A young woman, her name is Victoria, steps out of a storefront, it's a little place called "Ben's". She turns at the last second to give a small wave and smile to the girl she'd met at the counter, but she can't see anyone there anymore. Instead an elderly woman, sitting at a table between her and the counter, looks up from her paper and stares back with disinterest. Victoria's cheeks redden and she turns back away, letting the screen door snap shut behind her with a thud as she steps off the freshly-painted white porch and takes in the smell of clean air... accompanied by that of a rubber-grass welcome mat and the tire replacement service next door anyway. She walks over the tire-tracks her parents had left behind when they dropped her off, unwraps a piece of gum from the little brown shopping bag in her left hand, and starts down the path and into the woods. Where the road is long and winding, but she doesn't have far to go.

She'd kept time by kicking a stone most of the way, it was always just a little ways ahead of her... it'd roll ahead and drift slowly back again with her approach. Eventually she took out her phone, but she has to cup her hands around the screen to even see it against the glare of the sun. Her face scrunches up and she mumbles when she sees she has no bars anymore, but that's not surprising, she'd only been able to get two at Ben's to begin with. So she slips the phone away again and begins to hum softly to herself as she admires the treeline. It's a little after noon when her song ends, she steps lightly on her rock, and looks up from the end of the driveway at the cabin her parents had rented for the summer. It's not small, but it's not huge either, two floors, two bathrooms, bedrooms, the works. The outside looks like a typical log cabin with a long stained porch, and the inside is fairly rustic but has all the comforts of a modern home.

Climbing up the steps and fishing the key out from under the mat, Victoria smirked. Because maybe it wasn't the most original place to hide a key, but it definitely fit the atmosphere of this place. She unlatched the screen door, letting it rest against her hip as she unlocked the front-door and stepped inside. The screen-door swung shut behind her with a loud bang, and she froze for a moment before looking back at it and pausing, face drained of colour, only to giggle to herself as she relaxed. Her things were all set on the couch opposite the entryway; a suitcase, her laptop and a few other essentials, all having arrived earlier in the day prior to her own arrival. There were little paintings on the walls of each room, paintings of other cabins, and some of animals. On one shelf there was even a wood carving of a fish which made her smile fondly along with a raised eyebrow. She passed the hallway by, only looking down it at the long spiraling steps before she entered the living room, only to freeze, her face lighting up, as she saw the lake outside, crystal-clear and shining.

After taking some time to explore the house, checking each room as she went, Victoria eventually took her things upstairs. Selecting the room on the left side of the hallway (Room K) as her own, and she dropped her things unceremoniously onto the bed in the North-West corner of the room. "I hereby dub this room, the girls room!" she said to herself, and then, after a moment of silence, brought her right hand up against her face lightly and sighed before brushing upwards through her hair and then letting it drop down to her side again. Returning down stairs to the entryway, she laid on her back on the couch facing the door, head and feet on opposite arm-rests, and closed her eyes. All she had to do was wait, it's around 1:00pm and everyone should arrive soon, but... for now, the quiet is enough, it's pleasant even. The sound of crashing waves, of rustling wind; sunny days and clear blue skies.

Paul wasn't sure to think as he stood at the bus stop near a cozy little general store.

He hadn't expected one of his classmates to invite him to out to a lake house for the summer vacation. He didn't really know the girl too well, they were acquaintances at best, though he did know her name at the very least. Mélanie Bouchard. She seemed nice enough, and they had a mutual interest in writing, so it was easy to be friendly with her.

But, like as it had been said, he hadn't expected her to invite him. He'd thought that she would maybe invite someone she knew a little better, like a close friend. He almost even rejected the offer. His job wasn't all that secure and he'd most likely have to leave just to go on this trip, and then he'd have to find a job at a new newspaper once the summer break ended. Still though, he realized he honestly needed a break. He hadn't gotten any real personal writing done in awhile now. Perhaps this stay at the cabin could help him to unwind and reinspire himself.

And so, he accepted Mélanie's offer. She gave him directions to where the lake cabin was, as well as when the host of this get-together, Victoria Rohde, would arrive, and told him that at least four others would be coming as well. He didn't have a car, so he was going to have to take the bus to get there.

And now, there he was. Other than the bus stop, a tire replacement service, and a store simply called "Ben's", he was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Forest trees surrounded him in all directions, which was definitely a new experience. He was a city boy, he wasn't even going to try to deny it. Living out in the woods was very different from anything else he knew. He suddenly felt anxious, wondering if maybe he'd accidentally taken the wrong bus route and was now completely lost. Perhaps the general store owner could help him gain his bearings.

With a messenger bag strapped from around his shoulder, and a suitcase in his right hand, he went over to the store and opened the screen entrance door. He could see an elderly woman sitting at a table, but no one else at the moment.

