rest of the day, and we'll do something fun tomorrow."
"Sounds like a plan," I said as I gently stroked Sarah's hair."
"Cool. I was kinda thinking that maybe we could go to the baseball game tomorrow."
"Man, I can't remember the last one I was at," Sarah mumbled.
Elyse smiled. "So I take that as a 'yes you want to go'?"
Sarah nodded. "Totally."