Listen to Your Heart

“Ohhh I like this one!” Pat pointed cheerfully to a power ranger crib.

“Pat, for the last time it’s a girl! Get it through your peanut sized brain!” Kelsey said slapping his head.

“Rachel! Kelsey hit my head!” Pat whined, tugging on my arm.

“Kelsey don’t hit him, and Pat it’s a girl not a boy!” Rachel said. “Geez it feels like I already have kids.”

“It’s okay Rach, its good practice.” I patted her shoulder. “Ugh I’m so stressed out, what color should her room be?”

“Hmm how about you paint the walls pink and green, while the furniture’s brown or black.” I suggested looking through the paints.

“Yes! I love it! Thank you Annie!” She screeched pulling me into a hug.

“Haha, okay I get it; let’s go get some paint!” I grabbed her by the arm and down the aisle we went.

-20mins later-

“You guys I’m tired! Can we go home now?” Pat whined, stomping his feet on the ground.

“Pat shut the fuck up and quit the bitching!” Rachel said, clearly annoyed.

“But I’m tired, and have to pee really really bad!” Pat protested once again.

“Hold it in! We’re almost done! Christ sake Pat!” Kelsey groaned.

“I don’t know how you deal with him Kels; if I were dating him he’d be dead by now.”

“Well—it’s a good thing you’re not dating me isn’t it?” Pat sarcastically stated earning him a punch in the shoulder.

“Ow! That hurt!” He clutched his shoulder in pain.

“Don’t give a shit Pat now let’s go pay so we can get you home. And get your ass out of the cart or I’m leaving you behind.”

“Pft you wouldn’t dare.” He crossed his arms and stayed seated in the cart.

“Watch me” I grabbed the buckets of paint out of the cart and walked away; leaving him there by himself with no ride home.

Dropping everything onto the conveyer belt, I paid for the paint and supplies since it was part of Rachel’s baby shower gift. I grabbed the bags from the cashier and made my way out with the girls leaving Pat behind.

“Are we really leaving him here?” Kelsey asked, looking at towards the store.

I shrugged. “Don’t now it’s totally up to you; he is your boyfriend.”

“Eh, I think he’d survive an hour or two her.” Said got into the backseat and rested her feat against the side window.

“Are you sure you want to do that Kels? He’s going to get mad at you.” Rachel said sounding a little unsure of leaving Pat back at the store.

“It’ fine, he can’t stay mad at me. And besides, I think we all can use a break from his constant whining. Am I right?”

“Hell yeah, that’s my girl!” I clapped my hands together. “Now let’s get to Rachel and Garrett’s place to decorate this baby's room!”

“Um you guys this looks a little funky.” Kelsey said. We all took a step back to study the mess in front of us.

“Should that side be darker than the other side?” I averted my gaze to one wall to another.

“N-no I think it’s just the lighting—,” Rachel turned a light on. “Nope it’s our painting job, we suck at painting.”

“Oh come on guys it isn’t that bad, just a little uneven with the painting that’s all.” I tried to cheer them up. “All we have to do it paint another layer on that side and it’ll look great.”

None of them moved a muscle. They dropped to the floor and laid there looking up at the ceiling.

“Fine, I have a way to fix this.” I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and dialed Kennedy’s number.

“Hello?”

“Hey, are the guys there with you?” I asked placing the paint brushes on the window ceil.

“Uh yeah, what’s up?”

“Well, are you boys busy?”

“Uh not really, just got done with practice, why?”

“Well gather them all here at Rachel’s house. We need your guys’ help, and make sure they’re not drunk. Got it?”

“Yeah whatever, see you in a few.” With that he hung up.

“Why are you inviting those monkeys to my house?” Rachel questioned.

“Because those monkeys’ will come in handy helping us paint this room. The faster we get done the faster I can go home and watch ‘How I met your mother’.”

The guys arrived 30 mins later ready to work, or so I thought.

“Party’s here!!!” I heard someone yell from downstairs.

I stuck my head out the nursery door. “We’re up here in the nursery!”

“Hey ladies whatcha’—Oh shit what happened here?” Trey walked him with shock written on his face.

“What does it look like? We’re painting dumbass.” I said in a ‘duh’ tone.

“Yeah I know that captain obvious, but why are the walls different shades of pink and green?” He pointed to the wall with shades of green, hot pink, and grassy green.

“We don’t know, we just started painting and it ended it like that.” Kelsey said. “Can you guys help us, we can’t let this poor baby have a rainbow colored room.

“I don’t know about you but I think that sounds pretty bomb.”

“Trey” I said in a stern voice.

“Fine no need for the look. Let me get the rest of the guys up here.” The guys all ran upstairs tumbling into the room. The smell of cigarettes and booze filled the room.

“Kennedy! I thought I told you to bring them here sober!” I yelled, cracking a window open.

“You said not to bring them drunk and that’s what I did. They’re not drunk!”

“You call that sober?” I gestured to Halvo who could barely stand up on his own without the support of Jared.

“Yeah I do in matter of fact, this—,” He clung on to Halvo’s shoulder. “Is not drunk, it’s tipsy.”

“Oh don’t try to be a smartass Kennedy.” I said throwing each of them a paint brush. “Now make yourselves useful and start painting!”

“Damn someone got there panties tied in a bunch.” I heard Garrett mumbled under his breathe.

“I heard that!”

“Who said it wasn’t meant to be heard.” They guys laughed at his comeback. But I just stood there shooting daggers in the corner of my eye.

“Okay, I think we’re done!” Kennedy said. Stepping back and admiring his work.

“Yup I guess we are. Since you guys saved our asses I got you all this.” I ran down stairs and grabbed 3 cases of beer and a bottle of Jack Daniel along with a few shot glasses.