"Excuse me, is there someone that could help me?" He asked, "I'm pretty sure I'm in the right area, but still I feel kinda lost. I'm looking for a lake house cabin, I think it belongs to the Rohde family? I'm gonna be staying there for the summer. Does anyone know if it's near here?"

Mélanie stares at the scenery whipping by the window of the bus, a smile on her face. This was exactly the kind of place she needed to be all summer. Sure, she could be back in the city stocking groceries 8 hours a day in order to support herself for the next year, but why do that when she could be out at a cabin in the woods. That aesthetic was practically begging for her attention. Her earbuds let the music flood her brain as she lip synced along to the haunting voice of Katie Crutchfield.

To tell the truth, Mélanie wasn’t entirely sure why she’d been asked in the first place. Living in the same house, even for just a couple months, seemed like a pretty intimate thing, something you would need to be really close in order to do. Mélanie was ecstatic to come along for the ride though, she’d been wanting to get to really know Victoria since they met at the start of the year, but their conversations had been brief at best.

The coach slowly rolled to a stop outside some kind of convenience store and Mélanie stood up from her seat, grabbing the acoustic guitar case and large suitcase from the seat beside her. As she walked off the bus, Mélanie looked at the small townlette she was standing in. An obviously family run convenience store which was sure to be the “go to” destination for all supplies that the group might need, and a tire replacement shop, which will probably get significantly less visits from the group. Mélanie found it odd to not find a gas station out in this middle of nowhere town, but reasoned there must be one down the road a bit.

It was then when she noticed a familiar face standing in the convenience store. Mélanie paused her music and took the earbuds out of her ears. She walked up to store and opened the door. “Hey Paul!” She said with a slight laugh. “You lost?” Paul wasn’t really Mélanie’s first choice to go on this trip out into the wilderness, but of course Laura was trying to “reconnect with her roots” by backpacking through Argentina this summer, so Paul will have to do. Not to say that Mélanie disliked Paul in any way, far from it in fact. She loved reading his stories and found him to be an interesting writer, it’s just that was pretty much all she knew about him. So this would have to be the summer of socialization, and Mélanie was excited about it.

James Brody, otherwise known as Jim, sat in the back of a pickup truck with the luggage. His mother, a chubby blonde woman from Finland was bouncing along in the drivers seat with Rocketman, the family dog, in the passengers seat. Sitting across and slightly along from Jim was Henri, Jim's Finnish cousin who he hadn't seen in years. They had been pretty close when younger, visiting frequently and Skyping constantly, but as the years wore on like a beloved duvet, it lost its appeal and school and work and ambitions crawled further up on the priorities list. But Henri had a break or something from school in Finland and decided to visit his Yankee Doodle Doo family. Jim had had made plans to come to this remote little cabin with a friend from school, but when his mom told him to try and get Henri invited so they could spend more time together while they could, Jim agreed. Henri was cool. He could roll with the punches. And now, as they sat in the bed of the old 1989 Ford F100, the wind tussled Jim's hair playfully, like a drunk girlfriend cuddled up in bed with you. The sun warmed his bones gently. If any phrase in the English language could describe this day, it would be that today was perfect.

Rocketman's head stuck out of the passenger window, tongue lolling in the wind and eyes closed. When Mrs Brody came to a halt outside of a quaint little store with 'Ben's' written on a sign, swaying softly from the breeze coming from the lake, Rocketman brought his head inside and looked questioningly at the woman driving, asking Why have you stopped the wind? with the brown eyes of the labrador retriever begging for it to start again. Mrs Brody stroked the dog from head to tail before opening up the window separating bed and cab. "Here you are, honey," she said in her thick Finnish accent. Jim didn't even notice it anymore, he had been so attuned to it for 19 years that it was normal, but everyone else who met her fell in love with the larger womans voice. Most people who met her said she reminded them of a baker, with rosy cheeks and a laugh always in the air. Jim thought she looked more like the headmistress from Matilda.

"Thanks mom," Jim replied, lifting his hiking pack and slinging it over one shoulder. He slapped the knee of the other boy. "Wakey wakey, kiddo. Let's get our hillbilly on," Jim said, not thinking that Henri may not catch the joke. He was bright, but he had only been here a handful of times, and Jim wasn't sure how far the American humour reached across the globe. Jim vaulted off the flatbed and slipped the other strap over his shoulder, securing the heavy bag. He walked to the drivers side and kissed his mother goodbye on the cheek and stuck his arm over, scratching Rocketman under the chin. He was a good dog, didn't bite, rarely barked, and had a sense of humour that almost seemed to rival most humans. He would pick up on jokes (well, the atmosphere of the room) and do tricks or comfort someone if it was necessary, it was almost spooky the way he connected with people like that, but Rocketman had saved Jim more times than he could count, so he didn't question it.

