Chapter Two: The Bikini
The bright light from the windows and the sound of an omelet crackling in the frying pan woke me up. I let out a loud yawn and grunted.
"Sleeping Beauty? Finally up?" A sweet voice came down from heaven.
"Hudson?"
"Good morning, sunshine!" Hudson came over and jumped on me; this made my guts drop and my heart stop again. "Wake up, girl."
After a few seconds he got up and game me back my breath. Hudson pulled the covers off of me roughly while cracking himself up. That laugh of his was so perfect and gracious.
"Hud!" I shouted.
"What? I was getting lonely. Shia and Birkley had to go spend some time with their mom and Sven is locked up in him room doing who-knows-what." Shia's mom was in jail. She got thrown in for possession of illegal drugs last year. The truth is, my father, the real one, did drugs with her when he was alive. She wasn't addicted like my dad was, and she didn't need rehab like he did, but she did do them. I remember the night before my dad died; he put some drugs in her car without her knowing. He wanted to sneak them into the rehabilitation center. Honestly, I was too young to understand all of what was occurring. The police caught it in her car because my dad didn't go through with his plan, but left it in there. She never understood how the drugs got in her car, and I will never bring myself to tell her that it was all his fault.
"Ok, I'll get up." I declared. How could I not get up to see such an enterprising face? "What smells so good?"
"Some sausage, pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon."
"Thanks! I'll always love you." That statement meant more than Hudson could ever comprehend.
"I love you, too." When he spoke those words, my heart skipped a beat.
"Hey, um, you're not calling me 'dude' anymore." I noticed.
"I told you I was sorry." He had a look of remorse on his face.
"It's alright. Seriously, I overreacted. I guess I am just one of the dudes."
"That's fine. Your wish is my command, sweetie." Huddie had a grin on his face that could make every girl go weak in the knees. I wished that he would stop making my heart collapse.
"I need to take a shower, so I will be back." One thing I loved about this basement was that it was equipped with everything a one-story house had. There was a kitchen, two bedrooms, one living room, and entertainment center, and two full bathrooms. I got a towel from the bedroom and headed for the shower. The cold water gave me a good chance to relax and get away from the fact that Hudson was right out there, making me breakfast.
As I stepped out of the shower, I began towel drying my hair, eyes closed, and I realized that my bag of clothes were not in the bathroom, but on the counter in the kitchen on the main floor. I called for someone to bring the bag, but no one answered. I took a quick peep beyond the door of the bathroom. The crackling noise from the frying pan was long gone and no one was around. I quickly wrapped the towel around me, horrified about what I was setting up to do, tiptoed out the door, and shut it quietly.
Terrified and nearly paralyzed with fear, I scurried silently past the kitchen and up the stairs, coming to a halt at the door between me and a nearby conversation held by what sounded like Hudson and Sven.
"Come on, you've got to admit it. What's going on is obvious, dude!" Sven exclaimed with a certain whisk of confidence in his voice.
"Ok, I'll admit, she's hot, but she's my best friend. How could I be in love with Sawyer?" Oh my gosh. It didn't matter that Hudson didn't like me. What mattered was that Sven saw signs of him being in love with me, and that Hudson Webber thought I was hot.
