I wake up to the blinding sun creeping through the blinds and an empty bed.

I sit up rubbing my head before getting up and leaving my room, grabbing my phone in the process.

As I walk downstairs I run my fingers through my hair to brush it. I can smell bacon and I see Keanu and Leo in the kitchen. When I enter the kitchen Talia is sitting at a stool at the counter.

"Morning sunshine." Keanu smiles to me before giving me a peck on the cheek. For a brief moment I feel like I'm 30 and married. "The other four are still asleep. It's nine am though."

"Keanu your fucking burning the bacon," Leo groans shoving her over so her can flip the bacon.

She rolls her eyes and walks over to me. "Been waiting for you to get up."

"Well it is still a little early?" I scratch my head.

"Yeah I guess. I usually get up at ten."

"You waste half your day."

"Okay well I'm not the psychopath that wakes up between six and eight am naturally."

"I have far more productive days then you," Leo says cracking an egg on the counter.

"Yes painting is so productive."

He ignores her so she turns her attention back to me. "What time do we go back today?"

"Not sure," I shrug.

I hear footsteps and we all turn around to see Liv in her bathing suit. "Last day, going for a morning dip."

"Isn't the water chilly?" Keanu asks with her arms wrapped around my neck.

"Refreshing," Liv corrects as she walks into the kitchen. "Anyway, anyone coming? Talia?"

Talia seems against the idea by her facial expression.

"Oh c'mon it's our last day here. It's a nice lake and morning swims are nice. Let's go down to the water go get your suit and maybe wake up the boys. Leo cook me an egg please." Then she walks out the glass doors.

"She thinks the whole world will bow down to her?" Keanu says as she pulls me into the other room. The boys are still somehow asleep on the couch despite the sun.

"So do you, Princess."

"Ooh keep calling me that."

"How about you go eat breakfast and we can go for a swim as well. You barely swam last night."

"Speaking of. My phone is still a piece of crap. 'Water proof' my ass it keeps glitching out I'll have to ask dad for a new one. Can I borrow yours to call him?"

"Sure."

I hand her my phone before I walk back into the kitchen. Talia is gone and it's just Leo.

"You cook?"

"And you don't?"

"Well I neve— I didn't expect you to of liked cooking."

"I don't particularly like it but eating is kind of a part of human survival and I'm not a huge fan of processed shit or Keanu's cooking." He flips and egg before turning around. "Plus nana and I used to bake and shit all the time. Different but same idea."

He's wearing the same grey hoodie and sweatpants as yesterday.

"Can you not cook?"

"Well... no."

He raises an eyebrow. "Okay you're not aloud to make fun of me for not being able to drive. Which actually, I can somewhat drive I just legally can't."

"You don't have your G one either?"

"Ah whatever. Driving isn't as necessary as cooking."

"You need to drive to get places. You can buy already cooked food."

"Uber gets you places and pre cooked food is usually gross and or unhealthy."

"You're gonna burn your egg."

He turns around to flip his egg. "Nah it's fine."

"You going to go swim?"

"If everyone doesn't demand I make them breakfast."

He eventually finishes cooking, we eat breakfast then decide to go swim.

Talia woke up Aleks and Julian when she was going to go swim and brought Keanu with her. Before Leo and I go down to the dock I wake up Mia.

Mia is a bit behind us when walking down to the dock but is quick to jump in before us.

Keanu, who is actually in the water, drags in Leo. Leo gets out and comes up to me. "Let's go Pollock."

"This is my last dry shirt," I say.

"Then go get your swimming suit on."

"I'm too lazy."

He feels around my jeans, grabs my phone out of my pocket and tosses it to a chair before pushing me in to the water.

"Brat," I manage to laugh out once I've resurfaced. I'm now soaked.

The others laugh and swim around like kids. Liv and Aleks really can't get off each other and all weekend have been real close.

"Can we go out on the boat?" Talia asks.

"I don't want to," I groan.

"C'mon we all want to go," Keanu whines.

I hear Aleks say something to Liv about how my "little boat is cute."

