Falling

T W E N T Y - T H R E E

After a good four hours of driving we finally managed to make it to our house on the lake,  arriving just after 7pm.

It's already dark when we arrive but it was still easy to find since we've been here so many times.

My parents decided to ride up with April's parents in their car, oh so graciously allowing me to drive my moms car so that me and all of my friends could all fit in the same car.

Since I was the one driving this time I got to boss Will, who was sitting in the passenger seat beside me, around and make him feed me candy this time.

The car ride was actually a lot of fun. We of course ate lots of snacks (because what's a road trip without snacks?!), sang lots of songs, and played lots of car games.

By the time we pull up to the lake house, my tummy is aching from all of the laughing I've done in the past four hours.

"We made it!" April shouts.

"Hooray!" Mason chimes in. 

They start chatting excitedly about all the fun we're going to have. But I pay no attention to them when Will turns to look at me before speaking. "This is a really nice place." He sounds astonished.

"This is probably my favorite place to vacation." I nod as I park the car in front of the garage. "We always have so much fun here yet at the same time, it's the perfect place to just relax."

He nods in understanding while he peers out of the window to look at the house once more.

To accommodate the two families that share it, it's pretty big I must say.

We all pike out of the car and begin to unload our luggage to bring inside with us. As we all huddle around the front door, dad pulls the house key out of his back pocket and smoothly unlocks the door and pushes it open for my mom to walk in, him following behind her with the rest of us in tow.

The inside of the house is pitch black. Mom flicks on the lights and we are greeted by the homey feel of the house decor.

The whole house is decorated with neutral colors, making the home seem brighter. Most of the downstairs space is wide open to promote family time even when we're not all on the lake together. The family room, kitchen, and dinning room are all connected. The only rooms that are separate from everything else is the two bathrooms and a laundry room.

The upstairs is just for the bedrooms and bathrooms. There are eight bedrooms total, six of which have their own bathrooms. The other two bedrooms are pretty much just guest rooms that have a designated shared bathroom across the hall.

The basement is a movie/game room that we mostly only use at night time when it's too late to be out on the lake but admittedly, we don't use it very often.

"Katelynn, why don't you girls take these young men upstairs to their rooms?" Mom smiles at me.

"Amanda." Dad groans.

"Oh stop it, Scott. I didn't mean it like that so call down." She scolds him and swats his chest.

I try to ignore the awkward and inappropriate comments made by my parents. "Sure. Are they staying in the boys' room or the guest rooms?" I ask, referring to my brothers' shared room. The room has two sets of twin sized bunk beds that my three brothers sleep on. The last couple times we've all come here as a family, April's little brother has been sleeping in the fourth bed with them. Apparently Caleb thinks he's too old to be sharing a room with his twin sister, Lindsey, now.

"Whichever they prefer. I'm sure your brothers wouldn't mind if they take their room." She trails off thoughtfully.

I nod at her before turning to my group of friends. "We can show you guys the rooms and you can decide on which ones you want." I make my way up the stairs, duffel bag slung over my shoulder, everyone following close behind.