Some Kind of Magic

“Road trip!” Robbie screamed, climbing into the front seat of Broderick’s car and throwing his arms in the air. Emma and Elsie were taking the car with Elsie’s parents, so I was stuck with the guys, but Dylan was a rather calm person compared to his brother so sitting in the backseat with him would be fun.

“What are you talking about?” Broderick asked, clipping his seatbelt together and putting the keys into the ignition. “It’s only an hour drive, and it’s barely out of the city.”

“Well then, mini-road trip!” he cried again and made us laugh. It really was a good weekend for going to the cottage, like Ryan had predicted. It was also very odd, considering we were halfway through October. But we were all boiling and the minute I sat down on the black leather seats, I was demanding we turn on the air conditioner. And we weren’t even in our school uniforms anymore. We had changed into summer attire so we wouldn’t feel like our skin was on fire; it wasn’t really working either way.

“Did anyone bring music? I don’t want to listen to the radio,” Broderick said, pulling out of the parking lot behind Elsie’s parents’ car.

“I have some,” I said and a series of groans followed from all three boys. “What? Is something wrong?”

“You’re a girl. You have . . .” Robbie glanced back over his shoulder at me, looked me up and down as if that was going to help me understand what he was talking about. “Girly music.”

“What the hell is ‘girly music’?” I asked and when he shrugged and began to turn around again to end the conversation, I hit him on the arm. “No, really. What constitutes as girly music, and what makes you think that’s what I listen to?”

“Nothing. Forget I said anything,” he said, lifting his hands.

“No. I want an answer.”

“Robbie’s trying not to admit that he likes Britney Spears,” Dylan snickered. Robbie took off his shoe and threw it at him, hitting him in the face. A look of shock flashed across his face.

“That’s a lie.”

“Sure it is,” Dylan mocked. Broderick was laughing, but said nothing to defend Robbie or take sides with Dylan. “I’m kidding. In all seriousness though, guys don’t listen to like . . . pop songs, or the music that’s playing on the radio. We like stuff like rock or rap—”

“Or Eminem,” Robbie butted in.

“Exactly.”

“Eminem’s on the radio,” I said, confused. “Look, whatever. Just put it on. You may be surprised.”

Robbie took the CD I held out to him and glared. “If it’s girly music, we’re going to stop the car and leave you on the side of the road.”

“You’re so sweet. I see why Mackenzie likes you,” I said sarcastically and Dylan burst out laughing. Broderick had to stop the car anyway because he couldn’t drive if he couldn’t breathe. I sat back, calm and amused. Robbie scowled and put the CD in the drive and instead of “girly music”, out came Pearl Jam’s “Just Breathe”. Robbie’s jaw dropped and he looked at Dylan, who smiled at me.

“You’re good,” he said.

“I am?”

“This is Robbie’s favourite song. He’ll be happy for the rest of the trip up to the cottage,” he explained. “Speaking of which, Broderick . . . can you stop laughing and drive already? We lost them.”

“Right.” Broderick took a breath to put an end to his fit and merged back into the traffic.

Dylan shifted in his seat to get more comfortable and his knee brushed against mine at the same time his fingers lightly grazed the top of my hand. I pulled it back out of reflex, but not before he quickly retracted his first. I didn’t think he could have moved fast enough. I left my knees where they were because I was most at ease there but Dylan moved them right against the side of the door on his side.

“Sorry,” he said immediately.

“Don’t sweat it,” I replied, giving him a confused look when his head was turned the other way. What was that about? Then I noticed his cheeks were flushed a light pink shade, but I had a feeling it just had to do with the heat. It was burning, after all. We could have boiled eggs in Broderick’s car because it was so warm. After that, I just turned myself around and looked out the window, watching the traffic whiz by. Broderick’s driving was similar to Morgan Freeman’s in “Driving Miss Daisy”; he was so slow. I wasn’t asking for Need For Speed or anything, but he didn’t have to be afraid to actually put his foot on the gas pedal.

Apparently the guys were just as interested in classic rock bands as I was, and the fact that I was so into that kind of music kept all three of them shocked the whole time we were in Broderick’s car. And they always looked so surprised when the next song on the CD wasn’t “girly”. One thing I did learn about them though, was when they got really into a song, they would sing loud, and would not shut up. When we actually got to the cottage, Elsie’s parents’ car was already in the driveway, everything unloaded from the trunk and Elsie and Emma ran out from the house.

