Fabrications

• 5| years •

[to all with the ability to stay silent in crucial moments, all willing to wait for resolutions.]

                                      • • • •

"We needs more blankets!"

Debra's words lingered as a quick smile flickered upon Nic's lips. With swift snatch of the stacks of folded blankets and pillows, he made his way over through the open garage. It would have been useless to ensure her that the cabin surely had its own blankets and pillows; her response would've insisted in bringing some of her own for personal comfort. The burly man remained elated as he caught up to the blonde arranging their luggage inside his truck.

"This is all you have," Nic insisted with a knowing grin. The blonde scrunched up her nose in disappointment before taking them both from his hands.

"I told Meredith to bring more so it's fine."

"How many are we bringing?!" he laughed incredulously. "Cabins have blankets, Deb; just like they make sure beds are inside with pillows, hmm? Or do you think we'll be camping in the middle of the woods?"

His remark was followed by a teasing smirk, wrapping his arms around her waist as she rolled her eyes with a laugh. It'd been quite some time since they'd last seen each other, making the mere fact of her being there pretty surreal. Although the blonde was unable to deny her unbearable heartbreak every time they said goodbye for one of his trips; she always chose to alter her thinking towards the exciting times when he would come back. Surely the life of a travel agent was taxing in terms of constantly flying far from home, but she understood, nonetheless. The true effort was appreciated by Debra. He would only be able to stay up to four days out of the seven for this trip. Nevertheless, the fact that he had agreed to the trip at all was something the blonde could never take for granted.

"We need more to watch movies on the floor," she shot back, knowingly. Nicholas mocked her before plastering the same grin on his face. One could only travel so far before missing Debra Berle's laugh and smile with each passing minute.

"Fine, fine," he dismissed. A quick peg on her lips was given, which was known to be the one gesture Debra would never grow tired of. "When are Merie and Rhett coming? We should be leaving if we want to make it for lunch time."

The blonde smiled softly as he checked the time, incredibly happy to hear the nicknames he had manufactured after 2 whole years of knowing her best friends. It'd been months since the blonde heard of those names and they only reminded her of the last time Nic came home for a longer stay. She watched as he waited for her answer while letting her go, making sure the truck was set with all of their luggage inside.

Debra checked her phone to confirm, saying, "Mere said they're coming now. By the way, you'll be pleased to find out there's new people on this trip," she raised her brows excitedly. "There's Ken, that childhood friend I told you about; he's super nice, I think you guys will hit it off. And then Serena... You know, the sister."

"Serena..." Nic mused with precaution. "Am I going to have to split you two up before someone throws a punch?"

The blonde leaned against the black truck with arms across her chest. Although it could be seen as an exaggeration, Debra knew the possibility of some hostile behavior imitating from either of them was surely plausible. Regardless of the uncomfortable scenario, she did not harbor one shred of remorse for the tension between them. She remembered that fateful night a sleepover was arranged in Meredith's home, and despite the fact that two years had passed since the loss of the youngest Holt, even Debra could feel the hostility toward Meredith in her own household. Both friends were in that early preteen stage, the time when they deemed to become closer for the rest of their high school experience. Serena Holt waltzed into her young sister's bedroom in a fit of rage— not affected in the slightest over the fact that a guest was present —blatantly scolding Meredith for their mother's increasing depression once she came home to visit. Though being only 14 years old, the feisty blonde took charge in defending her friend and shifting the blame over to Serena once again. She had clearly stepped out of line when involving herself in an incident that didn't even include her, but the immense attitude within the oldest Holt sibling was clearly too much for young Debra to take sitting down.