Make You Better

“Wait, okay, hold the fuck up for one minute,” I held my hand up as I trotted down the large staircase and joined the four other people in the huge living room. “Why the fuck would we spend this much money on this beautiful house that only has three bedrooms.” My eyes were filled with fire as they zeroed right in on Carl, his cheeks gaining a light pink tint to them as the two other boys looked over at him as well, mild anger smothering their features.

Judging by their glares, I assumed that him trying to set them up with girls like this was also a very frequent thing. I was happy I wasn’t the only one in their little matchmaker game.

It warmed my heart knowing that Carl and Lea was so similar, a match made in heaven.

Humming, Carl shrugged a little and then laced his fingers through his strands of blonde hair. He tried to play it off that it was the nicest house on the lake, and that all of the others were booked for this week, but as I watched him sneak a worried glance form me to Derick and then back to Lea, I knew there were other motives that he wasn’t about to spill to the group.

Grinding my teeth together, I rolled my eyes and then looked down at my sneakers, pinching the bridge of my nose. Just as I was about to offer myself to take the couch for the week, Derick cleared his throat and spoke up, his accented words breaking the tension in the room.

“I’ll sleep with Mats so Keaton can have her own room.” He flashed me a quick, tight-lipped smile, before turning to Mats. “If that’s okay with you.” Motioning to the other brunette. They locked eyes and as the shorter of the two looked at everyone, he nodded quickly and then put on a nervous smile.

“Just don’t spoon me when I fall asleep.”

After a momentary pause, everyone started to laugh, the tension that was created from my angry outburst and Carl’s horrible lie disappearing from the room. Laughter dying down and small conversations starting up between the four of them, I rubbed my fingers into my temples and then looked up to catch Derick’s eyes in mine as he spoke to Carl.

Sending him a small smile, silently thanking him for resolving the sleeping situation, I turned from the group and headed back out to my car, to grab the rest of my suitcases. Halfway across the large front lawn, I heard the scuff of shoes through the dirt and pebbles. Pausing, I turned to see the familiar brunette catch up to me, the skin on his face quickly turning pink from the cold.

Giving me a small nod, he started walking, watching from the corner of his eye as I followed him over to the trunk of my car. “Thought you could use some help.” He shrugged one shoulder as he grabbed two of my suitcase, leaving me the smallest one to carry. Grabbing the duffle bag, I slung it over my shoulder and then closed the trunk door, waiting for the click before I locked the car and then turned back to face the house.

Calling the house beautiful was definitely an understatement. The front of it made the home seem like a simple, modern, two story log cabin, but the second you stepped inside, or saw the side of the home, your breath was taken away by the huge windows that overlooked the frozen lake in the backyard. There were two separate decks that stuck out from the back of the house on either side. The left one was attached to the master bedroom on the second floor and the second was attached to the first floor living room. The bottom floor was a completely furnished basement that was more of a game room, and had huge sliding doors that lead out to the backyard that backed the lake.

On the inside, every single thing was updated. Large flat screen televisions hung from the walls, the fireplaces were enclosed in glass and turned on by the flip of the switch, the kitchen had one large fridge for food, and another fridge for alcohol. It had a dishwasher, a top of the line Keurig, and two ovens. The bedrooms were roomy and all had their own television. Two of the bedrooms had the same glass fireplaces, with large four post beds and walk in closets.

The last bedroom, with the smallest mattress and was most likely mine, was the simplest. Instead of a large four-post bed frame, it simply had a very low and unnoticeable platform bed frame, a full sized mattress and a tiny wire night table. Like the others, it had a large walk in closet, but other than those two pieces of furniture, it was void of the material things the other two bedrooms had. Instead of the large flat screen, the room had one empty wall, while the other was covered in full-length windows.

“Keaton, it’s starting to snow, let’s get inside,” Derick called over to me as he lightly grabbed my bare hand and gave me a small tug toward the house. Blinking a few times, I looked down at my hand in his, then up at his pink tinted face, and smiled.

“Sorry, I got sucked into the house. It’s really nice.” I whispered, the cold starting to sink in through my sweater. I could feel the flesh on my hands and face starting to gain the same pink that showed on everyone else.

