Snowball
by JWDramaGrl

Vacations are great. They give people a time to relax and a time to have fun. You get to take time off work and be with the people you love. And the people that you love don’t have to be family. They can be friends. But when you think of your friends that way, it makes you wonder, do you really LOVE them, and if so how much?

"MOOOOOM! LET’S GO!" Jack was usually a pretty patient guy, but today, was different. Molly, Jack, Carey, and Annie were on vacation in Plum Lake, Colorado, a small little town, with friendly people, tons of shopping, and the most exciting jeep trips in the world!

"Jack, stop yelling, Annie and I will be ready in 5 seconds!" Molly and Annie were applying their make up and pulling on another layer of clothing.

"How many layers of clothes do we need to put on Mol? I’m burning up!"

"Annie, it may be warm right now, but when we jeep to the top of these beautiful mountains, there will be snow everywhere, and it will be COLD."

"Snow in the summertime? Molly are you sure? I mean, I know this is Colorado and all, but I think the person who told you we were going to see snow on this trip is insane!"

Gee thanks, Molly thought, for she was the one who knew they would be seeing snow. Annie could be so rude sometimes. Sometimes Molly was tired of being Annie’s "babysitter". Of course, occasionally they would have fun together, but Annie had become annoying, and Molly secretly hoped that her parents would come to get her soon. Annie used to be such a sweet girl. When she first joined the tour she was fun, polite, and a joy to live with. Now, well, now she was not. The girls were finally ready to go. They quickly locked up their hotel room and met Jack and Carey outside. The jeep driver had come to pick them up and had been waiting.

"Oh I’m soooooooooo sorry you had to wait on us! We didn’t know you were coming to pick us up! I’m Molly Phillips, and this is my son Jack, and his friend Carey." Annie jumped up into the jeep and grunted. She did not like being left out. After everyone was seated the jeep took off and started towards the mountains. Now these tour jeeps were not the small dinky ones people drove everywhere. These were huge, long jeeps that had three rows to sit in. Each row seated four people. Molly was sitting on the left end and Carey was next to her; Jack was next to him leaving Annie on the right end. Molly shivered. They were still on the main road, yet she was cold because the jeep had no roof or tarp over it and the icy morning wind was slapping her in the face.

"You cold Molly?" Carey noticed she was beginning to squirm in her seat, and her teeth were chattering. "Here, have my blanket, I brought it just in case someone might get cold." He wrapped the blanket tightly around her. Wow, he thought. She was kind of cute when she was cold. She was all bundled up like a little girl. Wait… stop. What was he thinking? Molly was Molly, and nothing more.

How sweet of Carey to help me, Molly thought. He could be so considerate and helpful sometimes. She looked at him and smiled. Yeah, Carey could be really sweet. The jeep was now on its way up the mountain. Molly saw some Aspens and some Blue spruce trees. Molly looked to her left and gasped. Right next to her, there were hundreds of colorful wild flowers! There were purple and white Columbines, Orange Indian paintbrush, Pink Indian Paintbrush, violet bells, Bluebonnets, and much more! They were gorgeous! She looked at the others to make sure they were not missing this.

"Jack, Carey, Annie look! Look at this beautiful scenery." Molly made the jeep driver stop so she could get out and take pictures. This definitely brought back memories. She and Rick had come here on their second anniversary. They loved this mountain. It was a shame Ned and Irene wouldn’t come along on the trip. They had told Molly they wanted a quiet romantic vacation of their own. They were missing out.

"Molly, Conrad and I have to go to the bathroom!" Annie whined.

"Not now Annie! This is not the time or place to go to the bathroom."

"I could use that bush over there. Conrad thinks the bush looks like a grand place to—"

"NO ANNIE! You’re fifteen years old! That’s old enough to know what is appropriate and what is not. And stop talking about that imaginary friend of yours! It’s embarrassing! When I was fifteen, I did not have an imaginary friend."

"But Conrad is not imaginary! He’s real, and he’s a panther, and he will always be with me."

URRRRRG! Annie was really getting on Molly’s nerves. Molly was about to pull her over and have a little talk with her when she felt someone’s arms slip around her waist. She turned around and saw Carey smiling down at her.

"Are you warm now?" he asked.

"Yes Carey, I am thank you for being so kind." Molly started to pull away, but then realized how good she felt. She was surrounded by fascinating wildflowers, the sky was a soft shade of baby blue, the sun was shining, the mountains seemed to bow down around them, and Carey’s warm arms wrapped around her made her feel at peace with the world. She inhaled the fresh, crisp, sweet smelling air and smiled. She smiled at Jack, who was lying in the flowers. She smiled at the bus driver, who was washing his hands in a near by river that was trickling down the mountainside. She smiled at the squirrel that was sitting straight up, staring at her. She smiled at Annie who was giggling behind a bush. She smiled at—Wait a minute. Hold up! Annie behind a bush? Molly pulled away. "OH NO! Annie. What are you DOING?"

