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Chapter 23
"My Sharona, m, m, m, my Sharona." The Knack played from the speakers throughout Serenity, Morgan and Shannon singing and dancing along as they put out the different pastries they had made for the day. Serenity didn't have a fixed menu. The menu was whatever the two girls had felt like making that day and if you wanted something else, maybe they would make it for you, if you asked nicely.
"Well, the guys should be here soon, I wonder if they will be able to get in," Shannon said with a grin. Morgan looked at her and laughed.
"Well, let's see how long it takes them."
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"I don't get it, where is the door?" Brian asked as they looked. They were in the middle of downtown Chicago, in front of the huge sign that said Serenity but they couldn't find the door.
"Hey, guys, what's up?" Colleen asked as she and Ryan came up from behind. Howie turned to them.
"We can't figure out how to get inside. You know, this isn't very serene."
Colleen laughed. "Well, if you want peace and quiet, you have to work for it. Try again."
Kevin stared at the outside of the building. In front of them, instead of a door, was a wall that contained a bookcase filled with books, a real fireplace, and a painting, showing an elderly faun.
"Okay, well obviously there is a secret catch somewhere, but where?" Kevin asked, looking at Kendall, Ryan, and Colleen who just shrugged, pretending ignorance.
Brian scanned the book titles, looking to see if there was a clue. "A Secret Garden, Alice in Wonderland, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Case Files of Sherlock Holmes, And Then There Was None, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Pawn of Prophecy . . . "
"Wait, go back. What was the second one you said?" AJ asked.
"Um, Alice in Wonderland," Brian repeated.
"No, not that one. The one after."
"The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?"
"Yeah, that's it. I think I got it," AJ said. He walked over to the book and pulled it back till he heard a click. Then he went to the painting and started messing with it. Finally, he tilted it a certain way and he heard another click and the wall slowly swung open, letting them into Serenity.
They were greeted by comfy couches everywhere, lamps on end tables, piles of books and bookcases. And in the back, a huge pastry display and coffee selection. Shannon was just walking out of the kitchen when she saw them. It wasn't that filled since it was a weekday and not regular lunch hours. At noon, it had been packed by people looking for a place to read a book for an hour, but now they were back at work.
"Hey guys, you're finally here. So who figured out how to get in?" she asked as she walked towards them. She looked at her sister and cousins. "You didn't tell them did you?"
"Nope, AJ figured it out," Kendall informed her. Shannon smiled.
"Congratulations AJ, you get a free coffee and a book. The person who figures out the door always get that."
Brian interrupted. "I still don't get it. What was the connection between the picture and the book?" he asked.
Ryan explained. "Well, you have to have read the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe from the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis to understand. The picture was a picture of Mr. Taumnus' grandfather. It hung in his cave where Lucy had tea when she first entered Narnia."
AJ nodded. "Yeah, I read that book a long time ago and I suddenly remembered it had things like fauns, centaurs, talking animals. I knew there was a faun in it, I didn't really know it was supposed to be Mr. Taumnus' grandfather but that was only connection I got."
"Well, you get to take any book that is lying around. Come on back, the soup today is beef barley, and the dessert today is white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. And of course, any type of coffee you want."
Nick smiled. "Sounds great, let's eat."
They all sat down, after grabbing whatever they wanted. They were in one of the closed off rooms so that they didn't disturb the people reading in the main room.
"How many rooms do you have?" Brian asked as he ate his club on rye.
"Well, this used to be a department store until we bought it. So we have the main room, and then five different theme rooms that people can reserve so they can talk and have parties. They're sound proof. This one is the Irish pub room," Morgan told them
"It does look like the pubs we went to in Ireland," Kevin observed as he took in the wooden bar, barstools, dark wooden walls and softly playing Irish music coming from the speakers.
"What are the other ones?" Nick asked.
"The English tea room, the Sun Room, the Murder room, and the Oriental Room."
"The Murder room?" Howie asked with a grin.
"It's got things from different murder mystery novels lying around. Like Sherlock Holmes' violin and pipe, Hercule Poirot's bowler hat and gloves, and moustache clippers. Miss Marple's hedge clippers, bottles marked poison, fake pistols, knives, things like that," Colleen explained. "That's my favorite room."
Shannon nodded. "She goes in there and sits for hours. We actually built that room because of Colleen's love of mysteries. That's what gave us the idea."
Kevin looked at Colleen. "Speaking of you, I've been meaning to ask what are you wearing?"
Colleen looked down at the green OR scrubs she was wearing and blushed.
"Colleen performed surgery today and got blood on her shirt, so she changed into some scrubs," Ryan explained. "You should have seen it, she was amazing. This man came in with a gunshot to the heart and Colleen actually massaged his heart to start it up again."
Nick and AJ looked slightly grossed out while the others were impressed. Colleen just changed the subject.
"I think I'm going to cut my hair today," she said, thinking out loud. Kevin looked over at her.
"Why? You have great hair," he told her, yanking on one of her pigtails. Colleen sighed.
"I'm just sick of it." There was silence while everyone ate and just enjoyed some peace and quiet when Shannon sat up.
"Hey, tonight is Orgy."
Nick looked at her. "Orgy, the band?"
Morgan snorted. "No, Nick, we are actually going to an orgy, you know, tons of naked people having sex."
Nick threw a piece of bread at her. "So we are on our own tonight?" he asked.
Morgan nodded. "Yep. We also have to pick up our costumes for tomorrow night's costume party at Shaun's. And you guys still have to pick yours out. You can do that tonight," she told them. They nodded.
Suddenly, Shannon and Morgan looked at their beepers. "Oh someone's at the door," Morgan said.
