After All

Brooke's Note: Yay! My first story ever! I hope you enjoy it! Thanks! :D

“This place is nice, but I can’t believe that we have zero electricity or phone service or... or the internet. What are we going to do about the bathroom? Yuck! And what if my phone goes dead?! I won’t be able to do anything! I already can’t call or text or use some of my apps!” Kaeda whined. Dora rolled her eyes as she tossed her overnight bag on the couch. Esther made a pfft noise with her mouth while she rummaged through the cupboards. Christy ignored Kaeda and continued her unpacking in the room she would share with Esther. 

“Stop complaining, girl. It’s already getting on my last nerve and we haven’t even been here for more than an hour,” Dora retorted. Kaeda put a pout on her face and collapsed on the recliner. She let out an over-dramatic sigh, which caused her three friends to chuckle. 

“Don’t laugh! I am seriously in trouble. I don’t know how I’m going to survive.” Kaeda sighed again. Esther giggled; she grabbed a water bottle and a box of crackers and threw them into Kaeda’s lap. 

“You can live off of that,” Esther teased. Kaeda jumped up and started chasing Esther around the living space. Dora and Christy couldn’t stop laughing. 

--- 

Three hours later, a mix of hail, snow, and rain pounded on the gable roof. The friend squad munched on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They kept the jelly cold by leaving it, and other refrigerator items, in a cooler that was packed with ice. Country pre-downloaded music played on Christy’s phone. Esther sang along softly into between bites. 

“Here’s to a long line of sinners like me. La de dah de dah. La de dah dah de de. I come from a long line of sinners like me," Esther sang. Her favorite country music star was Eric Church, so it was a given that she would sing “Sinners Like Me”. When the song ended, her companions clapped for her. 

“Your voice is beautiful, Es. I wish I could sing like you.” Christy smiled warmly at her bestie. “But it was almost hard to hear you because of all of that racket on the roof. I’m gonna peek out the front door and see how high the snow is.” Slowly, Christy climbed out of the stiff chair she sat on and went to the front door. She anticipated one or two inches of snow and some ice on the path that led to the car that the friends drove here, but that was nowhere near what it actually was. 

“Woah!” Christy exclaimed. When she flung the door open, bright white snow piled onto her feet and she jumped, shaking it all off. The entire door was blocked with snow! 

“Oh, brother.” 

“That is so not good.” 

“You’ve got to be kidding! Now we’ll never get out of this awful place!” 

Like you probably already guessed, the last person to yell was Kaeda. The only thoughts that ran through her head were along the lines of: What am I going to do? I’m going to have zero contact with the outside world. This is going to be torture! 

“It’s not so bad. We’ll be alright,” Esther said. She was always looking on the bright side of things, but Kaeda would not be convinced. There was no way she was going to be stuck in a cabin with three girls who didn’t care about social media. She loved them all, but Kaeda wouldn’t be able to handle staying with them for a super long time. 

“Yeah, right. And all diseases will be cured,” Kaeda scoffed. 

--- 

“Alright... Let’s see what games they have... Esther and I could play Scrabble while you and Kaeda play The Game of Life,” Dora suggested. She and Christy were scanning the closet full of board games that the owners of the cabin had left. None looked too exciting, but they were good enough to get them through the next hour or two. 

“Yeah, sure. But I don’t know if we’ll be able to convince Kae to play with me.” Christy pulled out the Game of Life box. “She’s still all pouty about being snowed in.” 

“She’ll be fine. Let’s go out there. I got Scrabble.” Dora stepped around Christy and walked into the living room where Esther and Kaeda were talking about dogs. Christy wasn’t far behind, and when she arrived, she immediately collapsed onto the couch. 

“Kaeda, I’m sitting right here to play with you, so you better get across from me or next to me,” Christy ordered. Kaeda rolled her eyes, but still got up and moved next to Christy on the couch.  

“Esther, ya’ ready to play Scrabble?” Dora questioned. 

“Sure! I’m gonna beat you so hard,” Esther teased. 

For the next hour and a half, the four friends played their games. Esther and Dora laughed throughout the entire thing, arguing over if the word that Esther chose was two words or one, or if Dora’s word was actually a word. Christy made the best out of playing Life with Kaeda, but Kaeda still wasn’t into it. They played the game twice and Christy won both times. Kaeda just kept a straight, pouty face. She kept reaching over to her phone, which had died two hours ago because she wasn’t being careful about how much she was using it. 

--- 

“Here’s your salads. And don’t worry, Kaeda, I put the kale in yours.” Esther handed her three friends their bowls of salad, then sat down with hers. It had been three days since they all got snowed in, which meant that Kaeda would be getting even more grouchy. Or... not. 

“Thanks, Es! It looks great; just like I like it.” Kaeda took a large bite. “Mm... Yum!” Esther blushed (she was the shy one out of the group) and nodded while taking a bite of her own. 

“You know, Kae, you’re in a better mood today. What’s changed?” Christy asked, glancing at Kaeda in between mouthfuls of lettuce, cheese, cucumbers, Italian dressing, and croutons. 

“I don’t know. I guess, after thinking about it a lot last night, it’s nice to get away from the social for a minute. Don’t think I’m going to completely change, no way. I’m still going to post, and scroll through, but I won’t do it as often.” Kaeda grinned. 

“I’m proud of you, Kae. It takes a lot to admit that. Especially for you,” Dora said. They all laughed at that. 

Maybe the next few days wouldn’t be so bad after all...