A Trip To Remember

The Last Night

  We pulled back into the drive way of the house, radio still blaring, singing at the top of our lungs into the night until we hopped out of the car and walked up to the house.
I sighed as I swung open the door and stepped inside with everyone else. I threw my bag on the ground and flopped on the couch along with everyone else. I glanced at the clock, which glowed 8:24, and I chewed my lip in thought.
I sighed again and laid on my stomach to look at everyone. "So what should we do for dinner? Do we wanna go out or order in or-"
"Let's cook." Sophia said out of the blue.
I turned to her in surprise and smiled a little
"You wanna cook...?" I asked, a bit confused.
"Yeah we've had this gorgeous kitchen here and we haven't cooked for ourselves. Plus I think cooking would be a more fun family thing to do then just simply going out."
"I agree." Alysa said with a grin.
"Me too." Said Riley. I almost did a double take. Damn that boy was so quiet I forgot he was here. I'm sure it's also because he was so preoccupied with flirting with my best friend he's been elsewhere.
  "Ok so what should we make?" Caleb asked, sitting on the bar stool at the island.
  "Hmmm..." I pondered, searching the fridge to find inspiration. I found enough ingredients to make a pesto mozzarella gnocchi pasta. I know I know it sounds fancy, but it's actually so amazing, and all the ingredients were just there.
  I delegated everyone some instructions on what they could do as left myself to do the hardest thing, which was the gnocchi itself. My grandma had been teaching me to cook since I was little and so I knew my way around a kitchen a bit. She thought it'd be an important skill for college so I'm not like every other student just eating top ramen straight out of the bag.
Anyway after a lot of mess and...that sort of fun...we finally whipped together a pretty nice looking meal, and we began to serve ourselves.
Joe reached for the spoon as Sophia served herself and walked towards the living room, when Rianna slapped his hand and he slumped his shoulders, wondering what on Earth she had to say now.
"Ummm? Ladies first?" She said, hand on hip.
"You're not a lady."
"Excuse me?"
"A lady doesn't draw a—certain thing on my back when I'm sleeping, and then blame it on her boyfriend." He said, setting his bowl down in a way of challenging her. She did so as well.
"A GENTLEMAN DOESN'T USE ONE OF HIS GIRL FRIENDS AS A HUMAN SHIELD WHEN THERES A BEE CHASING HIM."
"Guys-" Nathan began before I slapped his chest to silence him.
"Come on, it wouldn't be our last night here without Rianna and Joe trying to kill each other." I whispered with a smirk, leaning against the counter opposite where Rianna and Joe were.
"I know...but I'm hungry..." Nathan said, slumping with a childlike, mopey expression, and I had to fight the urge to laugh.
I tuned back into the fight unraveling to see it'd come undone pretty fast. How do I know? Because Rianna pulled out her step stool and was now standing on it and screaming at Joe as he yelled back. The funny thing was, the stool only made her 4 inches taller, so she was still 5 inches shorter than him.
"Alright, alright love..." Tyler said, striding in and pulling Rianna over his shoulder and carrying her to the living room with the rest who'd already gotten their food. Nathan took his opportunity, rushed forward, and eagerly served himself before skipping to the living room, so it was just me and Joe. He was still fuming a little and so I waited for him to say something.
"I'll tell you who I'm not gonna miss." He muttered, clearly still annoyed.
"Oh please Joseph," I said, setting my bowl down and smiling at him. "You're gonna miss moments like these the most...because you know we're the only people who will ever drive you this crazy." I said nudging his arm and half grinning.
He sighed and set his bowl down too, bracing his hands on the counter and closing his eyes. I was super shocked to see this and my mouth was just gaping slightly, waiting for what he was going to say. But he didn't say anything.
Instead, he started weeping.
A little whimper escaped from his tough exterior and I wrapped my arms around him, massaging his head slightly to comfort him, my other arm on his back.
As his cries grew slightly louder, somehow everyone in the living room heard, because they then all filed in, more silent then I'd ever heard them, and enveloped each other in a giant hug, silently crying together, knowing it'd all be over soon. Too soon.

The rest of the night was one of those nights where we all just gathered together and just enjoyed each other's company, knowing that this would be our last adventure together. Our last crazy wild month. All the laughs, smiles, games, love, lost, drama, and adventure that we shared...it was truly something out of a book.
  We all didn't fall asleep until 2 am, knowing full well we had to get up at 5 to go to the airport, but I think we all felt the same. We didn't want the night to end, because once it did, and we shut our eyes and slipped into the darkness of our subconscious dream state, it'd soon be light, and we'd soon be parting ways.
  We didn't sleep in our beds that night. We remained gathered around in the living room on couches, armchairs, or just the floor, some of us sharing a couch, and huddling together. Everyone had fallen asleep after talking for a very long time around 2am, but I couldn't sleep. I considered just powering through till 5am, because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to my friends. I felt like if I fell asleep now, I'd be wasting 3 hours I had left.
  I sighed quietly, and looked next to me at Alysa fast asleep, her head resting on my thigh, and then on my other side (we got the big couch) at Nathan, who, even in his sleep, didn't look relaxed, and I chuckled. I picked up Alysas head gently and laid it down on top of a pillow. I looked down and realized Riley was laying on the floor next to her, their fingers gently interlocked together, and I smiled. I turned to Nathan and gently threw a blanket over him because he looked cold.
  I did the same with everyone in the room, covering them in blankets and slipping pillows under their heads, and then gently kissing the tops of their heads. I sighed as warm tears welled in my eyes, and I walked to my place back on the couch between Nathan and Alysa. It was a rather big couch, but I did have to lay a little overlapped with the others, with my head on Nathan's shins, so my feet wouldn't be on Alysas head.
  I sighed and closed my eyes, realizing it's pointless to just wait around for 3 hours, and so I closed my eyes, tears slipping from them, and gently trailing down my face. I sobbed silently so no one would hear, but I felt Nathan's hand come to the back of my head, and Alysa's hand gently squeeze my leg for support. I guess I had woken them up.
  That was enough to comfort me, and I drifted off into a dreamless, short sleep.