“Mom!” I whisper-yell at her as I tug on her sleeve.
Luckily, the manager walks up. “Is there a problem?”
“No problem. My daughter and I were just checking out. You may want to mind who you let into this store, though.” She waves her hand at the women.
“Let me walk you to the check out, Mrs. Deaton.” The manager takes the cart my mother pushes. “Ladies, I will speak with you in a moment.” He plants a fake smile on his face, working to appease the hate glaring back at us.
After checking out in one piece, we make it home to start the next phase in the party planning process: house clean up.
Preparation
Music fills the ride home. I worried Mom would want to talk, but she focuses on driving. Holes mar the once paved streets, making it dangerous to lose focus. I don’t remember the last time anyone made an effort to fix anything. With the limitation on the number of cars allowed on the road, crews have no reason to keep the streets in working order.
Once home, I carry groceries into our quaint kitchen. At a quick glance, the space appears newly remodeled, but looking closer, scratches etch the butcher block countertops and chipping, white paint flakes from the cabinet corners. Over the years, the luster of the stainless steel appliances has dulled from multiple cleanings. Even with the age, the kitchen has always been one of my favorite places because of the view to the mountains behind our home.
Singing an oldies song, stuck in my head from the ride home, I twirl in a disco dance move and run into Devon, nearly knocking the groceries from his hands.
“Sorry.” My hand reach for his shoulders to steady both of us.
“I walked over here to help, and this is how you repay me?” He nudges me out of the way to place the boxes on the counter. “I’m going back to Kace’s.”
“Does that mean the others are here?” I reach for a box that didn’t make it on the counter all the way.
“Hi, honey. I’m glad you came over to help.” Sarcasm drips from his voice as he squints his eyes at me. “Thanks for thinking of me. I’ll miss you when you’re gone, but the others will be around to keep you company.”
“I’ve never, and will never, call you honey. Get your ass outside to finish unloading the car.” I point toward the garage door.
His arm wraps around my waist as we both head back outside. “Miss bossy pants. First, you skip out on dinner with us last night, and now, you’re sending me away. I’m hurt.” He pinches my butt, like he’s joking around, but pain leaches through his voice.
Glancing around to see if my mom is close, I tell him, “My mom always waits until the last minute, so I worked on cleaning last night. I don’t think she noticed. I’m sorry I missed dinner. We still have plans to go dancing tomorrow night, right?”
“After my graduation dinner with my parents, we’re headed out to the Springs for the night. I’ll drag you with us, whether you want to go or not.” We make it to the car, where Kace and Ryker both have armfuls of boxes ready to be carried inside.
“Mrs. Deaton, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much food outside a grocery store in my entire life.” Kace’s comments remind me of our shopping experience.
I try to get his attention and shake my head at him, but he doesn’t see me.
“That grocery store should be shut down. Can you believe that there were people complaining I was buying food? What else would I be doing there? Some people…” Her voice trails off as Kace and Mom walk into the house.
“What was that about?” Ryker dumps boxes into Devon’s hands before going to the back of the car to pick up more.
Devon hangs back to listen to my explanation. “It was horrible. My mom bought all the meat and almost all the deli items. People were upset because they got there ready for the afternoon shipment, but my mom’s order had already been placed since the truck came early. I got the impression she knew that was happening.”
Ryker’s mouth pops open as he hands me some of the smaller boxes to carry in. “They let her do that? Food shortages have been getting worse. Why does she need all this? Are you inviting half the town to your graduation party?”
“No. I guess my dad is up for, or got, a promotion. I didn’t get a lot of details about it. Anyway, this party is meant more for him than it is for me. I feel like an afterthought.” My lip pouts without trying. I blank my face, but it’s too late, Ryker notices.
He sets down his boxes and takes the ones in my hands to place them back in the car before he pulls me into a hug. “You’ll be at school soon and not have to deal with this. We’re graduating tomorrow, so be happy.”
