Untitled Document

Untitled Part Ten - Anita

The next morning I wake up to an empty bed and Jannett calling for everyone to wake up. Something about training. What for is beyond me. The current, more pressing, matter is that Maisy is M.I.A. She's not in the bedroom, the bathroom, the cabin in general, or at the dock. This is the second morning in a row the truck is missing from the driveway. What is she doing?

"Jack." I pop my head into his room where he lies face down on the bed. If I don't look too closely at the subtle rise and fall of his chest he would look dead.

"Mmm." He groans, apparently awake.

"Do you know where Maisy is?"

Jack inclines his head ever so slightly towards me and although half his face is obscured by covers and pillows I can feel his glare. "Does it look like I would know?" I leave, closing the door behind me without another word to him. Jannett and Bill don't know where she is either.

I change into dry fit clothing by the will of my mother and grab a muffin from the kitchen before sulking outside to join the growing group of family members waiting for Jannett to explain. Eyes follow me to a free picnic bench, I ignore them to the best of my ability, not a hundred percent sure why they're watching me.

"Annie," Jaz says, sliding into the seat beside me. I nod at her but say nothing, my mouth full. She bumps her shoulder to mine. "I take it you had fun yesterday?"

I raise an eyebrow at her, "hm?"

"In the rain with Mason? I take it you two had fun."

I'm sent into a coughing fit, drawing more attention to us than I'd like to. "You saw that?" I ask once I've regained myself.

"I mean it's not like you were trying to hide yourselves or anything."

"Still weird that people saw that."

"I don't think it is." Jaz's voice suddenly becomes very serious.

"Oh?"

Jaz fidgets with her ringless-finger, reminiscing about an old relationship. One she never spoke to anyone about. She laughs nervously, it escapes her like a sigh. The exhausted type. "I just mean-" she cuts herself off to drag a hand over her tired face, lowering her voice a substantial amount when she begins speaking again. "I wish I could have been like you and Mason when I was younger. I wish I was able to be so careless."

I don't want my aunt to take my silence the wrong way and yet I can't find the words to follow up her confession with. What's she trying to say? What am I supposed to say? The noise of our family fades in the background, mixing with the wind and the birds and the bugs. If they're calling for us, we don't notice, staring at each other with wondering eyes until finally I find my ability to speak again.

"You know it's not too late, right?"

Jaz smiles thoughtfully, like the idea amuses her. Like it's something she's imagined. Like it's something impossible. "You're lucky you can still think like that too." Her voice goes sad. A matching twinkle in her eyes blinks in the early morning sunlight.

I want to keep pushing the topic and insist that she doesn't give up on herself, but I'm not so sure she'll listen so instead I settle on saying: "before you make that decision, decide if it's something you'll regret in the future."

"We'll all regret something someday."

"And those things will be by our own doing."

Jaz laughs outright, "touche Anita, touche." I smile and wonder if she'll reconsider as we fall back into silence. It's warm out again today, all signs of yesterday's storm blown away in the night. Bracing myself for the day's heat I finish my muffin and watch the water wade in and out of reach of the pebble ridden beach. The canoe still rests on the shoreline. No one's taken it out since Mason and I went. I make a note-to-self to take it back to the shed later and I'm about to push away from the picnic bench when Jaz speaks again. "You really like Mason, don't you?"

My ears grow hot and I'm forced to turn away so she doesn't see. "I mean, who doesn't? Mason is wonderful." I pray it's enough for Jaz to not push any futher, unsure how I'm supposed to explain our relationship without giving us away. I can't tell her my truth anyways because Maisy and I are best friends, and I'm not supposed to have a crush on my best friend unless she has a crush back.

As if on cue, the truck rolls down the driveway, the attention of the huddled family turning to Mason stepping out of the car, hair blowing in the breeze and eyes shielded from the sun. She's wearing my jacket again, I don't intend on taking it back. It suits her much better anyways. When her eyes land on me a nervous smile breaks her face. She waves, the runny, swirled inky remains of yesterday's flowers moving with her arm as the sleeve of the jacket shifts. She begins heading down the hill towards us. I wave back so my pen-stained arm reflects hers.

Beside me, Jaz tsks. "Well. If it means anything, I think Mason really likes you too." She stands and leaves me alone, nodding at Mason as she passes, without another word and leaves me to contemplate the matter of things.

Mason takes Jaz's spot and shrugs off the jacket, tying it around her waist instead.

"So where'd you go?" I ask as she releases her hair from the small half-knot.

She shrugs, "just for a drive."

"That's all?"

"Well I went to get a coffee as well but I didn't think that was so important." Mason continues fussing with her hair. "Oh, and I filled the gas tank."

"You could've waited for me, we could have gone together."

She shrugs again. "That's alright. I felt bad waking you and you seemed really tired." She looks me up and down as she speaks. "On another note though, what's up with your outfit? I don't think I've ever seen you wear a sports bra before."

I wink playfully at her, "like what you see?" Mason blushes furiously. "Nah, Jannett's been running around shouting all morning for people to get ready for 'training'. Whatever the hell that means."

Mason's brow furrows, taking her own outfit into consideration. "Should I change then?"

Looking around, the group seems to have huddled around each other. Some look over their shoulders at us. I tell myself they're waiting for us to be able to start. "Yeah. I think we should get going." Mason pats my head and runs inside to change. I go to join everyone else. "Family," I say, tipping my non-existent hat at them.

"Anita," a couple murmur back, none of which making eye contact with me. They're only trying to be polite as they have to be for family.

Jack appears at my side, bags under his eyes and hair rustled like he just woke up. Because he did.

"Sleep well?" I elbow him in the side, forcing him to lean over, clutching his ribs.

"Careful there. I had quite a busy night, for your information." He winks at me, smirking as he goes. I roll my eyes and refuse to play into his teasing, let him get under my skin. Of course he would know Mason and I slept in the same bed last night. How he knows is beyond me. And, it's not like it would be the first time we've shared a bed, except I guess now that we're 'dating' that changes people's perceptions of it. Nothing happened anyway. Nothing will ever happen out of it because it's not real. Of course, the truth hurts but I needed the reminder anyways.

Jannett claps her hands twice to get our attention. All eyes turn to her as Mason pushes through the crowd to me.

"Family!" She announces to us, cupping her hands before her mouth although there's really no reason to. "I have big news! Before the end of the trip we will participate in a competitive game of Capture the Flag!" There's one too many sighs that ripple through the crowded group of people for Jannett's taste apparently because when she circles back around she looks excessively disappointed. "Aw c'mon guys! Please? I need to beat the Chelsea's, regain my crown!"

Sceptical looks surf between faces. Jannett's said every summer since 2012 that should the opportunity present itself she will challenge Chelsea Chelsea to a rematch, claiming she cheated and didn't deserve the win, which is probably true. And sure, none of us want to actually play this game, but Jannett's been waiting for years.

We can't take that from her.

"We're in." I say. No one disagrees.