I took the last shower I would ever have in that hotel that morning. My emotions were overwhelming me, it may have just been PMS, but the past day was enough to make anyone feel the way I was feeling. Isaac and I had created a strong bond, and the wait to find out what was going to happen between Taylor and I was too much. I was also so tired that I felt like I might pass out. It was 8 in the morning, and we had an 8-hour drive ahead of us back to Ontario. Everything was making me cry. When we ordered breakfast I was all choked up because it would be our last one here. This was just not me. I walked out of the bathroom in my towel to see Zac sitting on the bed with Johanna. He turned to look at me.
"Helllo!" He said. Johanna smacked him with a grin.
"Good-morning" I said, pretending to be casual as I got my clothes and took them into the bathroom.
"This sucks" Zac said when I sat, fully clothed, in-front of them on my bed.
"What sucks" I asked.
"You guy's are leaving tomorrow. Now we're gonna be bored all the time. Who are we gonna play the paper game with now? I highly doubt it will be interesting with Jess." he said. We smiled at him.
"We don't want to go either" Johanna said.
"Then stay" he joked, "maybe we're not done holding you hostage yet".
"I wish it was that easy" I said. "Think about how we feel, we have to say good-bye to you and then in like 3 days I leave for BC again."
"Oh yeah, you live in the mountains, I forgot."
"Yeah, we'd like to forget it too" Johanna said.
"So why are you in here anyway?" I asked "shouldn’t you be getting ready?"
"What, am I not aloud in your prefisis? And I am ready, and Ike and Tay kicked me out cause 'they needed to talk' Zac said, imitating Isaac at the end.
"he he, prefisis" Johanna repeated. My heart started pounding. Right at this very moment my future was being decided in room 1103. Johanna noticed the worried look that came over my face. She reached over and put her hand on my knee.
"It's going to be okay." she said comfortingly (there's that word again). Zac reached over and slapped my knee.
"No worries doll, the Ike man has it under control" He said playfully. I smiled at him.
"So I take it you've been informed on the situation." I said.
"I know enough" he replied. Isaac knocked on the door and Johanna let him in.
"Can I talk to her alone?" I heard him say.
"Zac, come on, let’s take a short walk." Zac jumped up and threw his arms up in the air.
"Geez what is this, let's kick Zac out of every room in the hotel" he said loudly. Isaac slapped his brother on the back with a smile as he passed him and came over to sit next to me.
"Well, what happened." I said. I didn't know whether I wanted to hear the answer, but I had a feeling it was going to be good. Isaac looked down, not a good sign.
"I tried.... but it didn't work" He admitted. He looked at me and put his arm around me for needed support. I shook my head in disbelief. "God I feel like I just told you you were gonna die or something, that was really hard for me to do. I'm sorry babe." He rubbed my back soothingly. Amber walked in our open door.
"Hey, can I come in?" She asked. I saw Ike nod and Amber was soon seated in front of me. "Are you okay sweetie?" She asked. I lifted my head and tried to look like I was in control.
"Yeah, I'm going to be fine I guess. If that's what he want's then I don't really have a choice but to go along with it do I?" Soon both of them were on either side of me and comforting me. I really didn't need that. It was nice, but I just wanted them to go away so I could make the reality of it disappear. Taylor appeared in the doorway. He took one look at what was happening and he walked away. I looked down and shook my head. The tears were welling up. I hated this, I normally wouldn't give a crap, things like this had happened to me before. But I really cared about him. The thought of him kissing other girls and holding other girls the way he had held and kissed me were killing me inside. I couldn't take it.
When I got onto the bus I decided the safest place for me to be would be in the bunk I had used. I could catch up on a bit of sleep and avoid any eye contact with Taylor. The problem was his bunk was above mine on the other side of the hall, and neither of us shut our curtain. I tried to sleep for a bit, but that only resulted in 2 hours of pure boredom. Tossing and turning was not how I wanted to spend my last few hours with Isaac and Zac. So I gave up and went out to the couch where they were sitting with Mackenzie. Mackie was showing off to Ike, and he was smiling half amused at him.
"There she is" Isaac said as I sat down with them.
"Hi" I replied dopily.
"No sleep for you" Zac said in a funny accent. Diana appeared from the front of the bus and took Mack so he could eat. The four of us did anything to kill time. We didn't exactly want the time to go by fast, but killing it made what was to come easier. We played cards for awhile, we watched a movie, and soon there was only and hour and a half left before we hit destination Ontario.
"So, what's going to happen between tweedle dee and tweedle dum?" Isaac asked, pointing at Zac and Johanna.
"None of your freakin business" Zac retorted, in response to being called tweedle dum.
"Okay, fine. If you don't want to tell me. I told you everything..." Isaac challenged.
