“…W, a walrus; X, an X-ray machine; Y, a yodeler; and Z, a zebra,” Justin said, finishing our game a few hours later. “You know, I don’t see why we would need any of that stuff for a picnic.”
“It’s a game, Justin,” Erin laughed.
“Um, JC?” Julie said, turning to me in her seat. “How much longer?”
I stared at the directions my father gave me for the millionth time. I had no clue where we were. “Soon.”
“We’re lost!” Erin said matter- of- factly from behind me.
“Are not,” I mumbled as we passed a fallen tree that looked strangely familiar.
“Hey, isn’t that the same…”
“No,” I interrupted Julie. “It’s not.”
“JC! Helllooooooooo?” said a voice from in-between the seats.
“Where’s the CB?” I asked, moving fast food wrappers out of the way. “Yeah, Em?” I asked once I had found it.
“Where are you?”
“We’re coming.”
“JC, we have been here for at least twenty minutes. It’s getting cold, the bugs are out, and we don’t have the keys. I told you you should have given them to me.”
“You’re there?”
“Yes, but the question is where are you?”
“Coming.”
“How is it that I’ve arrived at your cabin before you?”
“You’ve been there just as many times as I have.”
“We’re lost!” Erin called again.
“No, we’re not,” I said to Emily as I shot her a dirty look.
“Where are you guys?” I heard another voice ask a second later.
“Shannon?”
“Yup.”
“Tell Emily we’ll be there in, like, 20 minutes,” I said, praying I would be right.
“Twenty minutes?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Will do. Oh, wait, they just got inside.”
“How?”
“A window.”
“It’s not broken, is it?” I asked. My parents had specifically said don’t break any windows.
“Nope.”
“Thank you, God,” I sighed.
“Well, I’m gonna go inside now. See ya in twenty. Over and out!”
“Bye.” I put the CB down and stared at my directions again.
“Why is she always so chipper?” Julie asked, turning the radio on.
“Don’t know,” said Erin. “She always has been.”
“Doesn’t it get annoying?” Julie scowled.
“No, it picks up your mood.”
“Whatever.”
I, myself, was in a fairly bad mod, and I needed a spirit lift. Julie was beginning to get on my nerves with her comments and complaining. Not to mention I had no clue where the hell we were.
“JC, let me see the directions.” Justin’s hand appeared up front.
“Here,” I mumbled.
“Turn left up here,” he instructed.
“Uh huh.” A Backstreet Boys’ song came on the radio. I turned the dial to something less sickening. “Justin, did you know that Emily listens to that crap?”
“Yeah, didn’t you?”
“No.”
“You didn’t?” Erin asked. “Even I did.”
“Turn here.”
“Since when did she listen to cheesy pop?”
“JC, where have you been the past five months?”
“With me,” Julie said, taking my hand. Usually something like that would have calmed me down, but at the moment I was uneasy. With music being such an important part of our lives, how could I miss something as big as a change in her taste? It worried me and made me wonder if there was anything else I was missing.
“JC, you’re speeding,” Julie said, bringing me out of my daze.
“Huh?”
“You’re going nearly thirty over.”
I looked down to the speedometer to see I was going almost 90. “Oh, my bad.”
“Turn again.” I pulled onto a small dirt road that was very familiar to me.
“I know where we are,” I said.
“Good,” Julie said. “I’m so sick of being in this car.”
“We still have about ten more minutes.”
“Oh.”
The four of us continued driving through the woods in silence until we pulled up to a large cabin with a wrap around porch. “We’re here,” I smiled as I parked next to Emily’s car.
Lance came out of the house and walked over to us. “Trouble finding it, JC?”
“Man, shut up.”
“Sorry.”
“Where are the girls?” Justin asked, unloading the food from the back of the car.
“Uh, Shannon was building a fire…”
“She knows how?” Julie asked, genuinely surprised.
“Yeah. Her dad’s a firefighter and a camp counselor, of course she knows how.”
“But wouldn’t her nails get all gross and stuff?”
