Mutiny Below

Natalia

Bachelor Night again. Luckily, Gemma had invited me to stay at Kennedy's with her although I admit I was a bit nervous. Since I'd gotten to Arizona, I hadn't spent that much time with someone without Eric or my brother. Nevertheless, I decided to go just because I didn't want Eric to drag me along to watch lame action movies and burping contest among the guys.

Gemma insisted that we have a sort of slumber party, complete with chick flicks and junk food. I was in my room packing the remainder of my cheesy love movies waiting for Nick to come pick me up and drop me off at Kennedy's.

"Nat, hurry up!"

"I'm coming! Hold your horses!"

When I made it into the living room with my bags, Nick and John were standing just inside the door. Nick was tapping his foot impatiently.

"It's about damn time."

"I just had to grab some last minute stuff. You're very impatient."

"We have shit to do, baby sister. Come on."

He took the bag from my hand and went out the front door, closely followed by John. I made sure the door was locked before we left as I didn't know where Eric was or if he would be coming back anytime soon. The ride to Kennedy's house was dead silent, not even any music on the radio.

When we pulled into the driveway, John got out and raised the seat to let me out then grabbed my bag and handed it to me. I mumbled a thank you and headed up the steps, meeting Kennedy at the top. He said hey as he jogged past me down the stairs and out to John's car and Gemma greeted me with a big smile and a hug. She waved to the boys as they left then shut the door and led me into the living room.

"Did you bring the sappy movies?"

"Of course I did."

I unzipped my bag and dug out all of the dvds I'd brought, handing them to her. She squealed and began to look through them, finally settling on Titanic.

"Titanic first? You're jumping right in, aren't you?"

"It's the best chick flick ever! You can't watch it and not cry."

"I only cried the first time I watched it."

"What?! You have no soul!"

I laughed as she threw a pillow at me and flopped down on the couch next to me, turning the volume up on the tv.

I'n not sure what it was but I actually did cry watching the end. For some reason, Jack's death just seemed so much sadder to me than the previous times I watched it. Then again, Gemma blubbering like a baby next to me didn't help matters.

After she dried her tears with the blanket on the back of the couch, she hopped up and grabbed my arm, pulling me to the kitchen.

"It's time for junk food!" she announced loudly. I took a seat at the counter while she went over to the fridge and began pulling out random items: tubs of ice cream, a roll of cookie dough, a few bags of candy, a bag of barbeque chips. It was like the girl wanted me to get sick.

"Hey, could you grab some bowls out of that cabinet?"

I got up and went over to the indicated cabinet door, grabbing two dark blue bowls and setting them down on the counter. She set down two spoons next to them and opened the carton of chocolate ice cream, putting two scoops in each bowl for us. I then watched as she opened the bags of candy and piled some on the top of her ice cream. Once she was satisfied with her creation, she picked up her bowl and walked back into the living room.

The next movie on her list was Tristan & Isolde, which did have the power to make me cry every time I watched. Gemma continued to pick the tear-jerkers and we basically cried all night while we ate more junk food than two girls should ever be able to put away. Gemma got a call from Jayce just as we were starting A Walk To Remember and she must've had a problem because I ended up watching the entire movie by myself while she was in the kitchen.

When she returned to the living room, she had a clear container full of different colored nail polishes. She grinned as she sat down and handed it to me.

"Pick a color, my dear."

I handed her a pale pink color and she laughed, taking the box from me.

"I guess I should pick it. If you're gonna go with those pansy colors."

She searched through the bottles until she finally found the one she was looking for. "Aha! I found it! This is my favorite color ever so you should feel special."

She pulled my feet into her lap and opened the bottle of bright blue polish then pained my toenails. After that, she insisted on painting my fingernails as well. After mine were dry, I painted hers. It was weird; I'd never had a sister and I'd never had a best friend so I never did anything of that sort, but now here I was with a girl I'd known for a very short time painting her nails.

After her nails were dry, she got hungry so she called in and ordered a pizza. The rest of the night we spent eating and watching movies. I was sort of glad we didn't do much deep talking. Nick was the only one who knew all about me and I was probably going to keep it that way for a long while. I eventually fell asleep sometime while The Notebook was on.

Gemma woke me up early by shaking the crap out of me. I rubbed my eyes and sat up on the couch, looking around and immediately spotting John in the corner of the room. Gemma mumbled something about going back to bed and then a distinct "See you later."

"John? What are you doing here?" My voice was crackly and hoarse.

"I'm here to pick you up."

"I thought Eric was coming to get me?"

"He's...just being lazy. You know Halvo."

I nodded weakly and threw the blanket off my legs then stretched as I stood up. I grabbed my dvds off the entertainment center then stuffed them back into my bag and took out some clothes.

"I'm just gonna go change. Be right back."

He nodded silently and leaned against the doorframe while I went down the hallway to the bathroom and changed as quickly as I could. When I returned, I got my bag together and followed John outside to his car. The ride back to Eric's was pretty quiet, except for Tom Petty playing softly in the background. John drummed his fingers against the steering wheel and looked over at me as we came to a stoplight.

"So how was it? Did Gemma scare the shit out of you?"

"She's really nice. Alot more...bold than I am, but I like her."

He chuckled and turned his attention back to the road as the light turned green. Once "American Girl" went off, I immediately recognized Ryan Adams' voice come on.

"I love this song."

I took the liberty of moving to turn up the volume but John did the same and his hand brushed mine. I jerked my arm back instantly and turned my head toward the window, hoping he couldn't see the heat rising in my cheeks. It was stupid, really. He just touched my hand. That's all. But somehow that was a big deal to me and I couldn't help but feel awkward for the rest of the way home.

As soon as the car came to a complete stop in Eric's driveway, I hopped out and grabbed my bag then shouted a "Thanks for the ride" as I passed quickly by him. I didn't think I could handle being around him much longer. The air conditioning hit my body as I stepped into the apartment and I sighed as I tossed my bag into the chair.

I was headed down the hallway to go wake up Eric when he popped out of his bedroom door.

"Oh, you're up."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "I've been up. Since like....7?"

"Well, I thought you were supposed to come get me then."

"I was going to but John came over and I told him where I was going. He offered to go instead and I told him I didn't mind because you're my favorite but he insisted."

"He....insisted."

He nodded his head and grabbed my hand, pulling me down the hall and out of the apartment, completely dropping the subject altogether with the suggestion of breakfast.

I, however, couldn't wrap my mind around that. He insisted?