Reviving Kendall

by Brandy Slaven

“We have time today, if you want,” I offer as we walk up the steps.

  He’s one step up from me when he stops and looks down to me, “We’ll save it. I want today to be a good day.”

  I can understand that, so I nod, and we make our way into the house. With the way that the outside looked, I fully expect it to be stuffed full of rich people junk. I’m surprised to find that I’m wrong. The furniture is very scarce, and everything is pure white. The living room to the left has two little loveseat looking things in front of a fireplace, and over to the right is a dining room, complete with white carpets and a light wood table. As I look around, I see that there aren’t any family pictures hanging up or sitting anywhere. I find that odd, but don’t comment.

  “Want something to drink?” he asks, and I nod.

  We walk into the kitchen, and it’s the same as the other rooms. Pure white, everywhere you look. I couldn’t even imagine cooking in here. I’d be too scared that I’d stain something.

  Goose walks over to the white fridge, “Ok, we’ve got water, soda or these little juice things.”

  He holds up a silver can that says something about tomato juice on the side and makes a face at it before sticking it back.

  I try not to laugh, “I’ll take a soda.”

  “Soda it is then,” he says walking it over to me. “Now, on to the best room in the house. Mine.”

  I smile at his back as he walks away. His eagerness makes me think of Teagan, which reminds me that I never checked my phone. Pulling it out, I see three different messages from them and a missed call from Goose. The only name I don’t see is Mavericks. Whatever. He can keep being pissed at me if he wants.

  Texting Teagan and Lucas back, I stuff the phone in my pocket and follow Goose down the stairs. As we make it to the bottom, I’m thankful that no one is walking behind me, because I stop so fast that we would have gone tumbling down to the floor.

  “This is your room?” I ask in awe.

  He turns around and smiles at the look on my face, “Yep. This is it.”

  “Holy shit,” I say looking around. It spans the entire length of the house. There’s a bed pushed against the far-right wall with a few movie and football posters surrounding it on the walls. On the same side, there’s a door that must lead to the bathroom or something. It’s the left side of the room that shocks me more than anything. There’s a massive flat screen hanging up in the middle of a crazy system of bookshelves that look like they are built into the wall. Every inch of the surface is taken up with some form of entertainment, but as I move closer I see that most of them are DVDs.

  “Is it safe to assume that you’re a big fan of movies?” I ask.

  His voice comes from directly behind me, “Maybe.” He leans so close that I can feel the heat from him radiating onto my back and when his next words are said, his breath tickles the hair on my neck and sends chill bumps down my arms, “You want to pick or should I?”

  Turning slowly until we’re face to face, I look up to him, “Can I trust you?”

  The playful smile turns wicked, and before I take my next breath, we are chest to chest as he pushes me back against the media shelves and crushes his lips against mine. My heart beats out of my chest as I open my mouth for him and his tongue sweeps in pure domination. Having a mind of their own, my hands find the rock-hard abs of his stomach. It’s been so long since I had skin to skin contact that I find myself craving it. Slipping my hands underneath his shirt, I let them roam all over his body. When I get to his back, I pull him even closer and he lets out a soft groan into my mouth before he deepens the kiss.

  When he finally pulls away, I reach up lightly and kiss him on the column of his throat.

  We’re both breathing hard and I can tell that I’m flushed from my face down to my chest.

  Using his thumb, Goose brushes a loose piece of hair behind my ear, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting that to happen. I just haven’t been able to get you out of my head this weekend. The way that you stood up to Maverick Friday night, it was like you lit a fire underneath my skin and I haven’t been able to put it out.”

  Wow, I never would have guessed that he would be the poet of the quad, or maybe that was just a movie line. With my heart still trying to get back to normal pace, I try to keep my voice from shaking, “It’s ok.”

  Narrowing his eyes playfully, he says, “Just ok?”

  I shake my head and can’t help the smile that crosses my lips.

