Liam stands up and raises his hands in surrender. “Sorry. Kaylee asked me to come wake you to see if you wanted something to eat.”
I reach for the blanket and pull it up to cover myself. “I’ll be down in a few.”
Liam nods, then leaves my room, closing the door behind him. I dress, making sure I have a fucking bra on, then go downstairs heading for the kitchen. Hearing my name causes me to stop and listen for a moment. I know it’s rude, but I want to hear what they are saying about me.
“She must not have done a lot in high school,” one of the guys says.
“She’s shy. She’ll get used to all of us, just give her time.” I think that was Sam.
“I don’t know, but I got a good look at her….and man…seeing those curves, her legs…made me…” I know Liam said that; after all, he was the one who woke me up. They all must be pretty comfortable with each other if they are allowing the guys to come into their rooms. That’s something I’m going to have to get used to.
I don’t know what made me do it, but my feet decided to move at that particular moment and they all silence when I walked into the kitchen. I really wanted to know what he was going to say; although, I’m pretty sure I can figure it out.
“Hey, guys.” I walk in like I wasn’t just standing there listening to what they were saying and sit down next to Brendon at the bar.
“Feel better?” Jenny asks.
“Tons. What can I do to help?” I have to do something, so I do the only thing I know and that is to offer my help in making supper.
“Nothing. It’ll be done in about fifteen minutes.” Zach replies while grabbing the plates out of the cabinet.
“So, do you guys eat together like this all the time or…”
They all shake their heads at the same time. “No.” Zach speaks up again. “We all get along really good, and we’re only able to do this during the summer. We’re all too busy during school to sit down and catch up. No one is from around here, so we kind of take care of each other.”
Wow. They’ve made their own little family here in this house. I wonder if it’s like this everywhere or if it’s just here?
Sam grabs a few glasses and begins setting the table. When the timer goes off, Brendon grabs it from the oven and places it in the middle of the table, then urges us all to come and sit down with them, which we do. One by one, we all take a seat; we fill our plates, then start to dig in.
“Oh, my God…this is delicious.” I can’t believe someone living in this house actually made something that tastes this good.
They all give a little laugh, but Brendon is the one that speaks up. “Jenny cooks all the time. Good isn’t it.”
“What is it?”
She takes a drink before answering. “They’re my spin on chicken enchiladas.”
“I’ve never tasted anything like this before.” Unfortunately, I say this after I shove another bite in my mouth.
“Thanks. I love to cook.” She doesn’t brag about the fact that she the ability to throw things together, and they come out tasting fantastic. I thought maybe I would get up early in the morning and make breakfast for everyone as a thank-you for being so nice to me on my first day here, but now I’m not so sure. I don’t know if I could live up to the standards that have been placed in front of me.
We all sit around talking and drinking while we eat. The longer I sit here with them, the easier it’s becoming. I’m trying really hard to get out of my shell and believe that this is the place to do just that. Brendon and Sam are flirting back and forth relentlessly. Hell, Kaylee and Zach are, too, for that matter. Liam has been blatantly eyeballing me the entire evening. It feels kind of weird, but at the same time, there’s something in his eyes that draws me to him. There’s something about his mouth, too. Every time he brings that fork up to his mouth…I just can’t tear my eyes away.
After the table’s cleared, we all head back outside to the patio to continue the conversation that we had going, but after a while, everyone seems to go in their own direction.
“So…” Liam says as he sits down in the empty chair beside me.
“So…” I reply, not quite sure what else to say, so I just sit there and wait…and wait. Apparently, Liam’s not sure what to say as well because we sit there in complete silence for several minutes.
“What made you decide to come to MRT?” he finally breaks the silence.
I decide to go for honesty. I have nothing to hide. I don’t know these people, but I will know them so why not just take the jump right off the bat. “I wanted to move as far away from my parents as possible,” I tell him in a rather somber voice.