Flight Risk

Capitulo Cuatro

Picture of Kristy ----------------------->

Exactly one hour later, the Evans family and I were heading out to the GMC Suburban as that was the only vehicle with enough seats for all of us to sit comfortably.

"Shotgun!" Danny and Jake yelled at the same time. They seemed to realize their dilemma, and took off toward the "Burb" at a run. I leaned in the doorway and witnessed the hilarious scene of two evenly matched identical twins trying to best each other in a race for the front seat. Little did either of them know that, the honor was already taken by Tyler, who sat with his feet resting on the dash.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he yelled, as one of the twins grabbed his feet while the other caught his upper body as it fell from the car.

"Swoops," Andy laughed, sliding smoothly into the seat Tyler had occupied only moments before.

"Not fair!" The three simultaneously shouted in protest.

"You snooze; you lose."

My attention was drawn from their antics to Rissa, when she skipped toward me and said, "Wanna sit in the very back with me? The boys can't kick us out if we're both sitting there first." Her eyes glimmered with hope and I found myself unable to refuse as I followed after her with one of the picnic baskets.

"Window or center seat?" I questioned, though I already knew her answer.

"Window!"

I gestured for her to proceed me into the back and settled into the extremely uncomfortable center seat.

"Aww man, the girls took the good seats while you nitwits were distracting me!" Tyler protested.

"There's one more good seat left and I call dibs," Danny announced.

"Not so fast!" Tyler protested quickly, "I was sitting shotgun, before you made me lose it to Andy. I think it's only fair that I get backseat."

While the boys continued to argue about who got the last good seat, Sam slid in next to me and whispered, "How long before they notice they're all stuck in the center?"

"I'd say in three, two, one..."

"Hey!" The three protested in unison, yet again.

"You snooze; you lose." Sam replied casually.

The way he said it startled me, because everything from the phrase to the inflection in his voice was an exact replica of Andy's early response. I doubted that he'd even heard his younger brother earlier, and the striking similarities between the two amazed me yet again. Part of me began to wonder what the problem was between them when it was plainly obvious that they had a ridiculous amount in common, parentage aside.

"Alright boys!" Kristy announced above their chatter. "Get in the Burb so we can leave already!"

Tyler, Danny and Jake sullenly settled onto the middle seats and closed the door. They quietly bickered and blamed each other for the boring seats, though one could easily tell that none of them were truly upset.

The drive to the lake was relatively short, but the trail itself was rather rough because of the potholes that had formed from all the vehicles that chose the scenic route. Every dip, bump and bend in the road made riding in the already uncomfortable seat even more so, because there was nothing I could use to brace myself with. That said, riding center seat was also the most fun because every time Kristy turned right, however slight, I would throw myself into a giggling Rissa, who would try and push me back into the center.

"Trini!" she would protest while gasping for air, "You're squishing me!"

"I'm sorry! It's just your mom's a crazy driver!" I said, settling back into my seat.