When We Grow Up

Chapter 2 - Jack and Jill

Chapter 2 - Jack and Jill

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"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

"Now?"

Mom turned around in her seat to glare at Mack. "Stop distracting your father. He's driving."

I peeked at her scolding face and Mack's sullen expression from behind my book. "How much longer till we get there?"

Mack nudged my arm discreetly. "Excited to see Gabriel?" she mouthed with a knowing smirk. I bumped her back, not quite so gently.

Luckily, neither Mom nor Dad noticed. "Ten minutes," Mom replied. 

"You can already smell the ocean," Dad added. "It won't take too long at all."

Mack passed me a little slip of paper. Gabrosie all the way!

What is that? I wrote back.

You guys' ship name! Gabriel + Rosie = Gabrosie!

That is the cheesiest thing I've ever seen.

Suit yourself. You know you want him.

I glared at my little sister, balling up the note and chucking it at her forehead, causing her to laugh. I did not want him...like that. I was just...anxious, nervous, excited, and a million other things at the prospect of meeting him again after freaking fourteen years.

That was normal, right?

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The humidity in the air made my thin white tank top cling to my skin and my shorts already felt a little wet from my sweat. Yeuch. I tied my hair into a ponytail in an effort to keep myself from sweating buckets before I even fully stepped out of the car. Darn you Dad, rolling the windows down and letting that air seep in wasn't a good idea, I told you so.

Mack threw her arms up in the air. "I feel so free!" she cried dramatically.

Mom swatted her behind. "Go into the cabin and unpack already. The Faynes are running a little late, but no matter. We can settle in and meet them when they get here!" She went to the back of the car as my dad popped the trunk open.

Let me just say, lugging a fifty-pound suitcase plus an oversized bag up an entire two flights of stairs was exhausting. I was huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf. I shouldn't have brought all that stuff. What was I thinking?

I took a sweeping look at my surroundings as I waited for my breathing to become normal. The cabin was rather spacious, made out of some greyish wood that was smooth as a stone due to years of the winds sanding away the once-rough edges. There were large floor to ceiling windows in the kitchen and adjoined dining room, and a nice little patio out back. I also saw a balcony peeking out from the side on my way in from the top floor. This might as well not even be a cabin. House, or even mansion would've been a more appropriate thing to call it since it was so big. I mean, three floors? How often did beach cabins have that?

I finally caught my breath, God, I needed to start working out again, and peered down the hallway of bedrooms. Hm...three bedrooms? Oh, and plus the two grand suites on the second floor. Five bedrooms? I shook my head. Damn.

I walked into the one farthest down the hall. When I opened the door, it  swung open with a creak and the sunlight spilling in from the open doors highlighted my toes.