Cash In Now Honey

Jack pulled to a stop in the driveway of their parents’ house. He turned off the car and got out, opening my door for me.

“You alright?” he asked. I nodded and smiled, leaning forward and hugging him.

“Thanks Jack,” I said to him.

“Sorry about earlier. I didn’t know,” he said to me.

“It’s fine,” I replied. He nodded and rubbed my back before I pulled back and slipped out of the car, grabbing my bags.

“You’re going to stay in my room,” Jack told me.

“What? No. I can crash on the couch or something,” I told him.

“Nah, it’s chill. Kev and I are going to crash in Squid’s room. He’s got a pull out bed thing and a couch,” Jack told me.

“If you decide you want your bed, let me know,” I told him. Jack nodded and we headed inside. I met Jack and Luke’s parents and their sister Liza. Jack showed me where his room was and told me that we were going to leave for dinner in a few hours. After getting settled a little, there was knock on the door.

“Come in,” I said. The door opened and Liza came in. “Hey.”

“Hi,” she said as she walked in and took a seat on the edge of Jacks’ bed. “Did Jack tell you where we were going to go eat?” I shook my head no. “It’s called Mulligan’s. Casual formal will work.” I looked at her perplexed. She got up and grabbed my bag.

“Do you mind?” she asked as she sat it on the bed. I shook my head no. She pulled out my white denim mini and a pinkish drape front blouse.

“I have the perfect shoes to go with this,” Liza said. “You wouldn’t happen to wear an eight would you?”

“Yeah, actually,” I replied. Liza disappeared and returned with a pair of wedges, a curling iron, and her makeup bag.

“Okay, so I don’t know what’s going on with you and Luke but the way he looked at you earlier, I’ve never seen it before,” she said. Well shit, maybe Mason wasn’t lying when he was drunk.

“There actually isn’t anything going on with Luke and I. The guys keep hinting at the fact that he likes me or something but I’ve just kind of ignored it I guess,” I told her.

“Well tonight, we’ll get proof,” she said. Liza proceeded to curl my hair into really pretty soft curls and do my makeup. She gave me some jewelry to wear but stopped and looked at what I have.

“Here, take this one off,” she said, pointing to my charm bracelet.

“Uh, I’d actually rather leave it on,” I told her.

“Oh. Someone special give it to you?” she asked.

“Uh.... Luke got it for me for my birthday actually,” I told her as I played with it.

“Aw, that’s adorable. It seems like something he would buy someone,” she said. “But it oddly seems to match most of your clothes.”

“Yeah,” I replied shyly.

“Wow, you guys are more alike than I thought,” she said quietly, almost to herself. “Well, I’m gonna go finish getting ready.” I decided to paint my nails and they had just finished drying when there was another knock on the door.

“Come in,” I called and Mrs. Mitrani appeared.

“You look beautiful dear,” she said as he she smiled at me.

“Oh, thank you. Liza kind of got me ready,” I told her as I stood and grabbed my bag.

“Everyone’s down in the kitchen. You ready?” she asked me.

“Yeah,” I replied. She led me down the hall and down the stairs that led into the kitchen. I stopped on the stairs when I saw a picture of Jack and Luke when Luke was probably about twelve. I laughed a little and Mrs. Mitrani looked.

“They’ve both grown up so much. I’m happy that they’ve got a girl around to keep them in line,” she said as she stepped into the kitchen. I laughed as I took the final step down the stairs and into the kitchen. The cliche silence pursued and I looked up. Kevin and Jack looked surprised while Luke, well, I couldn’t really read his face but it was a happy face.

“Wow, Carson. You look great,” Jack said to me.

“Thanks,” I said softly. Liza grinned as she picked up her bag and headed for the back door. I
followed the guys through the house and outside to the car. Kevin walked beside me with Jack and Luke in front of us about twenty feet. I saw Luke shove Jack then Luke being put in a head lock and laughed. Kevin opened the passenger door of the car and motioned for me to get in.

“Thanks Kev,” I said to him with a smile. I climbed into the car and buckled up before looking over and seeing Jack beside me. Jack drove into town and followed his parents and Liza to what I figured to be Mulligan’s. I opened my door and climbed out and looked over at the building, which was at the brim with people. Mr. Mitrani went inside and put down our names and came back outside.

