The Throw-Aways

I woke up the next morning feeling like I was floating in space. It was that light feeling that something great was going to happen.

Oh wait, it already did!

Someone was pulling insistently at the sheet I was tangled in. Last night had gone by quickly. The game still lingered in my head. Aaron and Alan had bickered about buying different properties, but had managed to end up the winners. Phil was stripped down to his shorts and had hid beneath a blanket most of the game, complaining that he was cold and Tino should lend him his shirt. Austin had only managed to shorts as well when we decided to end it. I got a full view of his tattooed chest.

Not that I was complaining….

Anyways, we didn’t end up to badly and I went to bed feeling pretty satisfied. I stuffed my baggage in the compartment and kept my bag with me. Kylar had rang me off and on through the night with assorted messages about what was going on (Well, I was trying to sleep), how was everyone (Asleep), and what was Alan doing. (Um, sleeping?)

The tugging kept pulling until I opened my eyes. Austin had thrown back the curtain and was staring into my bunk. I was on the top and he was just in the bunk underneath me.

“Austin…” I complained. He reached up and tugged at my wrist, brown eyes still focused on me alone.

“Come on!” He whispered urgently. I checked my phone. It was five thirty in the morning. Everyone else was snoring and Austin wanted to wake me up. Where was the coffee shots when you needed them?

“One moment.” I groaned. He held my wrist until I swung my legs out of bed and quietly dropped to the floor. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, guiding me through the dark bus until we reached the door. The bus had stopped in a rest stop on the plains of western Colorado. The sun was just beginning to rise over the mountains. Soft lips of warm light kissed each peak in turn.

“Look!” He pointed as we both sat down on the bench outside the dark building that sold food. It was a clear view to the mountains we had just crossed. I smiled as we silently waited for the sun’s orange rays to break the sky into a million bits.

“Isn’t it cool?” He asked me. I was a little irked that he dragged me from a nice night’s slumber to witness the sunrise, but I guess Austin was an early riser. He seemed pretty perky.

“I’m sorry I dragged you out of bed this early. The other guys get mad when I get excited over the sunrise.” Austin laughed. I smiled and chuckled as well. My mom and I would always go out early when I was little so I could wave the sun into the world.

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat at the bitter memories.

Overhead, the sky was pierced by a thousand shades of orange, purple, and blues. I could hear Austin catch his breath as the night was shot down and the day was ushered into the world.

The small town around us sleepily opened a lazy eye as lights flickered on from the police station.

“What’s that?” I muttered. Austin and I stood up from the cold bench we sat on. A police car pulled out, quickly followed by an ambulance. There was minimal traffic, but the officers had to follow the law and their rules.

In the bus, the rest of the band slept with sirens. They blared in the background and we watched as they passed by. I could sworn I heard from a radio the words car crash. I bit my lip in worry. I’d seen the damage a car crash could produce. People were disfigured, lost limbs, paralyzed, and were killed.

I hoped never to be in that situation.

“What happened?” Austin asked quietly. I frowned.

“I think it was a car crash.” I murmured. He sighed. I never liked these emergencies. I always mourned with whoever was in the accident. We listened to the sirens fade out and then went back on the bus.

The rest of the boys woke up as we took off towards the Great Sand Dunes once again. We talked, teased, and slept until we came to the parking lot an hour later. The morning was cool enough that the sand hadn’t heated up to one hundred degrees or more.

“So, what can we do here?” Tino asked. We all changed our clothes into shorts, shirts. Although I’d never been here before, I had heard plenty about it.

“SLEDDING!” I cheered. They all looked at me curiously. I peeked into the bus and grabbed out a large dinner tray from the cupboard. I had no clue why they had this, but the metal plate would serve me well. I tucked it under my arm and started off towards the path. The others stared, dumbfounded.

“What are you waiting for? Grab something like this!” I responded happily. I started off towards the tiny creek that ran by a few trees in the edge towards the sand dunes. Stepping across it and being careful not to lose my shoes in the over encumbering sand, I started my way towards the dunes. I had my pack on my back with plenty of water and Chap Stick.

“Hey! Wait up!” Alan called. I saw them all in their tanks running towards me. I was already half way up one of the smaller dunes and was wearing out.

“Come on, slow poke!” I teased Austin who had fallen behind. The others clustered around me, waiting for directions from the native.

“Okay, so we’ll go up to that dune,” I pointed to the tallest one and the others followed my direction. “When we get to the top, take your sled and we’ll slide down the dunes!” I laughed. Phil smiled.

“Oh, that doesn’t look like too long of a walk!” Phil smiled.

Oh, how wrong he was!

So a normal hill like how tall the dune was would normally take ten minutes to walk up. An hour and a half later, everyone was panting and we were down to three bottles of water left.

“Okay, that was longer than I thought.” Phil said. The sand was starting to quickly heat up, but if you dug your feet through it about four inches, it was nice and cool. So we all stood there, looking upon the crowds that started to swarm the dunes in search of sandy waves to ride.

“So what now?” Tino asked, still panting. I enjoyed the scenic view for a moment before I took my dish and jumped on it, sliding down the hill and gaining speed quickly.

“SEE YOU AT THE BOTTOM!” I screamed in delight. I don’t remember the last time I had this much fun! Taking a quick glance behind me, I saw the others starting their descent, but I was going too quickly for them to catch up!

When I finally reached the bottom, I let myself slow to a halt before I tumbled on and lay on the hot sand, taking in big gulps of clean air. Some people who passed me clapped at the distance I had made. It had soared over the dunes and managed to cling on for the whole ride!

A minute later, the rest of the band joined me. Alan was instantly back on his feet, going up a smaller dune to do it again. We all watched him face plant. Aaron took video.

“Anything else to do? I am NOT going up that big dune again.” Austin caught his breath, but was grinning like a fool. I suggested going to the creek, and everyone joined me as we stuck our feet in the four inch deep water.

Score one for the road trip!

Notes

YAY FOR THE ROAD TRIP!!!!