The Not-So Perfect Vacation (Short Story)

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Grayson

       No more parties were thrown at the cabin beside ours, thankfully. I was kind of hoping they'd be here for only a week, maybe less, but they weren't. A week passed and they were still here, but they weren't s annoying. They were still annoying, but not too annoying.

       I don't know how many times I had to stop Ryder from running off to the lake. I would open the door to go outside or going back inside, and he would laugh like a maniac while he ran to the lake. At least he was having a good time.

       "Daddy," Ryder said, climbing onto the couch I was sitting on then jumping up and down. "Dad. Dad. Daddy."

       "What?" I asked.

       Ryder sighed loudly and sat down beside me on the couch. "I'm bored."

       "You can go color," I suggested.

       "I did," he said. "Now I'm bored."

       "Okay, you can d--"

       "I did."

       "You didn't even know what I was going to say," I said.

       "Cuz I did everything," he said. "And I'm bored. Can we go in the boat?"

       I thought for a bit. I was bored as well, so I decided we should. I looked over at Poppy, who was reading a book. "Flower, want to go in the canoe?" I asked.

       "Sure," she said, placing a bookmark in her book before setting it down on the coffee table. We all got changed into our swimsuits and put sunscreen on. I placed Ryder's hat on top of his head before the three of us went outside.

       Poppy kept an eye on Ryder while I got the canoe and life jackets out. Ryder did try to take off a few times, so Poppy had to hold him to make sure he wouldn't run to the lake. I had no idea what it was with him and the lake, but he never stopped trying to run to it.

       When the canoe was out of the shed, I locked the shed before putting the key back into the cabin. I then pushed the canoe to the lake and helped Poppy and Ryder in. They put on the life jackets and I pushed the canoe a bit deeper in the lake before hopping in.

       Poppy and I paddled around the lake while Ryder kept trying to tip the boat over. He would rock back and forth while laughing, but then frowned when the boat didn't tip over.

       "Ryder, stop rocking the canoe," I said. "Do you want to go into the water?"

       "Yes," he said.

       "Okay, let me rephrase that," I said. "Do you want to fall in the water?"

       Ryder sighed. "No."

       "Then please stop trying to tip the boat over," I said. "When we get back to the shore, I'll take you into the water, okay?"

       "Okay," he said. "Can I try the paddle?"

       Poppy handed her paddle over to him. "Be careful, okay?" she said.

       "Okay!" he said. Him paddling really wasn't going to make a difference, but it was still cute watching him try.

       Well, until he dropped the paddle by accident into the lake. "Oops," he said. "Sorry."

       "It's okay," I said, trying to reach for it, but it was a bit too far. I sighed, placing my paddle down before getting to the water and swimming to the paddle. When I got back to the canoe, I noticed Bonnie and Lucile in their canoe, seemingly not paying attention as they bumped roughly into ours, causing it to shake and for Ryder to freak out.

       "Oops," Bonnie said. "Sorry, didn't see you there."

       "Really?" Poppy asked. "Can you guys do us a favor and just leave us alone for once?"

       "What are you talking about?" Lucile asked. "We have never once bothered you." They backed up a bit and bumped into our canoe again, rocking it even more even though I was holding onto it and making Ryder cry.

       That was it. I was sick of these girls being annoying and constantly making Ryder cry on purpose.

       Since I was still in the water, I held my breath and went underwater, quickly swimming to underneath they boat. I pushed my hands on the side of the boat closer to ours, making it tip away from our boat and having them fall overboard.

       I swim back to our boat, popping my head above the water. "How was that?" I asked Poppy with a smile.

       "Perfect," she said, smiling back.

       The girls popped their head above the water. "I can't believe you did that!" Bonnie shrieked. 

      "Oh, sorry," I said. "I didn't see you there. Look, I know you're on vacation, but you two really need to stop messing with us. More importantly, you need to stop making our son cry. We're just here, trying to have a relaxing vacation. We don't need you two trying to ruin it every chance you get."

       I hopped back into the canoe. "Alright, Ryder, want to go into the water now?" I asked.

       Ryder nodded, wiping the remainder of tears . "Yes, please," he said.

       We paddled back to the shore and I got out, dragging the canoe onto the ground before taking off before helping Poppy out of the boat, then Ryder. I held Ryder and swam a bit deeper so the water was at my chest. Poppy followed, but had to stand a bit ahead of me because she was way shorter than me.

       "I really hope they leave before we do," Poppy said. "I just want to spend one day where they aren't ruining it."

       "You and me both," I said. "We came out here to have a relaxing vacation, but it's kind of hard with them throwing parties, yelling at Ryder, and just being annoying."

       "They're mean," Ryder said.

       "Yes, they are," I agreed. "That was why I made them fall into the water. It was funny, right?"

       Ryder smiled and nodded. "Really really funny!"

       I smiled back at him. "Hopefully they learned not to mess with us again."

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So the next chapter will be the last one and it will be posted tomorrow, which means Dax's second book will possibly start tomorrow, if not Saturday. :D 

I know a lot of you want this longer, but it's supposed to be a short story and I'm out of ideas anyway, so yeah. cx BUT FEAR NOT. I'll probably do another Popson short story in the winter. :)