The following chapter has been rewritten, and events have changed.
Chapter Two
The next day, before the sun had even had time to rise, my father had me sitting on a plane to Cedar Park, Florida. Waiting at the airport in a blackout car, a driver waited for me, already holding the information as to where he was to take me.
The drive wasn't more than thirty minutes when the car pulls to a slow stop along the curb, he puts the car into park and hits a button, the trunk opening with a pop. He gets out, setting my bags onto the sidewalk for me before flashing a smile and a quick wave. I could tell from what little conversation he and I had in the car, that he spoke little English.
"Wait, is this the right house?" I ask him, gesturing to the oversized house behind me, tucked in the neighborhood of other lookalike houses. It was made out of white brick, all of them laid out perfectly for fantastic foundation. The windows were large, allowing easy access to see inside some of the main rooms to the house where the curtains were open. There were two large oak trees in the front yard, grey moss hung from them, swaying in the warm Florida breeze. In the driveway, there were four vehicles parked outside the two car garage that was attached to the right hand side of the house.
"Yes, bright house." He nods persistently, reaching into his pocket and pulls out his phone. He pulls up the information for my drop off, allowing me to compare addresses, only to find that he was correct.
I thank him, watching as he gets into his car and drives off quickly, probably off to his next human delivery run. Grabbing my bags, I make my way to the door slowly, taking my time choosing my steps up to the front steps. I press the doorbell, setting one of my bags down to allow my arm to rest. Waiting a few uncomfortable moments, there is no answer. I bounce from heel to toe, biting my lip as I debate on ringing it again. Just as my hand reaches to do so, the door is thrown open, greeting me was a yawning boy about my age.
His hair was jet black, messy from nap I kindly woke him from with my presence. He scratches his chest slightly, his eyes finding mine and his eyebrows draw downward.
"Hi, I'm looking for the Parkers?" My voice is small, I advert my eyes away from the intense coloring of his blue eyes and scratch my elbow sheepishly.
"Yeah, are you Brooklyn?" His voice was slow and casual, as if he has known me the entire time. I nod, still not meeting his eyes and he mimics my head bobbing with a little more enthusiasm, obviously not caring if I caught onto his sarcasm.
"Okay." He says loudly, as if he was trying to figure out why I was being so awkward. I stood waiting for him to figure it out, because I would have liked to have known myself. "My dad is waiting for you."
Nothing more is said, he turns away from me and leaves the doorway. I quickly grabbed my bag and shuffle inside, shutting the door with my foot behind me.
"You can just set your things there." He points to the floor beside a tiny wooden table with a glass bowl on top. Inside the bowl were several pairs of keys, each of them belonging to who only knows which vehicle outside. He watches me silently, not introducing himself or asking questions. I stand straight and find that he has already turned towards the hallway, guiding me into the man I have heard so much about.
Nothing about the house was dark, there was a light on in every room, making me wonder to myself about the size of their electric bill. The hallway was wide, not narrow like the one back home, and the walls around us were covered in photo frames. So many faces were in each one, showing that they must get together for family reunions often. I have always fantasized about having a large family who get together on birthdays and holidays, sharing laughter and love.
The boy is ahead of me as he hangs a sharp right through an archway, there is clattering from what sounds like pots and pans coming from the room, but all noise comes to a stop and if followed by low murmurs. With no time at all, a man who appears to be about my father's age, pokes his head from around the archway leading to the kitchen. He wipes his hands on a white hand towel before tossing it onto the counter, flashing me a smile as he sticks out a hand.
"Hello, Brook. I'm Steven." I shake his hand, smiling a small smile. He was dressed nice, much like my father. "Come in and take a seat, we were just about to sit down for an early dinner."
Stepping inside the kitchen, it was just like the one you would see in one of those clique homemakers magazines. White marble countertops with white cabinets, stainless steel appliances placed here and there throughout, all of them humming as they do their assigned tasks.
Off to the side of the kitchen, through another larger archway, was the dining room. Voices boomed throughout the house, all of them holding the same similarity.
They all belonged to the opposite sex.
Whenever the inside of the room came into view, I find them all sitting at a long, wooden dining table. All of the faces were ones I had seen in the photographs along the walls of the hallway. Boys, ages from what I was guessing to be six to nineteen. The boy who answered the door brushes past me as he enters the room, his hands tugging the shirt he had grabbed the rest of the way on.