"I don't think he knows what's going to happen" I said, urging the conversation on.
"So maybe I don't. Who says we have to make a decision today?" Zac replied.
"I do" Johanna said quietly. He looked at her startled by the response. Like it should be fully in his hands what should happen between them. "I want to know Zac" She continued. They stared at each other for a long time. Isaac started whistling the theme song for Jeopardy. Zac told him to shut-up and Isaac gave me a 'hmmmm' look. I grinned.
"What do you want Johanna?" He asked her finally.
"I think you know what I want" She replied. go Johanna!
"Then you can have it." He said. She looked at him.
"Are you being serious?"
"Shocking but yes. I do have my moments"
"He does" Isaac agreed.
"So you're a couple now." I said to confirm it. Zac took a deep breath and let it out quickly.
"It looks that way" He said. "An illegal couple, but I willing to risk getting thrown into jail for you"
"Thank-you sweetie, but just so you know, I would be the one put into jail." She said grinning.
"Phew" He said.
"You guy's are both wrong by the way, it's only illegal if the older person is inflicting unwanted sex on the younger person, and the younger one goes to the parents and that's when it becomes illegal." I said.
"Well thank-you judge Judy" Zac smirked.
"Wanna play the paper game? Just for old times sake?" Isaac suggested. We agreed.
The game began and Isaac opened the first sheet of paper. "What part of this week will you remember forever?" He read. "I will have to go with last night. When I made my bond with Christa" He said.
"Aw well isn't that sweet, excuse me while I puke." Zac said. Johanna grinned at her new boyfriend. When it was my turn I opened my paper to read a question I didn't think was appropriate to answer. "How far is in sexual baseball did you go this week."
"Damn, I was hoping to get my own." Zac said.
"I'm glad you didn't get your own, I might have had to puke" Isaac said.
"Um..."
"Whoah, I just realized how much I do not want to hear this answer." Isaac clued in.
"Well I would like to know" Zac said. I leaned over and told him in his ear and he leaned back with a shocked expression.
"Oh man, that's not the look I was going for" Isaac pouted. I put my head on his shoulder and grinned. Perfect timing as usual Walker appeared. Now he was seeing me with Ike. Great. I sat up uncomfortably.
"Johanna, we need to know where to drop you off." He said. Johanna went to the front of the bus and returned within a few minutes. Just enough time for Zac to confess that he was really happy with the decision he had made. It was still not setting in how hard it was going to be to see them. We got on that topic.
"I don't want this to come out the wrong way, but it probably will no matter how I say it. With the money we have and the money we are still making we can basically do anything." Isaac confessed looking guilty. "As for time in-between visits, that we won’t know until later. You two are done school right?" He asked. We nodded. "Well then there will be lots of time" He said.
"I'm still trying to soak in the fact that you actually want to see us again" Johanna said. Zac looked at her quickly.
"Of course we want to see you again. How clear do we need to make it, 'WE WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN" he said loudly and slowly.
"Well that's all great and wonderful and everything boys, but can you please explain to me when 'this' happened" Diana said from behind us. She was standing in the kitchen and overheard Zac's little drawl.
"What mom, you mean 'this'?" Ike said waving his hands around us. She nodded. "We became friends, why is that a surprise?"
She shook it away, "Well I am very happy for you, but you are still grounded" She said with a grin. The scenery started to look familiar outside the window. Our stop was approaching. I tried to block it out.
"How do you guy's do this all the time, I'm so freakin bored." I said stretching.
"Ah you get used to it." Zac said. He patted his belly. "I need food" He said. We all got a snack and then sat back in our spot.
"So Johanna, you never go to tell me what you two talked about in the hot tub" I said. She gave me a 'shut-up' looked and I grinned cheekily.
"Well Christa, hey did you ever notice that if you take the a off your name you are Christ..." Zac said. I nodded stupidly. Ike and Johanna giggled. "Anyway, we talked about the hills and the tree's and the apple fields... amen." He said bowing his head at the end. This made Ike and Johanna giggle even harder.
"We talked about why he ignored me those times" Johanna said.
"You ignored her, you punk!" Ike interrupted.
"I am not a punk, I am just a lost little boy who needs direction sometimes, and I found my light in Johanna. She is my shepherd." Zac said putting his arm around her and shaking her playfully.
"Okay bible boy, now really, why were you ignoring her?" I asked, trying to end the charade.
"Tell them" Johanna urged.
"Nah, you can tell em." he said leaning back and taking a bite of licorice.
She smiled. "He told me he was ignoring me because he didn't know how to act around me. He just wanted to know where he stood before he told me how he felt."
"Bull" Ike said.
"See, I knew you would be like that, that's why I didn't want to say anything about it." Zac said, very serious.
