West Chester Beauty Queen

Chapter Two - Cookies, Milk, and A Jackass

After the longest drive I've ever taken in my ancient truck, I saw the sign for West Chester and I texted Bam.

Me: I'm in West Chester

It took awhile for him to respond with a call.
"Hello?" I ask
"Hey, it's just easier if I direct you by phone." he says
"Direct away." I say and he laughs.
Bam and I have always been close. We are twins. He was the one that REALLY didn't want me to go to Nashville. We have stayed in contact a lot during my stay in Nashville.
After awhile I hung up the phone with Bam telling him I'd be at his house in 10 minutes.
I pull into the driveway and punch in the code to the gate and drove up.
It was a nice ancient looking house. It was almost like a castle, of course Bam would have a castle house.
I park my truck and got out and texted Bam

Me: I'm here
Bam: so that's who pulled in driving a piece of shit truck haha

I roll my eyes but couldn't help but smile. He was always picking on me with my choice of vehicle.
I was just about to grab my bags when I felt arms wrap around me and left me up off the ground and spun me away from the truck.
"Damnit Bam!" I exclaim, "Put me down!"
He laughs and sets my feet back on the ground and I turn around and wrap my arms around him in a hug and he hugs back tight.
"How are you little sis?" he asks
"First off," I say pulling away, "You are not that much older, just by 2 and a half minutes. And second, I'm fine."
He laughs and pulls my beanie off and ruffles my hair, "Whatever you say Pebbles." he says using the childhood nickname he gave me and I stuck my tongue out at him and snatch my beanie from him.
"Come on." he says, "There's some people I want you to meet."
He grabs my hand and leads me to the house and we went inside.
There were five other guys sitting in the living room. Two of them were playing video games while the others were watching. I only recognized Ryan, whom I've known for awhile.
"Guys. I'd like you to meet my l...twin sister," Bam says correcting himself when he sees the look I give him before he called me little, "Pebbles, this is the Jackass crew."
Of course I've heard and seen of Jackass. Not only is my brother in it but they were really funny. But I haven't seen any of the movies in forever so I couldn't remember who was who, except for Bam of course.
One guy stood up and came over to me and hugs me tight and says,
"My name is Steve-O. It's a pleasure to meet the female version of Bam, finally. I've heard a lot about you."
He kisses my cheek as I say 'hi'.
Then another stands up and shakes my hand, "I'm Chris Pontius. Nice meeting you." he says smiling
"I'm Brandon Novak. You're even prettier than Bam described you." he says winking at me and kissing my cheek and hugs me.
Then the other guy that I haven't met stands up. He was tall and had brown hair and beautiful brown eyes. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and a blue flannel shirt over it, black jeans, and red converse. He smiles at me and pulls me in a hug. It wasn't bone crushing but not too gentle, it was perfect. He had an amazing smell and it was like a whole other world all together.
He pulls away and kisses my cheek,
"It's a pleasure to meet you." he says in a slight southern accent, "I'm Johnny Knoxville. Your name isn't actually 'Pebbles' is it?" he says
I smile uncontrollably and say with a chuckle, "No, it's Josephine Margera. But you can just call me Joey."
He smiles and my heart flutters.
Johnny looks at Bam and says, "Bam, you didn't tell me your sister was a beautiful country girl."
I blush and Bam shrugs, "Didn't think it was important." he says dismissively
Johnny looks back at me, "It's not all that important." he says and winks and I look away biting my lip.
"Hey Pebbles." Ryan says throwing his game controller down on the table and climbing over the couch and wrapping me in a hug.
"Hey Ry." I say hugging him back.
"Pebbles?" says Steve-O
"Yeah, I gave her that nickname when we were kids. You know. I'm Bam, she's Pebbles." Bam says and all the guys laugh.
"You got any bags?" Chris asks me
"A few in my truck." I say, "I didn't get a chance to grab-"
"We'll get em!" Johnny says
"Oh no, that's alright guys. I wouldn't want-" I start to say
"Let them do it." Ryan says in my ear
"Uh, sure." I say and all but Ryan and Bam run outside making me laugh when Johnny pushes Novak out of the way to get out the door first.
"So how long are you staying?" Ryan asks
"For good." Bam and I answer together.
