Everywhere, Everything. ★ STURNIOLO TRIPLETS

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you guys for being so patient with me! I know it's been a minute since the last update. Here's the next chapter <3 xoxo

The afternoon crawled by after I hung up with Jenny. It was half past five and the boys still hadn't come back from filming.

I rummaged through the cabinets hoping for a snack to hold me over, but all I found was a partially eaten sleeve of Saltines - which were stale - a couple of travel-size Apple Jacks cereal boxes, and a singular bag of barbeque chips.

"They have the palate of ten year olds," I groaned, closing the cabinet.

I hoisted myself onto the kitchen island and texted Nick.

Hey, it's Nat. Coming home soon??

He answered instantly.

Awe, you called it home. Missing us already?

I rolled my eyes and typed back, More like starving.

KK we'll grab something on the way back.

PIZZA?

Nick thumbs-upped the message and didn't reply.

The last bit of sun sunk behind the spruces, leaving the house too dark for comfort.

For someone who enjoyed scary movies, being alone in a cabin in the woods was certainly not my thing. I peeked through the blinds in the kitchen before twisting them shut and turning all the lights on in the house.

The wind had picked up outside and repeatedly blew a long branch against one of the living room windows. Its sharp edge grated against the glass. I shuddered.

"Don't be such a baby," I berated myself. "We'll just find a movie to watch."

I knelt in front of the television and scanned the DVD selection again. While deciding what kind of mood I was in, the little voice in my head kept replaying what Jenny said earlier. Enjoy where you're at right now. I tapped my finger on one of the plastic spines before pulling it out.

I'd seen a stack of sleeping bags in one of the hall closets this afternoon and it gave me an idea.

Dragging one of the kitchen chairs over to the closet, I yanked four sleeping bags off the top shelf and threw them on the living room carpet, grabbing as many pillows as I could off the bunk beds and adding them to the pile.

The kitchen chairs weren't tall enough to hold up sheets on their own, so I improvised: two chairs lined on either side of the couch, the standing lamp behind the sofa, and a thin sheet across the top. Nora kept miscellaneous clips and clothespins in a junk drawer beside the sink, so I used those to clip an additional sheet to the fort, making it teepee in the middle like a castle.

After our beds were made from couch cushions and sleeping bags, there was only one thing missing.

I dug through the ornaments box in the spare bedroom until I found a string of incandescent Christmas lights. Though some of the bulbs were burnt out, most of them glowed colorfully against the pale linen.

Adding the final touches, I turned out the overhead lights, smiling at my masterpiece.

"Damn, I'm good."

A car door slammed out front and I scrambled to the floor, sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce in front of the fort.

"It looks kind of dark -" someone started.

"What the -"
"Ta da!" I exclaimed.

All of their faces were riddled in amusement. Nick threw his head back in laughter while Matt and Chris ogled at the scene.