Road Trip by Caleb Baker (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📕

"Me either," I mumbled as I walked up the short staircase to the living room and then kitchen. 

"We planned that," Chris said somewhere in the background. 

The girls were playing old, rag time music as they cooked, probably one of John's mother's old records. Eggs and pancakes were being tossed into the air to the sound of Emily humming and Alice singing. 

"I think I'll help," Lauren said over the sound of sizzling bacon. 

"Oh, please," Alice said a little too loud for my eardrums, "we need someone to watch the pancakes."

"You boys just go into the living room and wait," Emily said pointing a finger to the hallway. 

"Okay mom," Chris said, making Emily smile sarcastically. 

I followed Chris out of the kitchen, scraping my feet across the floor. 

"Dude, you look like crap, did you just wake up?" he said from over his shoulder, as we reached the sofa of the living room. 

"What time is it?" I said, sitting down and ignoring his question. 

"It's about eight forty-five," Chris said looking at his phone for conformation. 

"In the morning?" I questioned further. 

"Well the sun does come up in the morning," Chris replied sassily. 

It was too early to rack my brain for a comeback so I merely sat there with a blank stare. John came up the stairs, almost zombie-like. His long hair was disheveled and sticking up at odd ends, instead of its normal wavy pattern. He sat down next to me and sighed horribly. 

"What time is it?" he asked slowly. 

"The morning," I said. 

"Jeez, when did you guys go to sleep?" Chris asked, now concerned. 

"The night," John replied sullenly. 

"Okay, well, I'm going to go and help the girls," Chris said after a minute of silence, "let me know when you guys wake up."    

It was some time before we actually did. John went back to sleep, while I stared at the curtains in front of me like they were disappearing before my eyes. Finally, as if a wave of water splashed over my face, I was awake. My sight became clearer, the aromas of breakfast became sharper, and my limbs were no longer limp. I got up from the couch and made my way to the kitchen. 

"It smells great in here," I said as I walked in. 

The music, singing and humming all stopped. Now the only sounds in the place were the clinking of plates and utensils. 

"You came just in time," Alice said, traipsing her way towards me with plates of bacon and waffles, "you can carry these."

She shoved the things into my hands and forced me back out of the kitchen and into the dining room. Chris followed me not long after, he too was carrying dishes full of breakfast foods. 

After we set the plates and bowls down he said, "So, when are we leaving?"

John came waltzing out of the living room at that precise moment, his hips swaying like a ballerina. 

"I smell bacon!" he sang.

"Somebody's awake..." Chris said emphatically under his breath.     

The girls arrived in the dining room almost ten minutes later, all carrying trays of food. The smell of the food waged war under my nose with John's morning breath. 

"What's with all the food?" Chris said taking a plate from the stack next to the perfectly diced hash browns. 

"It's the last time we're gonna be home for a while," Emily started, fixing a plate for herself, "we thought it would be nice to have a good memory of this place while we were gone."

"That makes sense," I said nodding my head. 

"So, let's eat," John said, taking up a fork and gouging a steaming sausage. 

After a minute or two of listening to mouths chew and the clinking of utensils against plates I looked up to see my company. 

"When does everybody want to leave?" I practically blurted. 

Emily set down her fork and looked at everyone.

"Well, Lauren, Alice and I all discussed on leaving after breakfast," she said. 

Something seemed different about Emily. I couldn't tell what it was, she looked the same, I just felt different about her, but nonetheless I nodded my head and looked around for complies. 

"That's so soon..." Chris said looking at his plate. 

"What?" Lauren said, waving a butter knife in the air, "don't you want to leave?"

"Of course I do," Chris began, "it just all feels too unreal..."

"I know what you mean," I said through a mouthful of eggs, "two months ago, this trip felt like a lifetime away, and now it's finally here."

Chris nodded his head with agreement. 

"Don't talk with your mouthful," Alice said sternly. 

"Sorry."

"John, you haven't said a word," Emily said from across the table, "are you okay?"

John looked up, his face gave me the sense that he wasn't paying attention to the conversation at all. 

"Oh yeah, Emily, the food is great," he said hypnotically. 

"John, when do you want to leave?" Emily said, ignoring his comment. 

"Leave for what?" Chris threw his arms up in obvious annoyance.

John looked thoroughly bewildered. 

"Leave for the trip, the road trip, John," Lauren said, keeping focus on Chris. 

"Oh that... Well, I'll go when everyone else wants to go," John said returning to his breakfast. 

Chris arms reached higher heights this time. 

"So it's settled!" I said loudly, just as Chris opened his mouth to say something, "we'll leave after breakfast. When everybody is ready of course."

Emily's eating utensils hit the table with a resonating clang, and her chair scraped against the floor, creating a grinding sound. 

"I call the bathroom first!" she yelled dashing away from the table and running down a hallway adjacent to the staircase. 

"I'll get her plate," I said, picking up my own, having been done with breakfast also.     

