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

by Kellie Bean

  “No.” Dad answers carefully, probably aware of just how close he is to pissing off the hornet’s nest worth of women he lives with. “All I’m saying is that there are more factors to consider here. Like Reece said, it’s too late to get the team reinstated. I’m not convinced that having your mother make a series of angry phone calls is going to get you where you need to go either, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other options.”

  “Like what?” I ask. I should have used my time with my phone during school while I’d had the chance. Waiting to talk to my family before I did anything was clearly a mistake.

  “I honestly don’t know.” Dad says. “A protest?”

  For a second, I picture me and all of the girls on my team standing in front of the school holding signs, telling the world about how we were wronged. It would get me out of class for a day, which could be cool. It's also impossible not to also imagine all of the people walking by us, ignoring both what we’re doing and what we’re trying to say.

  The guys team would stand nearby and laugh.

  I shake my head, dismissing that idea. The fact that we’re in this situation at all just proves that no one in this town cares about what happens to us.

  “Well, I don’t know what the answer is...” my dad confesses. “...but that doesn’t mean you won’t come up with something. If it’s too late to get your team going again, you need to start thinking about what else you can do to make this right.” He looks down at Mom, silently asking her something I don’t understand.

  After a while, my mom’s body visibly relaxes and she loosens her grip on the mess of paper in her hand. “Your dad is right. I’ll help if I can. I want to help. But it’s like the speech you gave to the town council, whatever you do with this information, it’s going to be far more powerful coming from you. I’ve seen you do incredible things ever since you started toddling around the living room, while these slackers still needed to crawl.” good-naturedly, cocking her head toward my sisters. Reagan sticks out her tongue, but it’s obvious no one is actually offended.

  “So I’m supposed to just do this by myself?” I ask the room, my earlier anger deflating at the possibility. All this time I’ve been so angry about what happened. More than anything, I wanted to know why. After all of the effort I put into fundraising that got us absolutely nowhere, I never really considered what I would do with the information once I had it.

  Maybe I thought knowing why this happened would make the reality easier to live with.

  I can’t just sit on what I know, but I can’t throw Coach Wasserman under the bus either. There’s no way she was supposed to tell me, or even hint at what happened.

  So what do I do?

  “No one is saying that you need to do this alone, or that you even should.” Mom stands up from the couch and a few stray scraps of paper fall to the floor. Molly charges at them immediately, abandoning her spot by Reilly’s feet. “You’ve got us, you’ve got your friends on the team. I just think it’s worth taking time to figure out what you want to do next, rather than just charging at it head on because you’re angry.”

  “Taking the time to breathe.” I finish, before someone else in my family gets a chance to say it and change my mood from thoughtful to annoyed. “Fine.” I say, agreeing, if not a little begrudgingly. Part of this feels wrong somehow, but I’m not sure what other choice I have. I could tell everyone first thing tomorrow at school. I could start with Joel and move onto Coach Wasserman, then let this take on a life of its own. I know that so many of the girls who were supposed to be my teammates this year will be just as angry as I am, reigniting everything we felt when we first learned that our team wouldn’t exist anymore.

  I’ve been angry for weeks now, and while I have no plans to stop this time around, I want to be something more than just angry. I want to find somewhere I can funnel my anger into that might actually make a difference.

  I don’t come up with anything, there’s still my first option. I’ll tell anyone I can, see if someone else has any better ideas than I do.

  My parents both nod. With that, my sister’s all get up from their seats, assuming, like I am that our little family meeting-slash-ranting session is coming to an end. While this ended up being something that kind of came down to my parents and I, I’m kind of glad they all stuck around.

  I get up to follow them out, planning to go keep them company in the attic while they’re all on their computers and I’m stuck studying because I have nothing else I can really be doing.

  “Wait.” Mom says before I have a chance to leave the room, holding up a single finger. “Please give us a minute.”

  Mom and Dad disappear into the kitchen, leaving my sisters and I in the living room with no idea what they’re doing. We don’t have to wait long for answers.

  They’re back in under a minute, looking fairly pleased with themselves.

  “You know what might make your planning go a little more smoothly?” Dad asks, a twinkle in his eyes.

  “No...” I say, extending the word over several syllables.

  “Ooh! Ooh!” Rhiannon chimes in from where she’s standing. “I think I do!”

  “Reece, your mother and I feel like we’ve seen a real improvement from you this week. You’re making an effort and that counts for a lot.”

  “You're a little less scary to be around now.” Reagan points out.

  “Okay...” I say, hoping my guess about where this is going is the right one.

  “How would you like to not be grounded anymore?” Mom asks, though I have to assume it’s a rhetorical question.

  Either way, my answer is immediate and enthusiastic. “Yes please!”

  When they hand me my phone back, it feels like they’re re-attaching one of my arms.

  Sitting in bed, I text practically everyone I’m friends with within minutes—people from Fairview, people from Richmond, anyone I can think of. Scrolling through Facebook is a welcome distraction from what my family and I were talking about earlier.

