Mike, Brianna and James

Michael held the steering wheel with one hand, the other resting at his side as he drove down the dirt road leading to the lodge. Though he'd always been taught to drive on the correct side in America, it was still strange given the car his father lent him had been brought over from their home in Australia, leading to the driver's seat being on the opposite side. They were in the thick of the woods now, nothing but trees, shrubs and the occasional sign on the road to look at.

The young Australian cast his blue eyes over to his left briefly, catching Brianna leaning on the open window, staring out into the bush. A fond smile came over his face, he was nervous about this holiday, but equally excited to spend it with his two best friends. James was sat in the back seat, tapping away on his phone in between bouts of car sickness. While they were out in the middle of nowhere, the phone signal was still decent. It was relieving to know that they wouldn't be roughing it without any internet at all.

It was all unexpected. The lodge belonged to Danielle's father, but Michael himself didn't really know the girl that well. The invite had come through Christian, a classroom mate of his that he'd gotten to know over the last year. Naturally, Michael asked if his best friends could come along, and the answer had been yes.

"So... how're you two feeling about this?" he asked both of his passengers, fixing his eyes back on the road.

Brianna turned her face back towards him, her head still resting on her palm as she shrugged. "I think it will be nice to have a little vacation like this before school's over, I'm just hoping it won't be too awkward."

Mike nodded, for how little he knew the others, Brianna knew them less. "It should be fine. Far as I can tell they seem to be decent people. Worst case? We can just spend these few weeks hanging out with each other out in the bush."

There was a slight chuckle from his red haired friend, they'd known each other for years but his manner of speech was still a bit of a novelty to her.

James looked up from his phone for the first time in twenty minutes. "Who was going to be there again?" he asked.

Skimming his memory, Mike recalled the people he'd seen in the group chat last week. "Uhhh, the three of us, Dani's group, Christian aaand... I think Dani's cousin?"

"So what's that, eight people?" Brianna questioned, earning a semi-confident nod from Mike.

"Yeah, something like that." he concurred.

"I hope there is enough beds for everyone... and food... and wifi." James tacked on with uncertainty.

"Dad gave me some money, and I still have some saved from my last job" Mike reminded him, "So if we need to get more food or like, I don't know, extra data I can always shout you. I think we'll have three cars there so we shouldn't run into too much trouble."

James half-smiled, some of his worries put to rest as Mike nodded at him through the rearview mirror. Brianna went back to her idle sightseeing, and the three of them travelled on. It would not be long before they arrived, ideally they'd be there after Danielle, given she had the key to get inside.