Beach Week

Chapter 1- "You guys act like you've been driving."*

"Finally," Taylor cried out as the stoplight for turning onto the island came into view. "I am so sick of being in this car." She'd been moving in her seat for the last half an hour trying to get comfortable, but she had been sitting for over four hours and couldn't find a comfortable position anymore. They'd tried to leave early in order to avoid the traffic of everyone getting away for the weekend, but that proved to be impossible when D.C. traffic started at noon instead of at five with the holiday weekend coming up.

"Me too," Avery agreed after being stuck in the car for far too long. She could handle a quick four hour drive, sometimes three and a half hours depending on just how fast Sara decided to drive, but never more than four hours.

"You guys act like you've been driving," Sara groaned as she lightly applied pressure to the car's break so they came to a slow stop as the light changed to red. Once the car came to a stop she shifted in her seat to crack her back and wake up her leg, which had fallen asleep about a mile back. 

Thankfully, there were only a few blocks between them and a soft bed to relax in before starting their week. Avery silently praying she would get a room where she could just lay her head in and take a quick nap, while Taylor planned on running upstairs to the only room in the house that had no doors to the outside or bathrooms in her room. Ever since watching a series of horror movies when she was younger, she had developed an irrational fear of sleeping in rooms that are on the first level or have access to the outside. Not only does she fear someone will watch her while she sleeps, but she also worries that having too many windows, she could be made an easy target if someone decided to break in.

The only rooms that Taylor ever slept in were rooms that don't contain a bathroom, a first level window, or a door that leads to the outside. Luckily for her, Sara and Avery were fine with allowing her to pick her room first based on all of her requirements. They didn't understand her fears, especially the one about having a bathroom in her room, but after knowing her for over eight years they knew better than to question it. Last time they asked, Taylor went into a spiel about how when she was younger she watched the Spice Girl movie and now she is afraid that a man will climb out of the toilet at night; very unlikely, but that didn't stop her.

Sara just rolled her eyes every time Taylor tried to explain it. "I don't care anymore, just pick your room first," had been the agreement after Taylor complained the first beach week. Sara's thoughts could be read on her face without her saying a word. She would subconsciously lift or furrow her eyebrows while her face contorted into the expression that would tell everyone exactly what she wanted to say. There was no hiding what she was thinking, which sucked if you made her angry. She was typically stoic and easy going in a non-confrontational way, but if anyone made her angry then everyone stayed out of her way.

Sara blared the horn at the car in front of her after waiting at a green light for a few moments, hitting the end of her patience for this drive. They drove down a familiar road, passing businesses and shops they had frequented over the years, and noticing the few changes made to the island in the year they had been gone. A few houses had been torn down and rebuilt, after the winter storms some of the businesses they knew were gone and new ones had taken their place. 

Bittersweet was the term that came to mind as Sara pulled the car into the rock-covered lawn. Stone lawns were normal in the area compared to grass. The rocks were easier to care for, required less attention, and never died to make the lawn look poor. As Sara turned off the car, the girls quickly sprang into action. Taylor snatched Sara's keys from the center console in the van and raced out of the car with her backpack in her hand to claim a room. Avery yanked on the van's door pull to slide the door open, but realized the car door had locked automatically, allowing Taylor to get out before her. It wasn't until Sara was almost out of the car that she unlocked the child safety locks, so she could open the trunk to unpack, and let Avery out of the car. By that time Taylor had run upstairs and unlocked the door, racing into the house through the back door and toward the room she had stayed in all of the years before, as if someone was going to take it from her.