“I’m sure she doesn’t care,” I mumbled as I grabbed the box from Justin’s arms and headed up the steps. I walked into the open living room to see a huge fire roaring in the stone fireplace, and Emily sleeping on the coach. After setting the box down, I quietly walked over to her and watched her sleeping peacefully for a moment, her chest slowly rising and falling with each breath. I began to wonder if she would ever worry about getting her nails ‘all gross.’ I reached down and lightly touched the tips of her fingers, the nails all bitten slightly, a habit she has always been trying to kick. “Same ole’ Em,” I smiled to myself, taking the blanket hanging over the back of the couch and covering her with it.
“JC?” Julie’s voice came from behind me. “What are you doing?”
“I’m just making sure she doesn’t freeze to death,” I said, turning around.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “Um, where am I sleeping? Close to you I hope.” I felt her fingers crawl across my shoulder; it was nauseating.
“Actually,” I began, stepping away from her, “you’re not really close. You’re gonna be at the opposite end of the cabin.”
She opened her mouth to say something before changing her mind.
There were three bedrooms and a loft. Shannon and Lance had already claimed the loft, or so I guessed because I saw Shannon climb down from there. Erin had found out there were bunk beds, and her and Justin immediately claimed that room. For the first time in my life, I was going to be able to have my parents’ king size bed all to myself.
“Is she staying there?” Julie nodded to Emily.
“Um, no. You two will be sharing a room.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“No.”
“JC!” she complained. “I can’t be in the same room as her!”
“Why not?”
“Because…”
“What are you whining about?” asked a groggy voice from behind me.
“Sleeping in the same room as you!” Julie snapped.
“You get the couch,” I said quietly.
“The couch?” Emily asked. “The pull out couch?”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t believe this arrangement,” Julie said, bringing the attention back to her.
“There’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Ugh!”
“Can’t you two suck it up and try to get along?” I begged.
“Whatever,” Julie said as she stalked off to her room.
“What happened to the bunks?” Em asked, a confused look on her face.
“Justin and Erin have them,” I explained.
“But we always sleep on the bunks. We’ve never not slept there in that room.”
“I know, but…”
“We had the biggest battle known to man over that room with Heather and Tyler.”
“I know.”
“We were this close,” she said, holding up her fingers, “to getting your parents to let us paint ‘Emily and Josh’s room’ on the door.”
“Oh no. It was going to be ‘Josh and Emily’s room.’”
“Josh…”
“I know, but things are a bit different this time. Just try to be civil.”
“When am I not civil?” she said, trying to force a smile.
“You’re okay with this, right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Okay. Just limit the Princess comments.”
“Could I put a pea under her mattress?” she laughed.
“Very funny.”
“I thought so.”
“It’s gonna be a long week, isn’t it?”
She stood up and wrapped the blanket tightly around her shoulders. “You have no idea,” she said, shaking her head as she walked pass me. “See you in the morning, JC.”
“Stop it!” I said, trying to kick the nipping dog away from me. But the small brown Chihuahua with French manicured nails and a rhinestone collar would not let up. “Go away! Leave me alone!” I yelled.
“JC!” It barked.
“Go away!”
“JC!” Its voice was a little less harsh and sounded familiar this time. The dog jumped up and pushed me down as the ground began to shake.
“JC!”
“Go away! Get off me!”
“JC! Wake up!”
“Justin?” I opened my eyes slowly to find Justin jumping on my bed.
“Hey! Good morning, Sunshine.”
“Go away, man. I’m trying to sleep.”
“I could tell.”
I rolled over and shielded my eyes from the light shining through the windows. “What time is it?”
“10:30.”
“10:30, and you’re waking me up? Go away.”
“That seems to be the phrase of the day. ‘Go away!’” he mimicked, falling down next to me. “Having a bad dream?”
“I hate Chihuahuas.”
“Okay…” he said slowly. “It’s time to get out of bed. The day has begun.”
“Justin, let me sleep.”
“No.” He reached over and pulled the blankets off me.
