My Summer In The Valley

02

Lilly finally let go of me and I could look into her face. She was just as I remembered. Tall, black hair, that cute slightly too big nose and a smile that could be seen from miles away.

"You look great, girl!" She cried and I grinned.

"You don't look so bad yourself." She laughed and I turned to get attacked by her two daughters, Serena and Amy. They were the spitting image of their mother, and you could see that as soon as they grew older they would be beautiful.

Serena was fourteen and Amy eleven years old. They were adorable if amazingly annoying at times. They were at that age when they would constantly start fights but right now, they were just cute.

"Izzy!”

"Oh, sweet Jesus, you two have grown!"

"I am taller than Theo, now." Serena said proudly.

"No way! I guess he is super jealous of that. But you just wait. Give him three years and he will tower over you."

"I can't imagine that. He is tiny!"

"And stupid." 

"Amy!" Their mother intervened.

"What? It is true! He's a boy and boys are always stupid!"

"Theo is not stupid!"

"Oh, just because you loooove him, Serena!"

"I do not! Shut up!"

"Girls!" I could not help but laugh. They had not changed one bit.

"I'm just gonna go grab my backpack." I said as I walked over to the baggage claim and picked up my huge backpack.

"Duncan! What did you do to become even hotter over the year?" I turned with a grin.

"Damien!" I was engulfed in another bone-crushing hug.

"Wow, now here is someone who has grown! You look great, mate!" And he did. Damien was a family friend. We had spent hours on top of a half-finished roof in the burning sun and helped built the addition to the house. He was a great guy and he just loved flirting, but we both knew it would never happen as he was two years younger than me and was basically like a younger brother. But we did not hesitate to flirt the shit out of each other, anyway. And I was just a great wing woman. I had proven that time and time again.

"Here, let me take that." He said while taking the backpack from me and almost stumbling. "What have you got in there? Rocks?" He gasped as he heaved it up and we started walking out of the tiny airport.

"Chocolate." I winked at him.

"I hope you are not planning on eating all of that on your own." Lilly put her arm across my shoulder.

"I would not dream of it. Got some for all of you. Good German and Swiss stuff that does not cost a fortune."

"God, I love you." Lilly cried, fist-bumping the air.

"I know." I laughed. We arrived at the truck. Oh, how I missed those. I was totally against anything that helped speed climate change, but these trucks brought out the savage in me. And as the Harrisons basically lived off-grid anyway, I would not deny them this comfort. And grabbing stuff in town three hours away from home did require having such a means of transportation.

"Shotgun!" I cried and hopped in the front seat while Damien stashed my bags in the back.

"Hey, no fair!" He cried. He knew he would now be sitting between two girls that were prone to bickering in very loud high-pitched voices.

"Life isn't fair." I said while sticking out my tongue to him. "And anyways, these seats are reserved for grown-ups."

"Oh, shut up!" He pouted as he climbed in the back.