"Damn it Wren! We all know we are going to breakfast, we don't need you to run around waking us up." One of the guys- I think Kane- yells at Wren. I stir fully awake after he yells, and I groan loudly. There's knocking on my door, and before I even say come in, a shadow is waltzing in.
I love my black out curtains so much, but right now I hate that I can't see who is coming in. "Hello?" Wren says. I wave, being too lazy to open my mouth and form words right now. "Why are you here? I thought you were sleeping over at my sisters." He says, sitting at the edge of my bed.
"I was going to, but I got a call from Kane." I inform him, and then tell him a run down of the conversation Kane and I had last night. "So, I decided to stay here instead of making a back and forth trip. And before you ask, yes, we are still having breakfast." I tell him and he laughs.
We sit there for a few minutes in silence, and then he gets up, "I'm going to wake the rest of the house up then." He announces, and I nod even though he can't see me. When he is out of my room, I force myself out of bed, and go into the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day.
While I shower, I can hear the guys yelling at each other, and it makes me laugh. I stand under the water for the longest time before I start washing and shaving and moisturizing my skin. After all that is done, I step out fully intending to blow dry my hair, brush my teeth, and all that good stuff.
As I said, fully intended, but the guys have other plans.
"Oaklynn! Can I use your shower?" One of the guys yells from the other side of the bathroom door. "I promise I will be sure to be quick so you can finish getting ready. It's just Kane is in our shower, Wren has dibs next, Dustin took one last night, Levi and Bryce are going to Levi's dorm to shower, and I really need one." The person- Holland- begs.
Mother fucker. Why him? Out of all the dudes in this house, he's the one who wants to use my shower. "Sure, let me get dressed, and then I'll be out." I tell him. He says okay, and then I hear his footsteps walk away.
I get dressed in a record time, get my stuff together to finish getting ready since I have a body mirror in my room, and then make my way out to let Holland know that it is open for him. I walk out, and run into Wren who laughs when he sees my head wrapped up in an old t- shirt.
"What the hell is on your head?" He asks through laughter. "I know girls do that, but Ivy uses a towel, my mom uses a silk thing since her hair is curly, and others I've seen don't use anything." He says and I shrug.
I've always used an old t-shirt. Silk falls off my head way too easily, towels aren't good for your hair- from what I've heard- and I absolutely hate having wet clothes on so that rules out leaving my hair down. "I just prefer a shirt. Anyways, is Holland in his room?" I ask, and he nods.
I walk away from Wren and go to Holland's door, knocking, and when he says come in I walk in. "Showers open. And just so you know I'm gonna be in my room getting ready." I say, and he nods confused. Yeah, I am too. I don't know why I told him that, but I felt the need too after yesterday.
When he doesn't say anything, I walk out and head back to my room. As I am drying my hair Holland makes his way into my room. He goes into my bathroom, closes the door, and then opens it again. "Uh, is it cool if I use your soaps? Mine are in the bathroom, and I don't really want to deal with a hungover Kane. He's like a toddler who needs a nap." He says, and I nod.
"It's cool for you to use my stuff. There are rags and towels behind the door in the closet, razors and toothbrushes under the sink, and please don't use the soap in the purple bottle. It's Ivy's." I inform him, and he nods. Don't judge me, I don't know if he wants or needs to shave, and I don't know if he'll have time to brush his teeth before we leave.
He goes back into the bathroom, and I grab my toothbrush and toothpaste. I head to the kitchen to brush my teeth, and as I do, I hear Kane's laughter behind me. "What are you laughing at?" I ask, with a mouth full of toothpaste, and it comes out all jumbled together.
"I'm laughing at you." He laughs more, and then calms down a little, "You're in a freaking 'I LOVE STILES' shirt, your shorts are lime green, the shirt on your head has a whole bunch of different cartoon characters on it, and your mouth is covered in toothpaste." I flip him off, and finish brushing my teeth.
I guess today is pick on Oaklynn day and I missed the memo.
When my teeth are fully brushed, and the sink is rinsed of all the toothpaste, I head back into my room to finish getting ready. The moment I walk into my room, I am met with the back of a freshly showered Holland- who is only in a towel- and he is looking at the pictures I have hanging up in my room.
I ignore him for a moment, admiring his body, and checking out his muscled back. I clear my throat, and he turns to face me, "Um, did you forget clothes?" I ask, and his eyes drop down to his toweled only body. When his eyes find mine again, his face has a little tint of pink- which is absolutely adorable by the way.