  What I don’t do is tell anyone here what I learned today. Not only does it feel like I’d be playing right into Joel’s hands by blabbing, but for once I actually want to wait. To do this right.

  When Reilly comes to bed a while later I’m still wide awake, stuck near the head of my bed as I still frantically type out messages to my friends while my phone charges on my nightstand.

  My sister is already snoring lightly from the other side of the room by the time Molly pads in for the night. I put my phone down to go close the doors from the hallway and the bathroom, not picking it up again. Instead, I let myself drift off, enjoying the feeling of Molly’s soft body pressed against my shoulder as she curls into a ball near my pillow. It won’t be long now before she’s too big to do this anymore.

  I feel kind of dorky even thinking it, I’ll never say this out loud, but I know deep within my heart that if someone came to me right now and offered to give us back our team and if I gave them Molly, I’d say no.

  She’s here now, and she’s mine. She’s part of our family.

  She’s even a little bit a part of me.

  As I fall asleep, my hopes can’t help but begin to rise. No, I wouldn’t trade Molly for my soccer team, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find a way to have both. Even if it’s not in the way I would have hoped for back at the end of summer.

  Chapter 24

  The weekend sneaks up on me as I fall completely in love with having my freedom back. Waking up on Saturday morning and knowing I get to go out with my friends that same night, is the best feeling in the world. Things have slowed down a lot since school started up again, but in the time I’ve been grounded I’ve still missed a couple of birthday parties, one mall trip and one ‘my parents are going out of town, so you should all come over’ get together.

  Still under my blankets, I stretch my legs out as I yawn, quickly bumping up against Molly’s body. She lets out an angry ‘harrumph’, hopping down onto the floor to lie back down. She’s a lot less exci
ted about starting the day than I am, I guess.

  Reilly’s still in bed by the time I’ve showered and gotten dressed. Molly’s even climbed into her bed now that she’s been kicked out of mine, determined to stay asleep as long as she can. When I leave to go eat breakfast Molly begrudgingly pulls herself out of bed, compelled only by the promise of food.

  It’s only after I eat, let Molly out, and watch half an episode of whatever sitcom Mom left on the TV that I come back upstairs. My sister is still out cold.

  “Reilly!” I call out, quietly at first but escalating in volume. “I feel kind of compelled here to make sure you’re not dead.”

  Reilly groans out a response.

  “Okay, now I have to check that you’re not dead and not a zombie.”

  “You’re the worst.” Reilly answers, her voice muffled from under the floral blanket she’s pulled up over her head. “All morning people should be banished to one bedroom so you leave the rest of us alone.”

  “Dude, it’s almost eleven. It’s barely even morning anymore.”

  When Reilly doesn’t move, I start getting a little worried. While she’s never been an early riser, it usually doesn’t take much to get her going to start her day.

  I make a point of puttering noisily around our room to see if that’s enough to force her out of bed. She only snuggles in deeper.

  I’m about to leave and let her go back to sleep, but something pushes me to stay. There’s a voice in my head whispering that my sister needs me.

  Maybe all siblings get feelings like these? I like to think it’s a quadruplet thing, or at least a side-effect of being identical. I share my actual DNA with three other people, that has to mean something.

  I sit down at the end of Reilly’s bed.

  “Go away.”

  I tug down Reilly’s blanket, revealing her face to the late-morning sunlight. Her hair is still pulled into intricate braids that have been loosened with a night’s sleep. A few makeup smudges remain under her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I just want to sleep for a while.”

  If this were Reagan, I might push a little harder. With Rhiannon, I’d just demand answers—which she’d either give me right away or ignore completely. For Reilly, all I need to do is wait her out. She’s never been good at burying her feelings.

  It only takes a minute. “I asked Teri out yesterday.”

  Ahh.

  “It didn’t go well.”

  “That sucks, I’m sorry.”

  But once Reilly gets started, it all comes pouring out of her. For nearly an hour Reilly tells me about a girl she’d been hanging out with from her physics class, who she thought she’d had a connection with. They’d been hanging out for weeks and I’m not sure I’d even noticed. It's so clear from the way she’s talking just how much Reilly liked this girl.

  “So things didn’t go well when you…”

  Reilly lets out a humiliated moan before I can finish my sentence and right away I’m angry at this Teri girl, whoever she is. If she was cruel to my sister, the two of us are going to be having a conversation, and soon.

  “She’s definitely straight, so that was a no go. But, she was so nice about it, now I’m pretty sure I just like her more.”

  I’d be tempted to smile if it weren’t for the fact that my sister—and on most days, my favorite sister—wasn’t so obviously in pain. This is just so Riley.

  Still, I wish there was something I could do to make this easier for her. To make it suck a little less.

  Instead, I just curl up on top of her bedspread and rest my head on her hip, listening while she lets it all out.

  It’s noon by the time the two of us finally crawl out of bed. I’d meant to go for a run in the morning, to really get my heart rate up while the weather isn’t too awful. When we get downstairs, there’s an assortment of sandwich fixings on the counter, stalling me all over again.

  Yeah, a run would have been nice. I guess I have time to eat again first.

  I always have time to eat again.

