When I woke up, I felt something underneath of me that didn’t feel like a pillow. And something above me that didn’t feel like a blanket. After a short moment of remembering how I’d fallen asleep, I put two and two together and realized that I was laying on Kale’s lap. And when I felt the thing on top of me breathing heavily, I could tell that he had leaned over and fallen asleep on my back.
I just laid there for a long time, just listening to his deep slumbering breaths. That sounds creepy, I know. But it felt good and peaceful. I liked hearing him breathing down my back.
But eventually, my tummy growling at me was enough to get me to rustle myself out from underneath of Kale and stand to my feet. I was happy to say that my head no longer had the aches and pains of yesterday, it felt normal again. After taking a quick shower, I stumbled my tired self into the large, empty walk in closet where I had put my two suitcases and pulled out a pair of dirty shorts (gross, I know. But I wasn’t about to wear pants in the middle of a California summer.) and I also noticed that I didn’t even have any more clean t-shirts. I looked around my room to see if I could have forgotten one in my room somewhere, but instead of finding my own shirt, I found a plain black t-shirt that was way too big for me. That’s when I realized that Kale must have taken his shirt off before he went to sleep, because he was still asleep and very, very shirtless.
I tore my eyes away from him for long enough to take the shirt from the bed and slip it over my bra clad top before staring in a daze at him once again. Gosh, this boy is incredible. Even if he’s sleeping, he’s amazing.
I debated for a long while if I should wake him up or not and then just decided to go for it. I really wanted to hear his voice, anyway.
I sat down at the edge of my bed and put my hand on his shoulder. “Kale.” I said softly. “Wake up.”
It took me five minutes to wake that boy up and when he did, his eyes fluttered open to engross me in his intense green eyes. Man, I loved those eyes.
“Wha?” He asked tiredly.
I couldn’t help but giggle at his tired voice. “I’m going to make breakfast, do you want some pancakes?”
“You can cook?” He asked, sitting up straight with raised eyebrows.
“I can cook pancakes.” I corrected him. “I’ll go get them started.”
“Wait.” He said as I got up off of the bed. “Why are you wearing my shirt?”
“Well, so you can’t, silly.” I said with an innocent smile before walking the rest of the way out of the room and downstairs with my iPhone and ear buds in hand.
When I got downstairs, neither Jackson or Ryder were anywhere so I just figured they were still sleeping or at Ryder’s house, it was still pretty early.
I stuffed my earbuds in my ears and then started blasting music in my ears as I gathered the stuff to make pancakes and sang along to I Won’t Give Up by Jason Maraz.
I poured the powdery pancake powder into the big bowl and then added the measured water before cracking in two eggs and then stirring to the beat as I also swung my hips with the stirring. When the ear buds in my ears started playing that new Taylor Swift song. Aka, the catchiest song I’ve ever listened to in my life, I started dancing like a crazy person and singing loudly.
“I remember when we broke up the first time. Saying this is it, I've had enough, 'cause like, We haven't seen each other in a month, When you, said you, needed space, what? Then you come around again and say. Baby, I miss you and I swear I'm gonna change. Trust me, remember how that lasted for a day. I say, I hate you, we break up, you call me, I love you…”
And then I felt somebody’s hand on my shoulder. “BWHAAAA!” I shrieked, spinning on my heals to face the intruder, whisk in hand and ready to kick the robbers behind. When I saw Ryder looking at me with amusement dancing in his pretty little eyes, I let out a relieved huff and unplugged one of my ear buds.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said, trying to hide his laughter.
I scowled at him for about a second before it faded. “Don’t mess with a girl when she’s listening to music!”
He just smiled innocently. “You’re a good singer though.”
My face was so heated, I’m sure the sun was jealous of its heat and I bit my tongue so that I didn’t squeal. Ryder West just said that I was a good singer!!! Even though I was embarrassed to the heavens in back, it was still cool. “Thanks.” I finally choked before turning back to the batter and placing it on the heated pan in small circles. I could practically feel Ryder breathing down my neck. “Is that all you wanted, to scare the living potatoes out of me?” I asked with one ear bud still blasting in my ear.
“No, uh, actually I need to talk to you about Kale.”
At the mention of is name my face tinged with pink and a small smile tugged at my lips. I let my hair fall in front of my face so Ryder couldn’t see the change in my face. “R-really? What about him?” I nearly squeaked. I made sure that I didn’t turn around to face Ryder as I continued to focus strictly on the pancakes in front of me. Flipping them over and pouring new ones in a rhythmic pattern.
“Do you like him?” He asked bluntly.
