Moral Compass

Skylars POV

As the truck ride progressed, Amelia became more and more silent. I thought she would be bubbly and excited, like she was before, but it's like she is a completely different person. Shut down, and not even smile.

I tried to get through the awkwardness of it but I couldn't, so I called up Allie Mae, and put the phone on speaker, not wanting to be distracted by it, but also bothered as Amelia will hear everything we sat to one another.

It rang one time before she picks up, "Twix! I missed you, It's been a few days. What's up?" She asks and I could hear the excitement in her voice.

My lips automatically turn up into a smile, "Allie Mae! I missed you so much! I"m coming to Willoswtown to pick up my treehouse. Do you want me to come to pick you up and you can come to see my new house?" I asked her and silently hoped she didn't have any work.

Allie Mae's line immediately becomes noisy, "Oh fuck yeah Skylar! I'm so excited, I can't wait to see it!" She exclaims and I concentrate hard at not glancing at Amelia, wanting to see her reaction to hearing Allie Mae. But I ignored the burning feeling.

"Alright! I'm almost at my parent's house, meet me there and I can bring you to and from Cherrysville, I rented the truck for the night, I'll be bringing it back tomorrow anyway." I said and laughed loudly hearing Allie Mae squeal on the other end of the line.

"Yes!" She cheered loudly, "I'll be right there Twix! I'm packing an overnight bag!" The excitement was completely contagious as I hang up the phone with Allie Mae and said not even a word to Amelia. Two can play at that game.

"Is she your girlfriend or something?" Amelia asked after a long period of silence.

If I was sipping a drink, I would have spit it out everywhere in shock, 'my girlfriend?'. I can understand how it would look that way, but Twix is hardly a loving endearment by your soulmate.

"Um no, she isn't." I spluttered and tried not to let a hard edge to my voice appear, but it was hard. Who the fuck does she think she is?

Amelia snickered, "It sure as hell seemed like it." She laughed but tried to cover it up with a cough, and my eyes narrowed considerably.

'Are you serious?' I thought angrily.

"No. We are best friends, she just calls me Twix because I love Twix bars." I clarified.

Amelia burst out laughing at this point and my anger level rose, my hands tightened more on the steering wheel because I could tell she wasn't 'laughing with me'. She was laughing at me. At Allie Mae and I. I did not like it at all. She will not laugh at Allie Mae.

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. You should just call each other by your first names." Amelia chastises and then I lose it.

"You don't have to try to understand it. You just have to respect it." I basically spit out and grimace immediately regretting my words and my tone, but not being able to hide it.

I will always defend Allie Mae, no matter if she's with me or not. I will not let some snobby bitch who seemed jealous of my friendship with Allie Maes', say anything mean or vile about her. She doesn't deserve to be laughed at.

Amelia lost her smile and looked down apologetically, "I'm sorry. That was wrong of me." She says.

At this point, I'm too angry to respond and I just turn the volume up on the radio, creating the necessary background noise for me to concentrate on just getting to my parents' house.

Allie Mae was already there when we pulled up into the driveway, I couldn't help the snark remark I made on my way out of the truck, "Still happy you came along?" I asked in a condescending tone.

I didn't wait for her to answer, I got out of the truck and bounded towards Allie Mae, suddenly really grateful she said yes on coming back to Cherrysville with me.

It took a while to be able to put my treehouse in the back of the truck, in case things got jumbled, I had to pack a box of the pictures, the blanket set, and the fan and lamp in the same box. We took out the mattress and tied it closer towards the front of the trailer. We had to put many twisty-tie things on the treehouse, to make sure it didn't move an inch as I moved it to and fro.

I got on the phone with a furniture moving company and asked them if they would meet me at a certain address, in a few hours to help me install a treehouse into my backyard tree.

They were curious, to say the least. They wanted to know how I wanted it built. I said I already had it built, but I needed to re-build it onto the tree, and thankfully my tree was a few more feet higher than my parents' backyard tree. This means I get to put my treehouse higher up above the ground.

I was so excited I forgot to tell Allie Mae about Amelia, and when she opened the door to the passenger, Allie Mae's eyebrows went up, "Um, hello." She greets Amelia.

Amelias head whips to the side and she stares at Allie Mae, her mouth falling open, "My dear, you are exquisite." Amelia exclaims and she smiles.

'What the hell happened to the cold sneery snob that was just laughing at Allie Mae and me?' I think incredulously. My eyebrows flit together and my mind races.

'What is her angle?' I think to myself and get into the driver's seat, seeing Allie Mae try to scootch past Amelia, and sit in between us. She buckles in, and I do as well starting up the truck.

