Words Of Wisdom
“Wakey, wakey,” a girly voice says shaking my ass above the covers.
I groan and roll myself up in the blanket, so not ready to be up yet. It feels like I just fell asleep. Peeling one of my eyes open, Ryleigh grins back at me, “Wake up sunshine.”
“Oh my god, dude,” I groan. “You sound just like your brother in the mornings.”
She turns her nose up, “I don’t know whether to take that as an insult or compliment, considering I know how much you looooove the sound of his voice.”
Flipping my pillow on top of my head, I try to hide my pink cheeks, “What are you doing here anyways, and where’s said brother?” The guys drew straws last night after the fiasco with Billy. Teagan won, but I passed out before anything could get interesting.
Shaking my bum again, she says, “I kicked said brother out a little while ago and told him to go do boy stuff. We’re having a girl’s day.”
“Don’t you and Eddie have plans today?” I ask, my voice still muffled with the pillow.
“Yeah duh,” she answers, “but not until tonight. I’m going to go get my hair and nails done. Plus, I need a new outfit. I haven’t gone shopping without you, so my retail therapy has been at an all-time low this past month.”
If I wasn’t already feeling guilty about not calling her before, I am definitely feeling it now. I uncover my face and roll onto my back, so I can see her face, “I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner, Ryleigh.”
She smiles sadly at me, “No need for apologies. It’s been a rough month or so. I’m just sorry that I couldn’t be here for you when everything happened with your Gramps. If I had known, I wouldn’t have given you a chance to not have me around. I would have been here.”
Digging my way out of my blanket cave, I grab her hand, “Please don’t. I know that you would have been here if you could. I should be the one apologizing. Everything happened so fast and yet so slow. If I’m honest about it, I don’t really remember much over the past month. It’s like living in a fishbowl. You know what’s happening around you, but it’s not happening to you, if that makes sense.”
“Sounds kind of crazy,” she says before a true smile lights her face. “But that’s just one of the reasons why you’re my bestie. Our crazies match each other.” I laugh as she wiggles her eyebrows, “Besides, I know of two ways you can make it up to me.”
“By getting my lazy ass out of bed and having a girl’s day,” I guess the first one.
Nodding she says, “And turning your fucking phone back on so someone can get in touch with you.”
I laugh, and it makes her giggle. The thought hasn’t even crossed my mind. I’m normally with one of the quad, except school, but they drop me off and pick me up. I haven’t had the need for it, but I know that I need to. I tease her anyways, “You can always call me on the house phone. I never leave the house anymore.”
“Yeah,” she says sarcastically, “Unless you’re off bumping uglies, or pretties I should say with Lucas.”
My gasp is loud, and it makes her giggle again, “They told you about that?”
“Teagan did,” she admits. “He needed someone who wasn’t a dude to talk to about it. His words, not mine.”
“What did he say?” I ask curiously.
A look of shock falls across her face, “You think that I’d betray my brother’s trust like that, after he asked me not to say anything?” I must let my disappointment show, because she laughs again, “I’ll tell you on the way if you’ll get up and spend the day with me.”
I was going to do that anyways, so this is just an added bonus, “Deal.” Unwrapping myself, I make quick work of getting ready. Before we leave, though, I need to check the bank. There was money in there, but between bills for a month and me not having a job, it’s dwindling down fast. I tried to find out who paid to have the lights turned back on, but the guys wouldn’t tell me, even when I threatened maiming.
Sorting through the mess of crap on my dresser, I locate my phone and turn it on. Someone had it connected to the charger. That definitely wasn’t me, unless it was one of those moments of non-clarity. When it finally fires up, I see that there’s still service on it, which is weird because I thought that it ran out back in January. One of the guys has been paying it, had to be. Oh, they are in so much trouble. The phone beeps and chimes endlessly for at least a full three minutes before it quits.
“Jesus,” I exclaim out loud.
Ryleigh is laid across my bed with her phone in her hand, “What is it?”
“There’s three hundred and twenty-six fucking texts on here. And it says my voicemail is full,” I marvel.
She lets out a small disbelieving snort, “That’s what happens when you ignore people who care about you for over a month. I may or may not be half of all of that.”
Her confession and the tone in which she says it have me laughing. Opening the bank app, I ignore the other stuff for now. It takes forever to pull up, but when it does, I almost sit on Ryleigh as I plop down on my bed to keep from hitting the floor.
“Hey,” she squeals trying to move out of my way.
I feel her look over my shoulder, “Don’t mind me as I’m nosy for a second.” Then she gasps as she sees what almost put my ass on the floor. “Is that for real?” she asks quietly.
“It has to be,” I tell her when I can find my voice. “Gramps had a lawyer who handled all of his stuff before he passed. A will and a life insurance policy that I didn’t even know that he had. He told me that the claim would be coming through within thirty days, but I never got the amount from him.” No wonder all of Gramps’ checks were going to his policy. There’s a quarter of a million dollars sitting in my bank account right now. The screen goes fuzzy as tears cloud my eyes. My heart wrenches hard, and the phone drops to the floor as I use my hand to cover it. Propping my elbows on my knees, my face falls into my hands as tears run into the carpet. Ryleigh’s hands rub smooth circles across my back as she lets me cry it out.
It’s just so unbelievable. Not that he would do this, but that it was for so much. I could pay off all our debts on his and Nana’s medical bills, go to college and still have some left over to have a decent start on a life away from the trailer park. Once the water works dry up, I apologize to Ryleigh again.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Kendall,” she reassures. “Some days are harder than others, right? Little shocks and surprises, good or bad, along the way don’t help I’m sure. Want me to wait in the living room for a minute?”
