Monday
I woke up with my head on Blake’s chest, and his arms wrapped around me. I couldn’t move without waking him up. Slowly, I tried to slide myself from under his arm.
“Oh good” he yawned. His eyes were still closed. “You’re awake”
“Sorry” I told him. I felt bad for waking him up. After last night’s conversation, I couldn’t be mean to him, no matter how mean he was to me. “I didn't mean to wake you”
“Its okay” he replied. He yawned. “I woke up an hour ago but didn't want to wake you. So I went back to sleep”
“Sorry” I said again. He just smiled at me. We climbed out of the truck and waited for AAA to come and get us out of this mess.
My back hurt from having to sleep on suck a hard surface. I hated sleeping on a couch, let alone the back of a car. The braids I put my hair were completely messed up now, so I carefully unbraided my hair, letting down the long waves the braids had created.
“You know” Blake started. He was playing his guitar again. “You should wear your hair down more often. It suits you.”
I smiled. As much as I hated having my hair down, I knew he was right. I did look nice with my hair down, especially when it was wavy. Naturally, it was pin strait, which was incredibly plain. I wished my hair was like my sisters. She had really pretty wavy hair, though she used to straighten it often when she was in high school. I knew she was always envious of me for having straight hair, while I wanted her hair so badly.
About an hour later the AAA pulled up next to the truck. Thank god. I couldn’t take another minute of waiting.
“Finally!” Blake said, jumping off the roof of the car, and went over to talk to the man in the truck.
Half an hour later, we were saying goodbye to the AAA man, who gave us a boost. We continued down the dirt road, and left the forest. We drove in silence for the first half hour. There wasn’t much to say to each other now. After being stranded for a night, we both just wanted to make it to the cottage unharmed.
“You should probably call our parents” he told me “tell them were back on the road.”
I nodded and picked up my phone. I finally had service, which was a huge relief for me. I dialled my mother’s cell number, and waited patiently for her to answer.
“Hello?” my mother’s voice was calm. She seemed relaxed.
“Hey mom” I said “it’s Elle”
“Ooh hey honey!” she was excited. I suppose hearing me was a relief. It was just past ten, and they told us if they didn't hear from us after noon they were coming to find us. “Are you guys back on the road?”
“Yeah” I told her “we just needed a boost. Nothing special.”
“That’s good to hear. How long will you be here in?”
I didn't know the answer to that. I didn't even know how far the cottage was from our houses.
“My mom wants to know how long we will be there in.” I said to Blake. He switched lanes.
“Um” he said “probably an hour”
I repeated what he said to my mother, who told me that they were preparing a good lunch for us, as we were probably extremely hungry. And she was right. My stomach growled for food.
I hung up the phone and stared down the road. I wanted to get to the cottage as fast as possible. This trip had better been worth the drive over. If not, I was going to make it.
“Were here” Blake said. He said it very casually, almost like he wasn’t happy to be here, nor was he mad to have to spend his summer away from civilization.
He turned onto a dirt driveway and drove up. When I saw the house my jaw dropped. This wasn’t a cottage, it was paradise! The house was probably the size of both our houses combined. I could see a glimpse of the lake in the background. It was stunning.
“This” I said, looking at him “is the cottage? The boring one you would tell me about every year? How big is it?”
“Eight bedrooms.” He told me, as he parked in front of the house “and I wasn’t kidding. It’s really boring to be here all by yourself for an entire summer. I mean, there are other kids around here, but I mean, they have their friends there, and I just spend my time inside.”
I stepped out of the car and walked around. “This is incredible.” I whispered.
“Do you like it?” I turned around to see Mariah, smiling “it was my grandfathers. Slowly passed down through the years and made its way to me. Though we did repair it and updated most of the room, it’s pretty much the same house”
“It’s amazing” I told her. She smiled. Mariah looked fairly calm. She was usually stressed out all the time. She wasn’t a very calm person, so to speak. But here, she looked happy. It was a vacation, and no one, not even Mariah, was stressed out while on vacation.
“Come inside” Mariah smiled. “You must be starved”
As soon as she said that my stomach growled loudly. I followed Mariah into the house. The inside was stunning. It was completely dark wood. If you looked up you could see the point of the roof. There was wood paneling along the walls, along with very vintage and antique furniture. It wasn’t like the furniture that was in their house though. That was ‘posh’ furniture, as Blake use to call it. The cottage was old, but it was a nice old. An undated old though.
Mariah led me into the kitchen. It was beautiful, like the rest of the house. The cabinets were a dark wood with white countertops. The table was also dark, with eight chairs set up around it. The only thing that looked like it belonged to the original kitchen was the beautiful chandelier, which was very rustic, but looked so amazing in the kitchen.
On the table was food, set up from one end to the other, With Every sandwich from peanut butter to turkey and Swiss. Mariah always had food prepared. I don’t think I've ever gone to her house and she didn't have a buffet set up on the table for us.
Mariah left Blake and me to eat. I was so hungry I barely even tasted the food before I swallowed it. I ate so quickly that when I was done, my stomach hurt so much. I put my plate in the sink and walked into the hallway to explore the house. I knew Blake or someone would have been available to take me around, but it wasn’t half as fun. The house was a bungalow, with a loft upstairs that they used as a games room. I walked through the hallway and peaked into every room. Living room, dining room, office and even another indoor pool. I didn't know why they would even want an indoor pool here. The lake was right outside.
Thinking about the lake, I decided to go check it out. I walked back into the hallway and slipped out the back sliding door. The house was located on a cliff, with a dock looking down onto the water. You could walk down the stone stairs to get closer to the water, but the view from the dock was spectacular. I walked onto the porch, which had a beautiful view of the entire scenery.
“You don’t even come to say hello?” I turned around and my mother was standing in the doorway. I walked up to her and gave her a big hug. “I was so worried about you last night.”
“I know” I told her “but it wasn’t like I was alone or anything. Blake was there.”
“I know honey” she smiled. “But I’m your mother. I’ll always be worried, no matter what.”
I smiled back at her. I loved my mother to death. She was a pretty relaxed parent, unlike some of my friend’s parents who had them on a leash. My mother trusted me, which was something that I loved. I wasn’t like Diana, who my mother had to keep a watchful eye on because she was the type who would get into all sorts of trouble.
My mother stopped smiling at me for a second. “You and Blake” she started “you didn't, you know—“
“Mom!” I interrupted “that’s disgusting! He’s my friend. Nothing more!”
My mother didn't look to sure of that. Did Diana tell her about our kiss? If she did I was going to murder her. I liked Blake, but he had already admitted to me that he didn't feel the same way about me as I did him. We were just going to friends, and nothing more.
“I trust you honey” she said. She kissed me on the forehead and walked back inside the house, leaving me all alone on the porch to enjoy the view.