Cabin Nine [[Revised Edition] Under FURTHER Revision]

Home Away From Home

It's Louisa's turn to host the fourth of July. She's still in Minnesota, so Jack and I fly us and the kids up there. We basically take over the whole plane because the kids can't sit together and they've decided that it's okay to shout at each other from across the room. Jack goes back there to scold them a few times but they're persistent. I feel like I'm in Home Alone and Kevin is sitting behind me, shouting at his sister.

We somehow make it to Louisa's house alive. With a 15-seat van, only one person has to sit on someone's lap. No one complained about me and Jack insisting on buying all the plane tickets until they had to cram into the van. Even though Freddy's the only minor left in the house who wouldn't be allowed to buy his own ticket. I don't even know how old you have to be to buy a plane ticket. Logically, I'd think 18, but I saw this movie where two kids switched plane tickets once and they were both like ten. It's probably been thirty years since I saw that, though, so maybe I shouldn't be using it as evidence.

Louisa opens the front door to her house and lets in fourteen exhausted kids, who fall asleep in a dog pile on her couch. Even Harley, who's taken to posing as "the tough one," falls asleep with her feet thrown over Aurelia and her head resting on June's shoulder.

Jack and I apologize for them, but Louisa brushes us off and the three of us go sit on her back patio. Lucifer got a new sister a few months ago that Louisa named Lilith. They're both golden retrievers and they get along famously. Susie is throwing a ball for them when we get back there.

We sit and talk for a while. Turns out, Jack and I haven't missed much. It's almost jarring to find out that I don't care about town events anymore. They used to be everything to me and Jack. But back then, it was all we had to do. Now we have jobs, children, lives. I mean, Jack was my only friend. It's not like anyone else was dying to make friends with the gay kid in high school.

I hear a car come up the neighbor's driveway. Louisa's face reddens as a car door shuts and the gate that encloses her back yard opens and her neighbor walks right through.

"God, I need a drink," her neighbor says as she turns to shut the gate, not realising that any of us are here. I guess she saw the cigarette smoke coming from Susie's lips. I'm told that Susie spends a lot of time over here.

Her neighbor turns around and freezes, and so do I. Because I know her. Unfortunately well.

"Tyler?" Kaylee asks incredulously.

"Oh, my God, this is going to be so fun," Jack says.

Kaylee and I both send him a glare but he just looks like a kid on Christmas.

"It seems I forgot to tell you that Kaylee's my neighbor," Louisa says slowly.

"You think?" I ask. At the same time, Kaylee says, "No shit, Sherlock."

It's so awkward. Kaylee's still standing by the gate and I'm still on the patio but it feels like she's just punched me in the gut. Which, given what I did to her, would be fair.

I can't believe I just realised what I did to her. First, I knowingly continued a relationship while knowing I was in love with someone else. Then I basically cheated on her. Then I flaunted my relationship with Jack with no concern for how it might affect her. And then I published a book with her in it, without asking if it was alright with her. I don't even know if I made her out to be the bad guy. I just wrote what I remembered.

"You two should talk," Lousia suggests. She not-so-subtly yanks Susie and Jack into the house. Jack makes no attempt to hide himself while he watches through the back door.

Kaylee awkwardly sits across from me, petting Lilith when she runs up to her.

"So..." I say. "It's been a while."