Tripped Up
Tuesday, August 11, 2017
Mia stood there with her mouth open.
"I know. I don't know what happened."
"Well, okay, Olivia, when a man and a woman..."
"Mia, please! You know what I mean!"
"...Sorry. Okay, so you say that you think that you might be pregnant. Does that mean that you haven't taken any tests?"
Olivia shook her head as a few tears left the corner of her eyes.
"I'm scared, Mia. I'm scared of what it might say."
Without saying another word, Mia walked over and wrapped her arms around her best friend. Despite her extroversion, dealing with such as crisis was a bit above Mia's emotional pay-grade. Olivia took a few minutes and the two continued talking like friends once again, even though this situation was hanging over Olivia's head.
Wednesday, August 12, 2017 - Early Morning
The next morning, Cameron and Sylvester walked through the airport towards their gate.
"I can't believe Mom was able to get us a flight on such short notice." Cameron uttered, partly in irritation of having to get up so early.
"Isn't that what she does for a living?" Sylvester replied.
"Yeah… I guess so."
"Is this your first time on a plane? You don't look so well." Sylvester asked, noting that Cameron was unusually nervous.
"Yeah… I'm just… I'll be fine, I guess."
"You're afraid of heights, aren't you?"
Cameron had no reply. He wasn't about to admit that he was.
"It'll be okay. I'll hold your hand if you get too scared." Sylvester said as the two handed their boarding passes to the attendant and got onto the plane.
"Shut the hell up."
Later in the Morning
Outside of Mia's house, Olivia and Mia watched as Toby and Calvin dragged out Mia's luggage for the trip. Olivia's parents were in the van, having decided to let the kids do the heavy lifting while sitting in the air conditioning.
"That's nice of them to do that for me." Mia noted.
"Yeah, Dad would've helped, but he threw out his shoulder wrestling with Uncle Bud." Olivia said quietly in embarrassment. Mia looked at the driver's seat of the van only to see Harlow happily drumming the steering wheel in time to his favorite song.
"So, does anyone else know about…?" Mia quietly asked, finally getting the courage to ask a little more about the bombshell that Olivia just dropped on her the previous night.
"Not really."
"Does Orson know?"
"Oh, absolutely not. Why do that to him right now? He's already vomited out of stress once this trip."
"Oh… eww. So, who all knows?"
"You, me, and..." Olivia looked over towards her cousin as the two approached the back of the van.
"This is B.S. Why do we have to haul this crap?" Calvin uttered as he zealously tossed the bag he was carrying in.
"Shut it." Toby replied as he put his bag in before closing the back hatch of the van.
"Jeez, what's with you lately? Is it your time of the month or something?" Calvin commented.
"Well, the first thing we should do is find out whether you are or you're not. The first stop we make, we'll sneak away and get a test so you can know for sure." Mia said, ready to help her friend by taking control of the situation. Olivia nodded in agreement.
"...And you can shove that stupid-looking visor right up your..." Calvin said as the argument was getting heated. Toby gasped a bit as the visor was a gift that he received from his (then) best friend on his twelfth birthday.
"You. Do. Not. Diss. My. Visor!" Toby said, ready to knock the other boy on his behind.
"Hey, you two, knock it off!" Orson said as he got between the two boys.
"He's got PMS." Calvin quickly uttered.
"I tell you what. If you two can't behave yourselves, you'll be riding in separate vans and you'll stay separated until we get to Arizona. Understood?"
"If he's acting like that, he can ride on the luggage rack!" Toby sassed.
"That's enough!" Orson said sternly. Toby knew that he was getting serious and cowered back a bit.
"Can I trust you two to not kill each other?"
Both boys nodded and Orson walked off.
"I'm sorry…" Toby quietly said, feeling guilty because he was looking forward to having this adventure with Calvin by his side.
"No, I was the one who started it." Calvin said as he put a hand on Toby's shoulder.
"Now look at that." Mia said to Olivia as they watched the entire "episode" take place.
"Yeah… I feel bad. Toby's just as much on edge as I am, and I think it's starting to take a toll on him."
"But don't you see, Orson would be an awesome father."
Olivia felt herself wanting to cry again.
"I can't do that to him. He's got so much going on right now. And he's got such a bright future ahead of him. I don't want him to be completely screwed because of this."
Mia didn't say a word as she wrapped her arm around Olivia as another van pulled up behind her parents.
"Oh, is this your house? It's so… cute." Mrs. Frasier said as she got out of the van.
"No, it's not. And besides, you two took your time getting here. We were about to leave you guys behind." Harlow said before getting elbowed.
"Sorry, it was my fault. We grabbed breakfast at that little cute place on the corner over there."
"That would be my mom's place." Kenton said from inside the Gabriels' van.
"Okay, so, who's riding with who?"
"We have to keep our mouths shut either way, right?" Mia asked to Olivia, who quickly nodded.
"I'll take our van." Olivia said.
"I'm with Olivia." Orson added.
"I'll go with Olivia." Mia said.
"I guess you've already made up your mind." Orson said as he looked over at Kenton, who nodded.
"I guess it's just us with Mom and Dad." Calvin said as he looked at Toby.
"Dad, these two were at each other's necks earlier. If they start getting out of control, we'll take one of them off your hands." Orson said, choosing not to notice the two young teenagers rolling their eyes.
"Okay. Get in the van and keep your hands to yourselves." Mr. Frasier said sternly.
Meanwhile, on a plane crossing the Oregon sky...
Sylvester sat watching in concern as his older cousin was hunched over.
"Hey, are you going to be okay?" Sylvester asked. Cameron sat up holding a loaded paper bag.
"I see that you've packed a lunch." Sylvester joked. Cameron could only glare at him before lying back in his seat.
"I'm sorry that you're stuck watching me for the trip. It really sucks for you, getting punished for my actions." Sylvester said guiltily.
"Don't worry about it. I can still see my friends… as long as I drag you along with me."
"...You can't be serious! I don't know these people outside of that Kenton guy and Boob.. uh, I mean Mia."
"...Would it help if you knew a secret about two of them?" Cameron said with a slight smirk. Sylvester craned his head in with curiosity.