I think Lance is hiding shit from me, shit he should be telling me. What needs hiding? Who is he hiding it for? Why would he keep it from me? How did he find out? When is he planning on telling me? I have to know.
"Justin, can you run down to the kitchen and order our breakfast?"
"Sure. Same as always?" he inquires, getting to his feet after handing Lance the controller.
"Yeah," Lance and I confirm.
"Okay."
He exits the room and my mind begins to reel. "I know something's on your mind, Chris."
"What are you hiding, why and for who?" I demand as I make Sub-Zero freeze his character, Liu Kang.
"It's not up to me who I tell and I'm not about to break that person's trust in me."
It has to be something involving Pookie. "What is she hiding?"
"How do you even know the sex of the person?" he coolly remarks, pressing buttons so that Liu Kang throws his hat at Sub-Zero and kills my character.
He's already calling my bluff. "My guess is Pookie."
"I can neither confirm nor deny that person's gender," he says as the screen reads 'Round 2'.
"Why not? Maybe because I know who it is?"
"No, it would make that person distrust me."
He's not only calling my bluff, but is also kicking my ass in Mortal Kombat 3. Trust is a major factor when it comes to him having it, the whole thing being mutual. We trust him and he trusts us, everything mutual. "Is it Pookie?"
"They will tell you tonight, I've already been informed."
What the fuck? "Since when?"
"Since when what?"
"Since when have you known the person's secret or secrets you've been keeping was planning on telling me tonight?" I say angrily between clenched teeth, gripping the controller tightly.
"Since this morning. Why does it matter?"
"When today?"
"Later tonight, that's all I know and I wasn't given a specific time, either."
We play silently for the round, his next character being Kitana and mine being Baraka. I'm going to tear his character to shreds, I'm so pissed. I can faintly hear Nick asking Pookie why he can't see her until rehearsals. "Pero, papichulo, I need time with my girls and you should hang out with Lance, Justin and 'Lan."
"Cassie, I haven't seen you in over a week and I really miss you," he softly argues, attempting to persuade her to make an exception or change her mind.
"No, I've made up my mind-go hang with those three or you get nada, even when it comes to holding and kissing me," she sternly tells him. I can see her standing in front of him with her arms crossed over her chest, a serious look on her face and eyes that dare him to test it.
"But, baby-" he continues to try to persuade her, most likely taking her into his arms.
"But, baby nada, no," she retorts in a heavy Spanish accent, standing her ground.
"When they go to rehearsals then?" he asks, quickly switching gears.
"Si. We tell primo tonight after rehearsals, papichulo."
"Okay. I love you." I hear them kiss, having paused the game to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"I love you, too."
I unpause the game and turn my attention to it, Lance grunting about my nosiness. "Nosy much?" he observes.
"Shut up."
Nick walks in, releases a sigh and flops back on the bed behind Lance and I with his hands behind his head. "Why today?" he complains, staring at the ceiling.
"Why what?" Lance questions, mashing buttons as he tries to defeat me while I only have part of my mind focused on the game while the rest of it is paying more attention to Nick.
"Why is she having a girls’ day today? She knew I was coming sometime today," he half-whines.
How can a guy whining be attractive to any chick? I know, I know-it’s contradicting for the simple reason that us guys find it adorable when a chick whines. "It’s also the last 24 hours or so with all of us, so she wanted to spend some of the time left with just the chicks and be all girly and shit," I explain to the 3 of us.
It makes sense. He sighs again and drags a hand from under his head and lifts it up, dropping it onto his torso. "I’m crazy," he grumbles.
"What makes you say that?" Lance asks.
"Hit square. For the simple reason that I love her and I’m totally in love with her," he begins to rationalize his belief of insanity.
"Only for the fact that she’s Kirkpatrick and related to me and my sisters?" I interject and I hear him groan.
"No, because it took me so long to say something with the thought she would turn me down, laughing like she thought it would’ve been hysterical and now I’m thinking of giving her my name," he finishes, adjusting his body on the bed.
"Yeah, it does sound just a tiny bit crazy considering that the relationship she has with you had begun before she ended the one with Alex," I snap at him.
"He even told me that he had it coming-he admitted to cheating on her and karma would’ve bitten him in the ass. He told me himself that he’d rather I be with her than anyone else, I treat her good and she’s happy almost all the time. I even got them back on speaking terms, he’s glad she doesn’t hate him. Don’t get it twisted, though-she does hate the decisions and shit he did to her, more the cheating and emotional bullshit than the rest of it. I know how it all went down, I was there during their entire relationship and I did spend quite a few nights on the phone with her when she couldn’t reach him. We talked about school, the group, AJ, our families and our friends. I made her laugh when she wanted to cry so bad about the emotional torment of not knowing what he was doing and where he was."
"You fucking knew!" Justin yells at him, the tray of food on the table by the door and slamming the heavy wooden door behind himself.
Nick snaps up into a sitting position, throwing his hands in a defensive manner and a shocked expression written all over his face. "I was three times as clueless as she was about him until the day we left for Sweden the first time, I swear," he calmly states.
"Scout’s honor?" Lance asks.
I face palm myself and groan. He’s such a fucking bumpkin sometimes. Nick draws an X over his heart, nodding. "I promise on my love for her," he promises us. "That's why I set him up for failure."
Lance and I look at each other, our eyes meeting Justin’s at the same moment that we see a black, orange and white blur fly from the door over to the bed. Nick falls back with the mass on him, blocking his face and I see balled up hands strike his face and body lightening quick with a great deal of force behind each blow. Nick elbows the mass and it falls onto the floor, facing upward. "FUCK!" I hear JC holler.
I look over the side of the bed to see JC holding his face surrounding his nose and mouth. "What’s wrong with you?" Lance asks, shaking his head in disbelief.
"He knew AJ was cheating on Cassie," he grumbles from under one hand while pointing at Nick with the other.
"Dude, he swore on his love for her that he had no fucking clue until just before they flew overseas for them to record their first single," Justin informs his longtime friend, helping him off the floor and assessing the damage Nick had caused when he’d defended himself.
