Blue Letter Night

20. Beth makes a bet

Things had gone horribly array. We were all in the kitchen, Me, Mason, Anne, and Eddie, who might as well have lived there too with the amount of time him and Mason were spending together. Max was upstairs with Oliver, who was suddenly interested in bugs, and wanted to see Max's collection. Weird but dismissible, until a giant crash came from upstairs. We all exchanged eye contact then ran up the stairs and stopped at Max's closed door.

Anne stepped forward, and pushed open the door. I was standing at the back of the group and couldn't see what was happening, but a shriek came from Anne and she scrambled away, as did Eddie and Mason.

"What? What happened?" I asked pushing my way to see. The shelf that held all of Max's habitats for his creatures had fallen and smashed setting all of them free. Cockroaches, grasshoppers, mice, spiders, you name it and they were crawling around. A white mouse scurried across my foot and I shrieked and backed into Mason who only laughed.

"A phobia of mice?" He asked.

"Why do you think I have it Mr. I-put-mice-in-Beth's-sleeping-bag?" He made a face of realization and then smiled sheepishly.

"Don't tell mom," Max told us from his bed. Oliver was standing next to him looking as startled as ever.

"What!" Anne said.

"We need to tell her Max, I'm sorry," I said.

"No we don't," Mason defended, "they'll either find their way outside or die it'll be fine,"

"No, we can't do that," Anne told him.

"Guys listen-" and things went off the rails a little bit after that. We were all shouting over each other, arguing whether or not to tell Machelle when finally we heard the front door slam.

"Hey kids," Machelle called from down stairs. Max gave a look around the room and I raised my hand in surrender. This would be our secret.

"Hey," we all called down dragging out the 'y'.

"Could you all come down for a sec? I need to talk to you guys,"

We all shuffled down the stairs and met Machelle in the living room.

"Oh Oliver, Eddie, are you guys going to stay for dinner?" Machelle asked sitting on the couch. Trying to act naturally while there was a science lab of bugs and rodents running around, we all followed suit.

"If you'll have me that'd be great," said Oliver.

"I think I'd better go home for supper," Eddie said. Why Oliver agreed to stay for dinner in a house that was now infested with a large variety of bugs, was beyond me.

"What did you need to talk to us about?" I asked.

"Ah, you know Lisa is getting married in a week and a half?" We all nodded, "Well, she's asked me to bring Anne since she's a bridesmaid too, and Max sense he's a groomsman, and go a little early to help her with the preparations. So, Mason and Beth, I'm going to ask if Macy and Robert would stay with you guys since they'll be coming down for the wedding anyways, and you guys need someone to drive you there since we don't have any extra cars laying around," 

"Alright, when do we leave?" Anne asked.

"In a week, so Macy and Robert will be here with you for three days before you all head to Timberly Bay,"

Timberly Bay was a scenic little town that made most of its profit off of tourism and events held in the town. It was most famous for its sparkling lake and densely beautiful forests. There was a gazebo and a nice little venue where weddings and receptions were often held. Cousin Lisa planned all her weddings there, but a never actually had to pay as the event was cancelled soon after the engagement, I worried that this time, it would be too close to the date and she would have to pay full price.