Chapter 2: Arrival
My eyes had fluttered open when Tess's car hit an unexpected pothole. I started to tiredly look around at my surroundings.
Damn it! I grumbled in my head, I think I accidentally fell asleep!
"Hey sleepy head!" Tess chuckled softly, "Did you get your beauty sleep, your highness?"
"Haha, very funny", I mumbled with a very tired voice.
"You know, it was supposed to be your turn to take over for me earlier, right?" Tess had this dead-pan tone in her voice.
Shit! I yelled at myself in my own head, I forgot about our agreement from the restaurant!
"I'm so sorry Tess! I totally forgot by falling asleep!" I frowned in disappointment towards myself.
"Hey, it's no sweat! I'm doing fine, plus we're almost there anyway", Tess gave me a reassuring smile.
"We are?" I heard Hannah groggily ask as she woke up from her slumber in the back.
"Yup!" Tess replied excitedly.
To be honest, I had a mix of feeling excited to return, but also feeling nervous as fuck as well. Definitely feeling more of the latter mentioned. I was thrilled to be in our hometown again, away from the hustle and bustle of New York City for a change. Bloomfield Hills, Michigan was one of the very few towns where the filthy rich resided here in the Midwest. Our parents were the reason why I had anxiety building up inside of me. My breathing started to shorten and quicken. This had started more frequently when the car was going up the exit ramp that had a sign next to it that read "Bloomfield Hills". Tess started to notice my tiny panic attack that was starting to form.
"Dude, you okay?" Tess asked me with a concerned look.
"N-Not really", I breathed out, trying to calm myself down.
"What's on your mind?" Hannah, who was now also concerned, put a gentle hand onto my left shoulder.
"I'm still kind of nervous about our parents because we didn't tell them we were back here. Even though they told us not to, and that they would've paid for a vacation for all four of us to go out to the Bahamas", I replied with a sad look, staring out into the night.
When we had driven off the exit ramp, the clock on Tess's phone read 2:45 AM.
"As long as they don't know about it for the first week or so while we're here, we'll be alright, okay?" Hannah smiled reassuringly, yet tiredly in my direction.
"Okay", I turned my head to face my best friend, with a slightly hopeful smile.
The three of us were jolted in our seats all of a sudden.
"Oops, my bad guys!" Tess exclaimed, after going over another unexpected pot hole in the road.
This quickly woke up Raymond from his damn snooze fest.
"Huh?! What happened?!" Raymond exclaimed nervously.
Hannah, Tess, and I just looked at each other in silence for a bit before we started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Raymond was staring at us with confusion.
"Nothing, nothing at all, my good man", Tess managed to laugh out. Hannah and I were trying so hard to reign in our laughter.
"Whatever", Raymond rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"We're almost there anyway", Hannah smiled softly at Raymond.
"Thank fucking God!" Raymond exhaustedly exclaimed.
I had to agree with Raymond, my legs were starting to fall asleep from sitting down for so long. Looking at the GPS, the house we would be staying at was literally just a couple of turns away from where we were. From what I've been told, the house is a waterfront property alongside one of the lakes.
Turn left onto Club Drive, the GPS had stated while there was a bit of silence between us in the car.
Tess did what the monotone voice from her phone told her to.
Turn left onto Turtlelake Drive, the lady on the GPS said not too long after that.
While we were driving on Turtlelake Drive, we heard the GPS one last time. Turn left onto Turtle Pond Court, and then the destination will be on your left.
"Geez, so many left turns!" Raymond chuckled.
"I know right", Hannah agreed with him as we did our final turn.
As the four of us rounded the corner, our group being in total awe from the beauty of the big houses, combined with the scenery, was a total understatement.
"Holy shit, this is awesome!" Raymond was like a kid in a candy store.
"Thanks, I knew you guys would love it", Tess grinned.
"Oh yeah!" Hannah beamed, "I forgot that back in the spring you came here to pick us out a house."
"Yup!" Tess smirked, "The numbers of the house are twenty-nine twenty-one right?"
I looked down at Tess's phone GPS to double check.
"Yeah, that's correct", I answered Tess.
Tess started scanning her eyes all over the houses that were on the left side. It didn't take long before she had found our house. It was so stunning on the outside! The marble bricks to the three car garage, all of it was so nice. Even if it was night out.
"Wow!" That was the only thing that I could muster from being so awestruck.
Tess parked the car on the driveway, so we could finally get out. Also, it would've been easier to get everything out of the trunk than if the car was in the garage. Raymond, Hannah, and I started stretching from sitting down for so long, while Tess had opened the trunk. Between the four of us, we had packed a lot of suitcases into Tess's car, however, most of it had been clothing.
"Let's just grab our stuff and sleep a bit more before we do anything else", Tess explained tiredly, as she grabbed her four suitcases from the trunk.
The rest of us just hastily agreed on that. Raymond grabbed his four suitcases next, plus the PC and monitor that he had to bring. We still don't know why. Hannah had five suitcases and her electric keyboard that she wanted to bring with. Hannah and I both had a very exquisite taste in fashion, but she was also very talented musically. Lastly, I brought five suitcases and my trusty sewing machine. In one of my suitcases, I had also brought my Switch with a handful of games, just in case we had been feeling bored out of our minds. Once Tess had shut the trunk and locked the car, the four of us headed up the small flight of stairs. I tried opening the front door, but as one would've expected it, the door was locked. Tess set down her bags to help.
"Here I've got the key!" Tess fished for the key in her pockets.