"I'm tired Kea," I say swimming over to dock to pull myself up and sit on the edge.

"I saw a chess board, I want to play chess," Leo says.

"Let's go play chess," I say as I stand up and get ready to walk up the stairs, Leo right behind me.

"Okay then you toss me the keys," Keanu says to me. I stop walking to turn to her. "Oh please I know how to drive a damn boat plus if anything my parents would cover any damage costs." She gets out of the water as the others chat to walk up to me. "Think about it. I'll get them off your ass for at least an hour. We all have fun and you guys can enjoy playing chess or whatever."

I groan. "Okay fine. You go get the keys though."

Keanu follows Leo and I upstairs. When we get to the cottage I attempt to find a dry shirt and the only not damp shirt is a sweater which it's way too hot for so instead I go shirtless. Finding a dry pair of pants is a struggle but I find sweats. I have lots of boxers and bathing suits I keep in thee drawers here so those I never worry about.

When I walk downstairs Leo is at the counter drawing in a sketchbook.

"Chess?" I ask catching his attention. He seems to be startled and moves to shut his sketchbook which I find odd cause I can't imagine the cocky son of a bitch hides his art. "Hello?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah." He shuts his sketchbook and stands up. "You won't win though." There's the cocky attitude.

"I don't know, I'm pretty good at chess," I shrug walking over to the table with the chess set on it.

"Okay. We'll see."

If I'm being honest, last time I played was last time I went up here with my parents last September and my mom beat me. We played five times throughout the weekend and she beat me four times. My father is easier to beat. He's smart and strategic but too impatient. Luckily mom taught me how to play.

We begin playing and it's slow going. He takes forever to ponder and think out his moves. I suddenly feel like my dad playing chess with my mom. I don't think he's ever won a game to that woman.

As I'm impatiently waiting without my phone, which is still on the dock, I watch him. His hair is damp and curly, fallen over his tan skin as he thinks. He reminds me a lot of Keanu yet so different. They're both stubborn as hell and can be real annoying brats when they're in a mood yet both have really silly happy moods. On a physical scale Leo's taller but for the most part they look pretty similar. Same tan skin, brown eyes, black curly hair and eternal bitch face.

"What?" He asks. I tilt my head confused. "You're staring."

"Yes bored out of my mind cause you take forever."

"Exactly why I'll win and why you have lost every game we've ever played together." He doesn't even look at the board to jump my pawn. Not a big move but how calm he always is scares me.

I make my move which I've been waiting ten years to do and it's back to him thinking.

I lied. The two are a lot alike but also a lot different. Keanu couldn't beat me in any game, she doesn't read nor appreciate the little things the same way he does. He's very perceptive which naturally makes him quieter then her. In other words, he's a lot smarter.

He makes his move and I realize I haven't been thinking of my next move.

"Chop chop," he jokes to mimic me harassing him to hurry up.

"Shh," I mutter as I look at the mess of a board. Already almost all my pawns are gone.

"You're not very good."

"I said shh."

He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. I make a random move and sigh dramatically. When I'm not winning it's not as fun.

Eventually he beats me and goes off somewhere to draw. I soon regret not going on the boat because boredom starts to eat me alive. I go to a cupboard under the TV. A good majority of the space is taken up by disks and board games so I move on to the book shelf filled with dusty old books my parents read as a kid.

Time Tangle. Chrysalids. 1984. The GoldFinch.

I run my finger along the books as I read out random ones.

Mom was always into classics which I never got.

The Great Gatsby. Catcher in The Rye. Animal Farm. The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Found them all to be very boring. Actually didn't know Animal Farm was about communism back when I read it as a twelve year old.

I close my eyes to pick out a book and I pick up a book called On The Road.

I end up putting it back a half hour later because I find it impossible to comprehend. I just wanted an easy read but of course knowing my mother every book on this shelf is some deep story that English teachers like to over analyze.

I go to find where Leo went off to but he's not anywhere in the house. Like last time I assume he's down on the dock.

