As soon as AJ and Molly entered the living-room of Howie's house, after Howie had let them in, and the others saw them, Brian laughed: "Molls! What the heck happened to your hair?"
"You look like me", Howie grinned, and Molly pouted jokingly, as the others also laughed and made a comment.
AJ beside her chuckled: "Do you want to tell them, or shall I?"
Molly just shot him a look, before she turned back to the rest: "Nothing happened to my hair, except that I didn't blow-dry it, k? And what happens, when I let my hair dry naturally is that I get curls."
Mandy looked confused, as she said: "You blow-dried your hair this morning right before I did."
Now AJ laughed out loud, which confused the others even more, but also got them interested. Molly also laughed, while she elbowed AJ softly. Then she finally explained: "Ok, ok! He's gonna tell you anyway. I fell into Alex' pool this afternoon!" Of course laughter erupted in the room and Molly had to share the whole story about what had happened. It was a good thing she was able to laugh about herself, because she was teased about it for the rest of the night. And barking at her had become a new inside joke.
"Hey D., what's on the menu tonight?" AJ asked.
"Always the hungry one", Brian snickered.
The three girls immediately protested. "You're one to speak. All of you five guys could eat a whole cow each. The barbecue was a pretty impressive example for it!" Sarah said. Mandy and Molly agreed grinning.
"Anyway", Howie changed the subject, getting thankful looks from Brian and AJ, "I'll be cooking a hot paella for you tonight, and I'll try to make churros."
"Churros!" Molly exclaimed happily. "I love you, Howie!"
"Excuse me?!" AJ asked with mock shock. "What about me?" he pouted.
"What are churros?" Brian asked, and Sarah explained to him that it was a popular dessert in Spain - and very popular with Molly and herself. It were sweet, ring-shaped pastries that were baked in hot oil.
In the mean-time Molly took care of AJ. "Aww, poor babe", she smiled, patting his cheek. "I just meant that from this day on Howie's my fave cook. From what I know it seems you never cook anyway, right? McDonald's is just too near and too tempting, huh?!"
"I can cook", AJ insisted. He placed a quick kiss on Molly's lips, and promised: "I will cook for you, before you have to leave."
Molly nodded, then quickly added: "And now, let's change the subject again. I don't wanna talk about leaving, when it's only my second day here." AJ agreed, smiling sadly.
"Howie, can I check out your kitchen?" she asked.
"Sure", Howie smiled. "Come on, I'll show you my favorite room in the house."
"She said kitchen, D., not bedroom!" Mandy joked, causing more laughter.
"Whatever", Howie laughed, before he and Molly disappeared into the kitchen.
The rest of the group in the living-room soon jumped up and followed curiously though, when they heard Molly exclaiming happily: "Oh wow, this is so cool!"
When all of them stood in the doorway she turned to them with sparkling eyes and explained: "He's got a Wok! How cool is that?!" Mandy and Brian laughed, as AJ just stood there in wonder. He felt kinda happy himself, just from watching Molly being all excited about something small like a cooking utensil. It had been a long time since he had met someone who could still be amazed by the simple things in life, and especially someone who still valued simple things. Although he knew she had had a good life and she hadn't missed anything in it, she had never been rich either. She was a normal girl who had grown up in an average family, in a normal environment. But still, the main thing he loved about her was that she was just that tiny bit different from the women he had met so far. And he loved her ability to share all her emotions, no matter if she was happy, sad, angry or if she loved. She seemed to fill a hole in him that he hadn't known was there.
"Will you let me help you, D.?" she asked Howie.
"Of course", Howie laughed. Then he asked AJ: "What was in your damn pool, Bone, that got her so hyped up? Did you throw some LSD in?"
"Shut up", Molly laughed, slapping his shoulder. "I've always wanted to have a Wok. I never cooked with one though, but I like 'em anyway."
"Ok, how about you make the churros and I'll make the paella. This way you get to use the Wok, and I have less work." Howie grinned cheekily.
"Deal", Molly beamed. Then she shooed the others out of the kitchen again, so that Howie and her could start cooking without distraction and also talk privately some more to get to know each other better.
The sun was setting in Tampa as well, where Nick and Araysa were enjoying the meal they had cooked together earlier. Well, it had mainly been Araysa who had done the cooking, while Nick had had fun distracting her any way he could.
While they were sitting down now, eating their pasta, Nick asked:
"I hope it's really ok that I just kidnapped you like this? I should've asked, huh? Especially with you staying overnight..."
Araysa smiled at him from the other side of the table. "This is perfectly fine with me, don't you worry. I had actually already been hoping you would ask me to stay over night while we were still in Minnesota."
Nick's eyes grew a little wider. "You did?"
Araysa just continued smiling happily, her eyes telling him all that he needed to know.
After another few moments of comfortable silence, Nick suggested: "Since you've never been here before, how about I give you a little tour 'cross Tampa after dinner. I mean, there's probably not as much to see as in Orlando, but I could show you where I've lived with my family before. And my favorite places at the beach or so."
"Yeah, I'd love to", Araysa replied. Then she grinned: "Awww, we could have a li'l walk on the beach in the moonlight."
Nick laughed: "If you want it mushy you should skip places with Molly. AJ's the closet romantic, but..." - he took her hand and kissed it lightly - "I'll see what I can do to make you happy."
