Telling my parents about our plan was not something I would say happened in the most graceful way possible. I went downstairs to them already arguing over something stupid like what cheese goes best with what wine which, as usual, got them more worked up than ever necessary.
I stumbled over more than my fair share of words while describing our plan and at the end of it my parents seemed to be waiting for a punchline where I told them I was joking. Once it was silent for long enough to make each of us uncomfortable, they both spoke up at once.
An incoherent flood of words suddenly came out of their mouths. "How are you getting there what is your budget how long will you be gone where are you going why are you doing this do you expect us to let you go alone with a girl what will happen if things turn south while you're out there your car can't make it gas is expensive are her parents okay with this how are they okay with this you have never done something like this alone what if you get robbed." The flood kept coming, but I stopped listening. I knew they wanted to talk to themselves more than they wanted to talk to me.
I tried to explain that it was going to be okay, that it was only going to be twenty days, and that they really had no point in trying to tell me no. To be honest, it was more of a formality than an actual plea. By threat of sounding too much like a teenager, there was really nothing they could do to stop me from going.
We went back and forth like that for more than a fair share of minutes. They would ask me questions as if I were five, and I would try my best not to yell and storm out.
It was a very productive conversation.
Finally, the dust settled and I felt like I had the leg up. They sighed and gave me their rules: I can't leave until after Christmas, it had to be precisely twenty days and not one more, if anything even starts to go wrong I come home, and under no circumstances do I get the girl pregnant. That last one didn't really matter, but I thought it was funny that they threw it in.
I yelled, hugged them both, and went up to my room to call Emma.
"Hey there," she said smoothly into the phone.
"Hey. I just had the talk with my parents. I'm good to go."
"No way!" There was an excitement in her voice that made me warm. "Just like that? Did they have any problems?"
"Well, it definitely took some convincing. But yeah they gave me some basic guidelines like I can't get you pregnant, I have to call, I can't leave until after Christmas. Stuff like that."
"Wow... Christmas. You really lose track of the season cheer when you get cancer."
She wasn't wrong. Other than a scantily clad Christmas tree in the corner of my living room, there was no other part of my day or life that reminded me of Christmas. Christmas was a relatively distant memory at this point.
It seemed that holiday cheer was a luxury I couldn't afford.
"Either way," she continued, "right now it's the nineteenth. That gives us six days until we can even think about leaving."
She didn't have to say it. We both knew that it might be too long.
A short silence followed that said all the things we didn't say out loud.
"Okay, the 26th it is," she concluded. "I have just about every single aspect of it planned out."
"Do I get to know what we're doing?"
"I didn't really think about that before but, now that you mention it, no. No this is going to be something that only I know about. Thanks for giving me that idea. I was going to run the agenda by you, but now I guess there's really not much more to say on the call. Goodbye, I guess. I'll see ya tomorrow."
"Oh alright, Goo-." She had already hung up the phone.