Two's Company (Four of a Kind #2)

by Kellie Bean

  "I wonder how big she'll get.” I wonder, speaking the thought out loud. No one has an answer, so we fall into a brief and comfortable silence. I can't help but smile as I look over at the lump of a puppy silhouetted on the floor, now sprawled out on her back. In my head, I've still been thinking of her as my dog, even though she already means a lot to my entire family.

  Still, I'll always get to be the one that introduced her to our family.

  "Okay, I'm going to go ahead and assume that all of this soccer crap is going to work out." I say, bringing us all back to the moment we're about to face. "I'll give fifteen a four and a half out of five stars. I still made the team this year, so I'll call it a win." What I don't say but everyone probably realizes is that this is the first year I can remember that I haven't given a full five stars.

  It really doesn't take much to keep me happy, but our first year in Fairview was harder for me than I thought it would be. It was the first time I'd had to start at a new school without all of the same friends I'd grown up with. I hadn't been able to play soccer. A few of the guys I'd been interested in had seemed more interested in me as an identical quadruplet, one of the Fairview Four, than as an actual human.

  Really, it was probably a three star year. I'm not going to say that out loud though.

  A week ago, I would have at least been able to cheer myself up thinking that at least it looked like I was all set to go back to a full five stars from here on out. Now with no dating and potentially no soccer, I'm a little less convinced.

  "Five stars.” Reagan says behind me.

  Both Rhiannon and Reilly speak up at the same time. "Four stars."

  While for Rhiannon, that rating is practically dripping in optimism. For Reilly, it's something else entirely. Usually she's right there with me, rating every year five stars. So if this is the rating she's giving us out loud, what is it she's really thinking?

  From the outside looking in, Reilly settled into Fairview as well as we all expected her too. She's the nicest of all of us and gets along with anyone. It already seems like she's friends with everyone at school and the teachers love her. She's even managed to stay in touch with her friends from Richmond more easily than the rest of us.

  So what is it I'm missing? Or, what is it she's missing?

  The second alarm on my phone rings before I have a chance to ask her, which comes as a relief. I'm not sure this is the right moment to get into anything that could possibly sour the moment we all turn sixteen.

  Which is right now! "Happy birthday!" All four of us yell together. From their room across the hall, our parents repeat the phrase back at us, sounding muffled and significantly less excited.

  Sixteen. Wow. Only a few seconds in and it already feels like the most important age we've ever been. Maybe it's just because every movie and TV show ever insists that sixteen is the biggest year of any teenagers life, especially if they're a girl.

  Or maybe it's because this year really is supposed to be special.

  "Does anyone have any predictions about what's coming for us this year?" I ask. "Wait, no. I have one! The next week goes insanely well! All the sports teams are saved! Rah, rah, go team, awesome year for everyone."

  "Not just the sports teams." Reilly points out.

  I don't bother answering. It's not like if there's not enough funding for the art club or whatever that anyone can stop them from drawing or painting.

  "Molly will grow up to be a big, strong puppy," Rhiannon says. "She will learn all the tricks and be the fastest, smartest dog on the block."

  "Obviously." I answer back.

  "So, what about you guys and dating?" Reagan asks. I think this is the first time she's ever been the one to bring the subject of dating up.

  "Kind of hard to guess at." Rhiannon answers. "So far, there's no one I'm really interested in here. A year is a long time."

  Reilly responds before I have a chance to tease Rhi. "At least you have lots of guys to choose from. So far, I'm pretty sure there isn't a single gay girl in this entire town."

  Frowning, I'm glad my sisters can't see my face in the dark. Is that what's been bothering Reilly? While she was technically out back in Richmond, she's never really seemed that interested in anyone. She's had a few crushes but if anything, she'll mention them once and then never bring that same girl up again.

  "Statistically..." Rhiannon starts to say before Reilly interrupts.

  "Statistically, it sucks to be LGBT in a small town. But hey, only two more years until college, right?"

  I want to go over and give Reilly the biggest hug. Somehow, I don't think it will really help.

  "Well that brings us to the big question.” I say, kind of desperate to change the subject. I flip over to face my sister. "Is this going to be the year Reagan loses her virginity?"

  I'd been expecting Rea to start squealing denials and poking me in the ribs, but instead she stays silent.

  Suspiciously silent.

  Reilly gasps from across the room. "You had sex?" She cries out.

  "Shhh!" Reagan says with a groan. "No, I haven't. Maybe I don't know… it could happen."

  Okay, this is just too weird. I had always kind of assumed that I would be the first one of us to lose her virginity. It was something that in a weird way I kind of prided myself on, even though it hadn't actually happened yet—I hadn't even really gotten that close with anyone. Now I wasn't even allowed to date for a while.

  Weird.

  "Weird." Rhi says, echoing my thoughts.

  "Like you said, a year is a long time. Maybe you guys will too."

  "Not Reece." Reilly points out. "At least not anytime soon."

  "Oh come on." Rhiannon says, "do any of us really think Reece is going to be able to go a whole year without finding a new random make out buddy?" Her tone of voice isn't judgmental. Still, it's a little too matter of fact for my liking.

