The Ties that Bind - Ch. 02

"I'm trying to finish up the FFVII remake, but that's about it. What about you, anything fun planned?" She slid two pancakes onto Anna's plate and did the same for her own.

"Not really, maybe walk around the block a bit and grab a coffee. I get a little cabin fevery if I don't get enough sun." She noticed the little smiley faces on the pancakes. "How do you do this by the way? I've never been able to figure that out?"

Jenny was dousing her pancakes in Mrs. Butterworth syrup. How she kept her figure with the mass amount of sugar she was always snacking on was a mystery, but since Tal was similar, it may have just been good genetics. "Oh, I learned that from my mom when I was little. You basically make the smiley face shape first and let it sit for a few seconds before you pour the rest of the pancake." She looked at her own pancake that had more of a melting smirk than a smile on it. "It's a bit more art than science though."

"So, this was a regular occurrence in the Hayes household?"

"Like, at least once a month, I think. Tal never learned it. At least I don't think so. Whenever he made pancakes, they were just generally overcooked." Jenny laughed at the recollection. "I can't blame him too much though, it's tough to cook pancakes when you're eight."

Anna took a bite and pondered a bit before hesitantly asking, "You mentioned a couple times in passing that Tal took care of you a lot when you were young. Was there a reason for that?"

Jenny cut the tension with a chuckle, "It's not like mom and dad weren't around taking care of us, but we would always be up crazy early, like 5 or 6am, and my parents just were not morning people. I think they had given up trying to get him to go back to bed when he was five and just let him do his own thing. We were in the same room growing up, so I naturally followed his schedule, and he would just take care of me. Cooked me breakfast, turned on the TV, put on a video if I wanted it, that kind of stuff." She was finishing up her pancakes while reminiscing. "It got to the point where he was preparing my school lunches and taking me to the bus too."

"You two sound adorable."

Jenny rolled her eyes, "Oh, we had plenty of problems too. I hit my rebellious phase super early and felt like I had three parents, so I kept acting out. Mom and dad were always running after me with a heavy hand trying to control me, which just made me fight back more. Tal always had to play the peacekeeper. He got in so much trouble covering for me. He eventually convinced them to get me some child therapy and it all kind of worked out in the end."

"He always seems so protective of you, I guess that explains why you two are so close." Anna was cleaning up the dishes since Jenny had cooked for them. "My brothers were way rougher. I could always count on them to chase after a bully or give me a ride to school, but they weren't really taking care of me like Tal was taking care of you."

"Yeesh, what was it like growing up in that household?"

"Pretty crazy. The house was always a mess, and they were always fighting about something. I think the only reason my mom had a fifth child was that she desperately wanted a girl." Anna was laughing recollecting some of their bigger fights, usually involving something stupid like who drank the Gatorade or who had bent the spine on one of their books.

"What are they doing these days? I can't imagine they're all still up the in Vermont."

"No, we all kind of went our own ways. William and Ned went to the west coast, somewhere around San Jose I want to say. They went the engineering and developer route and they both landed jobs at some Silicon Valley companies. Jason stayed in Boston after he got his medical degree and Kaden lives abroad in Germany working for an auto company. We all get together again around the holidays, usually with one or two of their more serious girlfriends. We think Jason is probably going to propose to his girlfriend Elly soon."

"You think you'll be heading up in December?"

Anna shook her head and sighed, "Really depends on travel restrictions and just generally how things are going. Kaden probably won't be able to, and William and Ned have always been a bit paranoid about air travel. Jason might drive up, but he's a frontline worker, so who knows what his availability is going to be."

"Oof, yeah, Tal and I haven't really discussed it yet. I don't really want to be crammed in a plane with all sorts of potentially sick hosts, but driving is a two-day affair, at minimum."

"Well, worst case scenario, we'll all just have to have Christmas together."

Jenny tousled Anna's brown hair and smiled, "I can think of worse fates." Anna rolled her eyes as she straightened out her hair again.

The rest of the day passed with Jenny and Anna doing their own things. They had been living together for just about 6 months now and had fallen into a comfortable pattern. While Anna had been a bit worried about having her first "real-life" roommate since college, Jenny turned out to be incredibly welcoming. She had gone out of her way to help Anna get used to the area, introduced her to her friends, and generally made things very easy. Honestly, it had worked out beyond either of their wildest expectations.

They didn't have any set activities that they did together, but one or the other would often offer up something to pass the time with that they would inevitably dive into. "Okay, I'm thinking Chris Evans night. Thoughts?" Anna was holding up the Avengers: End Game and Scott Pilgrim DVDs.

"He's barely in Scott Pilgrim, let's go Avengers. Wait, is that the one where Chris Hemsworth is all tubby?"

"Don't fat shame. And it's a fat suit."

She sighed, "Fine, one hot Chris is better than none I suppose. And Hemsworth is still a hunk anyway. I'll get the popcorn."

They set up on the couch with the popcorn bowl between them, Anna sitting on one side with her legs tucked beneath her, and Jenny lying down with her legs dangling off the end. "I do love the portals scene," Jenny said through a handful of popcorn. Jenny reminded her of her brothers who would grab fistfuls of popcorn and jam it into their mouths rather than pop them in one at a time. "The music is absolute fire."

