Chapter Six
It's tradition in my family to pound mochi the day prior to New Year's Eve. I was really happy Nick and the guys were there for it. We always need man-power and I mean MAN-power because I hate having to help pound the mochi myself. The problem was going to be getting the guys up that early. We were planning to start at seven in the morning. Kim and her family was coming over, along with a lot of family friends.
When I got up, it was almost six in the morning. My mom had knocked on my door. I climbed out of bed and brushed my hair. Then I slipped out of my room and into the bathroom. When I emerged, I saw Nick and Brian's room door just opening. Brian stumbled out.
"Hi," he said, looking at me.
"Good morning," I said, "Where's your partner in crime?"
"Still in bed," said Brian, "Please don't tell me you just got up and came out of your room."
"No," I said, "I got up about fifteen minutes ago and just came out of the bathroom."
"Okay," Brian said. He slipped past me towards the bathroom. I went to his room to see if I could wake Nick up.
Nick was sprawled on the bed, fast asleep. His mouth was a little open and he was smiling. Even asleep Nick was adorable. I hated to wake him. I walked over to the bed and slightly shook him. "Nick," I said, "Time to get up."
"No," Nick mumbled before turning over onto his stomach.
"Come on, Nick," I said, pushing against him, "Get up."
"Wha---no." Nick buried his face in his pillow.
Then I got an idea. "Hey, Nick. Brian's eating your food."
"What?" Nick asked sleepily, sitting up.
"Good morning!" I said brightly.
"Very funny," muttered Nick, falling back against the bed.
"No," I said, grabbing his arm and pulling him back up, "Don't go back to sleep. It's time to get up."
"Is Bri up yet?"
"Yep," said Brian, coming into the room, "Get up, Nick."
"Fine," Nick said, "I'm up."
He stumbled out of the room.
"It's so hard to get him up," I said to Brian.
"You try when we have to get to rehearsal or something," Brian replied.
I laughed. I left the room so Brian could change. Walking down the hall, I heard my parents in the kitchen. I was heading back to my room to change. After changing into shorts and a tee shirt, I walked back out of my room, with my brush in my hand. Nick and Brian were sitting on the couch in the living room watching cartoons on TV.
"Hey," I said, walking into the living room.
"Hi," said Nick, barely looking up.
"Hi," Brian said.
I sat down on the loveseat and started to brush my hair out. A few minutes later, I was sitting there deciding whether or not to put my hair into a ponytail when Nick stood up and came over.
"May I?" he asked, pointing to my brush.
"You want to brush your hair?" I asked.
"No," said Nick, "I want to brush yours."
"Oh," I said, "Sure. Knock yourself out." I handed him the brush and Nick sat behind me, on the arm of the chair. As Nick brushed my hair, I noticed that he was really careful, not at all like my mom, who would just yank the knots out. Nick carefully took them apart and then continued brushing.
"You've done this before, haven't you?" I asked.
"What do you expect? I have three sisters."
"Good point," I said.
"I'm gonna put your hair up," said Nick, standing up.
"Okay," I said.
Nick pulled my hair up into a ponytail and then fastened it with the rubberband I had around my wrist.
"There you go," he said, handing me the brush when he was done.
"Thanks," I said.
I stood up and headed to put the brush in my room. As I was walking out of my bedroom, I heard a car come into the driveway.
"I think that's Kevin and the other guys," Nick said.
Nick, Brian, and I headed downstairs. LeighAnne and the others were all still asleep...except for Aaron and Angel, who were in the garage helping my dad. As soon as we stepped out from under the house, we saw AJ, Kevin, and Howie step into the garage.
"Hey you guys," said Nick.
"Hi," said AJ, "You guys are up already. We thought we might be able to give you a rude awakening."
"No," Nick said, "We got up."By eight o'clock, everyone had arrived. Not everyone looked totally awake, but they were there. There was Nick and his family, and everyone else, Kim and her family, Grandma Ma-Chan and Grandpa Terry (not my real grandparents, but close enough,) Aunty Kathy, Uncle Don, Katie, and Justin (my mom's friend, her husband, and their kids), Aunty Jeanne and Uncle George and Peter (my mom's cousin, her husband, and their dog), Aunty Bunchy (Well, really Aunty Kathy, but that's okay. My dad's sister,) and a whole bunch of other people. It took me a LONG time to introduce everyone from the mainland to everyone from Hawaii.
