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Chapter Fourteen
"Love is a distraction, maybe, you should have died"
"She's got it. Yeah, baby she's got it," Shannon sang loudly as she danced around the kitchen, singing along with the radio as she got ingredients together for the pasta she was making from scratch. She set down the wheat, and just started dancing, singing into a wooden cooking spoon.
Howie walked in from the patio doors and stopped suddenly as he watched Shannon dance by herself. He started laughing and Shannon turned around in surprise.
"Oh hey," she said brightly with a smile.
"Hi," Howie replied with a grin. "Nice dancing."
Shannon nodded proudly. "Thank you, kind sir. So what's up?" she asked as she turned around and started to plop ingredients in a bowl.
"Nothing much. I just thought I would see what you were doing. Everyone else is playing basketball and I didn't feel like it at the moment," Howie answered casually. He looked at where Shannon was standing, looking cute in her overalls and he smiled.
She's so beautiful, he thought to himself. A little weird though, as he remembered her wild dancing from a couple minutes ago.
"Well, Kevy-kev is watching TV in the family room, if you're feeling like turning into a zombie," she said, gesturing to the family room.
"I was just in there and he was watching a nature documentary on the mating habits of rhinos. Pretty racy stuff," she said, wiggling her eyebrows up and down.
Howie laughed. "Yeah, I don't think I'm in the mood for some rhino porn. Usually I am totally up for it, but I guess I'm just feeling strange today."
Shannon started laughing. "Well, you are lucky, maybe they will show some mongoose porn later. That will be a change of pace from your usual rhinos," she said a sham serious face. They both looked at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing.
"Well, tell you what, you want to come with me to check on Morgan and Colleen?" she asked as she wiped her hands on a dishtowel, finishing putting the pasta mix in the pastamaker and switching it on.
Howie nodded. "Sure. What are we checking on them for?" he asked curiously as they exited the kitchen and headed up the stairs.
"Well, Colleen's back from Maryland so that means Morgan and her can do some kick boxing," Shannon replied. "I have to make sure they don't kill each other," she said with a smile.
"So you and Kendall aren't into that so you couldn't box with her?" Howie stated. Shannon shook her head.
"Well, Kendall and I take Akido, which isn't a hard marshal art. You only know how to hurt people if they are attacking you, you can't attack them," she stated. "Ryan is into Akido too."
"You're a bunch of bloodthirsty girls, aren't you," Howie joked.
"Well, we thought it best after what happened to Colleen," Shannon replied distractedly as they approached the glass doors that lead into the workout room on the second floor.
It was at the end of the hall. It used to be the master bedroom but the girls had converted it to a workout room. The floor was padded so that the girls could practice their martial arts and the wall was mirrored. They had all chipped in to pay for high quality weight machines that were situated in the western corner, leaving a sizable area for combat. There was also a TV/VCR in there so that they could watch their workout and Tae Bo tapes. The walls were covered with posters of the girls' favorite music bands. Currently, Morgan and Colleen were equipped in punching gloves, headgear, and mouthpieces, having a full contact workout with the Hackers soundtrack pounding out of the stereo that was fixed into the wall. Shannon watched them for a moment and then realized that Howie was asking her a question.
"What?" she asked.
"After what happened to Colleen?" Howie repeated, confused.
"Are you telling him what happened to Colleen?" Kendall asked as she walked behind him. Shannon looked at her.
"Well, I guess I am now," she replied.
"So what happened?" Howie asked, looking from one girl to the other.
"Colleen was attacked about six years ago," Kendall replied. Howie's face showed shocked concern.
"She was coming out of the college late one night after working in the microbiology lab. She saw one of her friends; this really nice guy name Cooper and she stopped and they talked for awhile. Well they said goodbye and Colleen continued walking out into the parking lot. It was cold and when she went to put on her gloves, she noticed she had lost one but she was tired so instead of looking for it, she went to her car, which by then was the only one left in the parking lot," Kendall said. "She was unlocking her car when she was grabbed from behind. A knife was put to her throat and the guy told her that he wasn't going to rape her, but she would live if she cooperated." Kendall stopped.
"Well, what happened?" Howie asked, both wanting to know but fearing the answer.
"Well, she couldn't do anything. The guy still had his arm wrapped around her neck. He started to turn her around when suddenly the arm fell loose. Colleen turned around and saw Cooper standing there holding a rock and her attacker unconscious on the ground. And he was holding her other glove," Kendall finished.
"Colleen had dropped her glove while talking to Cooper and he picked it up and followed her out into the parking lot to give it back to her. He saw the guy attack her and he picked up a rock and hit him from behind," Shannon continued. "If Colleen hadn't dropped her glove, the outcome would have been different."
"Colleen didn't say a word about it to us," Howie said.
"I'm not surprised. After telling the police and her family, Colleen hasn't spoken a word of it since. At first we were concerned because her whole personality changed and she wouldn't see a therapist to help work out the situation. But then she started tae kwon do and she went back to her normal self. So that's why we all take some form of defense," Shannon explained.
