Played.

31: "You'll Love It."

"Have you got all your things packed?" Marcus asked, pushing down the final things in his suitcase, before zipping it up.

"I think so." I replied, looking at the checklist in my hand.

Clothes, check. Underwear, check. Passport, check. Wallet, check. I continued to mentally check off everything else on the list.

"Done." I zipped my case, hauling it down the stairs, toward the car that was waiting out front.

I dragged it round to the back, where Justin was standing. He was rearranging, making sure there was space for more to fit.

"Need a hand?" I offered. He jumped slightly.

"Shit, you scared me."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you." I helped him move the last case.

"No, I meant your face. It scared me." He stuck his tongue out, knocking me lightly in the side with his elbow.

"Hey!" I hit him playfully in his arm. "You better watch it, pretty boy."

"Ouch. Okay, I'm sorry." He chuckled. "Pass me your case."

I propped it up on the edge of the trunk, from which he took it and slid it into a gap.

"You excited to be spending a holiday with me?" He grinned.

"Of course. I couldn't have wished for a better way to spend Winter Break." Note the sarcasm.

"Have you ever been snowboarding before?"

"Never."

"What! You've been missing out, babe." He slammed the trunk shut. "You'll love it."

"I hear you're pretty good." I walked around the side, climbing onto the back seat of the car.

"I might be able to teach you a thing or two." He shrugged, hopping into the driver's seat.

"How did you learn?" I fastened my belt.

"I don't know. My dad kinda taught me, then I just picked up, I guess." He flicked the keys, starting the engine, and took a quick glance at the clock. "For God's sake! Where are Marcus and mom? We're going to be late." With his hand, he beat down on the horn.

No less than five minutes later, Marcus and Pattie ran out of the house, their cases trailing behind them.

"About fucking time." Justin sighed angrily, shoving the door open and stomping out to help with the cases.

From where I sat inside the car, I could hear their conversation. It wasn't much of a conversation, really, mainly Justin ranting about how "we've been ready for ages" and how "we're going to be late now" because of "how long it took".

Seconds later, Marcus slipped into the back seat next to me, over-dramatically rolling his eyes at Justin's speech, childishly mocking him, before giving me a quick "hi" kiss.

"Someone's angry." He clicked his belt in.

"He wasn't before."

Justin emerged from the back of the car, opening Marcus' door.

"You're going to have to hold this, it can't fit in the back." He carefully eased a cased snowboard across Marcus' lap.

"Watch out." He warned, as it found its way down to my end.

Shutting the door, he and Pattie piled back into the car. Finally we were about to go, setting off down the driveway.

The drive to the airport went relatively fast, as fast as two hours can go, with Justin only stopping once, to get food.

"We made it." Marcus smiled, as we approached the check-in desk, two and a half hours to spare.

"See, what did I tell you?" Pattie hit the back of her hand against Justin's chest. "Mommy is always right."

"Okay, mom, I'll let you have it, just this one time." Justin laughed, taking her hand and pulling her into a hug.

"Go on, go and check in." She released herself. "I better call your father, and tell him we're on the way."

"Alright, mommy. Leave me your case."

As she strolled over to the seats in the waiting area, I was suddenly reminded that I, too, should call my father to tell him we're on the way.

"I'll be back in a minute." I let go of Marcus, leaving him and Justin checking in.

I glided to the end of the row of check-in desks, pulling out my phone, and tapping in my home number. I pressed it to my ear as it rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jakey. It's Maddie."

"Hey, Madd. Have you left yet?"

"Uh huh, we're at the airport."

"Lucky you. I want to go snowboarding so bad."

"I promise you'll come next time."

"I'm holding you to that. Do you want to speak to mom and dad?"

"Yes, please."

"Alright, passing you over. Have fun, loser."

"Thanks, darl."

In the background of the call, I heard Jake shout for my dad to come to the phone.

"Hi, Maddie."

"Hey, daddy."

"You're just about to leave, are you?"

"Yep, I just wanted to say bye, before we go, and thank you so much for letting me go. I can't believe you knew about it the whole time."

"You're very welcome, sweetheart. I'm surprised mom and I didn't slip up, you know how bad we are at keeping secrets."

"Oh, I do. Is mom there?"

"No, honey, she's literally just gone out."

"Damn. Can you tell her I said bye?"

"Alright, princess, stay safe and enjoy yourself, okay?"

"Okay. Bye, daddy. I'm going to miss you."

"It's only for two weeks, love. I'll miss you too."

"Two weeks is a long time!"

"It will go quickly. You know what they say, time flies when you're having fun. Okay, my dear, I'll see you soon. Bye." He hung up.

I sighed, looking up to see Marcus making his way over to me, bag-free, arms open.

He took me in his muscular arms, squeezing me. "It's time to go."

"Oh my God. I'm so excited." I let go.

"Get on." He turned around, allowing me to hop onto his back. "Are you feeling adventurous?"