Eyes move up to greet him, only to fall on me, now noticing I was there. Slowly, the chatter dies down, and the ones with their backs to me have now turned to face me. I am in a room filled with countless attractive men, making me constantly embarrassed by my appearance. Getting dressed this morning, I had thrown on a pair of running leggings, t-shirt, and tied my hair into a messy bun on top of my head. Hadn't exactly expected this kind of living plan upon my arrival.
"Okay, maybe having a girl around won't be so bad after all." One of them shrugs, making a few of them howl with laughter.
I feel my cheeks turn pink just as Steve steps in from the kitchen, he smiles and waves a hand in their direction. His smile was perfect, the kind that would make any woman weak, teeth straightly aligned and bright white. I had noticed in the family photos, the boys had all got the good teeth gene.
"Ignore them, I thought I raised them better." He was an easy-going man, you can tell by his demeanor. He carried himself highly, but his shoulders were not heavy. "These are my sons, I'm afraid to say that you'll be seeing a lot of them."
I was inwardly blazing, I wanted to scream at my father for taking me away from my quiet hideaway, only to throw me into some boys' home.
"Take a seat, we all can get better acquainted." He ushers me to take a seat at the table, a chair is kicked out and I slide myself between two out of the ten boys.
"What grade are you in?" One of them questions, I spare a glance up at the boy across the table. He watched me as he waited for him to reply, much like the rest of them.
"Just finished Sophmore year."
"Us too." Two voices say, I am unable to follow to who's mouth this reply belonged to.
Steve returns to the dining room, followed by a woman who I had not realized was there. They place two large plates in the middle of the table, almost immediately hands are ravaging at the food like members of a starving village.
"Are you serious? Get outta here!" Steve shouts and the hands freeze, some of them were in the middle of throwing out of the several onto their plate, and a few had already stuffed into their mouths. "Let the ladies go first, fellas. You'd think this was a bachelors pad."
My pulse quickens, all eyes were on me once more. The lady who entered the room with Steve has taken a seat at one of the two empty chairs at both ends of the table. A small smile plays on her lips as one of the boys hold a plate to her, allowing her to grab a burger for herself.
A plate is brought my way, and I reach out and take one, throwing a thank you along with it, making the boy holding it nod awkwardly without looking at me. We toss a couple more things onto our plates before the boys continue on piling their plates.
The room was quiet at first, conversation slowly beginning to roll off people's tongues like a cafeteria. My eyes make their way down the table once more, watching the only other woman in the room besides myself. She laughed and joked with the boys, mainly helping two of the younger aged boys who sat beside her. Her hair was a golden blond that hung in thick, loose curls around her sharp cheekbones. She had bright hazel eyes that beamed against her bronze skin, tanned naturally under the Florida sun.
"Brook, let me introduce you to everyone." Steve breaks through the mingling conversations, and away from my gazing. "That's Thomas, Lucas, Brady, Dalton, Kale, Logan, Chris, Garran, Jake, and Roger." He gestures to each boy as he names them, letting me place faces with the names. As he concludes the list, my eyes stop onto the boy who answered the door, who I have come to know ad Roger.
He chewed his food slowly, his eyes not moving from mine for a second. He had the same eyes as his father, piercing grey with an icy blue outline. They flick away from mine, my heart thudding loudly in my chest without an explanation.
"And of course, that is our housekeeper, Wendy." My eyes move to hers now and she greets me with a warm smile.
"We are glad to have you here, it will be nice to have another girl around." She assures me, making me return the smile. Her voice was kind, and soft, almost like a light hum.
"Brooklyn, do you play any sports?" The boy who I have come to know as Lucas asks me, popping a french fry into his mouth after dipping into the pile of ketchup he had on his plate. The amount of it could have been mistaken for another side dish.
"I used to do gymnastics." I nod, bouncing my leg gently. I wish we could skip the intro bit, just jump right in knowing everything there is to know so we can skip the awkward, 'get to know you' stage.
"Right on, that's where you do all the twirls and flips and stuff, isn't it?" Thomas asks from beside me, making me smile slightly.
"Yeah, something like that." I chuckle, going quiet as I gradually clear my plate.
After eating, everyone helps clear the table, I watch them while I grab plates from the table. There was such a warm feeling about them, they all worked together gracefully, joking and laughing as they drift around each other.
"My dad wants me to show you to your room." He says behind me, I set the pile of plates into the sink, turning to find Rodger leaned against the island counter behind me. There was no expression on his face, no tilt of a smile, eyes blank, so nonchalant.
"I guess you've been assigned as my tour guide?" I joked, trying to lighten up the mood. I received no response, his face remains in the same unimpressed look he's held all morning. I nervously shove my hands into the pockets of my light jacket, and nod slowly.
