Hey Monday

l e s s o n s

-noah-

"Where the hell are they?" Logan asked as he hung up the phone for the fourth time. It was the morning after the scavenger hunt, and Ellen and Evelyn had been gone for the entire night. We'd been calling them over and over, but it went straight to voicemail each time. 

I sat down and put my head in my hands. "I don't know. But they're big girls, right? We can't always be so protective over them." 

Logan ran a hand through his annoyingly bouncy curls and joined me on the couch. "Dammit. We were so close to beating them, too." 

I laughed a little despite myself and nodded. "Yeah, when I was creating this scavenger hunt, I didn't really expect them to run away." 

"I'm sure they're fine," Logan assured me. "They're out having fun, probably, so we should do that too." 

"Yeah?" I stood up and smiled a little. "Let's do it. Where to?" 

Logan shrugged helplessly. "I have no clue. We could go to a movie theater or maybe a football game in town, if they have one? I mean, it is Friday night." 

I bit my lip and shook my head, none of those ideas really appealing to me. "No, let's go get something to eat." 

"Are you sure?" Logan asked skeptically. "I mean, we still have a ways to go before we get to Maine, and we've kind of been spending a lot. Shouldn't we save our funds for gas and things, and just eat the food we have here?" 

"For Pete's sake," I sighed, shaking my head. "Fine. We'll do something else. You know, having fun shouldn't be this hard." 

"Yeah," Logan agreed begrudgingly. "Maybe we should just stay here." 

Suddenly, the door of the RV flew open and Ellen and Evelyn walked in, laughing animatedly and leaning against each other. Logan and I exchanged confused (and somewhat relieved) glances, jumping up to meet them at the door. 

"What up, bitches?" Ellen greeted as she slipped off her shoes. "Evelyn and I had a wild night." 

"Are you drunk?" I asked quickly, playing the over-protective parent role. 

"No," Ellen replied sharply. Evelyn shot me a warning look over her shoulder. 

"High?" Logan pressed. 

Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows, obviously upset. "No!" she cried. "We're not drunk, we're not high, we're not under the influence of anything. Why would you even think that? Do we smell like weed or something?" 

I shook my head. "No, it's just that you were gone all night in this unfamiliar city, lord knows what you could've been up to." 

Ellen and Evelyn shared a look with one another, then broke into giggles. 

"Guys!" Logan snapped. "Noah and I were worried sick about you, can you please just tell us what happened?" 

Evelyn sighed and came to me, looping her arms around my waist and sighing. "We need to talk," she whispered into my ear. 

My blood ran cold. Those four words were never good together, and my mind immediately began racing with worst-case scenarios. She had cancer? She was bitten by a poisonous snake? She was moving back to Chicago or wherever it was she was from? 

I managed to choke out an "Okay," and I followed her into Ellen's bedroom. We sat down on the purple and white comforter, both of us silent for a minute. 

When having a talk in there, that room was either a death sentence or a winning lottery ticket. You either won or you lost; emerging overjoyed or more bummed out than ever.