Devon blows a raspberry on my neck. “Cheer up. We’re going dancing tomorrow. You know how much you enjoy watching me dance.”
I try to elbow him, but end up hitting the boxes. “Ouch.” Stepping away from Ryker, I rub my arm.
“You three need to get moving. There are lots of boxes to clear out, and we don’t have time to goof off.” My mother’s voice snaps us all to attention. “Bailey, please start putting things away as the boys bring things inside.”
“Mom, they aren’t your slaves. I’ll bring the boxes in.” She’s always used to the boys as her personal workforce: mowing and other yard work, cleaning gutters, or even just separating the trash.
“The boys are sweet and offered to help.” She pats Kace on the cheek. “Now, get moving before we have to buy more food because we let this spoil.”
Everyone grabs items and takes them inside. With the counter already full, I have no idea where all this is going to go. The refrigerator in the garage will hold some, but once she makes the dishes, the room will be taken up with containers as well as food. Because of the limited space, the guys set the boxes on the floor as I work to unpack the ones on the counter.
“Mom!” I holler, not knowing where she is.
“No need to yell, dear. What can’t you figure out this time?”
“We’re out of room. Where do you plan on putting all this food?” I wave my hand at the three boxes of deli meat and cheese left to be put away.
“Mrs. Volk is letting us use some of her space. Carry those over to her house, and ask her where she would like to store them. Don’t goof off over there, though. We have work to do here.” She turns to Devon. “Would you stay here and help me with something, Devon?”
Devon gives me a quick, side-long glance before answering, “Sure, Mrs. Deaton. How can I help you?”
“Shouldn’t you three be carrying those boxes next door before things go bad?” She shoos us out the door.
“Sure, Mom.”
Devon picks up two of the smallest boxes and hands them to me. As I take the boxes, I whisper, “We’ll be right back.”
After we’re outside, we slow our pace slightly. “What’s up with your mom, Bai?” Kace questions as we lug the remaining supplies to his house.
“My dad’s up for a big promotion or something. She thinks we have to make a great impression for him to get the job. My party is a way of showing off what she’s capable of, I guess. I’m sorry she dragged your grandma into this.” Watching his face, I nearly trip as we make it to his driveway.
Ryker steps up next to me and places his elbow under mine to help steady me. “Don’t fall. If you ended up with a black eye or broken nose, you’ll look bad for graduation and the party.”
“Very funny, Ryker. I’m sure my mom would employ the best make-up artist in town to cover it up. At least for the party. She hasn’t even mentioned graduation.” Sadness drips from my voice.
So much is going on right now, and I miss the mom that used to run me to soccer practice and brag about how proud she was of me. Now, she barely remembers that I live in the same house with her.
“Hey! None of that. Tomorrow is going to be amazing, and you know it. We’re finally done with school. We have the rest of our lives ahead of us.” Channeling his inner Devon, Ryker moves a few inches from my faces and makes funny faces for me.
I headbutt him gently before stick
ing my tongue out. “You should have been a cheerleader and not student council president.”
“I can do it all. No doubt about that.” Ryker puffs out his chest, almost knocking a few of the boxes from his hand.
“Graceful.” I giggle and step through the door that Kace opened for us while Ryker and I talked.
We parade through the house and into the kitchen. Kace’s home is laid out as a mirror image to mine. Since Kace’s great-grandparents live with them, his grandparents maintain the same level of upkeep as my mom. His great-grandmother will walk behind you and clean up if she can get away with it.
“Hi, Gran!” After setting down my boxes, I give his grandmother a quick hug. “Thanks for doing this for us. I don’t know what she plans on making or who is showing up, but we can probably feed the entire town on Sunday.”
“Your mother is so proud of you. She just wants your day to be perfect.” Kace’s gran returns my hugs and places her hands on my shoulders.
“Sunday will be a great day,” I say, lacking any real enthusiasm.
