Hello again! I still feel bad about how long it took me to update, so I'm updating quickly. This installment has more action than the last one. I got into a real Sarah x Cal mood with this one, so if you're into that, you're in luck. French translations are at the bottom. Enjoy!
Once everything was put away and everything was in working order, Cal gave them a tour. The house smelled dusty, the air had been stagnant for years. Alison opened every window they passes to help alleviate the smell.
"This is the living room, as you can see. This couch is a pullout just in case." Cal said, holding his arms out. It was a spacious room, it had two couches and a loveseat, and there was a TV above the fireplace. The boy led them to the kitchen, which was now stocked with groceries. There was a small table in the far corner of the room. He took them to the first bedroom,
"This is the master bedroom, which I think Sarah and I will take." He took his and his girlfriend's stuff and tossed it on the bed. He took them upstairs, "These are the other two bedrooms, the one on the right has a nicer bed, but the one on the left is closer to the bathroom. The one on the left is usually mine, if that sweetens the pot any." Before anyone else had time to negotiate, Delphine grabbed Cosima's stuff out of her hands and went into the bedroom on the right,
"We call this one." She clipped. Felix and Alison just shook their heads and went into the further bedroom. Everyone spent a few minutes getting settled. In the master bedroom, Sarah was laying in the bed, letting Cal open the windows and clear off the dust.
"Don't you think it's kind of weird that we're sleeping in the same bed your parents have slept in?" She asked. Cal thought for a second,
"A little bit, but I think you'll change your mind when you see this." He grabbed her hand and led her out of the bed and into the bathroom, where Sarah laid eyes on the largest bathtub she'd ever seen. Cal smiled, "Imagine getting drunk in this." The words made Sarah's eyes go impossibly wider,
"You brought booze?" Cal scoffed,
"Of course I did, what else would we do at a lake house in the middle of nowhere over Spring Break besides drink?" He unzipped one of his duffel bags, it held several bottles of various alcohols. He pulled the contents of the bag onto the bed, "I tried to get everybody's favorites." He surely did. There was enough tequila to keep Cosima wasted throughout the entire trip, he got a bottle of vodka for both Alison and Delphine, two bottles of whiskey for Sarah and Felix to share, a bottle of rum for himself, three six packs of beer to play games with, and four bottles of wine for when everybody wanted to just relax. Cal pulled a few packages of Solo cups and disposable shot glasses out of his backpack. Sarah stared at the comically large amount of alcohol, she could only manage a whispered, "How?"
"A buddy of mine owed me a favor." Cal shrugged.
"How big a favor?" Sarah half shouted, still in disbelief, "I think it might be illegal for people who are allowed to drink to be in possession of this much booze. And how did you carry all of this in one bag?" Cal shushed her,
"Suspend your disbelief, what's important is that we have enough alcohol to kill a grown rhinoceros, no adult supervision, and thanks to Cosima, a large amount of fireworks." Sarah started laughing,
"Alright, I won't ask any more questions. Can we go play booze Santa and deliver this to the others?" Cal grinned excitedly and put everything back in the bag.
Delphine had thought it would be a good idea to flip the mattress to get rid of the dusty smell, so the two girls were currently struggling to turn the giant thing over,
"Come on, Delphine, this is what makes or breaks relationships, we've got this." Cosima grunted. Delphine laughed and tried not to lose control of the mattress. They finally flipped it, and it took a few more minutes to get the sheets, which had been sitting by the open window, back onto the bed. When they'd finished, the two girls flopped back onto the bed, finally relaxing. Cosima rolled onto her stomach and wrapped an arm around Delphine's waist, the blonde began running her fingers through the older girl's hair,
"Are you excited to stay here?" Cosima asked, nuzzling into Delphine's shoulder. Delphine hummed sleepily, "What are you most excited about?" She asked, now placing kisses on the girl's shoulder and neck. Delphine inhaled sharply, she was now fully awake.