Howie nodded and he turned to look at Colleen working out. For the first time he noticed a too intense look on her face.
"Don't say anything about it to her, okay?" Shannon asked with a worried look on her face. "We haven't talked about it because we don't know how it will affect her."
"Don't worry I won't say anything to her," Howie reassured her.
"Say anything about what?" Colleen asked, walking out of the workout room wiping her face with a towel. Kendall, Howie, and Shannon looked at each other.
"Um, nothing. We were just talking about . . . stuff," Kendall finished lamely. Shannon looked at her and started laughing.
"Nice save," she whispered to her cousin. Kendall just stuck her tongue out at her.
"Hey, we're having girl's night tonight, right?" Colleen asked, hanging the towel around her neck.
"We have to," said Morgan as she walked up to the group. "It's a tradition."
Kendall and Shannon nodded in agreement.
"Okay, cool. I'm going to take a shower. Lunch is going to be soon, right?" Colleen asked Shannon, having worked up an appetite.
Shannon nodded. "Yup, the pasta should be made, I just need to boil it. I hope pasta and salad sound good," she asked. "I didn't feel like making anything big."
"Sounds great," Colleen reassured her. Everyone else nodded too.
"Well, I'm going to go. Be down in a few," she said as she walked towards the end of the hall to the door of her bathroom.
"I'm going to go stretch," Morgan said as she headed into her room. She planned on working out after lunch so she wasn't going to take a shower just then.
"I'm going to finish lunch," Shannon said as she walked towards the stairs. Kendall and Howie looked at each other.
"Have you seen all of the outside," Kendall asked Howie. He shook his head no.
"Nope. I would like to have a tour," he hinted with a smile. Kendall laughed.
"Well, you're in luck. The next tour group is scheduled to start . . . " she looked at her watch. "Right now!" Howie laughed.
"Let's go," he said. They went down the stairs and into the kitchen, smiling at Shannon who was busy getting together lunch and exited through the patio doors.
"Hey, we should get the rest of guys so you don't have to give another tour," Howie suggested.
"Sounds great." He nodded.
"A.J., BRIAN, NICK, KEVIN!" Howie yelled. He waited for a minute and then yelled again. Soon BSB were popping up everywhere.
"Waz up?" A.J. asked with a grin as he walked towards them from the front were he had been playing basketball with Nick in the driveway.
Brian and Ryan were right behind them. They had been talking on the grass, watching the two guys play.
"What's with all the yelling, D?" Kevin asked as he walked out the patio doors from his watching TV.
"Kendall's going to give us a tour," Howie explained.
"Cool, let's start," Nick said with a grin, happy to do anything with Kendall. He had developed a slight crush on her. Colleen had been completely wrong in matchmaking him with Morgan.
Kendall smiled at him. "Okay, well let's start right here," she said turning to the awesome gardens in front of them. "These gardens were put in by Anita, Shannon, and Colleen. Shannon's been keeping them up. She inherited our grandmother's green thumb. Nan, our grandmother, has such awesome gardens that her friends call her house the Botanical gardens and Shannon has kept up the tradition." The guys looked at the gardens filled with all types of flowers, every color of the rainbow.
"They're gorgeous," Brian observed. "Smells great too," he said with a grin.
"Yeah, way better than A.J. and Nick," Ryan said with a smirk, referring to the two guys' sweaty state as a result of basketball.
Nick swatted the back of her head. "Shut up, Rye bread," he said.
She just grinned at him.
"I think Ryan needs a hug," A.J. said with a grin. He started walking towards her as she bolted behind Kevin.
"Kevin, save me," she said with a laugh. He grinned.
"Anything for a damsel in distress," he said in a deep voice. "Back off, evil doer," he told A.J. with a mock serious face, standing in a hero stance, his hands on his hips and his chest puffed out. A.J.'s face turned frightened.
"Not the mighty Train!" he yelled as he turned tail and ran. Ryan and Kendall just stood there laughing. Ryan came out from behind Kevin.
She turned towards Kevin. "Oh thank you Train. You have saved the day again, keeping the world safe from all sweaty guys," she said with a look of adoration, her hands clasped together.
"It's my job, maam." Kevin nodded to her. She smiled and walked back to Brian who was pouting.
"Hey what's wrong?" she asked, nudging him.
"Why didn't you turn to me to save you?" he asked in a sullen voice.
Ryan grinned.
"Kevin's taller," she said.
Brian turned to his cousin. "Man, I'm always going to be in your shadow," he joked. Kevin nodded to him.
"I'm afraid so. I am five inches taller, cuz," he said seriously.
Brian and Kevin started laughing.
Ryan shook her head. "I'll turn to you next time, hon," she said with a grin. Brian nodded and flexed his arms.
"Yes, because I am a manly man," he said in a deep voice, striking a body builder pose. Ryan rolled her eyes.
"Umm, yeah," she said with a look of disbelief.
"Hey," Brian cried.
"Shut up," she said, kissing him on the lips softly. Brian smiled
"You can shut me up like that anytime," he joked.
Kendall cleared her throat. "Okay, let's finish the tour."
Everyone turned to her.
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