"Okay, okay, I believe you man." Zac nodded at him.
"Good" he said.
We were there. Johanna had said the closest place so they wouldn't have to drive out of the way would be the mall. And there we were. It was raining, which meant the place was packed. We pulled into the back of the parking lot. All 3 busses. I passed Taylor's bunk without looking in. I heard Isaac tell him to get up. 'the least you could do is say good-bye'. I looked back to see him get out of his bunk, very unimpressed. Johanna and I set our bags on the wet pavement and stood as a small group grew around. People were standing out in the rain and stretching their backs. Walker approached us and shook each of our hands, telling us it was nice to have met us. We thanked him immensely for all he had done and he nodded and climbed back on the bus. Jessica hung out of the door for a second, waved to us and ducked back in. This was the part I had been dreading all week. Saying good-bye. Amber appeared from her bus and gave us each a big hug.
"I hope I see you again, I will get your addresses from Ike, I hope you have it" Isaac nodded at her and she hugged us again. We said our last good-byes to her and she stood behind her husband. He shook our hands and said, "don't be strangers." We smiled at him. That choked me up. Carl gave us each a hug, and then the three of them got back on their bus. Taylor was standing with a crew guy, talking away in the rain. Ike and Zac were standing behind us the whole time. Diana stepped out from the bus and came up to us.
"Well it sounds as though we will be seeing you again sometime" We nodded and smiled at her. She gave us each an uncomfortable hug. "Maybe we can go shopping again, your treat." She said. We said thank-you to her and she smiled. And then there was only the three of them left to say good-bye too. Zac turned Johanna around and pulled her into his arms. I could tell she was trying desperately not to cry. He looked pretty upset too. Which was a look I was not used to on Zac's face.
"I will call you and e-mail you and I will see you soon okay?" He said quietly into her ear. She nodded and they pulled away. Ike hugged her and Zac approached me. We gave each other a long hug, that was more then words could do. He stood back and Isaac came up to me.
"Well I guess this is good-bye" He said quietly. I hugged him close. "I love you Christa." He said.
I smiled, "I love you too Ike." I couldn't believe we could actually say that. Johanna and Zac were hugging again. They dreadingly let go of each other as Taylor finally came to say good-bye. He hugged Johanna. He said good-bye to her and squeezed her shoulder. He came up to me and held out his hand. That was almost enough to make me start bawling. I shook it slowly and he mouthed good-bye to me, the rain dripping off his bottom lip. I went to pull my hand away but he held onto it. He pulled me in closer to him and whispered "I'm sorry" into my ear. Then he turned away and stepped onto the bus. Johanna and I picked up our bags and stepped back. We stood there and watched as everyone that was left got onto their buses, and the door's closed, and one by one they started to pull away. I didn't know if I was seeing things in the rain, or if it was really happening. The family bus stopped, and then the other two stopped behind it. When the door opened I knew I wasn't seeing things. My heart was filling with butterflies as I anxiously waited for Taylor to step off the bus. Walker. He rushed out and by us, "The driver wants a big mac" he grinned, "There is a Mc Donald’s in this mall right?" He asked. We nodded and he kept going.
"Well I was really hoping that it was going to be...." I trailed off as Taylor stepped off the bus.
"Here he comes" Johanna said quietly. He walked through the rain towards me and soon my feet started walking to him. People we getting off the bus to see what was happening. He walked right up to me and we stopped, facing each other in the pouring rain. There was about 20 people watching now.
"Are they looking?" He asked me. I looked at him and nodded. "Good" he said. He took my hand and pulled me in closer. "Do you want me to explain my-self?" He said.
"No," I replied and I put my arms around his neck, and he looked down at me.
"Well at least let me apologize" he said.
I shook my head and grinned. "No." I said. He smiled at me and wrapped his arms around my waist and we kissed. I felt like I was spinning. The rain mingled in our mouths, and our hair was being matted to our heads, but we just kissed and kissed. We kissed until Walker returned with the big mac in his hand, and a shocked expression on his face. We stopped kissing and looked up at him. He grinned.
"Aw, puppy love" He said with a pout. He headed back to the bus and Taylor hugged me close.
"Soon." He said. I nodded. We let go of each other and he kissed me on the lips again. He turned towards the busses to see the small audience. He held out his arms. "What?" He said to them. "You didn't expect me to leave it like that did you?"
Isaac smiled at me and stepped onto the bus. Taylor followed after and blew me a kiss. I smiled at him, and soon all the doors were closed, and they left for real. It wasn't good-bye, it was soon. Johanna and I waved at the arms that were waving out of the windows. And that was the end. A lot of things happened, and I will remember them forever. (and yet another, Hallmark moment)


The End