“You only graduate from high school once, so enjoy the experience. Now, you run along. I told your mom I would make some pinwheels for her.” Gran pats my shoulder and turns to Kace. “Go back over there and see if Margaret needs any more help.”
“No, you guys stay here and have fun. I’ll send Devon over as soon as I get back home.” I have no doubt my mother will put them to work if they walked back through the doors.
“Nonsense. These boys have nothing better to do. They should be helping. They spend enough time over at your place to call it a second home, so they should take care of it like it is.” Gran shakes her finger at Kace.
“We’re going, Gran. We’ll help you when we get back.” Kace grabs my hand and heads to the door.
“Hey! You should stay and help her. I can’t believe my mom roped her into doing this.”
Kace doesn’t slow down until we are outside. “You know she wouldn’t have let me help. It’s better to get out while we can instead of her making us feel bad for hanging out in there. Let’s go get your chores over with so we can do something fun tonight.” Kace releases my hand as we cross the yard.
“Let’s go camping. It should be a great night for it.” Ryker wraps his arm around my shoulders. “What do you think?”
“I think there’s no way we can go camping and make it back in time for a ten o’clock in the morning graduation. We can go Sunday night. I’ll probably need to get away after the party.” I say it as a joke. The boys won’t take me camping. They never do.
“Sunday, it is!” Ryker squeezes my shoulders.
When we enter, we walk to the kitchen, awaiting our next instructions. At my mom’s direction, Devon pulls down the sheet trays she keeps stored above the refrigerator.
“I thanked Mrs. Volk for helping us out. She said she would work on your pinwheels, today.” Straight to the point is the way my mom likes conversations with me.
“Good. Now, go show Ryker and Kace where to move the furniture. I want the setup to match how we had it for the Christmas party,” she directs us while she dices an onion.
“Yes, ma’am.” Behind my mom, Ryker salutes her.
I follow Ryker into the great room and plop down in the oversized chair.
Kace sits on top of me and bounces on my lap. “Aren’t we supposed to be working?”
“Ugh! Your tailbone is killing my leg. Get up.” I try to push him onto the floor, but he braces himself on the chair. “Ryker. A little help?”
“Nope. You’re on your own with that one.” He laughs and sits on the couch next to us, placing his legs over Kace to add more pressure.
“You’re both so mean!” I scream as I reach for Kace’s side, tickling up and down his stomach.
“What are you three doing in there? That doesn’t sound like furniture moving!” my mom yells from the other room.
We hop up, and the boys stare at me, waiting for instructions.
“We have to bring the couch in from the other room, but before we do that, we need to move the love seat to in front of the fireplace.” I wave my hand toward the wall where the love seat should be moved. “She wants it set up in an oval shape with the two coffee tables in the middle.”
Instead of scooting the love seat across the floor, Kace and Ryker stand on either side of it and lift, carrying the couch to its new home in the room. The muscles in Ryker’s arms bulge out his sleeves as he lifts, drawing my eyes up the line of his bicep. His long, brown hair interrupts the path to his neck.
Before I’m caught staring, I rearrange the table so it sits off to one side of the room. This provides enough floor space to move the table in from the family room.
“Did you sweep before you started moving things?” More directions come from my mother. “You should dust as well.”
I sigh. I swept yesterday, but she’ll yell if she doesn’t hear the sweeper running again. “You guys take a break while I grab the sweeper and dusting supplies.”
Not waiting for a response, I march to the mudroom where we keep everything. Shelves are piled high with boxes and cans of foods that won’t fit into the pantry. One entire shelf is dedicated to cleaning materials. My mother believes the world will end any day, and we have to be prepared.
Shaking my head, I grab the items I need and wheel the vacuum into the great room. Even though I told them to relax, the boys moved the couch and table in from the other room, pushing them to the side so we have room to vacuum the floor.
“You two don’t take directions well,” I scold them.
