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  “So, do you guys eat together like this all the time or…”

  They all shake their heads at the same time. “No.” Zach speaks up again. “We all get along really good, and we’re only able to do this during the summer. We’re all too busy during school to sit down and catch up. No one is from around here, so we kind of take care of each other.”

  Wow. They’ve made their own little family here in this house. I wonder if it’s like this everywhere or if it’s just here?

  Sam grabs a few glasses and begins setting the table. When the timer goes off, Brendon grabs it from the oven and places it in the middle of the table, then urges us all to come and sit down with them, which we do. One by one, we all take a seat; we fill our plates, then start to dig in.

  “Oh, my God…this is delicious.” I can’t believe someone living in this house actually made something that tastes this good.

  They all give a little laugh, but Brendon is the one that speaks up. “Jenny cooks all the time. Good isn’t it.”

  “What is it?”

  She takes a drink before answering. “They’re my spin on chicken enchiladas.”

  “I’ve never tasted anything like this before.” Unfortunately, I say this after I shove another bite in my mouth.

  “Thanks. I love to cook.” She doesn’t brag about the fact that she the ability to throw things together, and they come out tasting fantastic. I thought maybe I would get up early in the morning and make breakfast for everyone as a thank-you for being so nice to me on my first day here, but now I’m not so sure. I don’t know if I could live up to the standards that have been placed in front of me.

  We all sit around talking and drinking while we eat. The longer I sit here with them, the easier it’s becoming. I’m trying really hard to get out of my shell and believe that this is the place to do just that. Brendon and Sam are flirting back and forth relentlessly. Hell, Kaylee and Zach are, too, for that matter. Liam has been blatantly eyeballing me the entire evening. It feels kind of weird, but at the same time, there’s something in his eyes that draws me to him. There’s something about his mouth, too. Every time he brings that fork up to his mouth…I just can’t tear my eyes away.

  After the table’s cleared, we all head back outside to the patio to continue the conversation that we had going, but after a while, everyone seems to go in their own direction.

  “So…” Liam says as he sits down in the empty chair beside me.

  “So…” I reply, not quite sure what else to say, so I just sit there and wait…and wait. Apparently, Liam’s not sure what to say as well because we sit there in complete silence for several minutes.

  “What made you decide to come to MRT?” he finally breaks the silence.

  I decide to go for honesty. I have nothing to hide. I don’t know these people, but I will know them so why not just take the jump right off the bat. “I wanted to move as far away from my parents as possible,” I tell him in a rather somber voice.

  He turns in his chair to face me. “Really?”

  I turn and face him so he can see the sincerity in my face. “Really. I didn’t like where I was at. I didn’t come from a very loving family.” I’m all up for being honest, but hopefully that will be enough right now. When I look up and meet his gaze, I see a bit of sadness in his eyes.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t…”

  I cut him off before he finishes what he was going to say. “It’s fine. You didn’t know. You’re just trying to get to know me.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  “Liam…it’s fine.” I have no clue what possesses me, but I reach over and rub his knee. “I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”

  He places his hand on top of mine and squeezes. “Even though you just moved in, you’re one of us. We’re all here if you need to talk.”

  I don’t know about you, but even though I grew up in a bubble, I would never guess that would come out of a guy’s mouth. Maybe I’m just being naïve…maybe I’m hopeful that he’s actually being nice.

  Liam still has a hold of my hand when I start hearing moaning sounds coming from the other side of the patio. Even though I know I shouldn’t, I turn my head in that direction to see if I can tell what’s going on. Feeling Liam’s hand tighten around mine, I return my attention back to him.

  I claim my hand back from his and place it in my own lap. I’m thankful to have a little bit of a distance between us, even though he’s still sitting right across from me. I watch his face and wish I could read what was going on in the head of his. He has several emotions running across his face that I’ve never seen before, and quite frankly, I’m not sure what to make of them. He must sense my insecurity by his next statement.

  “Do you want to go in? I have a feeling it’s going to get a lot louder out here in a few minutes.” He nods his head toward the other end of the pool.

  A lot louder? Are they…? People don’t really have…sex outside, do they? “Yes…inside.” I stand up, nod my head, and practically run inside, not bothering to wait and see if he is coming in with me or if he is going to sit outside and listen to tonight’s entertainment.

  As soon as I walk inside, I head over toward the cabinet and get a new glass for a drink, quickly filling it with some water. Hearing the door shut lets me know that Liam did, in fact, follow me in.

  “Does that…”

  I turn around, and he’s standing right there in front of me…just inches from me. I have to look up to see his face, but I keep going until our eyes meet. “I should…” Now what was I going to say? What in the hell is going on with me? Why am I feeling like this?

  “You should what?” he says, taking a step closer, if that’s even possible. Come to find out, it is.

  I lick my suddenly dry lips and see his eyes dart down to watch as I wet my lips. “Upstairs. Tired.” I take a step sideways. “I think I’m gonna go up to my room. Night, Liam.” I turn and head for the stairs, not turning around to see if he’s watching me. I know he’s watching me. I can feel his eyes on me.

  “Night, Haley,” he says in an almost whisper tone.