"You know I can't think when you're doing that, but if I have to answer, I would say," Delphine thought for a second, "the lake looks pretty enticing." Cosima, satisfied with the answer, smiled and worked her way up to Delphine's jaw, peppering it with small kisses. Delphine laughed and Cosima climbed on top of her, straddling her waist. Before things could go any further, there was a knock on the door. Cosima climbed off of her girlfriend and went to answer the door. She pulled the door open and was face to face with two bottles of liquor that Sarah was holding up, Cal was right behind her with what appeared to be more liquor,
"Guess what Cal brought!" Sarah sang. Cosima stepped back to let the two in,
"What do we have here?" She asked, taking the two bottles from her friend's hands. One was a bottle of vodka, obviously for Delphine because she herself couldn't stand the stuff, the other was a bottle of tequila. Cosima could have kissed Cal, she turned to Delphine, who was now sitting up on the bed,
"Cal brought your favorite." She grinned, tossing the vodka to her. Delphine caught it and inspected the bottle,
"Is this all for me?" She asked, she couldn't imagine ingesting all of it by herself.
"Yeah, you don't have to drink all of it, though. I also have beer and wine if you guys want that instead." Cal explained. Both girls smiled,
"This is great, Cal. Thanks." Delphine said appreciatively.
"Now I'm finally gonna get another chance to kick your ass at beer pong again." Cosima added. The other three laughed before Cal mentioned that he and Sarah still had to deliver Felix and Alison their booze. The girls thanked them again and the two left the room. Cosima closed the door and turned back to Delphine, grinning,
"Where were we?" She asked, climbing back onto the bed and onto Delphine, who rolled them over and began placing light kisses on the older girl's throat.
Felix and Alison had completely unpacked their luggage and were currently organizing it into the dresser. Alison found a fresh set of linens in the closet and had already remade the bed. The two worked efficiently and silently, an excellent team. They were about to go put their toiletries in the bathroom when they ran into Cal and Sarah,
"We come bearing gifts!" Sarah said, handing them each a bottle. Felix beamed at the bottle of whiskey in his hands,
"Jesus bloody Christ, who brought this?" He asked. Sarah motioned to Cal. Felix fought back the urge to kiss the boy. He looked over to Alison who looked to be fighting back tears, cradling the bottle of vodka in her arms like it was a child. The girl mouthed a silent 'Thank you.' Sarah grinned even more, obviously excited about the amount of debauchery that would be taking place over the next week. Felix cocked his head at his sister,
"Have you already started drinking?" He asked. Sarah shook her head and laughed. Cal and Sarah went back downstairs to put the extra alcohol in the kitchen.
It was another hour until everybody left their rooms for lunch. They made sandwiches and discussed what they would do for the rest of the day while Cal worked on setting up the TV. They decided that it would be most fun to swim in the lake, and to save drinking for the following days. An hour later, everybody was in their swimsuits and they trekked down to the lake.
They tooled around for a while, splashing each other and holding races until Cosima suggested that they play chicken. Since there were three teams, they would have to play in tournament style,
"Cal and Sarah have the best advantage since Cal is ten feet tall and built like an ox, so they'll play the winner." Felix decided. Everybody else agreed, Cal blushed. Delphine climbed onto Cosima's shoulders.
"Are you sure you don't want to be on top?" Delphine asked, swatting Cosima for laughing at the accidental innuendo, "Because I'm taller, you pervert. I don't want us falling over just because you can't see over the water." She elaborated. The American shook her head,
"Nah, I'm Cosima "Powerful Thighs" Niehaus, remember? I won't fall over." Cosima reminded Delphine, who just laughed and steadied herself.
"Oi! Stop chatting, I'm trying not to swallow any water." Felix barked, Alison was swaying on his shoulders. The two teams squared off, Sarah counted down from three and shouted for them to start. Delphine laughed as Cosima inched closer to Felix and Alison. The blonde reached forward and started shoving Alison, who was shoving back. It was an equal match until Cosima let go of one of Delphine's ankles, using one arm to steady both of the blonde's legs, and used her free arm to shove Felix squarely in his right shoulder. The boy stumbled and the two went toppling backwards, falling into the water. The two girls shouted in triumph. Delphine hopped off of her girlfriend's shoulders, giving her a break. After another minute of celebration, Delphine climbed back on top of Cosima, this time facing Sarah, who, due to Cal's height, was a couple of inches higher than her. Cosima, who was almost certain of how this was about to go, widened her stance a little to help her remain balanced. Once both teams were ready, Felix counted them off and announced that they could begin. Cosima stayed still, just trying to not be immediately knocked over. Cal took a step forward, getting Sarah close enough to the two girls to actually do something. Delphine felt optimistic about the match, she really did, until she looked at Sarah, who was now a whirlwind of arms, her face showed no mercy; no compassion as she advanced. For a moment, Delphine thought that a puma had traded places with Sarah. She fell back more from fear than from being pushed. Delphine fell right off of Cosima's shoulders, it almost looked like she had jumped off in an attempt to escape. When Delphine resurfaced, everybody was laughing and Sarah seemed to have returned to human form. They swam for a little bit longer before toweling off and going back inside.