The sun and the sky had resumed their weather rituals from the day before, the heat being borderline unbearable. I stood up against the door to John's garage that, at the moment, harbored a jet black Cadillac. Another garage was set far into John's backyard, this one being much larger, and holding in it; his uncle's RV. Chris and John were both kicking around a stray basketball, both looking bored. Our bags were taken outside, sitting in the hot sun. We were all waiting for the girls, who were, when we left, fighting over the bathroom. 

"I don't get why Lauren has to use the bathroom," Chris said abruptly, "she used it before her and I left today."

"You know girls..." I said, trailing off. 

Chris nodded his head absentmindedly. John rocked back and forth on his feet, waiting for Chris to kick the ball back to him. A loud crashing noise came from from inside the house, then a cry of pain. I, being closest to the door, ran inside to inspect the happenings. Emily had fallen down the stairs, one of her suitcases at the bottom of the staircase. I made my way to her as fast as I could, all the while she was making noises of utter pain. I yanked the suitcase off of her, and helped her to her feet, slowly. 

"Are you okay?" I asked as she shook her arm, probably trying to see if it still worked. 

"Yeah, I think so," she said, now looking directly at me, "thank you."

"No problem," I said smiling broadly. 

Alice and Lauren came bounding to the top of the stairs. Alice had curlers in her hair, and Lauren was actively using her toothbrush. 

"What happened?" Lauren said, barely audible over the brushing.  

"I fell..." Emily said, taking a suitcase and starting to heave it to the door. I helped her again, taking up the suitcase that fell on top of her. 

"Where's the other one?" I said. 

"I'll come back for it," she said lazily.    

After an hour of waiting with baited breath, Alice and Lauren finally emerged from the house, both carrying large suitcases.  John gave a yelp of joy as he kicked the basketball as far as he could. Chris ran over to help his girlfriend with her bags, and I did the same for Alice. John led us to the garage with the RV in it, he was skipping merrily. 

"Can you guys believe it," I said, almost out of breath from carrying Alice's bag. 

"I know, it's crazy, we're finally here," Lauren said from somewhere behind me. 

"We've been planning this for, like, two years," Chris said jovially. 

"This is it!" John exclaimed from some ten yards ahead of us. 

He looked around the large garage door, feeling all of its parts. 

"What are you doing?" Emily asked curiously.  It took John a moment to answer, he was still feeling around the door. 

"This door has a code to open it," he finally said, "I just can't find the... Ah, here it is!" 

His hand slid over a lid covering, and he lifted it. He punched in the code, and the garage door started ascending, making loud creaking noises. A large motor vehicle was slowly sliding into view, making Chris give a sarcastic "Ooooo" noise. The door was finally open, and our two year old plans were finally in perspective. This was going to happen.     

"This is it?" Alice said, sounding a little let down. 

"What's wrong with it?" I asked. 

Alice walked to the side of the RV, looking at it intently. 

"What does 'NiteRunner' mean?" she said looking at the loopy writing on the side of the vehicle. 

"Oh, that," John said, walking to meet her, "my uncle wrote for Dungeons and Dragons, and, I guess this was the name of the transportation his character used."

"Why is it purple?" Chris asked half laughing. 

"I'm not sure I want to be seen riding in a purple bus," Emily said, also betraying a laugh. 

John sighed and shook his head, "Look, do you want to see the inside, or what?" 

"Of course!" I said. 

"Well, first, we should put our bags away," John said, "over here."

He brought us further into the garage, but he was still facing the RV. He pulled a latch and brought up part of the van, then pointed to it. 

"This is where you put your stuff," he said, stowing away his own things. 

"But what if we need to get some things while we're on the road?" Lauren asked. 

"Then I suggest you bring essentials and such into the RV," John replied. 

Lauren nodded vigorously, and began to sort her things. We all followed suit, and after about fifteen minutes, we had sorted all that needed to be sorted. John opened the door to the van, and hopped inside, leaving it ajar for us. I was the third one in, after Emily, and before Chris. The inside of the RV was beautiful, it was enormous too. Leather trimmings decorated the lavished furnishings, the rug was the color of gold with maroon endings. Closets were installed after large boothed tables, and a sink sat next to an oven and microwave. Another section was curtained off, with dark purple drapes. 

"Let me show you guys around," John said, moving over to the driver and passenger seats in the front of the vehicle, "this is the cockpit. This is where all the driving takes place," he pointed to the steering wheel, "oh, and it can be sectioned off, so the driver and passenger can have private conversations," he pulled a sliding glass door out from the wall, and then tugged on the curtains to make the other side unseeable. He then took us to the middle of the RV where he opened a closet. 

"This is where we can put our clothes, and other sundries," he said intelligently, "also a TV swings out of here," he pressed a bright red button on the inside of the closet and a plasma screen television swung out on hinges. 

"This is awesome!" Chris voiced, admiring the TV. 

"Agreed," Lauren said in awe. 

"Over here is the table and booth, where you can eat food, to a nice view," he said pointing to a currently curtained window behind the booth, "it only sits four, though..." John said moving farther down the isle, "and to our left is a couch, this extends, by the way, a bed comes out of it." he pulled