We Only Breathe for so Long

A small set of stairs led up to the front porch of John’s big house. The house had a milky, cream color to it. The roof was made up of dark blue tiles—which looked a bit like the night sky. There was a big window on the opposite side of the double door. The house looked rather plain from the front, but I felt that there was more to see inside and at the back of the house. Flowers and shrubs were also landscaped beside the foot of the stairs. I breathed in the floral scent and smiled.

John parked his car somewhere by the front steps to his house. There were already two other cars parked in front of his house, though. We got out of our seats and stretched before unloading our stuff from the vehicle.

“Woah, this whole land is yours?” My mouth was agape. I turned around to get a panorama of my surroundings.

“It’s a family inheritance,” John winked at me in reply. “It seems that Jared and Pat are here already,” he muttered.

“Who owns the other car though?” Kennedy asked while looking up at us, setting the last of the baggage on the floor with Garrett.

“That’s what I want to find out…” John said, slinging some bags over his shoulder. I was about to do the same, but then Garrett stopped me.

“Let us carry bring the bags in, it’s fine,” Garrett said, smiling at me.

“No, really, I want to help,” I pouted back at him. I got a bag on the floor, but then Garrett grabbed it from me. I struggled to get it back, shouting at him while he was just laughing at me.

“Let us take care of it, Lisette,” Kennedy grinned at me, looking at me straight with his hazel eyes. It made me stop and just forget about that bag Garrett and I were fighting over. This caused me to smile at him dumbly for a long while until Garrett broke my trance by clearing his throat. I looked away, blushing, while Kennedy made a soft chuckle. He and John began to walk up the front steps of the house. I later found Garrett staring at me with a really malicious smirk on his face.

“What?” I asked him, with confusion written all over my face.

“Oh, nothing. I’ll be watching you, Monroe,” Garrett chuckled and ran over to John and Kennedy. I rolled my eyes and followed him up the stairs. John opened the front door and the smell of fried chicken immediately wafted through our nostrils.

“I didn’t know your house smelled like chicken,” I muttered behind John. Before he could reply, a guy with long hair came running to the door, hugging John like he was some plush toy (which is still hard to imagine because John is rather lanky).

“JOOOOOHN!” the guy exclaimed. Another guy with ginger hair approached the door, chuckling at the sight.

“Hold up, Pat, why was the door unlocked? Do you even realize that some terrorist could have just opened the door and break into the house?” John’s face was so serious, but Kennedy and Garrett were trying to contain their laughter. I had no choice but to grin at this as well.

“Well, Pat was entrusted with the keys, so I have no fault in this,” the dude with ginger hair said. “I even reminded him to lock the door a while ago,” he chuckled and gestured us to come inside.

“This better not happen again, Pat,” John said, as he went through the doorway.

“Well, that wasn’t a very nice hello, John,” Pat said with a pout on his face. He followed in after John. As I stepped inside, the guy with the ginger hair walked up to me.

“Hey, you’re Lisette, right?” He gave me a toothy grin and I couldn’t help but to smile back as I nodded at him. “My name’s Jared, and as you heard, that guy who hugged John was Pat. He’s really like that, so get used to it,” he chuckled and I had to laugh at that. I went in and had a glimpse of the place while Kennedy and Garrett made small talk with Jared by the door.

The oak floorboards were reflecting off the light from the big, square windows in the room. There was a big, wooden coffee table standing on a white fluffy rug, which was in the shape of a big irregular splatter. It was very pretty. Some magazines were sprawled across its smooth surface, and a decorative white bowl was somewhat beside them. There was a modern, grey couch behind the table, which can probably seat about four people or so. Grey and white pillows were neatly arranged on it causing it to look rather fancy.

Beside the table where two, woven chairs with a big, fluffy white pillow each. A sound system was standing beside the couch. Beyond that, there were two sets of stairs, located on both sides going down, leading to a dining area. A white “wall” about four feet high separated these two regions, with a square hole slightly above its center, for decorative purposes. A vase of flowers and some photographs were sitting on top of that block of concrete. The big glass window of the dining area gave me a wonderful view of a swimming pool, fields and trees. I glanced to my left and saw a spiral staircase and a very neat kitchen. I swear, today I will explore this house. Someone was preparing food on the kitchen counter, most likely the source of the aroma. Her platinum blond hair was messily tied in a side ponytail and her deep blue eyes were focused on what she was doing.

