the stars and the moon

chapter 1

"We're here", Kayla singsonged. We were parked somewhere on the side of a deserted road, behind the black Jeep we'd been following for the last three hours. Looking around, the only things in sight were trees and an old diner a couple of hundred feet ahead.

"You sure?", I asked her skeptically.

My best friend looked at me with a smile, "No, but the boys stopped here so I'm guessing we've arrived."

Kayla is all for adventure and being challenged so not knowing where we were was a thrill for her. I, on the other hand, liked to stay in control of the situation, which was the opposite of right now. And it was stressing me out.

"Maddie, just relax", Camila said from the backseat, "Felix knows the way to his own cabin."

She had a point. After all, Felix had been the one driving the Jeep in front of us.

"But he hasn't been to the cabin in years! What if he stopped here because we're lost", I said as I turned to Camila.

She pointed to the Jeep. "Look, the boys are getting out and getting their bags." I turned and looked through the windshield. Four boys were unloading the trunk.

"As should we," Kayla added.

Reluctantly I got out of the safety of Kayla's car and got my bags.

The girls had been in charge of grocery shopping and Kayla and Camila had gone to the store before picking me up. Since we were with seven, among which were four giant boys who could eat five pizzas each and still be hungry, there were quite a few bags.

Austin and Jordan walked over to help carry all the food. They made a competition out of it; who could carry more bags?

"I have the most bags! I win!' Austin exclaimed.

"Dude, you literally picked the lightest ones", Chase argued. "Contrary to Jordan. Got something to prove?."

Jordan just shook his head and turned around to go talk to Felix.

When everything was finally sorted out and the trunks were empty we all followed Felix and Chase, who were leading the group, into the woods. After trudging through the woods for half an hour, dodging low-hanging branches and stepping around mud puddles, we finally arrived at Felix' cabin. My arms were aching from carrying all this weight for so long. I was tempted to just drop it all on the ground.

The cabin looked exactly as one would expect when hearing the word 'cabin'. It was completely made out of wood with a small wooden porch in the front. The cabin was small and looked as though you could just squeeze in five people. And we were with seven.

Awesome.

Felix fished a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the front door. After some fumbling, he turned back around and flashed us a smile: "Come on in, everybody! Make yourselves at home."

"You know I will", said Chase as he passed Felix and walked in. He had already opened a bag of salted popcorn and stuffed a handful in his mouth. That boy has no self-control when it comes to food.

We all put in one last effort to heave all our stuff up the porch and into the cabin. Well, everyone except Chase. He was already inspecting the kitchen. I didn't know how I felt about him being the assigned cook this weekend. 

According to him, he's an awesome chef but he's biased so who knows. I'll probably end up being the one doing all the cooking, not that I minded very much. I'm more of the baking type, but I can cook well enough.

I dropped my bag on the first couch I saw and let out a breath. It felt good to be back inside a house and out of the wilderness that is the woods.

Before I even had the chance to look around the cabin and take it all in, Camila ran past me with Austin in tow. "I want the big room!", shouted Camila. Thank god we didn't have neighbors here. She raced to a door that seemed to lead to a bedroom and stood protectively in front of it, her arms spread out.

"Hey! Not fair! We're with four, we deserve the bigger room!", Austin pouted as he realized he'd failed in his mission.

Camila only laughed in his face. "Suck it up, loser. The girls win this round." She opened the door and disappeared into the room, while Austin trudged off to the only other door in the cabin that held a bedroom behind it, Jordan patting his back sympathetically.

Chase and Felix were in the kitchen, putting the food away in the fridge and the cabinets, speaking in hushed tones. The conversation looked serious but soon enough Chase was laughing again which brought a smile to my face. I could only be envious of their friendship.

Kayla was still standing in the doorway with her giant hiking backpack on her shoulders. She was grinning.

"This is gonna be fun." She skipped to our room and started talking animatedly to Camila.

With everything quieting down, I was finally able to look around. Felix' cabin looked very cosy. Everything was in wood. The floor, the walls, the ceiling... and at least half the furniture. The living room was filled with rugs, pillows, blankets and a big couch. The fireplace added the final touch to the room. The kitchen to my right was small, but everything you'd need to make a decent meal was there. Overall it looked like an awesome place to make childhood memories.

"So, what do you think?"

Felix had suddenly appeared next to me. I turned to him. He was watching me intently, gauging my reaction.

"It's beautiful here. It really is", I said honestly. "But I'm guessing you didn't take part in the decorating?"

He chuckled. "No, I didn't. This is all my mom's doing. But I wouldn't change a thing."

Felix picked up my bag from the couch and threw it over his shoulder as if it weighed nothing. Why couldn't he have carried it on the way here? My poor arms were going to ache for the rest of the day.

"Come on, let's get you settled in."

He took my hand and led me to the room I'd be staying in for the next two nights.

I had been reluctant to leave my brother behind this weekend, but I was getting more and more excited about this trip.