KENDALL
"Kenny!" Jess cheers as Jamie and I make our way down the dock towards all of his friends a few days later. They're already loading up Ryan's family's boat with coolers.
"Hi!" I wave.
"Already replacing me with her?" Jamie teases.
"Yeah she's hotter and funnier, it's a no brainer! Sorry, Drysdale, your cut," Jess says obviously sarcastically but she's speaking at a such regular tone you would think she was being serious. The smirk on her face is what gives it away.
We've only hung out twice and I'm already obsessed with her. She's so fun.
"Well damn," Jamie sighs as we make it to the group and Jess pulls me into a hug.
-
"Okay, so who is every one else?" I ask Jess. Her and I are sitting under the sunshade of the boat. We just docked in a little cove on the lake and everyone jumped in the water besides us.
"Okay so Kaden and Ryan are actually cousins, this is their grandparents boat," Jess explains, "And so is the house we'll all be at later."
"And Colton is just another kid we grew up with, and Amelia grew up next door to Jamie but now she goes to school in Florida, so we don't get to see her often," she says.
"Wait I thought Max lived next to Jamie." They live on the end of their street, they only have one next door neighbor.
"Yeah, Max and Lia are twins."
"Oh," I nod looking out at the group of people in the water, "She's really pretty."
As soon as she got in the boat I thought that, she has the prettiest light brown wavey hair and brown eyes. And when she took off her dress cover up I think my jaw actually fell to the floor, she looked like a runway model.
"Yeah she's always been just naturally stunning," Jess nods.
"She and Jamie dated for a bit," Sophia's voice makes me jump. I turn to look at her, she's dripping in water as she dries her hair with a towel.
"Soph!" Jess scolds her.
They dated....
"Sorry, I thought maybe she knew?" Sophia shrugged then she looks at me.
Why didn't he tell me?
"Ken?" Jess waves her hand in front of my face.
Fuck. I have to beat that?
"Sorry, what?" I ask looking at Jess.
"You don't have to worry about her, that was years ago. It's old news!" Sophia tries to cover up her slip up.
"I don't believe you," I admit. And I don't. Sophia didn't even sound like she believed herself just then.
"Okay fine, honestly," Jess starts and I look over at her, "We don't like her, she only hangs with us because she's Max's sister, there's no way to tell him she can't come."
"I know I shouldn't ask," I sigh, "But why don't you like her?"
"She's sneaky. She only cares about herself, and she does that acting dumb thing. I don't know it's weird," Jess shrugs.
"She's not that bad!" Sophia defends her boyfriend's sister.
"You're only saying that because of Max," Jess narrows her eyes.
"And you only don't like her because as soon as she found out you liked Ry she went after him," Sophia glares back at the blonde next to me.
Jess lets out a groan as she crosses her arms over her chest.
Sophia ignores Jess and sits down beside me, resting her hand on my shoulder as I look over at her, "I promise there's nothing to worry about."
I want to believe her. But why wouldn't Jamie like Amelia? She's not only stunning but she knew him before all the pro-hockey stuff. He's best friends with her brother, and their families live right next to each other! It's like something out of movie.
"Ken!" Jamie's voice comes from the water, pulling me out of my thoughts. I stand up on the bench and shade my eyes to look at him.
He motions his hand as if to say come here.
"One sec!" I call back.
"I'll be back ladies," I smile at the girls as I pull my t-shirt off over my head. I leave my shorts and stuff in the bag we brought. Then I make my way to the front of the boat and jump in.
Everyone cheers as I crash into the water. It's colder then I expected but it feels good.
When I come to the surface, Jamie's only a couple feet away from me, so I swim over to him.
"Yes?" I ask curious to know why he wanted me to come over.
"You were too far away," he smiles as his arm wraps around me.
"You're stupid," I smile as I kiss his cheek.
"Rude," he uses his free hand to splash me with water.
"Hey!" I splash him back which turns into all of us just splashing each other.
@jamie.drysdale posted a story
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JAMIE
"Have you seen Kendall?" I ask Sophia who's grabbing a drink from the fridge.
"I think she went to the bathroom," Sophia says closing the fridge door.
I nod and head down the hallway. I knock on the bathroom door, "Ken?"
"Definitely not," Max laughs from the other side of the door.
"Sorry, man," I chuckle and head down the hall to the room her and I are sharing tonight.
We're all crashing at Ryan's family's cabin tonight because why not it's summer! And maybe also because we've been drinking all day and none of us could should drive home right now.
I pause in the hallway when I hear her voice. The bedroom door is cracked open. I know I shouldn't but I stop and listen for a second.
"I'm just confused," she says, "Why can't I shake the thought? It's not like I think Jamie would do anything like that but I didn't think Connor would either."
She stops talking for a minute.
"Mal, you don't get it. She's built like freaking Bella Hadid, she's stunning! Plus they grew up together, and live right next door to each other not across the freakin country!"
Shit. Amelia.
Another short pause.
"You're just saying that because you're my friend."
"Yes, sorry my best friend," Kendall very weakly chuckles.
She sniffles like she's been crying. My chest tightens at that thought. I made her cry, fuck.
