i can't want you (i'm taking you anyway)

part 1

Taylor's POV

"My god Teffy, did you pack your entire bedroom in there or something?" My brother teased as I hiked my big pack up over my shoulders. Rolling my eyes at him, I clipped both front straps up and wriggled my shoulders to make sure it was comfortable.

"We'll see who's laughing when it's two in the morning and you're freezing your skinny little..."

"Okay! Kids, be nice." Dad cut me off, pushing between us. "You're about to spend a week in a little hut together. Let's try and least make it there before the bickering starts."

"I don't think that's going to happen Scott." Travis laughed, and I glared at him as my father chuckled. As my brother's best friend, he was annoying as hell sometimes. Him and I got along fine most of the time, but he still irritated me. And today, I wasn't in the mood for his jokes.

My parents had let both Austin and I invite one person each in this week long trip, and I'd been super excited to invite Abigail, but she'd come down with a nasty flu and had been forced to cancel yesterday. It had been too late for me to invite someone else, and I was a little grumpy about it. The trip would still be fun anyway, but now I had to deal with Austin AND Travis by myself without Abigail as a buffer.

"Cheer up kid, we're not that bad." Travis nudged me, and my heart jolted in surprise.

"I'm only two years younger than you! I'm not a kid!" I yelled after him, constantly irritated at the specific nickname he used on me. He didn't use it often, only to piss me off, and his nickname of choice was normally just Teddy. (I'd persistently dragged around a ratty little teddy bear for years when we were younger, and he'd never forgotten it.)

Travis chuckled as he walked off and I glared at his back, knowing he'd out-wit me if I snapped back again. We'd been around each other for well over a decade, he knew what buttons to push. So did I, but he was a hell of a lot better than me at being irritating. I just got flustered and ran out of words.

The six-hour tramp in to the hut passed reasonably quickly. I walked with Mom and Dad for most of it before falling behind a little to walk by myself at the back. Humming quietly, I start to pick some flowers that were growing on the side of the track, collecting them into a little bundle in my fist. Distracted, I didn't notice the others had stopped in front of me before I stumbled right into the back of Travis' pack.

"Careful Teddy, watch where you're walking." He chuckled, grabbing my arm before I tumbled over on my ass. "Falling for me already huh?" He winked, making a stupid comment as always, and my skin burned from where he touched me.

"You wish." I mumbled, my heart skipping a beat as I yanked my arm out of his grasp.

"You're welcome!" He called after me as I stepped around him and my brother - who had stopped to shed a layer - and jogged to catch up with my parents.

We got to the hut twenty minutes later; a small but comfortable place overlooking a huge river. It had a cozy main room and two bedrooms off to the side, along with a deck out the front. Mom and Dad took up the smaller one, leaving me to share the bigger one with the boys. Even though it was bigger, it wasn't a huge room, and the bottom bunk I dumped my pack on was only separated from Travis' by one.

"Taylor, honey, you're not going to believe this." Mom knocked on the open door. "Look what your Dad found in the corner." She held up a battered old guitar, and I lit up, smiling.

"Oh, great." Austin grumbled as I jumped up and took the instrument between my hands. "There goes all the peace and quiet I was hoping for this week."

"I'll play outside." I reassured him, too excited about having the instrument to argue with him. That had been the one drawback about this trip - that I wouldn't have my guitar - and now this week would be perfect. I could sit outside and play to my hearts content.