once upon a summer...

Chapter Four

Too soon, 4:00 am rolled around. Ander and I groaned our way through the alarm and slowly started to get up.
"It's too early." I said.
"Never again." Ander said.
While complaining about how we both actually hate Wyland and want him dead for making us get up this early, there was a sense of anticipation in the air. He was finally coming home.
After my talk with Ander last night, it took me a couple extra hours to fall asleep because I was overthinking. Maybe she was right. I hadn't seen him in so long. A year and a half to be exact. He came home around thanksgiving but I wasn't in town. And when he left, me and him had only just cooled our relationship. And not really by choice.
I tried not to think about it now though, as we got ready quietly in the dark. The whole room only lit by a lamp and the moonlight.
"What time is it now?" Ander asked, in the middle of a yawn.
"4:45." I answered unwrapping the towel from my hair and pulling it into a messy bun.
"Almost time to leave. God, I hate my brother."
I laughed at her and grabbed my phone and unplugged my charger. I packed up all my stuff and put my bag in Ander's closet, I was staying over until Sunday night so I didn't need to, but I knew that Ander was a neat freak.
We put on our shoes and grabbed what we needed.
"Can we stop by 7-11 on the way so we can get coffee and snacks?" Ander said.
"Yeah." We we're driving in my Jeep because Ander's truck didn't have enough room for all of us and the luggage.
We drove in a tired silence until we arrived at the convenience store. It was a ghost town. Ander went inside to get what she wanted and I filled my Jeep up with gas for the day. Another car pulled up into the parking lot and out stepped some kids from my school. They waved and one of the guys came over to talk.
When he got closer, I realized two things: I had forgot to put in my contacts and that he was one of Luca's friends from the basketball team. His name was Sean and I had talked to him a couple of times before.
"Hey Devin." He said.
"Hi." I said, I was slightly annoyed but not directly at him. Nobody wants to talk at 5 in the morning, especially when you don't really know the person.
"What are you doing up so early?" He was clearly trying to be nice while he waited for his friends to come out, I was just tired.
"Ander and I are going to the airport to pick up her parents. And Wyland. He's coming home for the rest of the year."
"He's gonna graduate with us? That's awesome. Everybody misses having him around. Well you know that. You miss him too."
"Yeah, I guess I do?"
"Did something happen?"
"What do you mean? I'm confused."
"Aren't you guys dating? Or did I cross a line? Sorry I just didn't.."
"No it's fine. We're not dating, and we didn't ever really date. Did everyone think we were?"
"Oh I.. I don't know. I've never asked anybody, I just kind of assumed that's what was happening before he left. Where did he end up going, anyway?"
"A boarding school a couple states over." I said politely, but I was extremely over this conversation. Wyland wasn't even home yet and I was already mad at him.
Luckily for me, Ander came out of the store and started walking towards the car.
At the same time, the gas finally finished filling up so I put the nozzle and payed for it.
"Hi, it's Sean, right?" Ander started talking to him.
"Uh, yeah. Hey my friends are back, I gotta go. It was nice seeing you guys. Bye Devin, sorry for the mix-up." He turned to meet his friends
"Bye." I said quietly.
We got into the car, and Ander kept eyeing me, clearly trying to get me to talk.
"Alright what happened and why are you pissed off?" She asked, a little pissed herself.
"Nothing happened. I just got annoyed." I said as I pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the road.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Shit, I just missed the exit!" I shouted, waking up Ander.
"What?" She asked, groggily.
"I missed the exit I was supposed to take. I'll just take a U here and get back on it. It'll be fine."
"Okay." She laid back again, but kept her eyes open.
"Do you like my brother?" She asked, "I know that's getting repetitive and annoying but I want a real answer and a reasoning. I'm being bossy, I know."
"No it's fine. I don't know. You were right last night. I haven't seen him in so long, who knows how either of us feels."
"Oh trust me. I know how he feels."
"Oh?"
"He asks about you all the time, and will completely change the subject if I try to talk about you guys before he left. And on FaceTime, he smiles when you're there. He complains less when you're there. He's quieter around you. And you know that nobody can get him to shut up. Except you. So I think I have a reason to feel upset!" She worked herself up.
"I never said you can't be upset."
"No, yeah, I know. I love you. I'm just a hormonal monster who's older brother is coming home from boarding school. That's stressful. Especially when taht brother is Wyland. I already put all of my tampons in ziplock bags and hid them because I do not want him to make an art project out of them again."
I laughed but didn't say anything anymore. I was done trying to explain to Ander that I didn't like him, because every second I was closer to seeing him. I was less and less sure.
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My heart was beating out of my chest. I was sure that Ander could hear it as we parked in the pick up zone. I turned off the car and grabbed my phone.
"Hey why'd you turn the music off?"
"We're here. It's already 7:15 and we have the walk to the other side of the airport to meet them." I explained.
"Alright," she agreed, while getting out of the passenger seat. "Doesn't the airport make you excited for our trip?"
"We're not even going on a plane though." I laughed.
"But the idea of traveling and going all over. It's making me way too happy considering we still have two months of school left."
"It'll be worth it in May after we walk off the stage in our cap and gown. Does it scare you? Graduating?"
"Sure. It's not an easy thing. We're about to be 18, legal adults. Going off to all these places before we have to separate to go to different colleges. Oh I think I'm gonna cry Dev."
"No don't cry, let's stop talking about this. We've only got a couple minutes till we get to see your brother."
