Sam glances around at the people in the room, and feel the awkward effect of a long time without seeing each other kick in. It had been a rough year, with all eight of them not communicating enough with each other, and now they are here. Back in the lodge. The place that holds the terrifying realization that Hannah and Beth really are gone, and will not come back, no matter how much they regret what they did and did not do. It would be easy to be sad over it, and even easier to start discussing who should feel the most guilt about it, but they have to get over it somehow. For the sake of everyone and especially for Josh. Sam can feel the empathy just by thinking of how he must be feeling, and the bath she had been planning for the whole trip up here, must wait. She has to do something.
"Hey, guys," she says with a smile and stands up. "Let's go put the alcohol and the food in the kitchen."
"Yeah, good idea," Ashley says, gratified that someone finally says something.
"Okay, I guess so," Emily says and grabs one of the bags.
"You go ahead. I'll just keep this fight with the fire going," Matt says with a humorous smile.
Sam is the only one to return the smile, and the girls make it to the kitchen without saying a word to each other. Sam sighs knowing it will take some time to get the conversation starting.
Josh has always been good at the technical aspects of things. Like, if Mike and Chris walked some small steps down the corridor and started going through the rest of the basement they would discover a world of horror just waiting to come to life before their eyes. But luckily they stay close, and for now Josh's technical talents must be used to fix something as simple as the lights. A little bit to the downside though. It would be much scarier to walk around in the dark, but maybe he can make the lights disappear again, later when he has the time. And the privacy.
There is a silent moment between the three boys, until Mike speaks up.
"So, do you need any help?" He looks a little bit uncomfortable standing and watching someone doing the job. Or maybe it is just the whole situation that makes it all seem a little bit weird and pointless.
"No, I got it," Josh answers and push a few buttons. "-and now we should have light."
"Great," Chris says. "Let's get this weekend started."
"Yeah, in the way every weekend should start. With vodka and girls," Mike says, and walks towards the stairs while dancing a little bit. Chris shakes his head, and waits up for Josh to follow them.
"So I have thought about what you said," Chris says, when Mike is long enough away for only Josh to hear.
Josh looks confused. "Um, okay?"
"You know, about Ashley," Chris explains. "And I think you're right. I mean, we have been having a thing going on for a long time now, and we like spending time with each other. So why not take it to the next level. Like you said, I've made all the ground work, so we're probably still gonna be friends if it does not work out. And now we're gonna party and everything, so it's the perfect opportunity."
Josh lights up in a smirky smile, and claps Chris lightly on the back. "There you go! That's the right attitude. You should listen to me more often, you know."
Chris laughs and for a moment, Josh forgets about the gruesome part of the plan, and focuses on how close Ashley and Chris will be after it's over. The traumatic event that will send them directly into each other's arms, and make Josh the perfect wingman. Finally, Chris will get the girl, and he will have no other than Josh to thank for it. He laughs a little bit by himself and Chris smiles with no clue at all, about what's causing Josh's mood to be so light all of sudden.
As they enter the room upstairs, the fire is already waving around in the fireplace, and it feels warmer just by seeing it. They find the others in the kitchen, were they all each have a drink in their hand. Mike turns the light on as he enters the room.
"Let there be light," he says and greets Jessica, by laying an arm around her.
"Nice work, boys," Jessica says, but only has hey eyes fixed on Mike.
"Yeah, now we can finally see each other again. You know, for real," Ashley says, and looks at Chris with a big smile for a moment, before returning her attention to Sam and their conversation. But the quick moment is enough to make Chris sure about his decision. This weekend will change everything to the better. He sits down in a bar chair and is quickly drawn into Sam and Ashley's lightly conversation. Josh now stands alone in the doorway.
He looks at his friends for a moment. No one is fighting anymore, nor is there any bad tension in the air, and it almost makes him feel annoyed. No, angry. His sisters used to be a part of this. They used to stand in this room with them and laugh and smile and make jokes with them. Hannah would laugh with Sam about something irrelevant and send Mike looks, when he weren't aware of it, and Beth would be there too, either with her sister or Jessica, and she would be the caring helper if anyone got to drunk, like she always was. And he would laugh with them, and when he and Chris got to drunk, like they always did, his sisters would mock him lightly the morning after, and he would hear about it for a long time, but he didn't care. They were be a part of everything. Every social event, it would be Josh, Hannah and Beth and their friends. The memories, the jokes. It was everything. But those days were over, because of the people Josh was looking at in the exact moment. Hannah and Beth would never come back, and his friends are just laughing and having a good time without them. Just as he is about to silently, walk out of the room, Chris looks at him.
"Hey, Josh. Let's grab a beer."
No. No, I do not want anything from you. "Um, I don't know, man. I don't really feel like it."
"Come on, dude," Chris grabs two beers from the fridge. "This is a party. And we both know we're the kings of parties."
Josh hesitates, but realizes that he need to party with them, if he wants to get anyone drunk. They are worried. It's easy to see.
"Well, okay then, cochise." Josh gives in and Chris smiles triumphantly, making his way through the kitchen to stand beside his best friend.
Maybe it isn't that bad. As long as he can keep it under control, it will all soon go after the plan. As Emily and Matt goes to the fridge to grab something else to drink, he smirks, and feels a little bit comforted. Partying for an hour or two, and so it can all begin. He does not need to hurry. They are going to be at the lodge for the whole weekend. So when Chris passes him the beer he gladly accepts it and joins the group. One beer won't make any difference.