Annie started to laugh harder and said in-between breaths "Look at this mess! Conrad made a mess! Bad Conrad!" She laughed some more and Molly went over to investigate. The second she walked behind that bush, she wished she hadn’t. That’s all I need to say.

"Annie! I cannot believe you did this! Oh my gosh!" Carey and Jack came over to see what all the commotion was over. After one look they turned around and ran back to the jeep. Annie followed. Molly was amazed that this girl could be so stupid! Fi would never do anything so childish! She turned and walked back to the jeep, she was ready to get higher up the mountain. Once in the jeep, Carey handed her a Columbine. "Thank you Carey, that’s so sweet of you."

"I knew they were your favorite."

Molly smiled at him and then turned and glared at Annie.

"I’m telling you, Conrad did that, not me silly!" Then Annie got lost into her own little world and started humming a song from her Teletubbie CD. Carey was not amused, but decided to try to use reverse psychology on her. He thought if he said Conrad was bad, then she would say it was her that was bad. Hey! With Annie, you never knew what to expect. We are talking about a girl who talks to mango trees!

"Hey Annie, I believe you! Conrad was a naughty panther. You are a good girl." Annie stopped humming and looked at him. That was the first time anyone had ever said that they actually believed her. She decided right there and then, that they were made for each other. She stood up, leaned over and kissed him right on the lips. Carey jumped back in surprise. He was not Clu. Psychology was not his thing.

"Hey Annie, why did you do that?" Carey questioned.

"Because I love you silly!" And that was that. Annie fell back into her little world and began humming again. Carey just shrugged and laughed it off. He thought she was joking. Molly however, had her doubts.

"Molly was worried she and Annie would have to have a little "girl talk" when they got home. Boys, and other changes teenagers go through had never been a real issue before, but now it seemed necessary. Both girls never wanted to talk about it. Molly always thought it would be awkward for Annie because she was not Annie’s mother. Too bad, Annie would have to deal with it. Molly wondered if Annie really did love Carey, and she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy.

The Jeep was a little more than half way up the mountain. Elevation was 6,000 ft. It was getting cold, dangerous, and exciting. The mountain was getting steeper and there were some edges that lead straight down to death. Of course, no one was worried about this. The jeep drivers drove up these things everyday. That’s how they made a living. They could do it blindfolded. Annie was asleep, Jack was taking pictures of the scenery change and Molly listened to Carey as he asked the driver questions.

"Have you ever lost a passenger?"

"No one who didn’t deserve it."

"Are you serious, you mean you actually lost someone who DID deserve it?"

"No."

"Oh. How long have you done this?"

"28 years."

Molly was getting tired. They had been sitting for hours. Of course the scenery was wonderful, but after a while, everyone got sick of it. Well, everyone but Jack. Jack wanted to be a photographer, so he took pictures of everything—and loved every minute of it! Molly heard the constant "click… click… click… click… click."

Molly shivered and looked up. She had fallen asleep. They were now at the top of the mountain. Snow was everywhere. The jeep driver was trying to find a good place to park, so they could get out and enjoy the snow. Molly felt like getting back at Annie for being a pain. Molly hopped out of the jeep, and formed a big, hard, snowball. She walked over to Annie (who was still sleeping) and smeared the whole thing all over her face! Annie awoke with a start. Molly laughed. It felt so good to laugh. Annie got mad! She jumped out of the jeep, made an even bigger snowball and threw it at Molly. Carey was watching the two and didn’t want to miss all the fun.

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!" he screamed. Before he knew it Molly and Annie had gained up on him. He had to fight like a man. He couldn’t let these two girls turn him into Frosty the snowman. He lunged at Molly and knocked her down. He smiled and said "Gotcha!" Playfully she tried to push him off of her and the two started rolling… and rolling… and rolling…. And rolling… and rolling… and rolling. It seemed like they could have rolled forever. Finally they stopped. Carey looked down at Molly and blushed. He was on top of her. He looked into her eyes and repeated "Gotcha." But this time he said it in a deep, serious, romantic tone. Molly gazed into his eyes. She realized what she wanted. She wrapped her arms around Carey’s neck and pulled him closer. Then, she kissed him and he kissed back. It was a deep long passionate kiss. When she finally pulled away, she looked up at him.

"Carey, is this what you really want? You’re so young, but I love you anyways. I want to be with you. But the last thing I ever want to do is hurt you Carey. So tell me, is this what you want?" Carey answered her by snuggling her with a shower of kisses. Then he pulled her up. They rolled far away from Jack and Annie, and he wondered why they hadn’t come looking for them. Then they saw why. Annie must have liked the way Molly and Carey looked when they were rolling because she was pretending to roll with Conrad.

"Wheeeeeee! Conrad, this is fun! I like rolling with you! Hahahahahahah! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Molly and Carey both groaned. Then they laughed. If Annie was happy—let her be.

THE END