"Why thank you! You are pretty as well." Allie Mae says.

"Allie Mae, Amelia. Amelia, Allie Mae." I said motioning in between them and back out of the driveway.

Allie Mae's eyes open wide, surprised. She knew exactly who she was, as I had been texting her, vaguely filling in the gasp, until I could tell her myself.

"Nice to meet you," Amelia adds a sugary note to her voice, and I realize, she seems more alive than when she first slid into the truck. She talks to Allie Mae, the whole truck ride, but I noticed Allie Mae pressed her legs against mine, or as much as she could without being suspicious.

She's comforting me. I realize and my heart completely melts, even without saying anything to Allie Mae, she knew I needed some type of comfort, bless this womans heart. She adds pressure now and then, her silent way of communicating with me as we went.

Allie Mae wanted to talk to me, but she didn't want to be rude to Amelia, who hadn't stopped talking to Allie Mae, about Kade, her engagement, her mother, her work schedule. Basically, anything that came to mind, Allie Mae had no time to interject anyway, as I had a suspicious feeling Amelia was doing it on purpose.

But as I glance at her during the ride, I see she is really smiley and she bounces in her seat, seemingly overly excited to get to chat to Allie Mae. I really didn't know what to think.

We pulled up to the building that will forever haunt me, and we dropped Amelia off. Amelia did not want to get out of the truck, but with many reluctant "okays" she left. She wanted to stay. No way in hell was I letting that happen.

We both silently ran in our heads the last three hours of a ride with Amelia talking non-stop. We pulled up into my driveway, however, as the conversations are long gone.

"Wow, this is a really cute house." Allie Mae muses.

She looks around lovingly at my house, and I pursed my lips, shocked. Allie Mae doesn't normally put in her two cents about the way a house looks. But feeling a warmth feeling swell in my chest, I knew I made the right decision in buying this house back.

We pulled the truck around up my yard and at the side of my house, and into the backyard where we met the men already waiting there to help put up my treehouse. I couldn't wait to go back inside, desperately needing me time with my treehouse and my best friend again.

Allie Mae was the first to open her door, slide out of the passenger seat, and greeted the workers.

I smiled getting out myself, "I hope it's not too big to put up there." I pointed about fifteen feet above the ground, to a few thick branches that hung at the same height, and noticed this tree was a lot more massive than my old one.

One of the men resembled Alfred in a way, and he treated me like Alfred would, like a daughter you'd only want people to treat her with respect. The way he tipped his hat to me and congratulated me on buying my first house.

It was odd and strange, and it made me miss Alfred suddenly, but I tried to push it all to the back of my mind, as the workers took the ties off my treehouse, and looked inside.

"Miss!" One of them called from inside the treehouse, inside the truck. I walked cautiously up to the truck and leaned in.

"Yes?" I called.

"Miss this is a fairly small treehouse. You have a huge tree up there. We brought some supplies because we didn't actually think you'd have it built correctly," He admitted, a slight blush rose to his cheeks.

My face deadpanned and for a moment, I contemplated on confronting him about the obvious sexism he had going on, but I decided against it.

"Okay?" I say, curious now.

The man composes himself and comes out of the treehouse wiping his hands off, "I see you have a nice system going on in there. But we can make this so much better if you'd let us." He says reassuringly.

My eyebrows come together, "What do you mean by better?" I asked.

The man coughs, "Well. We can extend this treehouse to make it many rooms, so its not just one little stuffy box, with walls to separate your toilets. We can make a few "rooms' for beds, and make a few more windows, and as well, make a staircase going up into the tree higher, and build you a two toilet system a couple of feet above." He explained moving his hands where he foresaw everything being placed.

I pursed my lips, thinking, it really would be an upgrade. I made the treehouse when I was fifteen. It was just a small basic one-bedroom treehouse. But did I really need all the extra space?

I turn to the other workers, "I actually would like that very much, but how much would all of this cost?" They all went to open their mouths and I brought my hand up.

"No no. If you're going to do all this for me, I would feel better paying you for your time, and the supplies you brought without me asking." I interject.

"Ma'am, forgive me but you are very beautiful, and you're very respectful. I would do it now regardless of the money. I hate doing work for free. But I love doing it for people who deserve it." The man that reminded me of Alfred spoke up and stepped forwards.

I smiled, thankful, "Can I at least make you sandwiches and give you guys some soda to help you keep your energy up?" I asked and they all nodded their head excitedly.

I left them to build whatever they foresaw being on that tree and felt warmth bloom all over my body. These men however little their brains are to feminism have big hearts and I was thankful to have such nice people around for the time being.

