Forest

5.

                                                                                          |Hope|
"Yeeeaaah! We're almost there!" I exclaim, bouncing up and down excitedly in the drivers seat. The car swerves slightly and I hear Mel groan in the back seat, quickly followed by Adam sighing with worry.

"Melody, do you need us to stop? We're only about five minutes away, but we can if you need a break," Adam says, cracking his knuckles.

"That's, like, the seventh time you've asked in the last 30 minutes. I swear, I'm fine. It's only five minutes, I'm sure I can manage," she mumbles, grunting as I slam on the breaks to avoid hitting the bright blue SUV in front of us.

"Sorry!" I yell, making Mel laugh before she groans once more. The SUV swerves into the other lane, allowing us to zoom past it. "C'mon, get excited! This is a once in a lifetime kind of thing!" I holler in the silent car, only to be followed by complete silence. This causes Mel to be thrown into a fit of laughter, her giggles lightening the mood.

Adam smiles slightly, looking down into his lap.

"Can we put on some music or something? I swear this is the most boring car trip I've ever been on," she snorts from the back seat, seemingly overcome her motion sickness.

"Well that's insulting," I laugh, pulling out my iPhone. I click on my most popular playlist, immediately starting out with one of my favorite songs, Finesse.

"Ugh, sis, this song is so old," Mel complains. Looking into the rear view mirror, though, I see her mouthing the words to herself, swaying to the beat. I smirk.

Adam shakes his head, laughing softly to himself before beginning to sing along with me, his voice perfectly on key. Both Mel and I are shocked into silence and he stops immediately, turning bright red.

"Damn! Where'd you learn to sing like that?" I ask, shaking my head with disbelief, a smile stuck on my face. He looks out the window, face still red.

Laughing it off, Melody and I continue to sing, and eventually he joins back in, harmonizing beautifully.

By the time the song ends, we're all laughing hysterically, shrieking the lyrics at the top of our lungs. Turning into a little cove between the trees, I smile, scream the last words, and then stop the car.

"We're here!"