Friends Don't

Chapter Twenty-five

I was sitting in the passenger seat of Lana's car headed to her parents' house. Derek was spending time with his family and was driving up in a few days so that he could go skiing with Lana and her family. Then I was going to take Lana's car back to campus to get my car and go to Grayson's, that way him and Lana could drive back to campus together.

I didn't really like driving someone else's car, but Lana really hated driving someone else's car, so I agreed to us bringing hers since she didn't want to drive the six hours alone.

We had just turned onto the street to her house, thankfully. Sitting in a car for six hours is awful. My ass started hurting when we were only two hours into the drive.

I jumped out of the car and grabbed my bag from the backseat and started heading up the driveway, but I felt a hand on my shoulder and was spun around. Lana stood beside me and leaned in as she took a picture of us.

"What are you doing?" I asked her after she snapped the photo.

Her eyes were on her phone as she typed away. "I promised Grayson I would send him a picture to prove you were here with me and not on a plane."

I rolled my eyes. "Wow." I spun on my heels, shaking my head, and walked up to the front door.

I heard the car door slam shut and seconds later Lana appeared beside me. Even after all these years I still couldn't bring myself to just walk right in. Her parents always told me that if they were expecting me, I didn't have to knock, but if they didn't know I was coming over that I should knock. I could only imagine why they had that rule set in place. Actually, no, I didn't want to even think about the reason for that.

Lana opened the door and walked inside and I followed her in. "I'm home," she yelled.

"Honey," I could hear her mother's voice and then she appeared from around the corner that lead to the kitchen. "It's so good to see, again!" She wrapped Lana in a hug.

Then she pulled away and pulled me into her giving me a tight squeeze. "It's so good to see you, Ellie." She adjusted the towel she had placed over her shoulder. "I'm so glad you decided to come spend time with us during Christmas break."

I gave her a smile. "Thank you for allowing me to come."

"Of course. You should have seen the smile I had when Lana told me you were coming!" She turned and headed back around the corner. "C'mon. I've baked some cookies."

Lana and I walked into the kitchen and the smell of gingerbread cookies filled my nose. There were a few set out on a platter on the island, and she was bent down grabbing another batch out of the oven.

I wasted no time in snatching one from the platter and taking a bite. "This is so good," I told her. One of my favorite things about coming over to Lana's house was that her mom always had some delicious treat just baked and set out for me to devour.

"I thought I heard two of my favorite voices," her father said, and I turned to see him come bouncing down the stairs. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed one of the cookies. "Sorry, I was taking a shower. I just got back from playing some tennis." He pretended to swing a racket.

"You're still playing tennis?" I asked him.

"Of course! Keeps me young."

"Oh, please. You don't look a day over thirty-five," I told him.

He used his half-eaten cookie to point at me. "I knew I always liked you better than Lana."

"Hey!" Lana said with a frown.

He laughed and kissed her on the top of her head. "Just kidding." He walked over to his wife and wrapped his arms around her giving her a kiss. It was such a sweet gesture.