Standing at the entrance to Ben's were two people, a boy and a girl. He vaguely recognised them but not enough to to attach a name to the face. Jim strolled over. Both were reasonably attractive by anyone's standards, male or female, straight or gay. But the blonde girl had something about her, something that drew Jim's gaze. "Hi, I'm Jim," he said as he looked at both of them, a friendly grin on his face. "I just can't get over how beautiful it is today. I'm guessing you're here for that Victoria girl? Dom invited us."

Henri woke up with a startle, and took a quick look through the window. After he saw that they stopped, he realized he must have slept through the trip. It's been over a week since he arrived in the country, so he didn't have jet lag anymore, but he simply wasn't used to waking up as early as they did this morning. Henri was glad that he could join Jim in his trip; while it was nice staying at his relatives, he had to admit it was getting monotonous staying there, and preferred company closer to his own age. The reason he came to America was to take a break from his studies and make new memories. He just hoped he didn't embarrass Jim during their stay there, as there were still some things about American culture he didn't have a full grasp on yet.

"Sure," Henri answered as he hopped out of the car and grabbed his baggage. He wondered if he joked about the two of them being hillbillies, but didn't ask any further, assuming it was an American joke. Jim's changed a lot over the years, but he's still cracking jokes like in the good old days, which made Henri smile when he thought about it. He went to grab his baggage, and patted Rocketman a bit. He was allergic to animals when he was younger, but fortunately he grew out of it. He then thanked Jim's mother for driving them there: "Kiitos kun kyytsäsit meidät tänne. Olisin itse ajanut, mutta en ole tottunut ajamaan näillä amerikkalaisilla autoilla, automaattisia kun ovat. Väsyttikin aika pahasti myös."

Once he saw aunt Brody off, Henri turned around and noticed they weren't the only ones who arrived. He assumed the other two were also going for the cabin, since Dominic did say that his friend Victoria had a bunch of folks invited. There wasn't anything noteworthy about the guy except that he dressed better than the rest of e'm, but the girl was more interesting; Henri had a suspicion she was a foreigner like him. He was puzzled by the fact that Jim suddenly started talking to them like that. Maybe it was an American custom to greet strangers on the street, he thought. He simply stood beside him, not sure if he should have greeted them like he did or not.

"Oh, Mélanie," Paul said in surprise, putting on a friendly smile when she approached him, "Yeah, I thought I was, I was a little worried I took the wrong bus. But since you're here too I must've found the right place. I'm just not sure which way the cabin is though. I was gonna ask around for directions but there's barely anyone here."

As they talked, two more people soon appeared. Two guys, one slightly taller than him and the other slightly shorter, walked up to them, with the taller guy introducing himself.

"Anything out here would look beautiful compared to the city." Paul agreed with a small grin. To be honest he wasn't all that wrong. The city was nice but it was drab, crowded, and smoggy. Even if he was a bit anxious to be in the great outdoors for the first time ever, it was already very refreshing for him. "I'm Paul," he continued, reaching a hand out to shake Jim's, "And yeah, we're here for Victoria. This is Mélanie," he nodded towards her, "We have a class together, and she invited me along." He was going to say she was his friend, but he didn't want to assume so in case she didn't see them as friends. They still didn't really know each other too well, after all.

Paul noted how Jim said he was invited by a different guy. So far, that sounded like a total of four guys that would be at the cabin, with only two girls. The gender ratio was a little off balance here, but maybe there would be another girl or two that would be arriving as well. Besides, these two guys seemed nice enough so far anyway. Though Jim's friend seemed to be a bit shy and was hanging back from the group.

Dominic sighed contentedly as a light breeze picked up and blew against the back of his neck. He zipped up and turned away from the tree he had just unceremoniously relieved himself on. He walked slowly back to the road and the jeep parked on the side, its drivers door ajar. Before getting in once more he stretched a bit, loosening up his body. He climbed back in and shut the door. He reached over to the floor in front of the passenger's seat searching for a bottle of hand sanitizer he had seen roll down there a few hours earlier. Finding it, he grabbed it and quickly got back into his seat. In doing so, he nearly knocked the plastic bottle out of the cup holder. Though the liter bottle had been full of water earlier, it now held some discarded sunflower seed shells. He squeezed some of the hand sanitizer into his hand a rubbed it in, the alcohol smell temporarily blocking out the scents of the plants and flowers around him.

Once he felt clean once more, Dominic shifted out of park and got going down the small road once more. The sun glinted off his sunglasses and the wind lightly pushed at the bill of his hat, a light attempt to pull it off his head. Dom grinned. This feeling right here was why he had left his crappy secondhand sedan at home and borrowed his brother's less-crappy secondhand jeep for the summer. Though he'd spent some time with Victoria and seen her out a bit, he had to admit he was surprised she felt she knew him well enough to invite him out to the cabin for the summer. It was college and the idea of girls coming on strong wasn't entirely foreign to him, but it really had seemed genuine when she came to him with her idea to spend the summer in a cabin with some friends. He initially invited Jim, an old friend from high school who he'd recently reconnected with. Eventually that meant inviting the his cousin Henri. He'd met the guy just before the trip and he seemed pretty chill. The more the merrier, right?

