Chapter One

She felt herself being shaken vigorously. She let out a groan and opened her eyes. Her blurred vision eventually gave way to the image of Anna, her roommate for the last two years.

“What?” Christine asked, sounding grumpy. It was a Saturday and Anna knew how much she reveled in her extra sleep.

“You’re brother is on the phone,” Anna answered in her thick Kentucky accent.

“Tell him to call back later,” Chrissy muttered, rolling over and closing her eyes.

“Chrissy, it’s one in the afternoon. And this is the third time he’s called. He’s getting kind of irritating,” Anna shot.

“Fine,” Chrissy grumbled, dragging herself out of bed and stumbling around to find the phone.

“You interrupted my Saturday sleep in,” she spat as she hit the ‘talk’ button on the phone.

“Sorry Chrissy,” Adam apologized only half-heartedly to his baby sister. Could he really call her his baby sister anymore? She’d recently turned twenty and he was twenty-four.

“Well, since you woke me up you’d at least better tell me what was so important to call three times,” Chrissy grumbled, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn.

“The plane tickets got blacked out,” Adam informed her.

“You’re kidding!” she whined, running a hand through her tussled dirty blond hair.

“Nope. The airline called me this morning to tell me. They want to know if we want to try another flight a week later,” Adam explained.

“A week later. We’ll miss Mom and Dad’s anniversary if we go a week later,” she shot.

“I know that! Listen I have an idea. Get dressed and we’ll do lunch in an hour and I’ll tell you all about it,” Adam said before the line went dead.

“What happened?” Anna asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

“The airlines blacked out our flight and the next flight they can get us on is a week later which would make us miss our parent’s thirtieth wedding anniversary,” Christine answered.

“That is rotten luck. What are y’all going to do?” her roommate asked, looking sympathetic.

“Genius man has some plan that he’s going to fill me in on over lunch,” Chrissy answered as she rummaged for some clothes and rushed into the bathroom, shutting the door.

As quickly as she could, she turned on the water, letting it get nice and hot. She had always liked really hot showers. They seemed to clear her head and put her in a good mood and she was hoping today was not an exception. She stepped in and her back was assaulted by the hot water and she sighed. It was starting to work it’s magic and she let the water beat on her back and neck for a few minutes before she went about washing her hair. Ten minutes later she emerged, wrapping a towel around her slender body. Wiping the fog off the mirror, she stared at herself for a moment. She looked more awake and felt refreshed. The shower had done its duty. She dressed quickly, running a brush through the snarls in her hair. After brushing her teeth and finding shoes, she wandered into the kitchenette area of the apartment.

“Do we have anything edible in the fridge?” Chrissy moaned as she peered in to find a half-eaten piece of cheese cake that was starting grow mold and day old Chinese food.

“Not really. I thought you were meeting Adam for lunch,” Anna answered.

“Yeah but knowing Adam, we’ll end up going to the campus center and the food there is shit,” Chrissy answered. As she shut the door to the refrigerator, there was a knock on the front door.

“Speak of the devil,” she muttered as she grabbed her coat and purse before pulling open the door.

“Hi sis,” Adam greeted, giving his sister a quick hug and waved at Anna.

“So can we eat some place decent?” Chrissy asked, climbing into the passenger seat of her brother 2004 Forester.

“Wherever you want,” he muttered, pulling out of the parking area. They ended up at a small bistro a couple blocks from campus.

“So what’s your brilliant idea?” she asked as the waitress brought them their drinks, assuring them she’d be back with their sandwiches shortly.

“How would you feel about getting out of classes say a week early?” Adam posed, sipping his diet coke. Chrissy didn’t know how he could stand the taste.

“It would be nice. My professors might get pissed off though. Why?” Chrissy answered, taking a swallow of her green tea.

“We can drive home,” Adam began.

“Ladies and gentlemen, he has officially lost it. Adam Portman is officially insane,” Chrissy said mockingly.

“I’m serious Chrissy. It will be fun. We can split up the driving. See some sights on the way and think about it. We both have enough saved up from our jobs we can stay in motels,” Adam continued, ignoring his sister’s comment.

