♥Chapter 35: ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ꜱʜᴇ ᴛʀɪᴇꜱ ᴏɴ ᴄʟᴏᴛʜᴇꜱ♥

❆Jake❆

My thumb taps on the screen of my phone as I wait in line.

I move forward as the person ahead by three people gets his order done.

"Holy motherfucking looney." Someone with a loud fucking voice yells. A groan forms in my mouth already knowing who it is. "Do I see Jake Knight in a milkshake bar?"

"Fuck off," I mumble, as Corey comes up beside me, clapping a hand on my back.

A few elderly people shoot Corey and I narrow looks at the choice of our words.

"You started drinking milkshakes too now?" Corey asks, grinning ear to ear.

"It's for Kennedy," I grumble and shrug his hand off my shoulder.

"Isn't she shopping with Toothy?" Corey asks.

"They called me to pick them up within half an hour." I respond "Pickin' up a milkshake on my way. What the fuck are you doing here? You seem to be stalking me nowadays."

"Went out on a date with this girl." Corey starts.

Didn't he like someone?

"Flipped out on me cos I didn't know what a Maple Buffalo milkshake is." Corey makes a weird face at the name. "Seriously? Maple? And buffalo? I think the fuck not. Anyways, I thought I'd still give it a try. Might post a reaction video on my feed too."

I nod.

After getting a chocolate and vanilla milkshake for Kennedy and Toothy, and a fucking maple buffalo milkshake for Corey, we get into my car when Corey decides to come with me to pick up the girls.

Corey sits in the passenger seat adjusting his phone on the phone stand in the car to record himself drinking the milkshake.

He hits the start button, and a sudden bright and charming smile graces his lips. He gives out what he calls his "signature greeting". 

"My brother Jake's here with me today too." Corey points the camera at me.

I show the camera my beautiful middle finger.

"He's a bit grumpy today. Don't mind him," Corey chuckles before speaking again, "I'm gonna be tasting this milkshake today-"

I plug in my earphones and block out his annoying cheery voice that he puts on for his videos.

Why fake your fucking cheeriness?

Kennedy never fakes her cheeriness. She's always cheery.

So fucking bubbly.

And when she's sad, she shows that she's sad.

Every emotion on her face is so easy to read.

My mind recalls the time when I kissed Kennedy and told her that I loved her. I think I always did for a long time but it took time to realize it. 

She didn't say it back.

My heart went on sulking in disappointment for a long fucking time.

It's been almost three weeks since I told her that I love her.

I tell her every morning, every night, every hour, in texts, in person, in kisses, in hugs.

I know she loves me too. It shows on her face.

Why the fuck isn't she saying it back?

I decide to let her take her own time to say it back whenever she wants.

Maybe she thinks she doesn't need to say it back and that her hugs and kisses and care are enough.

Maybe she doesn't really love me-

Nope.

She does.

I know it.

Then why is she not fucking saying it back?

Do I need to increase the number of times I say it?

I think I already tell her 'I love you' like seventeen times a day.

Should I text her 'I love you' again?

It's been forty minutes since I did the last time.

She always responds with a number of different heart emojis and then a picture of her smiling warmly as if I made her blush.

I have seven pictures of her blushing from today morning. Fifteen from yesterday. Eighteen from the day before—

Oh god.

I'm turning into an insecure, stalker, attention-seeking bitch! What's wrong with me?! 

From the corner of my eye, I see Corey gagging and jerking in his seat as if he ate a big juicy lemon.

I take pleasure in watching him squirm in disgust at the milkshake he tried, with a tiny smirk on my face.

After a few seconds, I think, fuck it.

I take out my phone and send Kennedy another text.

Jake: reachin in 5 mins

Jake: also got u a chocolate milkshake

Jake: also got vanilla for toothy

Jake: also I fucking love you

Two ticks appear beside my texts indicating they're read.

A typing bubble pops up and I wait for the heart emojis and a cute pic of Ken.

Instead...

A selfie of Toothy appears with her tongue out and her middle finger raised high and mighty.

Kennedy: sorryyyy

Kennedy: ur gf's busy

My eyes automatically narrow into a glare.

Jake: wtf r u doing with ken's phone?

Jake: where's she?

Kennedy: she's in the changing room n her phone was beside me

Kennedy: btw I gotta say...u got so freaking cheesy!

Kennedy: AWWWW OMG LOOK AT ALL UR TEXTS!

Kennedy: so cute!

Jake: what happened to your girl code shit?

Jake: aren't u NOT supposed to go through other's phone

Kennedy: nah that doesn't count for best friends

Kennedy: besties can go through each other's phones

Jake: get the fuck lost

Kennedy: 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕

Jake: great! Now u saved that emoji in ken's recently used emojis

Kennedy: as if she's ever gonna use it 

Jake: coming to pick ur ass in 5

Jake: if ur not standing outside the mall I'm leaving

Jake: not gonna wait even for a sec

Kennedy: try me

Kennedy: u know what happens to guys who try me

Jake: I'll wait

With a shudder, I put my phone away, bringing back my focus to my surroundings.

"I am never going on dates with girls who like bloody maple bloody buffalo bloody milkshake." Corey looks near to tears.

"I think you dropped some on your big ass watch." I notice. 

"What?" Corey looks at his watch. "Right." He immediately grabs a couple of tissues and starts cleaning his watch. 

His watch doesn't have the right to call itself a watch. It's a fucking clock. It's too big for it to be called a watch. Why doesn't he just strap the Big Ben on his wrist too?

Toothy and I told him multiple times that the watch might cause his wrist to fall off someday but he never listens. Toothy even got him a normal-sized one but he insists on wearing the big one. 

He seems to have a bigger attachment to that watch than we think. I mean I have only known him for three years...

Nope, Toothy and I decided to let him have his secrets. He'll open up to us. 

He always does.  

✯✯✯

The doors to the backseat open and the noise of shopping bags rustling together fill the car.

"Hi!" Kennedy greets Corey and me, grinning wide.

She had fun with Toothy, I can tell.

Toothy and Kennedy slam the backseat doors shut and I start driving again.

Corey passes them the milkshake cups that I bought.

"I got so many new clothes!" Kennedy gushes in excitement.

To other people, it might seem something ordinary.

But I knew this was new for Ken. To go out with a friend for shopping and movies all alone.

She told me her parents didn't let her out too much when she was little because she suffered severely from asthma.

"Also I screamed at a mascot, scaring him to death." Kennedy laughs.

"Why'd you scream?" Corey asks.

"He was coming to kill me." She replies.

"He was coming to hug you." Toothy corrects, giving Ken a flat look.

"Why did he have a blade in his hands then?" Ken asks.

"Because he was Blade!" Toothy explains. "From Marvel."

"Oh." Kennedy's mouth opens before she gives a sheepish look. "Well, I haven't watched Blade so..."

✯✯✯

We reach home and pile out of the car walking towards the front door.

The door opens and a blast of loud music hit us in the fucking face.

What the fuck?

We all walk into the house to see Alex sitting on the kitchen counter, going through some papers while Cole dances on the couch. Without pants.

Toothy and Kennedy widen their eyes.

"Ayo!" Corey yells, greeting him with a grin before sauntering over to join him on the couch.

I narrow my eyes at both of them before walking over to the speaker and turning it off.

"Hey!" Both Corey and Cole yell at me.

"Where are your fucking pants?" I ask Cole.

"Who needs pants when you got them legs?" He runs a hand over his legs, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Get the fuck out," I grumble.

"At least he's wearing boxers." Corey objects.

"Shame," Cole tsks. "You people are missing on some great view. My dick makes girls drop onto their knees."

Alex coughs loudly from the kitchen, Toothy shakes her head and Kennedy furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

"Because it smells bad?" Kennedy asks.

Corey bursts into laughter.

"Exactly," I respond to Ken, a smirk on my face.

"Excuse me, my dick smells like flowers." Cole gives us all a narrow look.

"How the fuck you smell your own dick?" Corey furrows his eyebrows.

"Easy," Cole responds. "You just grab it in your hands and-"

"ERGH! ENOUGH!" Toothy yells loudly. Alex spills his coffee on his papers, startled. Corey and Cole almost fall off the couch. Kennedy jumps ten feet high in the air. A wince comes on my face. The lightbulbs and windows shatter. The house starts shaking. The neighbour's cat jerks awake from its sleep. 

Yup, I'm turning into Kennedy with my imagination for the last three. 

Corey shoots Cole a 'tell me later' look.

"Kennedy and I went shopping today so you boys know what that means," Toothy says.

Cole, Corey and I almost groan out.

Whenever Toothy has her big fucking shopping day, she tries on every fucking thing she got and makes us rate her outfits.

And if we don't give her a proper answer...

Well, it's just fucking bad.

I already know this day's gonna go fucking horrible.

"Kennedy also got so many new outfits and is gonna try them on." Toothy continues.

Okay, maybe this day won't go that fucking horrible.

Toothy grabs Kennedy by the hand and pulls her up the stairs. Both girls disappear into Ken's room.

After they're gone, Cole grins at all of us, "It's just us boys in the room now."

"Go put on your fucking pants." I dismiss him.

✯✯✯

Cole and Corey clap their hands when Kennedy comes out wearing another outfit Toothy and her bought.

They both were busy cheering and complimenting her while I was busy controlling my fucking hard-on.

She looked sexy in every. Single. Fucking. Thing.

My leg bounces with a pillow over my dick. My eyes glue to Ken's small frame as she does this little twirl to show her little black dress that's driving me fucking nuts.

It hugs her body like a second skin and stops right below her ass. The sleeves are long and off the shoulders, showing the smooth skin of her collarbone.

Pink and other bright colours make Kennedy look like an innocent little girl who'd give you all the boners but make you feel immensely guilty for making a move.

But Kennedy in fucking black?

I would have bolted from the couch and taken her right there and then if it weren't for my fucking dad in the room with my cousins and Corey.

"I knew this would look good," Toothy comments. "You were being so doubtful about taking this one."

Kennedy grins at Toothy before looking over at me.

She smiles at me, silently asking me my opinion.

All I could do was nod, fixing the pillow on my dick once again.

She turns around and skips into Alex's room where all their clothes were.

Kennedy can't keep climbing the stairs every time she has to change so Toothy decided to make Alex's room their fucking dressing room.

After a few more outfits and dresses, the girls finally announce that there were no more clothes to try on.

Corey and Cole let out sighs of relief for no longer being tortured into giving the same compliments over and over again. The same goes for me, except I give out a sigh of relief to finally relax my hard-on.

Finally, Kennedy comes out after changing into her normal clothes. She skips toward me with a bright smile plastering on her face.

I love you.

She reaches towards me and pulls me in a tight hug, her small frame resting on my chest with her arms around my waist. My arms go around her as if I've mastered the art of hugging because with her it feels so easy to do it.

Every act and gesture with Kennedy feels so familiar and at the same time, so fucking new.

It's scary sometimes how I feel like I've got everything that I've wanted right here in my arms, and other times I feel like I'm holding something that can be easily snatched away from me.

With that thought, my arms tighten around Ken, pressing a kiss to her head.

"I'm so ducking sleepy, I'm not even kidding." Kennedy yawns. "Shopping is really fun and all but mama, walking is something I'm ready to be enemies with for life."

I love you.

"You know what they call a single piece of corn?" Kennedy asks suddenly.

I nod for her to continue.

"A unicorn." She says and laughs at herself at her pun. She pokes my side when she sees my blank face. "Oh come on, that one was really good. You have to at least smile."

I stare at her.

Her fingers come at the corners of my mouth, pulling it up to make me smile, "Smile. Say cheeeese." She says and shows her own thirty-two teeth.

I roll my eyes and flash a tiny smile just for her to stop digging her fingers into my skin.

Also because it makes her happy.

"Looks who's calling." Cole whistles, staring at his phone. "It's mom."

Everyone goes silent for a while and Cole picks up his phone.

"Hola." Cole grins.

"Yup, I'm in Alex's house...everyone's still alive so yeah, they're all fine...uh huh...no problemo, I'll tell Alex."

Cole hangs up before grinning in excitement and mischief towards Alex, "Guess what, Lexi?"

Alex nods with a look that says, 'I already know some big ruckus is gonna happen so why don't you just spit it out and stop annoying me you fucking piece of shithead'.

Orrr maybe he just nodded. With no looks. 

With horror, I come to a realization. Did I just act like Kennedy again? Am I turning into her?

"The whole gang is coming." Cole wiggles his eyebrows, barely containing his excitement. "Tomorrow."

Excited smiles are quick to plaster themselves on Corey and Toothy's faces. Alex takes in a deep breath and smiles.

"All forty of them?" Kennedy asks.

Cole grins, nodding "All forty of them."

She grins but there was a tinge of nervousness in her look.

Kennedy is used to people not liking her after a while because people think she's a handful and weird.

Lucky for her, literally all of my cousins, aunts and uncles were dropped fifty fucking times the first week they were born.

Kennedy will fit in perfectly.

Every one of them is from my mom's side.

Alex, being the only child, and with no other relatives, has no one on his side.

My eyes flit to Alex sitting in the kitchen.

Something tugs in my chest, making me want to go over there and say a word to him. Any word.

Not talking to him for seven years, except if it's something important or necessary, I don't think I have it in me anymore to talk to him as my father.

Every feeling had died within me when my mom died.

It feels...unusual; to even think about going over there and starting a conversation as if I haven't shut him out for seven years.

It's not like he also tried to connect with me. He just...left me the way I wanted to be.

I shake my head, not wanting to think about it right now.

Kennedy starts wiggling in excitement in my arms.

She furrows her eyebrows suddenly, "One question. If all your family members are weird and all then how are you so different?"

I shrug, "I'm immune to weirdness and stupidity."

She laughs, "Toothy's kinda sane too."

I nod.

Thank fucking God for that. Imagine her being like Corey.

Or Cole.

I internally shudder.

Toothy's smart and got brains. One of the reasons she's tolerable to be around.

Except for her fucking bossiness and irritated tantrums.

Kennedy lets out a sigh and leans her head on my chest, yawning again.

"You're so warm and cuddly all the time." She mutters.

"Cuddly?" I scoff.

She giggles with a small nod. "Like a big fat teddy bear or maybe the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man."

I narrow my eyes, "Stop comparing me to fat things."

She playfully hits my side. "They're not fat, they're cute."

"Stay Puft Marshmallow Man has eyes like he's walked in on his parents having sex and never recovered from it."

Kennedy's mouth drops open a bit and she hits me harder on the chest, "You can't be serious." She laughs.

I couldn't help it. Her laugh makes me smile.

I shrug, trying to force the corners of my mouth to lower down, "It's true and you know it."

"It's not," she argues.

"It is what it is."

"Well, at least he's cute from his body."

"He's still got Peppa Pig's eyes."

She throws her head back and laughs again, making it impossible to hide my smile now.

Her eyes brighten up her entire face with that smile making her look like a fallen star from the sky. A string of my heart automatically weaves out my body, wrapping itself around her as if the beats of my heart completely depend on her.

Her laugh ceases to a smile when she notices I'm staring at her.

"What?" She asks, chuckling a bit.

I shake my head, running my fingers on the side of her face.

I love you so much.

✄ ✄ ✄ ✄

Which country/state are you people from? I was born and brought up in Kuwait but I'm not a Kuwaiti. Soon, I might be shifting to Canada or Australia for college.

Words: 2,900

Date of publishing: 25th May 2022