Planet Expo: Origins [Book One]

Chapter One

[A.K.A. It Officially Begins] 

  “Shut up.” 

      “Make me,” smirked Nathaniel. Lisa then narrowed her eyes at her younger town brother. “Don’t tempt me.” James joined in with Nathaniel’s laughter at Lisa being her typical self. 

    The trio then continued walking on the concrete sidewalk en route to their destination; a very popular coffee shop named RedStar. Along the way, the trio continued their conversation about school; about how lame it was yet how certain aspects of it certainly trumped others. It was this conversation that led to Lisa snapping at Nathaniel for bringing up the topic of finals coming up soon. “Anyways, I’m just glad school’s almost over.” Lisa was quick to agree with James meanwhile Nathaniel, who seemingly always has the smart Alec, pitched in his own teasing matter. “Why so eager for our summer vacation Jamey boy? Big plans with your girlfriend?” Nathaniel wiggled his eyebrows and playfully nudged James’ arm, which caused James to shove a laughing Nathaniel away. “Leave Clary out of this.” 

    Nathaniel put his hands up and slightly backed away to show he surrendered while Lisa rolled her eyes while trying to suppress her laughter. “C’mon Nate you know better than to bring up Jamey’s crusty crush.” James groaned. “Not you too Lis.” Lisa giggles, “sorry, but look we’re here so let’s just enjoy our coffee or whatever.” Nathaniel then grabbed hold of the star-shaped red handle and pulled open the glass door. While standing aside, Nathaniel gestured for them to go on ahead and Lisa smiled while James headed his head in thanks. 

    Entering into the bright-lit coffee shop, the sweet smell of coffee beans, vanilla, sweets from the bakery section, and other similar aromas hit the teens’ noses like a bus. In addition to the aromas, the sound of people chatting (both on phones and face to face), the soft clattering of silverware on dishes, and students typing on their laptops could be heard. Taking a brief look around, Nathaniel quickly realized that the place was quick to be packed with teenagers and some adults despite the fact that it was 3:30 in the afternoon. “Aw man, and here I was thinking we could relax a bit. You guys go ahead and order. I’ll try to find a place to sit.” Lisa nodded. “Same order?” Nathaniel winked at his sister, “you know it sis. Oh, give me your bags. So I could save your seats.” Wordlessly, James, and Lisa handed Nathaniel their bags as he walked off.

    Once he was out of sight, James scoffed out of laughter and nodded his head while walking towards the line. Lisa was quick to follow James seeing as Nathaniel already headed out towards the seating area. Sensing that James was still a bit touchy from the early teasing, Lisa felt like she needed to reassure him somehow.

    Taking a quick breath before talking, Lisa looked up toward the back of James’ head. “Ya know,” she started, which caused James to turn her way, “we didn’t mean anything by it.” James, already knowing what one of his best friends was talking about, rubbed the back of his neck. It was one of his habits Lisa picked up on from when they first started hanging out. “Yeah, I know. It’s just,” James then paused to look behind him to see if the line moved, it didn’t, so he stayed in his spot, turned back to Lisa, and started again. “It’s just frustrating. With Clary I mean. Not with the famous Archer twins’ teasing.” James and Lisa shared a laugh about James’ last comment while Lisa pointed in front of her to gesture that the line moved up. 

    James took two steps backward since he was still facing Lisa. “I get it. But hey, you can’t help who you like, ya know? At least you’ll always have her as a friend and maybe she’ll finally realize what a catch you are.” James suddenly felt heat rushing to his face and felt the feeling of a grin creeping up. Rubbed the back of his neck to try to calm him down, he was thankful for Lisa’s kind words. But, before he could get a chance to formulate a proper response, Lisa gestured for him to turn around and when he did, sure enough, they were at the cashier already. ‘That was quick’ James thought as he told the cashier his order of one black coffee and a slice of cherry pie. After paying for himself, he stood to the slide and put away his credit card. After sending James’ order to one of his co-workers, the cashier looked up and saw Lisa. 

    “Oh hey Lis. The same old?” Lisa nodded. “You know me so well, Clancy. And the same old for Nate as well.” Clancy nodded his head while imputing her order and taking Lisa’s RedStar gift card; she got it for herself and Nate to use since they come here often, almost on a daily basis. But this was James’ first time in months. “Want me to wrap up his order or is Nate coming here?” Lisa shook her head, “no it’s ok. A tray is fine. Nate went to look for a table.” 

    “Oh okay cool! Yeah, it got packed really quickly. Tell him I said hi!” Lisa gave him a thumbs up along with a small goodbye wave and joined James to the side and they walked together along the long cashier counter to the section where the orders were placed to be picked up. Overhearing their conversation while waiting, James nudged his head towards Clancy’s direction; his way of asking what that was about. “Oh, that’s Clancy. Since Nate and I come here often, unlike you, he’s practically the friend of the famous Archer twins as you would put it.” James laughed and nodded his head in understanding. 

    As they awaited their orders, both James’ and Lisa’s phones buzzed. ‘Must be Nate,’ Lisa thought as she pulled out her phone. Sure enough, she was proven right as Nathaniel texted both of them in the group chat that they were a part of. Nate took to liberty to name the chat Triple Threats. 

Nate-Bro: found us some sweet seats. I can see you guys from here lol. 

