Nate Hawkins, 21-year-old on vacation

Nate stepped out into the frigid winter air of Lake Tahoe, sliding the car door closed behind him. He stretched, his muscles crying in relief from being crammed into the backseat of his mother’s minivan – a fate decreed unto him by virtue of being the eldest son.

Letting out a sigh as he finished, his bright blue eyes took in the snowy landscape around him. It had long been a family tradition to head to Lake Tahoe for one of the winter weeks, and despite attending college in a different state, he had made certain to return in time for the Tahoe Trip.

Nate was a 6-foot-tall man of light complexion – his chosen major of computer science didn’t help him to maintain any kind of tan, and only his love of volleyball kept him active enough to keep the musculature being part of the state-champion volleyball team in his senior year of high school had required. He wasn’t good enough to be on the college team, sadly, so Intramurals and PE classes were his exercise outlet of choice.

Like most of his family, he had a head of black hair, spiked to give it some semblance of style. His face was, to his eye, relatively average – and his history with girls hadn’t disabused him of that notion. A pair of glasses were his permanent curse – he wore contacts when physical activity was required but suffered from a mean case of dry eye that kept him from donning them for everyday use.

But enough about Nate. His perusal of the area was interrupted by a call from the trunk of the minivan. “Nate, dear, please come and get your luggage.” Nate turned around to the source of the lovely voice to see his mother, closing the trunk of the car. A number of suitcases sat at her feet, ready for delivery to their temporary home.

“Where’d everyone else get to so quickly?” he asked, moving towards his mother.

Helena Hawkins was approaching her 40s, but a healthy diet and good genes had helped her maintain her beauty. Standing at 5’7”, she had a middling bust and decent curves, though all that was hidden by the heavy clothing she wore to keep out the cold. Her hair, like Nate’s, was a deep black, and fell in long waves down the back of her neck. Like her son, she too possessed brilliant blue eyes, and her beautiful visage was masterfully accented by her experienced hand at makeup.

“Sammy and Sarah ran off to the restroom, since they’d been holding it, Maria’s inside getting the keys to the rooms, and I have no idea where the two lovebirds ran off to.”

Nate laughed, grabbing his suitcases, “Alex is probably showing her the grounds, considering this is Viv’s first time coming.”

A rueful smile graced Helena’s face as she led her son into the resort’s lobby, “Ah, to be young and in love. Why, I remember just like it was yesterday when your father and I were your age.”

“Been a little longer than just yesterday, Mom.”

“Oh, you!” Helena playfully shoved her son. If there was one thing she was not, it was insecure about her age. Helena was single – had been since Nate’s father died in a car crash when he was 6 – but that was by choice. Nate happened to know that she had dated multiple men throughout his childhood men, but none of them had ever stuck. Not that it was a problem with Helena being high-maintenance or anything. Instead, Nate suspected, it was a problem of romance, or lack there-of. To hear his mother tell it, Nate’s father had been a master of the craft, wooing her off her feet with gestures so momentous as to be unbelievable. Truth be told, he had no idea where the true stories ended and the Hallmark-romance-fueled fantasies began there.

“I have the keys,” a sultry voice interrupted from the side. Maria Ortega approached them from the front desk, waving a pair of paper envelopes in their direction. “We’re in building 2, out and to the left.”

Maria Ortega was some years Helena’s senior, though she had aged through those years like fine wine. With a yoga-fit body and curves for days, Maria had achieved the MILF body that schoolboys dreamed of. Her Mexican ancestry shone through in her olive skin and dark brown hair, which she habitually kept in a braid that hung on her shoulder. Good skin care routine had kept her face free of wrinkles, and her chocolate eyes and brilliant smile lit up any room she was in.

The Ortega family had been friends with the Hawkins family as far back as Nate could recall. His earliest memories had them as the neighbors to their left, and Nate had been best friends with Maria’s son Alex since before he could walk. When Maria had gone through a messy divorce with her husband Ronald the year after Nate and Alex graduated high school, Helena’s bond with the woman had kept her firmly on Maria’s side of things.

Now, two years later, the two were thick as thieves. Maria, having kept the house, could be found in the Hawkins residence most afternoons, and to the children of the Hawkins family she was like a second mother.

Maria handed Helena one of the key folders, glancing around behind her. “I saw Sam and Sarah head to the bathroom, but where are Alex and Viv?” Upon seeing both Hawkins’ shrugs, she sighed. “Ay, mi hijo… Always running off to do his own thing. At least he has Vivian with him to keep his head on straight now.” Shaking her head, she looked at Nate, “And when are you going to get yourself your own Vivian, eh?” She reached over to poke him with her key folder, mirth in her voice.

“We should get the stuff to our rooms,” Nate deflected, moving back towards the outside. “Wouldn’t want to waste any time we could be spending on the slopes!”

