Here we have Part 9! This was a fun one to write, and I hope you will enjoy it. As always feedback is greatly appreciated, so do please let me know what you think. :)
All sex is between characters 18 or older. Any resemblance to real persons or events is purely coincidental.
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Chapter Twenty-Seven
What was the plan originally, and what's the plan now?
I had a simple strategy when I was younger. Part one was getting away from home, and part two was getting away from home, and part three... You get the picture.
My first and last job was in IT because I found a career path that I liked. Then I started doing renovations because we had capital, and it seemed like good business. I enjoyed the manual labour, and being in charge of my fortune was enticing. Still, it wasn't a choice as much as it was an option to exploit.
We'd grown up with the tension between our parents; seeing no way of living a happy family life. Of course, there was still a lot of love between us, but we didn't function. So, it seemed like hitting the road was the only good option. Then came the big event — those few nights that realigned everything. The plan changed, and I saw a route towards what I thought was impossible. I built a new family with the family I already had, and it has been brilliant, but that's only one part of life. Sure, it's the foundation of everything else, and I couldn't live without it. Yet, there's more that needs to be done. In the great American tradition, there was a dream to fulfil and happiness to pursue...
These were some of the existential ramblings that I shared with Riley during an hour-long call. Friday was our last day in the city, and that morning was the first time I'd ever called the city-bound surfer girl. She'd gone from a friend of the family to a lover, to a partner, to almost a sister... Our conversation reflected that. It was open and honest — oozing puppy-love.
Riley heard me out and took her time responding. She was younger than me, but she seemed to be a fraction wiser. "Your problem isn't lack of purpose as much as it's abundance of purpose. I heard that your mom did a thousand jobs in her life, and you're all a bit like her. Restless, experimental, complicated."
"Complicated?" I smirked in a way that must've been audible over the phone.
"Yes, my love, you are exceptionally complicated. You and your sisters — your mother and her sister."
There was only one thing to correct, "Our life together isn't complicated, though."
Riley agreed, and explained that it was the beauty of the whole thing. "Even a thousand-piece puzzle is solvable. You've laid out all the edge pieces and some of the inside, but there's still some work to do."
My hand rubbed my chin as I considered the metaphor. It made as much sense as anything I'd ever been told about life, love, and the pursuit of happiness. "Are you sure you don't want to become a pastor?" I teased.
I heard a little snort from the other end of the line; practically feeling eyes roll from a few hundred miles away. Riley then got more serious. "You should spend a little one-on-one time with Em."
"Is something wrong?"
"No, but we both know that she's demanding in all the right ways. Her birthday was fun, and she adores each one of us. Still, spending time with you means the world to her, and you guys have been doing a lot of stuff as a group."
These were fair points, and I agreed. In any case, I had gotten a feeling the night before, that Mom might want to spend the day talking to her twin. Blake was stuck at work (in court most of the day), and this meant Emily and I would have ample alone time.
After a lovey-dovey end to my phone call, I started heading to the breakfast table where I'd left Em and Mom. They were still enjoying the hotel buffet to which we'd become accustomed. As I approached, I saw a tinge of concern on my mother's face. Reaching the table, she immediately asked me to go find Terry, who hadn't been down yet. First, I tried to downplay her worry; assuring her that her twin is probably still asleep. Then, my parent repeated her request, but this time with a more motherly tone.
I took the instruction in my stride — certain that everything was fine — and made my way to my aunt's room. One thing I disliked about the hotel was the smell of the elevator. In the mornings, you caught the scents of a lot of perfume and cologne; usually the cheap stuff. They were the marks of businesspeople heading out for the day, and eager to impress. Don't get me wrong, there are worse smells in the world, but I opted for the stairs that morning. That was a decision that gave me a chance to think as I went up one, two, three... Four storeys in total.
Mainly, I thought about what Emily and I should spend the day doing. This meant I got lost in memories of wayback, when everyone still had grand hobbies. The older we got, the more we kept ourselves to serious things that matter to serious people. Personally, I felt like I had lost my sense of fun, even as my life consisted of a healthy diet of sex. It was time to take the playfulness we experienced in the bedroom and inject it into the rest of our lives!
Those thoughts gifted me a happy smile as I reached Terry's room. I knocked against the door, waited, then knocked again. There was no reaction, and after a few minutes, I knocked a third time. Still, there wasn't any answer...
At this point, I was getting worried — either Terry was unconscious again, or she'd run off. Part of our deal with her was that we kept one of the two keycards to her room. Sliding it into the slot on the door, I heard the click followed by the whir of the electric lock. Leaning into the door, I announced myself to avoid an awkward situation, but the room was empty. On the floor, a short note that explained, "If you're looking for me, I'm in the gym."
