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Chapter Thirteen
"Wake up, come on, get up, loser."
Kevin grumbled and turned over, trying to get away from the constant shaking.
"Kevin, wake up. Shannon's making breakfast," Nick yelled into Kevin's ear. Kevin turned onto his back and opened one eye, to be greeted by the sight of Nick's grinning face.
"Okay, okay. I'm up," he mumbled as he sat up and turned to set his feet on the ground. He looked around the room, noticing that Brian's bed was already made and his cousin was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Bri?" he asked Nick.
"He's downstairs with the rest of the gang. You are the only one not up, Train," Nick informed him. Kevin stood up and stretched, yawning as he finally settled down to the fact of being awake.
"Kevin, wait until you see this house. It's awesome," Nick said enthusiastically. "There is this huge pond outback and all these awesome gardens. It's beautiful. You will be amazed," he babbled.
Kevin rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, well I think I'll wait to amaze myself until after I take a shower," he stated as he walked to the bathroom and closed the door. Nick stared at the door, frowning at the place where Kevin had been standing.
"How rude," he said to himself, pouting until he remembered that there was food downstairs and with that thought he turned around and ran down into the kitchen. He stepped off the spiral staircase and walked through the swinging door that was right in front of him, into the spacious kitchen. Shannon was busy making omelets at the stove while everyone else was seated at the kitchen table, eating toast and talking.
"Is Kevin coming?" Brian asked. Nick nodded.
"Yeah, he's finally awake. Pass some toast, would ya?" Nick asked. Brian handed him the bread and Nick started chomping away.
"You know, you guys look really different from last night," A.J. commented.
"Well, we were at this wild part and felt like getting a little freaky. That's why we were dressed the way we were," Shannon said.
A.J. nodded as he looked at Shannon who was dressed in a pair of short overalls with a cute cropped Snoopy T-shirt. Kendall had her hair in two French braids and was wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top. Morgan was wearing a black sports top with a pair of black tights and a pair of Reeboks. Her hair was in a ponytail.
"So, Howie, is it?" Shannon asked from where she was standing in front of the stove. He nodded. "So are you just friends of the BSB?" she asked. Howie looked confused.
"No, I'm part of the BSB." A look of realization came over him, as he realized why she didn't recognize him. "Maybe I don't look familiar because Ryan cut my hair. It used to be long and I also shaved off my goatee this morning," he stated.
Shannon's face lit up as she placed his face with his former face. "Oh, you're weas. . ." She stopped as she realized what she was going to say had been really insulting. Morgan and Kendall smiled as they realized that she had been about to call Howie weasel boy. It was a nickname they had picked up when Morgan had jokingly called him that, saying he looked like a greasy, slick type with his little ponytail, a weasel.
"Okay, who had the Spanish omelet?" Shannon quickly asked to cover up her near mistake.
"Oh, that was me," A.J. stated as he reached for the plate. He set it down in front of him and busily started eating.
"God, are you going to breathe or just inhale it like the pig you are?" Morgan said disgustedly. She suddenly grabbed her leg in pain.
"Ow," she cried, rubbing the spot where she had been kicked. She looked over to A.J. who was innocently sitting there eating and her eyes narrowed. Suddenly A.J. grabbed his leg.
"Ow!" He cried. The gang just rolled their eyes. A.J. and Morgan had been at each other's throats ever since they got up that morning and it was quickly becoming tiresome. The entrance of Kevin, still damp from the shower interrupted their squabble.
"Hey guys. Hmmm, it smells good in here," Kevin stated as he leaned against the counter of the island.
"Morning, Kevin. What type of omelet do you like?" Shannon asked. Kevin thought about it for a minute.
"Mushroom and green peppers, if that's okay," he replied. "Hey, is there any coffee?" he asked.
Shannon nodded. "Yeah, coffee's in the corner and mugs are in the cupboard above," she said pointing him in the right direction.
Kevin walked across the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. His eyes took in the brightly-lit kitchen, the sunlight streaming in through the patio doors that filled the east wall of the house. They gave a good view of the gardens and huge back yard.
"So how did you guys get such a great place?" he asked as he sat down at the kitchen table with the rest of the gang.
"Yeah, this place is awesome," Brian chimed in.
