TAKE A TRIP


I ran over to him and embraced him in a tight hug, then kissed his cheek. And held on to him…

“Ellora. Ellora . . . Ellora!” Liam shouted in my face. Whoops. Day dreaming about Liam again.

“Yes? Sorry, I zoned out.” I replied, hoping he wouldn’t notice the blush creeping onto my cheeks.

“Yeah. I didn’t notice. I was trying to tell you that I am going to the Grand Canyon for the day tomorrow. You up for it? It’s okay if you’re not.” He said with a sparkle of hope in his eye.

“Yeah! I’ll go with you. Be sure to bring Mason with you, okay? I love that dog.” I said hurriedly while packing my things up as fast as possible.

“I got to go! I’ll text you later, okay?!” I yelled while running to my black BMW that was parked next to Liam’s blue Mini Cooper. Just as I shut my door I heard Liam yell a quick ‘bye love you’. Not in a weird way. Although, I always wished it meant more to him like it did me.

Liam and I are pretty similar in looks. Some people think that we are related, but we definitely aren’t. We both have dark brown almost black hair, that curls when it’s humid after the occasional rainstorm, were average height, love to talk about cars, and we absolutely love hanging out with each other. The only problem is that, I like him. A lot.

As I turned into my driveway, I saw my mom smiling and waving at me from the door. I pulled into where my dad used to park, and sighed. After my dad passed away from cancer last year, things have been alright, surprisingly. It was really hard at first but Liam and his family helped us through everything. It’s just my mom and I know.

I walked inside and frantically began to explain about leaving for the trip tomorrow.
“. . . and I really want to go. But I understand if you say –“I was cut off. “Yes! You may go baby. Have a wonderful time!” my mother smiled happily. Well, okay. I wonder what her problem is. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice when my mom is happy, but she’s a little too happy. Oh well.

I stood there shocked.

“Ellora?” my mom said then poked my cheek.

“Thanks mom!” I shouted and darted to my bed room to pack a bag full of necessities.

“Hey Ellora. I thought that maybe you’d want th- what in the heck are you doing?!” she began laughing when she saw articles of clothing flying out of my closet.

“AHHH! Goodness. You scared me so bad mother.” I said incredibly surprised.

“I’m sorry baby. I didn’t mean to. I was just going to tell you that I just got off the phone with Liam’s mom. You guys will be leaving tomorrow morning. Early. Like you need to be at his house at 6:30. Just because it’s a couple hour drive there.” My mom told me.

“Okay. Thanks mommy.” I said and continued to pack.
I packed for about 4 hours. Well, more like I danced and threw things around for 4 hours. There really isn’t much to pack. I grabbed an extra pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, and my grey beanie. I love my beanie.

“Knock-Knock. Hey El. What’s up?” Liam said walking into my room.

“Oh ya know, just grabbing some extra things for tomorrow. Whatcha doing here?” I asked, curiously.

“Just came to visit. Thought maybe we could watch a movie. I brought Pitch Perfect, Frozen, Hitch, The Dark Knight and Forrest Gump. Oh, and I also brought some popcorn if you want,” Liam said. As we walked down to the living room.

“Yea! Sounds great Liam. Thanks. How about we watch The Dark Knight? I love Christian Bale,” I said happy to get a distraction from packing things I probably didn’t need.

“I’m gonna pop it in real quick then go pop the pop corn,” Liam said walking off and falling down the stairs. My best friend is a looser.
While he was taking care of things I slipped into my closet and changed into comfy clothing.

“I love this movie. It’s my favorite,” I said snuggling into Liam. Not too long into the movie I was asleep.
. . . .
I woke up to the sun shining in my face and my pillow moving up and down at a steady movement. ‘What the heck? Pillow’s don’t tend to move’ I thought to myself as I turned over to see my head was lying on Liam’s stomach. That explains so much. Whew. I started to get off the couch as slow as possible without making much movement, but I failed. My stupid foot got caught in the blanket I slept with. And well, down I tumbled. Right onto the ever so soft floor. Not.

“Holy mother. That hurt like no other,” I mumbled to myself.

“Good morning Ellora,” Liam said, peeking over the couch. I was still lying on the floor after my ever so graceful tumble.

