Without Paige

Chapter Twenty-Six

Katy and Miles were right on time, pulling off to the side of the road in front of my house at exactly seven o'clock. My mom wasn't home, but I still texted her to let her know I was going out. Our conversation from the week before had left me worried for how she would have reacted if she came home to find me simply gone.

Though she'd said I should have asked, I didn't. Instead, I told her Dad had met them and that he'd said it was alright, hoping that would be enough information to keep her calm when I came home.

When I'd texted Katy earlier that day, she told me they were camping out again, so I packed my clothes and blankets and ran out to Miles' truck with my backpack filled to the zipper. As I slid into the backseat, Katy swiveled to face me, "I told Miles you kicked butt at the game, obviously, and that you deserved your own trophy for most important and valuable and talented soccer player that ever played."

"Obviously," I said, laughing.

Miles looked back at me through the rear-view mirror, "Sorry I couldn't make it. I've got a test this week, and we had a study group today."

"A test? Already?" I asked, buckling my seatbelt just as he pulled onto the main road.

He nodded, "Tell me about it. We're barely two weeks into school and I'm already drowning."

"School, schmool." Katy said, rolling her eyes. She looked back at me. "So, tell me, are there any cute boys at Northport? Because I'm starting to think Southport boys just aren't my thing, you know? There are, like, no contenders this year."

I snorted, "Not a single one?"

"No," she said, sighing heavily. "I swear, I need to switch schools. How am I supposed to go to class when there's nothing to look at while I'm there, you know?"

I barked out a laugh, holding my stomach as she grinned. "Katy, there are better reasons to go to class."

"Name one." She said, "Wait, don't. Something tells me it'll be the same thing Millie said, and if one more person says to learn something I'm going to throw myself over a bridge."

I held up my hands, shaking my head in surrender. That'd been exactly what I was about to tell her.

When we got to the cabin, Keith, Liam and Rikki were already in the lake. I stepped out of the truck and I couldn't help but wonder how they weren't frozen. Though it was far from cold, it wasn't exactly warm, and I had to pull my jacket tighter around my shoulders just to keep from shivering at the temperature of the air. We were just far enough up the mountain that it no longer felt like crisp summer air. If it was this chilly up on the dirt, I didn't want to know how cold the water was.

Katy must've thought the same thing, because she ran over to the shore and called out at them, "Are you crazy? You'll freeze to death."

"It's not that bad," Rikki called back, though they were already swimming back to meet us. "You get used to it fast enough."

She shook her head, looking at me. "I swear, we can't leave them alone for two minutes. They're like toddlers."

"I take offense," Liam said, stepping out of the water and grabbing a towel from the picnic table. He pulled it across his shoulders and stepped towards her, and I didn't think anything of it until he grabbed her back and wrapped his arms around her, laughing.

Katy squealed, jumping away, but the damage had already been done. Her entire back was wet, the fabric clinging to her skin. She scowled at him, "Rude."

From behind me, Miles laughed. He had both his and Katy's bags in his hands, and was carrying them towards the cabin. I followed him in, dropping my own backpack on the ground near the door. He pulled open the mini-fridge, grabbing himself a beer and looking back at me, "Want anything?"

"Not yet, thanks though," I said, already moving back outside.

The others sat around the picnic table, and I took a spot beside Katy, barely fitting at the edge of the bench. Rikki looked around us, gaping up at the treetops and then whistling slowly, "Pretty soon we're not going to be able to come up here again."

"Why?" I asked.

Katy shrugged, "The road gets too harsh. The only car that can make it up here in the winter is Miles' truck, and even that's risky."

Liam nodded, "We might come up once or twice, but not nearly as often as we do in the summer."

"And," Katy continued. "It's hard to convince our parents to let us. They worry, believe it or not."

I laughed. Headlights shone from beside us, and I looked over to see Naomi parking her car next to Liam's, Trevor grinning and waving from the passenger's seat. He ran over, dropping a plastic bag full of drinks on the table in front of us and letting out a breath, as though the twenty-foot jog from the car had been a marathon.

He patted Miles on the back, making him wince. "Next time, you're driving me here."

"Why?" Miles asked, frowning. "Your house is out of the way."

"Because I like living, Miles." Trevor said, shaking his head. He pointed a finger back towards Naomi. "And she doesn't know how to drive."

Naomi scowled, sauntering over and crossing her arms in front of her. I stifled a grin at the look on her face, which was far less than pleased. Something told me Naomi didn't want to drive Trevor just as much as he didn't want her to. "You're overreacting, Trevor."

"No, I'm not." He argued. "She almost hit a tree. I could have died. Just imagine how sad you all would have been."

Miles leaned towards him, wrapping his arm around his shoulder and smiling in a way that was more taunting than friendly. "Trevor, you're the only person I know who's more dramatic than my sister."

"Don't drag me into this," Katy said. "And I'm not dramatic."

"Yes, you are." Everyone said, myself included. She pouted, and I couldn't help but giggle, leaning over and tapping her shoulder with my own.

We sat outside until the sun fell and it grew dark, and then we moved inside. Miles flipped the switch for the lights, and we each settled into the few chairs that filled the small space of the cabin. I sat on the arm of a couch, Katy just beside me. While the others fell into a conversation I wasn't quite listening to, she leaned in, dropping her voice to a whisper.

"Has anything else happened?" She asked. "With your dad, I mean."

I swallowed, looking around the room. Naomi was laughing at something Rikki had said, and Trevor's cheeks were blazing pink, either the fault of embarrassment or the two cans he'd just chugged back. No one was paying any attention to us. I shrugged. "He said he's looking at apartments."

Katy nodded, "Are you okay?"

I smiled, but I wasn't sure it was very convincing. "Yeah, I think so."

She put a hand on my knee, squeezing it once before letting go. That small action was comforting enough. I looked up, catching Miles' eye for just a second. He looked away fast enough that I was sure he was hoping I hadn't noticed, but I did. Out of everyone, he was standing the closest, hovering in the doorway and leaning against the frame. I didn't have to ask, I could tell from the look on his face that he'd overheard, but he looked more embarrassed for himself than anything else.

Really, I didn't mind that Miles knew. Like Katy, I felt I could talk to him, and he wouldn't judge me or my family. Of course, there was a limit to what I would tell either of them. I'd once thought that of Jess, as well, and I didn't want to feel like I needed to distance myself from Miles and Katy like I did with her.