“You would want to spend long, very long hours in a confined space with me?” Chrissy asked. She was shocked that he was even proposing this idea. She knew how much he disliked being anywhere with her for long periods of time. They were friendly as far as siblings went but they had their limits.

“You’re my sister Chrissy. Yeah you can be a pain in the ass some times but honestly, I really think we could use it to our advantage. We haven’t spent too much time together lately. I miss just hanging out with my little sister,” Adam admitted with a shrug.

“Ok, sure let’s drive cross-country. It could be fun,” she affirmed just as the waitress brought out their food.

“So how have you been?” she asked her older brother, watching him pour massive amounts of salt on his French fries.

“I’ve been good. The Academy is tough but it’s what I really want to do,” he answered, smothering the fries with ketchup.

“You think they’re going to let you leave a week early?” she asked as she took out the pickles of her sandwich, tossing them on his plate.

“We get out that week for break,” Adam told her as he bit into his sandwich, tossing a pickle back as well.

“How are things going with…what’s his name…Adrian?” he asked.

“He’s old news. Like two month’s old news,” Christine said with a laugh.

“He was so not right for me. Thankfully Anna showed me that before I did something stupid,” she said, chuckling some more.

“So you’re on the singles scene again?”

“Yeah. I’m sure I’ll find the right guy eventually,” she answered with a shrug, wiping some stray mayonnaise from the corner of her mouth.

“That…or you’re really a closet lesbian,” Adam joked.

“You’re a jackass, you know that,” she accused, kicking him lightly under the table.

“What…it could be true,” he protested.

“In some alternate reality maybe,” she shot back, resisting the urge to be childish and throw a French fry at his head.

“Ok, ok. You win. There’s no need to get all PMS on me,” he teased, flashing her his killer smile. She knew he could win any girl over just by smiling.

“So have you thought about the route we’ll take on this adventure of yours?” she asked, bringing them back on topic.

“Not really. I thought we could work it out this weekend…like tomorrow. That is unless you’re doing something with the sisterhood,” he replied, finishing his sandwich.

Christine reached into her purse and pulled out her day planner, flipping through the pages until she found the current week. Her eyes scanned the penciled in notes for the weekend. She could skip meeting the following day.

“No, my schedule is looking clear for tomorrow. Just nothing before like eleven. Weekends are my only time to recharge,” she said, knowing he really did understand where she was coming from. He had been a college junior not that long ago.

“Sure thing. I can’t believe we’re driving cross country,” Adam exclaimed, sounding genuinely excited that she had agreed to go with him.

“Thanks for lunch. I have to get going. I have a group meeting in…” she paused to check her watch, “fifteen minutes.”

“You need me to drop you off somewhere?” Adam asked, tossing a twenty on the table and standing up.

“The apartment. I have to grab my stuff,” she told him as he led the way out of the bistro and back to the car. She stared at the car for a moment before getting in. She was letting the notion that they would be spending extended periods of time crammed in this car in the not too distant future.

“Thanks for doing this with me Chrissy,” Adam said as they pulled into the parking space in front of the apartment.

“We haven’t done anything yet Adam. So don’t thank me,” she teased, ruffling his sandy hair.

“I know but I just felt like a thank you was in order,” he told her, pulling her into a forceful bear hug.

“Yeah…but you won’t have a traveling partner if you suffocate me,” she gasped as he let her go, their matching deep blue eyes making brief contact.

“Thanks for the lift. I’ll see you tomorrow. Call me,” she said, waving goodbye as she rushed back into the apartment. Anna was seated at the table in the kitchen, typing furiously on her laptop.

“How was lunch?” she asked without breaking concentration.

“My crazy brother has convinced me to drive cross-country with him to surprise our parents,” Chrissy said with a smile before rushing back into her room to hunt through the piles of books and papers to gather what she needed for the project.

“I’ll see you later,” Christine called as she rushed out once more in the direction of the library.

Anna just sat at the table, shaking her head. Christine was one crazy girl. She was dedicated and insane all rolled into one and yet, that was what Anna loved so much about Chrissy. They were compatible and had been lucky to find each other in the spring of their freshman year.