Up ahead, a few small buildings came into view. Was this the stop? He wasn't entirely sure, but the length of time he had been driving seemed about right. He approached slowly, and he could eventually make out a store called Ben's and a small group of people outside. Could they be his group? Or perhaps some local kids? He wondered if there were any people their own age around to speak of. He pulled up to the store and parked the jeep, noticing that Jim and Henri were definitely among the group. He grinned. Hopefully they were too involved in their conversation to bother to check who it was in the jeep. He banged on the horn once quickly followed by a prolonged honk. With a chuckle, Dominic climbed out of the jeep and walked over to the group, his arms held out. "Jim! Henri! Good to see you made it!" He threw an arm around each of their shoulder's pulling them in. He then removed his right arm from around Henri and gestured to the other two. "Are you two going to be joining us at the cabin?" He looked from Paul to Mélanie. "Either way, a pleasure to meet you. I'm Dominic," he continued, offering out his hand.

“Guess you should be glad I’m here to rescue you eh?” She said with a grin. “Victoria gave me some directions, but we should probably start walking, don’t want to be the last ones to arrive.” For someone who’s supposed to be this ethereal philosopher type, Mélanie always tried to be as punctual as possible. She adjusted the guitar on her back before turning around.

It seemed that the two humanities students would not be the last ones to arrive after all, as two men had walked up, introducing themselves as other guests of Victoria’s. One of them introduced himself as Jim, while the other remained silent. Jim towered over Mélanie and his build was evidence that he wasn’t one to just laze around the house. The other looked vaguely European but Mélanie couldn’t be entirely sure from where, or if he even was from Europe in the first place.

After Paul’s introduction, Mélanie spoke up. “Allo Jim,” she said with a bit of an awkward wave in the direction of the two men, as much as Mélanie loved meeting new people, the introductions rarely went exactly to plan. She hoped she’d make up for it as the summer went on.

Mélanie jumped at the honk of the horn, she hadn’t even really noticed the Jeep pulling in to the lot. The man who stepped out was yet another well built man, this one significantly shorter than Jim the giant. He introduced himself as Dominic, presumably the “Dom” Jim had mentioned earlier. “Oui, we’ll be seeing each other quite a bit this summer I assume.” Mélanie said with a smile before shaking Dominic’s hand. “I’m Mélanie, this is a friend of mine, Paul.” She looked at the group, which consisted of quite a bit of testosterone to say the least, though she assumed that they’d be alright, none of them seemed obnoxious on first impressions. “Well, I think we should, uh… ‘get a move on’ as you English speakers say, don’t want to leave Victoria waiting.”

"Mélanie. Paul," Jim said, a nod at each of them and a grin. He shook Paul's hand, but the girl didn't seem up much for a handshake so he let it slide. Jim wasn't up for forcing himself upon anyone. "I can't say I disagree Paul, can't say I disagree. You guys ever been fishing? I read there's a great lake here, serene. Stunning, not that it surprises me. Fish in abundance. I haven't been fishing, in, well damn, years. We're here for a while, might as well make the most of it," he laughed, not a cold 'let's get this over with' snigger, but a hearty 'summer is here, let's get it on' chuckle. Jim opened the side pocket of his rucksack and pulled out a pair of aviators, planting them in front of his eyes.

Mélanie's off-kilter accent intrigued Jim. It wasn't American, but he couldn't particularly place it. Italian? French? "I love your accent, but where's it from? European, I assume?" he asked tentatively. He didn't want to offend anyone at this early stage in their holiday, nor did he want to come off as brash. Jim wasn't brash, but he was forward when he had to be. He had a way of finding out what he wanted to find. Most people found the intensity in his words enough to convince them that he truly did want to know the answer. His movements had been specially tailored to create an air of confidence but also of care. Rarely did he do something or say something and not mean it. When he asked a question, he wanted the answer. When he laughed, he was enjoying himself. When he kissed a girl, he kissed the girl. Jim was a man of doing.

Jim was basking in the sunlight, letting it splash down his shirt and warm his chest when the horn startled him. He skittered on the gravel until he turned around and saw Dominic Rocha in his Jeep. "Dom, you ass! Great to see you, my man, great to see you! How long has it been you reckon?" Jim exclaimed, wrapping his arm around the neck of the guy who walked up behind him. He had found Dominic through a friend of a friend of a friend, so to speak. Back when they were kids the were great friends, but people had to move and friendships are difficult to maintain over distance's it seemed. Standing next to Jim were two examples of that. Or maybe there was just a common denominator here; Jim. That saddened him. But the coming months were for friendships, fun, and whatever else may come. Jim looked forward to that. To it all. To everything.