  "Hey! I'm sitting right here. I made a promise, a trade. I got Molly so... no dating."

  "Making out isn't dating.” Reagan says.

  "I think Dad would have actually died on the spot if he'd had to talk to me about whether making out with people counted. He looked uncomfortable enough even with mom being the one to talk to me about dating.” I continue, even though I'm already trying to figure out if this is a loophole I can work with.

  For the last few days, soccer has been such a huge distraction that I haven't even thought about the deal I made with my parents. I haven't forgotten about it completely. I still fully intended to keep my side of the bargain.

  Once we figure out how to save our team and life gets back to normal, that's when it's going to be something to think about. Especially if Noah keeps looking at me the way he did tonight.

  For now, I need to figure out how to come up with a whole lot of money in basically no time at all.

  Chapter 13

  Even as Reagan falls asleep with her back pressed against mine, I stay up and keep hunting for ideas. It's only once my phone battery dies completely that I give in and surrender to sleep.

  By the next day, a very small part of me is grateful not to have to play soccer. At least not today. Between the excitement of the council meeting yesterday and not getting nearly enough sleep, I’m physically and mentally wiped out.

  Even before we make it to our pseudo-practice at the end of the school day on Friday, it's obvious that there are almost as many fundraising ideas as there are girls on the team.

  I love the feeling that everyone is enthusiastic and ready to help, but almost all the ideas the team brings up are the kinds that would need more time to prepare than we have.

  "While I appreciate the response here girls, you all need to be aware that this is a long shot. I'm not saying give up, it's just worth being aware of just how long these odds are. I suspect we were only given this opportunity as a way to keep us all busy until public interest dies down a little. If only they'd given us a little more warning this was coming… never mind. We're going to do what we can, let’s hope that
's enough."

  "What's the plan then, coach?" Emma speaks up after a minute when it looks like Coach Wasserman has lost her train of thought completely.

  “Frankly, I don’t have one yet. You’ve all presented a lot of good options and honestly I’m a little nervous about picking one and putting all our eggs in one basket. Mia’s crowdfunding idea is a good place to start. I’ll talk to the rest of the staff right after this and figure out if this is something we want to set up separately or on behalf of the whole school. I’ll email you all the link once we have it. Beyond that though, I’d rather take a couple of days to weigh our options and maybe do a bit of the setup. If we can. No matter what, we’re going to have an impossibly tough week ahead of us. I think we’ll see better results if we take a little time to get organized first, just to make sure we really show this town what we’re made of.”

  The rest of the team bursts into cheers, but I not joining in with the group. Instead, a frown is trying to push its way onto my face. I don’t want to wait. I want to get to work right now. I’d just been waiting for someone to tell me which direction I needed to start running in.

  As the meet wraps up and our coach heads inside to start doing… whatever it is she wants to do, my friends all flock toward me, ready to start my birthday celebrations as planned. We’ve been given the weekend to ourselves. My friends are ready to party.

  I’m already internally revamping my birthday plans. First, I have to eat dinner with my family, which is going to involve presents, so I don’t exactly mind. After that, I have at least half the team at my disposal for the night. With a little wrangling, maybe I can steal them for the weekend as well.

  My friends may be ready to drink and dance the weekend away. Our coach might want to hit pause so she can get organized. Although, I’m not convinced we have the time to spare.

  I may not have a specific idea about where I want to go from here, but I do have some awesome minions at my disposal and it doesn’t take much convincing at all to get them to see things my way.

  “Okay, so you’ll all meet me at my house around eight?” I ask again, trying to look at as many of the girls watching me as possible, a trick I learned from my soccer coach back at my old school. By making sure everyone feels seen, maybe they’ll all feel like they’re a part of this, like they have no choice to show up and take part.

  What choice do any of us have? We now have less than ten days to raise enough money to basically refund half the school’s sport programs. We don’t even know exactly how much money that actually is. There’s no time to waste and no real plan.

  “Bring as many of the soccer guys as you can too.” I add in, since a bunch of them had already promised to come hang out for my birthday anyway. “Hell, bring the tennis team… do tennis players have teams? Also, the cheerleaders! Bring whoever you can find.” I doubt we’ll get much of a showing this last minute, but I’ll take what I can get.

  Everyone heads out soon after. Since my sisters are already long gone, I’m left to walk home on my own.

  Happy birthday to me.

  Mom pulls into the driveway just as I’m walking up the path to the front door of the house. She’s home early, just like she promised.

  When we first started planning our birthday, the thought had been that since we so rarely get to celebrate on our actual birthday on a Friday or Saturday night, we'd eat dinner early to free up our evening to spend with friends.

  With all the insanity around everything from Molly, to the new school year, to the soccer fiasco, not one of us planned anything that resembled a birthday party. But, we're making the most of it.

  I wait by the door, holding it open for Mom who’s weighed down with a couple of boxes and her briefcase. It's only when she's halfway inside, still trying to see past the stack in front of her that Molly realizes someone new is home and comes running down the hallway, slipping a little on the hardwood and trying to dash out the front door before anyone can stop her. I get the door closed just in time, mom manages not to step on the dog who I'm pretty sure is deliberately trying to trip her.

