I was rudely awoken by my bedroom door being slammed opened. A groan was heard from the ground and I let out a groan of my own. Hector sat up from the blown up mattress on the floor and I pulled the cover over my head. Max laughed at us and must've walked over Hector because a second later the covers were pulled off of me. I desperately searched for them but I knew it was hopeless so I opened my eyes and glared at Max.
"Why?" Was all I asked.
Hector got up from the little mattress and stretched his back and arms. Max held my beloved covers in his hands and pulled me into a sitting position, much to my disagreements. I stood up and also stretched, yawning and rubbing my eyes.
"We agreed to go buy the materials with the ladies at noon. It's eleven thirty! Also, why is my cousin sleeping here?"
"Cookies," Hector whined.
Max gave me a confused look and raised an eyebrow. Last night we made so many cookies and we thought it would be a good idea to try and finish them. Well, we did, but then we got terrible stomach aches. Hector couldn't walk home and we slept the pain away. My mom was constantly checking on us to make sure we were alive but at the same time she laughed at us as punishment. We couldn't help it though! The cookies were actually really good! I gave Max a brief story of what happened, to which he mockingly laughed at us, and he didn't waist a second longer to pull me out of bed and basically shove me into my closet. Thankfully, Max brought Hector some clothes because no close of mine would ever fit those muscles. He wouldn't ripped my sleeves from how far they would've stretched. The man was truly built different. We quickly got ready, and went downstairs to the kitchen. My mom greeted us with warm smiles and Daniel politely said his hello to us. We said our own hellos and my mother passed us each a plate that had two pancakes.
"Truly amazing," Max said with a moan after taking a bite.
"Sounds pretty inappropriate," Caden said, suddenly walking in with a smirk.
Max suddenly began choking and Hector repeatedly hit his back until he was finally alright. My mother repeatedly asked him if he was okay and all Max could do was nod and cough to the side in a napkin. All the while Caden had served himself some cereal and sat down at the table at the other end. I gave Max a water bottle to which he gratefully took and basically chugged the entire thing. After we were sure he wasn't going to die we all turned to Caden who was silently eating his cereal.
"Caden, there's some pancakes if you want-"
"I'm fine," he cut my mother off.
"Caden," Daniel warned and narrowed his eyes.
"It's fine, sweetie," my mother whispered to Daniel and served him another pancake.
"Would you like something to drink? We have orange juice, wa-"
"I said I'm fine," Caden snapped.
"Back off," Max threatened before I could and glared at him.
It was silent for a few moments before Hector cleared his throat and said, "The pancakes are delicious, thank you so much."
"Of course, honey," my mother replied with a smile.
Caden left after finishing his cereal, slamming his room door and probably ranting to himself or throwing a fit some other way. Daniel made a move to go talk to him but my mother insisted he leave him alone to cool down. Of course, Daniel couldn't say no to my mother. By the time noon came around we had finished our breakfast and were ready to meet the girls at the store. We had a local camping store near by and we had said we'd meet there. We said our goodbyes to Daniel and my mother, Hector politely thanking them another four or five times before we actually left. The drive to the camping store was about fifteen minutes since it was at the edge of town in the direction of the camp site. We were only about ten minutes late but Sara was already glaring at us from inside Charlie's car. At least she was civiled enough to get into Charlie's car.
"How did the date go, by the way?" I asked Max as he searched for parking.
"It went well, really great actually."
"Isn't that good?" Hector asked as he watched his cousin's calm face.
"We aren't going to see each other anymore," he said as he parked the car.
"What? Why?"
"We have a lot in common and stuff. It's just that. . . Well when I went to kiss her it was just awkward. She thought so too and we realized we really just enjoyed each other's company as close friends. She's a great girl and everything, geez, she's an amazing girl, but friends is what we decided was best."
"And Sara?" I couldn't help but ask.
Max looked over at where Sara and Charlie were standing. Sara was talking while Charlie listened, a small smile on her lips.
"It's never going to happen. And now, I'm not sure if I want something to happen. I think I'm just gonna step off of dating for a while."