Shannon smiled. "Thanks. Yeah, we're lucky to have it. It's Colleen's house actually," she informed them as she took Kevin's omelet to him and grabbing her own, sat down to eat.
"So how does Colleen afford such great place?" Brian reasked as he looked around for another piece of toast. Spying one on Ryan's plate he grabbed it and took a bite.
"Hey, you pig, that was mine!" she yelled as she slapped his arm. Brian just smiled.
"So Shannon, you were saying?" Kevin asked her, getting the attention back to the question.
Shannon took a sip of juice and grabbed a piece of toast. "Well, she inherited it," she said slowly as she buttered the toast. "When Colleen was about fifteen, she met Anita, well Mrs. Garrett at the library." Shannon took a bite of the toast. "You see, Colleen was, well IS, a big nerd and she loved to hang out at the library, and Anita use to olunteer to read to the children for storytime. So they met and became friends. One day Anita mentioned that she needed help with her garden at her house and Colleen volunteered me and her to help out. Well, she really volunteered herself to help and forced me to come. It turned out great though. We came over here and met Bill, Anita's husband and they became like a second set of grandparents. This was their house," she finished.
"Yeah, Anita loved fairy tales and for her wedding present, Bill designed this house back in the thirties. Have you guys seen the front?" asked Morgan. The guys shook their heads. "Well, it looks like a fairy tale castle from the front. There are the two towers, one is Colleen's bedroom and the other is the library. They are what really gives the castle like feel."
"So where are they now?" Howie asked as he took a bite of omelet.
Shannon's face crumpled. "They died. They were in a boating accident. A guy in his twenties was driving his boat drunk with his buds and hit Bill and Anita's boat," Shannon said sadly.
"Bill and Anita left all their money to various charities but they knew how much Colleen loved this house and they had no other family, so they left it to her. They always called us their surrogate grandchildren," she murmured. Howie put his hand on her arm.
"Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded and smiled, thinking how sweet he was. And cute too, she thought. He looks like he did on their CD cover before he grew his hair out and grew the goatee.Shannon glanced at the kitchen clock as the Grandfather clock in the hall chimed softly, and she saw it was twelve thirty.
"Hey, who wants to get Colleen up?" she asked cheerfully. Kendall, Ryan, and Morgan quickly got up and headed for the patio doors.
"Thanks but I'll pass," Ryan said as she walked the doors with a look.
"Yeah, I don't think I want a black eye this month," Kendall replied as Morgan nodded in agreement as they followed Ryan.
Shannon sighed. "She's not that bad," she said exasperated.
"YEAH RIGHT!" Ryan yelled from outside. Shannon started laughing.
"Hey Shannon, I'll wake her up," Kevin offered. Shannon smiled thankfully.
"Great. Go through these doors to the family room and through there to the entry hall. You will see two doors; hers will be on your right. It will lead to the tower and her bed's on the second story of the tower," Shannon informed. Kevin nodded and started to leave.
"Oh wait, here take this," she said as she poured a glass of orange juice for Colleen. "She's got low blood sugar in the morning." Kevin took the glass and walked through the french doors that connected the kitchen to the family room.
He took in the bright, vivid decorating with approval. A big white couch sat in the middle of the room, with throw pillows in red, green, blue, and yellow laying on it. It faced a huge big screen TV and was flanked by big, velvet chairs in bright blues, reds, greens and yellows that matched the throw pillows. A black baby grand piano sat in the corner besides shelves filled with an amazing number of movies. The universal stereo system was on the opposite wall with rows and rows of CDs by it. Abstract paintings and posters of the various theatrical performances that Shannon and Colleen's sister Gillian had been in were hanging on the walls. He walked through, careful not spill the orange juice on the floor, stepping up the three steps to the entryhall were he saw two doors. The door on his left was a heavy paneled wooden door. The one on his right, the one leading to Colleen's room came out of medieval castle, complete with intricate iron hinges, carving of a family crest in the door, and a iron ring for a doorknob.
He reached for the ring and opened the door. His eyes took in the tall windows facing west giving a view of the long driveway and woods that surrounded the house. Colleen's desk was against the far wall by one of the windows, her laptop, printer, scanner, phone all sitting upon it. Opposite her desk was a huge antique wooden armoire. A vivid blue velvet chair, similar to the ones in the family room, was situated between the armoire and a window. The vivid blue velvet helped bring out the vivid blues in the Chinese rug that lay in the middle of the room, on the wooden floor. A white curved couch sat against the curved base of the spiral wooden attached to the wall. More posters of her sister's various drama productions covered the walls.
