Calm Before The Storm (A River's Edge Fanfic)

Enjoying Our Stay

We were on the highway, radio was almost full blast, most of us were in the back with wind in our hair.

"Round and round! With love, we'll find a way, just give it time! Round and round, what comes around goes around, I'll tell you why!" We sang.

"Woooooooohoooooo!" Layne hollered.

"Yeeeeeeaaaaaah!" Matt shouted.

"I can't believe we're doing this!" Maggie shouted.

"This is fun!" Tim shouted.

"Matt, Matt?" Kim said getting her big brother's attention.

"Yeah?" Matt asked.

"Didn't you promise to teach me north, south, east, and west?"

"I did but let's get to a motel first. It's almost dark out."

When it got dark out, the truck was pulled over on the side of the highway, we were eating a baloney sandwich.

"According to the sign over there, there's a Super 8 in ten miles," Mike said.

"As long we have a place to sleep for the night," I said.

"Where are we going exactly?" Tim asked.

"We're gonna go to Portland, Oregon to stay with Skylar's dad for a while," Matt replied.

"Hey Sky, I hope there's room for all of us to stay," Layne said.

"The house has the master room, my room where me and Matt can sleep together, three spare rooms if you count the one in the basement.

"Three guest rooms?" Maggie asked.

"The first spare was my older brother's who died in a car crash a year before the divorce and the other two are just guest rooms. The basement has a bedroom and a couch."

"You never told us you had a brother Sky," Layne said.

"Sorry, we weren't real close but I loved em, he was one of those older brothers who avoided me and hung out with his friends, kept me out of his room, always called me annoying."

That moment, Matt gathered both his siblings for a big hug, tears in his eyes.

"I love both of you so much ok."

"Love you too Matt," Tim whispered.

"Say it louder Tim."

"I love you."

"Louder!"

"I love you!"

"Say I love my siblings, both of you!"

"I love my siblings!" They shouted giggling.

"There you go, there's nothing wrong with having a good relationship with younger or older siblings."

"I wish I had a little sibling now," Layne said.

Tim gave Layne a pat on the shoulder, we continued eating.

We checked into the Super 8 Motel and rented two adjoining double rooms, Layne, Mike, Tony, and Tim in one room, me, Matt, Maggie, and Kim in the other. We were ready for bed, Matt just walked in our room from saying good night to Tim. Me, Maggie and Kim were just getting out of the bathroom from brushing our teeth.

"In the bed little girl," Matt said.

Kim got in the bed her and Maggie were sharing.

"Can you tell me north, south, east and west?"

"Yep."

He got the motel notepad that was on the nightstand and wrote four arrows.

"The arrow pointing up is north, down is south, left is west, and right is east, on a map this is called a compass rose. There's also a little device with these arrows on it called a compass, it can tell you which direction you're going, Portland is where we're going. Do you remember which direction that is, I told you beforw we left?"

"North."

"Right, now it's time for bed, we're continuing our trip after we eat at the breakfast bar."

"Ok."

"Ok, good night."

He kissed her on the forehead.

"Good night."

She closed her eyes as Maggie got in the bed.

"Night everyone," I said.

"Night."

Matt got in bed with me.

"Night Sky."

"Night Matt."

After eating breakfast, we left. It was almost evening when we got to Portland, Dad's truck wasn't there.

"He's should be on his way home now," I said.

"He better let us stay," Mike said.

"We drove twelve fucking hours," Tony said.

"Language, there's little kids present," Matt said.

"They'll learn that stuff when they're older anyway."

"Layne."

"He'll understand our situation, I know he will," I said.

Then, a truck pulled in. Dad looked the same as last time I saw him. He got out, saw me, and we both hugged.

"What're you doing here, where's your mother?"

We both looked at my friends.

"These are my best friends, my boyfriend Matt, his little siblings Tim and Kim, Maggie, Layne, Mike and Tony. We all left Cali and wanna stay here for a while...if that's ok with you."

"...Anybody who's a friend of my kids are friends of mine."

They all smiled.

"Thanks Dad, if it weren't for them I wouldn't be here right now, they're my inspiration, highlight of my life while living with Mom and Brad."

"They inspired you?"

"Yeah or else I wouldn't be hugging you right now."

I hugged him again.

"Got to thaw some ground beef and we'll have cheeseburgers and steak fries for supper."

"Just what we need sir," Layne said.

We all went inside the house.