The Road to Happiness
"Hey there you are buddy! What took you so long?" Duo asked as he jumped off the trunk of his car.
"Sorry about that, Duo." Quatre said as he got out of the car he had just parked in his driveway. "Church went late this morning."
Duo rolled his eyes and put the guitar he had been playing into the back of his car among the fast food wrappers and various articles of clothing.
"Come on, I still have to get changed so you can wait inside." Quatre said motioning for Duo to follow him.
"You got that right! I hope you're not planning on going to the beach in khakis and a Polo shirt! But you gotta hurry because it's a beautiful day and the beach and the babes are waiting!" Duo said pointing at the perfectly clear sky.
Duo followed Quatre through his four-car garage and waited for Quatre to open the door to one of the largest and most beautiful houses in the neighborhood. It was definitely bigger than any house Duo had ever been in but it still wasn't the largest in the neighborhood.
"Dude, where is everyone? I thought you had as staff or something?" Duo asked as he and Quatre walked into the house.
"Come on, you know I give my staff the day off on Sunday." Quatre said as he put his keys and a book on the counter.
"Oh yeah…I forgot…" Duo said, quietly to himself.
"Okay I'll be right back." Quatre said as he jogged through the living room to the master bedroom that was located on the first floor.
"Hurry up dude! Everyone is already at the beach!" Duo yelled after Quatre. "Heero just got a new grill so he's cooking and he's gonna get mad med if we don't get there soon! We're supposed to be getting there right now!" Duo looked around Quatre's kitchen, which was easily 4 times the size of Duo's small apartment kitchen. Duo had been over a few times before and the last time it had been for some church thing that Quatre had been hosting. Duo met a bunch of Quatre's buddies from his Sunday school class or something. Quatre had invited him to another Sunday school get together but Duo had found a way to get out of it. Those church people made him nervous.
Duo picked up the book that Quatre had left on the counter and flipped it over.
"The Holy Bible…" Duo read. "Ooo, let's see what's in here!" Duo said sarcastically as he walked into Quatre's living room, which was probably the size of Duo's entire apartment, and plopped down on one of the two overstuffed couches and opened the book.
"Let's see, here we have the definition of contentment," Duo read quietly to himself. "Realizing that God has provided everything I need for my present happiness." Duo read mockingly with a happy, singsong voice. "What a bunch of Bull!"
"Okay, you ready to go?" Quatre asked, emerging from his room dressed in swim trunks and a T-shirt.
"Yeah dude!" Duo said, hopping off the couch before Quatre noticed that Duo's feet had been on the furniture. At any of the other guys places Duo could care less where he feet were but at Quatre's it was different. "He'll probably tell me it's a sin or something." Duo thought.
"What were you reading?" Quatre asked.
"Huh? Oh, your book you left on the counter." Duo said.
"Oh you mean my Bible?" Quatre asked, walking toward the back door.
Duo groaned inwardly, he hated when the conversation turned toward that particular subject.
"Oh I don't know. I was just flipping through it." Duo lied. "So are we taking my car or yours?"
"My car, if you don't mind?"
"Nah, it's cool!" Duo said.
"So read anything interesting?" Quatre asked.
"Oh, well I just got to look at it for a minute." Duo said. "Nothing really caught my eye."
Quatre nodded and started the car.
Duo smiled, that was why he could put up with Quatre and his nonsense. It was because Quatre never pushed Duo to go to church or anything. Sure Quatre had invited him a few times but when he wasn't able to make it, and Duo never was able to make it, "Though sometimes sitting alone on a Sunday morning does get pretty boring…" Duo thought.
The point was, Quatre wasn't obnoxious about it and he was still Duo's friend. So what if while Duo was out partying Quatre was at home memorizing scripture, or whatever he did? But thankfully Quatre said nothing more on the subject the rest of the drive to the beach.
Quatre pulled into an empty space next to Heero's car. Heero looked up from the grill only long enough to wave. Duo hopped out of the car and ran over to Heero.
"Hey! How's it going?" Duo asked as he shook hands with Heero and hugged him.
"Good, and you?"
"Good man! Real good! So, where are all the babes?"
"Well Heero's babe is right here."
"Hey Jenny!" Duo greeted Heero's wife who had just came around the car with a bag of buns. "So what have you guys been up too?"
"Well, we were gonna wait until everyone was together but…" Heero looked at his wife and then at Duo and Quatre. "I'm gonna be a father!"
"Wow! Congratulations!" Duo said hugging Heero once more. "Only 20 years old and you're married and expecting your first child! It's weird!"
"It's nice. You should try it sometime" Heero replied.
"How long have you known?" Quatre asked as he hugged the mother-to-be.
"I found out yesterday."
"We planned on telling everyone at dinner but I couldn't wait any longer." Heero said.
"I don't blame you!" Duo said.
"So where's everyone else?" Quatre asked.
"Well Wufei and Trowa are down on the beach trying to set up the volley ball net. Trowa's girl friend wasn't able to make it at the last minute so other than that everyone is here. We're just waiting for the food to be ready." Heero said.
"Well I'm gonna go see what I can do to get that volley ball net up." Duo said running down to the beach.
"Hey girls! Want to play some volley ball?" Duo yelled at two girls walking toward him down by the water. "Come on! I'm wearing a Speedo under here!"
Quatre reached Duo just as the girls were about to walk past.
"Hey Quatre, there are two of them, if I can get them to come over then there will be one for you. But you might have to fight Wufei for her." Duo said.
Suddenly the girls pointed in Duo's direction and started walking toward him and Quatre.
"Wow, Quatre you have a way with the ladies!" Duo said.
"Do you really have a Speedo under there?" Quatre asked.
"No, I just said that trying to get them to come over here."
"Hey, wait." Quatre said, as the girls got closer. "That's Kristi and her cousin from Sunday school."
"Oh…" Duo said, looking down at his shirt. It had the logo of a rock band on it and for some reason he didn't want the church girls to see it so he quickly took it off and threw it onto the pile of beach towels that was next to their makeshift volleyball court.
"I didn't know you would be here!" The girl with the short blonde hair said to Quatre.
"Yeah, it's just a get together with some friends. By the way, I don't think you've met Duo. Duo this is Kristi," Quatre said pointing to the girl with the blonde hair. "And this is, I'm sorry, I forgot your name, was it Joni?"
"Jessi." The girl with the long brown hair corrected.
"That's right, Jessi. So where were you two this morning? We missed you in Sunday school."
"Well my parents are going back to Colorado, in just a few minutes actually." Jessi said looking at her sports watch. "So we decided to come to the beach instead. We'll make the Wednesday service though."
"Jessi is staying for the rest of the summer." Quatre told Duo.
"Have you guys eaten? Because we have more than enough food if you wanted to join us!" Quatre invited.
"Well we did have some ham sandwiches but you know me, I'm always up for more food!" Kristi said. "What about you?" She asked her cousin.
"Oh you know me! The bottomless pit!"
"Great!" Quatre said.
"We'll go say goodbye to our parents and then we'll be right back." Kristi said.
"Okay, we'll play some volley ball when you get back." Duo yelled after them.
The two girls turned around and gave the thumbs up sign.
Duo smiled. He liked Jessi; she was cute, even if she was one of those church people.