“Yeah, it’s beautiful, huh?” He hummed, his hand still holding mine as he stopped next to me, his eyes tracing over the house as tiny snow flakes started to settle in our hair and on our clothing. As I watched the snowflakes dance through the sky and start to pile up on the ground, a small sigh passed my lips. Looking back over to the brunette, I watched as his lips slowly pulled into a smile as he traced his eyes along the house and then stopped at the frozen lake in the backyard.

Turning to me, the boy asked if I had ever ice-skated before. When I laughed as a reply, he gasped and then quickly started pulling me toward the front door of the house. “It’s so much fun! When it’s done snowing you have to come out on the pond with us.”

“Oh, no, no.” I laughed as I stumbled along behind the brunette, watching the snowflakes pile up on the hood of his sweatshirt and his messy brown hair. Reaching forward with my free hand as we reached the front porch, I brushed some snow from his hair and then sent him a warm smile.

It was then, as we locked eyes for the tenth time through the day, that I realized my hand was burning from his fingers interlocking perfectly with mine. Looking down at our hands, I watched as the brunette followed my gaze and then quickly pulled his hand from mine and ran it through his hair.

Breathing a short sorry, he pushed the front door open and then stepped inside, shaking the snowflakes from his head as he set the bags down in the middle of the living room and looked around for everyone else.

“Carl and I have the bedroom with the balcony!” Lea screamed from the top of the stairs, that huge smile only she could pull off shimmering under the large chandelier that hung from the middle of the ceiling near the stairs. As Carl appeared behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and then picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder and turning to us, waving as they headed out of view. As Lea’s laughs faded into the hallway, I sucked in a small breath and looked over at Derick.

Smiling at each other, he went to ask me something when a hand landed on both of our shoulders, and we were pulled into someone’s sides. The whole side hugging two people at a time thing must have been a common thing among the team.

“Hey Brass, wanna carry me to our bedroom?” Mats laughed as he turned to Derick and pressed a kiss to his cheek. As the shorter man started laughing, Derick’s cheek turned a bright red and he quickly grabbed Mats in a headlock and then started to ramble off in French. Two men stumbling into the couch, I rolled my eyes and grabbed my light duffle bag and carefully walked around them, laughing as Mats pressed Derick’s face into the couch and tried to kiss his cheek again.

Climbing the steps, I ran my hand over the polished wooden banister, letting the sound of Derick and Mats fighting fade to a muffled hum. Heading down the hallway opposite from Lea and Carl’s master bedroom, I dragged my body all the way down the hall to the last door on the right. Pushing it open, I watched as the small room with the large windows and simple bed and nightstand came into view.

Walking over to the large closet, I slid the door to the side and then dropped my duffle bag against the floor. Running my eyes over the vacant shelves and hangers, I had the sudden urge to hang up my things, but the second I realized that it was seven at night, we had just drove three hours up mountains and dirt roads, and it was now starting to blizzard, I lost the energy to do anything productive.

Turning from the closet, I walked over to the windows, pushed all curtains back, and then dropped my body onto the bed, letting my eyes follow the little snowflakes rushing through the wind and smashing against my window.

“Mats, will you get off my back you little hobbit!” Derick’s accented voice flowed through the hallway and caused a small smile to surface on my lips. “You’re so weird, you know that?”

“Well you’re the one that asked to sleep with me, Brassy.”

“Oh, will you shut up, you little troll.” Derick barked, causing a light laugh to pass my lips as I stayed on the mattress, my arms sprawled out over my head, hands hanging off the edge of the mattress.

As the men traveled back down the hallway, I sucked in a deep breath and then shut my eyes, letting the soft hum of the wind hitting my window calm my nerves. I have almost made it through one of the eight days already. I made it through the three hour drive with the man I had never met before, I dodged being out of a room and sleeping on the couch for a week, and now I didn’t have to do a damn thing. Derick had Mats, Carl had Lea, and I had the peace and quiet of what a vacation should really be.

I did miss my cat though. Derick was right, I should have taken him with me.

