CHAPTER 12: We should go upstairs…

Harper point of view:

It´s not even 9am when we cautiously enter the hotel. Our parents are not at the reception, that´s good. We rush upstairs and leave our stuff in Griff´s room. The hallway is empty, as well as Ben and Sarah´s bedroom. We must sneak into their room, which is right next to the stairs, to take the basement´s keys. Griff goes inside while I keep watch on the stairs just in case any of our parents goes up.

"Got them." He says, putting the keys into his jean´s pocket.

"Great, let´s go."

We try to play it cool not to raise suspicion walking to the basement. Once the locks are open, we go down there, closing the door behind us.

At the bunker, Griff sets the radio to 2025. Sam adjusted the radio for us to travel to any date. The dials for month and day are just like the one for the year.

"What date should we go to?" I ask.

"Well, it´s a summer camp, right? So, August." He sets the month dial to 08. "And.. I don´t know… what about the 23rd?"

"Sure, let´s see what happens. One last trip to the future."

I go through the hatch first, so I feel the awful jolt. However, I´ve done this so many times it´s doesn´t bother me anymore. Only a few meters away from the hatch, a few kids are running around. Following them, we end up near the camper´s shacks. They are small, made of wood, and painted in different colors. They look fantastic!

"That´s the banner I saw in my vision!" I point at the banner hanging on a tree.

"Camp Tremont 2025." Griff reads it out loud. "Wow, so cool." he smiles. "Ok, the camp seems fun, but let´s find Zoey."

On our way to the hotel, I comment,

"If the camp is open it means The Tremont is going well. That´s wonderful!"

"Finally! Our parents deserve it. Well, and we deserve it too, after all the time travelling and risking our lives to beat creepy ghosts."

"Totally. We deserve it." I hold his hand. "We make a great team."

The barn´s exterior looks different. It´s white, except from the door, which is painted in red. A big sign is over it: "Tremont´s event hall."

Griff is as surprised and thrilled as me.

"That´s awesome!" he exclaims. "I would love to see it from the inside! How would they come up with the idea of transforming the barn into an event hall?"

"Well… I guess the idea was to take advantage of the place. Why would we use the barn for?"

"Yeah, true." He looks at me. "You are so clever."

"Thanks." I smile, taking the compliment.

"Look! There she is!" He points at Zoey, who is carrying a box from the hotel to the barn. Wyatt and Topher are next to her, doing the same thing. "She´s ok." He smiles, relieved.

"Told you."

"Wow she looks grown up. All of them do." They get out of sight when they enter the barn, that´s when Griff adds, "It´s amazing." he strokes my arm. "Not only because Zoey is safe but because you don´t only see bad things in your visions."

"Yeah, I remember when I was pretending to be Daisy in the 30s, Sam told me my visions would be generally bad. I´m glad I´m starting to see good things!"

"Can we take a look at the barn?" I can see in his eyes his dying to know the place.

"Sure! Let´s go!"

We cross the parking lot, but stop halfway to the barn, because our moms are talking, sitting on the bench next to the front door.

"… they´ll be fine, Harper was always independent…" I hear my mom. "It would happen someday."

Griff and I pay attention to their conversation hiding behind the bushes. What are they talking about?

"As long as they are together they´ll be fine." Sarah responds. "Besides, my sister and Ben´s dad live there. And of course, we can visit them, Chicago is not that far away."

"True. They grew up so fast." My mom speaks in a melancholic voice, but it quickly goes back to normal. "What will you do with Griffin´s room?"

"Zoey wants it. She was excited for the new home, even more now that she has her own room!"

"What? New home?" Griff murmurs.

"That was a good call." My mom affirms. "Moving from the hotel left 3 more rooms available for guests."

"Luckily, we found a house near here, less than 10 minutes by foot. I can´t believe it, Jess. Everything´s going so well."

"I must see my new house!" Griff exclaims.

"Didn´t you want to see the barn?"

"Who cares about the barn, Harper? New house!"