Jim listened to what the blonde girl had to say. "Sure. Is there anyone else we have to wait for? All of our party is here, you two are present, and I'm assuming our gracious host is at the cabin," he said. He didn't know how many people were invited. For all Jim knew this was going to be a toga party from Animal House. Or Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Or it could be perfectly normal. But life never happens like it should on paper. He was fully prepared for something to become a sordid mess, and even more prepared for a boat load of weird. Whatever. Roll with the punches.

Once the other people were done introducing themselves, Henri did the same, a bit embarrassed about being late about it. He was getting strange looks for staying passive in the conversation, and he wanted to rectify that while he had the chance. "I'm Jimi's cousin Henri. Nice to meet you." He had a habit of calling his cousin Jimi as a joke, referencing a F1 driver from his country. It was also more natural for him to pronounce it with an additional i-letter when he was just a kid, and never had a reason to change it.

Henri thought Paul was a nice guy, and shared his apparent appreciation for nature, or so he interpreted his words. Mélanie was also nice, and he thought her little wave was actually cute. He was relieved to know he wasn't the only accented person in the group. For a moment Henri wanted to ask her if she was of French descent as her accent hinted at, but he then felt it was too forward of him, especially since they just met. Jim apparently didn't have any such reservations as he did ask her, which did put him off a bit. He was glad to see that Dominic also made it there. "Hellou Dom. That's a nice jeeppi you got there." He's only known Dominic for a couple of days, and while he was a bit exuberant he was fun to be around with. Henri knew his accent was coming strong now, but he decided not to be as self-conscious about it as he usually would have been.

Once Jim finished speaking, Henri started walking in the direction of the cabin. Though his orienteering skills weren't like they used to be back in his days of military service, he could still recognize the sound of splashing water. "We shouldn't keep our gracious host waiting any longer. I'm pretty sure the cabin's this way." They've been standing there for a while, and he was anxious to see the place they would be staying at. He shuddered when his memories went back to the cold weeks of winter he had to spend outdoors, and was glad to know he didn't have to suffer through that again, instead enjoying a hot weather and nights under a solid roof.

"Nah, never fished," Paul admitted to Jim, "I'd like to though, I heard the lake was beautiful too." Make the most of it, huh? That's what he wanted, he figured.

He'd almost said he'd never even been out in nature before, but he didn't want to come off as 'that guy'. You know, the one who obviously didn't belong out here. Everything out here was going to be new to him. He was going to make the most of it though, and try not to look like a complete fool who didn't know what he was doing. Honestly he just really wanted to leave a good first impression on these people.

"I guess I should be," Paul chuckled in response to Mélanie, "Kinda sad I needed rescuing the moment I got out here though, huh?" He was about to respond to her about leaving like she suggested, but a fourth person soon arrived. Paul jumped when the guy honked his car horn, silently cursing to himself. What the hell? What kind of ass just does that? Paul's questions were answered when Jim apparently recognized the guy. Ah. So this was Dom. He was the shortest guy here, but also the most well-built. Overall, as the guy introduced himself, Paul got very bro-ish vibes from him. He wasn't really looking forward to spending a whole summer with this guy...but, the words "make the most of it" appeared in his mind, so he internally sighed and externally put on a friendly face. No point in being unfriendly with someone you were going to be living with for the next couple months.

"...Right," Paul affirmed to Dominic when Mélanie told him who they were, "It's uh, nice to meet you too." He shook Dominic's hand, who had a strong grip as expected.

Oh. He almost didn't catch it. Mélanie called Paul her friend. Well that confirmed it then, saying they were friends was alright then. Something about that helped him feel a little more at ease.

Mélanie and Jim soon talked about leaving once again, so Paul tossed in his two cents.

"Yeah, we probably should leave now. I think this is everyone...well, it should be. I was told other than me and our host, there would be four others coming along at the very least. By my count, that's everyone here. Maybe others will come later though, who knows." He shrugged. "If more people end up coming then hopefully it'll be a girl. It's kind of a sausage fest right now." Wow that was blunt.

By now, Jim's shy friend had finally introduced himself as well. He was Jim's cousin, Henri. Ah. He was foreign, that explained his demeanor, he must've felt a little out of place. Paul couldn't tell what his nationality was (unlike Mélanie, who he knew was French), but he definitely seemed European.

When Henri started walking off to presumably where the cabin was, Paul was a bit thrown off. Well you couldn't say the guy wasn't forward-thinking. It was just as well though, they'd all been standing there long enough. They could continue talking and getting to know each other more at the cabin.

