.: Let Our Crosses Crown Our Past [Julian Drain] :. Info

“Aww, how cute,” a distant female’s voice said, breaking through the state of unconsciousness I was in as a baseball breaks through an elegant stained glass window.

“I think we should draw on their faces. I still have the markers I used on Theon’s cast,” a male’s voice chimed in.

“I couldn’t do that to Juke and Natalia. They’re the two most innocent people here.”

I slowly stirred as my eyes fluttered open to reveal Katrina and Jesse looking back at us from the driver and passenger seats. We had switched drivers and passengers at our last stop, so Juke was no longer driving and I was no longer the (useless) navigator. We decided to get some sleep a few hours ago, but I didn’t think that we would be out for this long.

I looked around from where I was laying down. It turns out that I was lying down across the middle seat with my head rested on Juke’s lap. One of his hands was on my shoulder while the other was resting on top of my head. I could faintly remember him softly stroking my hair until I fell asleep a few hours ago.

I sat up and yawned. “Why did we stop again? Is something wrong?” I asked them in confusion as I looked out the windows. All I saw was the sun reflecting off of the whiteness, which seemed to be everywhere. The sight almost blinded me.

“We’re here already, dumby,” Katrina replied, laughing. I looked out the window more carefully and noticed the large, brown wooden building in front of the car. I was too preoccupied with the whiteness of the snow to notice before. “Wake up your boyfriend. We want to go check the cabin out.”

I looked next to me at Juke and couldn’t help but let out a laugh. His face was pressed up against the window and his mouth was slightly open. With every breath he exhaled formed a spot of fog near the part of the window his mouth was pressed against. The sight was truly adorable.

“Juke, wake up,” I said quietly as I started to tap him on the arm.

Katrina rolled her eyes at me. “You’re so lightweight,” she said. ‘Lightweight’ among our group friends pretty much meant that you were a coward or a weakling. It was also Katrina’s favorite insult. “This is how you wake up Julian.” She got out her cell phone and started to do something with it. Then she handed it to me. “Put this up against his ear.”

I took the phone suspiciously and did as she said, afraid to see what would happen. Out of nowhere, the phone just made a loud “Youuuuu!” sound and ‘Crank Dat’ by Soulja Boy started to blare throughout the car, almost causing me to drop the phone in surprise. Poor unsuspecting Juke awoke with a start as if someone had just caught his ass on fire. He scowled and took the phone out of my hands, snapping it shut and looking as if he were about to throw it the window.

“I’m so sorry! Katrina made me do it!” I said, feeling slightly guilty for listening to her. Meanwhile, Katrina, Lauri, and Antero (who was sitting in the very back seat) all cracked up at Juke’s reaction.

Juke glared at Katrina and practically threw the phone at her when he handed it back. “It’s alright. I didn’t think it was your idea anyways,” he replied as he gave me a weak smile. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. “Are we there yet?”

“Yeah, we are,” Jesse replied. “We’re just waiting for the others to get here. Avadria’s driving so we might be here a while,” he joked. We sat in silence for a few more moments before Jesse spoke again. “How is that all of the couples got split up this time except for you two and Theon and Avadria?”

“First of all, Lauri and I are not a couple-“ Katrina started.

“Yet,” all of us chorused at the same time. She let out a frustrated sigh and gave up on telling us off on the subject.

“Don’t worry, Katrina. You and Lauri are not the only imaginary couple here,” I said as I looked at Juke. He smiled and shook his head, knowing I was right. Just then, another car pulled up next to ours. We didn’t need to look to know that it was the others so we all just started to get out of the car. We all started to grab our bags from the trunk.

“Hmm…that kind of reminds me of you,” Theon said to me as he pointed in the distance. I followed his finger to a small white bunny rabbit that was just standing still on top of a nearby hill.

“Aww, it’s adorable,” I said as I stopped to stare at it. Juke came up next to me and looked at it too. “Why does it remind you of me?”

“Because you’re like Juke’s pet. That bunny rabbit represents you. Juke would never, ever let anything happen to that bunny just as he would never let anything happen to you,” he teased. I looked at Juke to see his reaction and I saw him glaring at Theon.

We all looked back up on the hill when, all of a sudden, a hawk came out of nowhere and snatched up the bunny rabbit in his large beak before flying away. We all got wide-eyed and stared in shock at the unexpected sight.

“Uhm…that sucks,” Theon finally said, breaking the awkward silence even though we all knew we were in silent mourning for the now deceased rabbit. “Juke, you’re a horrible guardian! If that was Natalia, would you have let that happen?”

“But I…I didn’t think…I didn’t mean to…” he started babbling, still in shock from the unforeseen hunt.

“Don’t worry, Juke. I’m not a rabbit so I think I can protect myself from birds,” I said as I continued walking. “That does suck for the rabbit though.”

“Oh, the circle of life…how cruel,” Avadria said sadly. We all looked at her weirdly for the random comment. “What? You know it’s true…” I just laughed as we reached the door of the cabin. Antero had the key so he unlocked it and we all entered what would be our home for the next two weeks.

It was a comfortable living space. The warmness of it would definitely be the perfect greeting to us after a rough day of snowboarding around. It was bright in there since there were windows on the very top of each wall, letting in the light of the outside world. There was a huge chandelier in the middle of the foyer and a wooden staircase that led to the second floor. The living room was on our right and it had three huge green overstuffed sofas crowded around a tall fireplace. The dining room was on our left and the last remaining room was the small kitchen.

“Okay, so let’s pick out who’s sleeping where,” Antero said, taking charge of the vacation once more. I was happy that I at least didn’t have to do all the work since he was embracing it. “First of all, who’s sharing rooms?”

