Three
Naomi
This was turning out to be the worst Spring Break ever. I had broken two fingers and sprained my wrist. Rachel said it could have been worse. How I had no idea. And thanks to the crazy lady, Jake and his man crew were refusing to let me out of their sight. Rachel swore it wasn't intentional but I everywhere I went; I saw one of them. Speaking of his crew, there was something wrong with them. Not in a bad way but I swear they were abnormal. First off, they were all huge, freakishly huge. I mean so huge if I saw them walking down the street, I would cross.
Second they never wore shirts, well they did but there were short sleeves. Which would be perfectly normal if it was summer but it wasn't. It was Spring and we were in one of the coldest places to be. It had literally rained the first two days we were there. Which is why I was beyond excited when I woke up and saw not only was it not raining, the sun was shining. I looked over to the other bed and saw that it was empty. I jumped up and made my way out into the living room. Just as he had been the day before, Brady was sitting on the couch. Jake was sitting next to him and they were very involved with a video game. I looked into the kitchen and found Rachel in the spot that I had seen her very often, at the stove.
Kennedy sat across from them on the love seat. She had a book open in front of her face but I could see her looking at Brady. And she swore she didn't like him. I could practically see the drool falling onto the pages of the book. As I got closer I realized it was a book she had read at least fifteen times before. I walked over and flopped down on the couch next to Kennedy.
"You know you could just go sit next to him," I whispered in her ear. Kennedy turned and looked at me. She bumped me with her shoulder. She was embarrassed. I rolled my eyes and moved closer to her. I dropped my head on her shoulder so I could be closer to her ear. I knew if she thought Brady would be able to hear us, she would probably die from embarrassment.
"I knew it. You like him."
"I don't know him enough to like him."
"Sure but you can get to know him. Oh my God! I just had an idea. You should totally hook up with him! After all we're about to graduate from college and you still haven't gotten a taste of man candy."
Brady started coughing just as Kennedy sucked in a deep breath. She pushed me off her shoulder. She rolled her eyes and jumped off the couch. I turned to look at Jake and Brady, wondering if they heard what I said. But how could they? The TV was turned up loud and they were playing a shooting game. There was no way they would have heard me; right? I stood up from the couch and followed behind Kennedy into the kitchen.
"I was just kidding Ken." I said walking up to her. Kennedy stared at me for a while. I stuck my bottom lip out and held my hands up in front of me. I was imitating Puss in Boots from Shrek. Kennedy shook her head no.
"That's not funny Naomi. What if he heard you?" she asked me. She looked past me into the living room. Brady and Jake still had both eyes clued to the TV screen.
"I was whispering. There was no way he heard me. Rachel where can a girl go to get a good pedicure? My feet are absolutely horrible." I said turning around and looking at Rachel.
"Well," Rachel said turning from the stove "There is a place in Forks but you might want to go into Port Angeles."
"Sounds like a plan. Hey Jake," I said walking to the doorway of the living room "Can I borrow your truck today?"
"No." he said not bothering to look back at me.
"Why not? You aren't even doing anything!" I whined. Rachel walked into the living room, drying her hands on a dish cloth. She walked over and stood in front of Jake. He tried to look around her but every way he moved she countered. Jake was still determined to play but quickly lost the battle. He let out a sigh as Brady's character stood over him shooting.
"Come on Rachel, move!" Jake said to her. Rachel threw her head to the side and stared at Jake. She crossed her arms over her chest and straightened her head back up. Jake stood up and went into his pocket. He pulled the keys out and turned to face me.
"If you scratch my car you die," he said before tossing them over to me. I caught them and blew him a kiss. Kennedy headed towards our room and I followed right behind her. I found her kneeled in front of her suitcase, looking for something to wear. I decided to keep my yoga pants on but changed my shirt. Kennedy pulled out a pair of blue jeans and a long sleeve white shirt. She slipped into her jeans and turned to face me.
"I think we should invite Rachel to go with us." She said as she picked her shirt up. I stood in front of the dresser and stared in the mirror. I quickly threw my hair up in a bun and slipped my shoes on. When I walked out, Rachel was standing behind Jake in the living room, watching him play.
"Rachel, get dressed your coming with us." I told her. She turned to look at me and shook her head no. Her cheeks were turning red as she held her hands up.
"No that's ok. I have so much to do around here. "
"We don't know our way around and you can show us. Besides we're family and I want to get to know you outside of here."
