In Two Years

Chapter 13: The Cabin

The heat warms my skin as soon as I open the door. The woodsy smell of the cabin is in second place for the most comforting smells I've encountered. First place is standing so close behind me, I can feel his chest expand and contract.

"Alright. Who's ready for pizza?"  Tucker projects.

"Finally! I've been ravenous for hours." Ella complains.

"We brought beer!"

"That's not food!" She yells at Tucker with annoyance.

Ella and Tucker navigate to the kitchen while bickering about what kind of pizza to order.

"You slow pokes are going to get stuck with the living room if you don't claim a bedroom right now!" Leo yells while running up the stairs.

"I call the master!" Ella yells out.

"How about we take the living room?" Alex asks Elaine.

"I'm okay with that," Elaine says sweetly.

I look at Riley. There's competition in his eyes. I drop my duffle bag and run up the stairs before he can. He grabs me at my waist before I can reach the top step.

"Cheater!" I jump on his back as if I can take him down. He's so big, I make zero damage. I just hang on to him like a panda.

"Well, this is a nice surprise."

"I want my room, Riley."
    "You've never been here. Therefore, you don't own any room."

He opens a door to a bedroom.

"Don't. You. Dare."

"You can't stop me, Jo. You're just a pain in my ass right now."

"I can be more of a pain in your ass," I say before kicking him in the butt.

"Ow." He says with little expression.

Riley walks toward the bed. "Supposedly, this is supposed to be your bed?"

"Yes," I say through clenched teeth.

"Alright. You win." He falls to his side onto the bed causing me to go down with him.

"You're such a little shit," I lightly smack him on his shoulder." He turns around and starts tickling my ribs. "Riley!" I scream.

"Say you're sorry."
    "No!"

"I will not stop until I hear the words 'I'm sorry' come out of your mouth."

"Never!"

I slip off the bed and onto the floor. I thought I was finally able to get away, but as soon as I stand up to escape this torture chamber, Riley catches me and flops me onto the bed. His hands touch my ribs again. I assume he's about to start tickling me again, so I straddle him and pin his wrists above his head. He's breathing heavily now. My heart is racing. I now feel extremely awkward for being on top of him. I let go of his wrists. I struggle to get off of him, but he latches onto my thighs as he sits up. We look into each other's eyes for a solid minute.

"Pizza is probably going to be here soon." My voice snaps Riley back to reality. He lets go of my thigh but doesn't say anything.

    I take it back. The smell of pizza is second place for the most comforting smell. Everybody is scattered on the living room floor. There are 3 boxes of pizza, a bottle of Captain Morgan, and the card game There's Been A Murder. It's going to be quite entertaining watching everyone try to lie with Captain Morgan in their system especially since I'll be the only sober one.

    Ella reaches her hand towards a pizza box, Tucker slaps it away, "Everybody must take a shot before we start eating and playing games." I give Tucker a look that tells him except me.

    There are 5 shot glasses laying on the floor even though there are 7 people. Leo fills all of them with Captain Morgan.

    "Dude there's only 5 shot glasses." Tucker points out.

    "Elaine and I can share a shot glass," Alex says while drowning in Elaine's ocean eyes.

Everyone throws a shot of Captain Morgan back which is my cue to grab a slice of pizza.

"Let the games begin!" Ella shouts.

3 hours and 5 shots of Captain Morgan later, Alex and Elaine call it a night. We move the game from the living room to the kitchen so that they can sleep peacefully, not like they wouldn't pass out by the number of shots they took anyway.

As time slowly passes, another member of the group drops out to go to bed. Tucker is the last man standing other than Riley and me.

"Guys. I'm at my limit." Tucker announces.

"It is pretty late." I empathize.

"I can't wait to wake up with a hangover tomorrow."

"Please chug some water before you hit the bed," I let out with a giggle.

"Yes, mom."

Riley and I look at each other and then at the deck of UNO cards right next to us.

"You wanna keep playing?"

"Do I have red hair?"

He lets out a full-body laugh. "I'll take that as a yes."

We play 5 rounds of UNO. I win 4.

"Okay, one more round."

"One round is not going to do anything for your score."

"It will help my ego if I can win at least 2 games against you."

"If it's going to make you feel better. I'll even let you win." I subconsciously wink at him."

I have 7 decent cards. Maybe he will win this one.

Riley places down a yellow 7.

I place down a yellow 3.

He puts down a red 3.

I put down a red 6.

He plays a red 1.

There are no special cards being played which makes me suspicious that he is going to play a Draw 4 card once I hit UNO.

I play a red 0.

He draws a card.

I play a red 9.

"UNO," I say sweetly.

He draws a new card.

I play my last card... a red 2.

"Ha! I won!" Riley drops his remaining cards and stands up. They don't notice immediately that they were all red. "I won!" I squeal like a little kid as I jump on him.

What is up with me and jumping on this man tonight?

"I can't believe you just won 5 games of UNO."

"I'm just that good."

"Or that lucky."

"I am definitely that lucky."

"I'm going to get you back."

"Yeah, sure you will." I'm still hanging onto him. He holds me tightly as he walks us up the stairs to the bedrooms.