Who: Riley Finn and Spike {M} What: Into the great wide open, under them skies of blue When: Week Six, Monday night (8 pm & later for full dark) Where: Marina Sailing and the houseboat Status: Closed but Active
Riley had gotten the call at the hotel on Sunday afternoon. Captain Ferguson's boat would be finished first thing Monday morning, as promised, and would the captain like to file an itinerary with the agency before taking the boat out?
No, Riley had answered, the captain did not wish to file any plan at all. He'd rolled over in the bed he was still sharing with Spike, looked at the ceiling for a moment, and then gave him the news.
Spike had demanded they leave first thing Monday morning, but Riley pointed out that unless Spike wanted to turn into vampire flambe, their best bet was to wait until after sundown. Spike had grudgingly agreed, and Riley had done the last minute shopping. The stores must have loved him, buying in cash and leaving no paper trail. A brand new Playstation for the entertainment center, with as many games as he could carry. Enough groceries to feed two people for a month. Enough booze to stock three bars. The new window hangings had already been installed when the glass had been upgraded, and Riley had bought new sheets the week before.
He loaded everything into the convertible he'd rented, stopped to buy every New Release DVD he could get his hands on, and enough CDs to augment his music collection so he and Spike wouldn't drive each other crazy with their music. That got tossed into the back of the convertible also, and the last thing Riley picked up was several cartons of cigarettes. While the sun was starting to go down, Riley loaded everything onto the boat, spent a few hours hooking the game console up, made up the beds and put the groceries away, stocked the booze in the bar and once everything was ready, he went back to the hotel room. By the time he got there, darkness had fallen, and he opened the door looking for Spike. "Hey--you ready? Everything else is loaded up and ready, the boat's gassed, the engines are ready. You need to get anything from the Pod before we head to the marina?" he asked, hoping the answer was no. A part of him was afraid that Spike had changed his mind, decided that he didn't want to be stuck on a boat with him, and had chosen to stay in LA instead. He didn't even realize he'd caught his breath as he waited for Spike's answer.