Page 15 of Into the Mountains
“But you do have your parents’ house. Why don’t you just stay there? You’ll have all the freedom.”
My hands push into the fabric towering in my suitcase as I try to shove it down enough to zip it closed. Alan sees me struggling and wastes no time jumping on top of it, his ass almost crushing my hands. “There was a better way to help me.”
He wiggles his ass further pushing the top of the suitcase down. “Sure, but this way is more fun.”
I can’t help but laugh at him. Alan is one of the smartest guys I know, but he balances out that side of his personality with his fun side. He’s the one I go to if I want to have a reasonably good time—with boundaries. Ash is the one I go to if I want to have an unreasonably good time and maybe not remember it later, which isn’t something I do often. I’ve gone out with him once on one of his adventures this year and I decided I’d never do it again unless I was absolutely desperate. The morning after, I could only remember lots of tequila, paintball that most likely wasn’t even legal considering I don’t think it was at an actual paintball arena, and a vague memory of an alpaca. Still never figured that one out and I don’t intend to.
Alan knows how to have fun in a goofy, let’s go glow in the dark mini golfing at midnight way and stop for a drink on the way home. He’s much more my speed.
“Speaking of fun,” says Ash as he throws the baseball a few feet in the air, eyes never leaving it until it lands in his hand.
“Here we go,” Alan half groans from atop my suitcase. I zipped it up a bit ago, but he still hasn’t moved.
“Since you’re going to go back to whatever town it is you’re from—”
“Really, Ash? You don’t know what town he’s from and we’ve lived together for the whole year?”
I wave it off, because at this point, I know Ash. Details and him don’t really click. Ash ignores Alan and keeps going. “You should get out while you’re there over the summer.”
“Meaning?”
Alan’s eyebrows perk up at Ash’s idea and I really wish they didn’t. “For once, I agree with him,” he says, pointing a finger toward him.
“Get out there. Play the field.”
“The field?”
“Dude, I thought you were the smart one here.”
“I am.”
“Meet a girl. Or a guy. Whatever you want. Go on a date, man.”
“Why would I do that?”
This time it’s Alan who speaks up. “Well, you haven’t exactly dated before, right? You said you never did in high school. You were too busy doing the sport thing and competing academically with that red head.”
“Charlotte?”
“You should go on a date with her,” Ash practically yells. The laugh builds slowly at first and then bubbles over like a pot of boiling water.
“She hated my guts and I didn’t really like her all that much either. So, no,” I lie, nudging Alan off my luggage and start gathering up the rest of my bags to put them by the door. Stacked neatly on top of one another, I turn back to see them huddled together facing away from me, whispering.
“Whatever, you’re scheming about over there, stop it,” I say as I pat my laptop bag, searching for my computer. Empty. I check the dresser, my bed, but it’s not there.
“Have you guys seen my computer? I swore I just packed it.”
“Nope,” Ash says a little too quickly. It only takes me three strides to close the distance between the three of us. I look over their shoulders and see they do in fact have my laptop and it’s open to a dating website with my picture on it. To my horror, they’re in the about section editing it to put in that “I’m an experienced dater and I can show a girl a good time.” I shove through them and try to snatch my laptop away.
“Oh my god, what are you doing?” I yell. Ash is too quick and he leaps away and onto my now bare mattress, struggling to balance while holding the computer.
“We are setting you up on a dating website because you need to get out more.” Ash jumps from the bed to the floor to Alan’s bed, and so on as he talks because I’m trying to catch him to get my laptop back and delete whatever it is they put on that website.
I finally get close enough to tackle him while he’s distracted with whatever he’s typing.
“C’mon, Elias! Let us find you a wife.” Alan is perched on the windowsill watching us fall to the floor in a heap of laughter as Ash gets the upper hand and pins me to the ground. As much as these two are complete morons, they’re well-intentioned morons.
“You know, if I did like guys, this would be really hot.”
