So Young at Heart

“Pick a number, one through ten,” I said to Gabe, holding ten CDs in my lap. He was driving, and I was sitting in the passenger seat.

“Eleven!” he exclaimed. I rolled my eyes.

“That’s not one of the numbers, stupid.”

“Nope, it’s two of them combined. One and ten!” He grinned and looked to see my reaction.

“Okay, fine. No music,” I said, putting the CDs back into the glove compartment.

“Rats,” Gabe said. “I guess we’re stuck actually talking to each other.”

“Well, what should we talk about?” I looked out the window. We were about fifteen minutes into the drive, and already we were bored.

“Um…how about...the weather?” Gabe questioned.

Man, this is going to be a long drive, I thought.

~ ~ ~

“We’re here!” I shot up, startled. I looked to the left of me to see Gabe leaning over me. “You up, sleepy head?”

I mumbled something incoherent and looked out the window. We were parked in the driveway of my family’s cabin. “Wow. You didn’t get us lost.”

He smiled, turning away and opening the door to get out of the car. I got out as well. I closed the door behind me and stretched. “We forgot to bring bags,” I heard Gabe say from behind me.

“Oh. Oops. I’m sure we’ll be able to find something inside,” I said. I walked up the steps to the cabin.

I had been coming to this cabin ever since I was a little kid. It’s been in my family for over thirty years, and it’s the most human place my parents are connected to. Our home in New York is as pompous as it gets, and our cabin was a bit more run down. It felt like home. The walls were all entirely logs, the floor old wood panels. It only had four rooms; two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room/kitchen. Gabe had been coming along to the cabin ever since he moved in next door to me, when we were four. We had become friends instantly. As I walked through the old green door and stepped out of my shoes on the old red carpet, I felt like I was walking through a memory. I always did. Nothing in this cabin had changed in the past sixteen years that I’ve been alive, and I hope that it never does.

“Home sweet home,” I heard Gabe say behind me, stepping into the house.

“Yeah,” I replied. I walked through the kitchen to mine and Gabe’s bedroom. Although there were two bedrooms, we always shared. It was just more fun.

“Man, why is it always so cold here?” Gabe asked. I shrugged. “Lets make a fire,” he said.

“Yeah! Lets,” I said, walking over to the fireplace. In no time, we had a fire going, heating up the small, remote cabin quite rapidly.

“That’s better,” sighed Gabe. We were huddled together on the floor under a giant blue quilt that we had stolen off of one of the beds.

“This is comfy,” I said, squeezing the blanket with my warm hands. I looked over at Gabe. He was watching the fire dreamily, his cheeks tinted red from the heat of the flames. I snapped my fingers in front of his face. He looked at me, startled at the sudden movement. “Whatcha thinking about?” I asked him.

“Nothing,” he mumbled. I nodded, turning my attention to the ceiling.

“You know, in a week we’ll be able to come here all we want,” Gabe said from right next to me. I smiled.

“I know. I’m so excited for the end of school. Then we can hang out with everyone else more, too.” Gabe and I had more friends; they just went to different schools. Vicky, Ryland, and Travis all went to a nearby Private school, while Will, Alex, and Nate all went to another nearby Public school. We didn’t see them much during week because of the different schedules we all had, but in the summer, it’s much easier to see everybody.

“Is what Vicky told me true?” I asked Gabe, who had also resorted to staring at the ceiling.

“Depends on what she told you,” he said with a smirk. I looked up and out the window for a few seconds; it was almost pitch black outside.

“She said that you, her, Alex, Ryland and Nate are starting a band,” I said. He smiled.

“Yeah, it’s true. You want in?” he asked, looking at me.

“Oh God no. I can’t play an instrument for my life,” I said with a laugh. He smiled.

“I’m hungry, but I don’t want to leave this cocoon of warmness that we created,” Gabe complained. I rolled my eyes.

“Will you walk with me to the fridge? That way, I don’t have to leave the blanket behind,” he said. I felt my stomach grumble. It did seem like a pretty good idea.

“Yeah, I’m starving. Let’s go,” I said, hoisting myself up while still staying in the warmth of the blanket. Gabe and I stood together. He wrapped his arms around me to keep us and the blanket as one large mass and walked across the living room, towards the fridge.

“Hmm, what do we have to eat…” Gabe stared into the fridge. I squinted, unaccustomed to the amount of light it was giving off.

“Lets make pancakes!” I suggested. His eyes lit up instantly at the thought.

“Yeah! Hmm, we need an egg, milk….” Gabe grabbed the milk carton and an egg out of the fridge, and we shuffled over to the counter to set them down. We then walked over to the cupboard to get the pancake mix, as well as some oil.

“I think that there is still enough pancake mix…” Gabe said, peering into the box. The next thing I knew, we were both on the floor, and Gabe was completely covered in pancake mix.

“What just happened?” I asked, laughing and rubbing my head.

“I tripped on the quilt,” he grumbled, rubbing his face rapidly. I laughed and repositioned myself, rubbing the pancake mix out of his hair as best I could.

“You look like some sort of ghost,” I said with a smile. He grinned cheesily. After about five minutes, we finally got most of the pancake mix out of his hair and off of his face. Sighing heavily, I snuggled into the quilt. We were still on the floor in the kitchen.

“This is really comfortable,” Gabe said quietly. I nodded, snuggling into him. The next thing I knew, I was fast asleep.