At the end, it's broken

Chapter 9

"Colleen, hurry up!"
"Alright, alright, I'm coming."

It was Sunday October 29th, and we were off to Olympia, the campground. It was me, Sam, Gabriel, Hayley, Yasmine, Amir, Jacob and his family, well not his siblings but his parents. His two sisters are older than him so they are kind of living their own life. Anyway,
I was putting on my mascara while Sam tried to rush me down to the van that Jacob's parents have rented. I haven't even packed, we were gonna be gone for six days and I had to pack both something light and something that will keep me warm. Seattle have such weird weather in October. You think it's gonna be super cold but then all of a sudden the sun is out and you can walk with a skirt.

"Colleen!". Sam is calling me, but I also had to say goodbye to Joel, I won't see him for a week. So I quickly opened my closet and found a few clothes that would be appropriate to wear. And of course I had to bring my favorite pajamas set, but a hoodie to go with it because it can be pretty cold during the night, and besides, we have like 5 different tents with us because the 9 of us can't fit in one. And it would be a bit weird to share a tent with Jacob's parents.

Once I've packed I ran upstairs to say goodbye to Joel. And I knocked on his door, and this time he was actually in his room and not his office.
"Hey", I said with a light smile. He stands up from his king size bed. He didn't look very well.
"Are you okay?" I asked with a concerning look.
"I'll feel better if you give me a hug", he said and so I did. I gave him a warm and loving hug.
"You know I can stay right? If you wanna talk?"
He let go off me and stroke my arms.
"No, go have fun. You deserve it."
And then that was it. There was so many things I wanted to say to him but I cracked one of my bad jokes like I usually do,
"Well, call me if you need me", and we both laughed because I didn't have a phone. I got him to laugh at least so I guess I succeeded in some sort of way, and then I walked downstairs and Joel followed me behind.
"Oh my god, finally!", Sam says as she sees me walking down the stairs with my backpack.
"Colleen, can I talk to you for a minute,"
"Yes, of course."
It was Helena, and Sam gave her an annoying look since she's probably been waiting down here for about 30 minutes.
Me and Helena walked a little bit to the side and she grabs a phone out of her pocket. It was an old phone, iPhone 6 to be exact.
"I used to have this, many years ago. And I want you to have it."
"But Helena", I continued but she interrupted me.
"It's something for now, it still works and you can call me, or Joel", she gave a side eye towards Joel, and then she continued "if you ever need us". Helena didn't really approve the relationship me and Joel have, or well the some sort of relationship me and Joel have but she was still happy. She told me a few days ago that sex are off limits in this house but that I've managed to make Joel a better person, that I made him smile and Helena haven't seen him smile for years. And that meant a lot to me.

I took the phone that Helena offered me to go with for now and grabbed my backpack and took Sam's hand as we walked out to the van where everyone else was already sitting and waiting, ready to leave. Sorry for the delay.
I saw Joel standing on the outside of the front door, and Helena and the kids were waving us goodbye as Jacob's dad drove slowly out from the driveway. But not Joel. He didn't wave. He didn't even look at me. I was wondering what was up with that. But I couldn't let that get to my mind, I'll deal with it when I come home. We had over an hour drive and we had to make the best out of it.
We turned the volume up so loud on the Bluetooth speaker in the van and started vibe to the music.
Even if I didn't have anything growing up, I still knew when there was good music playing, because I've heard so many songs from school, friends, I mean, living with the Dawson's (Sam) you kinda can't get rid of the music, she always listens to music, including Helena.

Here's to the ones that we got
Cheers to the wish you were here, but you're not
'Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
Of everything we've been through.