They had a quiet night, making pasta and building a fire in the fireplace. They gathered in the living room after eating and cleaning up after dinner and started a movie that Cosima had picked out. It was a horror movie called The Strangers. Cosima had seen it once a few years ago, but didn't exactly remember the plot. Thirty minutes into the movie, which was vividly terrifying, Cosima was beginning to regret the decision. Not because she was scared, no, she rarely got freaked out when watching scary movies, but because Delphine was currently burying her face into her side, mumbling quickly in French,
"Je ne veux pas être ici! Ce ne est pas vrai, ce est juste un film!" Cosima couldn't quite make out exactly what she was saying, but she got the gist. She just wrapped an arm around Delphine's shoulder, trying to comfort her while still watching the movie.
Cal and Sarah were sharing a couch, both equally freaked out by the movie. Every time something scary would happen, they'd grab each other's hand and squeeze for dear life. On the other couch, Felix and Alison were watching casually. They made jokes about the holes in the plot and quietly made fun of the characters. They both figured that relentlessly mocking the film would make it less terrifying to go to sleep.
The movie ended and for a few minutes no one was brave enough to get up and turn on the light. They sat there in silence, nobody speaking, until Cal shrugged and got up, flicking the light on. They talked for a while, Sarah was in the kitchen getting a drink, Cal was putting the DVD back in its case and Cosima was working the stiffness out of her limbs, the others remained sitting. Felix was about to ask what they planned on doing the next day when he was interrupted by a series of loud bangs coming from upstairs, like something was being moved. Delphine screamed and lunged forward, practically football tackling Cosima out of fear. Felix dropped to the ground and covered his head with his arms. Before anyone had time to process what had happened, Sarah had opened the kitchen window and crawled out of it, running as fast as she could away from the house.
After a couple of seconds another noise came, this time it was quieter. Alison, who was sitting perfectly still-seemingly trying to blend into the couch, spoke first,
"What is that? What are we going to do?" She hissed.
"It sounded like it came from the attic." Cal said. His explanation was punctuated by another clatter, causing everyone to flinch.
"We have to go see what it is." Cosima said from the ground, where Delphine still had her in a vice-like grip. The blonde shook her head vigorously, her fear only gave her access to her native tongue,
"Non! Si nous restons encore, il ne saura pas que nous sommes ici." This time Cosima understood. She rolled her eyes,
"Nobody's here, Delphine. It's probably just the wind." Another bang erupted from upstairs and Cosima had trouble believing her own words. Cal grabbed the fireplace poker and Cosima extracted herself away from Delphine and grabbed a flashlight from the coffee table.
"Felix, go get Sarah and bring her back here." Cal instructed, the boy nodded anxiously. Cal and Cosima walked to the base of the stairs. They looked to each other and Cosima turned on the light before they began climbing them. They walked to the end of the upstairs hall, looking up at the attic door. At this close, they could hear several small thuds and, much to their terror, scratching. Cal shuddered and reached up, grabbed the cord, and slowly pulled down the attic stairs.
Downstairs, Delphine seemed to have collected herself a bit and was putting on her shoes to go and retrieve Sarah. Alison was still on the couch, trying to call Sarah on her cellphone, only to be rewarded with the sound of Sarah's phone ringing underneath a blanket on the other couch. Felix was sticking his head out of the kitchen window, shouting for Sarah to return,
"Sarah! You silly bitch, get your arse back here!" He was about to curse even louder when he heard her reply,
"What was making that noise?" She shouted from the distance. Felix looked around a bit and gathered that his sister was hiding behind the car.