“Give me the duster so I can clean the ceiling fan.” As Kace takes the feather tipped pole from me and reaches up to clean the five-blade fan, his red shirt rides up, revealing a six pack.
“It’s not polite to stare,” Ryker whispers into my ear.
My cheeks heat as I’m caught checking out Kace. “Umm, I’m just trying to figure out what to do next,” I lie.
“Uh, huh.” Ryker laughs and grabs the vacuum from me.
~
A couple hours later, we finish rearranging and cleaning all of the rooms inside the house as well as the sunroom and back deck.
Exhausted, we go back to Kace’s house and up to his bedroom. Ryker falls into the papasan chair. Kace end ups on the floor, while Devon and I lie on the bed.
Devon puts his hands under his head as he stares at the paint splatters on Kace’s ceiling. When the guys were ten, they had a paintball fight in the bedroom. I thought Mrs. Volk would strangle them, but she just laughed and let him keep his new, rainbow colored ceiling. “What should we do on our last night as high schoolers?”
“I’m pretty sure we stopped being seniors on Tuesday when we took our last test,” I remind him.
“My last test was last Thursday, so I’m ahead of you by a couple days. I say it’s my choice.” Ryker and Kace attended the vocational school. Ryker’s last project for his robotics class was due on Thursday, and Kace’s senior project for his machine class was turned in on Friday.
“I’m tired, so I vote we just watch a movie. An oldie.” Ryker reaches over to the remote to flip on the 3D hologram projector mounted on the ceiling.
Kace hops up. “I’m good with that. I’ll grab us some snacks for dinner.”
“I’ll help.” I move to stand, but Devon slides me closer to him.
“I’ve got it. Thanks.” Kace rushes out of the room as Ryker flips through the movie choices.
Devon snuggles me into his side, my head resting on his bicep. “We aren’t going to be able to watch some of the oldies you like on that. You’re going to have to switch to the 2D projector.”
“How did people live a hundred years ago without this stuff? Can you imagine watching everything on a little screen?” Ryker’s love for the oldies ends at the content and not at the format.
“They survived better than we did, leaving us with a shit planet and more problems than we can possibly deal with.” Devon never stays far from his soapbox. I’ve
learned my lesson not to talk about food shortages because of plant life, droughts, and global warming.
“Seriously! If things get any worse, we won’t have to worry about wars taking us out. We’re doing a good job in our annihilation all by ourselves.” The only thing worse than Devon’s complaints are when two or more of them get together to talk about it. At least, they don’t just moan about issues; they each plan to do something about it.
Kace comes back with an armful of chips, water bottles, and jerky. “What did you decide on?”
“A classic. We have to watch it on the wall though.” Kace laughs at Ryker’s depressed acknowledgment about the move.
“You’ll survive,” I tell him as I sit up and grab some water from Kace and scooti back against the wall.
Devon does the same as we make room for the others, and we settle in for a quiet night.
~
A few hours later, I wake up with my head on Devon’s shoulder. “Sleeping Beauty’s awake. Time for me to walk you home.”
“It’s next door. I can manage.” We go through the same arguments every time I walk home late.
“Doesn’t matter. Let’s go.” Ryker helps me sit up as Devon scoots off the bed. “You know what to do when you get to your room.”
Devon links his fingers with mine before walking me home. He stops on my front porch and stares at the starless sky. Even up in the mountains, no stars are visible through the hazy fog that blankets the atmosphere.
“Nervous about tomorrow?” I ask, distracting him from his daydreams.
He shrugs. “No, should I be?”
“Yes! It’s a big day for you.”
“It’s a big day for you. Are you nervous?”
“I’m not valedictorian, you are. I don’t have to get up in front of all the students, teachers, and families, but you do. I’ll be happy if I don’t trip going up the stairs. I’m excited to hear your speech.” I nudge him with my shoulder. “I don’t know why you won’t practice it for me.”
Falling For Them Volume 2: Reverse Harem Collection Page 54
