A Trip To Remember

Tree

   "What do we do?!" Rianna exclaimed, still panicked and energetic.
  "First," I started with evenness in my voice. "We calm down." I took a breath, thinking for a second. "How are you not sure that he just went to the store or something?"
  Rianna's face went soft and she hesitantly handed me a piece of paper. I opened it and there was a letter written in narrow handwriting.
~
    Hey guys. You probably noticed that I'm not there. You guys are...so awesome, and I wish the circumstances were different, but I had to go. I needed to get back to Stanford. Maybe someday we'll run into each other. I hate goodbyes, so...until next time.
~
  I stared at the letter, a bit surprised, and yet not very at the same. I just didn't know he was leaving NOW. I noticed there was more at the bottom and I continued on.

     For Ashlyn: After our talk, I thought it would be best to leave things between us like that. I don't know about you, but I felt it was the best way to say goodbye. Take care, Ash.  —Noah

  I chewed my lip in thought. "This is fine." I said, folding the letter in my hand.
  "WHAT?" Rianna said loudly.
  "This is better. We don't need to ruin our vacation being upset about a guy we barely knew. Come on we don't want to do that. With this he leaves without all the heavy goodbyes. We'd prepared for this anyway."
  "But what about you? How do you feel about this?" Alysa spoke up.
  I chuckled lightly. "I'm really really fine with it. Actually it's a lot of pressure off of me. He wanted more then I did and I didn't want to have to go through rejecting him so...yeah. Plus we all were preparing for it, including myself. Knowing he was leaving made it easier. It would just be harder saying goodbye so I'm glad he did this."
  Alysa and Rianna glanced at each other.  "Okay mate...if your sure your alright."
  I nodded, and I was being honest. All I could do was move forward and have fun on our trip.
  I smiled and clapped my hands together. "Well let's make some breakfast."
  I got to work on the grill and soon the scents woke everyone up.
  After everyone made their plates, we sat down around the fire pit, that was nothing but grey ash now.
  "Hey where's Noah?" Joseph asked.
  Nathan smacked him on the back of the head, giving him a look. "Rianna just said don't talk about it you headass ."
  "You're a retar-." Jo said mockingly.
  "Don't say that word!" Sophia yelled, but was cut off. She, along with the rest of us, hated the R word because it was really offensive, and she was right, and she always scolded them when they said it, but I guess they'd forget in the heat of their arguments and say it anyway.
  "Shut up!" Nathan yelled at Jo, completely ignoring Sophia and putting his plate down.
  Jo rolled his eyes and used his arm to push Nathan off the log they were sitting on, and he fell backwards.
  There was a small pause and Sophia rolled her eyes. "Anyway," I started. "I think we should head back to the house today. If we don't get back soon someone's gonna probably break in." I shrugged.
  "Yeah we can pack when we're done eating." Sophia agreed.
  For the next hour we packed all our camping stuff up and got ready to walk back to our place.
I looked back at where our setup was and set down the bags I was carrying.
I pulled my knife out of my back pocket and flipped it open.
I slowly approached the low tree that was really short and curved, almost like a mini little cave that was tall enough for me to walk under.
I ran my hand along the trunk and stabbed the blade into the rich, soft bark.
"What're you doing?" Alysa asked, turning around and walking over to where I was working.
"One...sec..." I said, still carving.
"Ok..."
I flipped my knife closed and stared at my carvings. I carved each of our initials and wrote 'Summer2022'.
I looked at Alysa and she smiled, and I smiled back.
I picked up our packs, and looked at Noah's initials one last time, before hoisting the bags on my shoulder, turning around, and walking away.

***

"ARE YOU LITERALLY STUPID?" Rianna screeched.
"YOU TOLD ME TO COME UP WITH A SMART INVENTION!" I said defensively.
"YEAH AND YOU GAVE ME THE JOSEPH HYDE OF INVENTIONS." Rianna shot back.
I laughed and covered my mouth looking at Joe, who just stared at me dully. He flipped us all off before walking out of the room.
We had just gotten back to our place after spending the day out, just randomly shopping and stuff. Now we were just playing random games. One of which was to think of an invention in 5 seconds and shout it.
"OK WELL YOUR NOT EVEN CONSIDERING IT."
She gaped at me as everyone shook their heads, laughing.
"YOU FUCKING MORON. TELL ME, WHO IS GONNA BUY PRE-CHEWED GUM."
Sophia snorted and water spewed out of her mouth, and she fell on the floor laughing. Nathan just stood up and walked out the room while Alysa held her face in her hands.
I held up my hands. "Fine if I get famous and rich from my invention then don't come crying to me."
"Ok well if I'm laughing my ass off when I come visit your homeless ass on the street, then don't cry to me." Rianna replied, making Sophia and Alysa laugh harder.
I rolled my eyes and stood up, picking up the phone. "So do we want pizza?" I asked, walking into the kitchen.
"SOPHIA WANTS PIZZA." Sophia yelled from the living room.
I laughed and dialed the pizza place, who were already on speed dial. I laughed and realized it must've been Sophia who did that.
I ordered our pizzas and when they got here we all sat down in our places, sharing chairs and couches.
"Hey is there such thing as a six-some?" Joe asked, taking a bite of pizza.
I turned to him, making a face.
"I regret sharing a chair with you." I said rolling my eyes and trying to scoot away from him. Nathan rolled his eyes and turned on Avengers Infinity War.
"THREE OF MY HUSBANDS ARE IN HERE." Alysa shrieked. I laughed and nodded.