“ISA?” John laughed and shook his head in disbelief. The girl in the kitchen looked up at the sound of her name and smiled as she saw John dropping the bags he was carrying and rushing towards her. They embraced each other in a tight hug before Isa got back to what she was doing.

“What the heck are you doing here?” John asked her, smiling.

“Well, I had absolutely nothing to do and it’s been a while since I’ve seen you. I bumped into Jared yesterday and he told me you were coming here today, so I decided to come for a surprise visit,” Isa smirked at John.

I didn’t notice that Pat was beside me. “Why wasn’t he that eager to see me?” he asked sadly, looking over the two. I just had to laugh at how silly he was. “Oh right, I forgot, my name’s Pat by the way,” he stuck out his hand for me to shake.

“I’m Lisette,” I said as I shook his hand warmly.

“I know,” Pat winked at me then left me to go over to join Jared’s group conversation. I’m pretty sure by now that Kennedy, John or Garrett told everyone I was coming along.

“Hey, Lisette, come here for a while,” John called over, gesturing me to the kitchen.

“Isa, Lisette, Lisette, Isa,” John happily said. “She’s a childhood friend of mine. I have quite the feeling that you guys would get along.”

“Hey Lisette,” Isa said, smiling at me. I greeted her as well. She looked about the same age as me. John left the kitchen to join the rest of the guys.

“So I hear you got this bucket list going on?” Isa inquired, as she continued to garnish the food on the counter.

“Yeah, one down, nine to go,” I told her with eagerness. “Did you make all of these?”

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “I like cooking. Can you do me a favor and go call the boys to get seated in the dining room?”

“Of course,” I smiled at her and did so. Moments later we were all digging in the food, chatting over our meal. John was seated at the head of the rectangular table, with Isa, me and Kennedy seated on one side and Garrett, Pat and Jared on the other.

“Hey Lisette,” Jared called my attention.

“Yeah?” I looked up at him. John, Garrett and Isa were conversing about something while Pat, Kennedy, Jared and I were talking about music-related stuff. I remember Jordan made sure I knew a lot about the latest songs, and I never broke my habit or making sure I was up to date with them.

“I’ve been meaning to ask this, but why do you look somewhat familiar?”

Pat nodded in agreement. “Yeah, now to think of it, it’s like I’ve met or seen you before.”

Before I knew it, Isa quietly slipped out of her conversation with John and Garrett and told me the same thing. “Exactly, just as Pat said!” They all looked at me with eager eyes. I couldn’t help but to ball up my hands on my lap and bite my lip just to keep them from trembling. Seriously? For the third time?

