When We Meet Again

Chapter III

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah, Gus?"

"Do we have to drive to Vegas?"

"I'm afraid so. Sorry, kiddo."

I couldn't believe it. We would have to be driving to Las Vegas, a ten-hour drive, right on my birthday. It was my day to celebrate, and now we have to go out on Dad's stupid business trip. Worst. Birthday. Ever.

Dad decided to wake the whole family up at three in the morning to get a good head start on driving before the morning rush came in. I thought it was stupid. We're going to be on the freeway for the majority of the trip, what was he afraid of?

I was groggy, still in my pajamas, and hardly packed for the long journey ahead of us. Mom rushed me out of bed and packed my bags in a hurry while I got dressed and brushed my teeth. Mom was probably just as mad as I was, if not, worse. When I finished preparing myself, I started hauling my suitcase full of essentials to the car: clean clothes, bathroom supplies, blankets, Dad's knife, and my cruddy old wristwatch. On my way to the garage, I heard Mom and Dad arguing in hushed whispers in the master bedroom. I pressed my ear up to the door.

"Ben, why are you taking us with you? You won't be gone that long!"

"I'm going to be gone for two months, Steph. That's too long to leave my family for."

"Why couldn't we have just taken a plane?"

"Too expensive. There's no way we'd have enough to stay alive there and to get a flight."

"Think of the kids, honey. What are they going to do for school?"

"I have it all figured out. They can take online classes. There's nothing to worry about. It will be like a vacation. We have a nice company paid condo that we can all stay at. Everything will be okay, I promise."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

I heard them inching towards the door, so I hurried and kept walking toward the garage. When I opened the door separating the garage from the rest of the house, I could see Ethan, my older brother, already inside the car fast asleep, with his bags already packed into the car.

I put my suitcase in the trunk of the SUV and went back to see if anyone else needed help packing their bags. I carried some of Mom's bags with Dad.

"I can't believe you're already twelve," Dad remarked.

"Yeah," I laughed.

"My second boy's all grown up now. Pretty soon you'll start losing your hair like me!"

"We'll see about that. Unlike you, I still haven't grown in my scum stash."

"You make a fair point, but one day you'll be like your old man." He said with a big smile on his face. He was trying to cheer me up, and I'll admit, it worked a little. He was always good at that.

Dad was a big man, towering around at 6'2" with a big, well-kept beard that was starting to turn grey. He had a receding hairline, but that never stopped him from trying to look as best as he could. Since he went to the gym so often, he had quite a bit of muscle mass. Although he wasn't ripped, he was still considered fit. He still hadn't changed out of his pajamas since it was a part of his "driving rules", where the driver could wear whatever they wanted without being ridiculed. Of course, he got ridiculed by Mom, Ethan, and me.

I sat in the back, as Mom took the passenger and Dad took the driver's seat. During all this commotion, Ethan still hadn't woken up. He could sleep through the apocalypse and only be woken up by his alarm clock or Mom screaming that he was late for school. The three of us strapped in our seatbelts and prepared for the long, grueling ride ahead of us.