And She Made the Shape of My Heart With Her Hands

“The first thing I want to do is check out their beaches,” John declared.

“Yeah, so do I. After all, Florida’s suppose to have a lot of hot girls there,” my brother claimed.

Kennedy nodded his head in agreement. “For sure.” I rolled my eyes at the boys. “Aye! Don’t you roll your pretty little eyes at us! We’re guys! We check out women!”

“Yeah! We’re men!”

I let out a sarcastic laugh at my brother backing up Kennedy’s theory. “You two are sick.” Trevor and Pat snickered.

Kennedy sighed in defeat. “Fine, Cara. What do you want to do in Florida?”

I smiled brightly. “Disney World.”

They laughed at me. “We’re not going to Disney World, so suck it up,” Garrett warmly replied to me with. I frowned.

I swear, one second my brother’s taking care of me like some freakishly perfect brother, and then the next second he’s an ass again. Oh how I loved him.

***

Pat and I were leaning against the outside of the van. We were taking a break from the like ten-hour drive from Baton Rouge.

Pat suddenly whipped out his handy dandy silver camera just as Kennedy came walking towards us and stopping next to me.

“Ready for Pat’s millionth video?” I chuckled as Pat playfully glared at Kennedy.

“Hey, it’s Pat and we’re in… Kennedy, where are we?”

Kennedy shrugged. “Florida?”

Pat sighed. “I meant specifically.”

“Tallahassee,” I spoke, a little wary of the camera that was now pointed at me. I smiled a little.

“Thank you, Cara,” Pat spoke in a softer tone, making it sound like it was filled with some sort of adoration. Even his eyes were glowing with some sort of sensation.

I smiled again, getting butterflies. “No problem,” I said, still studying his big wonderful brown eyes.

Out of the corner of my eye, I know I saw Kennedy roll his eyes.

Pat saw it as well, for he blurted out, “What!”

Kennedy smiled slyly. “Oh, nothing.”

I blushed as I walked away, Kennedy following me along. We could hear Pat approaching Trevor while making weird noises and voices.

“Man, he’s got it bad,” Kennedy said to me. We were walking around the parking lot side by side.

“Who? What?”

Kennedy laughed at my lack of knowledge. “Cara, you’re so freaking innocent in an almost naïve way.”

I pouted a little. “So? I know I’m no ‘player’ or anything.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, no kidding. Anyway, back to the point,” he continued.

I nodded. “Yes, please,” I urged him.

He smiled a little. “Cara, Pat likes you big time, dude.”

Our feet kept moving, but no words came out. Could I trust Kennedy with what I was about to tell him?

When push came to shove, I think I could rely on Kennedy to keep a secret. Therefore, I spilled almost everything, excluding the John part, of course.

“Well, Kennedy… I-I sort of… already knew that…” I looked up at him with a half sheepish smile.

He furrowed his brow a little. “Pat actually told you?”

I nodded my head, keeping my view to the dark pavement.

Kennedy took a breath before speaking, “Like flat out told you he liked you?”

I bit my lip a little and shook my head yes again.

“Damn,” he whispered in astonishment.

“Yeah.”

“So what’d you say when he told you?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I-I sort of told him that… Well, I said I didn’t really want a relationship right now because… well for reasons that I’m still theorizing about.” I paused for a moment then added quickly, “Of course I didn’t tell him that last part though.”

Kennedy sighed. “Cara, if you don’t like him, you should just tell him straight up.”

“But I never said that I didn’t like him,” I stated in a small voice.

Kennedy looked down at me. “I don’t understand. Why don’t you just tell him that you like him then?”

I cringed, knowing that my real reason would just sound utterly stupid and embarrassing. “I’m just real confused right now,” I said bluntly, yet truthfully.

Kennedy nodded his head, not wanting to pry information from me. “Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I’m pretty sure that Pat’s never had a girlfriend.” Weird tingles flowed through me right before he added, “Hell, the boy’s never been kissed before.”

“Um,” I squeaked out, my voice shaking slightly. Kennedy looked at my bashful expression and me before he got the idea. His eyes widened a bit.

“You two-”

I nodded my head vigorously. “Yeah.”

“When?”

“When he hurt his arm at that tennis court.” I took a deep breath. “In the bathroom,” I added.

Kennedy shook his head side to side a little, slowly. “I didn’t think the kid would have it in him.”

“Heh,” was all I could manage to get out.

We reached the end of the parking lot as we stood there.

“I guess we should start getting back to the van.”

I followed along his side before grabbing urgently at his arm. He looked down at me. “What?”

“You can’t tell anyone anything I just told you, Kennedy.” I watched his expression. “Please,” I begged.

He nodded his head in an understanding way. “I promise I won’t.”

I let out a deep exhale in relief. “Thank you.”

He shook his head. “But listen, Cara… Pat may not seem as… suave as some guys, but don’t overlook him. He’s a great dude.”

I nodded. “I know,” I agreed in a quiet voice.

As Kennedy and I headed back to the big white van to Clearwater, Florida, I couldn’t help but wonder if he really did have an idea of exactly what my predicament was. I didn’t know how he would have figured it out, but I had a slight feeling in the pit of my stomach that he somehow knew it all. By his choice of words, (suave, to be exact), I could only guess that he was either as observing and analytical as I was, or that someone had maybe told him something.

The only three things I could come up with while on the drive, was either Kennedy was very investigative, he was just simply guessing things involving Mr. O’Callaghan, or he was even told something by John himself…

All the thoughts and possibilities had my head spinning like crazy.