When I get all the way down the stairs he's doodling on the pad in his lap with his right hand and holding a cigarette in his left.

"A dirty habit," I mutter.

"Yes charcoal can be messy," he says without looking up at me and knowing exactly what I was referring to, not the drawing.

So badly I just want to grab the cigarette and throw it in the water. How can he just rot away his lungs like that? Why does it bother me more then it does him?

I want to just pretend that I don't have anywhere to go back to. No life at home with a girlfriend and parents who expect the world from me. That I'm just up here with the trees and also.

"What time do we go back?" He asks.

"I don't want to think about home. Can we just pretend that we don't have lives back there."

"We can do that."

Silence follows.

He's quiet and all I can hear is the soft sound of the waves and his pencil on the paper. Actually I think it was charcoal or something he was using.

He re adjusts himself so that he's leaning against this rock and his pad is propped up against his thighs. He's now facing me on my left while I lay with my eyes closed. I can feel the sun on my right leg but it's mainly shady from all the trees.

Everything is so peaceful down here. Nobody's around and it's just the sounds of the birds and water. And in my case the sound of Leo sketching but I don't want to leave.

It's summer and none of us need to go back. Technically we don't have too. I like not being home where there's parents waking me up before they go to work and nagging me about eating properly. Then the second dad gets home it's riding practice. I don't know how he keeps going, I get tired from laying around all day.

"I think we should stay," I say.

"What?" He looks up and surprisingly the sun hits his face. Half his face looks to be blinded by the sun, not that it matters because he never moves the hair out of his eyes anyway.

"Everyone drove up separately and I drive you and Keanu up. We don't have to leave. Ugh I do not want to go back home. I like no parents."

He shrugs and goes back to drawing. "Whenever dad pisses me off I go to Elle's garage or something."

"I wish I could just get up and leave."

"You have a car. In a way you have more freedom then me."

I close my eyes again and just lay. I never want summer to end.

"I don't have anywhere to go besides yours and Keanu's house and I'm sure your parents wouldn't appreciate that."

"They don't pay too much attention. Half the time they don't know I'm home."

I can hear the motor from the boat off in the distance. When I prop myself up on my elbows I can see them far off. "Great," I groan. "I'm heavily considering telling them we're leaving so they leave and then coming back down to this dock to sleep."

When the boat pulls up I don't move to help Keanu tie it. I'm too lazy and enjoying laying down. I hear them all chatting and I want to plug my ears. I'm tired. The summer sun always makes me sleepy I want to bask in the sunlight not fucking socialize.

"Andrew," Julian says. I open my eyes. "What time we leaving?"

"Twenty minutes," I mutter without lifting my head. I hear Leo quietly snort.

"What?" Keanu says from the boat.

"Yes. Twenty minutes so go get ready."

They all rush up the stairs and I can hear Leo quietly snickering next to me. "You're not leaving are you?"

"No but they are and as far as they're concerned we are too."

"Your actually letting Keanu go pack up all her stuff?"

"Well I think Talia would notice is Keanu's shit was still all over the place and showing no signs that were leaving."

It's not till the others have pulled out of the driveway and into the dirt path through the trees when I tell Keanu we're not leaving. She stands holding her suitcase and jaw dropped.

"What? But Talia could've stayed."

"Yeah I've had too much Talia for twenty four hours. She can really annoy me," I mutter.

Leo isn't even outside with us. Not sure where's he gone to now.

"I think tonight we can go to this old diner fifteen minutes away from here."

"Okay."

Her and I play a game of chess and it's as if the roles are switched. I win easily and she sat the entire game inpatient and bored. After that we played some cards and she whined about how much having a broken phone sucked.

"Yes, and when you tell your dad what happened, it was all Leo's fault," I say to her.

"Was not," he calls out from the top of the stairs.

"Uh, yeah you pushed me in and I was holding onto her."

"Exactly. You pulled her in."

"Don't worry about it," Keanu mouths to me.