"We don't know, Cosima and Cal are checking it out now, just come back inside!" He yelled back.
"Not until you tell me what was up there!" Sarah declared. Felix huffed.
Back upstairs, Cal and Cosima were silently arguing over who would climb the stairs first. They counted off to three and they each threw down a hand, Cal's scissor beating Cosima's paper. The girl grimaced and turned on the flashlight, climbing up the steps with Cal right behind her. She was at the top of the stairs when another round of scratches erupted from the far corner of the attic. Cosima flinched and shined the flashlight in the noise's direction. There, in the corner, was a raccoon, apparently looking for a way out. The girl laughed and looked down the stairs at Cal,
"It's a raccoon, Cal, not a masked murderer." She reached for the fireplace poker that he was holding. He handed it to her and Cosima climbed into the attic. She looked around and saw where the raccoon had entered the attic. There was a window that was slightly open, the creature had probably accidentally forced it shut on its way in. Cosima crossed the attic and opened the window completely before she approached the raccoon. It seemed pretty docile, but the girl wasn't about to risk a bite, so she used the poker to herd the critter towards its escape. It scurried across the room and leapt out the window, into the bough of a nearby tree. Cosima closed the window and locked it, sighing in relief,
"See? No big deal." Cal laughed, immensely relieved.
"Let's go downstairs and tell the others." Cosima nodded.
Once downstairs, the two found Felix, Alison and Delphine sitting nervously on the couch, and Sarah was still nowhere to be found.
"What was it?" Alison asked, glad to see that her friends hadn't been massacred.
"It was a raccoon. The little dude must've crawled in through the window and gotten stuck." Cosima explained. The three of them rolled their eyes, feeling silly for being so scared of something as benign as a raccoon.
"Where's Sarah?" Cal asked, looking around. "Didn't you guys find her?"
"We found her, she's hiding behind the car. She refuses to come back inside until we tell her what was upstairs." Felix explained. Cal laughed and went outside.
He approached the car and walked to the back ender where he found Sarah, practically hiding underneath the vehicle. She heard him approach and looked to him,
"Who was that? Did you kill them?" She asked, still on edge.
"It was a raccoon that got stuck in the attic, you dork." Cal chuckled. Sarah threw a pebble at him,
"Well it sounded like a bloody axe murderer!" She shouted. Cal offered her a hand helped her up off the ground. Sarah looked at the boy, jokingly sheepish,
"I'm too scared. I think you'll have to carry me." She said. Cal huffed, just glad that Sarah wasn't already three miles down the road, and picked his girlfriend up at the shoulders and the knees. He carried her bridal style up the driveway and into the house. The others looked at them,
"Sarah, are you okay?" Delphine asked.
"She's fine, she's just a diva." Cal chuckled as he set her down on the couch, she smiled impishly and grabbed his hand, pulling him down next to her. He rested his head in her lap, exhaling deeply. He looked around the room and saw that the others were all sitting down, finally calming down. Cosima had taken off her glasses and was rubbing her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. Delphine was toying with the hem of her sleep shirt. Felix and Alison were both staring into the distance, trying to keep their eyes open. Exhausted from the day's events, Cal felt his eyes drooping shut, too. He wasn't sure of how long he'd drifted off when Sarah roused him and sat him up. The others had gone to bed, he didn't know how long ago, and the room was empty save the two teens. He looked to Sarah, who giggled at the boy's drowsy face. Despite the facial hair and the other signs of aging, he still looked like the boy she'd met in third grade. Sarah ran her thumb along his scruff before she stood up and took his hand. He rose slowly, sleep still caught in his long legs. She slowly led him into their bedroom, where she took him out of his day clothes before she changed into her own sleep clothes. Sarah turned around to see Cal already back asleep, on top of the bedspread. She laughed quietly and crawled onto the bed, maneuvering the blanket out from under her boyfriend and sliding it over the two of them. She laid her head on Cal's bare chest, the boy hummed a little and wrapped his arm around her. She nuzzled closer into him and followed the boy into sleep.
French translations: Je ne veux pas être ici! Ce ne est pas vrai, ce est juste un film = I do not want to be here! This is not true, it's just a movie - Non! Si nous restons encore, il ne saura pas que nous sommes ici = No! If we stay still, it will not know we're here.