JameyJam: creepy but ok. Thanks, bro! 

    laughed at the text messages she received. “Hey, ‘thanks bro’ is my line!” James, picking up on her playful tone, responded by shrugging his shoulders. “It is what it is.” Lisa rolled her eyes in a joking manner and saw that their orders were ready. “Just help me carry these trays, huh?” James smiled and walked over to pick up his tray and Lisa’s tray while Lisa carried Nate’s order, which was a two-hand job due to how crowded the place was. ‘Please let no one bump into me,’ Lisa silently prayed as she turned around and spotted Nathaniel waving. The duo walked over and set down the trays on the orange table and sat on the grey cushiony seats. 

    Nathaniel pulled the faded red plastic tray closer to him and started munching down his chocolate chip muffin while Lisa took a sip of her own vanilla flavored iced coffee. “Someone was hungry,” James commented while unwrapping the silverware from the clothed napkin. Nate nodded eagerly while finishing his muffin and sipping his own strawberry flavored drink; he wasn’t very fond of coffee. “For some reason,” Nathaniel then swallowed the remaining muffin he had in his mouth, “those review sessions make me really hungry.” Lisa nodded knowing what he meant while munching on her star-shaped sugar cookies. 

    James took a sip of his coffee and shrugged, “must be a twin thing then.” Lisa and Nathaniel shared a look and shrugged in agreement. “Probably,” the twins said while returning to their food. James laughed at that; despite knowing the Archer twins since childhood, them speaking simultaneously was something he could never get used to. “I’m just glad our teachers have those extra review sessions after school. I really need additional help, especially for math.” 

    “Yeah, I know what you mean Jem. Without the extra review, I would totally fail the finals coming up. Some of my teachers aren’t even reviewing.” Nathaniel snickered. “That’s your own fault. Taking those university-level classes.” Lisa rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah but at least I’ll be better prepared for uni.” James made a noise of agreement as he ate his pie since he shared the same university-level classes with Lisa, except they had different teachers for some of their classes, which was a drag according to both of them. Nathaniel shook his head “I don’t know. I’m pretty content with not dying of stress every few seconds and just enjoying high school.”

    “Whatever. Anyways, I heard there’s gonna be a storm tomorrow. Apparently it’s gonna be a nasty one.” James took another bite of his pie as he waited for his friends’ responses. “Yeah, Mrs. Dollon talked about it. She said that the school may have to take a storm day because of it. Hopefully, it’s nothing like the one we had last year.” 

    “Oh yeah,” Nathaniel chinned in. “That one was really bad. We’re still suffering from the lack of trees since it destroyed the majority of the supply.” Lisa nodded. “I don’t think it’ll be that bad. Worst case scenario: 4 day weekend.” James signed in content at that note. “Ah, 4 whole days without school. But we’ll probably be forced to stay inside for our safety.” 

    “True but that means we could video call to study or goof off.” The boys shared a look and simultaneously said: “goof off.” Lisa laughed. “I had no idea you guys were also twins.” She then finished her final cookie before sipping her the last of her sweet coffee. James finished his snack a while ago while Nathaniel was still drinking his extra-large strawberry drink and a slice of cookie dough cheesecake. Lisa then took Nathaniel’s spare spoon and quickly reached across the table to take a spoonful of the cheesecake before he could realize since he was in the middle of talking to James about a video game that recently came out. “Hey!” Lisa, whose mouth was now covered in the residue of the chocolate-vanilla dessert, gave her brother a look of innocence. 

    “You’re lucky I was starting to get full,” Nathaniel grumbled. Lisa let out a mischievous giggle. “You wouldn’t wait to spoil your appetite anyways. Mom’s cooking our favorite tonight.” Nathaniel’s eyes then sparkled. “Really? She said that?” Lisa deadpanned. “Nathaniel, she told us this morning when he drove us to school.” A look of realization dawned upon Nathaniel and he gave a sluggish look towards his sister. “Oh, I forgot.” Lisa sighed. Since Nathaniel showed no sign of finishing his cheesecake, Lisa took the liberty of helping him out. Finishing the rest of it, Lisa finally replied while standing up “of course you forgot.” She then walked off to throw away the trash they accumulated on the table. James then wordlessly picked up the trays back to take it back to the counter where there was a spot for used/dirty trays.

    Meeting back at the table they once sat at, they all stated how good the food was while putting on their tan-colored school-issued backpacks. Together, they walked out the door and towards the Archer household. As they walked, they continued talking about whatever came to their minds before James had to bid the twins goodbye. James then crossed the street to enter the house he lived in while the twins put in the passcode to open the door. 

    When they walked in, they were met with another sweet aroma. This time, it was the aroma of their mother’s cooking. “Mom?! We’re home!” The twins took off their shoes and put them on the shoe rack and dropped down their backpacks near the foot of the stairs. “Hi kids!” Came to a shout from deep within the house followed by muffled barking. Then, the twins concluded that she was in the kitchen. 

    “Hi, mom!” The twins said as they entered the kitchen. Lisa then bent down to pet their family dog, Ares, named after the Greek god of war. The Golden Retriever was peacefully lying down on the large white dog bed that was as soft and fluffy as clouds. When Lisa went to bend down, Ares’ head automatically popped up from its resting position; seeking both attention and affection. 

    “Dinner will be ready around 10 tonight,” their mom said while getting some other ingredients out of the fridge. The twins shared a look of confusion. They normally never had dinner so late. “What’s the occasion?” Lisa asked. Nathaniel slightly pouted, as if he was trying to guess what the reason behind the late dinner before their mom could give an answer. 

”Dad’s coming home early from his business trip tonight!”