CHATROOM
LOVE
Chapter Twenty-Six
November 16, 2001
"Mom!" Rose’s feet thumped on the stairs.
"Mom, are you packed yet? The tickets say the plane leaves at seven
o’clock, so we’ll need to leave pretty soon." She hurried into the living
room, stopping when she saw her mother on the phone. "Mom?"
Ruth held up a hand, signalling for Rose to be quiet.
"Yes. Yes, I’ll be there. You chose a really inconvenient time to schedule
this, you know. Yes, I know that it’s the best time for you, but I don’t see
why I need to be there. I already made it clear that I had other plans."
She sighed. "All right. If it’s really that important…I’ll be there. Yes.
Good-bye."
Rose stood listening to her mother’s end of the
conversation, a worried frown growing on her face. What was her mother talking
about? What was inconvenient? Would this affect her trip to Las Vegas?
"Mom? What’s going on?"
Ruth turned to Rose, an exasperated look on her face.
"That was my boss. He’s scheduled a meeting for this evening at
eight."
Rose stared at her. "But you can’t go to that.
You already promised Jack and me that you’d go to Las Vegas with us."
"I’m sorry, Rose, but this isn’t something I can
get out of."
"But, Mom, you promised!" Rose’s voice grew
louder as she realized that her trip was going to be called off. "It’s not
fair! Didn’t he know you had plans?"
"I don’t think that my boss cares one way or
another about my plans. Money is everything to him."
Rose mumbled a short, foul word under her breath.
"Don’t swear, Rose. You know I don’t like
that."
"But, Mom…it’s not fair. I’ve been looking
forward to this so much. So has Jack." Tears of disappointment filled her
eyes.
Ruth stood, going to lay a hand on her daughter’s shoulder.
"Before you throw a tantrum, Rose, I want you to hear me out."
Rose sniffed, wiping her eyes and fixing her mother
with a glare. "Mom…"
"Rose, you and Jack are still going on your
trip."
Rose’s expression changed, her eyes widening in
disbelief. "But you wanted us to be chaperoned."
"And you will be. Dawn’s mother called me at work
this morning to find out what flight we’ll be taking and what hotel we’ll be
staying at. It seems that Dawn mentioned that a trip to Las Vegas and a ticket
to the Britney Spears concert would be a perfect birthday gift…"
"Dawn’s birthday isn’t until January."
"That’s what her parents told her, but she
managed to talk them into the trip as an early birthday present. All three of
the Bergens—Dawn and her parents—will be going to Las Vegas tonight with you.
There were still seats available in first class, so they were able to arrange
to fly on such short notice. You and Jack will be in coach, but I don’t think
you can get into much trouble on an airplane."
"Dawn’s going, too?" Rose gaped at her
mother.
"Yes, and her parents will chaperone you, I’m
sure. After all, they’ve never objected to your staying the night at Dawn’s
house, and the two of you have never gotten into trouble there."
"Well…mostly." Rose smiled, remembering a
couple of incidents when she and Dawn had gotten into trouble while staying the
night at each other’s houses—the time that they had played Truth or Dare, and
Rose had dared Dawn to go out in the snow barefoot, nearly resulting in
frostbite for her best friend, or the time that the girls had decided to paint
themselves like native dancers, and had used up a good portion of Mrs. Bergen’s
makeup to do so. Granted, they had been eight years old at the time, but they
had still managed to misbehave.
Rose didn’t remind her mother of those incidents,
though. She just grinned and threw her arms around Ruth’s neck. "Thanks,
Mom!"
"I’ll meet you tomorrow night at the hotel—I
should be able to get a plane ticket. If you’re not there when I get there,
I’ll just wait for you. I don’t expect you to stay inside and miss the fun
because I’m going to be late."
"That’ll work great, Mom!" Rose headed for
the stairs again, her earlier disappointment forgotten.
"Rose!"
"Yeah?"
"I’m going to book my new flight and let the
hotel know that I’ll be a day late getting there. Then, you’ll need to call
Dawn and let her know that you’ll be accompanying her family. I’ll expect you
to either stay with Dawn or stay in our room by yourself—not with Jack. Do you
understand?"
"Yes, Mom. I understand. You don’t need to worry
about me. I’ll be good."
With that, she dashed up the stairs to finish packing.
*****
Ruth dropped Jack and Rose off at the airport before
going to her meeting. As she pulled up to the curb to let them out, she turned
and looked at them, making sure they had everything.
"You have your tickets and itinerary, right? And
your hotel information? Do two have your passports?"
"Yeah, Mom, we do." Rose sounded a little
exasperated.
"I’m just making sure, Rose. I don’t want you
wandering the streets of Las Vegas with nowhere to stay."
"Everything’s fine, Mom." Rose pulled a
handful of papers and passport from her purse, showing them to Ruth. "Jack
has his, too."
Jack nodded, showing Ruth an identical pile of papers
and an American passport. Ruth looked at both of them approvingly, then added,
"And you packed everything you need, right? Rose, you remembered to pack
clean underwear, didn’t you?"
"Mom!" Rose’s face turned bright red.
"Don’t talk about that!"
"Sorry, Rose, but the last trip we went on, you
forgot…"
"Mom!" Rose hissed, putting her hands over
her face. "I remembered this time."
"Okay, Rose. So you’ve got everything you
need?"
"Yes!" Rose jumped out of the car before her
mother could embarrass her further, hurrying to the trunk to get her suitcase.
Jack followed her, grinning at her still-red face.
"Your face is the colour of your name," he remarked, pulling his own
worn suitcase from the trunk.
"Don’t laugh at me!" Rose gritted her teeth
and glared at him. "I cannot believe her!"
She stepped up onto the curb, waving as Ruth pulled
away, her face still flaming with embarrassment.
"My mom did that to me once," Jack remarked,
walking beside her as they went into the airport. "I was getting ready to
go on a boy scout camping trip when I was in seventh grade, and she asked me
that in front of all the other guys. I wanted to disappear."
"I swear, I will never do that my kids, if I ever
have any." Rose shook her head, pulling her wool hat down over her face to
hide it.
"Rose! Jack!"
They looked up as someone called from the WestJet
ticket line, waving wildly at them. "Come on! You can get in line with
us!"
Jack and Rose followed hurried over, squeezing past
some people who looked at them in irritation. When they reached Dawn, they
stopped, staring in amazement, as Tommy, Helga, and Fabrizio turned to greet
them as well.
"What are you guys doing here?" Jack could
imagine Tommy being able to afford to go with them, but not Helga and Fabrizio.
Dawn shrugged, grinning. "Mom and Dad thought
that it would be nice for all of us to go on the trip. We just rented one extra
hotel room, for Mom and Dad, and then you and Helga and I will stay in your
room, and the guys will stay with Jack. We’re all going to the Britney Spears
concert, too, even though we couldn’t get tickets next to you guys. It’ll still
be fun."
The six teenagers began to talk loudly, discussing the
coming trip. It was going to be a great weekend!