"I- um..." He trails off, giving an awkward chuckle, and I raise my eyebrow. Now I am just teasing him because I didn't know that it was possible for a six foot one, buffed up, mean mugger hockey player could get embarrassed by being half naked in front of a girl. "I forgot my clothes, and when I asked you to get them, I didn't get an answer. So I figured I could run out of here before you came back, but then I saw these pictures and I had to examine them." He confesses, well more really rambles.
I nod, and look at the pictures he was looking at. "What'd you think of them?" I ask, nodding at the pictures.
"Who's the guy? Your boyfriend?" He asks, and I laugh a loud obnoxious laugh.
I shake my head, "That's not a boyfriend, that's my brother. He's three years younger, and before you ask why we don't look alike, it's because we have different dads." I tell him, and he nods.
Holland looks back at the pictures, and tilts his head to the left, "Who are these people? And why are they taking a shot?" He points to the picture of my nana, mom, and some of my 'aunts' and 'uncles' who are my moms closest friends.
"Those are the people who helped raise me." I tell him, and he looks at me waiting for me to keep going. "That's from my graduation party. The only people who knew I got in here before that day were my mom, nana, and brother. When I announced to everyone that I got in here, they all insisted we take a shot. They were all pretty tipsy already, so I was off to the side getting a few more glasses filled. Rebel- my brother- took the picture." When I finish telling him, he nods.
After a few minutes, he tells me he's going to get ready, and then leaves. It's so weird that yesterday we were so awkward and today we are perfectly fine. Since we are perfectly fine, I've made up my mind about something that needs to be done.
I finish getting ready, and then hear Kane yell, "Will you two stop fucking yelling? There is no need to when we are all sitting right next to each other." The other two laugh, and I make my way down to the living room to meet them.
The moment I step off the last stair, their eyes lock on me, "Ivy hasn't answered, so I am going to pick her up. Levi and Bryce are going to meet us there, and you, Kane, and Holland are going to get us a table." Wren informs me, and I nod.
They all get up, and we head out the door. When we get into Holland's truck, Taylor Swift music blares, I start laughing, and Kane covers his ears, mumbling curses and how we all need to be considerate since he is terribly hung over. Holland and I laugh at him, and he turns the music down. "Sorry man, I forgot we had it up that loud." Holland tells him.
"You have a girlfriend?" I blurt out before I can stop myself. When I realize what I said, my eyes bulge and my lips lock for a moment, "I am so sorry, that is not my business."
He laughs and shakes his head no, "I don't have a girlfriend. Some of the guys from the team and I went to play pool last night and they wanted to listen to her." He explains, and I nod. Right after he says that, JAY-Z starts playing and I laugh. "See, even my playlist knows."
The rest of the drive goes by in a flash, none of us talking. After a short fifteen minutes, we arrive at some diner named Fritzy's Diner- that I didn't know was here- but it's a cute place. We unload out of the truck and go inside to reserve a table like Wren ordered us to do.
An older lady tells us to have a seat and she'll bring us menus in a second. A minute passes, and Levi and Bryce arrive. When they sit down, the waitress comes over with five menus, "Hey darlings, how are you doing?" She asks with a smile, and we answer with good, smiles, and ask her how she's doing.. "I'm great. What can I get you guys to drink?" She asks.
"Can we get two more menus, and we'll put in our drink orders when they get here." Bryce says, and she nods. "Thank you so much." He tells her. She walks away, and the guys talk hockey, and I sit there pretending to listen. I have no idea how hockey works, so I don't even bother trying to put in any input.
While I wait for the only other girl to arrive, I take in the diner. There are red and pink tiles on the floor, bright blue booth seats, and the tables are dark blue with little designs on them. There are a few bumpers from cars from the fifties hanging off the ceiling, a touchtunes jukebox, and neon lights strung around the inside of the building. The outside of the building looks to be around sixty years old, but it's well kept up with.
After a few minutes, Ivy and Wren show up. They greet all of us, and slide into each side of the table. "Are they talking about hockey?" Ivy asks when she's sitting next to me, and I nod. Wren jumps into the conversation with the other guys.
When I am sure they are deep into their conversation, I nudge Ivy, "Dude, Land used my shower this morning, and accidently forgot his clothes. So he was just in a towel." I whisper to her, and she wiggles her eyebrows. "The weird thing about it is the fact he didn't act weird about it. It's like these past few days have been normal between us." I confess and she nods.
"Is today the day you ask him to have the one on one time that we've been telling you to have with him?" she asks, and I nod. "Are you going to get frisky?" She teases, and I roll my eyes. "Hey, I'm just asking. But it'll be good for you two to get to know each other. I feel like you two will be as close as Kane and I are." I shrug.