“You okay down there? One moment I feel you trying to sneak off the other end of the couch and then next thing I know, I hear this crash and some mumbling. I’m not going to lie, it was pretty hilarious,” Liam said with a chuckle.

“Good to know that my idiocy can make you laugh. Meanwhile I’m just going to stay here,” I said sarcastically. Liam smirked at me and got off the couch and helped me off the ground.
We hurried and got ready and drove over to Liam’s house so he could get Mason.

“Uhh Liam, we didn’t eat breakfast. Were awesome,” I told him with a slight smile.

“Oh dang. That’s a problem. Do you want to stop somewhere or grab something from like McDonalds or something?” He asked, glancing at me.

“Umm, let’s just stop off at McDonalds. Their breakfast is okay,”

“Okay great. You’re a dork by the way,” Liam said laughing.
We finally came up on a McDonalds and got some breakfast. I started eating my breakfast. I decided on pancakes, cause honestly, how can you mess those up? Their actually pretty good. Okay, maybe they aren’t that good, I mean, it’s McDonalds after all.

“So how long is the drive there sir?” I asked Liam

“Umm about 4 hours I believe. Kind of long but not too bad. Especially if ya got good music,” Excitement radiated off of him. He messed around with his phone for a minute and next thing I know Mirrors by Justin Timberlake is playing throughout the car.

“It’s like you’re my mirror!” I sang, rather off key I must add...

“God Ellora. Your voice is going to be permanently ruined if you keep sing like a freak,” Liam threw his head back laughing.I started to laugh really hard, and then I said, “Yea well. It’ll be okay sir,”
We continued to drive for about three and a half hours. Almost there finally.

“Hey Liam, I brought a soccer ball and a Frisbee if you want to play around when we get there. Whatever you feel like I’m cool with,” I said, glancing over to Liam.

“Yea. Sounds fun. I’m sure Mason would love to chase the Frisbee around. I also I brought a ball for him so well see,” Liam said, looking over at me smiling.
You could see how happy he was in his eyes. ‘I wonder why he was so happy.’ I’m pretty sure he is just thrilled to be going on a little trip with me and his dog. I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty happy to be here with him also.

“Were finally here!” Liam said hoping out of his car.

“LAND! Land! Such beautiful land! Oh, how I am so happy to see land,” I said ever so dramatically as I jumped out of the car and pretended to kiss the asphalt.

“Hey! I’m not a horrible driver! If you drove here we’d be dead!” Liam clutched at his heart acting hurt.

“Oh yea. That is a very true statement my dear. Oh granny moment. Weird,” I said. I was beginning to get really hyper. One can only take so much being in a car for so long.
As Liam opened the back door, Mason jumped out and started dancing around the car. Someone was certainly happy to finally be here. As was I. But I’m exhausted already. Liam and I rocked out in the car basically the whole way here. Our music choices varied from The Neighbourhood, Echosmith, Hillsong United, Lorde, Foster The People, One Direction to Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra and Dave Matthews. I know what you’re thinking. Were crazy because we don’t listen to one genre of music. Well no, not really. We just love music, that’s really it.

“Hey Ellora, can you please get the water and Mason’s water bowl out of backpack? It’s in the back seat,” Liam asked, digging through the trunk for something.

“Oh yea. Sure can. So what’s the plan for today? Are we hiking around and stuff or what?” I looked at him with curiosity. I really didn’t know what the heck we were doing today. That may or may not be a good thing.

“I was just thinking that maybe we could hike around for a bit and find a place to eat lunch. Why don’t you grab the soccer ball, Frisbee and Mason’s tennis ball?” Liam asked.

“I gotcha covered. It’s all in my back pack. Let’s get this show on the road!” I said enthusiastically.
We started walking to our trail and we hiked for about 30 minutes when we stopped for a water break. As I sat down I heard a rustling in the bushes near us.

“Uhh Liam. There’s something in those bushes. What if it’s a snake?” I asked. I hate snakes. They’re freaky.

“Oh chill out Ellora. It’s probably a rabbit of something. Don’t worry about it,” Liam said nonchalantly.

“Okay. Sorry. You know how I am about snakes. That’s all,” I said with a slight smile.
We got up and started to hike again. The Grand Canyon is absolutely huge. It’s a beautiful place to be. Especially when it’s not too hot. But it’s kind of scary to, because of the massive drop offs and cliffs. Whew. I can’t think about that or I’m going to freak out.

