When we got to the ranch I was eager to get out. We'd only been in it an hour and a half, but with a third person and extra bags, it was a little cramped. Finally, Luca put the truck in park and I hopped out and stretched, pulling my tank top back down over my belly and adjusting the length of my shorts for what felt like the hundredth time that day . I had waited weeks to come out and just relax. Sarah, my best friend, popped out of the back. My twin brother, Luca, got out of the driver's side and began pulling all our luggage out of the back of his old Ford Pickup.
Aunt Emilia waited on the steps of the two story light blue farm house. This was her place, or rather it was supposed to be my father’s. But he died in a hunting accident before my grandparents passed away. I was six, when he died. My aunt and Uncle took over when I was 12 after my Grandpa had a stroke. It had four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
I tried not to notice that the birds and a couple rabbits were watching me. This wasn't the first time in the last month it had happened, but I was an animal lover so maybe they were attracted to that. After taking a deep breath of fresh air into my lungs I put a smile on my face and strode up to Aunt Em.
Our Grandparents passed a year ago, first Mamaw in June and then Grandpa in July. Like the rest of our ancestors, they were buried on the ranch grounds. The sight was over in the north pasture. This was a place my mother never enjoyed coming to, she'd grown up in the city and like many of the other city people, she hated the countryside. She would never tell us she met my dad, but Aunt Em once said it was while she was in college and her Sorority sisters convinced her to go to a rodeo with them. Apparently, my dad had been there with his horse racing and she fell in love with the horse first. After my dad passed away she took my brother and I back to her home in city and sold the house he bought that was near my grandparent's ranch. Some days I still don’t understand how she ended up with my father and how they managed to stay married.
“Leah, sweets you’ve grown again.” Aunt Em greeted me with a hug.
“Hi Aunt Em. You remember Sarah, right?” I said turning to where she stood.
“How could I forget, you two seem practically inseparable. Sarah, how are you?”
“I’m good. Thanks.”
“Luca, Kai is in the barn with your Uncle Don. He said there was something with Fury Road he had to take care of.”
“Thanks.”
My stomach did flips at the mention of that name. Malakai Jeffers was the most handsome and sexy man to walk the planet; at least that's what I thought. I had a huge crush on him when we were younger, one that never really went away. But he was Lucas’ best friend, and I never wanted to come between their friendship. He was also Sarah's cousin, so I never mentioned my crush to her either. So instead we had a complex relationship; one that we mostly avoided. I liked him, not that he knew. There was a small part of me, the same part that had caught him staring more than once, that believed he liked me too.
We followed Aunt Em inside, our bags in tow. The first level was made up of a large kitchen with a small eat in nook, a large dining room that held an eight foot table, a living room, and the master suite. When my grandparents first moved in, they remodeled the whole house, room by room. The second level had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Two of the bedrooms shared a bathroom, jack and jill style, they belonged to my father and Aunt when they were kids. The other room was a guest suite, but it was hardly used.
Sarah and I had agreed to share a room. The same one that belonged to my aunt. It was on the larger side it fit two twin beds and a couple smaller dressers though my aunt had recently replaced it with a larger one that had a mirror. We each took a side and threw our sweatshirts in the middle. We were the same size, so we basically shared everything anyway. We’d be here the next two months helping my aunt and uncle before going into our senior year of high school. I looked around at the light blue walls, they wore framed pictures of the farm. Mostly just wide shots and paintings from the 80s. There was a nightstand in the middle of the two beds with a light and alarm clock on it. I scooted the tabled forward exposing the plug. Then I unplugged the light, and plugged in an extension cord. To that went our phone chargers and the light cord.
After settling in, we helped Aunt Em make dinner, which was chicken and rice with green beans and fruit salad. She always made our favorites when we were there; this one was one we both enjoyed. Sarah was in charge of cutting up the fruit and I was entrusted with preparing the beans. The boys came strolling in right at 6 o’clock with dirt on their hands and covered in sweat. I chuckled as Aunt Em hollered for them to all go wash up. As I was carrying the beans to the table, I nearly ran into a body. Not just any body, Malakai.
“Oops… sorry. I wasn’t look-“ I looked up and saw him. “Oh, hi Kai.”
“Hi Leah.” He seemed just as surprised to see me.
I set down the beans and turned around. “How’ve you been?”
“Good, yourself?”
“Glad school is over for a few months. My mom was beginning to drive me crazy.”
He laughed and his eyes laughed with him. “Your brother was just telling me the same thing.”
“Oh… I’m sorry. I won’t repeat it then.”
“I’m always here to listen Leah, always.”
I smiled my thanks and went back to the kitchen to help bring out the dinner rolls and butter. Because a dinner at Em’s was never complete without them. Her rolls were homemade, an old family recipe. By the time I was ten I had it memorized, but I always loved them more when she made them. I knew that Kai was staying for dinner, but I wasn’t prepared for the talk that was had.
“So, Kai, when are you planning on moving out here for the summer.” My Uncle asked. I nearly choked on my lemonade.
“Well, school gets out this week, so maybe this weekend. Luca, do you think you could help? It’s not much. But you know how my mom is. If I’m not living there it goes in storage.”
“Sure thing man. When is graduation?”
“Sunday. We could do it after if that works.”
Now it was time for my aunt to chip in. “Of course, we can all help, right girls.”
Sarah and I nodded. Inside my mind was screaming at me NO. His mother was insane and I could only imagine what she’d say. Luca has mentioned some of the things before. Once she saw a picture of me and Luca and said how cute I would look with Malakai. A few hours with her just helping him, I could only imagine how much of a nonexistent wedding she would plan.
Later that night, Sarah and I sat up in our room talking about dinner. She was also venting about my brother and his buttheaded male nonsense.
"Leah, really. Why did I agree to come out here with you? He's already acting like I don't exist and we haven't even been here twelve hours. Of all the people in the world I could have crushed on."
"Sarah, you know I don't object to you two being together. I never will, you are already basically my sister. I don't think he was really avoiding you, more like he threw himself into his normal Luca ranch routine. Luca is slow. Don't worry he'll come around. But he is of the male species, they tend to be buttheaded and annoying, sometimes just plain oblivious."
"What am I going to do about him."
What am I going to do about Kai? I thought.
"Kai? What about him?"
Oh God, I had said that out loud.
"Wait... You, you like him?"
My face turned red giving me away. "Don't tell Luca, please. He's Kai's best friend. It would be sooo weird."
"But me dating your brother wouldn't be?"
"Sarah, it's different."
"How?" I was silent. "Exactly. It isn't. If Luca can't accept your feelings, then why should you accept mine."
"I don't even know if Kai likes me."
"He does, I can tell. He couldn't keep his eyes off you at dinner."
"That doesn't mean anything. He could have been just looking at something behind me."
"Like what? That giant painting of the ranch he's prolly seen a bunch of times." She threw her pillow at me, "Leah, be real here. He likes you."
I gave back her pillow and got up to brush my teeth. The only downside of the room situation was sharing the bathroom with Luca. It got awkward the older we became, but it was easier on my Aunt. I opened the bathroom door to see Kai standing at one of the sinks doing the same thing. I pushed my feelings aside and just brushed my teeth. Every once in a while I'd look up to catch him looking at me. When I did, he looked away.
"So you're staying the night?"
"Luca asked me to, he needs help in the morning with some things."
I nodded and threw my toothbrush in the cup on my side of the counter. "That's the girl's cup."
"Says who?"
"Me."
He laughed and tossed his toothbrush in the other cup. "Alright then."
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