"It´s crazy!" I say. "The Tremont´s extremely successful, the camp is open, you moved to a new house, and more importantly, did you hear our moms?! We are moving to Chicago!"

"We are going to college together!" he hugs me, celebrating. "That´s awesome! But right now, I want to see my new house." he starts walking through the parking lot.

"How will you recognize it?"

"Well… umm… I…" he hesitates. "I recognize my parents´ car. Come on!"

"I´m coming!" I yell. "Don´t rush me!"

We get to the residential area quickly, but there are a lot of houses here.

"We might be here all day until we find your house." I say. "Our parents will find out we time traveled again."

"This is a small town, it shouldn´t be that hard." He doesn´t even look at me when he answers, he´s looking around, searching for his house. "If we don´t find it in 20 minutes, we go back."

"Deal."

A few minutes later, we find it. The car is parked at the entrance, the front yard is small, but nice, it has flowers all over it.

"I´m sure this is due to my mom´s gardening." He says, pointing at the flowers.

"She did a good job." I reply.

The house is similar to mine, it has 2 floors and seems to have the same dimensions. Music is heard from the inside. One of the ground floor´s windows is open, so we duck under it and take a look.

There we are. Grownups Griff and I dancing in the living room, him holding my waist, and me with my hands over his shoulders. His naked shoulders, he has no shirt, only denim shorts. Grownup Harper is wearing pink shorts and a white crop top. I glance at Griffin, he is thrilled looking at us dancing together.

They stop dancing when Griff´s phone rings.

"Who is it?" Adult Harper asks.

"It´s a message from my mom. She says there´s a music club at Chicago´s University. I already know that." He speaks out loud while he answers the message. "I know… of course I´m signing up! … let´s talk about it later." He leaves his phone on the couch. "Done. She won´t bother us."

"Having the chance to keep on with your hobby is great. It´s been a while since the last time you played the guitar."

"Yeah, I´m so excited for it! I´ll learn how to play the guitar properly. Did you sign up for the arts club?"

"Of course I did! My mom´s as excited as your mom. She believes I should study art history instead of simply history, though. But I want drawing and painting to be a hobby, at least for now."

"You´ll be an amazing historian." He caress her cheek. "The only historian in the world who actually travelled to different time periods."

"Yeah, but I can´t say that in class, can I?" Adult Harper jokes. "You´ll be an amazing lawyer. You´re smart and like helping people."

"Thanks." He smiles. "I think I have to thank Judge Walker after all. Fighting him awaken my passion for fighting injustice. And I should thank Grace, and Savannah, and Daisy. My enthusiasm for helping people developed helping them."

"Your kindness will make you a great lawyer, Griff." She gives him a quick kiss on the mouth. "Can´t believe we´re moving to Chicago in only a few days!"

"We´ll be fine. I´ll show you around. My old house, my old school. There´s a lot of stuff to do."

"I´d love that!" They kiss again. "I love you, Griff."

"I love you."

My heart skips a beat when I hear him saying those words. We haven´t say "I love you" yet. We exchange looks shyly, feeling awkward, not sure of what to say, so we stay silent and keep watching our 18-year-old selves.

They are kissing, his hands around her waist, and her hands around his neck. My heart starts beating fast when the kiss gets more passionate, and even more when Griff takes off her shirt. Ok, I think that´s enough. I look down and take a few steps away from the window, but Griff doesn´t move an inch, he´s hypnotized by the scene. I come back and look through the window one more time. Griff´s hands stroke her naked back gently, and slowly move up to her bra, my bra. Ok, I´m done here. I step away from the window, but Griff stays there. I´m pretty sure he didn´t even realize I moved. Before it´s too late, I punch his shoulder, which makes him startle.

"Ouch!" he finally looks at me.

"What was that?" adult Harper asks, so we hide under the window.

"What?"

"I seemed to hear something outside."

"I didn´t hear anything." Griff replies. "Anyway… we should go upstairs…"

One last peek through the window. They go up the stairs holding their hands, her wearing a short and a bra, and him only in denim shorts.