“Hey El, are you getting hungry for lunch or do you want to keep going? This is a nice spot to stop if you want,”

“Yea we can totally stop. I’m starving honestly. Plus Mason needs some water,” I said as I sat down on a flatter rock then most. I got Mason’s water bowl and some water out and started to pour it into a bowl for Mason. He couldn’t wait for a drink, so he lapped it up while I was still pouring it. Then all of the sudden, a rabbit jumped out of the bushes and Mason took off after it.

“Mason! Come back!” Liam yelled. Mason never runs away. Ever.

“Mason! Come here boy!” I yelled, trying to help Liam.
Mason didn’t even turn his head or stop. No sort of acknowledgement toward us at all. He just kept running. Liam sat down and I saw a single tear trail down his cheek. That dog was his since he was born.
Let me give you some background on Mason and Liam’s relationship. When Liam was born, his parents had just bought Mason, and when they brought Liam home from the hospital, Mason took to Liam like Liam was his own. Ever since that day Mason and Liam have been inseparable. Like Liam and I. Mason was super protective of Liam. He always was. Mason meant the world to Liam. I remember one time when Liam got really, really sick and Mason never left his side. Not to eat or drink, he just layed by Liam’s bedside till he got better. They had a great relationship.

“Liam, get up. We need to go find Mason,” I said embracing Liam in a massive hug. I don’t like seeing my friends hurting. Especially Liam, he never cries in front of me. It’s extremely rare when he does.

“Okay. Hopefully he just stopped at the top of the trail when he realized we weren’t following him,” Liam said hopefully. But somehow we both knew that Mason probably didn’t stop to wait for us.
We threw everything into our bags and booked it up the trail. We finally got to the top and saw no sign of Mason anywhere. No paw prints or anything.

“Do you think he went back to the car?” I asked

“I guess we can check but I really don’t know,” his voice shaking.
Liam and I walked down the trail much slower than we did going up. We actually took time to enjoy the views that we missed in our hurry to get to the top. I stopped and sat on a rock to get some water and when I looked up I saw the most amazing view of the Grand Canyon. You could see all the breaks in the rocks and zig- zag trails this place had to offer. It was breathtaking really. Liam and I sat there for probably 10 minutes not talking, just looking out over the canyon and thinking.
When we finally decided to go back to the car to check for Mason, Liam told me that he had something to tell me but didn’t know how to say it. Holy cow, I think he’s going to tell me that he knows I like him, more than just friends, and that he doesn’t like me that way. Oh boy. Here goes nothing.

“Ellora. I have something to tell you. When I was looking out over the canyon stressing about finding Mason, I realized that maybe he was supposed to run away to bring us closer. If that makes sense,” Liam said, stumbling over his words here and there.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’ve been there for me everytime something good or bad happens in my life. Will you be my girl?” Liam asked me.
I was really caught off guard. What do I say? Is he serious? He just lost his best friend probably forever and he’s thinking about me? What a basket case.

“I would love to be your girl Liam. Anything for you,” I said and meant it.
He stopped walking and pulled me into a massive bear hug.

“Now come on lover boy. Let’s go see if your dog is actually at the car or not,” I said, grinning from ear to ear.
He took my hand in his and we started, again, down the trail. We talked the whole way down about life really. And how it brings out the best and the worst in every person. And how God closes doors and opens doors for our good in life. We finally reached the car to see that Mason, sadly, wasn’t there. I sighed heavily, I could feel the tears coming. Liam noticed and pulled me into a hug while I cried it out for a couple minutes.

“I’m so sorry Liam. So sorry,” I said, my voice still shaking from crying.

“It’ll all be okay. Everything works out in the end, right? I really love Mason and we’ve had some great times together. But this place is just too big to explore and look for him,” Liam said, pulling a fake smile. How is he not an emotional wreck? His dog is gone forever, and he’s comforting me? This is messed up. I stopped crying, trying to pull myself out of being a hot mess, and just looked around. Taking in the wonderful scenery before me.
I began to think about how life works. And how God shapes our lives. He makes all things work together for us in the end. Even if we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel right where we are at that current moment, somehow we get comfort in the thought that eventually, things will all work out. It’s difficult to realize that when hard times in life make us realize these things. I guess we’ll just have to see how things work out in the end.