A Packed Lodge

Kenny and Anna returned to the lodge kitchen where JJ and Mindy already were; the latter had been making some awkward small talk while waiting for the others. JJ's concern for Mindy's situation still lingered and Mindy didn't want to really end up talking to someone who might try and make her question her choices anymore, she had already made her deal with the devil and was ready for the reward to come. "Mhmm, that smells great, good job guys," Anna smiled as she looked at JJ who was just finishing up at the stove,

"Thanks," JJ hummed as he turned off the burners and pulled off the apron tied around him, "Ken, let's get this plated. Nicole and Brian coming or..." The teen added while Kenny moved around to JJ's side, grabbing a set of plates along the way,

"Nicole said she would be right down, but I completely spaced asking Bry," Kenny replied with a bit of uncertainty, "Mindy think you could go run and get him?"

"No need," Brian suddenly announced as he walked into the kitchen with a smile, "Could smell it from my room," He chuckled as he moved right over to Mindy. The Asian girl lifted a brow as their eyes locked, the glare only lasted a few seconds, sharing all the information he needed, "Hey there hot stuff," He warmly murmured as he leaned down and locked lips with a fully accepting Mindy,

"Surprised you're actually awake, I figured you'd still be sleeping," Mindy playfully replied to the teen.

Kenny gave a small half smile, wondering all the more if there was a genuine chance for the duo while JJ could only scoff and keep his eyes low and away from their sight, "Too excited to tell you guys what I got cooking for us tomorrow,"

"What's this now?" Nicole asked as she too entered the kitchen, glancing around, briefly stopping to stare at Anna and Kenny before nerves got the better of her, "I-Is it something we can all do together for once this trip?" The redhead continued with a light cough.

Brian and the rest of the group moved to the dining table while Kenny and JJ quickly brought a plate over to each of them before grabbing their seats as well, "Damn this looks great guys," Brian deeply inhaled, "And to answer your question. Nikki, yes, it is,"

"Well don't leave us in suspense man," Kenny urged as he took a sip of water, "What did you think up?"

"Can't take all the credit here," Brian easily replied, "I did have a little help with my main girl," The teen grinned with a little motion towards Mindy, "But earlier today I grabbed a picture of us outside the lodge and that got the attention of Rachel,"

Kenny's attention completely perked to the news, and he slowly nodded, "That's your older sister, right?"

"Yep, that'd be the one, my second mother" Brian joked with a lighthearted roll of his eyes, "She's still at campus over at Bear Mountain University, just outside Dartwin. They are on break right now, and since she knows I have the lodge to myself, my dear sister decided she'd invite herself and a few friends up here too,"

"Wait, did she mention is Kailyn was coming?" JJ immediately asked in a hopeful tone as he thought of his older sister,

"From what I understood it was going to be her and three others, so odds are, yeah, Kai will be one of them," Brian nodded back, "Anyway, that got me to thinking, if we're having more people up here, why the fuck shouldn't we make it a party?"

"Oooh now you're talking my language, Bry," Nicole all but said in an excited cheer, "No parents, hopefully a college guy or two, that's what we needed this week!"

"If you like that, then you're gonna love this," Brian smoothly replied, "When I brought it up to Mindy she figured if it's a party why not invite everyone who we know is around! Got the word out to Devin and his crew and now we'll have live entertainment from Glass White,"

This time Nicole didn't hold back and actively let out a loud, "Whooooo!" In response,

Brian let out a grin and nudged Mindy, "Tell Ken and JJ about who else you got coming too," He urged with a quick wink, "You know his cousin and..." He added on in a low whisper to the girl,

Mindy felt her stomach turn, overtly agitated that Brian was now forcing her to have a direct hand in this plan, "Right...Ken I figured Bry could invite Juliet up too since we cut her out of the initial plans, and JJ I figured Dartwin isn't too far so Eric could come up to see you too,"

Kenny's eyes lit up, almost completely missing the second half of Mindy's sentence, "Oh shit, Julie is coming, that's great! I felt so bad when we I let her know I had this trip planned without her,"

"Eric?" Anna softly said under her breath in tandem with JJ, "Mindy...I appreciate but...I'm betting he's gotta be pretty busy with his new friends or something," The teen attempted to deny as friendly as he could, immediately thinking of nothing but Anna and Kenny,

"Nah, he's good for it, I already texted him," Brian casually replied with a toss of his hand, "Not to mention I got more people from school coming too. Already have nineteen confirmed just from a few messages, but come tomorrow I'll make a post so we can really fill this place up! It's gonna be sick!"

"It sounds fucking awesome man," Kenny completely agreed as he looked over to Anna,

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sounds amazing Brian!" The girl quickly said with a smile, attempting to shake off the odd feelings of butterflies in her stomach,

"No problem, guys, I just wanted to make sure we had a good time this week, so I pulled out all the stops. Hope you guys don't mind though we'll all have to pitch in tomorrow to make sure we're set up in time," Brian finished getting immediate nod backs, "Good, thankfully we have Nicole here, party rocker to make sure we hit all the check boxes,"

"If I know Devin...we're gonna need booze, lots of booze," Nicole hummed, "And snacks, and maybe a spare Tv or two..." She finished with a giggle,

"Uhhhh, I'm gonna have to make sure I tell him to keep property damage down to a minimum," Brian groaned earning some laughs as the group continued to eat dinner, all their minds set on the party now and a few only set on who would be joining them at this party.

With the rest of dinner spent talking about plans for the next day, every eventually got pulled into setting up some part of the party. Kenny was to run down to the base of the mountain and go gather up some last-minute snacks and other drinks for the party. Anna and Mindy were in charge of stringing lights and setting up the den into a proper party hang out. JJ and Brian were going to be on heavy lifting duty, there was going to be a lot of furniture rearranging all throughout the first floor of the lodge. Nicole's main goal was to set up a proper band space for Devin and the rest of White Glass, including running speakers around the first floor for maximum coverage.

By the time dinner ended everyone had returned to their rooms quickly enough and were almost jumping into bed to sleep through the night. In his excitement Kenny hadn't fully noticed the shift in Anna's mood, going from eager to have some more fun over the night to wanting to go right to bed. He also failed to pick up the near nervous way she was cuddling into him during the night, tightly holding onto him as if she was about to lose him. For Anna, morning would come far too soon, as regardless of how much fun this party sounded, the only thing ringing in her head was Eric Roosevelt being a part of it.