"So you're related to all of these people?" Nick whispered to me.
"No," I said, "Not all of them, most of them, though. Some are family friends."
"Then why do you call them Aunty and Uncle?" asked Nick.
"It's just a local thing," I said, "It's like we're all a big family."
"So what do I call them?"
"You call them by the name that they were introduced to you with," I said.
"Even your grandma?" Nick asked.
"Uh huh," I said.
"Okay," said Nick uncertainly.
"Don't worry," I said.
"It's just that I'm so used to calling people Mr. and Mrs. or just by their first names," Nick said, "I'm not used to being so personal with them."
I smiled at him. "Hey Nick," called Brian, "We're going to play basketball, want to play?"
"Um," Nick said, "Nah, that's okay."
"Go," I said, "I'm going to go talk to your sisters and everyone."
"Okay," said Nick.
He ran to catch up with Brian. I went to go talk to BJ, who was sitting by herself on the side. "Hey," I said, sitting down next to her.
"Hi," said BJ.
"Want me to introduce you to everyone again?" I asked.
"No," BJ said, "It's okay."
"Nick and the guys are playing basketball," I said, "Want to join them?"
"Uh, no," said BJ.
"Okay," I said.
Kim had to leave a little while later. She was going to go and spend some time with her dance friends. Another one of my friends, Sharon, was going to be coming with her parents and younger sister. I was afraid that Sharon might start interrogating any of the guys. (Sharon and I had been best friends since preschool. She was always trying to find me a boyfriend.)
When Sharon showed up, I was playing basketball with Nick, Brian, and BJ. (I had finally convinced her to play.) It was me and Nick against Brian and BJ.
"Hey, Jen!" Sharon called, getting out of her parents' 4-Runner, "Want to go make mochi?"
"Sure," I said, "Let me just finish this."
"Okay," said Sharon.
We finished the game, with Nick and me winning by three points.
"Okay, Sharon," I said, tossing the ball to Nick, "I gotta go change my clothes first."
I ran upstairs and to my room. After changing my clothes, I met up with Sharon in the kitchen.
"Uh oh," she said.
"What?" I asked.
"We don't have coconut milk," said Sharon, looking up from the cookbook.
"Then we just gotta go get some," I said.
"Okay. Your car or mine?"
"I parked mine next door and it's blocked in," I said, "So yours."
I went to grab my wallet and cell phone and then we headed back downstairs.
"Where you are going?" Mom asked, as she watched me and Sharon head towards the car.
"We have to go buy coconut milk," I said.
"Oh," said Mom, "Don't take too long."
"Can I come?" Nick asked.
"Sure," Sharon said, "Let's go."
Aaron wanted to come along too, and so did Brian and LeighAnne. We all piled into the 4-Runner and headed towards Safeway."Oh shoots," said Sharon, as we walked down one isle after another.
"They're sold out," I said, pointing to where the coconut milk should have been."
"We go run to Longs," Sharon said, naming the drug store next door.
"Okay," I said.
We all headed next door and found the coconut milk. After buying two cans and some candy and stuff, we headed home.
Sharon and I went upstairs to start our project.
"You know," said Sharon, as we found all the other things we needed, "I think that guy Nick likes you."
"He does not," I said.
"Well, I think you should ask him out anyway," Sharon said.
"You've lost it," I said, "Wait, never mind. I knew that already."
"Very funny," said Sharon.
It took us three tried to get the mochi right. I found a can of coconut milk in the back of the cabinet and we used that too. Finally, we got it right. Sharon and I cut it and wrapped the pieces individually and then too them downstairs.
"Food!" Nick and AJ exclaimed, rushing towards us.
"What is this?" Nick asked, chewing thoughtfully on a big glob.
"Mochi," I said.
"This is a different kind than the one you guys are helping make," added Sharon.
"Not bad," AJ said, "Kinda sticks to the roof of your mouth."
"That's the way it's supposed to be," I said.
"Nick!" Jane called, "Come over here!"
"Coming!" Nick tried to call back, but his mouth was stuck closed.
Sharon and I laughed and she went to go and ask everybody else if they wanted a piece. Everything was going good, until Nick was conned into helping pound the mochi.
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