Capture My Heart

I awoke to the sun shining through my bedroom windows and blinked my eyes into focus. Sitting up, I glanced outside. What a perfect day for a drive up north, I thought to myself, smiling.

The thought of going on vacation was thrilling enough, but I was most looking forward to spending it with my parents before I had to run off to college.

Even though I wasn’t leaving the state and would only be a few hours away when I went to pursue my photography career, it would still be nice to have the summer with them.

When I jogged down the stairs for breakfast that morning, the last thing I expected to see were Jared and Liz sitting at our kitchen table. What did Adrian’s parents want?

And why were they eating breakfast with my parents on the day we’re leaving? Maybe it was just one last hurrah before we left for the cabin.

None of my theories mattered though when those earth-shattering words came from my father’s mouth.

“Hey! There she is, the star grad finally makes her appearance! Now we can give her the good news!” I stopped in my tracks by the door. What did he mean by “the good news”?

“It’s not just good news dear, it’s a great surprise! Melody, we’ve been talking since last week with Liz and Jared about joining us on our trip and they thought it was a great idea.”

All the words I was going to say suddenly felt stuck in my mouth at my mom’s announcement. But it didn’t stop there.

“That’s not even the best part, Hailey! Don’t forget, we got Adrian to agree to come with us!

“Isn’t that great, Mel? All of us get to spend more time with you before you leave us to do the college scene,” Liz piped up.

“It’ll be just like old times when we went on mini vacations before Adrian had to go off to college,” Jared added.

They all stared at me with anticipation, wondering how I would react to the news. Honestly? I was wondering the same thing.

My whole body seemed to be in freeze mode, and my brain wasn’t much better. What could I say that wouldn’t be rude and yet wouldn’t disappoint them at the same time?

I wanted to scream and say, “How could you guys do this to me on my last summer of freedom?” What was it going to take for them to understand I was never friends with Adrian in the first place?

Parents had this strange idea that if you introduced your kids to each other at a young age that they’d automatically become best friends for life.

That dream of having a best friend next door ended the day it began when they first moved in.

We weren’t even on speaking terms as far as I was concerned, and I was supposed to be happy with him joining us for a whole month in the woods, the only place I could take pictures in peace?

I continued to stare at the four of them as they sat there with excited gazes.

I couldn’t bear to break my parents or his parents’ hearts, so I put on a brave face, smiled, and said through gritted teeth, “That’s awesome! I’m going to go finish packing.”

Before they could reply, I turned around and quickly made my escape up the stairs to my bedroom, fighting tears the whole way.

The last thing I heard before shutting the door was my dad saying, “See, I told you she would be excited.” What was my world coming to?

***

Two hours later, everything was packed and ready to go. Even the news of Adrian and his parents joining us couldn’t stifle the excitement I felt.

With my small borrowed digital camera in one hand and backpack in the other, I made my way to the driveway, where my parents stood by their van.

Jared and Liz were there as well, talking to them. Again, that gut-clenching feeling returned and I wondered what was up this time.

“Melody, you’ll be riding with Adrian. Liz and Jared are riding with us in the family van so we can collaborate on the way up where to make stops.

“Plus, you’ll have some time to catch up with him on the way. It’s been what, three years? I’m sure you’ll have plenty to talk about.”

Again, my father had no idea what he was saying. There wasn’t anything to “catch up” on.

I swear my parents had this crazy idea in their head that we were close. Or maybe they really did understand my dislike for him and wanted me to make amends before I left for college.

Who knows? I didn’t feel like whining right then, so instead I shrugged like it was no big deal and climbed into his parents’ front passenger seat of their car.

Part of me was glad we weren’t all able to ride together, due to our stuff being crammed into my parents’ van.

Lord knows what kinds of road trip fun they’d have us doing, like singing songs over and over, or I Spy.

Don’t get me wrong, it was fun when I was like, ten, but now I just felt like putting in my headphones and watching the scenery go by.

The sooner we got up there, the sooner I could start photographing nature’s beauty. There were places up at the cabin only I knew about. Secret trails only I had traveled as a young girl.

I intended on taking full advantage of every minute we were up there (and avoiding Adrian at all costs).

Still, three weeks was a long time to spend in the middle of nowhere, especially with someone I did not enjoy the company of.

I may be repeating myself, but I cannot say it enough. I enjoyed the three years he was away, a lot!

My ill thoughts were interrupted when Adrian got into the driver’s seat next to me and started up the engine. It was time to put my phone’s music playlist to good use.

***

You would think the silence would be welcomed on a long car ride with your old rival, but honestly, it made the drive pretty boring.

After listening to nearly every track (seventy-eight of them) on my phone over the course of two hours, I pulled the headphones off and sighed.

Two more hours and we’d be pulling into the long driveway where our cabin sat in a small clearing. I couldn’t wait.

My legs were starting to cramp up and I needed a cold drink desperately. I glanced at Adrian. He didn’t look the least bit tired of driving. Annoyance flared up inside of me.