Her and Leo continue to bicker as I clean up the cards. They go on and on about her broken phone as I stand up to put the cards away.

"I was telling Kea we should go out for dinner."

"Where?" Leo asks. He's made his way into the sitting room and is leaning with his arm on the couch.

"A diner in town. It's a bit of a drive. Fifteen minutes about," I say. He shrugs to say yeah. "Okay you guys go get ready."

They both move to go to their rooms and once they're both gone I call my dad to tell him we're going to stay another night.

All the sudden I hear loud downpour on the sky lights and surely enough when I look outside it's raining.

"Your car is going to love the mud the dirt roads have become," Leo snickers as he walks downstairs.

"Be quiet," I mutter.

He's now in a sweater and joggers. Shortly after he made his way downstairs, Keanu exits the spare bedroom in warmer clothes.

We all stand at the door counting down till when we have to run through the mud to get to the car.

The other two end up getting soaked fighting over shotgun. Leo eventually gives in and sits in the back.

The drive is peaceful for the others and stressful as hell for me. The loud rain is soothing yet hard to see plus the dark roads. Up here there's nothing around and no street lights till you make it to the highway.

We arrive at the small diner in town. Immediately just seeing it brings back nostalgic memories of sitting here with my parents.

"I think I might get a breakfast meal," Keanu says as we walk inside. "Diner food is the best."

We sit at a booth and an older lady takes our order. I get pancakes, Keanu gets eggs and bacon, and Leo gets poutine.

Brat argues about eating healthy this morning and orders a poutine.

"We can all get our own bed tonight," I say as we wait for food.

"Can I share a bed with you tonight?" Keanu asks me but she barely finishes before Leo replies.

"No. I'm not listening to it."

"Oh shut up we're not gonna do anything I just like to sleep next to him." I catch him roll his eyes before the food arrives just in time to distract Keanu from starting an argument.

We're not back at home for a bit and as soon as we get home Keanu tries to move Leo's stuff out of my room to make room for hers.

"Keanu why don't we all have our own beds tonight?" I ask leaning in the door frame watching her pack his stuff in a bag. He slips past me to snatch his shirt out of her hand.

"I can pack my own shit, thanks." Now she rolls her eyes at him.

"Why?" She ignores him and turns her attention back to me.

"Because I like having my own bed, we have three beds and it'll save you guys from arguing."

She groans before turning back to her brother. "Ugh why didn't you go home too, you're so annoying."

He leaves the room with his bag leaving Keanu frowning at me. "You suck too."

"I'm going to go swim," I say not quite ready to go to sleep yet.

"I'll go too. Not like I have anything better to do," she says. "Unless you want to do that alone as well?"

When she gets salty her whole attitude gets bitter.

"Kea it was just easier this way."

"Whatever," she says with a tone as she walks past me. "I'll be down in five minutes." Within a few seconds her mood changes and she turns around and says. "Don't tell Leo and maybe we don't have to wear suits."

"Okay I'll meet you down there just have to clean."

I don't clean. I just put on my bathing suit and wait till I hear her exit through out the back door.

"Leo we're going swimming and you're coming with," I say peeping my head into his room. He's drawing of course.

"Yeah not happening. The water is cold and wet."

"As water tends to be," I say walking into his room. "C'mon I don't want to swim with Keanu alone."

"Because..?"

"Because I like to swim with my bathing suit on. C'mon you're coming."

He looks up at me with a weird face. "Aw couples are gross."

"Let's go." I pull on his shirt and he swats my hand away.

"You convinced me even more that I don't want to swim with you guys."

"Don't swim then. At least sit down there and draw or whatever."

"You'll push me in anyway."

"I'm not gonna promise I won't do that but come down to the water and sit. Wear trunks just in case I 'accicentally' push you in," I smile before leaving his room. "Lets go Medero." I imitate him always referring to me by my last name like football players in a teen drama.

I wait on the couches before he leaves his room in swim trunks.

"Why are you smiling? I'm not enjoying this. I'm only doing this for your sake," he says as he walks down the stairs.

"Lets go."