“Emily!” I called over the music. She was in the corner of the basement, dancing to some overplayed pop song I vaguely remember hearing while channel surfing the radio. I walked over to her radio and stopped the CD. “I can’t believe you listen to this crap.”
“Jesus Christ, JC! You scared me,” she said, walking over to me. I handed her the towel that was hanging off the back of her desk chair, noticing the ends of her brown ponytail were sticking to her neck with sweat.
“Why are you listening to the Backdoor Boys?” I asked, picking up the CD case.
“It’s good music to work out to,” she said, taking the case out of my hands and tossing it onto her bed.
“They’re a prefabricated boy band.”
“You guys should start a boy band.” She nodded to a picture of Lance, Justin, and me hanging on the wall. “You got the voices.”
“Only if you’ll be our fly girl,” I said, laughing.
“Watch it.” She pointed her finger at me in a motherly fashion. “So to what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Whatcha doing next week?”
She looked at me with one eyebrow raised. “Why?”
“Cause I want to know.”
“Nothing.”
“Wanna go to the cabin?” I asked, lying across the couch.
“Next week?”
“Yup. We’re leaving Friday.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes, tomorrow to next Sunday.”
“I haven’t been there in a whole month,” she teased. In all the history of my family owning the cabin, I could only recall one time that she didn’t come with us due to a brief visit from the chickenpox. “Who’s going? Mom and Dad? Whole Chasez clan?”
“You’ll never believe it. They agreed to let us go by ourselves,” I smiled triumphantly.
“Really?” She sat down on the floor. “Who’s us?”
“Justin, Lance, Erin, Shannon, Julie, me, and you.” I pointed at her happily. “Cool, huh?”
A sour expression crossed her face. “You’re joking, right?”
“Why would I be joking?”
“Three couples and me? I don’t think so, Josh.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Let’s look at this. We have Shannon and Lance, a very cute, very serious COUPLE. Then we have Justin and Erin, once again, a very cute, very serious COUPLE. After them we have you and little Miss Priss, Julie. No comment.”
“What happened to the ‘very cute, very serious’ part?”
“Like I said, no comment. And hmmm, whose left? Emily and…” She paused and looked dramatically around the room. “Oh, that’s right, nobody.”
“You have to come.”
“I do not have to do anything. I feel left out enough already. I’m the only one without somebody, and I don’t need the six of you rubbing it in my face. I know Julie will take great pleasure in doing that. She always does.”
“You sound so bitter.”
“I’m not going where I’m not needed. It’s as simple as that.”
“Emily,” I whined, sliding off the couch and crawling over to her. “I need you to go.”
“We’re not 13. We’re not going to build forts in the woods and play ‘Ninjas.’ Your sidekick isn’t needed.”
“But…”
“No!”
“Em, don’t do this to me.”
“You’re going to be so preoccupied with the Princess that you won’t even notice I’m not there.”
“Do you have to call her the Princess?”
“When are you finally going to break up with her?”
“I can’t go up there without you,” I said, ignoring her last comment.
“JC, sweetie, we’re 18. I’m sure you’ll manage a week apart from me.”
I shook my head. “It’s tradition.”
“No.”
“Fine,” I said, getting up. “Don’t go. Stay at home and dance around your room to the Backdoor Boys while we’re in Maine hiking, fishing, going out on the crystal clear lake…”
“It’s not going to work,” she said, shooting a ‘you’re pathetic’ look to me from the floor.
“I’ll make s’mores without you.”
“Go for it.” She stood up so she was my height again. “I have a microwave.”
“I’ll take Julie to the club.” A look of pain shot across her face. The club was a fort we built in this huge tree when we were in 6th grade. It took us all summer long, a total of four weeks. We held secret meetings of our “JC and Em Club,” and we vowed never to let anyone else ever know where it was. Six years later, we still hadn’t broken our promise. Even after we met Chris and Joey, two kids our age that vacationed there with their families, nobody knew about it except us. Though we both had a sneaking suspicion that my parents were only pretending to be oblivious about it.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Wanna make a bet?”
“JC! In all the years I’ve known you, this has to be the lowest thing you’ve ever done.”
“What about the time I tied you to the tree?”
“Lower.”
“So you gonna come now?”
She looked at me through narrowed eyes. “I hate you.”
“I wonder if she’ll mind climbing up the rope ladder.”
“This is so unfair,” she whined.
“There shouldn’t be too many bugs.”
“JC!”
“Maybe we can make it the ‘JC, Em and Julie Club.’”
“Fine! I’ll go.”
“You’ll go?”
“Yes, but only for the sake of the club.”
“Yes!” I said, jumping up and down. “It’s gonna be great. No little brothers or sisters. No parents. No curfews. A great way to end the summer.”
“I’m gonna get you back for this.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“I really do hate you.”
“You know you love me.”
“In your dreams.”
“Okay, Josh. These are the rules.” My parents sat me down at the kitchen table Friday afternoon ready to lay down their long list of do’s and don’ts. “No drinking. No drugs. No sex. No burning the cabin down to ashes. No guys and girls in the same bed. No trashing the place. No animal mutilation…”
“What?”
“We’re just being careful. No speeding on the way up there. Wear your seatbelts too. You already have enough speeding tickets. You don’t want to get any more points on your license for something like that.”
“Got ya.”
“Don’t leave food out; it’ll only attract bugs. No throwing things in the house. No sex.”
“You already said that,” I laughed.