“Stop, man.”
“Stop whining, JC.”
“Why won’t you just let me stay in bed?”
“Normally I would, but the princess is hogging the bathroom.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“Nope. She’s been in there forever. When Erin and I left to go out on the rowboat at nine, she was in there. When we came back, she was still in there.”
“You and Erin went out on the boat?”
“Yeah,” he smiled. “We did.”
“No wonder you’re in such a good mood.”
“My point after being pushed into the lake...”
“She pushed you in?” I laughed. “Loser.”
“And then the wind’s blowing on you for an hour, you get really chilled, and I really have to pee.”
“Okay, okay,” I moaned, climbing out of my bed. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Good.”
I slowly slid across the wood floor in my socks as I made my way to the bathroom door. “Julie.”
“What?” she called.
“How long have you been in there?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t have my watch on. Maybe a half hour.”
“Try an hour and a half,” I said, resting my head against the wall, about to fall asleep again.
“Well, I’m sorry, JC, but I’m just getting ready for the day.”
“What could you possibly be doing that takes that long?”
She opened the door and stuck her head out. “Don’t you want me to look nice?” she smiled.
“Yeah, I do, but it shouldn’t take that long.”
“You wouldn’t understand,” she muttered, shutting the door in my face.
“Can’t you do all of this in your room? There’s a mirror in there, you know.”
“I can not get ready when she is in there.”
I groaned as I sank to the floor. “Can’t you two get along?”
“No.”
“What is she doing that prevents you from being in there?”
“She’s reading.”
“Julie! For Christ’s sake, what’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, but she also has her headphones on, and I can hear it.”
“What is she listening to?”
“I don’t know.”
“Not the Backstreet Boys, right?”
“No. It’s like Dolphin or something.”
“Seal?”
“I guess so.”
“Julie, other people have to use the bathroom too.”
“It’s not my fault you only have one bathroom.”
“Jesus Christ!” I got up and walked into Emily’s room. “Em.”
“Yeah?” she asked, pulling her headphones off her ears.
“Could you read in my room please?”
“Sure,” she said, getting up. “Wait, why do I need to move?”
“If I told you, you’d only get mad at me.”
“You’re not serious,” she moaned.
“Can’t you just read somewhere else?”
“Whatever, JC.” She shut her book and placed it on the table before walking pass me.
“Where ya going?” I called after her.
“You know,” she said, pausing in the doorway, “there are other people here besides Julie.”
“I know that, Em. It’s just that Just…”
“No, you don’t. I’m going for a walk. See ya in a little bit.”
“Don’t be like this!”
“Bye, JC!” she yelled, walking down the road.
“Come on.” I was about to turn and head back to my bed when two cold arms wrapped around my neck.
“All done now,” Julie said chipperly.
I turned around to see what had taken her so long to accomplish. “Julz,” I sighed, “you do realize that we’re up north in a cabin, right? You don’t need to wear all that make up. Go natural for once.”
“But, JC, I’m…”
“Honestly.” I turned away from her and went back to my room to throw some clothes on. There was no way I was going to get back to sleep.
“Hey, C,” Justin said, coming into the room. “Thanks for getting her out for me.”
“Yeah, no problem,” I mumbled grumpily, tying my shoes.
“You okay?”
“Great,” I lied.
“You sure?”
“Yes. I’ll be back. I’m going to the dock.”
“See ya round.”
“Yup.”
I pulled my sweatshirt tightly around me as the cool morning air blew against my skin. The grass was wet from the dew and soaked my sandals as I walked. Once I reached the lake, I sat down with my toes dangling in the water. The sun was shining down from above, making things warmer than in the shade of the woods.
I liked coming to the dock because it was a good place to sit and think, something that was presently in need. The longer I sat there, pondering over my current situation, the more and more Julie’s traits began to irritate me: how she dressed, the way she never let her hair down so to speak, her constant judging of people and things, and how her number one priority was shopping. The constant analyzing I was doing made me question how I was even drawn to her in the first place.