"I wouldn't wanna trade places for anything in the world", Araysa said. "Nothing against AJ", she quickly added, laughing, "but I'm right where I wanna be. And I don't care if you're romantic or not, I just want you the way you are." Then she chuckled: "Leave the rest up to me. I kinda get the feeling I'm the dominant one in this relationship anyway."
Nick began laughing, casting her an incredulous look: "Oh, you do, huh?! Damn, I think I'll have to prove you wrong."
"Oh yeah? And just how will you do that?" Araysa shot back grinning.
"You just wait and see, princess", Nick smiled, his eyes sparkling mischievously. Then they both chuckled, before they finished their meal and headed out to see a little bit of Tampa.
Kevin and Caroline sat on a couch in Kevin's living-room, cuddling and talking. Caroline's back was leaning against Kevin, and he held her close, while caressing her and kissing her neck every now and then.
"Do you have to be home at a certain time?" Kevin asked.
Caroline laughed: "That sounds as if I was some school girl, Kev. I don't have a curfew anymore."
"I know", he said and she could hear him smile, "I just mean because of the girls."
Caroline moaned, as he continued kissing the sensitive spot on her neck. "I won't be staying for breakfast", she told him, "'cause I don't wanna leave them all alone in the house all night, but I don't have to be back early. I gave them two keys to the house, so they could get in without me being home. I don't know which two of them have 'em, but I don't think I'll come home to find one of the girls sitting on the doormat waiting for my return."
"That's good", Kevin mumbled. He stopped kissing her and asked: "Do you regret offering them to stay with you?"
"No, I don't. No way. To be honest, I enjoy having so much activity in the house. I've always wanted to live in a house, where it's loud and where always something's going on. The damn house is just too huge for me alone." Caroline's husband was away often on business trips, and so was she, that's why they were usually alone at home, because they had different schedules. Caroline went without mentioning Simon's name for now, knowing how sensitive the subject was with Kevin. But she didn't want to talk about her marriage herself. Not on a wonderful night like this, because she knew it would cause another one of their discussions that just ruined the mood between them, but never ended with a solution or a decision for their problem. She knew it was mostly her fault that they were still hiding from the world, but she couldn't bring herself to leave Simon. Only heaven knew why she didn't have the guts to start a new life with Kevin, or why she didn't believe enough in Kevin's love for her.
"With the girls at my house", she continued, "it's like I have a bunch of younger sister staying with me for a while. It's great, since I had to grow up as an only child. I can only imagine how fantastic it was for Howie to grow up in such a large family."
"I only have one sibling, but with so many relatives living near, so many cousins, it felt like we had a lot more siblings. It's definitely great", Kevin agreed. "One day, we'll have a house full of little kids, who'll make so much noise you'll regret ever wishing for activity in your house."
Caroline tensed up in his arms. She really didn't want to talk about this right now, she didn't want to have to think about the future, not even about tomorrow. She turned around to Kevin, claiming his lips with hers. "I don't wanna be thinking about anything but you right now", she then whispered, caressing his face gently. "Let's not talk about anything tonight."
Kevin could tell from the look in her eyes that her plea was a desperate one. He couldn't stand to see her hurting, or in any other mood than happiness for that matter, so he obeyed to her wish. They didn't do much more talking that night, instead celebrated having some real quality time together in their own special way.
"Wow, Howie, that was awesome", Brian complimented Howie on his cooking. He leaned back against his chair and patted his stomach with a satisfied smile on his face. The whole bunch at Howie's had just finished dinner, and everyone had loved it and agreed with Brian.
Mandy looked at the other girls and asked: "Girls do the dishes?"
The girls immediately nodded, only Howie protested: "No no no. You're my guests, you won't be doing anything."
"Sure we will", Mandy replied, already putting the dishes together, so she could take them to the kitchen.
Howie wanted to protest again, but Molly just interrupted in her blunt way: "Shut up, D. You cooked, we clean."
"You helped me, remember?" he replied.
"Howie, just say 'Thank you' and smile", Sarah laughed. And with that the girls disappeared into the kitchen, with their arms full of plates and other dishes.
"You can't argue with those", AJ chuckled. He looked longingly at the kitchen door, when he heard the laughter from inside.
"Geez, Bone", Howie laughed, shaking his head. "She hasn't even left a minute ago."
AJ just laughed, then said in a quiet voice: "Damn, you should have seen her this afternoon, after she fell into the pool."
"Why?" Brian asked.
"Damn, she looked great in my clothes, but..." AJ let out a low whistle. "I really had to keep my hands off her, knowing that she sat their in my boxers and my shirt with nothing, just nothing underneath." Howie and Brian just laughed at him. "Shut up", AJ said. "How would you have felt in my place. I mean, imagine the scene, ok?" He shook his head chuckling. "I don't think I'm gonna wash those clothes."
Now Howie and Brian almost fell off their chairs from laughing so hard. A comment like that was pretty AJ-like, but it surprised them anyway. After Howie had had a chance to talk to Molly some longer, when they had cooked, he could tell why AJ liked her so much. But he hadn't seen it coming that AJ was falling for her so hard so fast.
"So, what color is her underwear?" Brian grinned. He earned a slap to the back of his head for that one from AJ, but Brian insisted: "Oh come on. Even if you haven't been there when she changed, I bet you took a peek."
AJ just looked at him for a moment with a raised eye-brow, before he looked away and mumbled: "Black!" Of course his friends commented on that with more laughter.
Back to chapter 20
On to chapter 22
Back to story index