"Uh oh, it's already begun." Ryan says with wide eyes
"What do you mean?" Bam and I say together
"You two are already in sync!" Ryan exclaims and Bam and I laugh.
Then I heard a ruckus at the front door and I heard Johnny say, "Novak! Be careful with that bag!' I heard Johnny exclaim, "It could contain important stuff!"
I didn't hear a response and then I see the guys, Johnny, Novak, Steve-O, and Chris, all with my stuff. Johnny and Novak with a bag, Steve-O with my guitar, and Chris with my skateboard.
"What room is hers?" Steve-O asks
"Upstairs to the right." Bam says and the boys head upstairs.
"Which one?" I hear Novak call
"The one across from Knoxville's!" Bam calls back.
Bam grabs my hand and we head upstairs to an open door.
Bam pulls me into the room and I was taken aback by the beauty of the room.
I loved it! The walls were dark purple and there were Jackass posters hung up on the walls and some Luke Bryan posters on what I assume is the closet door and a heartagram on the back of another closed door. All three doors painted black. There was one wall that was completely windows, and there were doors that lead out to a balcony and there was a big black bean bag next to it. There was a whole section for my CDs and DVDs and across from the bed was a flat screen tv mounted on the wall. The bed was a queen size and there was a headboard that was empty. The bed was covered with a fuzzy comforter. The long pillow had a batman symbol on it and there were black and purple pillows along with it. And there were black end tables on both sides of the bed. There were boxes I had sent ahead of time scattered around the room too.
"Bam!" I exclaim, "You did all of this?"
"Well...yeah. With the help of the guys of course. I wanted you to have a perfect room, because I love you."
"Awe." the boys say as I hug Bam.
"What? No love for me? I picked out the bed stuff!" Ryan exclaims and I chuckle and hug him.
Johnny, Chris, Steve-O, and Novak set my stuff on the bed and Bam says, "We'll leave you to get settled in."
He gives me a hug and leaves and I hug each of the guys, thanking them all, and Johnny was last.
He smiles and it causes me to smile, "I hope you enjoy it here." he says and hugs me
I chuckle, "Thanks Johnny." I say
He chuckles too and lets me go and starts to walk out and his hands lingers on my waist for a few seconds and it raises goosebumps on me.
When his hands were no longer on my waist I suddenly felt a little cold and I was disappointed.
The door closes, making his exit known and I sigh. What was going on with me? I couldn't be in love with someone I just met. No. I already had my heart shattered, I wasn't going to go through that again.
I shake my head and I pull my iHome dock out of one of my bags, plugged my phone into it and listened to my music softly as I unpacked.
As I was about to open my closet door, when there was a knock at my door.
"Come in." I call out
It opens and reveals my brother.
"Hey." he says
"Hey." I say
"Can I talk to you for a sec?" he asks
"Sure." I say and we both head over to the bed and sit down.
"Look," he says, "I know you probably feel a little uncomfortable. Because you're a little shy towards new people and all, and because of Aunt JuJu's death. But you don't need to be shy around the guys, they're pretty cool. They wouldn't do anything to you. I want you to get to know them because they are real nice and want to get to know you."
I nod, "I will." I say
"I mean it," Bam says, "Not all guys are like the last loser you were with...what's his face...Steven."
I look away at the mention of Steven's name. Bam was right, not all guys are like dumbass Steven. But Bam didn't know all he did to me, just that he broke up with me, which wasn't technically true. Bam had no idea the things that Steven put me through.
"And besides, the guys have been dying to meet you since I told them you were coming. You know how they insisted they get your bags for you? Well that's because they wanted to make a good impression on you. To try and get your attention. You're a very special person, Joe. Don't let assholes like Steven make you think otherwise."
"I know," I say and smile at him, "I'll come down when I'm done unpacking."
"Alright." Bam says and kisses my forehead, "I love you Pebbles."
"Love you too...Bam Bam." I say and we laugh.
He gets up and leaves the room and I stay there for a moment thinking about what Bam said.
He's right. Steven shouldn't bring me down. I have a right to live a happy life, Steven is nothing but the past. And besides, I'm in a new place where he can never bother me. A new place, a new girl.
