A Bucket List for Ella

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 "Ella! Bring out the fillet-mignon!"

Quickly I slipped my wine glass behind the counter. Aunt Jodi popped her head around the corner and into the kitchen, where I stood by the small island.

"Yeah yeah, one sec," I told her. Aunt Jodi sighed and retreated back into the dining room.

Unfortunately, instead of being able to write the paper that was due next week, Aunt Jodi had dragged me to her place to help informally waitress for her small get together. So, seeing as I was sitting in the kitchen with nothing else to do, I poured myself a few glasses of wine and chugged them back. Maybe it would help me forget all about the paper so I wouldn't worry.

I was at the point where I was in a lazy, half-drunken state.

I brought out the plate as Aunt Jodi had asked, being careful so as to not trip over my heels – getting drunk before 8 pm was not a good sign. Aunt Jodi's guests looked mildly horrified at the sight of me, and Aunt Jodi herself had shot me a glare, but I simply retreated back to the kitchen in search of my wine glass.

After topping the glass off for about the fourth time that night, I plodded up the stairs to my old bedroom. The Mac was sitting on the desk as I had left it. The webcam sent me a teasing stare, willing me to go to it.

"Well, if you insist," I mumbled to it, sauntering over to the camera.

I eagerly clicked on the Skype icon on the computer while downing a large gulp of wine.

Success.

Nico was online.

I clicked on the "Call" icon, and waited for Nico to answer.

"Ella!" Nico exclaimed. I pulled the glass away from my mouth but failed to level it. Some wine went dribbling down my face.

"Whoops!" I said loudly, giggling as I wiped my face with my sleeve.

"Ella, are you drinking?" Nico asked, his eyebrows narrowing together as he spoke.

"Yeah, why not? Australian wine is tasty," I slurred, grinning widely before taking another sip of wine.

"You know that's not good for you at all Ella. You need to stay as healthy as possible."

"Fuck that," I told him. "I'm gonna enjoy my life while I can."

"And enjoying life is having a one man party?"

"Good point...you should come party with me!" I exclaimed, gasping slowly.

"Ella...I'm halfway around the world."

"So hop on a plane and come over here! We can party tomorrow!"

"Ella, I'm serious. Stop. Drinking. I'm going to have to contact Liam," he said harshly.

"NO!" I exclaimed, holding my hands out to him. "Don't do that. He'll get mad."

"Shouldn't that tell you something?"

I rolled my eyes around in their sockets, as if doing so would help to locate some common sense or any sign that a brain existed in my head for that matter.

"Fine. You know what, fine. Don't come party with me. I'll be just fine without you here. Just fine," I drawled slowly, relaxing back in my chair.

"Ella, I'm serious. Stop."

"Oh! Nico, guess what? Liam and I are going hiking tomorrow. We're going hiking on a big rock. In the backout."

"You mean the outback?"

"Yeah, that."

Nico sighed.

"Bring lots of water. Dehydration is not good for anyone, not to mention you since your health isn't at its best."

"Yeah, yeah, I will. Don't worry about little old me."

"I'll always worry about you Ella. Always."

Aunt Jodi called my name from downstairs.

"I gotta go. I'm a waitress," I told Nico, drawing out the s.

"Okay. Stay safe Ella. Bye."

With that he hung up, and I stumbled down the stairs to go help Aunt Jodi with the rest of her evening.

***

The way I woke up the next morning was probably the most horrid way I've ever woken up. My head throbbed like there was a little martian-man banging on the back of it with a hammer. My stomach churned at every move I made. Not a good feeling at all.

A hangover. The best way to wake up.

To make matters worse, I was supposed to go hiking with Lim today. There was no way in hell that was happening, I texted him and we rescheduled for a few days later before I curled up into a ball again and tried to avoid thinking about the churning feeling in my stomach.

***

Fast forward 3 days. My paper was finished after having worked on it for 8 consecutive hours. Liam and I rescheduled hiking for today. I didn't tell him I was hungover – all I had told him was that I wasn't feeling well. He offered to come over and take care of me, but I told him that was fine, and that Aunt Jodi was taking care of me. Outright lies. What happened to no more secrets?

Either way, I was ready to get out of the house today. I threw on some baggy orange Under Armor shorts, a tan tank top and my sneakers. I grabbed a baseball cap, my sunglasses, and a water bottle and I headed downstairs to meet Liam.

It was one of the hottest months of the year in Australia. Scorching heat coupled with suffocating humidity made for a slightly unpleasant day. Liam promised me that once we started hiking we wouldn't notice the heat as much, because we'd be sweating anyways.

As usual, Liam picked me up in his Jeep, and he drove us to the city limit. He parked the car on the side of the road and we stepped out, preparing to hike into the outback.

"Wait a sec," Liam said, reaching for something in the trunk of his car.

"What?"

"Here." Liam produced a fanny pack with three water bottle holders, all filled with bottles of water.

"You're going to need this – one bottle isn't going to be enough, trust me."

I clipped the fanny pack around my waist, the water bottles hanging to the back. Turning to Liam, I noticed that he was doing the same with another fanny pack.

Once we were ready to go, Liam offered me his hand and we stepped out onto the burnt-orange ground that was the Australian outback.

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