I ran back up stairs and held what I had up for all to see.

“Oh shit! Annie you are officially my favorite Brock!” Austin said grabbing the shot glasses out of my hand.

“Hey I’m right here!” Kennedy said, holding a hand to his chest.

“Oh I know the truth hurts doesn’t it Kenny?” He nodded his head. “Well suck it up because it’s called truth for a reason.”

He stuck his tongue out at me and cracked the beer bottle open.

“Let have a toast—“ Trey suggested. “To my pain in the ass brother, Rachel, and soon to be niece; cheers to them!”

We all cheers and downed our drinks shortly after, that’s when it hit me.

“Um guys, I think we’re missing someone.”

“Oh yeah John said he’d join us later.” Nick said.

“No not John I meant Pat.” Kelsey’s eyes widened.

“What do you mean Pat? I thought he went to the stores with you guys.” Nick said obviously confused.

I shifted in my chair uncomfortably. “Well um—we kind of left him at the store.” Everyone’s eyes shot open. “It’s not what you think, he got annoying so we left him there.”

“You left my brother at the store with no ride home?” Tim asked, trying to hold in the laughter.
He held out his hand to me. “Nice job Brock!”

“Well I better go get him before he gets into too much trouble.” Kelsey said, getting off from the ground.

Right when Kelsey was about to step out of the room John came in with his blonde bimbo trailing behind.

“Party’s here!” He hollered.

“Okay enough with that line; you guys have been watching way too much Jersey Shore.” I said, taking another swing of beer.

“Well someone’s cranky—but that doesn’t matter, look who I found at the store this afternoon.” He stepped back and revealed Pat from behind.

“Whoa, where did he come from?” I asked.

“My ass, where do you think he came from?” Raquel said sarcastically, laughing at her own comment.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Rachel asked.

“I don’t know either, I thought we were going shopping until we ran into this dweeb at the store and John insisted in taking him back here.”

Kelsey grabbed Pat’s arm and pulled him into the room. “Thank you John, you just saved me a trip.”

“You’re welcome and how ‘bout you share some of that beer I see?” He smirked and made his way over to the booze. And he says he’s not an alcoholic...my ass.

“You guys would never guess what happened when you left me at the store. I went all Rat Boy on this kid and his mom flipped out and threatened to call the cops on me, supposedly I was some crazy lunatic that needed to be taken by animal control.” He said excitedly.

“And you’re saying this in a good way?”

He took a moment to think. “Yeah it is, I take it as a hugeeeee compliment.”

I turned to Kelsey. “You my dear, have your hands full.”

By the end of the night everyone was wasted and not thinking very clearly, especially me.
Seeing left over paint in the corner, I grabbed the brush and dunked it into the paint; not looking where I splattered the brush I flicked the brush.

I heard a high pitch scream from the corner and immediately knew who I’d hit, Raquel.

“You bitch!” She shouted across the room.

“Oh come on it’s a little paint, it won’t kill you.” I slurred. I grabbed the paint brush and dunked it into the pink paint and flicked it at her again.

“Oh hell no, bitch do it again and see what will happen, I dare you.” She threatened me. Quite frankly I didn’t give a damn so I took her up on it.

Grabbing the bucket of paint I skipped over to her and dumped the whole bucket over her head.
Everyone in the room gasped. Seeing Raquel was about to attack me, Halvo and Tim grabbed some paint themselves and threw it across the room hitting John and Garrett.

“Paint fight!” Pat yelled and started to run round the room.

We all dumped our hands in paint and tackled each other to the ground.

Seeing John out of the corner of my eye, I went over and dumped the rest of the paint onto this head. Do to this he tackled me to the ground tickling me.

“J-John stop it please! I’m going to throw up!” I pleaded kicking my feet in the air.

He had an evil smirk on his face. “No can do babe, your bad decision for dumping that paint on me.”

“John this isn’t fair!” I whined and started to pout.

“Too bad, hey remember when I dumped you in the pool at Pat’s?” He asked calling previous years memories.

“Yeah why?”

“Well it’s happening again!” He picked me up from the ground and tossed me over his shoulder like I was some rag doll.

“No-no John no! Not again! Please no I beg you! Please don’t do it again.”

“And why not?” He asked gripping my thigh even harder.

“Because you love me? And you would never do something that cruel again?”

“Hmm let me think about it—um no!” He opened the sliding glass door.

“Please John I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t throw me in the water please!”

He stopped half way across the yard, “Anything?”

“Yes anything now put me down you bastard!” He placed me down on the ground with yet another smirk planted on his face. “What do you want?”

“Well—you, Rachel, and Kels have a girl’s day.” I looked at him like he was crazy. “—with Raquel...”

“Oh hell no, there’s no way am I going to spend a second with her let a long a day! No John, I can’t.”

“Please Annie for me? I need you 4 to get along, come on do it for me pwease?” He jutted out his bottom lips at me.

“No, I can’t.”

“Yes you can, just one day it’s not that hard!”

“John you don’t get it, Raquel only gets along with her own kind.”

“What do you mean ‘her own kind’?”

“Her own kind, as in Angela” I said bluntly.

“Why are you being so damn stubborn Annie!?!” He finally snapped.

“I can pick and choose my own friends, and not to be blunt, wait no, to be blunt; I don’t like your fiancé she’s made my life a living hell. And I don’t need someone that brings so much negativity in my life.” I got up from the ground and walked to the house.

John grabbed my wrist and spun me around. “I’m not asking you to be friends with her, all I ask is or you guys to be civil! Just give it a shot, what harm can it really do?” He finally calmed down.

“Next week, have her meet us at the mall. And I’m going to say this now, if she bitches or throws a punch I’m not afraid to fight back.” I yanked my hands from his hand and walked out.