"I really need to get dinner started. Brady, can you take them down to Port Angeles?" Brady jumped up with a huge smile on his face. Kennedy's eyes got big and she looked down at the ground. Brady started walking towards the kitchen. I turned around and put my hand on his chest while shaking my head no. "This is strictly a girls outing," I told him. There was no way I was going to let Brady come with us. Kennedy would never be able to relax while he was around. Besides I was sure he had other things to do than escort me and Kennedy around. But then again I wasn't so sure; the man did show up here every day since we had been here. Rachel stood looking like she wanted to die. She kept shaking her head no.
"Come on Rachel, "I told her "I know that you are in need of a girl's day as much as I am. You are the only girl living in this house. As if having Jake as a brother isn't bad enough, you have the rest of his friends around you all the time."
"She's right Rachel. Go ahead and enjoy," Billy said rolling into the kitchen. Rachel looked at him and then back at me before smiling and running to her room. A few minutes later we were all heading out the door. Jake and Brady followed us down the steps and towards Jake's truck. Rachel ended up driving, I climbed in the front and Kennedy slid into the back.
"Straight there and back Rachel," Jake said. His voice was firm. He sounded like a father talking to his child.
"Jeez Jake what are you her father?" I asked. Jake glared at me and I stuck my tongue out at him. I noticed Brady was staring at Kennedy who was making a point of not looking at him. Rachel said something else to Jake before starting the car up and heading towards the road. The ride down was perfect. We were able to laugh and sing along to the radio.
"I had no idea how much I missed this until now," Rachel said as she slipped her feet into the water. I smiled and nodded my head in agreement as I got comfortable in the chair. As soon as my nail tech's hands hit my feet, I let out a loud sigh.
"So Rachel, where are all the hotties at?" I asked them.
"I wouldn't know," Rachel laughed at me. "I don't get out much."
"Even if you did, you only have eyes for one person," Kennedy said. Rachel turned and looked at Kennedy. I leaned up and looked at the two of them, confused. Who was Kennedy talking about? Rachel started laughing.
"Wait a minute what am I missing?" I asked them.
"I'm married Naomi."
"What? Who?" I asked them. In the three days we had been there I hadn't seen any guy come over for Rachel.
"Paul is my husband," Rachel said. She smiled and I could tell she was really in love with him. Her cheeks started to blush a little.
"How come I haven't seen this Paul person?"
"He's been busy with work. But you'll get to meet him tonight. We're all going to Emily and Sam's for dinner."
"Ok who are Emily and Sam?" Naomi asked.
"I keep forgetting you don't know everyone. So in our group there's Sam and Emily, Me and Paul, Jared and Kim, Jacob and Renesme who are all married. Embry and Mila are the ones getting married. Seth and Dakota have been dating for a little over a year. Leah and Collin will be over there tonight to. You'll meet all of them tonight."
"What do you guys do for fun?" I asked Rachel. "Where do you go?"
'We don't really go off the reservation. I mean we go to movies and stuff like that but for the most part we have fun just being with each other. It's hard to understand if you aren't from here."
Rachel was right. I didn't understand it. They literally did everything on the reservation. Not that they couldn't. The res was huge. There was a school, a small grocery store, and a car repair shop. It had a nice hometown feel. But I needed to get out.
"So what clubs are around here?"
"Clubs?" Rachel asked.
"Yes clubs. We're going out tonight."
"I don't know. I don't get out much."
"That's fine. I'll just look something up. Why don't you call the other girls up and ask them if they want to go after dinner. It can be a celebration for Mila and the wedding."
"That sounds fun. I'll get on that right now," Rachel said with a smile.
Kennedy
Paul and the guys were not happy about us going out. Naomi announced the plan after dinner. The girls were excited and jumped at the opportunity. The guys were all against it. They spent the last twenty minutes or so trying to convince their significant others not to go. Sam and Emily took their discussion to their bedroom.
"Why do you need to go with them?" Paul asked Rachel. Rachel looked up from her phone and smiled at him.
"Relax Paul. It's just one night out. You know no other guy compares to you," she said before kissing him on the cheek. He didn't say anything but I could tell he was still a tad bit upset.
"So where are you guys going exactly?"
