The Game

“Here we are, guys. Panama City Beach, Florida.” A young, twenty year old guy called from the backseat of the white Ford van.

“Yeah, nothing but sun, fun, and a little rum!” Another, twenty year old guy, said smiling crazily and moving his blonde hair from in front of his eyes.

“Shane, where are we staying again? My mom wants to know.” A nineteen year old girl said to the first guy who spoke.

Shane’s dark brown covered his ears and moved every time he moved his head, “oh your mommy wants to know?” He said mocking her, “well guess what, Lorelei! Screw your parents. Screw Blaire’s parents---”

“Shane, my parent’s are your parents.” Blaire said from the back of the van. Blaire, although the kid sister of Shane, looked nothing like him. She had beach blonde hair and sky blue eyes.

“Screw Mikel’s parents. And screw Aidan’s parents. Wanna know why? Because this will be the best spring break we will ever have!” Shane said flipping on his right blinker to indicate they were turning into Paradise Beach motel.

Aidan, a tall brunette twenty year old guy, was the first out of the van. “Sixteen hours of riding hurts a little more than I thought.” He muttered stiffly.

“Guys, be a little quieter. Mikel is sleeping. I’ll go check us in, since you guys aren’t competent enough to do it.” Lorelei said grabbing her backpack filled with personal things.

As she walked off, Aidan’s face lit up, “what if he accidentally blew the horn?” He said pointing to Shane.

A smile broke out over Shane’s face. He looked toward sleeping Mikel in the passenger seat. He pressed his hand on the horn to let off the shrill noise. Mikel jumped up and took in his surroundings. A white sand beach across the highway; a small motel to his left; the best part, a week of the beautiful weather.

Lorelei returned with five room keys. She distributed them among her friends. Lorelei was smiling as Aidan stared at her. He captured this moment. The way her tight red curls glimmered in the setting sun with her baby blue eyes and their blinding sparkles. He loved the tight green shirt she wore when she knew she needed to look good--- and, she looked good.

“Aidan, close your mouth. I see drool.” Blaire whispered and chuckled. Aidan rolled his eyes and opened up the van doors. He crawled into the back of the van and began to throw suitcases out of the van.

“Watch out!” He called as he sent the first one flying into Mikel’s arms. One-by-one, the suitcases were unloaded. Just before the sun went down, Aidan climbed out of the van and slammed the doors. “That’s everything.” He said. He walked into the motel room to find Blaire and Mikel sitting arm-in-arm on the single bed. He glanced around and found Lorelei and Shane setting up a game of Bullshit on the queen-sized bed.

“Bullshit?” Lorelei asked. He nodded immediately. Shane scooted over to make room for Aidan.

“Is this an ‘interesting’ game or a normal, boring game of BS?” Lorelei asked Shane, who was the dealer of the game.

“Strip.” He said keeping a straight face while he shuffled the cards.

“My favorite,” Lorelei joked. Blaire stopped talking to Mikel long enough to say she wants to play; not wanting to be left out, Mikel decided not join.

“Why not,” he muttered.

Shane passed out a full hand to everyone of his friends. The game lasted for more than two hours, until Shane felt like he was going to pass out. He had to remind everyone that drove sixteen hours to enjoy this spring break. Lorelei and Blaire took the single bed by the window and left Mikel, Aidan, and Shane to share the bed by the bathroom door. “Really?” Mikel yawned, “all three of us guys have to share a bed?” He asked.

Blaire laughed, “Or you and Lorelei could work something out,” she winked.

“Could ya’ Lori?” He asked, “I do love my girlfriend,” he smiled.

“Oh, okay,” Lorelei sighed. She crawled out of bed and slipped into the other two with sleeping boys, Aidan and Shane. Finally, all the lights were out and everyone drifted into dream-land.

The next morning, Shane was the first one to wake up. He wandered in the parking lot until Mikel walked outside and handed him a cup of steaming, black coffee. “Morning,” he muttered receiving his cup of coffee.

