September: Road Trip

Elizabeth muttered to herself as she packed her bags, shoving in any number of extra clothes, socks, toothpaste tubes, and books. "Ricardo just had to choose a roadtrip to celebrate his eighteenth, didn't he? Across the continent, no less!" At least Tessa was coming along. Without her, the entire vacation would just be kind of lonely.

Elizabeth nodded, giving her sister a small smile and scooting aside to give her space. "It's hard to believe that in September, we're going to be in seventh year. And Giovanni, Xander, Ricardo, and Vincent won't be around anymore, either."

Ricardo rummaged around under the hood of the car, checking that everything was in order. He was rather proud of it; he'd bought it from an elderly wizard for a very low price and spent months fixing it up with the help of Mr. Zingwili. Now was the first time he'd really put it to use on a long trip. Learning to drive was an interesting experience as well, even if Basch was a rather impatient and temperamental teacher-- though the Swiss banker was the only wizard that he really knew with any experience in Muggle machinery. Ricardo reached up, lowering the hood a bit to check inside the car. Elizabeth and Tessa had already gone inside, and some muttered swears told him that Giovanni was attempting to load some luggage and camping supplies in the back.

She shrugged. "We'll still see them. And they'll write to us, of course. For now we ought to just enjoy the year, don't you think?" As she spoke, she rummaged in her bag for her lip gloss, waiting until she had finished to apply it.

Elizabeth shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. It'll just be weird not having Giovanni micromanaging us all the time or Ricardo and Xander babbling about Quidditch at meals. I just can't believe Ricardo picked camping as a proper sendoff."

Giovanni glanced at Riley, sighing. Of course he could carry three bags to Giovanni's barely one and a half. Maybe I should start working out...

"I don't know," Elizabeth muttered uncertainly. "It's not as if any of us are very experienced in this sort of thing. I feel like we're going to be out of our element."

Bianca hopped into the car and slid into the seat next to Tessa, grinning widely. "Who's ready for a road trip?"

Elizabeth glanced away, folding her hands neatly in her lap. She and Bianca had made their peace a while ago; they decided that they didn't like each other and probably never really would, but for maturity's sake, they wouldn't keep up with their childish rivalry. It was getting tiresome anyway, constantly arguing and making passive-aggressive jabs at each other. Though her fifteen-year-old self would have scoffed at the idea, sometimes it was best to just move on.

"Vincent?" Ricardo stepped into the tall grass, glancing around for that familiar flash of red hair. "Come on, I know you're out here. Why are you hiding?" The first part of that statement wasn't entirely true to it's implications. It had taken two searched around the house and one search through the yard to decide that his boyfriend was most likely out here somewhere. 

Ricardo sat down across from Vincent, reaching for his hand. "Are you sure you're okay with this whole trip? I know that before you said you were, but... we can still call this off, you know."

"I-if you're sure," Ricardo mumbled, a small smile forming on his face. "Come on, the car's ready and we should all be going soon anyway if we want to make it to the campground before late afternoon tomorrow. We'll have to drive overnight."

Giovanni guided Nicolas out of the house, gently leading his hand towards the edge of the car door. Nicolas held onto it tightly, finding a foothold to let himself into the seats behind the girls. "You're sure that Eric's going to be alright without me?"
Giovanni sighed, as if they had had the conversation a thousand times before. "Yes, Nicolas, he'll be fine. He's also a decent herd dog, remember? Your dad will take good care of him."
"But what if he gets attached to the goats and doesn't want to be my guide anymore?"