"I can't believe I agreed to this." I say out loud to no one, though I know no one can hear me. I shove a wrinkled sweatshirt into my weekend bag, struggling to zip it all the way shut. I finally do and heave a loud sigh.
A whole weekend of being around Nick and his new, what, girlfriend I guess?
Wait.
I'm spending a whole weekend with Joe and that's what I should be focusing on.
Joe.
My boyfriend.
Whom I love.
Not Nick.
His brother.
Whom I do not love.
So what if he has a beautiful blonde girlfriend even though he told me he would always love me.
No.
It's selfish of me to assume he would never be with someone else when I picked Joe. He deserves to be happy.
"Did I hear you talking to yourself in here?"
I jump, turning around so fast I almost fall over. I'm not using a crutch, just trying to balance on my good leg. Thankfully, I catch myself on the edge of the bed.
"Nick. What are you doing here?" I ask, eyes wide.
I was just saying all of that in my head, right?
"Kevin wanted us all to meet here before we go." He says, crossing his arms in front of his chest, making his sleeves tighten around his biceps. "You seem flustered." he adds.
"Oh it's just all this balancing on one foot thing, gets me pretty tired." I lie.
"Well, I just came up here to tell you we are waiting on you."
"Okay, I'll be right there." I tell him.
I take a deep breath and exhale slowly, running a hand through my hair. I can do this. It's just a weekend. What could possibly go wrong?
I go into the living room and they are all standing by the door waiting for me. I guess I lost track of time while I was packing.
"Ready?" Joe asks, walking over and wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
"Yes." I tell him.
"You're riding with us." Nick says over his shoulder.
Kelly hooks her arm to his and I try not to roll my eyes at their contact. Why do I feel the need to roll my eyes?
"Awesome." I say, and I wish it came out a little less sarcastic, but it didn't. Joe gives me a look but I ignore him.
Joe and I hop into the back seat and we wait for Kevin and Danielle to pull out so we can follow behind their car.
I see Kelly reach over and put her hand on Nick's leg. He looks at her with a smile and I force myself not to gag.
Where did she even come from? How are they this close already? Joe doesn't even always have a hand on me like she does with Nick.
Kelly talks almost the whole ride and I have to stop myself from telling her to shut up. I mean god, who talks that much? She's pretty and all, but her mouth rubs.
Joe looks at me occasionally and smiles and I return it, but he doesn't even try to hold my hand which I find sort of odd.
When we arrive, I practically jump out of the car. Well; as fast as my one leg can get me without face planting.
"How was the ride?" Danielle asks as she approaches our car.
"Great." Kelly says.
"Yeah, fine." Nick agrees, but even he seems annoyed.
"You boys bring our bags inside, would you?" Danielle asks.
They do as she says, and we follow behind them into the house. It's just as Nick and I left it that weekend. Our board game box is even still laid out on the coffee table.
Memories of our weekend together flood through my mind. I can't forget how sweet he was when he held my hand that night in bed.
Now he is here with Kelly, and could quite possibly do way more with her in his bed...
I look at the stairs and sigh. Joe notices and nudges me, "I guess we will take the downstairs bedroom."
Right, because we will be sharing a room, and a bed. Why am I nervous? It's not like we haven't shared a bed before. It's just Joe.
"I'll show you our room." Nick says to Kelly, grabbing her hand and guiding her up the stairs. He glances at me before he goes out of sight.
"Trinity, want to help me put the groceries away?" Danielle asks me.
"Sure." I say.
—
I stand at the fridge as she hands me food items. We are quiet, because the boys are just in the other room, but I can tell she wants to say something to me.
Kelly comes into the kitchen then, and I bite my lip. I must act like I like her. Because I don't have a reason not to. Right?
"Hey girls, need any help?" She asks us.
"Just finished up. But we should show you the dock out back, it's beautiful out there." Danielle says.
"You two go ahead. It will be quite a trek for me." I say. It won't be that bad really. I just don't want to go.