Nice room, Kevin thought as he climbed the stairs that led to Colleen's bed. Upon reaching the top, he noticed a bed straight out of Arabian nights with a sheer curtain hanging from a point in the ceiling and spilling down around the king sized bed. Under the black velvet comforter, Kevin noticed a lump that he assumed was Colleen.
He walked over to the bed and pushing aside the sheer curtain, sat on the edge of the bed. He set the orange juice down on the black lacquered Chinese bedside table.
"Colleen, wake up," he said softly, shaking her gently. No response. "Pirate, get up," he said louder, shaking her harder. Colleen just mumbled in her sleep, shrugging him off as she turned over, her arm flying, almost hitting Kevin. She settled back to sleep. All right, I guess I have to yell louder, Kevin thought. "COLLEEN, WAKE UP!" he yelled.
Colleen shot up out of the bed, sitting straight up."What? What's going on?" she asked bewilderedly. Kevin handed her the orange juice silently. She drank it quickly and sat there with her eyes closed, waiting for the sugar to hit her bloodstream.
Kevin just sat quietly, looking at the second story of her room as he waited for Colleen to come out of her coma. An antique wooden dresser sat opposite the bed with a TV/VCR on top of it. On the West Side of the tower were glass French doors that led out onto a stone balcony that was overgrown with ivy. A full-length mirror was beside the French doors. On the other side of the doors was a black velvet chair, matching the others, filled with clothes. A huge black Chinese fan with a blood red dragon carved into it hung on the wall beside a full set of Katana swords. Chinese silk screen paintings depicting scenes of geisha girls and China hung around the room. A CD stereo system lay on the floor between the chair and the dresser.
"What time is it?" Colleen asked, softly, interrupting Kevin's perusal of the room.
He looked at his watch. "It's 12:43," he replied. "Shannon made breakfast and it's waiting downstairs."
Colleen looked over at him and smiled. "Okay. Good morning," she said with a grin. Kevin smiled.
"Good morning," he said back. "You know, you woke up a lot better in Maryland," he commented.
Colleen shrugged. "Yeah, I always wake up better in other peoples homes. If I'm in my house, I feel entitled to wake up however I want to. So how did you get the dirty job of waking me up?" she asked as she climbed out of bed, pulling down the huge Mighty Blue Kings T-shirt she wore to sleep in.
"I volunteered," he said casually. "Of course, I was the only left in the room," he joked.
Colleen turned from where she was fishing out cut-off and a BVD T-shirt and turned around and smiled. "Let me guess, Kendall, Ryan, and Morgan, fled the scene," she said wryly, leaning against the dresser. Kevin nodded. Colleen laughed. "Can't blame them. I didn't hit you, did I?" she asked suddenly.
Kevin shook his head no. "No, you missed." Colleen groaned.
"I've got to stop doing that. Okay, well I'm going to take a shower. Tell Shannon I'll be down in a couple," she said, walking to a door beside her bed that opened into a big bathroom. Kevin saw another door at the other end of the bathroom.
"What's the other door for?" he asked.
"Oh, that leads into the rest of the second level," she said.
"That's really cool."
"Yeah, Bill has some weird stuff designed in this house," she agreed.
"Oh Bill was Mr. Garrett, he owned this house," she said softly.
Kevin nodded somberly. "Shannon told us the story," he replied. "I'm sorry."
Colleen nodded. "Yeah, well." She turned to tub and turned the water on and Kevin took that as his cue to leave.
He walked down the stairs and out of the room, heading back to the kitchen. Shannon looked up as he entered.
"So the grouch is up?" she asked with a smile as she finished Colleen's omelet.
"Yeah, she wasn't that bad," Kevin replied.
"Yeah, I know. We just like to tease her. She used to be way worse when she was younger," Shannon stated. She had finished the rest of the dishes and was trying to decide what to make for lunch. She pulled out one of her cookbooks.
Kevin looked at the empty kitchen and the lack of breakfast dishes. "Where's the guys?" he asked Shannon.
"Um, I think they went to play basketball," Shannon replied. Kevin nodded and sat down at one of the stools sitting at the island.