And somehow, that terrified me more than the idea of graduating and leaving Ander.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wyland!" Ander screamed, facing the opposite direction than me.
I turned around, and saw the shaggy mess that was Wyland running towards us.
"Andy-Bug! Devin the dude!" He said, using the nicknames we all knew sounded like they came out of a two year olds mouth. Wyland insisted on using them specifically though.
He crushed us both in a hug and kissed on top of the heads. Ander and I both stood about 5'7" so Wyland's 6'3" body towered over us.
"I missed you guys so much." He said as he let go of us.
"Where are mom and dad?" Ander asked, ignoring her brother.
"I ran over here so somewhere behind me."
"How long are they gonna take?"
"Alright I'm done answering questions. Somebody be excited that I'm home."
Ander obviously feigned excitement, " oh my god! Wy! I missed you so much! I'm so excited you're home and I can't wait for you to come back to school with us. No bubs, I'm playing with you. I missed you. But really where are mom and dad, I'd like to leave so I can go back to sleep."
I laughed at her, which caught Wyland's attention.
"How's it been without me, Dev? Horrible?"
"Pretty great, actually. I got to sleepover at your house without having to worry about finding and projects in the hallway. Or the bathroom. Or the back yard. Or.."
"Alright we get it, you really did miss him. Please make out now." Ander said.
"Ander!" I said, "what the hell?"
"Sorry, I love you. Remember hormonal beast. You'll have to excuse my behavior." She apologizes.
"Hey girls!" Her mom said as their parents approached.
"Hi mommy. Hey daddy. Can we please leave now?" Ander said.
"We need to get our luggage."
Ander groaned and marched towards the baggage claim, which was close to the exit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Shotgun." Called Wyland.
"Nice try." Ander said, climbing in the passenger seat.
Wyland picked her up and set her back on the ground and climbed into the seat.
"Mom!" Ander called.
"Why hello there, Devin. Looks like I'm sitting up front."
"Okay. Just give Ander her blanket from the floor. She's gonna be pissy the whole ride." I said.
"Yeah. Do you have any idea why she's like that? I thought she was gonna be more happy to see me. I haven't seen her in seven months, and I've been at that stupid school for a year and a half."
"Yeah. It's me. Well. Me. And you. Me and you. As in a together way. She thinks we're gonna date."
"Oh so she's pissed because I'm gonna steal her best friend."
"Thinks you're gonna steal her best friend."
"Yeah. That's what I meant."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With about an hour drive left, I was the only one awake. Ander was lucky I liked to drive.
Wyland started to wake up, and sat up.
"You good?" I asked.
"Yeah, I just forgot where I was for a second. Who else is awake?" He asked and looked behind him.
"Oh" He said, "how long how you been alone?"
"About 45 minutes. It wasn't that bad, I like to drive."
"You didn't have your restrictions off the last time I saw you. This is the first time you've driven me"
"You've been gone a long time Wyland."
"Yeah I know."
"How was boarding school? Best experience of your life?" I asked, trying to avoid talking about before.
"You know, it really wasn't that bad. But you know how I am. I couldn't stay there for much longer. So I had to get kicked out."
"Why the hell did you pick an alpaca though? And I don't even want to know what you did with it."
"No pets allowed on campus. Rule 27 on this insane list of dumb rules. Can we talk about something?"
"Depends on the something."
"Does Ander have a reason to be pissed about us? Because when I left, things were still.. they were just different. And we've never officially said that we were over with each other."
"That something sounds a little deep for a long car ride with your family."
"My family is asleep, you know."
"It's more the long part I'm worried about."
"So it's not news I want to hear."
"I though I said we weren't gonna talk about it yet."
"Alright fine. You're about to turn 18 right? I got back before your birthday?"
"Yeah."
"Are you ready to be an adult?"
"Planning my first tattoo already."
"Really? We should go get them done together. I want to get one but I'm too much of a chicken to go alone."
"Sure. We can go on my birthday."
"April 23rd, Yeah. I'm pretty sure I'm free that day."
I laughed, slightly surprised that he remembered what day my birthday is.
"We left off rocky. Everybody knows it. That's why Ander's pissed. She's jealous. I'm not making that up, she told me. I've know you longer than her-"
"Huh I guess you have. That's weird. That's," He interrupted, "weird." Saying the word slowly.
"A guy from our school asked if we were dating today. Everybody knows it. So of course Ander has some reason to be mad at us. And no we never really ended what we were doing, not officially at least. But I haven't seen you in so long."
"And you can't tell me that you feel differently. I can tell. I do know you. No matter how long I've been gone."
"I don't feel the same. But I also don't feel differently than I did."
Ander stretches her arms up and started to yawn.
"What don't you feel differently about?" She asked while rubbing her eyes.
"Owning a cat over a dog."
"Oh sure, dogs are way better." Wyland said, "But you have to agree that cats are cool too."
"Yeah cats are okay." Ander said, "But I never want to own anything."
"Not even a human?" Her mom asked, suddenly awake too, "you don't want to have kids?"
"When did I say that? Yes I want kids someday mom!"
"But not until marriage." Mama James said. (Her name is actually Terry but I've always called her Mama James)
"Actually I was thinking of getting pregnant now. It's just so much easier.."
"No." Terry said, not even letting her finish. "I know you're joking, but I'm putting you on birth control for that joke."
"Did you hear that Dev? Now I can have sex with whoever I want, whenever I want and I don't have to worry about protection."
"I feel like I should feel more protective right now as an older brother," Wyland said to me, "Am I broken?"
"I laughed at both of them and turned the music up.

A.N: sorry it's getting all romance-y. That's just how it's gonna be until graduation so the story stays interesting without having to skip a bunch of time every chapter.