“It’s just your imagination,” Kennedy spoke up from beside me. Kennedy to the rescue. Again.The three of them just shrugged and carried on what they were doing. I mouthed a thank you to Kennedy and just stared down at my plate. I schemed a plan to tell them about Jordan later.

~~~

After cleaning up, we decided that we could do whatever we want to do up until around five o’clock and then we can go swimming, which is probably the reason why Kennedy told me to bring my bathing suit. Well duh, Lisette.

Isa and I decided to go unpack our stuff first, since we were to share a room and we want to be as organized as possible. John, Kennedy, Jared, Garrett and Pat were going to share the biggest bedroom this house has. The guys were procrastinating their packing for later and were playing video games in the living room. I swear, we could hear them shout from our room, even though the doors were already shut.

Two twin-sized beds were positioned against the beige, textured wall on the right. There was a light orange decorative piece of cloth lying on top of the comforter. A puffy white pillow leaned on the walnut headboard, behind a small cream-colored pillow. There was circular bedside table made of walnut as well stood in between the two beds. A vase containing two fresh daisies and a telephone were on it. Also, a square mirror was hanging on top of it. Sunlight shafted through glass sliding doors, which led to a porch. Apparently, all the other rooms were connected to this porch. The white veil of the curtains was held back at both sides of the sliding doors. The door to the bathroom and a cabinet was on the left side of the room.

Isa ran across the walnut floor, bags hanging on her shoulder, and collapsed on the bed nearest to us. “I claim this one!” she cried out. Something told me that she’ll have a miserable stay if she didn’t get the bed she wanted. Well, anyway, I had no objection because I really wanted the bed nearest to the sliding door. I could just imagine myself looking through the door before I go to sleep, seeing the perfect view it would offer me. The porch was overlooking the pool and the fields beyond it.

“Then I’m taking the bed near the glass door, then,” I grinned at her. I set down my duffel bags on the floor, feeling quite happy. We then started to unpack. All throughout, Isa and I engaged in conversations which are quite pointless to me.

“So, how long have you known John?” I asked just to get the ball rolling.

“For the longest time. You know how your parents are really good friends with some people and you get to be good friends with their children as well? Yeah, that’s how I met John,” she chuckled. “How long have you known Kennedy?”

“Well, I’ve only known him for a week, actually,” I honestly said, scratching the back of my neck. Maybe now, Isa’s wondering why the heck he’d offer to help me with my bucket list, since it’s apparent that we barely know each other.

“Hm, I was thinking at first that you’d be a really great friend of his. I mean, you really do look familiar,” she replied. The voice in my head told me that there was no escape and that this was the right time to tell her. Seriously, I can’t keep running away.

“Probably you know my twin sister, Jordan?” I said, not looking at her.

“Jordan… Jordan Monroe? Oh god, you do look like her!” she cried out and looked at me. “How is she?”

“Uh, well, she passed away in a car accident while we were in Philadelphia,” I said softly. I bit my lip and took a breath. It seemed like the more I get into this kind of situation, the more I learn to accept her death. Don’t get me wrong though, I miss Jordan like crazy. It’s just that, back in Philadelphia, opportunities like these never came since I barely had any friends.

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Isa said. She walked over to me and gave me a hug. I gave her a weak smile and we continued to pack, forgetting about that conversation.

After a while of silence, Isa asked me another question. “So how did you get to meet Kennedy?”

“Well, I bumped into him while taking a jog,” I chuckled. The mood grew lighter in the room. Well, to begin with, the room felt very warm due to the tint of orange in here.

Before we knew it, we were already done unpacking, and it was still three o’clock. Meaning, two more hours to waste. So, Isa toured me around John’s house. She told me that there was really nothing much to see around here. Still, I wanted to see the place. So, we decided to start with the first floor. We went out of the hallway and down the spiral staircase. We saw the guys now watching some movie with zombies in them. They were so focused on it that I bet they didn’t even see us pass by. We silently laughed at John, who would often cover his eyes and wince at what they were watching.

“I bet Garrett was the one who chose the movie. He’s into zombies,” she muttered to me. I chuckled at her statement. Yeah, Garrett seems like the type to get into them. "And John, he hates blood," she added. I could definitely see that.

So anyway, Isa started touring me around the house like this was her home and we were on MTV Cribs. She was right, there was nothing much to see here. But who cares, this house was great. We just made our way through the living room (and the guys still didn’t notice us), the dining room and the kitchen. Then we went up the stairs. We didn’t go into the other bedrooms and bathrooms, but I learned from Isa which room was which. We then went into our room and went to the porch through the glass sliding doors.

