Two Hours Can Seem Like Forever

Wednesday, December 26th

A flashy, red sports car sped around the winding roads near Wasp Lake Park. In the backseat, Sean watched the road nervously with his icy-blue eyes. There was a light dusting of snow covering parts of the road, and Sean wished the driver wouldn't act like they were in a race to reach their destination. Although, he wouldn't mind finally getting out of the cramped backseat as soon as possible. Sean had one suitcase next to him in the middle of the seat; a bag dropped over his lap and minimal legroom.

Besides the physical discomfort, Sean was also nervous about this trip to Wasp Lake Park, a large recreational area roughly two hours from his hometown of Honey Hollow. It was the day after Christmas and the start of a week-long stay at the Diamond family cabin. He had been there just once before, five years prior, as part of a gathering of his parents' old high school friends. This current trip would be another reunion of his parents' friends and their children. Sean's problem was the other teens were the popular kids at school, and Sean was definitely not part of their clique. With his older sister, Peyton, not arriving for a couple of days, he had visions of sitting around bored and ignored. Faced with this potential reality, he had practically begged his mother to let him bring a guest, and she had relented after checking in with her friends.

Sighing while running his hand through his dark brown hair, Sean turned away from the window. He looked over to his right and towards his fellow backseat companion, Newt Denton. Newt was his best male friend, but Sean, for probably the hundredth time this week, was having second thoughts about inviting him along. Eighteen-years-old with short black hair, brown eyes behind a pair of eyeglasses, and with light brown skin, Newt was highly intelligent, obsessed with new technologies, particularly video games, and was thus a tremendous geek. He could be a chatterbox if talking about his latest interest, but he usually was quite an introvert.

When it came to talking to girls, Newt often embarrassed himself. If it was a fellow geek like Paige Noble, and it was about schoolwork, then he was fine. The prettier and more popular a girl could lead him to stutter or freeze up. Then, there were the more **** reactions. Fellow students at Honey Hollow High School still snickered about an incident when Newt was a sophomore, and he came face to face with Priscilla Pint. Priscilla was a triple threat to him. She was a senior, the cheerleader captain, and arguably the hottest girl at Honey Hollow High. Priscilla also happened to be friends with Peyton Tarver, meaning she wanted to check in on her brother. So the day she stopped to say hello and ask her friend's little brother how he liked high school so far, Newt had been overwhelmed. In a panic, he had squeaked, dropped his bookbag, and ran off. And, Sean thought worriedly, there was going to be a cabin filled with hot girls this week.

If Newt's history with girls wasn't a concern enough for Sean, there was his latest video game obsession. Sean had no idea what the game's name was, but he did know that Newt was clearly into it with a passion. His friend hadn't spoken or looked up from his tablet the whole trip so far. Bringing a friend more interested in having his face in front of a screen all trip would be worse than coming alone.

Once again, Sean wished that JoJo Gibble, his next-door neighbor and very best friend, had been able to come with him instead of Newt. JoJo could still be shy at times, but her time on the soccer team had given her more confidence of late. Having JoJo along might have helped Sean break the ice with the other girls who would be at the cabin. In particular, he needed a way to finally get to know Ramsey Swift, his longtime crush. Unfortunately, with today being Boxing Day, JoJo had her annual Christmas party with her father's extended family. That sadly meant that she could not come along as his guest.

"So, how long have you two been together?"

Sean swung his head over to look at the speaker, Austin Rusk, as the conversation in the front finally stopped being about football. Austin, who sat in the passenger seat, was in many ways everything Sean wasn't. The eighteen-year-old, with his short, messy blond hair and light brown eyes, seemed straight out of central casting for the role of high school quarterback. Confident on and off the field, Austin had captured the hearts of countless students and townspeople with his outstanding play. Losing in the semifinals of the state playoffs back in November, even as the favored number one seed, hadn't seemed to diminish his star power. Numerous girls at Honey Hollow High looked at his longtime girlfriend, Lacey Stratton, with envy or jealousy. Hell, Sean had even witnessed mothers of his fellow students eye Austin Rusk up and down like a piece of meat they wanted to devour.

At times, it felt like the whole town of Honey Hollow admired Austin. Sean was not one of them. What others saw as confidence, he saw as cockiness or arrogance. Sean had known Austin since the fifth grade, so he felt he knew him well. As a ten-year-old boy, he remembered that Austin seemed to crave attention and needed to be seen as the leader of other boys. The problem was that Austin often did this by belittling the boys he felt were weakest, which made him look strong. It wasn't outright bullying but a more subtle behavior, the sort that others might mistake as just teasing amongst friends. The only good quality Sean would acknowledge about Austin was his loyalty to his girlfriend, Lacey. Despite so many girls offering a quiet hookup with him, Austin stayed true by all accounts.