  I take the stairs two at a time, spilling a little water in the process, making quick time to my room; shutting the door as soon as I am in. My heartbeat is rapid. My chest is rising and falling faster than ever before. My nipples are hard like they were when that cold beer was spilt down my shirt. Is this what it feels like to be turned on? I haven’t even been here for twenty-four hours, and I’m feeling things that I never even knew existed.

  I quickly change my clothes, flip the switch, and then climb into bed. I’m sure Kaylee won’t have a problem finding her way since this is her room, if she even comes to bed tonight. I pull the covers high and tight just to make me feel a little more comfortable…secure. I don’t have the feeling that any of the guys would ever hurt me, it’s just that I’ve never in my life been in this situation before, and I’m not sure how to deal with it. I need to figure something out…maybe I should talk to the girls and see what they have to say. Maybe they could talk me through everything. But what if they make fun of me for still being a virgin?

  I close my eyes and try to drift off to sleep, but the only thing that runs through my head is Liam’s face when he was staring down at me in the kitchen. Maybe I’m just getting too worked up over this and should just go with it.

  Chapter Three

  When I wake up the next morning, everything is quiet. I raise my head and see that Kaylee is asleep in her bed. She must have slipped in sometime in the middle of the night. Either way, I was fast asleep and didn’t hear a fucking sound. I get up and slip on a pair of shorts, remembering to put my bra on before I went downstairs to the kitchen. I still plan on making breakfast this morning as a thank-you for them making me feel so welcome yesterday.

  As careful as I can, I rummage through the cabinets and refrigerator to see what they have in stock, grabbing the bacon, some sausage, milk, and other supplies to make biscuits and sausage gravy. I locate the coffee and g
et that going before I start cooking, the smell alone once it starts brewing urges me to grab a cup and have a little taste. Not bad.

  While pulling out a couple of skillets, I’m not as quiet as I wanted to be because a pot comes crashing down making a loud thud on the floor. Shit! I stay crouched down for a couple of minutes to see if anyone comes running around the corner and am thankful that they don’t, so I get busy frying up the bacon and sausage and making the biscuits. It’s all coming together nicely.

  “God, you cook, too?”

  I scream a little, hearing a voice behind me. “You scared me. Why did you sneak up behind me like that?”

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. This house smells like coffee and bacon so I had to come see who was cooking. We don’t ever get up early enough to make breakfast,” Liam says, grabbing a mug from the cabinet and filling his cup to the brim. “Can I help?”

  Help? I’ve never had anyone offer to help before. I was just always told to cook. “Uh…sure. If you want to grab some plates, it will be ready in just a few.” I turn back toward the stove, draining the extra grease from the sausage that I don’t need, and start making the gravy.

  “Please tell me that’s gravy you’re making?” he says, with a hint of excitement in his voice.

  I laugh a little at his attempt to not sound so excited over gravy. He comes and stands directly behind me while I’m mixing the flour in, trying to make sure all the lumps are out.

  “Yes, biscuits and sausage gravy and don’t forget the…”

  He reaches around me. “Bacon. I love bacon.”

  He backs up a bit and gives me some much needed space. There’s only a few minutes of silence before he starts asking some questions. I answer most of them…the usual where are you from…again, did I have any siblings…things like that. I relax a little and ask him a few. We have a good conversation going and then it sounds like a herd of elephants coming down the stairs.

  I look over at Liam. “Guess we don’t have to go wake them.”

  One by one, they all round the corner as the timer goes off for the biscuits. They each grab a cup of coffee, thank me, and ask if there is anything they can do to help. I politely decline, because it’s all ready. They form a line and work it buffet style. After everyone has filled their plate, I make my plate, joining them at the table.

  “Jesus, this is good.” Sam says, shoving her mouth full.

  I get compliments left and right, and it makes me feel even more welcome than I did yesterday.

  “Amen. You can cook any-time you want,” Brendon blurts out while he shoves a piece of bacon in his mouth.

  Once again, there’s a welcomed silence, but I sit and watch everyone for just a moment before I dig in and eat. After everyone takes a few more bites, the conversations starts flowing…asking me what kind of work I want for the summer, what I like to do…what I don’t like to do. I don’t mind answering those types of questions, but I have a feeling that everything is about to change. Call it gut instinct, if you will.

  Sam speaks up first. “So, last night you said that you’d never seen anything like this before when we showed you the pool.” She turns so she’s facing me a bit more before she continues, “If it’s too personal, then just tell me and I’ll mind my own business, but did you not do anything back home?”

  I take a drink of my juice before I reply. “No. My parents, or my mother, I should say, wouldn’t let me do anything. She said everyone was the devil, boys in particular. I only had a couple of friends in school and less in high school. I was always the loner.”

  They all sat there listening very attentively as I continued telling them about my life back home. They would occasionally take a bite to eat or take a drink of their coffee, but for the most part, all their attention was on me.

  “Wow.” Jen speaks up this time. “I couldn’t imagine.”

