The Art of Loving

[39] Family and a Birthday Party

Ellie and Brian stayed at Ellie's grandparents' house for a second breakfast for a bit more than an hour before they decided to get going again. They had looked at the map over breakfast and planned their route for the rest of the day, so after they returned from their short walk through Ballater to show Brian Ellie's childhood home once more they were off. They said their goodbyes before they got in the car - Ellie got in the driver's seat again because Brian seemed to be a little intimidated by the stories Ellie's grandparents had told them about the roads around Ballater. Ellie didn't mind and confidently drove her brother's van along the very narrow roads.

"Ellie, where did you put the map?" Brian asked, inhaling sharply when Ellie took a very narrow turn very fast.

"Uhm, it should be behind my seat in the pocket," she told him, slowing down a little after she heard his reaction. "Why?"

"I just want to have a look at the route again. Do you think we'll make it to the ferry today?" He asked, unfolding the map after he had found it.

"Yeah, we easily should, even if we stop a few times along the way. It takes around three hours from Pitlochry and we'll see, the last ferry leaves some time around 6pm if I remember correctly. If we don't make that then we'll just take the first ferry tomorrow. Don't worry so much," she told him with a smile.

"It's hard, why is it so hard?" He asked, chuckling a little as he folded up the map. "You're so relaxed with this."

"Yeah, there's no point in stressing about this," she told him, seeming a little amused. "We have a plan and if something doesn't work we'll improvise. We're not in a rush to get anywhere, we have everything we need right here, we'll just see what happens."

"That actually makes sense," Brian agreed. "Okay, good. Let's do that. I like this. I'm really looking forward, you seem to be fun on adventures."

"I do enjoy adventures, yeah," Ellie agreed. "I think we'll also get some wonderful photos. I'm really excited about this."

"I can tell, it's cute," he said before he kissed her cheek. "If we get to that town where the ferry leaves from we can find a nice pub for dinner," he suggested.

"That sounds good to me, yes. And if we do manage the last ferry I'm sure we can find something on Skye. And if not we'll improvise. I like having a few plans in mind and then see spontaneously which of those will happen. Do you know what I mean? I'm not sure I like being completely clueless, but I don't mind at all not having a fixed plan."

"Yeah, that's definitely the impression I got of you," Brian confirmed. "I like that about you. I think I have to learn being a bit less fixed in everything," he added, gesturing around.

"Maybe, but I can teach you," Ellie assured him.

"That's good," he told her and placed the map on his lap neatly. "I have another question. I know it's still a while until then, but I'm curious about your birthday. What's your plan?"

"Plan? For my birthday? Oh wow," Ellie chuckled. "I don't have a plan yet. It's still two months away. I'm probably just going to do something with Mary and Ly- uhm.. Well, just Mary then I guess. We've gone out for brunch the past few times and in the evening I did stuff with colleagues and people from my courses. You're welcome to join or we can organise something else. Freddie would probably be there with Mary anyway so Roger can come too."

"That sounds good. We could go out somewhere or you could come to my place and we could have a small party there so you don't have to tidy your flat afterwards," Brian offered.

Ellie glanced at him for a short moment. "Really? My flat is bigger and I can lock the doors to my bedroom and dark room. It seems a bit risky to have a bunch of drunk people with alcohol loose in your flat with your bed and everything in the main room..."