  He grins in return, “I’ll take that answer.” Reaching behind me, he pulls a movie down from the shelf. “You can trust me,” he says with a wink and I get the feeling that he’s talking about more than just the movie. A pang goes through my chest. I don’t know why these guys are getting to me the way that they are. I never wanted this to happen. After the accident, I swore to myself that I would never allow another person into my heart that wasn’t Gramps. If I could see it as a physical thing, my heart would have stitches running through it right now trying to mend. Only I see those stitches in three different colors and I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.

  “Kendall?” Goose says softly from one of the big black chairs in front of the screen.

  I walk over to the chair next to him and sit, “Sorry.”

  “It’s ok. I’m totally cool with my kisses causing a momentarily lapse of awareness,” he winks over at me. Damn. I’m in so much trouble.

  We spend the next few hours watching some of what he calls ‘The Classics.’ It’s funny, because every one of them is actually really good. He may be on to something with this.

  “I would love to major in film studies next year,” he tells me during one of the breaks.

  I’m confused. His family is rich and he’s going to college. Why wouldn’t he be able to major in whatever he wants, so I ask.

  He frowns, “Father doesn’t think that any career that could come from it is good enough for a Michaels.” Shrugging he says, “So I’ll be majoring in Economics with business management as a minor.”

  I catch how he says ‘father,’ and not my father. Grabbing his hand, I say, “I’m sorry. At least you get to go to college.”

  He looks at our intertwined fingers, “You’re really not planning on going next year?”

  “I don’t know,” I say honestly. “If I do, it will just be a few classes over at MCC. I don’t want to leave Gramps alone.”

  Nodding, he says, “Yeah, I get that.”

  After a few seconds of silence, he officially closes the subject, “I’m starving. Oh shit, Kendall. I forgot that I promised you food earlier. I was so damn excited having you in my house and all to myself that it slipped my mind. Want to order pizza?”

  My stomach growls in response. It’s been forever since I had a good pizza. Those little dollar pizzas from the frozen foods just aren’t the same. I nod to him and he whips out his phone. He mumbles as he’s typing, and I catch something like five large, wings and bread should be enough.

  “Did you just say five large?” I ask in shock. “How much do you think we’ll actually eat of that?”

  He looks at me a little sheepishly, “There’s kind of something that I didn’t tell you.”

  I tilt my head, “And what’s that?”

  “You’ll see in approximately twenty-two minutes,” he answers vaguely.

  Giving him the benefit of the doubt doesn’t help my nerves as I wonder what he could possibly be talking about. Twenty minutes later, I jump when the doorbell rings.

  Goose laughs and heads upstairs, “It’s just the pizza, babe.”

  I’m floored by his pet name and it takes me longer than it should to get up and follow him.

  He’s shutting the door with his foot as I make it to the top of the stairs, “Need any help?”

  “Nope,” he says, and I follow him into the kitchen.

  I go to get drinks out of the fridge as he sets the boxes on the counter, “What do you want?”

  When he doesn’t answer I turn to find him right behind me. His hands fi
nd my ass and he lifts me to the counter. He kisses me like a man possessed, and I take advantage of our height being level for once. My palms rub against the sides of his hair where it’s cut short before they find the back of his neck, and I pull him closer.

  I feel his fingers on my knees before they make their way up the outsides of my thighs. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel just as good as his lips against mine.

  The doorbell rings, and Goose pulls away, “I wanted to get that in before they got here.”

  “Before who got here?” I ask, even though I should have already known.

  It rings again, and he sighs against my lips as he sets me back down on the floor, “Plates are up here in the cabinet. Go ahead and make yours. We tend to act like animals around food.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Lucas says strolling through the doorway like he owns the place.

  Goose jumps away from me like he doesn’t want us to get caught. It stings a little, but I’ve kissed Teagan and Lucas too. Feelings are going to get hurt if I don’t go ahead and put a stop to all of this and just be friends with each of them.

  Lucas walks over and pulls me into a hug. I catch Goose turning away at the last second. Yeah, I’m a shit person. Just because I was lucky enough to have what I did with the VanPelt brothers, doesn’t mean that I will ever find that again. I’d rather not test the quad’s friendship trying.

