Young Writers Society

Avery checked the site and shuddered. "It is. We're not going there, unless we loan money from our parents... but, I'm not doing that. Mum and Dad'll just dump a bunch of hundred dollars on me and walk away. They won't even let me return it." he rambled. Flushing at the thought, he gave Alex back her phone.

"But we have one thing settled. We're driving to New York." he checked his phone again to see how long the drive would be. "...For eight hours." he said. Not bad. He'd driven for longer, so this shouldn't be too bad.

“If Samuel had a job, my fathers would lend me money, but he doesn't. So their saving it." Alex explained. How she wished Samuel would get a job, so they could return to their normal habits.

"Two questions. One, when would we drive to New York? And two, have you ever heard of a hostel?” Alex got up for a moment and returned her cup, “They’re like college dormitories, but we could probably get a room with a bunkbed.”

Alex did a quick search on Google and passed her phone back to Avery, “$104 a night for 4 stars near Central park, $50 for a crappier one farther away.”

Avery thought over it. "I guess we could live in a hostel. I know what they are. Um... Yeah. A bunkbed room sounds good. I dibs on the bottom bed." he smiled mischievously.

He had some money in his bank account, he could use that up. But it depended on how long they were going to stay there. "How long are we staying, anyway?" he asked.

“It’s up to you. I don’t really have anything to do this summer, so I guess I’m free to go whenever.” Alex said, “It’s Thursday, so we can go on Saturday. If you want to go as soon as possible.”

If only "as soon as possible" meant right now. But he had things to pack, and much to tell his parents.

"Saturday sounds good." he said, nodding. "I don't have anything to do either this summer, other than sleeping in and eating. We should go for a week at least. We deserve it, considering how tough our first year of Laval was." After a pause, he added, "Imagine how hard the rest of the years will be." he said dramatically, groaning.

He excused himself to return his cup and came right back.

“Three more years…” Alex moaned, “I don’t think I can take anymore! I thought it would be fun, studying history and all, but jeez. There’s so much work…”

Alex looked down at her watch, “Should we get going?”

Avery nodded along. "Hm, we should. It's been an hour already." he said, amused.

He got up, and together, they walked into the car. He stared up the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.

“This’ll be fun. I’ve always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty! And I heard there are some amazing restaurants in Manhattan.” Alex said, “I guess you can pick me up on Saturday, maybe around 10am.”

Avery grinned at her. "Restaurants sound fun. We'll go to one of the fancy ones!" he said, smiling widely. "Statue of Liberty is going to be the first thing we go to see. I'm not even kidding." he smirked.

He pulled up to Alex's apartment building.

“See you later, alligator!” Alex said, then she grabbed her back and hopped out the car, shutting the door behind her. She opened the apartment complex door, turning to wave as Avery pulled away, and walked up the stairs. She opened their apartment door slowly, making sure not to wake Samuel if he was napping.

“Your back early!” He shouted from the kitchen counter, where he was typing.

“We only went to coffee. Have you ever been to New York?” Alex plopped down onto the couch.

“For Isaac and I’s honeymoon, you know that! Why?” Samuel took a sip from his soda.

“Well, I’m going with Avery on Saturday. We’ll be gone for a while, maybe a week or two.”

Samuel turned around to face Alex, “Are you sure he’s not your boyfriend?”

“Won’t you just give me a break!” Alex laughed, “I have to book the hostel and pack.”

“Alright, I’ll be right here.”

As soon as Avery reached his house, he called his mother.

"Hey Mum!" he chirped.

"My darling, how are you?" she said. He could tell she had a wide grin on her face.

"Not bad. You?"

"I'm fine honey, what made you remember me?" she teased. He heard a bit of shuffling from the other end.

"Mum, you're my mum, I remember you all the time." he chuckled. "Anyway, you know Alex, right?" He sat on his couch, and put his legs on the coffee table.

"Hm, you're friend?"

"Uh-huh." he nodded. "We decided we're going to New York."

There was a pause. "Honey. Are you sure? You decided today? In a couple of seconds that you're going to New York? And stay there? With who?" she shot the questions at the poor boy, and he suddenly felt cornered.

"Um... We're going for a week. We're driving there, and yeah, we're very sure we want to go." he said simply. "We're booking a hostel with a bunk bed."

"You're going to sleep with—" she said, but was interrupted by Avery spluttering.

"Mum! For god's sake, we're like siblings!" he shook his head and rubbed his forehead. "I just... I need to pack. I think Alex is doing the hostel booking. I have to collect money to return to her later." he told his mom.

"Okay. Well, I just put a thousand dollars in your bank account." his mother replied, cheekily.

Avery was shocked. That was super fast. But he shrugged it off and thanked her. He got up and headed to his bedroom. Today and tomorrow were going to drag along, he guessed. Might as well do some cleaning.

xXx

Finally. It was Saturday!

Alex woke up Saturday morning, rested for the first time that week. She turned to the clock, 9:30am! Alex nearly fell out of her bed, Avery would be here to pick her up any moment. She got out of bed and put on the outfit she had set out last night. A Rolling-Stones shirt and jeans, with converses. Alex grabbed her suitcase and walked out of her bedroom.

“Good morning dear.” Isaac said from the table, where he was eating with Samuel, “When is your friend coming to pick you up?”

Alex looked at the clock on the oven, “Anytime now.” Alex walked over at sat down, pouring herself some cereal and orange juice.

“We’ll miss you, Alexandria! You haven’t been away from us since highschool!” Samuel said, mouth full of sausage.

“That was only two years ago.” Alex said, “It wasn’t so long ago.”

“To us it is!” Isaac exclaimed, standing up to put his dish in the sink.

“Well, I’m done,” Alex said, looking at her watch, “I better wait for him.”

She stood up and put her cereal bowl in the sink then gave her fathers hugs, “Adieu!”

Alex ran down the stairs as fast as she could with her two bags and walked out the door. She put her bags down and sat down on the steps. Alex pulled out her phone and texted Avery.

Me: I’m waiting on the steps outside the complex!

Avery woke to two alarms blaring. One from his clock, the other from his phone. It was past nine a.m. already. He bolted out of bed, freshened up, combed back his light brown hair, and for good measure, rubbed the sleep out of his green eyes.

The showering part of this morning was already crossed off his list - he'd done it last night. He shucked off his PJs and slipped into a black t-shirt and gray sweats.Taking his time, he took out random snacks from his pantry and threw them into his backpack, that contained his other belongings.

He ran down to his car in the parking lot and chucked his suitcase in the trunk and backpack in the backseat of his car.

Soon, he was driving out of the parking lot and a few streets over, he felt a vibration at his thigh, indicating that there was a notification from his phone, that was tucked into his pocket. At a traffic light, he checked. It was Alex. He chuckled, and put his phone back into his pocket, finding no reason to answer because in just a second, he had reached Alex's building.

He parked the car, and opened the trunk for Alex. "Good morning." he flashed her a smile.

“Good morning!” Alex stood up and put her phone in her back pocket.

Alex walked over to the car and put her suitcase in the back, but kept her backpack near her. She wandered over to the passenger door, opened it, and sat down. She set her backpack alongside her. It contained some snacks, her laptop, and some other things for a road trip (CDs, cards, etc).

“I am so excited!” She exclaimed when Avery got in the car, “How’d you sleep?”

Avery followed her into the car, to the drivers seat amd put on his seat belt. "I'm pretty excited too. Vacation, here we come!" he smiled. "And I slept like a baby." he answered, and started the engine.

"Oh, I dowloaded some movies on my iPad if you want to reach back and get it. It took this tech guy hours to do it." he said, chuckling.