Across the Universe

After 21 hours of non-stop road, I pulled into the city limits of Las Vegas. And I swear to you, seeing it was like Christmas morning. I had spent one terrible night in a hotel in the middle of Colorado, and dropped half my bank account to keep my gas tank filled. I had eaten almost everything my mother had packed, purely out of boredom, and now had a stomach ache to top everything off.

I began to feel the end-of-the-trip impatience, and a weird sense of apprehension stirred inside me. It had been five years since I had last seen Nick, after his high school graduation. He was the perfect child, in all sense of the word. Always being on time to school, never skipping a class, quarterback of the football team, heartthrob of the school, Mr. Popular, prom king, himself, all while keeping a 4.0 GPA. Which is why it took us by surprise when he said that he wanted to go to Berlin, ‘to experience the world’ he had reasoned. My parents put up minimal resistance and, with that, he packed up his things and he was out. He hadn’t bothered to keep regular contact with anybody except our mom, to let her know what was going on. As far as I had known, he travelled most of Europe stopping in London and Amsterdam for weeks at a time. When he had seen all he wanted in Europe, he travelled the U.S. As it turned out, he ended up liking Vegas so much, that he decided to settle down there.

All of this occurring in two short years.

The remaining three were spent without any sort of contact at all, and at my decision to go to Vegas, my parents had finally given Nick’s number another try. God forbid I travel alone.

I squinted in the bright sunlight, hating myself for not bringing any sunglasses, and faintly spotted the road I needed to turn off to; the road that would take me to Nick’s house.
Five minutes later, I was pulling into the driveway of a very nice, large home. It looked expensive. I had to double check the address to make sure that this was the right place. It sure was. How did he afford this?

While making a mental note to harass him about that later, I shut off my car and pushed the door open. The first thing I noticed was the heat. Oh my God. It seemed to swarm into my, once cold car, and suffocate me in a heavy blanket. Within two minutes, I could feel my core temperature rising little by little. This can’t be healthy.

I walked to the trunk, feeling the great relieving sensation, as I stretched my calves for the first time in a few hours, and pulled out my luggage, one by one. As I sat the last one down on the driveway, I heard a familiar man’s voice, “Abby!”

I looked up and saw my brother walking briskly down the driveway to greet me. He immediately enveloped me in a hug, as if he we had been talking everyday for the last five years. And here I thought this was going to be awkward…

“How are you?” He asked as he let me go. He looked me up and down, taking in the sights of his, now 18-year-old, sister. I did the same, noting that he looked exactly the same as he did five years ago, just a few years older, of course. He had definatly matured.

“I’m good.” I laughed slightly, “How’ve you been?”

“Oh, you have no idea. I have so much to fill you in on.” No shit, I thought to myself. But he continued, “Here, let’s get your stuff inside, and I’ll explain everything.” As he gestured at the house behind him.