“I just love the view,” I said, leaning over the railing in the porch. The cool breeze was hitting my face, which was undeniably better than the heat back at home.

“Me, too, me too,” Isa sighed beside me.

“Why didn’t you get the bed beside the door then?” I teased her.

She shrugged. “Fear of windows and what I may see through them at night.”

I just laughed at her statement. We went down the stairs of the back porch and found ourselves at the poolside. The pool was shaped as an irregular-ish blob. Grey stone blocks outlined its shape. There was also a small circular Jacuzzi there, attached to its side. There were two trees somewhere beside the pool, across us, and a hammock hanging between them. I was able to see the dining room from here, remembering that from there you can see the pool. Some white beach chairs and a table were on our opposite side as well. Isa and I just walked around as she told me stuff about the place and then we headed back to the room. And it was still 3:45. So, we headed to the living room to socialize with the guys. There was nothing to do anymore.

When we came downstairs, the guys weren’t watching the movie anymore. The tv was shut and we found Kennedy and Jared sitting on the couch, holding their own guitars. John was standing behind the couch and was looking at Jared and Kennedy as they were tuning their guitars. Garrett was on the woven seat diagonally across the couch and was holding a guitar as well. Pat was on the seat beside Garrett and had drumsticks in his hand. Well, I think they were. What were they, some kind of band?

“Isa! Lisette!” John went up to us and greeted.

“Hey, what are you guys doing?” I asked him, looking over the guys.

“We’re just going to practice,” Pat grinned at me.

“Practice what?” I asked back.

“Yeah, what will we practice?” Jared asked the guys. Then they all put on their thinking faces on, which I found very amusing.

“How about Into Your Arms?” Kennedy suggested after a while of silence.

“Yeah, go play that song,” Isa cheered from beside me. John smiled at her and looked over at Pat. He then walked behind the couch.

Pat got the message and they all got ready. “One, two three, four,” he said. And at his count, they all started to play. I found out Jared was playing the lead part; Kennedy, rhythm; Garrett, what seemed to be the bass part; and Pat was drumming on the coffee table in front of him. After the intro, John started to sing.

There was a new girl in town
She had it all figured out

“Had it all figured out,”Kennedy sang after John’s first lines. I was pleasantly surprised. They played so well together. And John and Kennedy’s voices were amazing.

And I’ll state something rash
She had the most amazing… smile

I noticed how Isa was singing to every word. I don’t really know, but I’m really updated with music, but why haven’t I heard this song before? This one was great; it could just become my favorite song. I watched them as the song continued on.

Oh she’s slipping away
I always freeze when I’m thinking of words to say
All the things she does make it seem like love
If it’s just a game, then I like the way that we play

Eventually the song ended and Isa and I were applauding like there was no tomorrow. John then bowed, crying out some thank you-s to us dramatically, like we were at a concert and he was touched at the sight of us. I saw the guys roll their eyes and Isa and I just laughed.

“That was great, you guys,” I grinned at all of them. “You guys should make a band!”

“Uhm, Lisette, we are a band. John composed this song,” Garrett said, chuckling. The guys chuckled as well. I felt embarrassed.

“Sorry, I didn’t know.” I muttered awkwardly. “What’s the name of your band?”

“The Maine,” Pat grinned. Sounded familiar.

“Well, great job, guys,” Isa smiled at them. “It’s still four o’clock. You guys want to start getting ready?”

Everyone agreed to do so and then we got to our rooms. We got changed and at 5 o’clock, we headed out to the back porch. It was so tempting to just jump out of the porch and dive into the pool. I know I’d die though, so I restrained myself. I don’t know why, but the guys brought out a cooler with them. I let that pass though and did not ask about it. We went down the stairs, but then the guys and Isa did not stop at the poolside but continued on walking to a dirt road at the side of the fields behind the pool.

“I thought we were going to swim! Where are we going?” I called out to the guys. I was catching up to them from behind, with confusion written on my face.

“You’ll see,” Kennedy turned his head to look behind me and smirked. I caught up to him and decided to walk beside him since some kind of scheme was going on, and he most likely set this up.

We followed the dirt road through the forest. The trees blocked out most of the light, so it was a good thing the guys brought flashlights. We walked on for a good fifteen minutes. I was bothered because small rocks and some soil were getting in between my feet and my flip-flops. I was looking down at my feet the whole time, watching my step in fear that I might trip or something. John’s voice made my head snap up.

“We’re here,” he said, with a smile.

And there and then, I saw the waters of a beach, stretching out into the horizon as it reflected the light of the moon.

That was the second thing in my list – to go to the beach.