Chapter Ten: Warm smell of Colitas

"What happened?" Cody asked as he got settled into the car seat.

"I met this girl here" Zack replied. Cody rolled his eyes, shaking his head, seeing that Zack meeting a girl was no surprise. "But she's not like any girl I've ever met."

"What do you mean?" Cody asked curiously, furrowing his eyebrows together. Kurt looked at him through the rearview mirror.

"I mean, she's not like the pretty, well she is pretty, but she's not like the popular, snobbish, type of girls that I usually go after, she's more down to earth"

"What's her name?" Cody asked, thinking about how Zack seemed to describe Rhuben.

"Her name is Riley, and she's here working with her older brother, Julius," Zack replied.

Before Cody could ask a question, he heard Zack's screams of fear and a girl's scream of rage before the phone was shut off. Cody laughed slightly before a thought registered in his mind.

"Dad, didn't your friend Rob say that Rhuben has a sister named Riley and a brother named Julius?" he asked his father.

"Yeah, she does," Kurt replied nodding. "Small world, you and Zack meet twins that are from the same family"

"Yeah, small world" Cody muttered to himself.

"All right, who were you talking to on the phone?" Riley demanded, holding Zack's cell phone over the rail and above the ocean water as Zack tried, in vain, to get it back.

"That's none of your business" Zack replied. "Now give it to me!"

"It's my business if you were talking about me," Riley said and let go a few of her fingers so the cell phone dangled even more. "Tell me or I drop it!"

"Are you really that cruel?" Zack asked in a pleading tone, his eyes getting wide.

"You don't know the half of it," Riley replied dryly. "Now spill!"

"Fine, I was talking to my brother, Cody, who's in LA right now for an acting career," Zack muttered. "And he wanted to know what was up."

Riley looked curious as she pulled her arm back over the rail. "What's your brother's name?"

"Cody," Zack replied, blinking in confusion.

"So that's the dude that Rhuben was talking about, you twin has met my twin recently" Riley said and handed Zack his cell phone back. "She called Julius a couple of nights ago explaining to us what was happening." Riley rolled her shoulders and looked bored. "My sister and brothers are lucky because they get to have fun making our demo CD in LA, and Julius and I are stuck here."

"You have other brothers?" Zack asked as they started to walk around the deck.

"Yeah, Patrick and Noah, who are ten year old twins, and Sydney, who's five" Riley replied with a heavy sigh. "I miss them a lot, but I know I have to stay here and get money, which you keep messing up. Now I probably have to pay for those dishes I broke too."

"Sorry about that," Zack said sheepishly.

"Yeah, I bet you are, I bet your mom is punishing you for it." Riley replied in a baby-ish tone. Zack stopped walking and glared.

"So what if she is?" he demanded.

"It just proves that you're scared of your mom." Riley replied with a smirk. Zack took a step forward, his eyes narrowed.

"Take that back," he growled.

"Make me" she replied. With fast reflexes, she grabbed his phone out of his hand and ran down the deck.

"HEY, GIVE THAT BACK!" Zack shouted.

"YOU HAVE TO CATCH ME FIRST!" Riley shouted back, running faster.

"So, are you ready to lose?" Rhuben asked Cody as she watched Mimi, Monica, Chris, and Dave finish their game of pool.

"We're not going to lose!" Cody replied, as confidently as he could.

"Oh really, then you can break" Rhuben said and shoved a pool cue into his hands. "This is going to be cake, dad" she said walking over to Robert and high-fiving him.

"Don't let them get to you, Cody, I know you can do it" Kurt said reassuringly. Cody gave a small smile as he grabbed chalk and ran it over the tip of the pool cue.

Cody gave a small smile and leveled the pool cue up with the cue ball before hitting it. Cody smiled as he sunk three solid balls just by breaking.

"Nice one, Cody." Sydney said as he clapped cheerfully. "Even Rhu-Rhu can't do that."

"Shut up Sydney!" Rhuben snapped. Cody looked at her and his smile faded when he saw the cold look in her eyes.

The game went on for a few minutes, each team being able to sink a ball, until only the 8 ball was left and it was Rhuben's turn to try and get it in.

"Hey, we got the drinks" Patrick and Noah said as they walked over with trays of soda in their hands.

"Thank you" Cody said and took one. He turned around and accidentally bumped into Rhuben, spilling his drink down her shirt. Cody's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened. "I'm so sorry"

He grabbed a napkin and started to rub her stomach repeating 'I'm sorry' over and over again.

"Dude, its fine" Rhuben said, pushing his arm away.

"Here, why don't we clean you up in the bathroom" Mimi suggested.

"All right" Rhuben said and followed the two older women to the bathroom.

"I'm really sorry!" Cody called after her and his shoulders visibly slumped in depression.

"Wow, that was even more interesting then the time Patrick split his head open by smacking himself with a cue stick, trying to act like it was a nun chuck" Noah replied with a smile.

"42 stitches" Patrick replied with a grin. "My new record"

"Cody, can I give you some advice about women?" Chris asked with a small smile.

"Sure, it's not like it'll make much of a difference" Cody muttered glumly.

"Ok, my advice is, quit while you're behind."

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