Then she says, "I have to go, I've been away for too long. They're gonna notice."
"Bye, miss you too, see you soon."
I hear her take a deep breath as I step to push the door open.
She's sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, looking down at her hands but slightly jumps when she hears me say, "Ken?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," I say taking a few steps into the room, gently shutting the door behind me.
She looks up at me like she knows I was listening, "What all did you hear?"
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my history with Lia," I sit down beside her on the bed, "I didn't think to because it was barley a month long thing, and she slept with one of my teammates during that time."
"Oh," she looks a bit confused.
"But I still should of told you since she was gonna be around," I explain because I do feel bad.
"J, it's not your job to tell me about your dating history. I shouldn't even care about it," Kendall says, I can see her eyes starting to water again, "I don't even know why I care!"
"Because your last relationship ended because of secrets," I answer for her.
I catch a tear that starts to fall down her cheek with my thumb, "I promise there's nothing I wouldn't tell you."
"I know and that's why feeling weird about Lia is so stupid!" Kendall sniffles and a couple more tears fall from her eyes, "And I don't want you to think I don't trust you, because I trust you so much! But I just can't shake the thought that you'll find someone better."
My chest tightens as her voice gets tighter while she holds back tears the whole time she talks. I hate seeing her cry, and I hate even more that I'm the one who made her cry.
I wrap my hand around her chin, "Kendall, there is no one better than you. If anything you could do so much better then me!"
"I love you, Ken," I lean over to kiss her, I can taste her grapefruit lip balm and salty tears.
"I love you, J," she sighs, "I'm sorry for being so difficult."
"You're not difficult," she just has a unique history and it's created these fears, "But you can tell me when you're feeling weird about things like this. I'll be here to just listen or help or do whatever you need."
"You're too good to me, Jamie," her sweet soft smile takes over her face.
"I just want you to be happy," I smile at her, then I reach for her hand, "I have an idea."
"What?" She raises a brown as I stand up and she follows my lead letting me pull her back to the kitchen.
"Do you want a drink?" I ask, we spent all day drinking on the boat so I doubt she does but who knows.
"Water please," she hums from behind me. I open the fridge and grab us both a water bottle.
"Okay," I say handing her a bottle
of water, and pulling out my phone. I smile as I scroll through my phone and cue up a song since I'm connected to the speaker, "Come with me."
I start towards the back door which leads right to the back yard where everyone else is hanging around the fire eating.
"We'll be right back!" I shout over at my friends.
"Ooo," Jess teases.
"Shut up, Miller," I shout back at her.
Kendall follows right behind me, "Where are we going?"
"Just down to the dock," I stop and hold out my hand for her. She smiles and quickly steps up to put her hand in mine almost as soon as the song starts.
Kendall stops moving. It's one of her favorite songs Lover of Mine by 5SOS, "You're gonna make me cry again!"
"Just c'mon," I smile at her.
We make our way down to the dock, standing at the end. The sky is pitch black, no moon in sight but a hundred tiny stars and their dim light bouncing off the top of the lake. There's giant trees all around the lake, framing the stars.
"Look up," I smile wrapping my arms around her.
Kendall tilts her head back, resting it back on my shoulder, "It's beautiful."
I feel her take a deep breath and her body relax.
"Jamie?" Kendall breaks our short silence.
"Mhm?"
"I think I'm gonna quit my job and go to school," she says.
"What?" I freeze.
"I don't love it any more. I've been there for four years, almost five!" She steps away and turns to look at me, "And I was doing some research and USC has a marketing program and this media minor that would be great for the whole social media thing! And I have the GPA and test scores to get in, so why not try?"
I have no words.
"You'd be in California," is all I say sounding like an idiot.
Kendall nods smiling, "I'll get my own place near campus, with roommates, but we'd be able to see each other more!"
"You're not just doing this to move right?"
"No! I want to do this, I need to do this," she sighs, "I need to do something more with my life and I think this is a step in the right direction."
"I haven't applied yet but I'm going to when I get back, I have it all put together but I've just been nervous to submit it," she explains.
"Submit it right now," I smile.
"What?" Her eyes go wide.
"Why not?" I shrug.
"I haven't talked to my parents," she says, "I actually haven't told anyone yet."
Oh...woah okay. She told me first.
"I think your parents would be very happy," I smile, "Pull it up."
"Okay," she's smiling as she pulls her phone out of the pocket of her shorts, "Will you proof read my essay? I normally would have Ava do it but I didn't wanna tell her yet."
"Of course," I smile as she hands me her phone.
We sit on the dock as I read through her essay. I don't know what I'm really looking for but I think it's written well and makes sense.
"So?" She asks as I hand her phone back.
"You are asking the wrong person, baby," I shake my head, "It reads good to me but I don't know all the rules and grammar stuff."
Kendall laughs, "I'll have Ava read it before I submit it."
I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her towards me even though we're already side by side. She rests her head on my shoulder as I turn to kiss her head, "I love you."
"I love you, more," her hand comes to my thigh.
"Not possible," I look down at her and she turns to look up at me.
"Very possible."
"Not," I smirk as we both slowly lean closer.
"Very," she smiles right before she kisses me and everything feels right again.