After Rachel and I finished our breakfast, we decided to go out onto the porch and drink some coffee. It was a bit chilly when the wind kicked up but I felt fine in just a t-shirt. Rachel had opted to thrown on a black hoodie, rolling up the sleeves to show me the rope-marks on her wrists.
"Don't need the others seeing this and making comments," she said with a grin before pulling the sleeves down and looking out into the distance.
Being a child of suburbia, there was something incredibly calming about being in the middle of nowhere. Of course I'd gone on trips to the Redwood forest and some of the other parks growing up, but this time was different. Having no parents made the decision our own, which gave me a certain kind of ownership over this peaceful moment. It was mine. I made it happen. At a time in my life where nothing seemed like it was under control, that feeling was incredibly comforting.
The trees seemed to go on forever, stretching out to the other mountains in the distance and going further beyond to form a vast green ocean that contrasted the bleak gray sky. It was an overcast day with a nice cool breeze, making the branches of the trees sway and toss about helplessly in the wind.
Something I could relate to, in a way.
It was about ten minutes before the others came walking out of the woods and back to the house, all looking spry and content despite the crummy weather. Everyone wore the typical hoodie and jeans that was the uniform of the American teenager, though it was for the weather more than anything else. I noticed that Simon and Stephanie were lagging behind before taking a deep breath and sipping my coffee. I turned to see that Rachel was looking at me with a concerned expression on her face, sensing my discomfort but unable to determine the source. All I could manage was a weak smile and a shrug. No words were spoken between us.
"Good morning, sleepy head," Corrine said as she stepped onto the porch, "Hope you don't mind us exploring without you. You were out cold when we got up."
"No worries," I replied before smiling at her and Amy. "So... how did you guys sleep?"
"Oh, shut up," Amy replied as she elbowed me in the side.
"What?" Elizabeth asked, looking between the three of us.
"Well," I said with a smile before taking a short sip of coffee. "I... I snuck out of bed to get some water last night, and when I got back, these two were all snuggled up together. It was cute."
"Yeah, I'll bet you thought it was 'cute', alright," Amy replied as she came up behind me and got me into a playful headlock. "Maybe you'll find yourself sleeping on the couch after all."
She brought her lips to my ear and whispered, "Sorry for passing out last night, stud," before subtly licking my ear. "I promise I'll make it up to you."
She released her grip and slapped my ass, the last of my coffee spilling off of the porch.
Everyone grabbed something to drink and sat around the porch for a while, taking in the view and listening to Rachel tell us about the summers she had spent there. Talia eventually came out to join us, coffee in hand, bringing the whole gang together at last. We were out there talking and laughing for a while before Simon offered up a suggestion.
"How about I fire up the grill and start slow-cooking some food? We could have a late lunch/early dinner."
Everyone was in agreement, so we set about getting everything together and getting the party started. Once we had music playing it didn't take long before someone started handing out beers and the drinking began.
I helped Simon set up the grill in the backyard as the girls lounged about on the porch, my eyes wandering though the group. Stephanie and Elizabeth were laughing with about something with Corrine. I felt a pang of guilt when I realized that I had stared at Stephanie for a few seconds longer than I probably should have, so I looked at Elizabeth instead. We had both changed so much since we all started hanging out together, blossoming into the people we were now. Despite all of those changes, regardless of how close we hand gotten both figuratively and literally, we seemed to have become passing ships in the night. This was yet another reason why I was bitter towards Stephanie and Simon; that whole situation had soured things with Elizabeth because of their friendship. As for Corrine, things seemed completely fine. I mean, she basically told me that all she wanted was a friend with benefits since college was looming around the corner, which I was completely fine with.
Right?
Turning towards Talia and Rachel, I realized how lucky I was despite the circumstances. I had people who genuinely cared about me and my well-being, so as bad as things might seem, it was nice to know that I had someone to go to. Amy and I caught each other's eye, and she gave me a wink and a sweet little smile. I would have thought that we were having a different kind of moment before she poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue and wiggled her eyebrows up and down, giggling at the look on my face before returning to her conversation.
"Need a beer, Ian?" I heard Simon ask.
I realized that I had run empty, so I accepted a fresh one and returned to setting up the grill with him. Turns out he was a pretty good cook and really knew his way around a grill, getting the coals nice and hot to heat up the interior as he closed it shut.
"That'll take a while," he said as we both took a step back and looked out into the distance. He took a swig from his bottle before commenting with a sigh, "It's really nice up here."
"Yeah. This was a great idea."
There was a moment's pause, as though he were trying to find the right words to use, opting instead to come out with, "So Stephanie told me about you two..."
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