This made me turn around and face him, shocked at his question. His face was completely serious. Like he just asked me about the weather or something. “What?” I croaked.
“Do. You. Like him?” He asked, slower this time.
“Well, I- Wait! Why would I tell you if I like him or not?” I asked, squinting my eyes into tiny skeptical slits.
“Because he’s my brother.” He said simply.
“So did he ask you to ask me? What is this, preschool?” I snorted, turning back around to face the pancakes.
“Kale didn’t tell me to talk to you.”
“If this is a sex talk, don’t worry. I’ve already had the talk. Three times.” I said, pulling the last of the pancakes off of the pan and turning off the pan.
“What? No!” He gasped in a flustered manor and I chuckled. So easily embarrassed. “Look, I just want to make sure that you aren’t going to screw him over.”
I passed him and placed the stack of pancakes on the table with a loud clink against the glass surface of the table. Ryder reached out to grab one but I slapped his hand away. “Not yet.” I snapped. “And how would I screw him over?” I asked with raised eyebrows as I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at Ryder.
“Well, the way he talks about you, he really- What?” He stopped talking when he saw the gaping, jaw dropped, wide- eyed look I was giving him.
“He, um, he- he talks about me?” I asked with a grin covering my face, along with a heated blush.
“Like you put stars in the frikkin’ sky. It’s obvious that he really likes you and-“
“What?!” I shrieked. “Did he say that? What did he say? Did he actually say that he liked me?!” I squealed. I’m sure my face was the color of a tomato, but I ignored that. It wasn’t important.
“Okay, calm down.” Ryder said, grabbing my shoulders in his large hands and shaking me to stand still. “I’m not doing that girly crap. No way. I’m just saying that he’s my brother and I just want to make sure that you aren’t going to screw him over. Got it?”
“I can’t. I mean, okay, say we date.” I said. Just the thought brought a blush to my face. Me and Kale dating? I’d have a boyfriend. That sounds so weird to me. Holly has a boyfriend. Holly is Kale’s girlfriend. That thought brought butterflies to my stomach. Holly isn’t single. Kale is Holly’s boyfriend. No matter how I said it in my head, it made the butterflies grow thicker.
“Holly!” Ryder snapped, snapping me out of my thoughts. Apparently I was day dreaming and staring off into space.
“Sorry. Okay, say that happens. I am a terrible liar. I can’t cheat or steal or lie about anything. So I’m not exactly the ideal person to screw people over.” I said matter of factly. “And I would never want to. Especially not him.”
“Okay.” Ryder sighed before looking down as if he just realized what I was wearing. “Why are you wearing his shirt?”
I looked down and saw that the shirt draped over the shorts and it looked like I had no pants on. “Oh, I have shorts on.” I said, pulling the shirt up to show him the jean shorts underneath.
“That’s not what I asked.” He said with amusement.
“Well, too bad.” I huffed. “Where’s Jackson? I made breakfast.”
“He’s probably still sleeping.”
My face crinkled in confusion. “Then why are you here?”
“To talk to you.” He said with a small grin.
I stuck my tongue out at him before turning around and grabbing plates out of the cupboard. “Why? We have all day to spend together.”
“We’re still going?” He whined.
“Why wouldn’t we? I need clothes.” I said, motioning down my body for emphasis.
“Because you hit your head.” He insisted.
“And I’m fine now.” I piped with a grin. “So be ready at two.”
He let out an annoyed groan. “We can post pone, right?”
“Are you kidding? Look at what I’m wearing.” I huffed, again motioning towards Kale’s black shirt. Just then, a tired (shirtless) Kale shuffled his feet into the kitchen and sat down at the table.
“Morning, sunshine!” I chirped as I scattered four plates around the table, one in front of Kale.
“Why so happy?” Kale groaned, flashing his bright blue orbs in my direction.
“I’m a morning person.” I said with a smile. “You, sir.” I said, pointing a finger at Ryder who also took a seat at the table. “You, however, are not a morning person and I have a bruise on my butt to prove it.” I muttered sitting next to Kale and across from Ryder.
He gave me a sheepish smile as he took a hefty stack of the pancakes and Kale did the same. After I took my pancakes, poor Jackson was only left with two when he finally woke up. “You freaked me out.”
“Why?” Kale snorted. “You wake up with strange chicks in your bed all the time.”
Ryder reached over the table and attempted to smack Kale but he leaned too far back and Ryder couldn’t reach him so he settled with a deadly glare. “But I don’t forget about them.”
“Gee, I’m honored.” I muttered, tearing up my pancakes, preparing them for surrender to the syrupy gods.