"We will be back soon." Danielle says, pulling Kelly along with her.
I walk back into the living room and it's just Nick seated on the couch. He rubs his palms on his sweatpants and stares at the television that isn't on.
"Where's Joe and Kevin?" I ask.
He looks at me with surprise like he didn't know I was there.
"Out to the cars to grab some more stuff."
"Oh." I say, staying put in the doorway.
"What do you think of Kelly?" He asks me, catching me off guard.
"Oh." I start, "she's nice." I say. Damn, that's all I could come up with.
Before we can continue our conversation, Joe and Kevin come back in. Joe makes eye contact with me and smiles as he passes by and into our room with his bag.
Danielle and Kelly make it back inside, only gone for what seemed like a minute. Kelly sits down next to Joe and I take a seat on the recliner across from them.
"What should we do?" Danielle asks as the other two come back into the room.
"I'll start the grill, and Nick can get the beers out." Kevin says.
"Yeah we can just chill tonight." Joe says happily.
—
The boys group together to help with dinner, while us girls sit in the living room, sharing a bottle of wine.
"So what do you do for work Kelly?" Danielle asks.
"I'm a singer. Well more like a struggling singer. I play at bars and stuff like that. But I don't really make any money so I bartend on the side." She says.
"Oh wow that's neat, following your dreams and all." Danielle says.
Kelly smiles, "Yes, it keeps me on my toes."
"How did you and Nick meet?" I ask.
"At one of my sets. He came in and listened to me play and I couldn't take my eyes off of him." She says with a huge grin. "How long have you known him?" She asks me.
"Oh since we were little kids. Our parents are neighbors so we grew up together." I say.
"That's so awesome. I can't even name a friend I still have from when I was a kid. Those friendships are special." She says.
"I agree." I say. Unless you fall in love with them, then they get messed up.
"And you and Kevin are just the cutest couple on this planet." Kelly says to Danielle.
Danielle smiles, "thank you."
It's true. They really are. A love like theirs is so rare. After all this time together, they are more in love than ever.
"Foods ready." Joe says as the three of them enter the room.
We all gather in the kitchen and eat dinner. It's delicious and we don't talk much, too busy chewing and drinking.
I look across the table at Nick and notice he's drinking more than normal. I don't remember him really being a drinker in the first place.
Kelly is drinking water, but hardly eating. She keeps looking at Nick but he doesn't pay much attention to her. She's trying so hard to get his attention that it's annoying me.
"This food is delicious." I say out loud.
"Thanks." Kevin says, smiling at me.
"So we should totally take the boat for a spin." Joe says suddenly.
"As long as you drive." Kevin says. Joe only had one beer and that was earlier, unlike the other two.
"Oh that sounds like fun." Kelly says, turning to Nick. "Doesn't it babe?"
Babe?
"Totally." He says.
—
We load up on the boat. And since Joe is driving, I'm stuck in the back beside Nick with Kelly on his other side. I inch as far away as possible, but with the size of the boat it's impossible for our legs not to touch.
"Don't go too fast Joe." Danielle warns, "you know I don't like it."
"I won't." He promises her.
Kelly leans in and whispers something into Nicks ear, making him laugh. I look out of the boat, trying not to show how uncomfortable I am.
I put my hood up to block the wind as Joe starts our descend. He stays at a steady pace, and it really is beautiful out here. And with the sun setting soon, the view is only going to get better.
Joe looks back at me and I smile at him. He winks at me before turning back around to pay attention to what's in front of him.
"So you guys used to come here as kids?" Kelly asks.
"Yes, we haven't been here in a long time." Kevin says.
"Well you guys anyway." Nick says and my eyes widen.
"You were here recently?" Kelly asks.
"Oh yeah, um." Everyone looks at him and I sink down a bit in my seat, "I just check on it to make sure everything's good. The pipes and all that."
Phew.
"that's nice of you." Kelly says.
So nice of him.