AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My phone vibrated from where it was sitting on the couch next to me. I lifted it up to read the name that came across with the call. Miles. My forehead creased. It was seven thirty in the morning. What could he possibly need?
“Hello?”
He chuckled softly. “Good morning, sunshine. I wasn’t sure if you would be awake yet or not.”
“I was wondering why you were awake this early and calling me right now,” I told him as my mind drifted back to last night. The three of us ended up staying out until midnight, but it was still a long day of traveling, the time difference, and then throw in some alcohol.
“Technically, it would be nine thirty at home right now.” He paused for a moment. “I woke up early and figured you would be awake too since you live on the East Coast.”
A soft laugh escaped me. “I’ve been up since five thirty. My body has no idea what is going on right now.”
Miles was silent for a moment and I didn’t miss the smile on my mother’s lips as she ducked her face to look at her own phone. She had one ear pointed toward me, listening to my conversation, as she made it appear like she was reading something extremely important on her phone.
“So, I have this idea that might be kind of crazy because it’s last minute, but I want you to consider it before throwing it out the window completely.”
I couldn’t help but laugh again. Miles was always the one who had the most random, off-the-wall ideas. And I was always the one who put him in check and told him no. Julian never said much, he just let me handle things and watched the interactions with mischief dancing in his eyes.
“Fine.” I smiled and shook my head. “Let’s hear your idea, Miles.”
“Wait, I’m going to add Julian to the call because I need him to hear it too.”
I heard the click through the phone before I had a chance to respond. It wasn’t long before Miles connected the three of us on one call.
“Are you both here? Raegan? Julia?”
I snorted. “Yes, I’m here.”
Julian was silent for a beat. “Call me that one more time and you won’t be able to talk again.”
“Okay, perfect,” Miles said brightly without even entertaining Julian’s grumpiness. “You’re both here. So, I was thinking… since we’re all home for the holidays and it has literally been years since we’ve done it, I think it’s time we go on another ski trip.”
Julian didn’t say anything in response.
“Miles, Christmas is in two days. We can’t go on a trip right now.”
“But we can. We can go up to Opal Peak just for the night. It’s only forty-five minutes away, so it’s not like we’ll be far. We can ski today and tomorrow and then head home.” He spoke in such a rush, like he needed to get the words out before someone objected to his idea. “We won’t miss Christmas. And remember the promise we made?”
I glanced over at my mother who was all ears and eyes now. I narrowed mine at her and she nodded eagerly. “Go,” she mouthed to me. Bless her heart. She just wanted me to live some kind of life that wasn’t completely consumed with work.
Julian was still silent. There was a part of me that wondered if he had ended the call entirely. I weighed my options. I could stay home with my parents and fight the urge to open up my laptop. Given the cold temperatures, I wasn’t sure what I would really do to occupy my time. Or, I could give in to Miles' plan. We could all go stay at Opal Peak for the night and easily be back tomorrow by dinnertime.
We had all made a promise, to new memories and to make time for our friendship again.
“Okay, I’m in,” I told both of them after we all sat in elongated silence.
“Wait, really?” Miles paused for a beat, letting out a nervous laugh. “You’re always the voice of reason. You don’t think this is a stupid idea?”
“No. I actually think it might be a good idea.”
There was a pregnant pause from Miles. “Julian, are you still there?”
Julian’s voice was quiet yet hoarse when he finally spoke. “I’ll go.”
“You guys are the best,” Miles said with the same amount of excitement and high energy he had when we were younger. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt for not seeking either of them out to meet up more often than the occasional visit when we were all back in Delmont Ridge. “You have two hours to get ready and then I’ll be there to pick each of you up.”
“You’re not driving,” Julian interjected. “I do not trust your ability to keep us alive on any of these mountain roads.”
I couldn’t help but smile, ducking my head as I turned away from my mother. She was watching me with such curiosity. “Two hours. I can do that. You two figure out who is driving.”