  While I’d be totally content to waste away my Saturday, never quite being a productive human, Molly has other ideas.

  It’s been a few days since I’ve been the one to take Molly out on one of her walks, but as soon as the two of us get outside, she’s pulling me toward our usual route, right back in the habit like I haven’t missed a single day.

  I know I could lead Molly anywhere I wanted to go, but I think I’m hoping to run into John as much as Molly’s hoping she’ll get to play with other dogs.

  Moving at a jog, we make it to the spot where we spotted John with his two canine companions that first day in record time.

  I see Poncho before I spot John, the black dog dashing across the field across the street from me at a speed I wouldn’t have guessed the old dog was capable of anymore.

  It’s not long before I spot John when his dog sits by his feet, dropping a green tennis ball as Molly and I cross the street toward them.

  John tosses the ball again as we come up behind him. I so wish I could let Molly off leash so she can go racing after Poncho, but there’s no way I can trust her not to get distracted by a squirrel and go running off into traffic.

  “Hey Poncho.” I say, as soon as the dog gets back. The black dog drops his ball and rushes toward me, sitting at my feet this time instead of John’s. I reach down to scratch the top of his head as his tongue rolls out the side of his mouth.

  John turns and notices me. Soon, we’re both smiling.

  “Molly.” John says, moving down into a kneel in reach of how far Molly can go while still tethered to me. “It’s been too long.”

  My puppy jumps up and tries to bite onto the sleeve of John’s sweater, but he moves away quickly, standing up before she can get a real grip on anything. The dog happily moves over to Poncho instead, circling him as she sniffs.

  “How’s it going?” I ask once the dogs are distracted.

  “Okay, I guess.” John looks down at his sneakers, shuffling them together on the grass. “Fine. I haven’t seen you in a while though. Is everything okay?”

  I want to laugh out loud because the truth is that I don’t even know anymore. Getting ungrounded… that part is pretty great. I feel more lost than ever about what I’m supposed to do with what I’ve learned about our team. I stick with the easier explanation. “I’d actually been grounded for a few weeks.” I confess, though opt to skip the specifics of why. “Walking Molly had been my only chance to get out of the house, so I’d been taking on pretty much everyone’s shift for taking her out so I could get out too.”

  It’s as I’m talking and rambling about how much I’m loving my freedom again, I realize what it was John really said. Or might have said. I don’t know. Was he looking for me on our usual walk route on the days I didn’t take Molly out?

  I shut my mouth as soon as I realize it’s possible I’m being a jerk.

  “Sorry.” I stammer. “I didn’t realize…” What? Now, I’m not sure if I’m just being completely full of myself, assuming John would be looking for me.

  Why does this guy have me so totally turned around? Usually I’m good at talking to guys, even the ones I’m not interested in.

  Not that… Oh, I really don’t know.

  “Anyway!” I say, trying to come up with a way to change the subject as abruptly as possible. I’m not sure if it’s John or I that feels more uncomfortable right now. “Are you doing anything fun for the weekend?”

  “I’m not sure you and I define fun the same way.” John says with a playful smile.

  That’s probably true. While it’s funny when John says it, it’ll probably be rude for me to agree.

  Ugh. Why am I overthinking absolutely everything today?

  “What about you?” John asks when I don’t say anything.

  “Nothing really. I might go hang out with some friends a little later.” I have to figure out how to tip the cosmic scale back in favor of the girls’ soccer team, even though the damage don
e will almost certainly carry through the rest of the year. “I’m pretty sure I’ve forgotten how to do the whole weekend thing after being grounded for so long. Okay, it wasn’t that long, but it felt like forever.”

  A comfortable silence falls between John and I, and I’m just starting to consider heading home when John opens his mouth, stammering for a second before he speaks.

  “Do you maybe want to come over for dinner?” John asks, seemingly out of nowhere. Now he really is blushing, his face taking on an aggressively flushed tint. “My mom’s making lasagna and there’s always way too much. The dogs can play together.”

  It feels like John’s trying to list off every possible reason he can think of about why I should come eat at his house tonight, but I’m already nodding yes.

  I’m supposed to go to a house party tonight at Jamie’s new boyfriend's dad’s place, or something equally insane. I’ve still got most of the day left before I even have to start thinking about that.

  “Sure!” I say, ensuring he knows that I definitely want to come over, even if I am surprised at the invitation. I hand John Molly’s leash, so my hands are free to text my Dad.

  Reece: Taking advantage of my freedom. Having dinner at Kendra’s sister’s house. Be home a bit later than planned.

  Chapter 25

  Poncho proudly leads our little party back to his house, it’s the small brick bungalow I visited with Molly at the end of summer.

  John’s mom is in the kitchen when we get inside, sitting at the table with a book in front of her, which she puts it down when both dogs rush to her side. “You brought company home.” she says matter-of-fact. If John’s in trouble for not asking her permission first, there’s no sign of it on her face.

  “You told me you were making lasagna for dinner.” he answers back like that explains everything. The two of them start laughing together at some joke I’m not getting, leaving me standing against the kitchen counter, looking on and a little baffled.