  It was pretty much dropped after that. No one asked any more questions; although, I’m sure they wanted to. Maybe they sensed that I needed to take a break and just let everything go. Maybe they plan to bombard me later with more questions. Either way, it doesn’t matter. They now know everything there is to know…well, almost everything.

  They all offered to clean up since I was the one that cooked. That gave me time to run up and shower to get ready for the day ahead of me. The girls said they were going to show me around town and help me find a job, if that’s what I really wanted…and I did. I don’t want to spend every single day in the house. If I wanted that, I would have stayed home with my parents.

  By the time I showered and was dressed, the girls were ready to go. Sam elected herself to drive and no one seemed to put up a fight, so I went along with it.

  I think we drove up and down damn near every street in town. The girls were each taking turns pointing out there favorite places to go for clothes, to eat, or just to hang out and have fun. We pulled into a little diner and had lunch before they decided they were going to take me to the mall for a surprise. I wasn’t sure what they had up their sleeves, but they promised that it wouldn’t hurt.

  I stopped and put my application in a few places, but nothing felt very promising. I don’t have any experience, and that hurts when you are looking for a job. Well, how in the hell do they expect you to get experience when they won’t train you.

  The last stop of the day…we pulled up to the curb, and Sam cuts the engine. We all exit the car, and I follow the girls into this shop. I didn’t pay attention to the sign so I still have no idea what’s going on. Sam walks over and talks to this lady, who then looks over her shoulder at me and smiles, causing my stomach to instantly turn into a knot. She walks back over and says, “We’ve decided that you need to have a little pampering. So…” the girls start to giggle. “We are gifting you your first mani/pedi. You will absolutely love this.”

  The lady that Sam was talking to walks up to me and says, “Pick color.”

  Pick color? What the hell is she talking about? I must have had a confused look on my face because Kaylee comes up beside me and explains.

  “She wants you to pick a color for your toenails and fingernails.” I watch as the other girls go up and pick the colors they want, and I soon follow. Once we have everything picked out, we follow this lady to a row of chairs.

  Now, I’ve never in my life had this done, so I had to watch and learn. Good thing I wore my sandals today. The girls took their shoes off beside the chair, then sat down, placing their feet in the tub, or what looks like a little tub. One by one, women come over, sit in front of each of us, and start working on our feet. I try really hard not to laugh, but damn, that tickles. The girls all laugh with me, which makes me feel a bit more at ease. It’s nice that they are trying to include me in their activities, and it warms my heart that they are thinking of me like that.

  By the time we are done, I have beautiful toes and fingernails. I could get used to having this done. It feels good to be pampered once in a while.

  I am exhausted by the time we return home from our outing. I think I actually fell asleep in the car. One of the girls must have nudged me to wake me up, because the next thing I know, we are pulling into the drive. How long were we gone?

  “Did you guys kill her the first day? Damn…give her some time,” Zach says while he’s sitting on the couch playing some game with Liam and Brendon.

  “Ha-ha very funny. We just showed her around and took her out for a mani/pedi. We thought she should be pampered a little bit. We stopped at a few stores, but other than that…” Jen leaves the end off. I don’t really care, at this point, what she was going to say. I carry the bags I have upstairs, toss them on the floor, and flop down on my bed. I need a nap.

  Chapter Four

  Two weeks have passed since the girls took me out that day. I did end up getting a couple of phone calls wanting interviews, which I went on, but no callbacks yet. We are all supposed to go out for supper tonight at some local bar & grill. I’m a little nervous; since this is the first time I’ve gone out
to a place like this, much less with my friends. Friends…that’s what they have all become. Very good friends.

  “Girls…they are going to be closed by the time you get done, if you don’t hurry the hell up,” Brendon yells up stairs. We all start laughing when we hear him.

  “We’ll be down in a minute,” Jen yells back, just to pacify them.

  “Are they always like that?” I ask, sitting perfectly still like Kaylee asked so she could do my makeup. Slowly, but surely, I’m letting down some of the walls I have up. I’ve never really worn makeup before, and Kaylee is teaching me the way to properly apply it and what colors go best with my skin tone.

  “Yeah, they’re anxious to eat. Seems they never get enough food to satisfy them,” Jen replies.

  “Or of something else,” Sam whispers, and they all three start laughing. I, on the other hand, know what they are talking about, but don’t laugh since I’ve never been there, done that before.

  Twenty minutes later, we are done and dressed. Well, they are done dressing me up how they want, so we head downstairs to see them all waiting patiently in the living room.

  “Damn,” I hear one of the guys say, but I’m not sure who since it was so low.

  I look over and see Liam eyeing me up and down. If I had to guess, I would say that it was him who gave me the compliment…I suppose it was meant as a compliment.

  “Let’s go,” Sam says, ushering us out of the house. Since we are all going, we have to take separate vehicles. We all climb in and head to our destination.

  It doesn’t take as long as I thought it would, but as soon as we get there, we are seated at a table near the back. You can still see the dance floor but are far enough away to have a little privacy if you want. The waitress walks up and takes our drink order. I try to order just an iced tea, but they all order a little something extra for me.

  “I don’t know about this.” I try to put up a fight, but no one listens. Maybe one drink won’t be so bad.