Frost

The Plan

I slammed my textbook down on the nearly empty table, causing my friend Adrian to nearly jump out of his seat.

"What happened now?"

I groaned as I sat down across from him. "The yearly Brady family cabin trip." I've been best friends with Adrian since fourth grade, so he's quite familiar with my family's yearly trips. Every winter break, we take a trip up to a huge log cabin in the middle-of-nowhere Ontario for "family bonding," according to my mother. My parents allow only family and partners. Two weeks with no Wi-Fi, no phone service, no technology, and no connection to the outside world. And I hate it with a burning passion. But there's no getting out of it. 

"What if I came with you? To have a friend to vent to, at the least."

"I wish. We'd have to pretend to be dating for that to have even a slight chance of working." 

"Then why don't we do just that?" I sat straight up, confusion painted across my face. "There's still time for you to be able to convince your parents we're together and to let me come with, if you're okay with pretending I'm your boyfriend for two weeks."

"That's not the worst idea I've ever heard." I pulled my phone out of my pocket, opening the memos app to keep track of everything. "I'll tell my parents tonight, and you do the same, and on the last day of this semester I'll ask them if you can tag along." I stood from my seat and moved to sit next to Adrian. "Will your parents let you leave the country for two weeks with only a few days of notice?"

"Eh. Every winter break, all I do is fight with Aubrey and Ben. Sometimes I think they'd be grateful to have one winter break without hearing me and my siblings argue all the time." 

"Alright. Here's hoping we can keep this up the entire time." Adrian threw his arm around my shoulders and pressed a kiss to my temple, my cheeks flushing at his gentle touch.

Fingers crossed this actually works.

<><><>

I stepped into my mom's car, making a point to be more cheery than usual, hoping somebody would pick up on it.

"Well, someone's happy today. Did something good happen today?" My mom asked, slowly backing out of her parking space. 

"Well," I fanned my hands out across my lap. "You know Adrian Foster?" I glanced over at my mom, who nodded lightly. "Well, today he asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said yes."

My mom laughed lightly in shock. "I'm glad you're happy, but I must say, this is a little out of left field. But if you're happy with him, I won't intervene." 

"Dad is a different story." 

"You know he means well, Kitty." She leaned forward in her seat slightly. "Would you be interested in him coming with us to the Ontario cabin? You always complain how you don't have any friends whenever we visit there."

"If Dad allows it."

"I know he's harsh with you sometimes, but he really does want the best for you. If you're happy and he can see that, I'm sure he'll be okay with it." 

<><><>

He was not okay with it.

Despite me playing music and focusing on anything other than my parents, I could hear them arguing well into the night on whether or not Adrian should be allowed to come with us to Ontario. I felt bad for causing my parents to argue like this, but technically I wasn't the one who suggested Adrian come with us first. More than once I found myself pressing my ear to the floorboards, trying to listen to what they were saying. And for most of it, I didn't think that Mom would win.

After what felt like hours, my dad came into my room, his graying hair a mess from tugging on it in frustration. "So, I hear you have requested that David be allowed to tag along on our trip to Ontario."

I stood up to meet his gaze, trying to reason in favor of my side. "You said yourself that partners are allowed to visit, and Adrian qualifies. That cabin is huge anyways, so why does it matter to you?" 

"You happen to be my daughter. I care about you more than you might understand, and I don't want anything to happen to you."

"It's twelve days in a cabin with our entire family, and he's Adrian. What's gonna happen?" 

We both were silent for a moment, both sides running out of points to make. After a moment, Dad finally spoke. "I'm tired of fighting with you and your mother, and you seem very set on letting him attend. So, very well. But if I heard of anything happening between you two, he's going back on the next plane to Manhattan, no questions asked. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." 

He left my room, closing the door behind him. I turned to grab my phone and informed Adrianon the situation.

Chat Noir

My parents are cool with
Adrian takes Ontario if yours
are.

Mine are too. When do we leave?

Six days. Pack your suitcase,
you're going to Ontario.

On it.

I set my phone back down on my desk, feeling an odd lightness, like I was walking on air. I brushed those feelings aside as plain excitement and pulled my suitcase from my closet, taking out the other bags I kept inside to start packing.

At least one family trip wouldn't be horrendously boring.