Now, the thing about Kane and Ivy, I am pretty sure they are seeing each other. I haven't mentioned anything to anyone though because I know that it might cause issues between people. But I think she's interested in someone else, someone closer to her brother, someone he wouldn't allow- not that he'd allow Kane.
"I don't know. I was thinking of asking since he's not grumpy like usual, but I don't want things to be weird when we are alone, you know?" I ask, and she nods. "We'll see how this goes, and if he's still in a decent mood then I'll ask about hanging out."
She goes to say something, but stops when the waitress comes back. "Hello again, I am Katy and I will be serving you today. What can I get you guys to drink?" She asks, and Holland and Wren give everyone's drinks. When Holland says Dr. Pepper, he looks at me, and I nod with a smile. "Alrighty, I'll be right back with those drinks, and then I'll take your orders." She smiles, and walks away.
We all fall into a random conversation about some random murder from the seventies, and when the waitress shows up, she joins in. "That killer was a psycho. He was referred to as 'Michigan's Ted Bundy' but he was killing before Ted Bundy was. Girls had a thing for him, saying he was hot and all that. Others were saying he was sweet and all that. Do you guys know how he got arrested?" She asks, and we shake our heads no. "He killed a girl who went to Eastern Michigan University, she was eighteen," she tells us, and we shake our heads, "She was one of my husbands friends' girlfriends. Sad death." She tells us, and we nod.
We ask a few questions about John Norman Collins, and she answers them as best as she can. After ten minutes, her husband walks over to us, "What are you guys gossiping about? I swear you always gossip sweetheart." He says, shaking his head.
"Go away Randall, we are talking about a murder. Which we are almost finished up with, go back to the kitchen." She tells him, and he rolls his eyes. When he walks away, she rolls her eyes, "Can I get your orders?" She asks, and we all tell her our orders. "I'll have this out soon."
She walks away, and we all start talking again. "Oaklynn," Holland says, and my eyes meet his. "Can we do that one on one thing today? Everyone's out of the house, and I figured we could watch a show or get that game that has crime cases." He tells me, and I nod.
"Sure, that'd be great." I tell him, and he smiles with a nod. When he turns back to talk to the guys, Ivy bumps me. "Don't say anything." I whisper, and she smirks. "It means nothing." I assure her- and myself really- but I don't think either one of us believes it.
Our food comes out in a matter of minutes, and we all take a moment to appreciate the work. Each plate looks amazing and looks like it's off of a movie. My Diva Plater has a stalk of waffles with strawberries, and chocolate syrup over them. There is a side of eggs and a fruit bowl.
I am in absolute heaven.
We eat in silence for a few moments until Wren's phone buzzes very loudly. "Um, I gotta go." He says, and the guys cheer him on. Ivy and I scoff, shaking our heads. Typical guys. "What? If I can make her laugh and giggle, I can make her booty clap and jiggle." He laughs, and the other guys join in. "Here's my end of the bill, I will see you all later. Probably tomorrow." He winks, and leaves the booth.
Who the hell calls someone at nine in the morning on a Sunday for a booty call? I'm not judging, get it on girl, but damn. I could never call to get it on at nine in the morning.
We all finish eating pretty quickly, and then share our plans for the day. Well, everyone but Holland and I share our plans since they already know what they are. Ivy informs us that she has to do some reading before her class starts Wednesday. Bryce and Levi are going to go to some arcade they've been dying to go to because all the games are virtual. And Kane is going to visit his parents and sister one last time before they all get busy.
The bill gets paid, and we all head our own ways. Ivy gets a ride with Bryce and Levi, and Kane rides back with us so he can get his Hummer.
"Later guys! Have fun, and try not to kill each other." Kane says from the front door, and we tell him bye. I regretfully tell him bye. I am not really looking forward to being alone with Hollan, but at the same time I am.
This can go one of a few ways. One, we get along fine and have fun. Two, we end up going our own ways because things get awkward. Three, we end up fighting over nothing. Four, I end up jumping his bones. I'm really hoping I can refrain from doing the last one, but we'll see I guess.
We sit in silence for a few moments, him on his phone, and me staring at the wall. After a few minutes, it drops from his hands, and he smiles at me, "So, what do you want to do?"
A simple question and a stupid simple smile, yet my insides turn mushy and lady parts grow a heartbeat. I return his smile, "Whatever you want to do. I let the others pick." I tell him, and he nods.
He doesn't say anything, but he gets up and jogs up the stairs. I am left sitting in the living room, wondering what he has planned for us to do.
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Hello loves! How are you on this fine day?
NEXT UPDATE: 10/15/23