"Yeah, we should probably get going now," Paul nodded in agreement, and was about to go down the dirt path as well, but stopped himself when he saw someone walk out of the tire replacement service shop. It was a girl who looked about their age, was she here for the summer break as well? He decided to wait, in case she was another of Victoria's invites, so that she could introduce herself.

Deafeat

Casey stared at the word on her computer screen incredulously. Slumped in her leather chair she blew a stray hair out of her face. She was in the middle of deciding if she wanted to play another match or smoke a bowl when her father knocked on her door. She ignored it. Smoking sounded nice but she wasn't sure if she wanted to do that before she went to whatshername's cabin. On the other hand, playing another game just sounded boring... Another knock. Ignored. She kinda wanted to draw but kinda didn't. Casey's constant struggle in life- trying to decide how to kill time. She opened her desk drawer to see how much she had left to smoke. About a quarter of an ounce... Another knock. She had plenty to spare and thus decided smoking and drawing was how she'd kill most of the day.

"Casey, I know youre in there. Either you open the door or I open it for you."

Rolling her eyes Casey shut her drawer and stood to open the door when her father walked in anyway. The tall broad man could barely fit through the door frame.

"Jesus, Ben." She said. She called her father Ben when she wanted to get under his skin.

"I knocked three times. What were you doing?" Her father asked, his eyes scanning the dark room.

"What do you want?" She ignored the question.

"Otis needs some help with a couple things and I've got to work on fixing a few things downstairs so I told him I'd send you over."

"Awesome. Thanks."

Otis was the owner of the Tire Replacement shop across the street. A Fat bumbling idiot who also happened to be a complete pervert. Casey use to have a crush on his son, a fairly decent looking boy, and thus found her way over there often when she was younger. However, his son wasn't there anymore and it was just Mr. Otis. The perv.

"Well, you better get goin if you wanna be done any time soon." He grinned before turning to leave. "Didn't you say you had plans for this afternoon?"

Casey grumbled as her hulking father made his way downstairs. He could be such a jerk sometimes and yet still had enough charm so that you couldn't hate him. She shut her computer and opened her drawer to take one last look at what her day coulda been...



"Thanks Casey. Your help is always appreciated."

Casey closed the door behind her without saying a word. Three hours of that man basically making things up just so he could look at her. She wished it weren't summer. She wished she hadn't worn shorts and a tank top. She wished she wasn't sweating and covered in grease. She wished...

She was so caught up in her disgust she nearly walked headfirst into the group of people standing outside her father's store. Five of them to be exact. One girl, with a grunge style to her and a guitar case on her back. Then there were four guys all around her. Casey thought of a watering hole. In any case, they all looked to be her age and it wasn't very often people her age came out to her store. She wondered if they were friends of that girl... she really needed to remember her name.

"Uhhh, hello. Are you guys lost?" She asked, a hand covering her brow to block the sun as she tried to figure out who they were.

Mélanie giggled a bit at being called European, it wasn’t something that she heard rarely, but she still found it funny for some reason. “No, not European, Canadienne. Québecois to be specific.” Mélanie then realized that her laughter might come across as pompous or rude in some way, so she backpedaled a bit. “It’s okay though, everyone always thinks I’m from France down here, but anyone from France can tell that I’m not from there.”

Henri’s accent confirmed Mélanie’s suspicions of his European descent, definitely of some nordic country, though she wasn’t sure of the exact one, she was sure it would come about as the summer continued. She smiled warmly at him when his accent became more apparent, knowing how hard it can be sometimes when around fairly anglicised people.

Mélanie smiled to Paul as he spoke about needing to be rescued. “Hey, everybody needs their own Jeanne d’Arc every once in a while.” She said with a grin.

As they were about to leave another girl arrived to greet the group. Thank god for some estrogen to break through the masculinity on display. She was obviously a local, because why else would she be trying to help them find something. Mélanie spoke up. “Hi, I don’t think we’re lost specifically, but if you know where the, um… Cottage, that Victoria Rohde is staying at we’d appreciate the help getting there, I think.”

“Hi, I don’t think we’re lost specifically, but if you know where the, um… Cottage, that Victoria Rohde is staying at we’d appreciate the help getting there, I think.”

"Victoria! That's her name!" Casey said as she finally remembered the girl's name. She had only met her earlier that day and had completely forgotten. "That was bothering me..." Casey's voice trailed off as the others gave her a rather puzzling look. "Uhh, yeah. The cottage. I was gonna head there in a few actually. That Victoria girl invited me over earlier today. I just need a quick shower," she looked at the black grease marks on her arms and tank top. "You might wanna wait for me. You see this road?" she pointed down the road, "It's all kinds of straight. You wouldn't want to get lost," she grinned.