Both mothers chuckled as he walked away. It took a moment for Nate to realize why – he knew the building they were in but had neither the room number nor the keys to get inside. Still, deciding that retreat was preferable to questioning under the Hispanic Inquisition, Nate chose to wander over towards building 2 and wait for the two mothers to collect his siblings and meet him there.

As he meandered in that direction, he spotted a familiar pair wheeling their own suitcases back in his direction.

Alex Ortega, Nate’s best friend, was a lucky man. Standing at 5’8”, he was only barely taller than his mother, and that was assuming she wasn’t wearing heels. His height challenges were one of the main reasons he had wound up in the libero position (the backline defender) on their high school team, though he took to it like a fish to water. Unlike Nate, Alex had actually been scouted by some college teams, but had decided to follow Nate instead, a choice that Nate had questioned right up until he’d been introduced to the lovely lady by Alex’s side.

Now, Alex was by no means an ugly man. His mother’s Hispanic looks leant her son a suave cockiness that complimented his sarcastic personality. But his girlfriend?

Ho. Ly. Shit.

Vivian McAllister was fucking gorgeous. 10/10, knockout, “how are you not a model?!” gorgeous. She had long ginger hair that she preferred to keep tamed in a ponytail, and the face of an angel, with a dusting of natural freckles that would make any E-Girl curse. She was slender, but no lacking in the chest or ass department, and moved with a natural grace that would have been more in place on a dancer.

And to top it all off? She was one of the sweetest people Nate had ever met. Kind, with a kind of infectious bubbliness that just made you want to smile when she was in the room.

Nate had no idea how Alex had landed the bombshell, but he had only mad respect for his bro. And a healthy dose of jealousy, but come on! He was only human!

“Nate!” Vivian shouted, taking her arm from her boyfriends arm to catch his attention. “Did we already get the rooms?”

Nate moved to meet up with the couple, pausing in the middle of the walkway between building 1 and 2. “Yeah, but Mom and Maria are waiting on Sam and Sarah to finish using the restrooms. Where did you two disappear to?”

“Oh, I asked Alex to show me around, since he knew the resort, and I wanted to see what the pool was like!”

Nate looked at Alex, “I’m surprised you got out of the car so fast, considering you were in the cramped backseat with me the whole ride over? Didn’t need to stop and stretch it out? I guess that small stature of your is good for something, huh?”

Alex snorted. “Sure. Also helps that I had good motivation.” He glanced meaningfully at Vivian, who laughed and clutched his arm again.

“That’s me! Motivation!”

The sound of footsteps and a rolling suitcase bumping along the pavement drew their attention behind Nate. Coming down the sidewalk alongside Maria was Nate’s younger sister, Sarah.

Sarah was a year out of high school and into college. She had gotten a scholarship for gymnastics at a Division 2 school – not a full ride, but enough to ease the financial burden. And her devotion to the sport showed – she had a lithe body with trim muscles, small breasts, and a well-shaped behind. She kept her hair short, in a cute bob, to keep it out of the way of her movement. On top of gymnastics, her love of swimming showed in her present tan, though the dimness of winter would no doubt reduce it back towards her naturally light skin tone. Sarah shared the Hawkins hereditary blue eye color, though hers were almost perpetually shining with intensity, no matter the occasion.

“Got our keys,” the 19-year-old gymnast said, waving a key folder at Nate. “Mom’ll catch up with Sam when he’s done. Let’s get unpacked.”

Nate nodded and followed behind his sister, the Ortegas and Vivian following behind as well.

They went up to the second floor of building 2 to find their rooms – 2212 and 2213, for the Hawkins and Ortegas respectively.

After he finished unpacking for the week, he stood back up into another stretch, sighing in relief as he felt his back crack. A moment later he heard the door open, admitting his mother and the youngest scion of the Hawkins family.

Sam, unlike his brother and sister, was not very athletic. He had a timid disposition and a weak body, and the blonde hair he had inherited from their father further differentiated himself from his siblings. He had a kind face, and tended to avoid conflict. But if there was one thing he had in common with his older brother, it was his intellect.

Both brothers had managed to inherit some of the brilliance that had led their father to become a rocket scientist for a private space company. For Nate, that brilliant mind leant itself well to computer science, while Sam gravitated more towards the realm of physics and math. Had his mother let him, Sam might’ve graduated early from high school, instead of still completing his final year, but the Hawkins matriarch was of the mind that staying with your social group was more important than getting a jump start on the academic rigors of university.

Sam trundled into the room, moving over to one of the dresser drawers Nate and Sarah hadn’t claimed to begin his unpacking, and their mother quickly claimed the closet for her own, a pattern very familiar to the entire family.

“Alright,” Helena said, “Give us five minutes for me and Sammy to unpack, then we’ll meet up with the Ortegas and head out to the slopes, sound good?”

“Sure, Mom.” “Yeah sounds good.”

The Tahoe Trip had begun.