~Many thanks to my wonderful editor VanillaExtract for putting up with my stubbornness. Enjoy~
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I groaned as I was awoken to blinding sunlight. My stepbrother, Mike, was standing over me, going on about something I didn't quite care about this early in the morning.
"....and we still have a million things to put in the car, so would you kindly get up and get moving?"
Mike stomps out of my room, leaving me in bliss to curl up and ignore the world for a few precious moments more...until my mother came in. Now, Mike I could ignore. But if girls know anything, it's that you can't ignore your mother when she's flustered.
"Emily, aren't you up yet?" Mom asks, annoyed.
"I'm up, I'm up," I say.
I sit up groggily and slide my legs over the side of the bed. I try to ignore my mothers clucking as I shuffle into my bathroom, shutting the door with a gentle click so I wouldn't be accused of "popping an attitude" with her later.
"I'm going downstairs!" my mother shouts, bless her; she thinks it's impossible for sound to travel through doors...or cell phones for that matter. "You better be dressed and ready to go! We leave in an hour!"
I hear her stomp down the stairs and finish up, standing at the sink to wash my hands. I glance up at the mirror and wrinkle my freckled nose in annoyance. My long, brown hair is sticking up everywhere from sleeping on it wet, so I take my wet hands and smooth it down, gathering it all up and bunching it back into a ponytail. I grimace at all the flyaways my side swept bangs make and grab a thin, blue, circle band I see all those athletic chicks at college wearing. I pull it over my head and push it back into place. Actually, it doesn't look half bad.
I venture out of my bathroom and into my sunlit room, running to my window to see my family packing the car for our long road trip to Los Angeles. We live all the way over in Maryland, close to D.C. I guess my parents thought it'd be fun to drive all the way across the country to relax. All I know is I'm stuck with Mike in the back of the van for about two days with all the pit stops we'll be making.
I pull my dark green suitcase out from under my bed and start throwing things in: clothes, jewelry, toiletries, and glancing around to make sure no one is watching, my pink dildo, stuffed in a pair of socks.Then I grab my pink backpack off of my hat rack and throw in a couple of decks of cards, my favorite book, some handheld video games, snacks, and my iPod. The backpack goes in the back with me, and I need things to do.
I get undressed and glance in my full length mirror. I'm about 5'2" with an average frame. My hips are more curvy, with a full butt, while my chest is just about perfect for my frame at about a 36B. I grimace at my thighs, always being self-conscious about how they touched. I wasn't fat by any means, but with today's society being all about skinny being beautiful, I couldn't help but feel insecure. I slide on my dark purple lacy bra and matching panties (usually wearing pretty underthings makes me feel better). Then I throw on a low cut black t-shirt and a jean skirt, going for comfy, but cute.
I jump as Mike bangs open the door and stomps in.
"Yeah, yeah, you're gorgeous. Now let's go! We need your stuff to finish packing, princess." He grabs my suitcase from my bed and stomps off. Geez, what a crank. Mike is only a year older than me, and gets super cranky when he's not on schedule.
I slide my moccasins on and grab my pack, stepping lightly down the stairs. I see my stepfather, Phil, and give him a kiss on the cheek.
"Morning, Daddy!" I say cheerfully, "Ready to get on the road?"
"You know it, princess." He goes to ruffle my carefully kept hair, but seeing my death glare, he pats my shoulder instead.
"I was just getting ready to lock up; you ready to go? Got everything? Where's your suitcase?"
"C'mon, Daddy, I've got everything. Mike already took my suitcase, you know how crabby he gets when we're not on schedule!"
Phil chuckles and shoos me out the door into the morning air. I breathe deeply in contentment and watch Mike's muscles ripple beneath his shirt as he loads all he can fit into the back storage space. He shuts the hatch and spots me behind him, grinning and lumbering toward me.
"About time, Emily." He grins, hugging me tightly.
"Ew! Mike! You're all sweaty and gross! Stop it!" I wiggle away from him and shiver in mock disgust.
"Yeah, yeah, just get in the back so we can build the Death Wall." He slaps my butt playfully as I bend over to climb in the far back of the minivan. I stick my tongue out and plop down in the middle, while Mike sits on my left.
"Ready, kids? Remember, stack it right or it'll tumble down and kill ya!" Phil let's out an evil laugh and we roll our eyes.
When Mike and I were little we would fight a lot, so one year on vacation our parents stacked things in the middle seats as a blockade between them and us. They messed with the speaker volume so they could blast their old people music in the front while we could talk comfortably in the back. By the end of the trip, we were best friends, so every vacation since, we build the Death Wall.
We start by filling up the right-hand seat and then build up the Wall. Once we've got it all situated, Phil opens the hatch to tell us, "We're off like a herd of turtles!" and slams the hatch down. I giggle, Mike groans, and we can hear my mother shrieking wildly a Phil chases her into the front seat.
"If I ever act like that when I'm older, please shoot me," he says.
"With pleasure," I say with an eye roll.
We finally get moving and I dig my iPod out of my backpack, slipping in my earbuds and resting my head on Mike's shoulder to take a nap. He kisses my forehead and shakes open his newspaper as I drift off.
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