"No but seriously, if someone would wait," she looked at the three guys, "it would be great. I wouldn't wanna have to walk alone. There's, y'know, bears and... well, yeah." She made her way passed the group and toward the store. "This is my place actually and it'll take all of ten minutes." More like thirty but she wasn't gonna say that. "You don't all have to wait. But if you want, you can come in for a few." She opened the front door in a welcoming gesture.

Dear sweet Jesus above, that giggle is adorable. "Oh, Canada! Nice! I have an auntie there, but she sounds less French and more... American I suppose. Wow, that sounds awful," Jim laughed. He could only laugh. He wasn't sure if it were racist or not, but if he played it off as bad wording or a poor joke it may slide easier. "It's alright, don't worry about it. Excuse my cultural ignorance," he replied to her apology. He watched as the group turned to walk up the road, but was startled by yet another voice. A female voice. Oh good, less junk in the inbox, he thought privately. The ratio stood at 4:3, guys outnumbering gals. Unfortunate odds. Jim had never been totally successful with the fairer sex, often relying on the girl liking him as much as he her. He wasn't particularly well versed in managing to win a girl over. Dom, however, did not have that issue. He was all talk and the women adored him. Jim hadn't seen Henri in action before, due to the distance, but if the shy personality he was displaying at the moment signaled anything it was that he was going to be the life of the party once he got a drink in him. He didn't know anything about Paul besides his name. He seemed a lot like Jim though, self-contained but not introverted, outgoing but not the centre of attention.

Jim watched as the dark-haired mechanic babbled away. There was a certain... odour about her. Sweet and strong and... dank? Yeah, there was that smell he definitely smelled. She described the road they would have to travel to get to the cabin, a long winding road of straight where one step off the path would make you right next to the path and not lost at all. "I'll wait for you, I ain't afraid of no bears," Jim joked, putting his hands up like a boxer and balancing on his tip toes. He grinned and dropped his arms by his sides. "But if there are bunnies I'm not staying. You can fend for yourself. I got bit by a bunny once," Jim said, half-joking and half-explaining. They were cute but he sure wouldn't be trying to feed one ever again, not after it chomped through his right index finger nail in one swift motion when he was about six. Vicious little balls of adorable. "Henri, you want to come with me?" he asked his cousin, knowing the answer would be yes. Jim didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone with others he didn't know, and Henri would probably prefer to stay with Jim anyway. He turned to Dom. "Hey bud, can you take this for me? Put it in the room with nicest view," he said, glancing at the Canadian girl unconsciously and then swinging his backpack at his friend.

The swimmer followed the mechanic, Casey was her name, to her home. Nice by all standards, if not a little dusty on the outside from gravel and dust being ejected from underneath tires and the admittedly lacking wind to carry it to the outer walls of the house. He smiled as she welcomed them into her home. Stepping inside, it was nothing remarkable. No dead bodies hanging from the rafters, ready for carving. No inbred deformed mass murderer. Everything so far was horrifyingly normal, this house included. It was homey, with newspapers and tv remotes lying where they would in his house, a fully functioning washing machine, a cold fridge. It kinda flipped his whole perception of these backwater towns on Jim's head. Horror culture had been lying to him for years, apparently. According to real life, not every backwoods swamp town ate roadkill and murdered tourists. The idea of staying in these woods seemed much tamer, but also much more exciting now. "You have a lovely house, Casey," Jim said as he leaned against the kitchen counter, taking in all the sights and smells of the homestead.

The few steps Henri took were all he managed to take before he was distracted by the arrival of a greasy girl. She was most likely working here, considering her attire, and Henri didn't judge her for that; he would be lightening his own clothing without a moment of hesitation if the temperature was going to rise any higher. Anything in the 25+ Celsius range would be uncomfortably hot to him.

He didn't catch a lot of the talk that happened since he went ahead a bit, but from what Henri could gather the girl was also going to the cabin, but she'll first clean up. In a surprising move she invited them to join her, the reason being fear of bears, which made Henri lift an eyebrow. Bears actually fear humans for most of the time, so they shouldn't be this much of a problem. Then again, maybe bears are more aggressive across the sea, and he just didn't know. Another thought came to him; usually women would be embarrassed by their disheveled looks and would hurry up to pretty themselves before presenting themselves to other people, but she was different. Getting their hands dirty and not caring if they looked worse for the wear was something she liked in women, though he would never admit it.

Jim made a joke about bunnies (though Henri has seen a hare the size of a dog, so even that joke had some merit to it) and invited Henri to come along. "Of course, serkku." For the moment he didn't want to become separated from Jim, since he didn't know anyone else that well, and would have left him pretty isolated from the rest. Following him, Henri placed his baggage in Dom's Jeep. "Thanks, man. We'll see you later."
Henri followed Casey and Jim, and they went inside. It was well kept, all things considered, and Henri had nothing else to note about the building. He leaned next to the door and nodded to Jim's remark about Casey's house.

