𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 • 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐛𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤

thirty-six

That morning, I was awoken by Colby. "Ellie, time to get up," he whispered.

I opened my eyes and pouted. "I don't want to."

"Do you really want to risk missing the plane?" he snickered.

My eyes went big. "No, definitely not."

"Then start packing, dummy," he replied as he started poking my sides.

"Colby, nooo," I giggled and rolled over so I could get out of the bed. "I'm up! And you're the dummy."

"I'll accept that now that I got you out of the bed," he responded and rolled my suitcase over to the middle of the room.

"For how many days should I get packing?" I asked.

"You should pack for five days, and maybe take something for special occasions," he said as grabbed his own suitcase.

"Oki doki," I replied. I took whatever I needed out of the closet and folded it into my suitcase. The spare pair of shoes I was bringing (which was a pair of heels and a pair of sneakers) I put into a plastic bag and also puzzled this into the case. Next up I took clean underwear, a pair of black leggings and a sweatshirt and went to do my thing in the bathroom. After doing that I gathered whatever needed to be in my toiletry bag and brought that back into Colby's room with me.

"Don't forget your charger," Colby said.

"Oh, thanks!" I said and unplugged it. "Literally was about to forget it. Wait, aren't the plugs different in Europe?"

"Right," he chuckled. "We'll get them there. Just pack your charger in your carry-on."

I nodded and grabbed my bag, I shoved my drawing tablet and laptop in there along with their chargers. "Do you think there's anything else I need?"

"Your documents," he replied chuckling.

"Obviously," I chuckled back. "They're already in there."

"Great, then I think you're settled," he smiled. "Oh, don't forget headphones."

"I would never," I replied and put the small purse Colby had given me yesterday also into my carry-on - it contained my headphones.

"I'm quickly gonna get ready and then we can stop somewhere to eat before going to the airport," Colby said as he gathered comfortable clothes for today.

I nodded. "Sounds great."

As he ventured off into the bathroom, I took his carry-on bag and then took mine and carried them downstairs. Then I went back to get Colby's suitcase and after I had brought that down, I went to fetch mine. Crazy how much easier it is to carry bags downstairs than up.

Colby walked into the kitchen where I was. I think everyone else was still sleeping. "You didn't have to carry those bags down."

I shrugged. "Figured it would save us some time."

"Where the Hell is Jake? He's supposed to drive us," Colby said, frustrated. "I'm gonna see if he's even awake."

I watched as he walked back upstairs and I proceeded back into the hallway. After a couple shouts heard from upstairs, Jake came flying down the stairs. He was fully clothed so he must've already been awake. Colby chased behind him, rushing past me.

I chuckled. "What's going on? You guys are gonna wake up the entire house."

"Ellie, help! He's gonna kill me!" Jake screeched as he ran into the kitchen. Now he was trapped on one side of the kitchen island as Colby was guarding the other.