“No leaving the lights on if you’re not in the room. No shoes in our room. No breaking the dishes. Don’t break any windows. No fish guts anywhere. Don’t bug any of the older people up there, you know how easily they’re irritated. No water balloon fights inside…”
“That was, like, seven years ago.”
“Don’t spray bug spray into the fire. No se...”
“Mom. Dad. Please,” I interrupted. “I know what to do and not do. Besides, if any of us get any ideas, Emily will bring us back down to earth with a thud.”
“Is she bringing someone?” My mother asked, trying to hide her curiosity.
“Nope.”
“Don’t leave her out. Okay, Josh?” she said, frowning as she slid another box of macaroni and cheese into a bag.
“Leave her out? How could I ever do that?”
“All three of you boys are going to be preoccupied.”
“You worry too much,” I said, picking a box of stuff up and carrying it out to the car. “Things will be fine.” I threw the box into the back of my jeep when Justin and Erin pulled up in a shining burgundy M-class. Somehow, by 18, Justin had managed to afford a car like that. It still amazed me. He was the kind of guy who got what he wanted if he put his mind to it no matter what it was. If he put his heart into it, like he did with practically everything, he would accomplish it.
He jumped out of the car and ran around to the other side to open the door for Erin. They were definitely a good match as Emily had said. They even looked perfect for each other. Both had extremely curly hair, Justin’s brown (he changed it from its usual dyed blond and went natural), and Erin’s red. They were one of those couples who bickered all the time, but somehow managed to be inseparable.
“Hey, guys.”
“What’s up, C?” Justin asked as he walked over to me, holding Erin’s hand.
“Nothin’ much. Same old stuff. Hi, Erin.”
“Hey, JC. How long until we leave?”
“As soon as everyone gets here.” I checked my watch. “We’re gonna get there kinda late.”
“Who’s driving?” Justin asked.
“I’m driving my car, and Em’s got hers.”
“Cool.”
“Oh, Jay, my mom has some Apple Jacks waiting inside for you.”
“She does?” The only thing I hadn’t figured out about him yet was his obsession with cereal. It was all he ate. “I love that woman.” He turned to run inside.
“You’re a pig, Justin!” Erin called, shaking her head. She turned back to me. “Is Julie coming?”
“Yup. It was her idea to go.” She looked at me as though she was going to burst out laughing. “What?”
“It was Princess Julie’s idea to go up to the cabin?”
“Do you guys always have to be so mean?”
“Yup. It’s my job.” Just then, a small red sports car sped around the corner and pulled quickly into my driveway. “Speak of the Devil,” Erin muttered under her breath.
“Hello, guys!” Julie called walking around to her trunk. She pulled out three huge suitcases and began to roll them over to the jeep.
“Julz, we’re only going to be gone for ten days. You didn’t have to pack your whole wardrobe.”
She looked at me seriously through her sunglasses. “My whole wardrobe in three bags? Puh-leez, JC.”
I looked over and saw Erin rolling her eyes. I tried to muffle the laugh that was rising in my chest, but I couldn’t stop it.
“What?” Julie asked, offended.
“Nothing,” I smiled innocently. She was about to say something else when Emily’s trusty blue Explorer pulled into my driveway. She hopped out and walked over to us in her old blue jeans, boots, and a hooded sweatshirt, ready to go up north.
I turned my gaze over to Julie and tried not to laugh once again. As usual, her clothes were less than appropriate: brand new khaki that cut off mid shin, new Dr. Martins, and a tiny blue tank top.
“Hey, Em,” I said.
“Hey, guys. Almost ready?”
“We’re still waiting for Shannon and Lance,” I shrugged.
“Springer time,” Justin said, emerging from the house with his arm elbow deep in Apple Jacks.
“It’s never her fault,” Erin said, defending her best friend. “She’s almost always ready on time.”
“Why is she almost always an hour late to things then?” Justin shot back.
“It’s her family. Besides, they’re not late yet.”
“Excuses, excuses,” I laughed.
“Here they come anyways.” Erin pointed to the corner where Shannon’s white Sonoma was pulling around the corner.
“We’re here!” she called cheerfully out the window.
“Bout time,” I heard Julie mumble.
Shannon pulled her backpack over her shoulder and made her way over to the group. “Sorry we’re the last to arrive, but my mom used my car last night, and she lost the keys.”
Lance nodded in agreement. “But we found them under the couch.”
“I have no clue how they got there.”
“Maybe Sheyna took them.”
“My dog took my keys? She too lazy to move.”
“True. Whose car?” Lance asked, pulling a box of food out from the back of her truck.
“Uh,” I paused, feeling as if I had just finished watching a tennis match between the two of them. I looked around then pointed to the Explorer. “Just put it in Em’s.”
“Wait,” Julie said, interrupting my walk to my car, my arms loaded with a pile of blankets and sheets for the beds. “We’re taking yours and Emily’s cars?”
“Yeah,” I said slowly, not seeing her point.
“Will they even make it in one piece?”
“Hey!” we protested in unison.
“I’ll have you know my car has gone there and back at least a hundred times,” I said, patting the dark green fenders fondly.
“And I may not have a little red Ferrari…” Emily began.
“It’s a Mustang.”
“Whatever. But it can make it anywhere.”
“Julie, there’s not enough room in Shannon’s truck, and Justin is so protective of his car.”
“It’s my baby,” he smiled.
“Besides, they both have the CB’s.”
“Fine.”