If it wasn't for Max's genuine, reassuring smile then I would've told him to go to a movie theater or something. But he actually seemed okay. He wasn't sad, wasn't excited happy, but he was content and felt good enough to be out. I was proud of him. Sure, he didn't find a girlfriend, but he got over Sara and I was sure that would've been a toxic relationship anyway.
"You guys are la- Oh Hector! I didn't know you were coming along," Sara giggled.
I couldn't help but roll my eyes and walk into the store, Max and Charlie following along while Sara tried to talk to Hector more. The store was pretty big and they had every possible thing you would need for a camping trip. We first went to the tent section, the girls looking at some while Max, Hector, and I looked at the three room tents. Our school told us that two students to a tent was the goal but three was the maximum number to a tent. They also had the rule of girls needed to be pared with girls and guys with guys. Of course, that rule is broken during the night but the teachers fall asleep so they don't know. Though I'm sure they aren't dumb enough to not figure it out.
"What about this one?" Max asked.
"Its orange," I stated.
"Okay, so maybe not this one," Max chuckled.
I seriously didn't like the color orange. We ended up getting this purple three room tent while the girls decided on a turquoise two room tent. We went around to grab a few more items like flashlights, snacks, and even blankets that were meant for harsh cold winds. We paid for our stuff and loaded it all in the cars which took a bit from the amount of stuff we got.
"We going to the diner?" Charlie asked.
Max closed the trunk of his car and said, "We should drop off the things first though."
The girls agreed and we just decided to meet at the diner after. We dropped the things off at Max's place, successfully avoiding Max's mother, and made our way to the diner. We got there just as Sara and Charlie were also pulling in. The good thing about this diner is that not many kids from school came here. A lot of older people come to eat here, mostly because teenagers took over the pizza place at the mall. Our server was an older woman but she was very sweet and kind. Her son actually gave us our drinks, adorable little kid. They were quick to serve us, both our drinks and food and from time to time the little boy would come and ask if we were doing alright. Sara was worried that they were actually making the little boy work but Charlie said that she knew the owner and said that our server was a single mom and so the owner would let her son be around the diner and he would pretend to work there. Truly an adorable little kid.
"So, Hector! Are you excited? It's gonna be so much fun and I'll show you around! You can be my hiking buddy!" Sara said with more enthusiasm than needed.
"You hate the trip," Max mumbled and ate a piece of his food when Sara threw him a glare.
"Thank you, but Diego already agreed to showing me around."
Everyone's eyes were on me and I didn't know what to do. Hector gave me pleading eyes, Sara was basically murdering me for taking away her chance, and Max and Charlie were just curious. I should probably say no because of Victor. But then again, it would just make Hector seem rude. Victor isn't gonna like it but I'm sure he will understand. It's not like we can be hiking partners anyway.
"Yeah, sorry Sara," I apologized weakly.
She huffed and Hector bumped my shoulder as a thank you. I gave him a small smile and Charlie changed the conversation. The rest of the time was uneventful, we finished eating and said our goodbyes. Max had to quickly drop me off because his mother called and said that she needed to have a talk about God with them. When it came to his mother you never wanted to be late for those talks, ever. It was around seven when I had gotten home. My mother was washing dishes while Daniel was cleaning up the rest of the kitchen. There was no sign of Caden but his room door was closed. The sound of my phone went off and I quickly opened up the new message.
From: Victor
Hey sunshine, feel like I haven't heard from you in a while. You good?
To: Victor
Hey! Sorry, I just got home
From: Victor
Can I call?
It wasn't even a minute after I had replied yes that he called me. I was a little nervous since he sounded serious through the text messages. Though I told myself to not overthink.
"Hello? Sunshine?"
"Hey, is everything okay?"
"Yes, I just missed you. I was thinking of you all day. Caden dragged me around all day and I just got home as well."
"You sound tired, you should get some rest. We do have school tomorrow."
"Hmm, yes I should. I just really wanted to hear your voice. I can't wait to see you tomorrow."
I was glad he couldn't see how red my face was but I managed to respond that I couldn't wait either. We stayed on the phone for about another five minutes before we hung up. I didn't know how tired I truly was until I fell back on my bed and let sleep take over.