Lemming 16: Surprise

Jenny

     Since the start of chapter 13, The Maker has had the new stuff pack, but She hadn't used any of it for wanting to take care of a few things at our house first. Now that She has, we're on vacation! This is the house where we're staying. Justin and I are sharing a loft bedroom upstairs.

     As soon as we get here, Dad walks through the house and then out the back door to play a game of horseshoes...

     ...and Katherine runs into the bathroom to be sick.

    I get an overwhelming urge to go through the trash, almost as if someone had directed me to do it out of their own curiosity.

    We get a notification that now is the time to throw Dad a birthday party, so we decide to do it here. We're not allowed to invite Hugo or Annalise to the party for some reason, and let me tell you, I am not happy about that.
     Hugo and I went on our date. It was fun. I was worried it would be weird, but I actually felt comfortable. Have I said that Hugo's full of compliments? Yeah. Well, he is. Only on our date, they flew like crazy, and they were a lot more personal and romantic. The guy's a romantic!

    Dad blows out his candles without any fanfare from us, which The Maker thought was stupid. Oh well. It's happened. Dad's an elder. I don't really know how I feel about that.
    By the way, the weird guy standing behind Dad is the one we hired to be the caterer. I think he's a vampire. I won't believe anyone if they tell me different.

     I try to avoid him so that I'm not bitten, but he follows me to the couch where I sit watching TV.
     What if he's an alien? What if he's secretly posing as a human only to populate the world with other alien spawn so that they can do more populating and then take over the world?! A girl has to be careful.
     He looks at my neck. It doesn't show it in this picture, but I swear, he looks at my neck way too much. Maybe he's an alien vampire. Maybe all vampires are aliens. When you think about it, it makes sense.

     Katherine lets Dad know she still thinks he's hot, and they go off into the bedroom...The bedroom that's mysteriously MISSING A DOOR AND ONLY HAS AN OPEN DOORWAY!

      Oh, ew. I really don't need to see that.

    Poor Justin, he does see it.
    I have no idea what he's wearing. We're all in our 'party clothes,' and it looks like The Maker didn't bother putting together a decent outfit for him. Plus, where did he get the glasses?

    He gets a talk from Dad and Katherine about privacy. I think they're all nuts. How can they expect privacy when there isn't even a door?! Justin and I don't have a door either, just stairs up to our room. Dad and Katherine could've waited until we'd at least gone to sleep!

     I can't help but overhear this conversation. Katherine is pregnant.
     My parents are nuts. My Mom's had another set of twins, and now Dad's going to have another child. Well, technically, Katherine is.

     At least they're happy. This kid's lucky its parents love each other.


I miss you.

    I text Hugo. That aught to make him happy.

    The loft bedroom upstairs has a deck with a card table, so Justin and I try our hand at a game or two.
     "You look like a geek with those glasses," I tell him.
     He takes a card from the stack and says seriously, "I am a geek."
     "No you're not. You're cool. Shut up."

      "Who says geeks can't be cool?" he asks me in a playful way.
      "I'm going to take a picture of you with my phone and send it to Annalise," I threaten just as playfully.
      "Go right ahead," he says, so I do. "Hey!" He can't believe I actually did it! I laugh. Plus, I notice I have a text back from Hugo:

I miss you too gorgeous.

     I smile. He never misses a chance for a compliment. I wonder if he's just buttering me up or if he's sincere. Oh well. He's nice about it.
     Justin tells me he's going to go do some reading by the lake. I decide to go exploring.

     I found it! Or, rather, The Maker found it! The secret entrance to the special lot!

    Getting there is more difficult than expected. I make several wrong turns and wind up back at the start. One time, I get a case of itchy overripe fire leaf.

(This is actually two pictures, hence the line off to the right side, to show the lot.)

     It's actually pretty cool here. There's a hermit lady. I don't know what to do with her yet, so I explore.

     She has an interesting place. I'm hungry, so I hope she doesn't mind if I eat a bowl of cereal.

     I get sleepy, so I take a nap on a log bench. My ringing phone wakes me up. Dad's worried about me. I tell him I'm in the woods and that I'd taken a nap. I don't tell him how far I've gone into the woods. He asks me to come back to the chalet. On the way back, I curse myself for going exploring in dress shoes.

     The next day, I hang out at the house. At one point, Dad and I do a little cloud-gazing.
     "That one looks like a Coca-Cola bottle has spilled out all over the place and made a big mess. There's the mess. See?"
     Dad chuckles at me before complaining that he's been lying down on the porch too much and his back hurts. He gets up and goes into the house, and I keep looking at the clouds.
     My thoughts drift to Hugo. I guess he's my boyfriend. He's not interested in dating anybody else, and I'm caring less and less about Emmett every day that goes by. Hugo's really good to me, and I like how he actually enjoys some of my crazed, scattered thoughts. Some of our friends think I'm odd, but they put up with me for Justin's sake. I don't mind. It's not like I need them anyway. I just need my brother...and now Hugo too since he's crazy about me.

I wish you were here.

     I text Hugo. Justin has gone off to mill around the little village here, and my dad and step-mom are all over each other, happy about her being preggers.
     He doesn't text me back. It's okay. He doesn't have to. Maybe he's busy with something and can't.
    The day goes by very quietly, but I don't mind since I wore myself out yesterday. When evening comes along, I sit out by the little campfire and think about Hugo.
    "Hello, beautiful," I hear a familiar voice say, and I quickly sit up straight in surprise. "Your dad said I'd find you out here."

     "Hugo!" I jump up and throw my arms around him. "You...You...You're here! You're actually here! How did you get here?"

    He sighs and holds me tightly. "Do you think for one minute that I would just sit around and do nothing when you said you wished I were here?"
    Emmett Schmemmett. He's a dweeb anyway.
    "I borrowed my dad's truck. I have to go back tomorrow, but I'm here right now," he finishes, still holding me to him.
    "I didn't think you'd actually come up here. In fact, since you didn't text me back, I thought you were busy."
    He chuckles. "Surprise."