Broderick had decided to take a short cut only to realize that it wasn’t so short, and we were also headed in the direction of Montreal, which was in the whole other direction. And there weren’t many off-ramps so we had to turn into a restaurant parking lot and get directions. An hour drive turned into about two hours because we went so far off track that we had to buy a map. We had no phone service, so we couldn’t call Elsie and ask her where the hell we needed to go. It took quite a lengthy amount of time before we were heading in the right direction and when I got out of the car, had Emma approach me and ask where we had gone, I only replied with “I am not driving back with those guys”.

I threw the trunk door up and pulled my suitcase out, and she followed me back while Elsie stood with Broderick and argued about how he needed to follow directions. But being a guy, Broderick went by his own rules and on the road was even worse.

“It’s so hot out, damnit,” Dylan muttered, pulling his shirt over his head. I gaped at him unintentionally. He balled his shirt up and unzipped the front compartment of his suitcase, stuffed it inside and then began to unload the rest of the luggage out of the trunk. Emma looked from me to him, then back to me and finally, she nudged me to pull me out of my trance.

When I turned to her, she widened her eyes and mouthed, “hello?”

I shook my head and passed her the pillow she had put in Broderick’s car because of lack of space in Elsie’s parents’. What was I doing? I had seen Dylan without a shirt before, and it didn’t exactly make my mouth water but it did this time. Maybe it was because I felt attached to Ryan now that we were going on a date and he had kissed me on the cheek, and looking at Dylan this way was a betrayal to both Ryan and myself. After all, Ryan was my unofficial boyfriend—in theory—even though he hadn’t told me how he felt about me, and my feelings were still hidden as well. But I liked to think it was going somewhere and staring at a half-naked boy who wasn’t Ryan and was also my very close friend was just wrong.

Dylan lifted his arms up and closed the trunk door once everything had been removed, except for the spare tires.

“I want to swim. Right now,” Robbie said, coming to his brother’s side and eyeing up the lake behind Elsie’s cottage. He now possessed a pair of dark sunglasses and the blue button-up t-shirt he wore was undone and flapping in the wind. I glanced at Elsie, who was staring at his chest. This made me smile and suddenly, she caught me looking and shook her head.

“If you want to swim, go ahead. My parents are setting up the mattresses for you two since there aren’t enough rooms,” she jumped in, pointing at Dylan and Broderick as she said “you two”. “They’re going out to the grocery store in town soon so they can make dinner.”

“Who’s rooming with whom?” Emma asked.

“You and Isabelle are together, Robbie and I have the room across the hall and Dylan and Brod are taking up the living room, or the basement if they want it.” I looked at Robbie expectantly and he stuck his tongue out at me. I had to suppress my giggle.

“I prefer something not creepy and dark, thanks,” Broderick said, crossing his arms.

“It’ll be dark either way. You go to sleep when the sun goes down, remember?” Robbie said teasingly.

“Whatever. At least with the living room, we’ve got some natural light. I don’t want to be stuck in a cold, pitch-black basement where things go bump in the night,” he argued. “Elsie, can I borrow your hose? I need to wash off my car.”

“Sure, if you want but it would be kind of pointless. You’ll be driving on the dirt road all over again in two days time so what’s the use?” she asked.

“I like clean cars.”

She looked at him oddly. “All right, go nuts.”

“Thank you.”

“We should bring our things inside,” Emma piped up. “They’re going to get dirty.” We all grabbed our suitcases and headed up the gravel pavement into the cottage. I followed Emma through the kitchen and dining room, past the very open living room and the staircase going down to the basement, and another one leading upstairs.

“What’s up there?” I asked Elsie, who was just behind me.

“That’s the computer room,” she replied.

“Why would you need a computer room in a cottage?” Emma asked. “I thought the whole point of it was to distance yourself from the world and just relax, and the computer is anything but relaxing.”

“We usually spend our entire summer here,” Elsie began to explain. “Every now and again, my dad or my mom would have to email their work to let them know when they could or couldn’t come in, or I would send you guys a message. That’s why you barely ever hear from me between our last exams and the beginning of the next year. There’s also a bathroom there but there’s one on every floor of this place, so . . .”

“For someone who claims to not be filthy rich, you sure are living a life of luxury,” Broderick mused, passing by her and rushing into the washroom. By the speed he travelled, he had clearly been holding it in for a while now.

“It’s an inheritance, from my grandmother,” she laughed. “My parents keep thinking we should sell it, you know . . . in case we ever run into major financial problems but we can’t give it up. We have such a great time whenever we come here and it’s a part of our family, you know?”

I nodded. “Do your parents need any help?” I asked her.

“They’ll be fine. Hey, we should all take the boat out once we’re settled and Broderick’s finished washing his car,” she said. “There’s a great breeze out on the water and it’s better to get it in during the day, before all the mosquitoes come out. Trust me, you’ll hate it up here because of them.”

