Chapter 38
“You’re getting to be too much like me,” I tell Ryder when I open his bedroom door and find him still in bed at noon.
He pokes his head up and grumbles. “Who let you in?” He rolls back over and shoves a pillow over his head.
“Your mom. Dude, it’s after twelve. Get up. Kitten texted me and told me to keep you company today. I can’t believe you agreed to let her go off with Jay. Are you nuts? You know he still wants her.”
Ry groans and pops his head up. “You’re going to be a pain in the ass and not leave, aren’t you?”
I grin at him. “Yep. Me, you, Jules, and E are going out. Elizabeth’s orders. Roads are clear, so I thought we’d head into Raleigh and get into some trouble.”
Ry stretches his arms over his head. “Yeah, okay. Give me ten and I’ll meet you downstairs.”
“My mom wants to know if you’re coming to our Thanksgiving supper with Elizabeth. She needs to know how many place settings to put out.
Getting out of bed, Ry grabs a Henley and some jeans hanging off his desk chair. “I was planning to, but Mom wants me here for Thanksgiving. What time?”
“Five.”
“Should be able to do both. We usually eat at three.”
“Don’t let your girl be alone on Thanksgiving,” I warn him.
Sliding his jeans over his boxers, Ry zips them up but doesn’t button the top. He pulls on the long-sleeved shirt. “You giving relationship advice now? Besides, she wouldn’t be alone. She’d be with you.
“As much as I would like to have her all to myself, she would rather have you there, and you know it.”
Ry sits down on the end of his bed and pulls on a pair of socks. “I may not be the best company today. I’m still tired as hell.
“Nothing a gallon of coffee won’t cure. I’ll head downstairs and get some brewing.”
As I descend the stairs, I take my phone out and shoot a text to Elizabeth.
Me: Secret for a secret
Kitten: I once ate so many pop rocks that I became a human version of the Coke and Mentos experiment. It was not pretty.
Ha! I can only imagine.
Me:
Kitten: Yep. That’s basically what I looked like. Add in a rainbow of colors, and I became an exploding unicorn pinata.
This girl.
Me: Our boy was still in bed. Why didn’t he sleep over at your house? Thought you guys were basically living together.
Kitten: Faith and Randy are only allowing two nights a week. He stayed over the other night and he’ll stay with me tonight. It sucks.
Kitten: Thanks for going over to check on him
Me: What are you and Jay doing today?
Kitten: We’re having lunch right now at Ruby’s. What are you guys planning to do
Me: Right now, I’m trying to get Ry’s lazy butt up. Jules and E are meeting us here and then I thought we’d head into Raleigh.
Kitten: Make sure Ryder eats something today. Doesn’t the saying go, feed a cold and starve a fever?
Me: Like I would know
Me: Race at the Fields on Fri?
Kitten: Heck yeah!
Me:
Me: Text when you are done so I know when to have your boy back.
Kitten: I’ll call him now. I didn’t earlier bc I didn’t want to wake him. He’s been in a sleep coma since we got back.
Kitten: And thanks, Fallon.
I’ll gladly take the kiss, but she doesn’t need to thank me for anything. Doesn’t she know I’d do anything for her?
Jules and Elijah walk in. I remember Ry mentioning that they all have keys to each other’s houses and just let themselves in whenever. My dad would blow a gasket if I gave anyone a key to our house. Security issues and all that.
“If that’s coffee you’re making, count me in,” Julien says as they enter the kitchen.
We give each other side shoulder-bumps in greeting, and I go back to filling up the coffee machine.
Julien pops himself up to sit on the counter and pulls Elijah between his legs. Wrapping his arms around Elijah’s waist, he gives him a kiss on the neck.
“Liz and Ry’s birthdays are in January, and Elijah and I want to get everyone in on planning a party for their sweet eighteens.”
“Let me know what you need, and I’ll make sure it gets bought, done, or baked,” I tell him.
“What did you think about Stanford?” Elijah asks me.
“That the college you’re looking at?”
“It’s on my top ten list for colleges to apply to,” he replies. “Stanford, Duke, CU to be with Julien, SUNY, Harvard, Berkeley…” he counts off on his fingers.
I hand Julien the coffee mug once the machine automatically shuts off after brewing.
“Why did you take a year off anyway?”
I shrug. “I know my dad wants me to come into the business and work with him. That means going to business school. Honestly, I don’t know if that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.
I thought I’d take a skip-year and get some work experience at MP.
See if I liked it enough to commit the rest of my life to it. ”
“How is the internship with your dad going?
I set in another pod to brew. “It’s alright. I like the R&D department. We’ll see.”
I’m not about to tell either of them that I’ve recently decided to wait and see where Elizabeth goes. That sounds a bit too stalkerish even in my own mind, but whatever. My bet is that she’s going to go to CU. If she does, I may reconsider my plans for college.
“Anyway, to answer your question, E, I liked Stanford just fine. Did the whole campus tour and stuff. Would I sing its accolades? Nope. With my family’s money, I can go to pretty much whatever university I want, but I reckon a decent state university would be just as good.
Cocky and narcissistic as I may be, I’m not interested in going Ivy League just for the bragging rights. ”
Elijah strokes a thumb under his chin in consideration. “I guess there’s a bit of me wanting the prestige, but it would save me from a heap of college loan debt if I went to CU or UNC. Thanks, man.”
Ry walks in just in time for me to hand him the freshly brewed mug of coffee.
“Thank God,” he mumbles, holding the mug as if it’s precious treasure
“Kitten said to feed you. What do you want for lunch-breakfast?”
“You mean brunch?” Julien laughs
“Whatever.”
“Not hungry,” Ry says, sitting down in one of the stools at the counter island.
I lightly punch his shoulder. “Nope. Not the correct answer.
He looks up at me and scowls. “I’m really not hungry. I need the coffee right now more than I need food. We can pick something up on the way.”
Julien touches Ryder’s disheveled hair and gets his hand swatted. “I know how you feel this morning. I didn’t get to sleep until real late. It took me over an hour to wash all the shaving foam off me and out of my hair and ears.”
“Shaving foam?” I ask. “What the heck did you guys get up to last night? Maybe I don’t want to know.”
Elijah slaps a hand down on the counter, a rough laugh escaping. “Liz and Jay filled balloons with shaving cream. It was epic.”
Ryder smiles as he blows on his coffee. “Yes, it was.”
“Sorry I missed that.”
Why thoughts of girls in bikinis wrestling in an inflatable pool filled with soap bubbles comes to mind, I couldn’t explain. I’m a guy.