  Even if Lucas does look and smell amazing. The tips of his brown hair are wet making them darker. When he pulls away and smiles down at me, it crinkles the skin around his blue eyes. That smile would melt the panties off a nun.

  “I didn’t know you were going to be here,” he says lingering by my side.

  I laugh, “I could say the same thing to you.”

  A new voice echoes down the hall and it freezes me to the spot, “Goddamn it, Lucas. Why did you take off like that?”

  Maverick rounds the corner and I want to say that my palms aren’t sweating at the sight of him, but I’d be lying. He’s only a tad bit shorter than Lucas and Teagan, but his presence is more commanding, making him seem that much larger.

  No one says a word as we stare at each other. I already apologized, so I’m not backing down. Apparently, neither is he. The front door opens and closes again. There’s no need to guess as to who it could be; there’s only one person missing from this scene. Teagan rips around Maverick and his eyes lock on to me. Not giving a shit about the tension in the room being thick enough to slice with a knife, his face lights up and he runs over to pick me up.

  I’m swung around in a circle as he says, “Kendall! I’m glad you’re here.” His blonde hair tickles my face as he sets me back down and whispers in my ear, “I missed you.”

  I try not to let my red face be a dead giveaway to his words. Instead, I focus back on Maverick. He’s moved to one of the bar stools and is loading a plate full of pizza beside the other two. “I hope you know that doesn’t mean that you won or anything,” I tell him.

  There’s absolute silence in the room before Goose busts out laughing, quickly followed by Lucas.

  “What did I miss?” Teagan asks, confusion pulling his brows down.

  Lucas shoots me a smile, “Kendall not losing at a staring match with Mav.”

  “Hey,” I say defensively, “That wasn’t fair.”

  Maverick’s eyes seem to turn even darker blue behind his glasses as his dark eyebrow shoots up, “Life isn’t fair, little girl.”

  This raises my hackles as much as it makes me sad, “One, you’re preaching to the choir. Two, I’m older than you are. Little boy.”

  Goose’s mouth hangs open and Lucas looks stiff, like he’s ready to stop a fight. Teagan stands beside me stuffing his mouth with a slice of pizza while watching us. Maverick just glares. I watch his mouth twitch like he’s having to fight whatever it is that he wants to say. I could be the bigger person and have Goose take me home, but I was here first tonight. I’m pretty sure that Goose didn’t invite them, so he’s more than welcome to leave. Instead, he shrugs and goes back to eating his pizza, relieving some of the tension in the room at the same time.

  Jeez, this is going to be a fun night.

  Rollercoaster

  After our stomachs are full, Goose drags us back downstairs for another movie.

  “We should be working out instead of sitting on our asses,” Maverick complains once we’re down here and settled in. Goose gives up his chair for me and sits between my legs in the floor. I see Teagan throw him a look out of the corner of my eye, but Lucas just shakes his head with a smile.

  Goose turns to Maverick, “Dude, we lifted after school. Won’t hurt to take a break and relax for a bit.”

  Maverick mumbles, but quietens down when the credits start. I haven’t heard of the movie that Goose put in, but it turns out to be pretty decent, and has lots of action. There’s a slow part in the middle, and I find myself nodding off. With a belly full of the best pizza I’ve ever had, and hardly any sleep, it’s no wonder really.

  The next thing I know, Lucas is shaking me awake, “Kendall. Come on, let’s get you home.”

  It takes me a minute to fully wake up and I yawn, “Sorry I fell asleep. I didn’t get much sleep this weekend.”

  He smiles, “No need to apologize. Teagan didn’t make it through, either.” I look over, and sure enough, he’s asleep. His long blonde hair hangs around his face since his head has fallen forward. That can’t be very comfortable. Lucas goes to the rescue, and wakes him up too, but Teagan just curls up into a ball in the chair and doesn’t say a word. It’s not until I laugh that he shows any kind of reaction. He glances over his shoulder and smiles sleepily at me.

