Once the kitchen was spotless, I fell into a chair, exhausted. My mom had hurried Xaeren off, trying to sell him on the merits of dating me permanently, versus going out with some self-absorbed cow.
I walked to the couch and lay down. I could hear my mom talking to Xaeren excitedly. Her voice got slightly closer each second. I sat up and started primping, using the surface of a T.V. as a mirror. I had a subconscious urge to improve myself for him. They stepped around the corner, heads bent together, talking. Xaeren trailed off when he saw me.
“Why do you keep showing up?” I asked, taken surprise by my own bluntness. I was hoping for just a touch of subtlety, but around him, my behavior becomes schizoid.
“I felt bad about yesterday. So I came to apologize, but I think your mom just pulled me into some camping trip?” He said, his face turned towards me, an imploring look on his face.
“We do this every year. By this time tomorrow, John, Morris, and Hunter will be here to help you carry everything and help you set up the guy’s tent.” I said, smiling. I love my mom. A whole three days out in the semi-wilderness is enough to break the pretty city boy. I grinned evilly, planning all of the ways to scare, gross out, or surprise him. Ah, possibilities, possibilities.
“I can already tell this is going to be…interesting.” He finished, eyeing my grin and shoved his hands deep into his jackets pockets. The jacket hugged his arms, making his muscles stand out.
We were interrupted-in our little stare down, to see who the wimp is, by Lili tearing through the room, breathing heavily, doing her I’ve-got-to-pee dance. She shoved me out of her way and jumped over the couch. The nearest restroom was by the kitchen, and it always had at least one person waiting at the door.
Lili shoved everyone out of her way, pounding on the door while jumping up and down.
“Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!” She yelled, twisting her legs around each other. “Hurry up, or I’ll pee right here and you’ll have to clean it up!” She threatened, giggling while she jumped.
She fell into the bathroom, brushing Taylor-who now looked perfect, not a blonde hair out of place, no chipped nails, and a perfectly made up face-out of the way, running faster than I have ever seen her run.
I felt like I should have taken a before and after picture of Taylor, for her makeup company, so that they know that their makeup works. Before, she looked like a gremlin straight out of hell, but now she looked like a fairy princess, ready to spread wonderful complexions, and nice eyebrows wherever she goes.
When this was over, Xaeren raised an eyebrow, asking “What the heck just happened” with nothing more than his eyes and a slight shake of his head.
I just shrugged my shoulders hopelessly. I couldn’t define my friends, or put a name to whatever species they claim to be. Believe me when I say that I have been trying to figure that out for years.
The camping trip was two days away, and it lasted for three days, but those three days seem to last forever. Everyone was already scrambling around, looking for spare socks and extra cans of bug spray. Everyone’s supplies for this trip seemed to gravitate to our house around this time of year. Even if-like Hunter-you haven’t been
seen in a week, you still somehow manage to pass your stuff off to someone who is here almost daily.
I found Hunters favorite duffel bag in the cabinet with the towels. It’s the duffel bag that he uses for every trip-and every year it sees to grow more pockets to hide stuff in. The bag wasn’t packed yet, so I assumed he meant for me, or someone else, to pack it for him. As I packed my bag, I picked up anything that resembled something he would have.
It was a tradition to tear apart every room in the house as you searched for your belongings. I mean, sure, the person whose room you’re dismantling might get upset, but we’ve been doing this for about seven years. When we were younger, it took all seven of us to shift a bed to look for a lost slipper, or tear a room apart looking for an inhaler. Whenever someone found something, loud cries of “Aha! I knew it was here!” occasionally followed by “So that’s where my book went!”
This was also a good time to find things that you had previously lost, or things that have gone “missing,” or things that have just been taken by packrats. If you found something that you have sorely missed, and that person wouldn’t give it up, you entered into a literal rendition of a sword fight. And the featuring weapons this year were…a flashlight and an original light saber. We all crowded around the fighters, betting on who would win. We were terrible gamblers.
No one won, they called a stalemate. I got back to work, checking things off as I found them. Xaeren followed me around, looking like a lost puppy. I finally stopped Lili and Taylor, making them help me pool our resources and hooked him up with a book bag and supplies. Granted, the book bag was pink and furry with “Princess” on the side in curly red cursive. But still, he would be equipped to handle being cold, an injury, being dehydrated, and the prevention of bug bites.
When I tried to hand him the bug spray, he looked at me and just smirked. He wouldn’t take it.
“If you don’t put this on, you’ll get fleas or you’ll be bitten by a West Nile bug or something.” I said, stubbornly holding it out.
“I’m not worried about fleas.” He said, smirking at some inside joke.
“Well, I am, so just take it!” I thrust it at his chest and let it drop. I stalked away, picking up my bag and shoved my stuff into the bag.
Okay, checklist: Bug spray-what is his problem?-, extra underwear-what is his problem?-, hair brush, toothpaste and a tooth brush, socks, water, a flashlight, and a whole bunch of other camping equipment that I couldn’t name.
Check, check, check, check, and check. I think the universe is trying to tell me to check something.
The whole process of tearing the house apart, getting all of our stuff together, and rounding everything up into my mom’s giant hippy van took all of two days. I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have school this week.