“Look at the sky; sure hope it doesn’t rain,” Mikel said softly. No one had bothered to check the forecast before their spring break fun. And Mikel was beginning to regret not checking it. The sky was a dark gray that looked threatening.

“I’ll go check it,” Shane said walking back into the motel room. He turned on the television and sat down on the bed next to Lorelei and Aidan who unmistakably had the arms wrapped around each other. “Hmph,” he said aloud. Without trouble, he found the local weather station.

“Sorry, for all you spring breakers who came all the way out here to party all week, but it seems to be nothing but rain. Don’t thank us; thank the Weather. Brought to you---” Shane clicked the television off before he could hear another word.

“Man, what’s with all the noise?” Blaire asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

“Let me see your phone, please.” Shane asked ignoring his sister’s question. Blaire tossed it to him and Shane quickly found the camera app as Mikel walked in the door.

Shane snapped the picture of Aidan and Lorelei and snickered to himself. He tossed Blaire back her phone and turned off the television. Blaire rolled out of bed and embraced Mikel. “Good morning, beautiful.” Mikel whispered in Blaire’s ear.

"Must be looking in a mirror, babe.'' Blaire yawned and found her suitcase. She grabbed her toothbrush and groggily walked to the bathroom.

Shane showed Mikel the photograph and they both began laughing but immediately became quiet as Lorelei stirred. "Go to sleep," Mikel sang, ''go to sleep little lovebird."

Lorelei laid her head back down on the pillow next to Aidan. Shane poured another cup of coffee and stood next to Mikel who was looking out the small square window. "Damn," Mikel muttered. Then Shane noticed what Mikel said that for.

"How can it be raining? We were out there five minutes ago and it was totally not raining!" Shane exclaimed.

“Did you not listen to the weather man?” Mikel asked, “he said it was certain that it would rain. But now, we need something to do to keep us all out of the rain.”

“I guess that’s right,” Blaire said waking out of the bathroom and placing her toothbrush back into the special pocket of her suitcase.

Mikel embraced his girlfriend in a passionate that kiss that left their heads spinning. “I love you,” he whispered. Blaire giggled and muttered the three-worded sentence back.

Shane stood by the window in deep thought. “Come on,” he said loudly, “let’s get Lorelei and Aidan up and we’ll talk about what we want to do. Because it kinda seems like the beach is out of the question.”

Blaire stood over Lorelei until her eyes fluttered open, “what the heck, dude?” Lorelei asked.

The sudden noise from his sleeping companion woke Aidan up who was now rummaging through his duffel bag to find some clothes. Lorelei stood up and gently pushed Blaire out of her way. “Okay, since Sleeping Beauty and the Beast---” Shane began but was interrupted by his sister.

“You mixed two princess tales together, genius. It’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ or ‘Beauty and the Beast’.”

“Screw off.” Shane said.

“What would entail that Aidan was my Prince Charming, and I don’t recollect anything of the sort!” Lorelei interjected.

“The picture we took this morning says otherwise!” Shane yelled, his temper rising.

Lorelei looked floored and Aidan lost color in his face, “what picture?” She demanded.

Shane reached for Blaire’s phone and found the picture of Aidan and Lorelei where they had their arms wrapped around each other. Aidan’s face burned red with embarrassment while Lorelei’s face burned with fury.

“Delete that!” She screamed lunged forward for the phone; Shane easily sidestepped Lorelei and sent her tumbling into Mikel and Blaire who were innocently sitting on the single bed.

“Make me.” Shane teased; his temper was going down due to the fact that he was getting too much enjoyment out of torturing Lorelei.

“Guys!” Blaire screamed, “I know what we could today!”

“What?” Mikel and Aidan asked, deciding it was better to engage in Blaire’s conversation instead of Lorelei and Shane’s.

“A year-round haunted house. My friends went there last year, they said it was amazing.”

Lorelei and Shane stopped fighting to listen to the possibility of a haunted house, something that intrigued everyone. “Yeah, it’s here in Panama City.”

“I think it’s an awesome idea.” Lorelei said.