  “If you want a ride home, you better come on,” Maverick says. At first, I think he’s talking to Teagan, but when I turn to look at him, he’s staring at me.

  “You’re taking me home?” I ask, trying to hide my disappointment.

  I must not do a very good job, because he narrows his eyes, “You can walk home. Your choice.”

  He makes his way up the stairs, and I glare daggers in his back in hopes that he can feel him. I turn to Lucas, “Do I really have to ride with him?”

  Lucas smiles, “One of us could run you home, but it’ll take longer since Teagan is already on my way. Maverick just lives across the street, so he won’t have to double back around.”

  “That’s how you knew that we had ordered pizza,” I say.

  He shrugs, “Goose knows better than to order from our favorite pizza place and have us not show up.” Makes sense. That’s why he went ahead and ordered so much food.

  Goose comes racing down the stairs, “Kendall and Maverick haven’t left yet have they?” He sees me standing beside Lucas, and a relieved look passes over his face.

  “We haven’t left,” I tell him, “but you better hurry up, or I have a feeling I’m going to be walking home.”

  He finds an old messenger bag thing in the corner and shoves a laptop inside followed by a power cord. He comes over and drops it across my shoulders, “This is for your free time tomorrow. There’s a ton of movies on there. I left the file open for you. It’s got the first ten you should watch, and I’ll come over after practice to watch some of them with you.”

  Teagan jumps up, “Hey, count me in.”

  I laugh at his enthusiasm and Lucas says, “Yep, me too.”

  Shaking my head, I say, “Why don’t we just meet back over here then. It’ll be a tight squeeze in my room, plus I don’t know how Gramps will be feeling either.”

  Goose wraps me up in a hug, “Sounds good to me.”

  “I get to pick Kendall up tomorrow,” Lucas says. The other two look like they want to argue, but finally agree.

  Maverick honks the horn outside. “God, he’s such an impatient prick,” I mumble.

  Lucas pulls me from Goose and throws his arms around me, “Go easy on him.”

  I go to nod, but Teagan comes up from behind me and squishes me against Lucas, “Kendall sandwich!”
<
br />   I try to laugh, but it comes out muffled against Lucas’ chest.

  “Ok, ok,” Goose says, “Mav’s going to murder us all if she doesn’t get up there.”

  Reluctantly, I step away from them and wave bye as I make my way up the stairs.

  My hand has just closed around the doorknob when Teagan’s voice calls out, “Hey, wait a second.”

  When I turn around, he pulls the beanie that we’ve been trading back and forth out of his pocket and puts it on my head. I smile up at him and he leans down to press his lips against mine. It’s just a quick stolen moment, but it’s still sweet. My eyes catch movement by the stairs. Lucas. He’s standing with a curious expression on his face, but he doesn’t look angry like someone typically would in this situation.

  His face is front and foremost in my mind for half the trip home. Maverick ruins it by opening his mouth, “Heard you punched some girl in the face.”

  I roll my eyes, “Maybe. What’s it to you?”

  “Just sounds kind of hypocritical if you ask me,” he says. “You stopped me from giving that guy what he deserved the other day and then turn around and start punching people at school.”

  I turn my head to look out the window, “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  He sighs with exasperation and I look back to him, “Stacey was talking shit about Nana. It was just the last straw. She’s been in cahoots with Derrik, and trying to make my life as miserable as possible. Gramps had a bad weekend and I got no sleep, so when she started running her mouth, I warned her. As you can see, she didn’t listen. I stopped you with Derrik because it looked like you were going to kill him. I didn’t stop you from giving him what he deserves. In my opinion, they both got what was coming to them. I apologized, because I brought drama to the party, and because I’m sure that I embarrassed you guys.”

  By the end, I’m looking away from him again, but his next words have me whipping my head back around, “I’m sorry I’m being such a dick, Kendall. You didn’t embarrass us at the party. I was more pissed at myself than I was you or even that guy. I see how the guys are with you. They like you and that could turn out to be a very bad thing. When Teagan told us what had gone down, at first I got pissed at the guy, then I was furious with myself for how much I cared.”