The Hudson Boys

Chapter five

When I wake up in the morning, it takes me a couple of seconds to remember where I am and why I'm here.

Glancing at the clock on my nightstand, I see that it's 9:27 in the morning.

I swing my legs out of bed and head to the bathroom.

Because I was so in awe with my room and Claire was so ecstatic about my closet, I didn't really pay close attention to the bathroom.

The countertops were made with sleek marble. There is a mirror that overlooked them. The mirror acts as two doors the can swing out. Behind the mirror is a medicine cabinet that is already filled with toiletries.

To the left of the toilet, there is a bathtub/shower system that looks like it belongs in a hotel. The large bathtub was made out of the same material the countertops. I was surprised to see that there is not only just a showerhead, but also sprinkler like system installed in the ceiling. When you turn on the water, it's as if you're being rained on. I've only ever seen these in magazines or on fancy hotel websites.

To say that I'm happy with my bathroom is an understatement.

I take a nice, long shower, letting the warm water run over me and then I walk back into my room.

I check the weather app on my phone to see that it's about 75°.

I walk into my walk-in closet and look at all the clothes Claire gave me. All of them were much more fashionable than anything I've ever worn before.

Feeling a little overwhelmed by all the choices, I decide to just put on a pair of light blue demin shorts and a red shirt with "Cornell University" written in white. I then slip on a pair of socks and my white converse.

I go back into my room and look at myself in the mirror. I add some mascara and a small amount of eyeliner to my eyes. I've never really worn a lot of makeup.

I then add some leave in conditioner to my hair so my wavy hair won't frizz from the hot weather.

Feeling satisfied with how I look, I turn off my light, close the door and try to find my way downstairs.

Like yesterday, I didn't make it very far in finding my way downstairs.

After roaming the halls for another five minutes, I finally find the stairs. I jog down them and make my way into the kitchen to see two of the boys eating breakfast.

"Hey Jess!"

Shoot, which one is that? He's not one of the twins and he's not Vince because Vince is sitting next to him. I recognize him from our encounter before dinner yesterday.

"Hey, you...." Hey you? Really, Jess? You couldn't have said anything other than "hey you?"

"I'm Mark."

"I'm so sorry, I promise i'll learn all of your names really soon! There's just a lot of you." There's just a lot of you? Jess, do you even think before you speak?

And why are you referring to yourself in third person?

"It's okay, I get it. We're a pretty big family" Mark chuckles, making me a feel little more comfortable.

"I'm Vince, we ran down the stairs together yesterday" Vince laughs.

"Oh yeah, you have no idea how happy I was that I ran into you...or well you ran into me. I had absolutely no idea where I was going."

"Wow, I've never had someone tell me they were happy that I made them fall...twice. Jess, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship" Vince responds in a joking manner.

"Hey, I'm only happy about you making me fall right before dinner, not about the ball incident" I tease, beginning to feel more comfortable.

"Well, I will try to not make you fall from now on. Jess why don't you sit down and have some breakfast? Willow makes the best eggs in all of California."

"Seriously," Mark adds "she's a culinary superhero"

Hearing the boy's compliments, Willow enters the dining room. "Good morning, Ms. Jess. The boys are exaggerating. Care for some breakfast? I can make you an omelet if you'd like."

"That would be great, thank you."

Willow comes back from the kitchen in record time. Seriously, I wish I timed her. The boys begin to tell me about how they are involved in crew and volleyball. Pretty soon they're having an argument on which sport is better. I'm not fully paying attention though, the omelet Willow made is too good.

"Rowing crew uses all of your muscles. Plus, I get to sit down while you have to stand the entire time," Mark brags, seeming pretty proud of his answer.

"Please Mark, I get to spike balls in people's faces! Volleyball wins." I laugh at them. Mark and Vince are really easy to talk to.

"Jess, you run cross-country right?"

I give Mark a look as if to say "how did you know that?"

"I noticed you were wearing a cross-country shirt yesterday."

Oh. That makes more sense than the ideas I were forming about Mark being some kind of crazy stalker.

"Yeah, I ran cross-country in high school and I'm also on the the team at Cornell." I joined the cross-country team freshman year of high school. I'm not the most coordinated person so cross-country seemed to be the safest sport for me. After joining I realized that I actually enjoyed running. It was a nice break from all the stress of my daily life.

"I ran cross-country my freshman year of high school too, but I eventually quit because it crossed over with my crew schedule." Before I can respond to Mark, the twins coming bounding down the stairs with another one of the brothers behind them.

Who was he again?

"Morning Jess" the twins say to me as they run in the kitchen, each one of them grabbing an apple and saying hello to Willow.

The third boy who came down the stares doesn't say anything to me, but I do notice the sharp glare he gives me before joining his brothers and grabbing an apple.

Parker.

What's his deal? Since I've gotten here he's been constantly glaring at me and seems pretty angry about my arrival.

One of the twins begins to speak to his brothers, but I missed the first half of the conversation because I was mentally trying to figure out what I could have possibly done to make Parker already so mad at me.

"Jess do you wanna come?"

Dismissing all thoughts about Parker and his rude behavior, I turn back to the rest of the boys. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

All of the boys begin to chuckle. All except for Parker. Shocker.

"We're going to go downtown to meet up with a couple of our friends that live in the area. Do you wanna come?"

Vince and Mark give me reassuring smiles. The twins were bickering about something. And Parker, well, Parker was doing what he does best; glaring at me.

"Yeah" I say, making sure to shoot Parker the sweetest smile I can make. "I would love to come."