Protective Love

Chapter 8. The Hotel

We walked across the street and entered the garage where all the rental cars are kept. We stop in front of a large car, one I assume we will be renting. Cody and I wanted a cool car like a convertible or some type of muscle car, we even tried convincing our brothers to exchange this one, but that idea went down the drain with just one bad look from Sam.
"How do you expect all of us to fit in a car like that Vi? Be more logical. This car on the other hand…” Sam motions his hands towards our rental car, “Wow, William you did a good job choosing this car! I mean, nice milage, it's comfortable and fits everyone nicely, and the color!" Sam starts to walk around the car, admiring it from all angels. I don’t know if he is over-exaggerating to prove a point to us or if he’s actually serious.
"Thank you Sam. Now come help pack the car." William starts to rummage through his carry-on bag and pulls out a book, he then turns to me and holds it out to me, "Vi, I want you to read this book for English. At least finish six chapters tonight okay?"
I take the book from his hands and admire the worn-out yellow-brown pages and leather bound cover with a picture of a small mouse running across a tile-floor, a needle tied around its waist by red string, ‘The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo’. I turn the book around and start to read the summary, “...​ The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread. A thrilling story of a brave, giant-eared mouse in love with a human princess...'" I mumble to myself before turning to William and whining, "Come on William! You expect me to read this book? It has 276 pages and 52 chapters!"
"Have you forgotten that you are still expected to finish your summer homework?” William patiently reminds me, his back is to me and Sam and him are currently piling our suitcases into the back of the car. William places a rather heavy suitcase into the trunk then turns to me, “Now you have to finish your book report on one of the books that was listed on the list given to you by your teacher. I want you to read this book and that's final. Do you understand me?" William’s voice is calm but stern as he addresses me directly.
"I'm homeschooled. Why do I have to do this shit?" I grumbled under my breath.
"Excuse me, young lady? You want to repeat that?"
“Why doesn’t Cody have to read a book?!” I grumble, crossing my arms across my chest, hugging the book in the process.
William raises his left eyebrow at me and copies my stance, crossing his arms across his chest, but he gives off a more stern and scary energy compared to me with my small body and short height.
I drop my arms, let out a small sigh and my gaze shifting from him to the street, "I understand."
"That's what I thought. Now get in the car and start reading. You have an hour and a half to read four chapters."
William nods his head approvingly and turns to help Sam finish packing the car. I grumble to myself and stomp towards the front of the car. ‘Ugh! He expects so much out of me!’ I think to myself as I open the sliding door and sit up front. Only then do I realize how big the car actually is: two seats up front, the drivers and passenger seat, two in the middle, and a long seat that fits three people in the back. I sit in the middle seat behind the driver's seat and open the book I am assigned by my 'teacher', actually meaning William, to read. I have two months left of summer, being it's only June. Why do I have to worry about some stinkin' homework now? Cody was sitting behind me in the last row when he leaned forward and startled me as he touched my shoulder.
“Hey, I already finished my book report last week. Remember every time you asked me to go riding with you on our horses or to hang out with our friends and I would deny you?”
“I do remember… You kept reading some book and I made fun of you for reading and not being outside! What were you reading by the way?”
“I was reading that book right there.” He points to the book in my hand.
“Oh.. I’m sorry.” I apologize for my accusation outside to William when I asked about Cody’s book report.
“It’s okay. It’s actually a good book, you’ll enjoy it.” Cody replies as he sits back into his seat to let me read.
Ten minutes later, William and Sam are finished re-arranging the suitcases in the car, Dean and Damon had come back from the airport store as they had decided to buy some food for breakfast for the car ride on their way back from the bathroom and I finished chapter two of my book. I start to realize that this book is very fascinating, and I smile to myself as I continue reading. Dean approaches me and asks me to hop to the back with Cody as Sam and Damon will be sitting in the middle seat and Cody and I are the youngest, meaning we have to endure the back seat. I huff, not wanting any arguments and move to the very back, seeing as Sam had already taken up the middle seat and Damon was waiting for me to move, I maneuvered my way around Sam’s large body to the back seat. I open up my book to continue reading, seeing as I only have a few pages left until I reach chapter 5. We start to drive, leaving the airport and heading to our hotel which will take us a couple of hours. After some time, I closed my book as I reached chapter five, fascinated by how the story is turning out to be. I suddenly feel like the world is spinning super fast and nausea starts to develop. I do not know how long we have been driving, I look out the window of the car and see a sign for a rest stop up ahead.
I whine, "William! I don't feel good!"
Damon turns around and reaches for my forehead, the back of his hand touches my forehead and a few seconds later his face shows dissatisfaction. "William, stop up ahead. Vi really is not feeling good."
William turns into the rest stop and before the car even stops I jump out of my seat and rush out of it, running towards the bathrooms. I can hear Dean yelling behind me, something about not jumping out of a moving car next time. I barge into the ladies room and run into the stall, realizing after some time that I feel better just having my head next to the toilet, but NOT laying on it! That's just gross!
A little while later, I hear someone calling my name, "Hey Vi, baby? Are you all right? You've been in there for a long time now." It's Damon, I recognize his voice.
I cry out, "Damon! I don't feel good."
Next thing I know, my stall door opens, maybe I forgot to lock it? and Damon is picking me up. He takes me towards the sink where he cups his hands under it to catch some of the running water and gently splashes my face. I am now sitting on his knee which he has propped up against the wall to support his own body and mine. He splashes me repeatedly with cold water then wipes my face with a paper towel. I am now being carried in his arms, my legs wrapped around his hips and my arms tightly around his neck, while he walks towards the rest of my brothers who decided they all should take a potty break too.
"How is she doing?" William asks
"Better, but I think maybe she should ride on my lap for the rest of the ride."
William nods and we all head back to the car. We get into the car and Damon straps us both in with his seat belt. I turn my body so that I am sitting sideways, looking at Sam. Damon wraps his arms tightly around me as I notice the seat pocket in front of us is stuffed with plastic bags. I guess William did come prepared. My favorite band is playing, Maroon five! I start singing softly to the music and slowly fall asleep as Damon's body moves with the rhythm of the beat.
I am startled awake by the slam of the car door. Looking around me I see that we have arrived at the hotel and I am sitting in the very back row again, my head propped up against the window. Damon must have moved me towards the back sometime during our car ride. "William?" I croak out, as I see him open up my side of the door. I also realize that I am the only one inside the car and the last of our stuff is being taken out by Damon. William scoops me up into his arms, carrying me like a child, with my legs and arms wrapped around his hips and neck. I am carried inside the hotel, up the stairs and to our room on the last floor, the elevator is currently being worked on so we had to use the stairs for right now. William sets me down and I walk around our large suite, it has three rooms, two separate bedrooms, each has two king sized beds and the living room with a combined kitchen is separating the bedrooms. I enter one bedroom and notice my bag and stuff is already packed into one of the dresser drawers. I go into a separate doorway and notice a huge bathroom attached with a big bathtub. I stare at the bathtub and contemplate taking a bath tonight. I remember the incident on the plane and quickly decide that I don’t have the guts to keep a big secret like this from my family, I decide that the only people that I can trust with something this big are my two best friends Chris and Vanessa. I take out my cell phone and send them a quick text message: