Cinders

~49~ Vacation

It's been months since I tried to get mom fired. We worked through everything, and we're good. Dad and I are good too. It took a while, but we finally got all the hard feelings resolved.

Mom, Taylor, and I decided to go on vacation. I'm turning 17 soon, and mom has been sad lately. She keeps saying that soon I'm gonna be 18, and will be going off to college.

Taylor booked a week at a resort in North Carolina. A week on the beach, baby! So many hot girls in tiny bikinis, I can't wait. The best part? They said I could bring a friend. Duncan is coming, and it's going to be the best week of my life.

"Ellie, come on ya slow poke. We're going to miss our flight," Taylor says, rolling his eyes and looking at me and Duncan, completely exasperated.

"Keep your pants on, Preston—I'm coming," mom says, coming out of the bedroom with her bag.

"Good gravy, woman—We're only gonna be gone for a week. What do you have in this thing?" He asks, lifting her bag up and pretending to struggle with it.

"You boys ready?" Mom asks, looking at Duncan and me.

"Um, yeah—we've been waiting on you for the last 20 minutes," I say, completely annoyed.

Mom lets out an exasperated sigh. "I really need a girl around here—You boys just don't appreciate the work that goes into making all of this happen," she says, waving her hand around herself.

"Ew—I couldn't care less what you look like. Can we go please?" I ask, rolling my eyes.

Taylor grabs her bag for her and whispers in her ear: "You take ALLL the time you need, baby girl. The view is always worth it," he smirks as he smacks her butt.

"You guys are disgusting."

"All right, you grump—Let's go," mom says, shoving me lightly.

~*~

We get to the airport and get on the plane...Hallelujah—Security is no joke.

Duncan and I watch a movie, while mom falls asleep on Taylor's arm. Once we land and pick up our rental car, we make our way to the resort. This place is amazing—Taylor really went all out when picking it. It's right on the beach, and it's going to be epic.

We get to our room, and mom immediately starts unpacking.

"We're gonna go check the place out," I say as we head for the door.

"Nope," mom says, grabbing my arm to stop me. "You need to unpack first."

"Mom come on, we're on vacation—What's the point of unpacking?"

"As soon as you two are unpacked, you can go explore until we meet up for dinner. The longer you stand here arguing with me, the less time you will have."

"Yes, ma'am," Duncan says as he quickly goes to the room we're sharing.

Suck-up

"Why're ya being so....mom-like? This is vacation!"

"Liam!"

"Fine!"

Taylor comes up to her and pretends to pout. "Come on, mom—we wanna go play!!!!"

He sticks out his lower lip and stomps his foot, really getting into character—Somebody give the man an Emmy!

"Not another word out of you," she teases as she points her finger in his face.

Taylor laughs as he picks her up, slinging her over his shoulder. He lightly smacks her on her butt. "Come on, young lady—let's get unpacked," he says, carrying her into their bedroom.