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Melissa wakes up when she rolls off the mattress she was snoring on and into the Swamp City lake. There's the usual brief struggle where she tries to gather her wits and limbs before relaxing and waiting for the semi-familiar (how many times do you have to pass out from oxygen deprivation for it to count as familiar? Ten times? Twenty?) slip into unconsciousness when a hand latches onto the collar of her pajama shirt, yanking her out of the water. Melissa clings to the mattress and coughs up the clog in her throat.
"Well, that was unpleasant," she says.
"It really is," Milo agreed. He was still holding onto her elbow. Melissa pulled herself onto the semi-solidness of the mattress, feeling it bend awkwardly under her weight. This was a terrible angle for a mattress to be set, wedged between three mossy rocks so it was propped up. No wonder she fell off- it was less of a bed and more of a chair at this point. "Didja sleep alright?"
"For the most part, yeah." Barring any drowning related disasters. "Have you been up long?"
"Eh. Maybe ten minutes." He shrugged. "I was about to wake you up, but a seagull flew by and I got distracted. Next thing I knew you were swimming with the fishes."
"Milo?"
"Yeah?"
"How did we get out here?"
"Oh." He sounded embarrassed. "I, uh, I was hoping you'd know."
"So we're both clueless, then." That was more than a little unsettling. "Great."
Milo squinted into the distance. "I think I can see the shore from here. We could probably make it."
"Milo?"
"Hmm?"
"I don't recall sleeping on your mattress. I could've sworn I brought a sleeping bag."
He nodded. "We had all the proper sleepover etiquette going. That is, until we fell asleep playing video games."
Ah, right. That sounded like something they'd do. "In its own right, that's pretty standard etiquette."
"Touché. You going in first, or am I?"
"I'll go."
It's a medium swim. Not a quick swim, or an overly long swim- just a medium swim. Melissa slips on a loose patch of grass while helping Milo out, sending them both sprawling. She's soaked and muddy and overall in need of a shower, but things have been worse before.
"You've lost your central incisors," Milo says.
Melissa draws her tongue around her mouth, finding her fake teeth to be gone. She ducked into the murky waters with a yelp, eventually retrieving them, covered in muck. "That's unhygienic."
"No worries, I got-" The boy reached behind for his backpack, coming up empty. "Or I don't got. I'm not wearing my backpack."
"You don't normally wear it when you're winding down for the night."
"True, but it's still a little disconcerting. Sorry I can't hand you some sort of cleaning agent."
"I'll clean them later." Melissa pocketed them with displeasure. There wasn't anything anyone could do about it now. "Let's hang our shirts on those branches. Once they're decent we can see about taking a bus home."
They disrobe in silence, wringing them out and flopping them across a tree, blue and green individually. Then they sat down against some rocks and waited. It was too dark for them to be properly seen, and it wasn't like there was anything really to see. Melissa glanced at her arms- she'd always had pretty good luck with not scarring anywhere so obvious. Her back, however, was a landmine. "Milo, open your eyes. There's nothing out here."
"I'm being gentlemanly," he sniffed.
"And that's appreciated, but there's being a lil' gentleman and then there's reality."
"Fair enough."
Melissa pointed at a scar running lightly down his arm. "Is that new, or did I just forget?"
"You forgot. That was the time I fell on a screwdriver."
"Ooh, right, right."
They eventually retrieve their shirts and head up the bank, coming out a desolate street corner. The light off the buildings and the lamps trailing down the pathways gave them ample ability to see, though it also gave off a mildly creepy vibe. "Alright. You know the way, Milo?"
"Absolutely. I have it memorized."
"Nice."
They make decent time to the nearest bus stop. It would just be the cherry on top of this crazy night if Elliot were to appear, brandishing his special stop sign and numerous bags under his eyes, but the crossing guard doesn't show. The bus does show, however, and they pile on, taking the seat furthest from the engine.
"How long until it breaks down, you think?" Milo prompted, sounding rather accepting of the whole situation. That was Milo for you- you get used to it.
"Ten miles." Melissa lounged back in her- frankly uncomfortable- seat. "I'd bet on it, if I had someone to bet with."
Eleven miles. Close enough.
The thing about chaos, Melissa has found, is that it brings people together. It brought Milo into her life. Zack, too. It also gives way to little moments of kindness, like the lady who brushed her hair out while they waited for a tow truck to collect the smoking bus. After that, it was safe to say Murphy's Law wasn't in the mood to handle vehicles. Instead they took to the streets, jaywalking with devious snickers.
"The chance we'll get home before the sun rises is getting smaller and smaller," Milo informed her. "How about we find a place to hit the hay?"
Melissa has slept through her fair share of oddities, the strangest of which including a donkey, a baseball bat, and a gorilla with a tutu. Sleeping in the dirt is nothing particularly special. A sly grin makes its way across her face. "You like pistachios, right?"
"Always."
"Then let's check out the place that's full of their remains."
"The factory?" Milo asked, then shook his head. "Dakota and Cavendish destroyed that place, remember?"
"They did?" She frowned. "That sucks. I really wanted to stake it out for ourselves."
"You mean destroy it for ourselves?"
"Guilty as charged."
"We could go to the zoo," he offered, a couple blocks later, "and see some animals."
"That is an option we have, yes," Melissa agreed. "But do we really want to be so close to polar bears and llamas?"
"I like to think our decent luck with the former will even out our terrible luck with the latter."
Touché. They've had shockingly few encounters with polar bears lately, and the ones they have had have gone over pretty well. "Point, Milo. Lead the way."
They take the long way. Why not? It's a nice night. They hop on railings and balance on them, cackling as they defy the laws of nature. Melissa almost gets hit by a car and swears in French for five minutes afterwards, to the amusement of Milo. They stop at a closed pistachio cart, which promptly catches fire. Milo's time travel friends can thank them later.
"Hey, Melissa?" Milo says halfway up the closed gate they're climbing.
"You stuck?"
"Yes, but that wasn't what I was about to say." Milo shimmied his foot out from between the bars and kept on going, perching his tuckus between two pointy spires. "Tonight's been pretty fun, hasn't it?"
"As fun as almost drowning and breaking into a zoo can be."
"That's pretty fun, don't you think?"
"Oh, yeah, definitely." Melissa heaved herself up next to him. They couldn't see very far in the dark, but it made her feel like a proper queen regardless. "Granted, I would've enjoyed this more during proper hours, but it's still been nice."
Milo swung his feet back and forth thoughtfully, biting his lip. "It's been a while since it was just the two of us, too."
"This is true."
"I never said thanks."
"For what?"
"Sticking with me first, I guess?" He shrugged, leaning over to half-hug her over the spire. "So, thanks, Melissa."
She snorted. "You make it sound like it's hard."
Melissa wakes to a hot chocolate being pressed to her forehead. She snatches it up in a millisecond, drinking it down like it's going out of season. Zack parks his bike next to her ever-so-comfy metal bench with a smile. "Morning to you too."
"How'd you find us?" she asked, passing it back to him, half-full.
"I just followed the trail of destruction. You guys do know you left a mattress in the lake, right?"
Milo had stirred in the commotion, sitting up on his own bench across the walkway. "It'll make for a lovely piece of performance art."
Zack jerked a thumb behind him. The zoo doors were open, but no one had passed through them as of yet. Maybe they'd heard the news. "Wanna grab some breakfast?"
"Is that really a question you asked?" Melissa put a hand to her stomach. "Lead on, oh salvation."