“It’ll be able a thirty minute wait,” he told us. There were benches outside so we took seats and started talking. Liza and Mrs. Mitrani had been smart and brought jackets. I, on the other hand, had forgotten how chilly Vermont could be on spring evenings. I was sitting there, trying not to show I was cold when I felt a blanket of warmth engulf me. I looked at my shoulder and saw a hoodie being placed around it. I looked up at Luke, who was sitting beside me, and smiled.

“Thanks,” I said to him as I pulled the hoodie a little closer.

“Did you forget how cool it gets here at night?” he asked me as he casually placed his arm behind me on the back of the bench.

“A little bit,” I replied. “I haven’t been here for like six years.” I began my own little conversation with Luke, completely forgetting about everyone else around us until Jack told us it was time to go in. I tried to give Luke back his hoodie but he refused.

“Keep it. I can get it back some other time,” he said as we followed everyone inside. Mr. Mitrani sat at the head of the table with his wife, Liza, and Kevin on one side of the table and Jack, Luke and I on the other, me between the two. We all ordered and sat and talked about stuff while we were waiting. Some ordered appetizers but I passed. I was eyeing whatever Luke was eating though because I didn’t know what it was.

“Did you want some?” Luke asked, scooting the plate toward me. I shook my head. “Come on, you gotta try it.”

“What is it?” I asked him.

“Lobster and avocado quesadilla,” he told me. I scrunched up my nose and he laughed. “It’s way better than it sounds.” He cut a chunk off of a piece on his plate and held up towards me. I took it from him and hesitated. Luke laughed about this and pushed my hand towards my mouth a little. I took a bite and was surprised. It wouldn’t be my new favorite food or anything but it was good.

“Okay, those are good,” I said. Luke nodded and kept eating. When our food arrived, Luke and I ended up splitting our food and sharing with the other. He’d ordered the stock yard black steak and whatever potatoes he got were amazing. Luke seemed to really like the Chicken Parmegiana I’d ordered. We both had left over food and put it all in one box. No one else had thought about dessert so when the waitress came and asked, Luke and I decided we both wanted something so we decided to share again.

“I’ll have the brownie sundae,” Luke told her.

“And can I get the strawberry shortcake?” I asked. She nodded and when she came back with them, we know we’d be sharing with everyone. I don’t think Luke even got any of his sundae, which was gigantic. I shared my shortcake with him though and he seemed to enjoy it just as much. Not long after, we headed back for the Mitrani’s and I settled into Jack’s room for the night. I felt weird kicking him out of his room, that was until he and Kevin came in and I ended up sleeping between the two.

I woke up the next morning and couldn’t move. Jack’s head was nuzzled against my neck, his arm around my waist, body pressed against mine from behind. Kevin was in front of me, facing towards me. He looked adorable while asleep and I couldn’t help but think about how much I loved having him, and the rest of the guys, as friends. I never had a lot of friends, I chose not to so it was nice to have friendships that came easily and naturally. I reached up onto the headboard and grabbed my phone, texting Luke asking him to come wake up Jack because I was feeling awkward. The thought did in fact cross my mind that if it was the other Mitrani boy laying like Jack was, I would have no problem with laying there for a little while longer like I was. There was a soft knock on the door and then it opened. Luke came in, looking half asleep still. His hair was everywhere and he didn’t have on a shirt with his pajama pants hanging half way off his hips while he rubbed his eyes.

“Help me,” I said to him. He smirked but came over and smacked Jack, who let go of me and I moved quickly but was careful not wake up Kevin or Jack. I held out my hands to Luke to help me off the bed and followed him out of the room, shutting the door behind us.

Luke reached over and took a hold of my hand lightly and pulled me up a set of half hidden stairs. He pushed a hatch in the ceiling open and continued up. I looked around and saw it was a bedroom, Luke’s to be exact. I looked around while he shut the hatch and took my hand again. He opened a sliding door and climbed onto the hammock out there and looked at me expectantly. I went back inside and pulled a blanket off his bed and joined. It felt weird being so close to him, I mean it was a hammock, it’s a bit hard to stay separated on them. I looked over at Luke and he looked over at me and grinned before falling back asleep. I did the same and was woken up by their dog barking later. I could see the sun was out and felt Luke beside me and grinned a little. I smoothly got out of the hammock and went and got ready before returning and waking Luke up.