I drove up the circle driveway, not sure where to park. The massive white house was way bigger than anything I had seen before, and I suddenly felt inferior somehow, like I wasn't supposed to be here.
"Dale!" a voice shouted, breaking me from my internal debate.
Susie ran out from the front door towards the car. I threw it in park and climbed out. She jumped up and wrapped me in a huge hug.
"So glad you could make it," she said.
Susie and I had met earlier in the year, both of us stuck in Calc 2 office hours struggling to figure out series. We became quick friends. And when she found out that I only lived about two hours from her family's lake house, Susie insisted that I come visit during the summer. I guess I should have assumed from the whole "lake house" thing that her family was well off, but I still wasn't prepared for the scale of things.
"Of course," I said, "Where should I park?"
Susie gestured at the right side of the three car driveway. "Over there is best - I don't think Mom and Dad are planning on coming out this weekend."
"Sure thing." I pulled the car over and grabbed my duffel from the trunk.
Coming in the front door, I was just shocked at how large it was. The foyer opened up with a massive two story atrium that bled into the main living space, which was a kitchen about double the size of my entire dorm room. Attached was a living room with a couple sofas, spread out around a big brick fireplace. Then past those was a sunroom, full of windows, sofas, and lots of plants.
"Wow," I breathed.
Susie led me through the kitchen, down a side hallway wide enough for French door just to enter it.
"This is the kids' wing," she explained, "Me and my brother had this to ourselves... though I think that's more so that my parents had their wing they could retreat to without us."
There was another sitting space, though smaller, off the street side of the house. Still, it had a full sized couch and a TV.
"This couch pulls out, so that should come in handy."
Down at the end of the hallway were two doors. "That one is my brother's," Susie explained, pointing at the door on the right, "And here's mine."
The door swung open, revealing a big bedroom. The ceiling was sky-lit, with sunlight falling on her unmade king-sized bed littered with pillows. The windows looked out towards the backyard, sloping down steeply until it met the lake shore, where there was a dock and a boat moored to it.
On the left side of the room, opposite the bed, were two doors, bathroom and closet. Susie had a bedroom all to herself, in her bedroom! I tried not to gape.
"What do you think?" she asked.
"It's... wow, Suz, it's a lot. This place is unbelievable!"
Just then, the doorbell rang, echoing down the hallway.
"Oh! That must be Andrew!"
She opened the front door to a guy about my age, light brown hair.
"Susie!" he said with a smile, wrapping her in a big hug.
"Good to see you, Andrew! It's been so long!"
Susie glanced up at me. "Dale, this is my friend Andrew! Andrew, Dale."
"Nice to meet you," I said as cordially as I could manage, reaching out for a handshake. He promptly shook then put his arm back around Susie, who leaned a bit into him. "You live around here?"
"Oh, no," Susie said, "His family used to have a place up here, but they sold it a few years back. So I asked if he wanted to come out this weekend too. Hope you don't mind."
"No," I said flatly. "Not at all."
"Great! Then... why don't we go swimming?"
"Shoot!" I said. "I didn't bring a suit."
"Did you forget the lake part of the lakehouse?" Susie teased.
"I mean, I guess it just slipped my mind. I completely forgot about that."
Susie studied me. "Hmm, what are you, a 34? I wonder if any of James' suits will fit you."
"I'm willing to try, I guess."
