The Lost Civilization

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟷: 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙾𝚏 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚃𝚛𝚒𝚙.

  (Not a real U.S. location being used.)

I tapped my foot with impatience as I excitedly sat at the dining room table waiting for my friends to arrive at my house. My impatience was ironic, as my name is Alden— meaning 'patient friend' and 'wise one.' The excitement of our impending trip was almost too much for me to contain. It was a beautiful morning to be awake at 8AM at least. The sun wasn't glowing brightly, but just enough to put a pink undertone on the lightly darker toned clouds that hid it. A cool breeze was blowing and the temperature felt just right. As I was taking in the natural beauty from my dining room window, I heard the chime of my doorbell ringing. I jumped out of my chair with excitement.. quite literally. I hadn't seen my friends since high school. Four long years ago.

  I opened my front door with a wide smile on my face. "Maxwell, you actually came!" I exclaimed excitedly. My comment regarding the fact that he actually came wasn't meant negatively. Maxwell was just.. very quiet and to himself commonly. He had amazing, short and curly brown hair with a touch of caramel highlights running through. He always dressed casually and neat with a hint of 'Sauvage' cologne. It was always his favorite cologne by Dior since the factory released it. Momentarily, the white lilies around my porch looked amazing contrasting off of his black sweater. Maxwell looked at me with a small grin on his face and replied, "I made it! One step for man kind, aye?" He patted me on the back as he walked by me, nonchalantly walking to my living room and sitting on the love seat as if we hadn't seen each other in four years. I turned to look behind me at him sitting on the couch with a shocked, but not surprised look on my face. That was his personality— sarcasm.

  Before I could even turn back around to close the door, I heard a car horn honking from all the way down the street. I walked out onto my front porch to see Serenity driving what was at least fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit in my subdivision. I lived in an HOA community, so things were always pretty neat and up-kept here. As I watched Serenity throw a cigarette out of the driver window and onto the road, I thought to myself that maybe she didn't know what type of neighborhood I lived in. At no fault of her own, truthfully. I just gave her the address and a time to be here. The tires of her vehicle screeched against the dark concrete as she pulled into my driveway. The moment her car was shifted into park, I almost immediately received a warm, embracing hug. "Alden! It's been years! I've missed you so much!" She said in an incredibly sweet tone. Serenity may have been probably one of the most outgoing and wild people I had ever met in my entire life, but she always showed her love and care for her friends. She had really long hair which always trailed behind her as she walked, but it was incredibly beautiful. Her hair reach mid-thigh and was as blonde as blonde could possibly get. Her cheek bones were to die for and as a gay man, I honestly was a bit jealous of that. After a brief, but nice hug, Serenity started running for the front door of my house as she shouted excitedly, "I'm going in to see Maxwell! I know he's here because he attempted to hide his car on the side of the garage and failed!"

  I softly laughed as I watched her run as if she was in the Olympics to go see Maxwell. As I walked back into my house behind her, once again before I could make it to the door I could hear a car coming from down the street. I wasn't sure if it was Victoria coming, but I instantly knew when I could hear the bass from the music playing in her car as if it was already in the driveway. I turned back to look at my driveway and my assumption was proven to be correct. Victoria pulled into the driveway in her big and fancy pearl white Cadillac Escalade. What I sight to see. I was happy for her, as that had always been her dream car when we were in high school. She hopped out of her vehicle and as her feet touched the ground, she said in an exaggeratedly excited tone, "Oh my goodness! Is that Alden or America's Next Top Model?" Victoria always tried to make everyone feel good about themselves. She was big on confidence. She could be blunt, outspoken, and kind of harsh with her words at times though, ironically. Victoria was made of money. She owned a business straight out of high school. Her parents and grandparents were business owners as well and gladly passed one of their priced possessions down to her. She had perfect, wavy red hair that was about shoulder length. It was a perfect red tone, closely related to the color of a perfectly healthy rose. Her eyes were originally green, but I see that she now wore bright blue contacts. I responded to her jokingly, "Get your ass in the house and quit standing out here lying around!" She widened her eyes at me and expressed a shocked look on her face, only seconds later to chuckle and say, "Did Maxwell and Serenity already get their asses in the house too?" I rolled my eyes at her and grinned, "Yes, they have. Go get Maxwell to talk so I at least feel like he's not hating the idea of this trip." She smiled at me with her perfectly white teeth, "You know I will." She walked into the house and I followed.

  Serenity and Maxwell had already made themselves comfortable on the love seat and were catching up on the past few years. I think Victoria and I had the same idea of following their lead as we walked into the living room. Victoria and I both sat down on the sectional and not seconds had passed before excited conversation and four years of catching up began..