There were a few things for Paul to note after those exchanges: One, he was really glad another girl would be coming along to even out the boy-girl ratio. Two, Paul was slightly embarrassed for having assumed Mélanie was French (her joke about being his Jeanne d'Arc, though it got a humorous chuckle out of him, did not help his confusion), though he was glad for not saying such assumptions out loud. And three, it appeared that the group would already be splitting up, if only for a short time, so that the second girl who was invited (Paul hadn't caught her name yet unfortunately) could come by to the cabin later with some company.

"Well, I guess we should finally get going then," Paul told the other two that were still there. He turned to Dominic, and asked, "You mind giving us a ride, big guy? If there's really bears in these woods and along the path, then I'd kinda rather be in the safety of a car than be walking down the road."

"I'll wait for you, I ain't afraid of no bears. But if there are bunnies I'm not staying. You can fend for yourself. I got bit by a bunny once," one of the boys replied. She wondered how serious he was about being afraid of rabbits but gave a small laugh anyways. "Henri, you want to come with me?" The other boy, apparently Henri, agreed. Serkku. She wondered if that was the other one's name. "Awesome! Thanks." Casey said smiling. Henri and Serkku dropped their bags in the jeep before joining her.

Casey led the two boys into the convenience store. "Upstairs is the apartment," she said and ushered them up a small staircase to the right of the entrance. "Who are they? I've never seen them before," Ben asked as they passed. "My crack dealers," Casey called down to her father who simply grumbled.

Now upstairs they were in the apartment. The stairs led into the living room where the new television and the obviously old and jealous couch were locked in epic battle for control of the room. Keeping the couch and the television at bay was the small coffee table and watching the three from afar was a tall bookshelf. Then, there was the kitchen separated from the living room by a half-wall. The half-wall stood about three feet high creating a sort of window between the two rooms. Finally, from where the two boys stood, they could see a dark hallway which led passed the bathroom and to the two bedrooms.

As the boys looked around the house Casey grabbed two cold water bottles from the fridge. "You have a lovely house, Casey," Serkku said. Casey could tell her was somehow relieved. What was he expecting? Henri nodded. "Well, thanks. Here, these are for you," she gave them the waters. "You can sit down but don't screw with the tv. My dad is weird and gets crazy when people start messing with it."

Casey disappeared down the hall leaving the two in the living room. She started the water and grabbed a towel before going to her room. There she quickly changed, wrapped herself in the towel, and grabbed clean clothes. She thought for a moment about having two random strangers in her house while she showered... Maybe she should have left them downstairs. She shrugged and decided if anything happened they weren't getting anywhere fast. They lived in the middle of nowhere and Ben was just downstairs. By the time she got back to the bathroom the water was just starting to get warm.

Just before getting out she peeked her head out of the bathroom door. "Remember, no tv!" she called to them.

After introducing himself, Dominic retreated from the conversation just a bit. There'd be plenty of time to get to know everyone at the cabin, and also he'd been told he could be overwhelming upon first meetings so he was trying to control that. More importantly though, was Jim. Dom was having too much fun watching him interact with Mélanie to interrupt. It was Henri who actually got the group moving, which was a bit surprising. Not two steps later though, another girl joined their group. This was turning out to be an interesting group indeed.

A grin crossed Dominic's face as the topic turned to bears. He wasn't too worried, but then again he'd be making his way to the cabin in the jeep. "Uh yeah, you two stay here and I'll drive the rest of us up to the cabin with our bags," he responded as he caught Jim's bag handily. Rearranging the bags and making room for those of Paul and Mélanie, Dominic nodded when Paul's suggested they get moving. "Yeah let's get going. We can just toss your stuff with the rest and we can get a move on. If you're worried about the bears though, I can honk the horn the whole way down the path. I'm sure that'll keep 'em away." With a low chortle, he grabbed Mélanie's suitcase and hoisted it into the back of the jeep. "You want me to grab that too, or you got it?" he asked pointing at her guitar case. "Friend of mine's real protective of his 'axe' so I wasn't sure."

Mélanie giggled again at Jim’s apparent lack of knowledge about Canada. “Don’t worry about it, she must be from, uhm… Alberta or something. Maybe Toronto?” She attempted to see if anything would ring a bell with Jim but it seems as if they’ll have to pick up their geographical conversation a bit later.

Mélanie listened to the other girl talk, obviously flirting with some of the guys there. She watched as Jim and Henri walked into the convenience store and laughed when Paul mentioned the possibility of bears in the woods. “Come on, we’re not going to get attacked by any bears unless you mess with the little baby ones.” She grinned at Paul as the group moved towards the vehicle.

Dominic asked her about the guitar slung over her back. “No, I got it. I’m not, like, overprotective or anything, but I like to have it with me during transport you know? Don’t want any chance of it being broken if we hit a bump or something.”