Chapter thirty three: Carmella

I love Mary Poppins, I know almost all the songs from one and two. Though I'd say I liked one a tad bit more than the two.—I can't believe I didn't get an invite. At least maybe a text or something. My own brother had gotten married. Who was his best man? Who's Iris? Is she nice? Does she love him? Does he love her? I haven't even talked to this woman who is now my sister-in-law and could bare my niece and or nephew. Will I be the kids only aunt? Will I even be a part of their lives? Does Iris have any siblings? Is she pretty? Will she live up to the expectations I have for someone to be with my brother?—It's been a few weeks since the phone call. Eden, Clara, Serena, and Ocean have all sense left, and Royal and I are still steadily in the friendzone."You know, we never talked about what you're going to do about the cookout.""What is there to talk about?""Liza told you to bring me.""I'll tell her we broke up or something.""I want to go.""No you don't, mom's side of the family is crazy.""Then you'll need back up to make you stay sane.""You're not coming Royal.""I think I am.""I think you're wrong.""Why can't I come?""I already told you.""No, you were making an excuse. What's the real reason? Are you embarrassed of me?""Absolutely not, and there's nothing to be embarrassed about, we're just friends.""Not what Liza thinks, she thinks I'm completely smitten with you.""Oh right, why on god's green earth would you tell her we're dating?""Seemed more reasonable than telling her I was a friend but a little more than a friend but a little less than a boyfriend.""So you should have said friend.""Seeming as though her reaction when I told her it's a recent thing. I don't think she would have reacted better to friend.""Good point. What's today's date?""August thirtieth.""The what?""Thirtieth.""Yeah yeah, I heard you dummy. Shit, that gives us three days. If you're coming, start packing, I'll see when the soonest flight to Maine is from here." I say getting up. I go to my house and start packing some stuff."Wave, you wanna go for a ride? Yeah, does riding sound fun?" I say scratching behind her ear. The next flight to Maine from here is in three hours."Hey siri, call gilipollas(dickhead).""Hello." Royal says, answering immediately."Hey, the next flight to Maine is in three hours.""Ok, I'm almost all packed.""You packed some warmer clothes right? It might be warm during the day but not like here, and it'll cool off fast at night. Also you owe me three hundred dollars because I bought our tickets, and what else what else, oh we're staying at the cottage where the cook out will be on sunday. Our flight is at four a.m. on Monday. I think that covers everything, meet me outside in like a half hour.""Ok, bye.""Bye." I say before hanging up.We get through all the security and then go sit for a half hour before our plane gets called."What seats are we?" Royal asks."First class.""What?""I got Wave, we can't ride back there.""Now wonder the two hour flight was three hundred.""It wasn't, it was two hundred, thanks for the hundred boyfriend." I say playfully."It's been awhile since I've left this little ole town.""Yeah I bet.""What about you, you travel a lot?""Oh yeah, tons. After high school I took a gap year and went to France with Eden. Then I came back for a few weeks but I hadn't had a place to stay when I got home so I stayed with my parents and that was a nightmare so I booked a flight out to Venezuela. Stayed there for a year and now I'm here, in Dragonfly, New York.""So you know French?""Very vaguely. Eden is really good at it because her sister Emelia, also took a gap year after she graduated and so Emelia tutored E a bit before we left.""I've always admired people who didn't worry about money and just explored.""I did too, that's why I did it." I sigh.The pilot went over the intercom and told us to all buckle up and that the plane would be taking off soon.We got off the plane and were lucky enough to find a rental dealership that would allow us to rent a car so fast for the three days that we are going to be here."So how far away is this place from here?""About an hour and ten give or take.""Agh, come on Wave." Royal says opening the back door of the rental.—"Waverley don't you dare throw up! No I can't." I say with a gag. We've only been on the road for thirty minutes and Waverley is already car sick."Royal do something!""What do you want me to do? I'm driving.""Pull over for heaven sake!""We're in the middle lane on the highway, and we can't get over at the moment!""Put the blinker on!""It is on!" Royal says as I begin to laugh."Why are you laughing?" Royal says, fighting against his own smile."I'm not a serious person!"We finally are able to pull over and get Waverley out of the car before she vomited.—We head down the steep hill that leads to the cottage. Memory start flowing steadily back to me, some good, but others bad."No one's going to be here right?""Shouldn't be, we might go up to my grandmother later though.""Fine by me."We finally make it down the hill and pull onto the lawn because there is no true parking space. The cottage is older than most on the lake, It was my great grandparents. It's still beautiful and well kept though. The outside vinyl is a light gray green. We walk up the ramp to the door that always makes a loud squeak. The cabinets are the same bright teal as I remember, though a little faded. The teal vintage fridge I'm surprised still even works. The same ugly gray countertop that doesn't match. Everything's just as it used to be, just faded."So, where are we sleeping?" Royal says bringing me back to the present."There's one bedroom over there and there's one over here." I say pointing to the rooms."I'll take the one closest to us.""Ok, it's through that opening and then take a right and there you are." I say."Thanks." Royal says heading to the room. I walk past the kitchen and into the living room. Since this place is so old, there's no cable so there's no TV and no WIFI. The living room is loon themed. There's a loon stuffed animal and a loon blanket, a loon pillow and a wooden loon on the stand. All the furniture is old and worn out. The couch is a dark navy blue. There's a rocking chair with burnt orange cushions, there's a dark maroon seat on the other side. It's all mismatched yet oddly they all don't clash, they work together and make it a beautiful space. I turn around and walk through the arch, then through one of the rooms I would always sleep in. It's the biggest room. There's two twin sized beds, one smooshed into the corner, the other maybe a foot away. There's a night stand between the two beds with some shells on it. This room is beach themed well, lake theme, the bed sheets have different colored flip-flops on them. The comforter is a coral color, there are shells on any flat surface. There are metal flip-flops hanging on the wall. I continue walking through this room into the one I will be sleeping in.My room is all huntery, there's a stuffed deer head on one wall, the comforter is camo with a deer on it. I set my stuff down and flop down onto the bed. I hit the bed and don't even bounce, It's like a fucking rock, I just landed with a thud.