After a long talk with my mom, she finally agreed to let me go to the cabin with the group. Elliott said he would go with me and I think that made Mom's stress level decrease by about point two percent.
She interrogated me about everything little thing: where the cabin was, who was going, what was going to happen while we were there, when I would get back, etc. I didn't mind her being a helicopter mom for a minute but for the last hour, she has been nagging me, making sure I was prepared.
"Do you have your medication?"
"Yes." I hold up the bag containing my pills as proof.
"Do you have extra beanies?"
"Always." I hold up a handful of beanies.
"Did you pack your toothbrush?"
"Of course." I hold it up before putting it back.
"What about-"
"Mom." I cut her off before she can ask. I take my mom's hands and hold them in mine. "I have everything, I promise. And if I forget something, someone else probably has an extra or we can got to the store by the cabin." I rub her hands with my thumbs and see her worry wash away a little.
"Okay. Okay. I'm trusting you." She pulls me in for a hug. "I love you, Erin."
"I love you too, Mom." We stay hugging for a minute before she pulls away and hugs Elliott.
"Keep her safe for me. If she gets hurt, call me immediately, okay?" He nods and Mom says something else before he nods again.
"You ready to go?" I ask, zipping the last of my bags.
"Yep. Let's go." We gather our bags and said a final goodbye to Mom before getting in the car.
"You sure you want to go? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." I turn to Elliott right before I put the car in reverse.
"Of course I do. Your friends are cool and plus, I could use a getaway." He gives me a genuine smile and that is my cue to get on the road.
On the way, we sing songs, play road games, talk about life, and bond. I don't get to see Elliott often so when I do, I cherish every second.
"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Elliott asks for the twentieth time in the last five minutes.
"Yes, ET. I'm following the GPS exactly." I sigh, feeling a small headache form.
"We're in the middle of nowhere, Erin. I think the GPS is trying to get us murdered." He jokes.
"Did you expect the cabin to be on a populated street? Just trust me. We're in the right place." He mutters a "fine" before going back to playing Minecraft on his phone.
Thirty minutes later, we finally find the cabin.
"Look who finally showed up!" Cam exclaims when we arrive. As we're gathering our things, the group walks out.
"Don't blame me. Blame the chick who doesn't know how to follow GPS." Elliott says, pointing is finger at me.
"Me? I wasn't the one who was chewing so loud that I couldn't even hear the GPS!" I retort.
We bicker for the next couple minutes before finally going inside.
"How was the drive?" Parsons asks. We're gathered around the fire, trying to warm ourselves.
"Not too terrible. My company wasn't the quietest but it was bearable." I smirk at Elliott who has his jaw dropped. He sticks his tongue at me and I mimic him.
"What's the game plan for this trip?" Liv asks. She looks slightly amused by our arguing but I notice a hint of annoyance as well.
"Just to hang out. We'll find things to do along the way." Cam says while entering from the kitchen. He holds a cup of something hot and hands it to Ollie.
"What's the room situation?" I ask.
"We have four bedrooms. Ollie and I are sharing one so you guys can figure out how the rest will be used." He sits next to Ollie and smiles at us.
"I call dibs on my own room." Liv and Elliott say this at the same time.
"Looks like Neil and Erin get to be room buddies." Ollie says this and winks. I roll my eyes before looking to Parsons. A smirk lays on his lips and he has the audacity to wink at me.
This night is going to go great.
A couple hours later, we've all settled into our rooms and are discussing dinner plans.
"We could order food from some place." Ollie suggests.
"We probably have something we could heat up here." Parsons says.
"I'm down for whatever." I pitch in.
After a minute of talking, we decide on heating up frozen pizzas. Somehow, Parsons and I got stuck on pizza duty. How that happened, you'll have to ask Liv.
As I scroll through my phone, I find myself fiddling with my necklace.
"Do you do that often?" He asks, a playful expression on his face.
"I don't know, do I? You can't seem to take your eyes off me." I throw a wink to him at the end of my statement and he seems a little shocked at my response.
"You would only know if I was looking at you if you were looking at me." He argues. He slowly takes a couple steps towards me.
"I'm not the one with a staring problem." My smirk falters slightly as he closes the distance between us but I try to not let him notice.
"You sure about that? I notice you looking at me every chance you get." I cock my eyebrow at him, hoping to seem a little intimidating. Sadly, it doesn't help.