“My sex toy and I will be sharing a room,” Theon said grinning as he wrapped an arm around Avadria.

“Just for saying that, you’re not getting any sex for the rest of our vacation,” she said as she stepped away from, making the arm that he draped around her fall to his side. He pouted at her and looked almost regretful for a second, but he secretly knew he was going to some love tonight no matter what.

“We’ll share a room,” Miina said as she looked at Jesse. He smirked and we all knew that that arrangement would not be a good one.

“Okay, so this cabin will be the new home of Jesse and Miina, Natalia, Juke, and I. Anna, Katrina, Lauri, and Avadria and Theon get the other cabin. Does that sound good to you guys?”

Nobody objected so the others went to the other cabin. Everyone rushed upstairs to get the largest room while I just observed the rest of the cabin. I finally decided to drop my stuff off in the last remaining room so I went upstairs. I finally found the unoccupied room and went in. There was a twin-sized bed in the corner and a nightstand next to it. Besides those two things and the closet in the other corner, it was empty.

I dropped my large bag in the corner and went downstairs only to see that the guys from our cabin were around the fireplace trying to get it started. I sat down on the sofa as far away from Miina as possible and quietly watched the guys looking absolutely clueless when it came to working anything that couldn’t be turned on using a switch. After a few long minutes, they finally got it started. Juke sat down next to me and smiled.

“What’s wrong? You’re really quiet,” he stated as the others went into the kitchen.

“Nothing’s wrong at all,” I replied smiling at him. “I just wish I at least had Katrina or Avadria in this cabin to talk to…”

“Aww, I’m sorry you got screwed over with us…”

“No, I don’t mind you guys at all! It’s just that I know the whole Jesse/Miina thing is going to annoy me.”

“Why?” he asked curiously.

“I just hate Jesse when he’s around other girls. I mean, sure, he worries a lot less about me, but it’s really annoying that he just goes on pretending I don’t exist. So now I really can’t socialize with him since he’s too busy with her so all I have now is you and Antero. And Antero probably won’t be around much since he and Jesse are best friends and they’re always together.”

“So you just wish you were in the other cabin?”

“Pretty much…”

“If it helps, I’m in the same boat as you. Theon, Avadria, and Katrina are the only people I really know here.”

“Yeah, so I guess we both got screwed over with these arrangements…” I said sighing. “At least I have my Jukey-Poo!” I joked as ruffled his black hair. He laughed and tried to go for my hair, but I got up and ran off, causing him to run after me to get me back. After our unannounced game of tag ended, everyone from the other cabin came over to ours to have dinner. Antero and Jesse took one of the cars and drove off into the nearest town (which was a few miles away) and brought us back pizza.

After dinner, the others went back to their cabin and we all started to do our own thing. Antero, Jesse, and Miina were upstairs doing something of their own while Juke and I sat in front of the fireplace downstairs and played an interesting game of chess. I say interesting because both of us sucked hardcore, but in the end, I just got sick of it and told him I forfeit. I hated thinking about all the strategic elements of the stupid game anyways.

It was getting late and, despite my long nap in the car, I was dead tired. Plus, we all had to wake up early the next morning so we could beat the rush of snowboarders on the best hills. Since it was midnight and we were planning to be there by five, we decided to get some sleep.

I got changed into a pair of boxer shorts and a tank top since the cabin was pretty warm, and climbed into the comfortable bed. I was just about to doze off when I heard a loud moan and a thud on the wall. My eyes shot open and I sat up. The noises came again, and then I realized that it was coming from the room next to me. I didn’t need to even think about the room arrangements to realize that I was sleeping in the room next to the two fuckbirds.

I lay down again and pressed a pillow over my ears, but it didn’t help at all. I finally got so frustrated that I knew I wouldn’t be able to take this the whole night. I debated sleeping in the living room, but I wasn’t going to lie: it was too dark and creepy down there for my taste. I finally realized I had no other choice than to go to someone else’s room.

I walked across the hallway and stopped in front of Juke’s room, wondering if this was a good idea. I wasn’t sure if he would be comfortable with it, but it didn’t hurt to ask right? So I lightly knocked on the door and waited for him answer. He opened the door, revealing him in nothing but his boxer shorts. When he realized it was I, he turned slightly red in the face.

“I’m sorry so sorry to disturb you,” I said qiuckly, turning a slight shade of red as well and looking away from his bare chest. “But…well…I was wondering if I could sleep here tonight. I mean, Miina and Jesse are going at it in the room next to mine and I don’t think I could sleep through that,” I explained shyly.

“Yeah, come in,” he said as he stepped aside. I walked in and looked around. His room setup was the same as mine. “You can have the bed and I’ll take the floor.”

“No, it’s your room. I’ll take the floor,” I said as I turned around to face him again.

He looked like he was going to argue, but realized he would go nowhere with this argument. “We could, uhm, both sleep on the bed. That is, if you’re comfortable with that,” he said, adding the last part on quickly.

“Yeah, that’s fine with me,” I replied, smiling. He returned the smile and we both climbed into his small bed. I was surprised that two grown bodies even fit on it. We were crammed in pretty close though.

“So do you want this to be your permanent room from now on?” he asked from the other side of the bed.

I turned over to face him and asked, “Do you mind?”

“Of course not! I’d feel a lot less lonelier,” he said, grinning warmly at me.

“Thanks, Juke. You’re such a great friend,” I said as I hugged him. He wrapped his arms around my small frame. We held the position for so long that I was just too comfortable to retrieve my arms from his body, so we just decided to stay in this position of friendly cuddling.

“Goodnight, love,” he said as he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead.

“Night, Juke,” I managed to say before I fell into a deep and comfortable sleep.