"Since around Thanksgiving. We met the day after at a party our parents were both at and just hit it off. Spent the next day and a half together until I had to go back to school. We've talked and texted nonstop since. Whitney even came out to see me a couple of weeks ago for the weekend," answered Owen Nevin, the driver of the red sports car.

Owen Nevin was Whitney Diamond's latest college boyfriend. Whitney, captain of the cheerleading squad and queen bee at school, was the dream girl for most male students at Honey Hollow High, but she exclusively dated college students. She also went through relationships fast, so it wasn't a surprise to hear they had only been together a month. Sean didn't know much about Owen. Sure, he knew the name. Owen, at twenty-two years old with black hair and blue eyes, had been a popular figure at Honey Hollow High as a student. Just like Austin, Owen had been the starting quarterback. Sean's sister, Peyton, had been a grade below Owen, and she had often brought her little brother with her when she went to games to cheer on the team and her friends on the cheerleading squad. Sean remembered he had been a solid player but nowhere near Austin's level. So far on the trip, he had seemed like an okay guy to Sean. Owen had tried to make small talk when they first started the drive before the conversation had turned to football and mutual acquaintances he shared with Austin.

"Yeah, that sounds like Whitney. She's the girl that guys fall in love with fast. Can't say I blame you. That girl is something special," Austin responded, thinking of Whitney's curves.

"She sure is. After almost four years, I've just had it with the girls I see all around me at college. The self-centered, bossy types. The wild ones that get a little liquor in them, and they turn all slutty. The worst are the ones that play their little teasing games, thinking they are smarter than you. But Whitney's not like that at all, you know."

"Um, she's not?" asked a confused Austin, glancing into the backseat at Sean.

"Absolutely. She's such a sweet, caring girl. Real down-to-earth. The only real issue I can see is our ages. I'm graduating from college right when she's starting it," replied Owen.

Austin turned his head toward Sean with a look of disbelief, mouthing "What the fuck" at him. Sean merely shrugged.

"Still, Whitney seems ready for adulthood. I doubt she will be interested in partying or wasting time once she gets to college."

Sean noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and turned in time to see Newt look up slowly from his tablet for the first time. Newt stared at Owen for several seconds with a bewildered look before he shook his head slowly a few times. He next turned to Sean, raised his eyebrows slightly, and then returned to playing his game.

"I bet being beautiful doesn't hurt either?" asked Austin, grasping for any sort of a conversation about Whitney that made sense to him.

"Of course, that's how I noticed her at first. But what's great is that she doesn't flaunt it," Owen answered, describing the exact opposite of the girl they knew. He mentality shook his head at how high schoolers could be so wrapped up in just a girl's appearance and miss the person's great internal qualities. Whitney wouldn't have been available when he met her if they had noticed.

Oh my god! How did I end up in a car with these two? Sean asked himself. He then recalled his father was to blame. Add that to the list of stuff his dad seemed to screw up in his life lately.

"What the hell?" Austin muttered.

"What's wrong?" Owen asked.

"GPS on my phone is all messed up. Shows no road where we're driving," the high school quarterback frowned. "Man, I hope we're not lost. We already screwed up on that one wrong turn."

"Maybe we should have followed the Strattons like we were supposed to, but no, Mr. The Fast and the Fur--" mumbled Sean under his breath until he was cut off.

"Hey, Tarver! You've been here before, right?" Austin questioned, in almost an accusing tone.

"Yeah."

"So, are we going the right way or what?"

"That was once, five years ago. I don't know," Sean shrugged until he recalled an earlier part of the conversation from up in front. "Wait, didn't you say you come up here all the time?"

"That's to Max's grandpa's cabin. That's over by Frog Lake!" Austin snapped as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Would you at least remember what the cabin looks like, or are you just worthless back there?"

"I remember perfectly what the old cabin looked like. The one that has since burned down, ya know," Sean countered sarcastically.

"Wait, what? It burned down?" Owen questioned.

"Oh, damn! That's right. It was a couple of years ago. Almost forgot about it," Austin laughed, before looking over to Owen. "Rumor has it the place burned down during some orgy that Whitney's father was having."

"What! An orgy? Why would Whitney's da--"

"Guys! I think we're there," interrupted a voice that hadn't been heard on the whole trip. "Stop right now!"