Chapter Seven

Raleigh

Having excused myself to use the bathroom, I bite back a giggle as I walk back into the living room to find Aspen, Lincoln, and Boston in a tangle of limbs across the spotted game mat.
"Left hand, yellow!" Ashlynn says with a giggle as she raises her near-empty wine glass.
"I hate you," I hear Lincoln growl, casting a glare at Aspen from between his legs as he reaches his left hand towards one of the yellow circles, twisting himself into even more of a pretzel.
"You do not," she returns, groaning when "right foot, blue," is called out.
"Oh, fuck!" Boston groans, stretching his leg through both Aspen and Lincoln's legs to reach an open blue circle.
"Boston!" His dad snaps, getting on to him, "Language!"
"*Crap*," he says, putting emphasis on the word, "but it feels like my ball sack is about to rip apart, and I'm sure my future *wife* would like to have kids." As he says the word *wife*, I don’t miss the look that he aims at Aspen before quickly turning his attention back to the mat as Ashlynn calls out "Left foot, red."
"Oh, shoot!" she giggles, after kicking her foot up into the air, which causes her to lose her balance and fall back, her wine spilling all over her chest. Then declaring, "Now I'm all sticky."
"I'm out!" Boston calls out as his twisted legs cause him to lose his balance and fall forward.
Lincoln and Aspen are the only two left while the rest of us all sit around the living room. Collin is sitting on the chair with Ashlynn perched on the arm.
Dallas is sitting on the floor in front of the couch, where Jackson and I are seated next to one another. His arm is resting along the back of the couch and occasionally, he will pick up a piece of my hair, playing with the strands before dropping them. “Who do you think will be the first to give in?” He asks, leaning into me and murmuring the words low enough for only me to hear.
I glance at Aspen and Lincoln, trying to decide when I hear, "You're going down!" coming from Lincoln as he slips his left foot across the mat, basically doing the splits. Aspen is also doing the splits, but she is just barely hovering over the plastic mat.
“Lincoln has longer legs, but Aspen is more flexible thanks to cheer,” I whisper back.
"Oh, we're going to see who's going down. But, it won’t be me," Aspen taunts, her smile radiating pure confidence in her abilities.
"Right hand, green!" Ashlynn squeals, getting way too into the game, as the wine has clearly gone to her head.
"Are you ready to give in yet, Lincoln?" Aspen asks tauntingly, then snickers as she says, "Are *your* balls hurting from your compromising position?"
"You wish!" He says an edge of what sounds like pain eking into his voice.
"I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." She tells him, a condescending tone to her voice. “Go ahead and give in. I won't make fun of you, or judge you…too much,” She says, muttering the last part much quieter than the rest.
"I heard that," Lincoln tells declares, cocking an eye at Aspen with a determined look on his face.
"Left hand, red," Collin calls, taking the spinner away from a cackling Ashlynn.
"Right foot, green," Collin says, after the little spinner stops moving, causing a groan to leave both Lincoln and Ashpen due to the new position, both of their faces red with embarrassment over the new position.
"Left hand, yellow," Collin says.
"Shit," Lincoln growls before falling and shouting, "I'm out!" as he releases a breath that he must have been holding.
After playing Twister, we all go back into the dining room and begin playing *Cards Against Humanity* while finishing off the remainder of the pizza.
I look at everyone around the table, trying to see if I can pick out each brother's differences. Boston always wears a bracelet on his left wrist. Lincoln has a freckle on his right cheek near his ear. I don’t really see any noticeable differences between Jackson and Dallas, outside of their personalities.
*Aspen, Boston, Lincoln, Jackson, Dallas. Surely they aren’t all…* My curiosity gets the best of me and at a lull in the conversation, I find myself randomly asking, "So, like, are all of y’all named after cities?"
Ashlynn snorts, then chuckles, her hand covering her mouth, "Sorry, I hadn't even realized that all of the boy's names are cities, even Aspen and Raleigh are," she says with a smile, looking at each one of us around the table before turning her attention to Collin, waiting for his response.
"Yes, the boys are each named after a city," he says, chuckling. "Their mom and I had just gotten back from a summer trip across the states and those were the four cities that she liked the most. When we found out we were having quads, she decided that they were the perfect names for each of the boys."
"It's cute," I say, setting a card down on the table.
The game continues for several hours, all of us laughing and carrying on.
Around eleven, as Ashlynn and Collin decide to call it a night, I decide that I need to as well.
“Thank you so much for having me.” I tell them, then address the rest of the group, “I had a great time.”
“It was our pleasure,” Ashlynn says, pulling me into a hug before continuing on her way toward the stairs.
“Are you sure you aren’t too tired to drive?” Lincoln asks, standing up and following me towards the door. “You can stay in Aspen’s room. She’ll likely be sleeping in Boston’s room anyway.”
“I really shouldn’t,” I tell him, wrapping my arms around his neck as we stop just outside of the door, I say, “I had a lot of fun.”
"I'm glad you had a good time and that my family didn't scare you off." He murmurs, wrapping his arms around my waist and lowering his forehead to mine.
“You haven't met *my* brothers, yet. Trust me, *that* was nothing." I tell him, and then push up onto the balls of my feet, crushing my mouth to his. His hands move from my waist to the back of my head, his fingers burrowing in my hair as I slip my tongue inside his mouth, deepening the kiss and making him groan in pleasure.
"When can I see you again?" He asks, breaking away after we'd been standing out here locked in a kiss for what could have been two or twenty minutes, I kind of lost track of time.
"I have cheer practice every day after school since it's football season. But, other than that, I'm free."
"So, *that's* why you were at the game last night," he says, pointing his finger at me, an ornery grin on his face, "you're a cheerleader for *them*." The way he spits out the word *them* is as if the word alone leaves a bad taste in his mouth.
"I know, whatever will people think, '*the hot football jock, having a rival cheerleader for a girlfriend.*' For shame." I snark, and lean back, putting the back of my hand up to my forehead dramatically. Then, I remember the player that got hurt last night and my stomach drops, “Have you heard anything about Guiterrez?”
"Yeah,” he says sadly, “he has a trimalleolar fracture and has to have surgery. He’ll be out for the rest of the season.”
“Shit, that sucks,” I mutter, thinking *What if that had been Lincoln?*
“You just called yourself my girlfriend," He says, changing the subject.
“No, I—” I start to say, *No, I didn’t*, but then I realize that *Yeah, I actually did. Shit.* "I didn't…that's not what—shit!" My top teeth tear into the skin on my bottom lip nervously, as I try to figure out how to salvage this.
"Hey," he says, his thumb brushing against my lip and pulling it from my teeth. Then, he captures it with his own teeth, pulling on it slightly before releasing it. "Only I get to bite that lip." He states.
"Sorry." I mutter, "And, I didn't mean—"
"Will you be my girlfriend?" Lincoln asks, cutting me off.
"You *want* me to be your girlfriend?" I ask, taken aback.
"No," he states, cupping my face with his large hands once more. "I just want to keep kissing you. Constantly thinking about you. Spending all of my free time with you. Finding out what every inch of you tastes like. How you feel beneath my palms, under me, over me, wrapped around me."
I can feel him getting hard against my lower abdomen and my face flushes, but I also feel myself getting wet from his words, as an ache to find out all of those things builds within.
"Yes..." I breathe out the word in answer.
*To both being his girlfriend and the things that he described.*