Minutes ticked by as I let the silence of my room calm my nerves. Kicking my sneakers off, I kicked them over to the side of the room, and then rolled onto the side to pull my phone from my back pocket. Holding it over my face, I hit the side button and watched as my screen filled with notifications about texts and emails.

Groaning, I rolled onto my stomach, placing my phone against the sheets and propped myself up with my elbows. Scrolling through the emails I let out a heavy sigh and went to check my text messages when a light knock sounded from the door.

Turning my head to the side, I watched as Derick poked his head in, his bright brown eyes connecting to mine as he placed my suitcases down to the side of the door and then leaned his shoulder against the frame. “You’re room is so boring.” He chuckled, his eyes running over the plain white walls and simple bed. “You want ours?”

“Oh no not at all, come here,” I ordered, sitting up and pulling my knees into my chest. Folding my arms against my kneecaps, I set my chin down on my arms and waited for the mattress to dip down on the side. When it did, and the left side of my body grew warm from the body heat, I pointed to the huge windows lining the wall. “Nice view, huh?”

“Wow,” was all he said as he copied my seated position and leaned into me a little, making a smile form on my lips as I broke my gaze from the snowstorm and looked up at the brunette. “So you’re a successful business woman who owns a cat and is a nature freak?”

“You got me,” I rested my head down on his shoulder as I let out a long yawn and then listened as the faint sound of the other man calling Derick’s name ripped through the silence between us.

After a few minutes of ignoring it, the brunette started to get louder and louder until Derick couldn’t ignore it anymore. Grumbling, he turned his head to me and sent me a sad smile.

“My boyfriend is summoning me, sorry.” He groaned, rubbing his hand through his scruffy beard.

“No problem,” I sent him a small smile as he got up, leaving the left side of my body exposed to the cold air in the room. I instantly wished he would sit back down next to me. “Thanks for bringing my things up for me, that was really sweet.”

“Yeah, of course, no problem, any time,” he said quickly, the light pink color that surfaced when we were outside showing up on his cheeks. “I think we were going to order some pizza and see what’s in the game room downstairs, do you-“

“Oh thanks but I…” I looked over at my suitcases and nibbled on my bottom lip. “I’m going to unpack and get settled, thanks though.”

The ends of Derick’s lips twisted downward at my vetoed invite. Nodding a little, he shoved his hands into his pockets, nodded a little, and then forced a huge smile onto his face. “Alright, well, you know where we will be, yeah?”

“Of course, thanks.” I whispered and then quickly grabbed my cell phone and started to scroll through the text messages from co-workers to see if anything was urgent. As the brunette left the room and softly closed the bedroom door, I watched as a bunch of the messages were just wishing me a safe trip, then one was from the woman who was watching my cat.

Opening the conversation, I watched as a picture of Fitz appeared on my screen and I couldn’t help but to let out a small squeak and hold the phone closer to my face. Examining the cat on the screen, I let out a small sigh and wished again that he was with me in my little room for the next week.

A part of me felt bad for hiding in my room. I knew I should have been eager to run downstairs with Derick and play pool and air hockey, eat unhealthy take out food and listen to the guys bust on each other, but the first half of the drive had taken a toll on me, and as I laid on the mattress barely suspended off of the floor and watched the snow storm, the only thing I wanted to do was go to sleep. I didn’t want to go downstairs and watch Carl and Lea try to push me into talking to the guys. I didn’t want them to make anything awkward between Derick and I.

I liked him as a person; he was quiet, thoughtful, and sweet. The last thing I wanted was for the blonde couple to ruin that for me.

So instead, I settled on falling asleep early.

I dug through my suitcase until I found a pair of sweats and a loose tee shirt, then I threw my hair into a messy bun, set my cell phone down on the little iron night stand, and tucked myself under the sheets. Pulling them up to my chin, I sucked in a deep breath, and then let the view of the snow and the silence lull me off to sleep.

As soon as my mind had hit a deep enough sleep for pictures to start playing in my head, the first thing I could see was the brown eyed brunette with the scruffy beard, smiling over at me with his tiny tooth gap and rosy cheeks as the snowflakes beat down against my window.

I could feel my heart thud.