An Echo in the Wind

Chapter 23

On Friday night, I pack my weekend bag to go to the cabin. We all decided to ride together to save gas. Carly's borrowing her moms dodge durango so we'd have the most room. It's only about a 3 hour drive, so it shouldn't be too bad. 

I already dropped Austin off already at Ben's house. I was hesitant about going after what happened the other night. I was worried about Austin's mental health after everything that happened. 

But we had a lot of talks this week after soccer practice and after school. We ate lots of ice cream and spent many afternoons out of the house. Mom, of course, tried to apologize. I yelled at her. Told her she needed to go back to rehab and that she needed to get a job. 

She said she'd try. 

I don't believe her. 

But eventually, I figured being around a friend would be the best thing for him. And he promised he was okay and that he wanted me to have fun. 

So now, I wait for Carly to come by my house. 

When she pulls up, I hop in the back. Everyone else is already in the car, so I get stuck in the back seat next to Shade. I don't make eye contact with him as I toss my bag into the trunk. It's not that I'm mad at him for getting all jealous, I'm just caught up in my own head. 

I hope Austin will be okay. 

"You okay?" Shade asks, nudging me with his elbow. 

I blink and look over at him. I smile, "Oh, yeah. Fine. Sorry. Just zoned out for a second."

He smiles at me. The music is playing so loud in the car, that we can only barely hear each other over the music and the sound of everyone else talking. 

"Tell me about your family," he says, turning to me. 

"You already know my brother," I state.

He shrugs, "Yeah but tell me about your mom. I don't really know much about her."

I hesitate, "She's just a regular mom, nothing really interesting. Tell me about your family."

"Okay. Well, I have two brothers and two sisters. I'll tell you about my youngest sister another time. The rest are all in college. Nora is 19. Matthew is 22. Harlow is 24, he's getting married in December."

I smile, "That's nice. Have you met the girl?"

He nods, "She's really sweet. Smart too. Harlow is too. They're both going to school to be doctors."

"Wow. That's intense. What about your parents? What do they do?" I ask. 

"My mom was a stay at home mom. Raising three boys must've been hard. Now that we're all older, she works at an animal shelter a few days a week. My dad works in business. I honestly don't know what he does there."

I laugh, "I feel bad for your mom. So many boys. Poor woman."

He chuckles, "Yeah. We weren't the easiest kids."

I frown, "Again. Your poor parents."

We arrive at the cabin a few hours later. It's really nice. It's chilly when we step out, I guess we should've checked the weather before we came up here. It's a cabin in the mountains though, what did we expect?

We all bring the bags inside and Carly turns on the lights and water. It's even colder inside than it was outside. There's a big living area with wood floors and a few couches, with a fireplace against the center of the wall. 

We take a quick tour. There's a bathroom and closet off the living room, and a small kitchen through an open doorway. It's small, but cozy and perfect. 

"There's three bedrooms, so we'll have to share. Come, I'll show you all the bedrooms." She says, bringing us upstairs. 

The first room has a king size bed that us three girls decide to share. The second room has two twin beds in it that Nik and Kevin take. Shade takes the last room that has a queen size bed in it. 

We all throw our bags down and order some food since there's nothing in the house. We order extra takeout to keep in the fridge since there's a snow storm coming in and we aren't sure if we'll be able to leave tomorrow. 

We're all pretty tired from school and traveling, so we all head to bed after dinner. 

Carly, Sophie, and I have the master bedroom, so the bathroom is big enough for us all to get changed and ready for bed in at the same time, even though there's only two sinks. We're girls, we make it work. 

I'm yet again reminded of how nice it is to have girl friends. It's so nice being around them and not having to worry about anything. This is the first time in a long time I haven't felt the burden of my brother. 

I know he's safe at his friends house, and it feels like a weight is off my shoulders. I feel like I can finally be free to do what I want for a change. 

Despite the cold weather, we're all in tank tops because it's pretty warm in the room with the fireplace on. Plus, the blankets on the bed look pretty thick.

We crawl into the large bed, snuggling ourselves between the brown sheets and under the heavy comforter. Carly leans over her side and turns the light off. I do the same on my side, Sophie lays in the middle. 

We whisper and giggle about useless shit. Carly tells us about her newly titled boyfriend, Kevin. I think they're just adorable together. They're going to have the cutest little red head babies together one day, I just know it. 

I speak up, "Did you know we're popular?"

Carly scoffs, "Yeah, right. When pigs fly."

"It's true," I continue, "Some girl told me so at the party the other night. Apparently the entire school thinks so. Isn't that crazy?"

"Quick, look out the window!" Carly exclaims, giggling. 

"For what?" I ask, confused. 

"The flying pigs, silly," she says through a snort.

That makes us all start laughing, probably too loud, because we hear a pounding on the wall by Carly. We all stiffen and stop laughing. 

Nik's voice comes through the barrier, muffled but still audible, "Would you three shut the fuck up already? Kevin and I need our beauty sleep and we can't fall asleep with all the laughing!"

"Sorry Nik!" We shout back. 

A minute later, we hear his voice again, "Where are the matches? We forgot to light the fireplace in our room, it's cold!"

"Why don't you just have Kevin put his head on the wood to light it?" Sophie shouts back with a light laugh. 

"I heard that!" Kevin shouts at us. 

We all laugh and Sophie says, "The matches are down in the kitchen. First drawer on your left."

"Tha-," Nik starts but is cut off by another scream from across the hall.

"Shut the fuck up!" Shade interrupts. 

We all burst out laughing but we finally stay quiet, letting everyone sleep after a long day. 

***

Hope you enjoy this mountain trip...hehe, once we get back to town things are gonna get heated :))

Next Update: 6/11/21