“Sounds good. Let’s go, Em. We’ll meet you guys out back later,” I said, opening the door to the room Emma and I would be sharing. She ran to the bed in the corner that was right against the window, and jumped on top of it with a gleeful squeal.

“This place is so gorgeous,” she said and I closed the door. I smiled at her and walked over to the free bed, placing my suitcase beside it and slipping off my sandals because I had forgotten to do so at the door. “I wish I lived here. Can you imagine how at-peace you would be, all the time?” She sighed longingly and rolled over onto her side, propping herself up by her elbow with her hand against her ear. “So,” she said. “What was that thing with you and Dylan?”

“What thing with me and Dylan?” I asked, bending down to shuffle through the contents of my suitcase so I didn’t have to look at her with my ghastly spontaneous blush.

“You know what I’m talking about,” she giggled. “If you stared at him for even a second longer, I swear, you would have drooled.”

“I didn’t mean to. He looks really good without a shirt on,” I murmured, covering my face with my hands.

I peaked at her through my fingers and she looked befuddled. “I don’t see what the problem is. I mean, we’ve all stared at Dylan before. We’re only human. Plus, we’re girls and he’s gorgeous if you haven’t noticed, but now I know you have.” She winked and I groaned. “Seriously, relax. It’s not a big deal, and it’s nothing to be embarrassed about either. I’ve told him right to his face that he’s hot and he just laughed. He even thanked me for it.”

“It’s not that I’m embarrassed,” I said, letting out a deep breath and rubbing my hands—which were now sweaty and gross—down my legs. “Okay, look . . . have you ever liked someone, like really liked them, but you had no idea if they liked you back?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Yes.”

“And have you ever felt that if anything were to happen with another guy, even if it was just the simplest thing like looking at them from attraction, that you’d be deceiving the first guy?”

The confused look came back to her face. “Where are you going with this, Iz?”

I shook my head and stood up, swimsuit in hand. “Never mind,” I said.

She sat up quickly. “No! Tell me!”

“No, it sounds stupid now that it’s coming out of my mouth. I’m going to change; I’ll see you out back,” I said and quickly excused myself from the room. I stole the bathroom once Broderick was out and changed into the bathing suit that Elsie had given me—I had grown quite fond of it, honestly—then pulled my shorts overtop and folded my clothes. I walked back to the room and put the clothes I had changed out of into my suitcase. I grabbed my sandals and headed for the door, passing Elsie’s parents on my way there. I slipped my flip flops back on and stepped outside, spotting Broderick by his car with a firm grasp of the hose in one hand and a sponge in the other. He was now wearing a pair of his own sandals and his swim trunks.

“You know, I agree with Elsie,” I said to him and he looked up from washing off the front window. I came to his side and crossed my arms. “You might as well just wait until you get home. It’ll save you the time and effort of washing it here since you’ll be taking the same road back.” I paused, frowned. “Well, hopefully not the exact same road.”

He smiled and pointed to the windshield. “It was so dirty when we got here that I could barely see anything in front of me. If I don’t wash it, I’ll probably hit someone on Sunday.”

“Okay, but you don’t have to wash your entire car,” I said, “unless it’s going to damage your ego.”

“What does my car have to do with my ego?” he asked.

“Well if your car doesn’t look spiffy and clean as you roll into town, it’s not going to attract many girls,” I said, leaning against the side of his car and smiling. “Although it’s not so much multiple girls that you’re interested in, as it is one specific girl.”

He blushed. “Well you’re one to talk,” he blurted. “What’s going on with you and Ryan? You guys have your own little love affair happening behind everyone's backs. It’s like Romeo and Juliet almost, since he comes to your window every night just to see you. And I know your mom, Iz. She would not be happy about it.”

I laughed. “That’s true.”

“So really, what's going on?” he asked. “Are you two together?”

“No,” I replied. “At least not yet. And speaking of which, you don’t know him from somewhere do you? Because I kind of got the feeling that you might.”

He shook his head quickly. “Nope.” Apparently I had just seen their encounter as something else entirely; more than it really was. I really needed to work on my assumptions. “You should date him. You would be cute together,” Broderick said and all of a sudden, he turned and sprayed me with the hose. I shrieked and stepped back, dripping wet while he laughed hysterically.

“Hey!” I yelled.

“Oh, relax. You were going to get wet anyway.” He turned off the hose and dusted his hands off on the back of his shorts. “Now,” he said, turning to me with a smile. “Let’s get down to the dock. It’s time to do some sailing.”