Rollercoaster
After our stomachs are full, Goose drags us back downstairs for another movie.
“We should be working out instead of sitting on our asses,” Maverick complains once we’re down here and settled in. Goose gives up his chair for me and sits between my legs in the floor. I see Teagan throw him a look out of the corner of my eye, but Lucas just shakes his head with a smile.
Goose turns to Maverick, “Dude, we lifted after school. Won’t hurt to take a break and relax for a bit.”
Maverick mumbles, but quietens down when the credits start. I haven’t heard of the movie that Goose put in, but it turns out to be pretty decent, and has lots of action. There’s a slow part in the middle, and I find myself nodding off. With a belly full of the best pizza I’ve ever had, and hardly any sleep, it’s no wonder really.
The next thing I know, Lucas is shaking me awake, “Kendall. Come on, let’s get you home.”
It takes me a minute to fully wake up and I yawn, “Sorry I fell asleep. I didn’t get much sleep this weekend.”
He smiles, “No need to apologize. Teagan didn’t make it through, either.” I look over, and sure enough, he’s asleep. His long blonde hair hangs around his face since his head has fallen forward. That can’t be very comfortable. Lucas goes to the rescue, and wakes him up too, but Teagan just curls up into a ball in the chair and doesn’t say a word. It’s not until I laugh that he shows any kind of reaction. He glances over his shoulder and smiles sleepily at me.
“If you want a ride home, you better come on,” Maverick says. At first, I think he’s talking to Teagan, but when I turn to look at him, he’s staring at me.
“You’re taking me home?” I ask, trying to hide my disappointment.
I must not do a very good job, because he narrows his eyes, “You can walk home. Your choice.”
He makes his way up the stairs, and I glare daggers in his back in hopes that he can feel him. I turn to Lucas, “Do I really have to ride with him?”
Lucas smiles, “One of us could run you home, but it’ll take longer since Teagan is already on my way. Maverick just lives across the street, so he won’t have to double back around.”
“That’s how you knew that we had ordered pizza,” I say.
He shrugs, “Goose knows better than to order from our favorite pizza place and have us not show up.” Makes sense. That’s why he went ahead and ordered so much food.
Goose comes racing down the stairs, “Kendall and Maverick haven’t left yet have they?” He sees me standing beside Lucas, and a relieved look passes over his face.
“We haven’t left,” I tell him, “but you better hurry up, or I have a feeling I’m going to be walking home.”
He finds an old messenger bag thing in the corner and shoves a laptop inside followed by a power cord. He comes over and drops it across my shoulders, “This is for your free time tomorrow. There’s a ton of movies on there. I left the file open for you. It’s got the first ten you should watch, and I’ll come over after practice to watch some of them with you.”
Teagan jumps up, “Hey, count me in.”
I laugh at his enthusiasm and Lucas says, “Yep, me too.”
Shaking my head, I say, “Why don’t we just meet back over here then. It’ll be a tight squeeze in my room, plus I don’t know how Gramps will be feeling either.”
Goose wraps me up in a hug, “Sounds good to me.”
“I get to pick Kendall up tomorrow,” Lucas says. The other two look like they want to argue, but finally agree.
Maverick honks the horn outside. “God, he’s such an impatient prick,” I mumble.
Lucas pulls me from Goose and throws his arms around me, “Go easy on him.”
I go to nod, but Teagan comes up from behind me and squishes me against Lucas, “Kendall sandwich!”
I try to laugh, but it comes out muffled against Lucas’ chest.
“Ok, ok,” Goose says, “Mav’s going to murder us all if she doesn’t get up there.”
Reluctantly, I step away from them and wave bye as I make my way up the stairs.
My hand has just closed around the doorknob when Teagan’s voice calls out, “Hey, wait a second.”
When I turn around, he pulls the beanie that we’ve been trading back and forth out of his pocket and puts it on my head. I smile up at him and he leans down to press his lips against mine. It’s just a quick stolen moment, but it’s still sweet. My eyes catch movement by the stairs. Lucas. He’s standing with a curious expression on his face, but he doesn’t look angry like someone typically would in this situation.
His face is front and foremost in my mind for half the trip home. Maverick ruins it by opening his mouth, “Heard you punched some girl in the face.”
I roll my eyes, “Maybe. What’s it to you?”
“Just sounds kind of hypocritical if you ask me,” he says. “You stopped me from giving that guy what he deserved the other day and then turn around and start punching people at school.”
I turn my head to look out the window, “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He sighs with exasperation and I look back to him, “Stacey was talking shit about Nana. It was just the last straw. She’s been in cahoots with Derrik, and trying to make my life as miserable as possible. Gramps had a bad weekend and I got no sleep, so when she started running her mouth, I warned her. As you can see, she didn’t listen. I stopped you with Derrik because it looked like you were going to kill him. I didn’t stop you from giving him what he deserves. In my opinion, they both got what was coming to them. I apologized, because I brought drama to the party, and because I’m sure that I embarrassed you guys.”
By the end, I’m looking away from him again, but his next words have me whipping my head back around, “I’m sorry I’m being such a dick, Kendall. You didn’t embarrass us at the party. I was more pissed at myself than I was you or even that guy. I see how the guys are with you. They like you and that could turn out to be a very bad thing. When Teagan told us what had gone down, at first I got pissed at the guy, then I was furious with myself for how much I cared.”
“Why would it be such a bad thing if you guys cared for me? Because I don’t come from the right family?” I ask carefully.
Maverick looks like he gets pissed for a second, but then his face settles back down, “That has nothing to do with it, and you know it. Do the math, Kendall. There’s four of us and only one of you. How exactly do you see this ending? I’m going to speak for myself when I say that I don’t share well with others.”
“I’m not asking you to,” I say quietly. “It’s just nice to have friends again.”
His eyes cut over to me, “Think things will stay that way?”
That’s not exactly something that I can answer honestly. I’ve kissed two out of four of them and have almost kissed one of the others. I didn’t set out for any of this to happen, but it’s like being on a rollercoaster. Once you’re strapped in and the chain is pulling you up, there’s no turning back. You can’t do anything but crest the hill, fall over and pray to all that is holy that nothing will go wrong before you make it back to the loading dock.
Everything in the Rover is quiet for the next few minutes before he says, “What happened to your hair? Goose make you ride with your head out the window of the truck or something?”
If it wasn’t for the barely contained smile on his face, I would have probably smacked him. Who would have thought Maverick had it in him to hand out a joke?
By the time that we make it to Sleepy Pines, things with him are better than they’ve been since the first day that we met.
We pull up outside of the trailer and I grab Goose’s bag as I hop out, “Thanks for the ride Mav.”
The smile that he throws me before pulling off leaves me with sweaty palms, a racing heart, and my mouth gaping like a fish.