This is the first time that we’ve seen each other in over a month, and the last thing I want is her to think that she’s not important to me, but I need a second. There’s a pressure in my chest that I can’t seem to let go of. When I nod, she smiles and leaves me alone in the room.
Rescuing my phone from the floor, I find the number that I’m looking for and hit call.
Goose answers on the second ring, “Figures it would take Ryleigh to have you start using your phone again.”
I want to laugh, but it comes out as a sob instead.
His voice drops the playful tone and goes serious instantly, “Are you ok, babe?” And when I don’t answer, “Kendall?”
Mav’s voice says something in the background. Should have known that they would be together. Another second has him on the line, “What’s wrong, Kendall?”
“Nothing,” I tell them, only half lying. Just hearing their voices has lifted off some of the weight off my chest.
“Try again,” Mav coaxes in that deep voice of his.
I take a deep breath, “I just had a moment and I needed…” I trail off, not knowing if I should tell them just how deeply rooted my necessity of them actually is right now. Too late, though.
“Needed what lovely?” T asks.
Smacking myself in the forehead, I answer honestly, “I just needed to hear your voices.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that, baby,” Lucas pipes in.
“Need us to come over?” Goose asks.
My heart says so much yes, but they’re out doing shit. Plus, it’ll ruin a girl’s day with Ryleigh that I owe her. “No, that’s ok. I’m fine. Besides, Ryleigh would never let any of us live it down.”
“Goddamn right she wouldn’t,” Teagan warns then adds, “but I’ll face her wrath if you need us.”
The laugh that he pulls out of me lifts the last little bit of weight and I can fully breath again. I hear their laughter on the other end, even Mav’s.
“I appreciate your willingness to sacrifice yourself, but I think I’ll be ok,” I smirk, and then making myself sound needy as fuck, I ask, “I’ll see you guys later, right?”
“Of course you will,” Teagan says with a smile still in his voice. “We’re just headed to go get…” There’s some rustling around then he says, “Ow, shit. I mean, yes you’ll see us later.”
Shaking my head, I roll my eyes at them as we say our goodbyes.
I stuff my phone and wallet in the inner pocket of my jacket as I walk out to find Ryleigh.
She’s sitting on the couch laughing at her phone, and when she sees me watching her, she stands and says, “My brother is so stupid sometimes.”
I don’t comment, because there’s something more on my mind. Waiting until we’re in the Jeep and on our way, I ask, “So what did Teagan say?”
She laughs like she’s been waiting to see how long it would take me to ask, “Well, he told me pretty much everything. That you guys were all together, which any moron would be able to see that. But, he also said that you and Lucas had sex first the other day.”
Looking out the window, I don’t want to see the judgement there. I should have known better. She says, “Look, I think it’s really cool that you guys are trying something out of the ordinary. I would never in a million years try it, because one is enough for me, thanks. I think you’re exactly what they need though. They’ll never be happy being separated with four different women.”
Her words leave a warm place in my chest, “Thanks. What did Teagan say about me and Lucas?”
Shrugging she answers, “Not much, really. He said he was surprised that he wasn’t really jealous. I think he wanted to be, but he wasn’t. And, he said that Maverick told him that he wasn’t pissed either.” Her face scrunches up like she’s thinking on something unpleasant, “He said that it was quite the opposite, that it turned them on thinking about you and Lucas. And as much it makes me want to throw up in my mouth to think about my brother saying that, he asked if I thought that was a normal response.”
“What did you tell him?” I question curiously.
She smiles over at me, “I told him that nothing about your relationship with the four of them is normal, so they’re allowed to feel the way that they want to without thinking too hard on it.”
God, I could kiss Ryleigh right now for her words of wisdom. I don’t know how I got so lucky to have her in my life, but I know I’ll never go a month without speaking to her again, “I missed you, Ry.”
“Awe,” she says, “I missed you too.”
We’re gone for a little over five hours. She takes me with her to the salon and demands that I get a manicure and pedicure with her. After doing it, let’s just say there will be more trips like that in my future. I watch her getting her hair styled and decide that maybe it’s time for something new for me too, but not today. Then we eat lunch and shop for a new outfit for her, even though I’m beginning to think that the whole thing was for me as she throws yet another skirt at me.
Both of us leave with two new sets of clothes, and feeling like a million bucks from the salon. I hate being wasteful with the money in the bank, but I owe her several times over, and don’t let her pay for anything.
As we pull back up to my house, I let out a huge yawn, and I think about going back to sleep. For some reason, today has completely worn me out.
“Uh uh,” Ryleigh says as she parks. “The guys would kill me if they came over to find you passed out.”
“Why would they care if I’m asleep later?” I ask while watching her dig through a bag in the back.
She mumbles to herself and then says, “Ah hah,” as she finds what she was looking for. Handing me a slim silver can she says, “This is made with natural fruit juice and green tea. It’s like a healthy energy drink.”
I look from her to the can skeptically, but crack it open and take a swig anyways. It’s not half as bad as it sounds.
The smile she shoots me is smug, “You’ll thank me for that later.”
Her attitude and playfulness remind me of Teagan, but not in a weird way. “I’m glad to have you back,” I smile.
Returning it, she says, “Right back at you. Now get out of here and go get ready.”
My face scrunches in confusion, “Ready for what?”
“Uh uh,” she says with a shake of her head, “I’ve managed to keep it a secret all day. Just trust me. Wear the second outfit.”
I roll my eyes. Should have known that her and the guys were up to something. I take my time getting out all of my bags as a small act of rebellion, and she sighs dramatically in the front seat, “You’ll have fun I promise. Call me later…or on second thought. Maybe not.” We both laugh as I shut the door and she pulls away.