"Okay, I'll go grab my bags?" I point over my shoulder in the general area of where I had left my bags when I had arrived.
"I already put them in the room for you." A boy says, reaching for a bottled water from the refrigerator. He faces us while closing the door, showing who I have come to know as Thomas.
I thank him, mentally appreciating him for breaking the awkward tension that was clear within his brother and I. Rodger leads me from the kitchen, to the stairway at the end of the hall. We say nothing as we both shuffle up the stairs, and down another hallway. This one held more doors on both sides than the one downstairs. Most of the bedrooms were obviously upstairs, leaving me to be sharing the second floor with what is practically a frat house, except well kept thanks to Wendy.
He comes to a stop at one of the dark wooden doors, pushing the door open and waving inside.
"This is the one."
I peak around the doorframe, greeted by a room that was painted an ever so soft shade of lavender that it was practically white. A white dresser, vanity, and desks were assembled in the room around a queen sized bed held by a vintage, white, metal headboard. On the desk was a closed Macbook, and littering the vanity were brushes and makeup products arranged neatly. Mounted on the wall across from the bed, there was a TV, perfect for staying in bed and binge watching endless TV series. There was a large window across the room, the window seat beneath it covered in plush white and lavender pillows.
I blink for a moment, taking in the room that I was finding hard to be 'mine'.
"Your dad had Wendy set it up for you." He tears me away from my daze, I glanced his direction, finding his grey eyes staring down at me. Our eyes hold each other for a few seconds more, then they flash away from me and down the hall.
"I'll let you get settled."
I stand there a moment after he has disappeared back down the stairs, I can hear voices and other noises as everyone fumbles around downstairs. Stepping inside the room, my bags have been placed at the foot of the bed. My dad had told me to bring whatever I wanted, and I could fit all of it into two medium sized suitcases.
In one, were my clothes, makeup bag, and other little things from my bathroom I had tossed inside. The other held photos, journals, an assortment of rocks and crystals, and my entire snowglobe collection. I had snuck into my mother's room before leaving, taking in a few last looks, and breathing in her smell I desperately clung to, which is one of the reasons I kept the door closed. There were a few things I took, a worn, slightly oversized 'Rolling Stones' t-shirt that was her favorite, one of her several glass paperweights, and a couple other small things, and placed them inside a wooden box I found in her closest. It was something her father had made for her before he passed away, her initials K.H were engraved inside a beautiful design on the lid.
Putting my clothing in the drawers and closet, I find there are several outsides and pairs of shoes already inside, courtesy of my father's money and Wendy's choosing. I was slightly confused as to what his motive was right now, he had been almost silent the past three years, but now suddenly was trying to kiss up to me for the missed time.
There was an empty wooden white shelf attached to the wall over the desk, allowing for the perfect place for me to display the globes I had accumulated over the years since I was a child.
I place the last thing in my suitcase on the dresser, a picture of my mother and I. It was one of our last happy days, both of us beaming at my phone camera from outside the San Francisco Museum last summer.
Taking a step back, I sigh softly. The room was large, and attached on the other side of the closet was my own bathroom, allowing me for my own space and privacy from the ten boys I would have been battling otherwise. Wendy had of course took that room into consideration when decorating, placing a lavender toothbrush holder and soap dispenser on the white countertops, and plush white towels were folded in a small cabinet next to the large shower.
I throw myself on the soft bed, the fluffy white comforter molding around me, I shut my eyes, and put my hands on my head.
What the hell was this?
This time yesterday, I was sitting in class, a class I expected to return to the next day. I will never see that chapter of my life again, everything changed in less than twenty four hours and I hadn't had time to process everything entirely.
What if she goes home?
There is no home to go back to, someone else will be living where we were within the next week, and everything will be gone.
I groan, not wanting to think about it anymore. Kicking off my shoes, I pull the legs I was dangling off the end of the bed, closer to my body, wrapping my arms around them tightly. The light coming in several windows of the bedroom was light, it was getting late into the evening, meaning the sun was turning in for the night. Yawning, I read the clock on the nightstand at 8:30pm.
My eyes grow heavier as my mind jumps from one thought to another, listening to the muffled noises from the other side of the closed bedroom door. Doors opening and closing, footsteps downs stairs and hallways, there was going to be constant sounds throughout the house with the number of people who live here.
I drift to sleep, finding that the noises were slightly comforting.
For one of the first times in over six months, I wasn't alone.
Thank you for reading, see you next chapter? (: