Page 69 of Reviving Kendall

My words work in turning his frown into a smile, “I think Goose is rubbing off on you. Is that a movie quote?”

I grin, “I don’t know, but it should be.”

“Ohhhh Kendaaallll,” Goose calls sticking his head off the back porch.

“Speak of the devil,” Lincoln says with a wink.

Goose and Teagan walk out to where we are laying in the yard, and T says, “Yeah and the devil’s going to come calling if you’re out here trying to steal Kendall’s heart.”

He laughs and jumps up to pull me to my feet, “Don’t tempt me. I’m no stranger to dancing with the devil, but I think little K has enough testosterone in her life right now.”

Wrapping me up in his arms, Goose pulls me to his lap as he sits down, “We’re not going anywhere just yet.”

“I thought we were going back to your house for movie night?” I ask.

“We are,” Teagan answers for him as he sits down and then looks to Lincoln, “You’re more than welcome to stay out here with us.”

Lincoln shakes his head, “I’m good. I’ve got some stuff to take care of inside anyways. See you later, little K.”

“Bye,” I tell him.

Passing Mav and Lucas coming down the stairs, they nod to each other. What are they up to?

The pair walk down to the blanket and sit across from the three of us. It’s a good thirty seconds of no one saying anything and it’s driving me crazy. “Ok, what’s the deal?” I ask.

The words out of Maverick’s mouth sends my heart into my ass, “There’s two things on the table that we need to discuss. First up, we need to talk about us leaving in the fall.”

“Ok,” I manage to squeeze out through the lump in my throat.

“Well,” he starts, “I think it’s a safe bet to say that a long-distance relationship is never going to work, especially since there’s four of us and not just one.”

Tears fill my eyes, but I try to swallow the sick feeling in my chest as I look towards the ground. I knew it was coming and I knew that it would hurt, but this feels like taking a hot poker to the heart. They apparently didn’t want to be burdened with me through their last high school summer. That’s understandable. I feel the warm tears as they start their trek down my face and I don’t want them to pity me. The last thing I want is for them to feel bad and try to stick around when they see me cry. I’m not that girl.

Pushing Goose’s arms away from me, I stand up in one quick motion. Maverick tries to grab my hand, but a quick side step maneuver puts me out of reach. Teagan is smarter. He hit his feet when I did and captures me around the waist.

He twists me to face him, “Kendall, what’s wrong?”

Really? That stings some, like I’m not supposed to give a shit that they are dropping me and moving on. I find a spot in the trees to stare at to his right and don’t answer.

Mav steps into my line of sight and I have no choice but to look up to his face, “Where are you going? You didn’t even let me finish what I was saying and why the hell are you crying?”

“I’m confused,” I choke out, “You’re breaking up with me, right? That’s what this distance speech was for. It’s ok you know. There’s going to be plenty of girls where you’re going and with you being hot football stars, you’ll have your pick I’m sure. You deserve a chance to live a little, so I understand.”

Mav’s and T’s facial expressions are almost identical as they go from confused to pissed to comprehension by the end of my words.

Maverick steps up like he’s going to take me from Teagan, but the latter tightens his arms around me and smooshes my face against his chest, “Oh sweet, K. We aren’t leaving you, lovely. Quite the contrary, actually.”

“I don’t understand,” I say, my voice muffled by his shirt.

“If you would have stopped long enough to let me finish, this wouldn’t even be an issue right now,” Mav tells me as he reaches around T and lifts my chin.

“Will you come sit back down and let us explain?” he asks in a very unlike Mav manner.

When I nod, I’m pulled back to the quilt on the ground. I didn’t realize Lucas and Goose both stood and were right behind Mav the whole time. We do a little rearranging and I end up sitting in between Teagan’s legs with Lucas on my right, and Goose’s head in my lap. Using the hand that Lucas doesn’t have hostage, I run it through what little hair Goose has on top. There’s a lapse in conversation for a few, and I feel completely immature for my reaction.

Goose makes a humming sound of approval before he says, “I can’t believe you thought that we would drop you just like that.”

Even though he can’t see me, I shrug anyways, “Mav didn’t start that conversation out too well.”

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