"So Shannon, Colleen told us you have a coffee shop in Chicago," Kevin commented.
Shannon nodded. "Yup. Its called Serenity. Colleen's actually part owner, silent, of course. Too bad she isn't like that in everyday life," she said with a grin. Kevin laughed.
"She does talk a lot," he agreed. Shannon nodded.
"Yeah, so do you like having girls lust after you and hang up shrines to you in their room?" she asked cheekily. Kevin rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, well." He cleared his throat uncomfortable at the question.
Shannon changed the subject. "So when do you guys have practice for your concert coming up?"
Kevin thought for a second. "Um, I think day after tomorrow. We begged for some more down time and they agreed. Are you coming to the concert?"
Shannon shrugged. "Well, I guess if you guys give us tickets. I just don't know if I could take the screaming of so many adolescent girls. It's hard on the ears." Kevin grinned.
"Well, imagine how it is. . ." he was interrupted by a loud thump coming from the family room.
"What the heck?" Kevin said as he looked at Shannon. She shrugged and walked into the family room. They were greeted with the sight of Colleen sprawled upside down on the couch, her Adidas in the air.
"Hey Colleen," Shannon said casually. Colleen nodded.
"Um, what happened?" Kevin asked uncertainly, trying not to laugh at the sight of Colleen all twisted up.
"Tripped again?" Shannon asked. Colleen nodded again. She turned around and sat up.
"My shoelace was untied and I stumbled on it and ran into the couch, hence flipping over the back," Colleen explained with a grimace. Shannon just shook her head.
"Seems like things are back to normal," she commented to her clumsy sister. "I don't know how people trust you with their lives," she said as she walked back into the kitchen.
Colleen rolled her eyes. "I'm not that bad," she protested.
Shannon grinned. "Yeah, okay. Just eat your breakfast," she said, shoving her omelet over to her sister.
"Hey," she said. "All right, breakfast." She sat down on one of the stools surrounding the island and started eating.
"I thought you were going to take a shower," Kevin commented, noticing her dry hair. Colleen was dressed in a pair of bike shorts, a dark blue sports top, and a pair of Adidas.
Colleen swallowed her bite of omelet. "I thought that I would work out first, so that I wouldn't have to take two showers. Speaking of which, where's Gimpy?" she asked Shannon. Shannon shrugged.
"I don't know, I'm not her personal keeper. Try the garden," Shannon suggested. Colleen stuck her tongue at her sister.
"Retard."
"Hey, I take offense at that," Shannon said with a grin. Colleen started laughing.
"Whatever." Colleen got up and walked over to the patio doors and yelled outside. "MORGAN, WANT TO WORK OUT?"
"OKAY," came the yelled response from Morgan. "BE THERE IN A MINUTE."
Colleen nodded and went to finish her breakfast. "So I'll work out with Gimpy for a hour or so, then we can plan what's going on."
Kevin cut in on the conversation. "What's with the name Gimpy?" he asked.
Shannon grinned. "Um, it's sort of mean. See Morgan was in a car accident when she was fifteen. A drunk driver hit her car head on with her dad and brother and her in it. Well, they were all okay but she shattered her leg and was on crutches for a long time while it healed. So we called her Gimpy and it stuck."
Kevin shook his head. "That was nice."
Colleen laughed. "Hey, you have to find humor in bad situations in order to bear through it," she replied. "Man, that sounded like one of those meaningful after school messages. Yuck."
"Yeah, it did. Have you been reading Hallmark cards again?" Shannon joked. .
"Yup, that's exactly what I have been doing," Colleen said with a smirk. She stopped talking as Morgan walked in from playing basketball with Nick and Kendall.
"Hey, ready for me to kick your butt?" Morgan asked with a grin.
"I don't need to be ready for that, because it will never happen," Colleen shot back. She turned to Kevin as she got up.
"Is there anything you want to do?" she asked, not wanting to neglect her guest. He thought about it.
"You know, some TV watching sounds really good," he said. Colleen smiled.
"Okay, you can go veg out in the family room. Movies are in the corner and the controls are on top of the TV," she said as she turned around to walk out of the room, heading for the workout room on the second story.
Kevin got up. "Well, I'm gonna go watch some tube," he said to Shannon. She nodded and went back to looking at her cookbooks.
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