It was almost as if he could keep driving all the way there and back without missing a beat.

Me? I looked like I needed two showers for all the sweat I was collecting from the sun beating down through my window.

I sighed with relief when my parents decided to pull into the next rest stop area. Adrian looked at me for a second as he followed suit right behind my parents.

He didn’t say anything as he parked and got out of the car, heading straight for the visitor center where there would no doubt be plenty of vending machines for drinks and snacks.

My stomach rumbled and I kicked myself for not bringing enough change along to buy something to snack on.

Opening the car door, I let in the cool breeze. Apparently, his parents’ car didn’t have very good working air conditioning, and I didn’t want the windows down the whole way with my allergies.

Not to mention windblown hair wasn’t something I looked forward to either, so I suffered through without a single complaint. Besides, I wasn’t going to whine to Adrian.

There wasn’t anything he could do about it anyway. It would only provoke him to put both windows down just to see me struggle to keep my hair out of my face.

I walked around the parking lot for a while, just to get the blood flowing back in my legs again, and then returned to the car where Adrian awaited.

There was a bottle of water and a bag of chips on my seat when I opened the door. Puzzled, I looked at him and at them for a millisecond before he picked them up and placed them in my lap.

I wasn’t about to second guess accepting them from him. What I didn’t understand was how he knew that I wanted something in the first place.

I hadn’t asked him for anything, but I shrugged it off as nothing. Probably my parents knew I’d want something and gave it to him to give to me. Who knows?

We began our journey again toward the cabin and I embraced the silence once more, only this time I slept the rest of the way.

***

I awoke to the sound of gravel crunching underneath the tires and opened my eyes to what was a welcoming sight. We’d finally made it!

Our family cabin was just starting to appear through the thick trees. I sat up straight in my seat and made a mental note to shower as soon as possible.

Even though we didn’t have internet or cable, at least we had a decent sized bathroom and running water. Adrian maneuvered the car to park alongside my parents’ van and cut the engine.

I watched him study the scene in front of him. Glancing around, I took in the beautiful property that my parents had inherited from my grandparents.

The cabin had a traditional slanted roofed with a hand-built stone fireplace on one end and a wraparound porch around the entire structure.

It also had a huge, open front yard and trees surrounding either side. The only thing that topped everything else was the beautiful blue lake hidden out back.

There was a bench swing I would sit on to watch the sun rising in the early morning, and I couldn’t wait to take pictures.

“Sure is nice.” My head turned at the sound of Adrian’s voice.

Nice? That’s all he could say about the beauty surrounding him, which my parents so generously thought to share with him and his family? I snorted at his comment and shook my head.

He ignored my reaction and got out of the car. I followed right behind him to where my parents were unloading the luggage from the van.

Grabbing my bags, I toted them as quickly as I could up the stairs and into the cabin before anyone else.

Opening the front door, I breathed in the smell of old wood and spices. Some things never changed. The kitchen, living area, den, and dining area were all the same as the last time we’d visited.

I was so busy taking in the homey sight of our cabin that I almost didn’t catch what our parents were discussing.

“I can’t believe we didn’t remember that there are only three bedrooms! How are we going to do this?” my mom sighed.

The thought hadn’t occurred to me either until now. There was no way I was sharing a bedroom with that two-timing, teasing, green-eyed…

“It’s okay, Mrs. Harper, I’ll take the couch. It’s no problem where I sleep,” Adrian interrupted, silencing the debate.

My mom seemed taken aback for a second, but smiled and said, “Oh, if you’re sure that’s all right? Thank you, Adrian.”

I had to admit I was a little surprised at his offer. Before he could change his mind though, I went right to my room to unpack.

It was like returning home after a long time away. The first thing I unpacked were the bed sheets and blankets.

It could get cold up here, even in the summer, averaging around 75 degrees during the day and down to 40 in the evenings.

It didn’t take me long to unpack everything else. All my clothes fit perfectly in the five-drawer dresser and closet space. I opened the window, which faced the lake, to let in some fresh air.

This cabin was closed up for most of the winter except for the holidays sometimes, so opening the windows was the first step every time we visited.

I just finished placing the final blanket on the bed when there was a knock on my door. Sure enough, Adrian’s head popped through the opening.

“Hey, your parents want to know if hot dogs and hamburgers are okay with you for dinner?” I spun around at his voice.

“Yeah, sure.”

Turning back to the bed, I flattened out the top before I sat down and began fiddling with my camera. He apparently took the hint and disappeared down the hall.

I sighed. Avoiding him was going to be difficult, even in our 1,600 square foot cabin. I told myself to grow up and deal with it.

We weren’t kids anymore. I needed to handle this like a mature adult and not freak out every time he talks to me.

Besides, my only goal for the next three weeks was to take amazing pictures to jump-start my portfolio for college. If I could focus on that, handling Adrian would be a breeze.