My eyes slightly widen as his face inches towards mine. I thought he was going to kiss me but his mouth goes towards my ear. I feel my breath hitch as I feel his warm breath on my neck.
"Maybe I just like what I see." I can hear the smirk on his face as he speaks in a low, husky voice. I go to make a remark, but I find myself at a loss of words. I think Parsons noticed my lack of words, the smirk only growing wider.
How come I can't speak when I need to?
I watch as he moves his head in front of me. And as I suspected, a smirk rests on his kissable lips.
Wait. Did I just think Parsons' lips were kissable?
Didn't we already establish this?
His face grows closer to mine and I find myself craving to lost the distance between us. I don't get closer to him, but I don't stop him from closing the distance.
"How much longer until-" The sound of Elliott's innocent voice causes Parsons to quickly back away from me.
"Was I interrupting?" He flashes his eyes between the two of us. He holds a questioning yet knowing look on his face.
"No, not at all." I look to the oven to answer his question. "Just fifteen more minutes."
He nods before looking at me one last time. I read his eyes and find myself holding my breath as I wait for him to leave the kitchen.
I look over to Parsons and find him awkwardly standing there.
I'm glad we feel the same way.
"Can you handle watching the pizza?" He asks, turning away from me.
"Yeah. I got it." I expected him to say something else but he just walks away. He seemed in a rush to leave the kitchen. A questioning look appears on my face but I quickly rid myself of it.
A couple minutes later, with ten minutes left on the timer, Elliott walks into the kitchen.
"Hey, E." He says this in an odd tone, one I've never heard him speak in before.
"Yes?" I ask. I can tell that he's going to ask something just by the way he's walking towards me.
"What's going on between you and Parsons?" He walks towards the fridge and gets himself a Sprite before leaning against the island counter a couple feet away from me.
I would be lying if I said this wasn't a nice cabin. I haven't been able to explore the full cabin yet but for what I have seen, I've been impressed. The outside is a beautiful mahogany color that stands out against the surrounding white snow. There is a small wooden porch that leads to the house but it isn't too big. The house is one-story but manages to feel so vast. When you enter, you are able to see almost the entire house; you can see the living room, kitchen/dining area, the hallway that leads to the bedrooms, and even the porch to the outside area. The house isn't decorated much but it's simplicity grants me comfort in the unfamiliar setting. To say the least, I am enjoying this trip and I've only just seen the house.
"Nothing." I say with a shrug of the shoulders.
He scoffs. "That's a lie and we all know it." I open my mouth to protest but I don't when Elliott talks instead. "Erin, it's okay to like someone; it's not the end of the world." He sighs before walking over to me. "These people are really great. I know I'm the most recent person you've told about what happened to you, but Erin, that was almost six years ago. It's okay to let people in." He sighs and pulls me in for a hug. "I know you're scared that people are going to hurt you like Tori did but I fully believe that those people out there right now aren't going to hurt you. I think they care about you more than you notice."
We stand in a hugging stance for a few minutes before Elliott goes back into the living room. I didn't say anything else to him. To be honest, I didn't know what to say; everything he said was truthful. Something was going on between Parsons and I, I just wasn't sure what it was. I was scared of letting people in.
I've known both of these things for a long time now. I just wasn't sure how to deal with either of them.
"You gonna get that?" I pull myself out of my thoughts as his voice fills my ears. A playful look sits in his green eyes. It takes me a minute to realize what he's talking about but the sound of the oven going off finally fills my ears. I put on a pair of mittens and carefully take out the two pizzas.
As the pizzas cool off, a sigh leaves my lips. I close my eyes. I find myself taking off my beanie for a second, running my fingers through my hair.
"Beanie?" I realize that Parsons was still in the room and quickly put my beanie back on. A worried look sits on his face and based off what I just did, it's justified. He slowly walks towards me. I feel my pulse begin to quicken and can't help but notice my racing heart as the distance between us lessens.
"You okay?" He says this so quietly that I almost don't hear him. But my concentration on his lips allows me to understand him.
"Yeah." I mutter, avoiding eye contact for a moment. I feel his gaze on me and decide to meet his eyes. "I'm just hungry." I say this in hopes of him believing me. I was hungry but food wasn't the main thing on my mind.
He nods before putting some space between us and joining our friends in the living room. I can't help but miss the closeness as he leaves.
I'm finally able to release my breath when he's far enough away from me. I don't know when it started but I find it harder to breathe every time he is near. I know what this means and I accept it, but I have no idea what to do now.