"There are a couple spots in Seattle we'll hit up. Don't worry we won't be drinking and driving. I reserved us two rooms at a hotel. We can park the cars at the hotel and then take a cab or an uber to the clubs," Naomi said.
Jake grabbed the remote and muted the television. He looked at Rachel who shrugged her shoulders. When he looked over at me, I held my hands up. He turned to Naomi who was looking at something on her phone.
"You didn't say anything about staying out all night Naomi."
"It's a four hour drive Jake. It's safer to stay in Seattle overnight. If we're drinking then we don't want to get behind the wheel."
"Kim and Emily don't drink. There is no need to stay out overnight," Paul said.
"Look I get it that you guys do everything together. But this is girls' night. Girls night means none of you get to tell us what to do."
"It's not about telling you what to do Naomi. We do things a certain way around here."
"A certain way? From what I can tell the certain way is being cooped up on the res. All the ladies are excited about going."
"There are things you don't know about Naomi."
"What things Jake? The only thing I know is that nobody around here likes to have fun. You know what," Naomi stood up "since this is causing so much trouble, Kennedy and I will go solo."
"What?!" Emily said disappointed as she came back in the living room with us"I thought we all were going out."
"Jake seems to have an issue with Renesme staying out all night. And if he's mad about it I'm sure the rest of the guys are too. I'm not trying to cause any trouble. Kennedy and I will just go alone."
"But I was really looking forward to going out with you! What if the guys came with us?"
"That defeats the purpose of girls night Emily," Naomi said. Emily looked at Sam before turning back to Naomi. She snapped her fingers and walked over in front of Naomi.
"Well you said we were going to more than one spot right? The guys can come drive us and find somewhere to go while we go out. Then when we're ready to go home we can call them and they can pick us up. That way we still get to go out. Jake and the guys won't worry then."
I could tell that wasn't what Naomi wanted to do but she agreed. Jake sat down on the couch, apparently fine with the suggestion. Emily smiled and went back to her room. My phone ringing cut through the silence of the room. I answered and walked out on to the porch. "Hello."
"Hey baby. How are things going?"
"It's going fine James. We're going out tonight with Naomi's cousins and her friends."
"Is Naomi next to you?" he asked me.
"No she's in the house."
"Go by her and put me on speaker phone," he told me. I rolled my eyes but did what he asked. James and Naomi didn't get along at all. Naomi swore I could do better than James. And James swore he didn't understand how I was even friends with Naomi in the first place. I found Naomi in the kitchen and told her James was on the phone.
"What do you want James?" Naomi asked him. The agitation in her voice was obvious.
"Kennedy told me you ladies are going out tonight."
"That is correct," Naomi said.
"Keep an eye on her alright. It's bad enough I let you take her away from me for a week. And if any guy tries to talk to her you know what to do."
"I sure do. Get her really drunk and let her go home with him," Naomi said laughing.
"NAOMI" James yelled "I'm serious. If anything happens to my girlfriend I will never forgive you."
The sound of a glass shattering made me look up. Brady was standing in doorway of the kitchen staring at me and Naomi. He had dropped the glass he was holding. Naomi and James continued their banter back and forth. Brady's arms started shaking, he looked upset almost. Almost as quickly as I noticed him shaking Jake and Sam grabbed him and pulled him out the house. Naomi had finally noticed what was going on. She looked at me with her eyebrows raised. I shrugged my shoulders before joining back in the conversation.
"Look James I would love to keep this up but we gotta go. I have to make sure Kennedy looks hot as hell tonight," Naomi said before ending the call.
"So you have a boyfriend?" Emily asked me. She has eased in the kitchen and was sweeping up the broken glass.
"Yes," I said at the same time Naomi was saying no. I cut my eyes at her and turned back to Emily. "Yes I have a boyfriend. We've been together for about a year."
"And she can do so much better than him. I hate him."
"Naomi please don't do this."
"Kennedy you know I don't hid my feelings or lack thereof. I hate James and you should hate him to. God Kennedy you let him-"
"Shut up Naomi!" I yelled at her. "We go through this all the time! James is who I'm with so just drop it," I said pushing my way past Emily. I quickly walked off the porch and headed in the direction I thought we came from. I felt bad for yelling at Naomi. She was my best friend and she just wanted the best for me. James and I had a rocky relationship but he could be sweet when he wanted to. I shook my head and looked around. I knew we turned left when we got to the end of the driveway so I turned right and headed down the road.