  "Reece?" Dad calls from the kitchen. "Is that you?"

  "Me and Mom. What's up?"

  I put my shoes away properly because my mom is right there watching to see exactly what I'll do, then I head for the kitchen.

  I step inside just as dad pours an entire bag of dry pasta into a pot of boiling water. Beside him, two uncooked pizzas sit on the counter, one big and one smaller. Three more of the smaller ones are lined up along the kitchen table. A smaller pot of spaghetti sauce bubbles on the stove. It looks like we're having Italian. Lots of it.

  "Can I help?" Just then, Molly trots back in and sits down at dad's feet as he leans over, planting a kiss on the side of my head. Dribbling a little bit of sauce on the floor in the process.

  "Nope. You're the guest of honor. Or one of them. Put whatever toppings you want on your pizza, I'll take care of the rest."

  I do as I'm told, slathering my chosen pizza in sauce and multiple layers of cheese, topping it off with only fresh-cut tomatoes. I'm frequently mocked for my topping choice, but I love it. It's my pizza and my birthday, so no one else gets to tell me what to do.

  My stomach is just starting to rumble as I leave my dad try to figure out how to cook five different pizzas in our one oven.

  Dinner time comes fast enough, soon all six of us are seated around the dining room table with an impossible amount of pizza and pasta displayed in front of us. By the time I'm through my three slices, planning to save the rest for lunch tomorrow, it's the presents stacked against the wall that I’m most interested in. One of them looks like the corner has been gnawed a little, which probably explains the baby gate now set up around our gifts.

  Our parents have already been through their yearly retelling of the day we were born, moving on to gushing about how impressed they are with themselves that they managed to keep all four of us alive until we turned sixteen. I shift in my chair a little, trying to spread out into a more comfortable digesting position.

  I may have had too much to eat.

  I probably still have room for cake.

  "Yeah, yeah." Rhiannon says, teasing. "You two are freaking wonder parents. We know. Really, I think it is us that should be congratulated for turning into such wonderful humans with only you two weirdos to guide us."

  Since Rhi is sitting across the table from me, I have the best possible view of her and now that I'm less focused on food, I'm surprised to find that something about her looks different. Her hair which was once a vibrant red is starting to fade a little. The weird thing is, I'm pretty sure she's actually taken the time to curl it. She might be wearing makeup, which I'm not sure I've ever really noticed her doing before.

  Either way, she looks good. Polished and deliberate. I'm a little impressed.

  "I guess it's time for presents then." I say once everyone has finished eating and Mom has started packing everything up into baggies to go back into the fridge.

  "Presents?" she asks. "Who said anything about presents?"

  I don't even bother pointing out the packages, when she gets like this it's usually better just to wait her out.

  "Fine." she says with a groan. "You're no fun anymore. Just let me get all this away and the dishwasher started, then maybe I could be convinced to shower you rugrats with affection in the form of physical goods. Or maybe some cake first?"

  “We love you too.” Reagan says from across the table.

  Reilly jumps up to help Mom, the rest of us stay put. I use the gap in activities as a chance to check my phone. I've been getting a steady stream of texts and Facebook messages all day. Every time I go back, there are always more to look at.

  I'm surprised to find a text message from John waiting for me. This is the first time he's used my number since we arranged our puppy play date. My curiosity is piqued as I open the message to see what he has to say.

  John: Heads up. Aunt Kendra came over for dinner and she mentioned that you didn't
show up for your shift yesterday morning. I tried to explain what was happening at school, I think she understood. It would probably be a good idea for you to check in anyway.

  My eyes widen as I read the message all over again. Right away, I know that the mistake was mine and not hers. I was supposed to go in before school yesterday to walk a couple of the dogs and clean the cat room.

  I forgot all about it.

  I was so caught up in everything else that it never even crossed my mind even though I'd had the same Thursday shift for months now. Kendra had even offered to change my schedule around now that school was back in session, but I wanted to keep my afternoons free for practices or spending time with my friends. I stuck with the morning.

  And I promptly screwed it all up.

  "I have to go." I say, standing up in one panicked motion, pushing the chair so suddenly that it almost topples over.

  "What's wrong?" Dad asks, shifting from content to concerned right away. My sisters are looking at me with equal amounts of worry. Mom's head pops back in from the kitchen. Everyone is waiting to see what happened.

  "I screwed something up. I have to go to the shelter and… I don't know. I'll be back as soon as I can."

  I'm already moving toward the hallway and internally try to figure out what I could possibly say to make up for missing one of my shifts.

  "Did something happen?" Reilly's voice follows me from the dining room.

  "Everything's okay. I just need to do this. I'm really, really sorry. You guys can have my piece of cake to make up for it."

  I throw on my shoes, grabbing a jacket at the last second before heading out the front door.

  Maybe I should run there, to make better time. At this point, the damage is already done. I don't even know what I'm going to do when I get there.

  I'm halfway down the street before I realize that I don't even know if Kendra is even in right now. Maybe I should've just called her. Apologising in person is probably more effective. Right?

  Or I'm totally wasting my time and… I don't know.