It Started At Camp

17| Labor Day

September 2

Derek

I was happy to get a break from working today and slept in as much as I could until we had to head to Houston to meet the Gabriel's. My dad loaded the girls in the car while my mom finished last minute tasks in the house.

"Dani, you unplugged your curling iron, right?" she asked.

"Uh huh," Dani said as she ran past me. She paused briefly and turned to me. "Are you taking your car or are you riding with us?"

"I'm taking my car. Are you guys following me?" I replied.

"No, sweetie, we'll just follow the GPS. You go ahead. This little one needs to potty again. Come on," my mom interjected just as Destiny ran toward her, hopping impatiently.

I nodded and turned to see Liam standing by the doorway. "Yo!" he greeted me. "You ready?" After he found out we were going down to Lena's, he eagerly invited himself.

"Would you make me your kid's godfather? I'd be really good at it," he said as we were driving down the freeway. He was flipping through his phone as the road raced beneath us.

I chuckled. "We had to take care of the class hamster in third grade and do you remember what happened to it?"

He glanced at me and made a face, clearly recalling, but saying, "Nope," anyway.

"You left the cage open and it ran away. Your neighbors cat got to it before we could."

"Okay, that was my bad. But it's a baby. I'm great with babies!" He shut off his phone and shook his head. "You know, I still can't believe you're gonna be a dad...you forget to pull out once and--"

"Shut the fuck up." I rolled my eyes and he laughed.

We could hear music when we arrived to Lena's house. A quick knock at the door revealed Tiana, done up with makeup and her hair done. She smiled when she saw me. "It's Derek!" she shouted behind her before pulling open the door for us. "And Liam? Hi."

"What's up?" Liam said. "I know it's tradition to bring, like, wine to these things but I brought Dos Equis instead." He raised up the carton he snagged from his fridge, his father's gift. They were basically best friends since it was just them after his mother remarried.

"Um..." Tiana began. "You can bring it outside, I guess." She shut the door behind us. "Are you sure this is the impression you want to make?"

"That I know good beer? Why not?" He moved to the kitchen where I heard him shout before I could even see her. "Lena! How are you?" When I got there, Liam was getting situated at the bar and Lena was pulling out tableware frantically.

"Derek," she said when she saw me. She looked past me anxiously.

"They're not here yet. But they will be in ten minutes or so." She nodded and bit her lip. "Where are your parents?"

"Entertaining outside. Tiana's parents and some of my mom's work friends are out there. Cassie's on her way." This seemed to give her some joy. She moved around the kitchen pulling out some drinks.

Her white off the shoulder dress flowed as she moved about. I couldn't stop staring at her. The heat in the house flushed her cheeks red, making her look effortlessly beautiful.

"Derek."

I turned my head to Liam who had a bowl of chips held out to me. "Want some?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." I hoped it wasn't obvious how distracted I was. I grabbed some and hung out by the bar.