After a minute or two of looking for the key, Tess finally had it in her grasp. She inserted the key into the door and turned it.
Click
The front door was now unlocked! Tess picked her bags back up while I opened the door for us. Now, the inside of this house was way prettier than the outside of it.
"This house just gets better and better by the minute!" Raymond beamed while stepping into the foyer.
"I one-hundred percent agree with you!" I smiled in awe, following close behind him.
The foyer had double doors on the right that led into an office room, while there was a spacious area that led into the kitchen! In front of us, there was a big and open space in the middle, like a grand sitting area! It had a huge marble fireplace, and a giant and intricate chandelier that had its arms flow in different directions.
"Come on you guys," Tess yawned tiredly, "Let's get some shut eye before we explore this place more." The rest of us agreed with her tiredly.
Raymond, Tess, Hannah, and I tiredly trudged up the stairs with our luggage. Luckily, there were already beds with linens and everything else in the bedrooms. Tess and Hannah were going to share the master bedroom, which apparently had a walk-in closet. The bedrooms that Raymond and I had picked were still big as the master, but not as big though. They did also come with their own bathrooms. I had picked the bedroom that was right next to the master bedroom, while Raymond had picked the one that was a little bit down the hallway.
"I forgot how heavy suitcases can be!" I groaned after I dropped my bags onto the ground by the bed.
I sighed and laid down onto the bed face up.
I can't believe that we're back here after being gone awhile! I started to talk to myself in my head. There were a lot of ups and downs when we lived in this town up until we graduated high school. The four of us had been best friends since middle school, after my family and I moved here when my dad had gotten promoted. We had a mix of people who loved or hated us. I still don't know why my parents told me never to come back here? They've somewhat accepted me when I came out as bisexual my sophomore year and when I was dating my ex-boyfriend, Trent, that same year.
My phone was ringing as I walked out of finishing the second final of my senior year of college. I looked down at it to see who it was, to my surprise, it was my parents!
"Hey mom! Hey dad!" I smiled through the phone after I picked up the call.
"Hey sweetie!" I heard my mom exclaim with joy.
"Hi, mom"
"Hey bud, how are your finals going?" My dad asked in his paternal tone.
"They're going along smoothly", I replied casually with the truth.
"Excellent! That's good", I pictured my dad smiling.
"I can't believe my baby is going to graduate college!" My mom started to fake cry through the phone.
"Mom-" I started to say with embarrassment before my dad butted in.
"Maria, he's probably in public, don't embarrass him yet honey" My dad smirked.
"Dad!" I protested. I heard both of them laugh over the phone.
"How are you holding up? Are Raymond, Hannah, and Tess doing okay as well? If so, tell them we miss them as well!"
This was the moment I needed to tell them about the plans for the summer.
"Mom? Dad? I have to tell you something about what we wanted to do for summer vacation, after graduation", I was trying not to sound nervous.
"What's up bud?" My dad asked curiously, while my mom asked her question right after, "Is there something fun planned?"
"W-Well", I began to stutter.
"What is it?" My dad didn't like it when I stuttered.
"The four of us were thinking about coming back home just for the summer before we went our separate ways", I tensed up a bit while walking across campus.
There was complete silence on the other end, I had thought they hung up, but they didn't.
"H-Hello? Mom? Da-" I was suddenly interrupted!
"No Carlos! You guys should not come back here!" I heard my dad shout.
"W-Wait, what?" I was lost for words.
"Why don't you guys go on an actual vacation to celebrate, sweetie? We can help with that if you'd like", My mom was talking quietly, yet somber.
"We just wanted to-" I got interrupted, yet again!
"Carlos, please trust us and do not come back here, ever!" It was like my dad was pleading to me as if his life were on the line.
"O-Oh, okay" I replied with defeat.
"We love you! Please be safe!" I felt like my mom was smiling through the phone.
The phone call ended abruptly.
I just hope nothing bad was going on in the background, I was still thinking to myself, while looking up at the ceiling.
knock knock
There was a knock on my bedroom's door frame that snapped me back into reality. I looked over and I saw that Tess was standing in the doorway. She was already dressed in her pajamas.
"Hey, are you doing okay Carlos?" Tess asked tiredly, but there was a hint of concern behind her voice. She walked over to my bed and sat on the edge, so she was next to me.
"Yeah, I guess", I replied with a soft smile while still facing the ceiling.
"I can tell there's something on your mind", Tess pursed her lips a bit.
"I just can't believe that we're back here", I replied tiredly.
"I know, I can't believe it either, to be honest", Tess chuckled.
My eyes were starting to feel heavy again, no matter how hard I tried to keep them open. I even started to yawn a bit. Tess noticed this and got up from the bed.
"It looks like you're falling asleep again, princess", Tess giggled. I glared at her tiredly.
"Yeah, I know", I rolled my eyes and then laughed.
"Get some sleep, we're going grocery and furniture shopping tomorrow", Tess gently grabbed my left forearm with a warm smile, "Also, please let me know if you need help."
"Thanks, I will", I tiredly smiled back at her. Tess let go of me and walked quietly out of my room.
When she had left, I stood up from my bed. Grabbing the suitcase that held my pajamas, I opened it and took them out. I quickly changed out of the clothes I wore on the trip and into my pajamas. Before getting under the covers, I closed my bedroom door and switched off the overhead light. I could finally lie underneath the covers, and when I did, it felt so amazing to lie down on this mattress! My eyes started to close slowly as I let my body get taken over by the dark.