It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 33

“Hot chocolate anyone?”

I glanced up from the book I was reading.  Everyone gathered around Meghan, their hands reaching out for the hot chocolates in the cup-holders in her outstretched hands.  I counted the number of hot chocolates within the two cup-holders.  Eight.  That was just enough for the whole group.  And, from the looks of it, everyone wanted one.

“Bri, you want one?” Dannon murmured from beside me.  He had a book of his own open.  His, in contrast to my young adult novel, was a children’s book called Mr. Bump.  Since I began reading about an hour before, he’d read the little story over twenty times—no joke.  I wondered if he’d memorized the words yet.

I closed my book, setting it lightly beside me.  I smiled.  “Sure,” I said, standing up and stretching my arms.  I decided to be nice and not torture him with boredom any longer.  I’d offered him alternatives—I mean, there were six other people there with us.  But he said he was fine.  However, you could tell that he was getting tired of just sitting there.  Or maybe he was just really tired.  You could never tell with this guy. 

Dannon stood up, stretching his arms as well.  “You don’t have to stop reading,” he assured me with a smile.  “I can just go grab it for you.”

“Yeah, I know.”  I sighed, letting my arms fall.  “But I think I should stop being anti-social.”

I glanced around at our surroundings.  Shelley hadn’t been lying when she said the cabins would be bigger than the lodge.  Just the living room was almost the size of the check-in place, filled with recliners, loveseats, and even a three-piece couch.  There was a huge plasma flat-screen television taking up almost the entirety of the left wall, making you feel like you were at the cinema even though you were just watching a sitcom.  The bedrooms, along with the living room, were huge.  There was a smaller flat-screen for all five of them.  I wasn’t quite sure, but I thought there was a television in the bathroom as well.  You’d think that was crazy, but since there was one in the kitchen, I wouldn’t get rid of the possibility.

 “Yeah, if you don’t, Shelley might just pry the book from your hands,” Dannon said with a grin.

I didn’t doubt that.  I’d already caught her eyeing the book with distaste.  What the girl had against reading, I didn’t know.  “True, true.”

“Oh, look the little bookworms are done their book club meeting!” Shelley called, giggling over at us.

Everyone turned, their yearn for hot chocolate suddenly vanishing.  Why were they so obsessive when it came to Dannon and me?  Weren’t there other couples they could stare at?  Why didn’t they obsess over Kyla and Oliver for a change?  They were going to date soon, I could tell.  The two of them happened to be standing quite close to each other at the moment, their arms brushing.  Yep, a relationship was definitely brewing.

“Do you two want hot chocolates?” Meghan asked, holding up the tray with two hot chocolates remaining.

Dannon and I both nodded.  “Sure,” we said in unison, taking a step forward and accepting the beverages from Meghan’s outstretched hand.  Meghan smiled, spinning around the now-empty cup-holder in her hands.  We smiled back, sipping at our hot chocolates.

Kyla detached herself from Oliver and trotted over to us, her hot chocolate secure in her hand.  The three of us collapsed back onto the couch, our hands outstretched in case hot chocolate decided to spill.  I groaned as Kyla half-landed on me.  The girl might have been a twig, but when she landed on you she managed to make it feel like an elephant was sitting on top of you.