Aiden
“Woah,” I said, frowning. Everyone was staring up at the mountain – even the people who were sitting opposite me had turned to crane back in their seats. “What was that?”
“I don’t know,” Aubrey muttered.
“Was it a gunshot?” Davies’ girlfriend asked. “That’s what it sounded like.”
“I don’t see anyone up on the mountain,” Keaton said, worriedly. I scanned the horizon again. I couldn’t see anything, either.
“Didn’t you say this is the off season?” Ace asked.
“Yeah, that’s the only reason we were all able to afford this place,” Xavi snorted from beside him.
“My point is, there aren’t supposed to be many people around,” Ace replied. He had a kind of annoyed manner about him. I didn’t know if he didn’t get along with Xavi, or if he was just like that with everyone.
“I think it was the mountain,” Harvey said.
All our eyes swung around to focus on him. When Oliver Harvey said something, given it didn’t happen too often, people usually paid attention because they knew it would be something important.
Kind of like the opposite of me.
“What do you mean, the mountain?” Keaton asked with an air of panic.
“Snow,” Harvey grunted, nodding up at the top part of the peak that we could see from here.
“You mean like when it’s starting to melt and a piece cracks off and falls away?” Caleb asked. Harvey nodded.
“I can’t see anything,” Davies said, wrinkling his nose as he squinted at the mountain.
“Probably on the other side,” Jason pointed out.
There hadn’t been any further noise. There was an undercurrent of tension in our group, but it gradually eased off. “It must have just been everything settling,” Keaton declared. “Right?”
We all, more or less, nodded agreement around the table. I noticed that Cade hadn’t said a thing. Was my new roommate just super shy? Or had he been through something really bad? Caleb had said to give him an easy time, but he hadn’t exactly explained what had happened.
“It’s probably nothing,” Caleb said, waving a hand. “Let me get back to my meat.”
“You football boys and your meat,” his girlfriend – Aubrey, I remembered – laughed at him. Just like that, we all managed to settle back into eating and chatting, having a good time.
But for the whole rest of the meal, I noticed two things. One, we were all shooting nervous glances up at the mountain every now and then.
And two, Cade didn’t say another word.
Even when he’d finished eating he just sat there in silence staring at his plate, like he was waiting for everyone else to be done so he could run back to the cabin.
I sighed to myself. This was going to be a long weekend.
And it didn’t even make sense to me. A guy like Cade – handsome enough in his own way, and obviously super smart – with a brother like Caleb? He should have been part of the group from the start, fitting in so easily it was like he’d always been there.
So, what had happened that made him so quiet and shy?
“Alright,” Keaton said, clapping his hands to call the lunch to an end. Everyone was done and the conversation had died out, so it made sense. “Who’s going to help me clean all this up?”
Davies immediately tried to volunteer his girlfriend. She and Jason’s girlfriend exchanged looks, pointed at their boyfriends, and said in unison: “He will!”
“Excellent volunteering, boys,” Keaton grinned. “We should all get unpacked and settle in. I didn’t put anything on the itinerary until dinner tonight, so just do whatever you like.”
“Food,” Harvey said.