"How did you know?" Howie asked them.
"Our beepers are set up to the system throughout the coffee shop that whenever anyone touches the door, our beepers vibrate and if they don't get it after about five minutes, we let them in. If they do manage to open the door, a 36 appears on our beepers. See, like these people figured it out," Shannon said as she showed them the 36 on her beeper. She stood up. "I better see if they want anything. Cheryl is on her break."
Shannon walked out into the main room and stopped as she saw that Freddie Prinze Jr. and Paul Walker were standing there. They smiled and waved hi as they started to walk over.
"Hey, you guys made it," she said. Freddie nodded. "Yeah, we couldn't resist coming for some coffee and conversation."
Shannon pointed to the back. "We were just hanging out with some friends. You want to join us?" she asked. They nodded and walked back with her.
Shannon walked into the room. "Hey guys, this is Paul and Freddie," she said, introducing them.
The guys shook hands and the girls said hi. Paul looked at the five guys and smiled.
"You guys look really familiar," he said. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
Kendall smiled. "Meet the Backstreet Boys, idols of millions of pre-pubescent girls across America."
"Oh, okay. Cool." Paul saw a spot next to Kendall and sat down, smiling at her. Freddie sat down next to Shannon who was more than happy with the arrangement. They all started talking and ended up talking for hours.
"Guys, we have to go. The Orgy concert is in two hours, and we have to get home, change, and go to the venue." Colleen stood up. "It was really nice meeting you, Paul, Freddie. I'll see you guys at home." And she and Ryan and Morgan walked out after saying goodbye to the guys who were leaving also.
Kendall and Shannon looked at the two guys and smiled.
"Well, it was really nice meeting you guys. I'm actually glad Morgan and I got stuck in a traffic jam," Shannon said. Kendall nodded.
"Yeah, I'm glad Morgan and you got stuck in a traffic jam too," she said laughing. Paul smiled happily as he and Kendall looked at each other.
Shannon quirked an eyebrow and turned to Freddie. "So aren't you going out with Kimberly McCollough? She was on my favorite soap, General Hospital," Shannon said, thinking at how glad she had been when Kimberly had left since she had been the annoying Robin. Freddie shook his head.
"No, we broke up. She's going out with some other guy," he said. Shannon tried to hide her smile.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Well, Kendall and I have to be going if we are going to make that concert. How long will you two be in town?" she asked as she grabbed some plates and walked to the kitchen, the others following.
"Until the beginning of September. Do you want to hang out sometime?" he asked. Shannon nodded.
"That would be great. My number is 537-1093," she told them, Paul writing it on his hand.
"I'm staying with Shannon until the beginning of September when I go back to Maryland so you can reach me there too," she told Paul.
"I'll be sure to do that," he said. They said goodbye. Paul and Freddie went back to their hotel and Shannon and Kendall left for home, leaving Cheryl to lock up.
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"I wonder where the girls went. They left a few minutes ahead of us and they are still not back," Nick said as he played Mortal Kombat. The rest of the guys nodded, as they lounged around the family room. They heard the door open and heard the girls come in with bags.
"Where have you been?" Brian asked as Ryan plopped down beside him.
"We went to pick up our costumes and do some other things," she told him. "I have to go get ready for the concert," she said as she got up and walked back to the stairs.
"Where's Colleen?" Kevin asked.
"You didn't see her come in? She went straight to her room," Ryan yelled back as she walked through the doors. Kevin shrugged and they talked quietly.
Pretty soon Kendall and Shannon arrived home and rushed up to get ready for the concert. It was seven o'clock and the concert started at eight.
Ryan, Shannon, Morgan, and Kendall all walked back into the room, ready for a night of loud music.
Shannon was wearing a black dress with see-through mesh cutouts everywhere with black calf high combat boots. She had on black eye make-up and ice purple lipstick. Around her neck was a ball chain necklace. Morgan was dressed in a brown leather skirt with a ragged hem and a cream sleeveless shirt that laced up the middle, her hair in a ponytail and she was wearing brown chunky ankle boots. Ryan had on a black dress with a sheer silver overlay with knee high boots, her hair in a knot at the base of her neck. Kendall's thick hair was piled on top of her head to show off the backless blue thigh-length haltertop dress she had on with a pair of chunky black shoes.
"Wow, you guys look awesome," AJ said, staring at Morgan who smiled.
"Thanks, AJ," she replied. "Where's Colleen?"
"I'm here," Colleen said and they turned around and their jaws dropped open as the girls smiled.
"What did you do to your hair?" Kevin asked in a strangled tone.
Colleen frowned. "I told you I was sick of my hair, so I decided to do something a little different with it. You don't like it?" she asked.
AJ shook his head. "Colleen, it's crazy. It's awesome, but still it's a little drastic." The rest of the guys nodded.
Shannon smiled. "Well, I like it."
Colleen smiled. "Thanks." She patted the chin-length locks and stared in the mirror, greeted with the sight of deep blue hair.
"I think it compliments the outfit," she said. Kevin looked at the long black skirt and black leather bustier top.
Well, at least the skirt's modest, he thought thankfully, but then she walked towards them revealing thigh high slits on either side and his eyes widened in shock at the length of leg exposed.
Her eyes were done in icy white eyeshadow with no other makeup. She had a chain-link choker on and a pair of lace-up knee high combat boots.
"Well, we better go, see you guys later," she said, kissing Kevin on the cheek as he stood there, not knowing what to say. The door closed behind them.
"She had blue hair," he stated.
"Yeah, we saw it," Brian told him, wryly.
"Blue hair."
"Good, Kevin, you know your colors," Howie joked.
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