“Well… It’s hard to explain.” Ryder strained, trying to figure out how to not insult me.
“It’s fine.” I chuckled. “It doesn’t even hurt my feelings that you haven’t even thanked me for going against all of my morals, ripping up my dignity, and wasting my very first night in Hollywood with you. I’m fine with that.”
“I, uh, I said thank you.” Ryder defended.
“Really?” I asked with raised eyebrows after I finished tearing up the last of my pancakes. “When? I must not remember.”
“Yeah, uh, it was… right after we did that thing over there.” He mumbled, shoving half of a pancake in his mouth.
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, yeah, that. Now I remember.” I said sarcastically as I drowned my poor unsuspecting pancakes in their syrupy doom.
Kale bit back laughter and muffled it with a large bite of pancakes while we all listened to the lazy footsteps coming down the stairs.
“Morning.” Jackson mumbled through a yawn as he came in and sat down beside Ryder and across from Kale.
“It’s about time you got up, lazy butt.” I said loudly as he put the last two cold, soggy pancakes on his plate.
Jackson cringed away from the sudden loudness of my voice. “Geesh, Holls. Quite it down just a bit, would ya?”
“What are you going to do all day? Since I’m going to be gone.” I said.
“All day? This won’t take all day.” Ryder interrupted.
I gave him a sly smile before turning my attention back to Jackson. “So…?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, I might go over to Tommy’s or something. Why?”
“Just starting conversation.” I said with an innocent smile. “We still have four hours until we leave, though.”
Again, Ryder groaned. “You could stop bringing it up, though.”
“But I’m just so excited.” I said sweetly and stuffing my face with a bite of syrup- drenched pancakes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Ryder, come on!” I groaned in front of his door.
“Chill, I’m coming.” He whined as I heard a rustling behind the door before it swung open and he walked out wearing a pair of basketball shorts that covered his knees and a white shirt in his hands. Yes, that does mean that he was shirtless. Very, most definitely shirtless.
“Would it have killed you to put your shirt on before you opened the door?” I asked, tearing my eyes away from his flexing muscles and heading towards the stair case to avoid any drooling.
He chuckled and I knew he was sporting a smirk right now. “You told me to hurry.”
“How long does it take you to put a shirt on?” I laughed, trotting down the stairs with Ryder right behind me. “Nobody goes prancing around shirtless in Minnesota.”
“They’d freeze to death!” Ryder protested as we walked out the door to the West’s mansion and towards Ryder’s black SUV looking car. (By my advanced automotive vocabulary, I’m sure you can tell that I love cars. Note my lovely sarcasm.)
“Or they just don’t want to, like, kill every girl they come across.”
“Or they don’t have the bodies.”
“And you do?” I immediately shot back, even though it was a horrible comeback. We both knew he had the body to prance around shirtless, making every girl drool. Which was exactly the problem!
“Ouch. That hurt, Holly.” He laughed as he pulled out of the parking lot and down the street.
“You know, I don’t get it. You guys walk around all shirtless and whatever and then you make fun of me for staring. Well, maybe if you put on a shirt, I wouldn’t have anything to stare at.” I said in a ‘duh’ tone.
“Really?” Ryder scoffed.
“Yes, really.” I snapped jokingly. “I mean, it’s just abs an then abs and then some muscle and more abs with a whole lot of tan. What the potatoes is a girl supposed to do? Look the other way and pretend like nothing is happening? Ha! I think not.”
“I’m sorry we’ve put you in such a dilemma.” He said in an amused voice.
“Good, you should be.” I huffed, turning on the radio that started blasting One More Night by Maroon 5.
“So is your friend coming over to see you?” He asked randomly.
“Libby?” I asked, dancing lightly to the music and singing along when I wasn’t talking.
“Yeah, when can I meet her?”
I let out a bark of laughter. “Never unless you want to go to jail for murder. I’m pretty sure she’d have a heart attack at just the mention of meeting you.”
“What about you? You clearly didn’t die.”
“No, but I cried.” I said and we both let out bubbles of laughter. “A lot. And I probably would have passed out if your sister didn’t save me.”
“You weren’t that bad.” He said, giving me a quick sideways glance from the road.
“Maybe not to you.” I scoffed.
We laughed about what happened at Tommy’s party for the rest of the ten minute trip to the huge Hollywood mall.
My eyes bulged out of my skull. “Is everything huge here?”
“Yeah, pretty much.” Ryder said, most likely with a smirk but I was too busy looking out my window at the incredibly huge building in front of us.
“Wow… this is going to be fun.” I said with a grin.
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The amazing cover to the side is by rubyfire :D
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