I continue to unpack my stuff. I hang up my other posters, put my CDs and DVDs on the shelves, put my clothes in my WALK-IN closet, and put my bathroom necessities in my own bathroom.
I put my iPad on it's charger and also my phone and sighed, satisfied with my work.
I went downstairs, as promised, and found three of the boys, Novak, Ryan, and Chris, playing video games, Bam and Steve-O watching something on Netflix on another tv on a whole separate couch across the room, and Johnny sitting all alone in between the two couches.
When I entered the room Johnny was the only one to acknowledge my entrance.
He smiled and patted the spot next to him and I smile too and go behind Ryan's, Novak's, and Chris's couch and jump over the back of Johnny's couch and sit next to him.
"Howdy." I say looking and smiling at him.
He smiles too and tips an invisible hat,
"Howdy ma'am." he says deepening his southern accent and I giggle.
"So, where are you from?" Johnny asks in his regular voice.
"Around here." I say
He chuckles and rolls his eyes, "I meant before you came back to here." he says
I chuckle, "Nashville. I lived there with my aunt." I say
"Why?" he asks
"Well...she got really depressed around the time her husband passed away. So I went down there to help take care of her." I answer
"And why'd you come back?" Johnny asks
It takes me a moment to answer, the memory of finding Aunt JuJu in her bed dead still haunting my mind.
"Because...she died a few months ago." I say, "I found her one day when I came home from work. She was lying in her bed...already gone."
Johnny's expression saddens, "I-I'm sorry," he says, "I shouldn't've asked-"
"No no," I say, "It's alright. It feels good to talk about her."
He weakly smiles and says, "If you don't mind me asking...how did she die?"
I shrug, "She died unexpectedly." I say, "Autopsy never showed any real cause of death."
"I'm truly sorry for your loss." Johnny says and when I looked in his eyes I knew he really meant it.
There's some people that just say it to be polite, but there's some that say it because they mean it. You can always usually tell just by looking at them. For some reason, knowing Johnny truly meant that he was sorry gave me a weird but good feeling.
I weakly smile at him and look away, suddenly nervous.
Then I hear the door open and I hear my mom's voice call, "Hello? Bam?"
"Up here Ape!" Bam calls
Soon she and dad, Phil, were standing in the doorway.
"Mom!" I exclaim and get up, jump over the back of the couch, and run to her an hug her.
"Joey!" she exclaims hugging me back, "I've missed you so much!"
"I've missed you too." I say and then hug dad, which was like hugging a teddy bear.
"You've grown up so much in a year." he says
"She is 26, Phil." mom says
I laugh and let them go and we go over to the couch and I sit next to Johnny again and we all talk.
After awhile, mom and dad leave and the boys got hungry and we decided to just get food from a restaurant in town and Johnny and I offer to go get it.
We take Bam's Mercedes because he jokingly stated my truck probably couldn't take much more excitement.
Johnny and I talked the whole way to the restaurant where we ordered the food and we listened to a country radio station, which I was sure to change when we got back.
Johnny and I brought the food inside and the boys pretty much ran over to the table where we set it.
"Thanks babe." Novak says kissing my cheek and snaking an arm around my waist as he dug for his food.
I looked up at Johnny who looked a little pissed off at Novak and was sending him death glares. So I took Novak's arm off of my waist.
As I waited for the boys to have their food my phone rang and I pulled it out but a flood of anger rose in me like every time he calls.
I hit ignore and put my phone back in my pocket and pretended like nothing happened.
Once the boys got their food and stuff I got mine and sat down in between Chris and Steve-O.
I opened my bacon cheese burger and fries container and popped the lid off of my chocolate shake and grabbed a fry and dipped it in.
"What in the hell are you doing?" Chris asks and it causes me to laugh.
"Dipping my fry in my shake." I answer
"Why?"
"Cause she's a weirdo." Bam answers and I stick my tongue out at him and then turn back to Chris.
"It's really good. Here. Try it." I say and grab another fry in my shake and let Chris bite off of it.
"That is good!" he exclaims and we all laugh.