I made them sandwiches and brought out some mountain dew. I made sure not to keep them long, as I wanted them to get it done quickly, I didn't like the idea of them working after sundown. You couldn't see anything and the chances of them hurting themselves increased.

So Allie Mae and I stayed out of their way and gave her the grand tour of the house. She was speechless just as I was. She ran around, cooing and squealing not used to seeing such nice and shiny things. Were grew up, not poor and not wealthy. But somewhere in between. It took me a while, but I was able to pull her away from the kitchen and living room downstairs to come to see my room upstairs, and the tv. Which she was obsessed with.

We decided on watching a random tv series on Netflix and eventually we fell asleep.

A little time after, I heard banging and a truck being turned on, and backing away. I groggily go to the window and look out to see the workers in the truck, leaving. I wondered if they were done. But as soon as I walked towards the back door of the house, I realized it wasn't done.

I yawned really hard and walked to the coffee pot, and switched on a pot of coffee, waiting anxiously for it to brew. 'I needed caffeine,' I whined in my head and grimaced when I heard the truck coming back into the yard slamming around some wooden boards.

I saw the workers jump off the back and instantly start back up from where they left off on the treehouse. To say it was coming along good would put it lightly. It was massive, but it wasn't finished. They said they would add to it, and make it better. Not make it look like a mansion in the tree.

"Hi miss! I'm sorry it's taking so long. We haven't been this inspired in a while, and the more we worked, we came up with new and neat ideas." The man I spoke to earlier about expanding my treehouse.

I gulped and stepped outside the screen door to fully face the men, "I can't thank you enough. I really cannot. You guys are amazing. Thank you." I said sincerely and smiled wide at all of them.

The one that reminds me of Alfred spoke up, "No need to thank us ma'am, just doing the neighborly thing and properly welcoming you to Cherrysville. We are almost finished maybe another hour," He explained and smiled warmly at me.

I nodded my head, "Please take your time. I'm going to have to invite you all to dinner one night, to properly five you all thanks." I suggested and each one perked their heads up and nodded eagerly.

I went back inside to make my cup of coffee as I wait for them to finish, gripping onto my coffee mug lightly, for the first since moving here, I feel complete peace and happiness.

Once the workers finished, Allie Mae had woken up and come down just in time for the workers to come to my door, practically dragging me out and showing me to my new massive mansion that intertwines into the huge tree.

The workers all proud of their work, big smiles on their faces, got Allie Mae and I, I started crying upon walking out the back door and seeing the treehouse.

I shouldn't call it a tree-house anymore. It's more like a fortress. A mansion.

The workers ushered us both in, and then who I now know to be Max, the one who reminds me of Alfred, gave me a card, his business card. It has their company name and number so I can get in touch with them, in a few days. He emphasized 'a few days', saying to give us time to see everything and get the full experience before calling up and thanking them.

They left quickly after that and left Allie Mae to gape on in awe as we look around my new treehouse. I am most definitely baking every dessert I can think of.' I think to myself and gasp. Tears fill my eyes.

We walked into an outer room, like a mudroom to a spiral staircase. A nice beautiful wooden staircase spiraled up through to the next floor, and Allie Mae and I glance at each other before making our way up the stairs, Allie Mae closed the treehouse door and locked it with my padlock. We walked up the stairs slowly and walked up to the first floor.

My eyes opened wide, I saw two beds up here next to one another, with a pure white stand sitting beside all of them. Lamps on both stands, and two large oscillating fans.

I notice a bunch of wires running out of the treehouse out of small corners and I looked out one of the windows and saw the wires run all the way to the power pole.

I turn back away and face Allie Mae upon hearing her squeal, "What Allie Mae?" I exclaimed.

I turn to face the wall I had my back turned and noticed a small but fairly good-sized flatscreen sitting on a small long table, I gasped and my hands flew to my mouth. Allie Mae and I glanced at each other slowly, wearing the same expression I wore;

Complete shock. They didn't just build my treehouse for free, they included furniture, a tv, they got wires and power, stands, carpets, blankets, everything. They thought of absolutely everything.

The beds looked so warm and inviting we both looked at each other and gave each other an excited hug, so happy she was with me. I felt like me again. Not the person who kissed somebody this morning.

We both caved on the beds and quickly passed out in exhaustion. It was so tiring watching the workers make it, being so excited. We were so excited both of us. We fell asleep in the treehouse, we both had yet to go through the rest of the two floors left, but we didn't and instead just reveled in the sleep we much deserved.