"I saw this in theaters last year, and the audience was losing their shit. This scene and the Mjolnir scene, you could barely hear what was going on because they were all cheering so loud."

"Aw man, I miss going to movie theaters."

"Yeah, but this is nice too. Gives me sorority vibes again. Just the girls hanging out."

"Oh yeah, do you keep up with your sisters? I'm pretty tight with mine, I still talk to my roomie, like, once a week."

"Oh absolutely. I still get all the emails and announcements too. I wanted to go to the end of year party, but that was right around the pandemic getting bad, so I skipped it. Just as well, couple girls got sick but eventually recovered." She was searching the bottom of the bowl for the remaining popped kernels. "I still call my old roomie about once every other week to see how she's doing. She was going to come here after graduation, but you know how that all went."

The movie ended and Jenny stared wistfully at the ceiling for a while. Her view was suddenly dominated by a mass of brown locks and Anna's button nose hovering over her. "Whatcha thinking about?" she asked playfully. Jenny reached up and booped Anna's nose, causing her to wrinkle it and giggle.

Jenny sighed as she swung herself up. "I need a boyfriend." Anna was kind of thrown by the non-sequitur. "Did fat Thor do it for you? What are we talking about here?" Jenny groaned loudly, hugged a cushion tightly and fell back onto the couch.

"I haven't had a date since last year."

"Sweety, if you're trying to hit on me, the desperate vibe really isn't doing it for me." Anna laughingly caught the cushion headed for her face.

"I miss being held, being cuddled, having some physical closeness." She sat up again, flailing her arms a bit. "This lockdown is driving me up the walls!"

Anna wrapped her in a gentle hug from behind. "I know. But, you know, you have a couple of options."

"If you're hitting on me, I am flattered. Give me, like, another two months and I might be desperate enough to swing for the other team."

"Shut up," Anna laughed, resting her chin on Jenny's shoulder. "I'm saying, we know a couple of guys who love you to pieces here that you could maybe see if something happens."

"Oh, believe me, I've seriously considered it. I would eat Mike up in a heartbeat. Andy in a close second only because of that dumb man-bun of his. But I don't want it to get weird with us. It's hard enough to keep a group together, what happens if things don't work out?" Jenny just let Anna continue to hold her in the hug, enjoying the closeness. "Tal did that with my last roommate, you know. It was all going well until they broke up. It wasn't all his fault, but still. She, well, she didn't handle it well. Things got weird here and she broke lease right after. I don't want something like that to happen with all of us."

That certainly gave some perspective on Jenny's recent relationship with her brother. "You don't think that your friendship could last? You're all so close and obviously love each other so much; anyone can see that. Maybe this is just the next natural step in bringing you closer."

"Maybe? I don't know. I'm just so scared of losing them. Either of them. Maybe even both." Jenny was starting to slump a bit, getting lost in her own head.

"Alright, well, I can at least help you with one of your concerns. Let me know anytime you need a hug. I've been told I give great hugs."

"Yeah, they really are," Jenny said, closing her eyes. "You'll need to let me go here pretty soon before those two months I mentioned shortens to one." Anna laughed and let Jenny go, a bit to Jenny's disappointment.

"Okay, one more for the road," Jenny turned and gave Anna a massive bear hug, snuggling her a bit before cleaning up.

The last Saturday of the month was absolutely the perfect day to be on the lake. A light smattering of white clouds kept the sun from being too oppressive and the cooler breeze coming off the lake made it the perfect temperature for lounging on the boat and swimming.

The Majesty's Kiss was large enough to hold 15 people with a canopy that could extend over the aft section. Tal had piloted the boat, after winning a hard-fought game of rock-paper-scissors, a distance from the shore so that they wouldn't be disturbed by too many other craft. Evy and Anna had loaded the boat with refreshments, and the birthday girl was all over the boat, getting antsy to dive into the clear waters. She loved being out on the water, having practically grown up on a lake. Well, maybe not a lake, a big pond really, but enough to be able to swim and play in for hours.

When Jenny had been told what they were going to be doing that day she squealed in delight, nearly hugging Mike and Andy so hard that she left bruises. The entire boat ride out she would cuddle with one, rush to one side of the boat to look into the water, then cuddle with the other, and rush to the other side. To say that she was excited would have been an understatement.

Everyone had already changed into their lake attire on the mainland and were ready to get into the water as soon as the boat stopped.

Andy was there in his trademark Hawaiian shirt which, for once, was appropriate. His skin was tanned and since he had practically been raised in the ocean, was anxious to get into the water as well. A large traditional tattoo, composed of various triangles that formed a shark, ran from his shoulder all the way down to the elbow on his right arm. While he didn't sport the six pack that Mike had, he still had a defined physique. He had also acquiesced, for today only, and was wearing his hair down in a ponytail.

Mike was statuesque as always; military life having shaped him for the better part of two decades now. He was wearing his high-school team's baseball cap over his short brown hair and sported a set of aviators. He had popped open a mixer and was distributing them to the others.

Tal had seen all this before, having lived with Mike for a long time, so he didn't really care. Mike had helped shape his workout plan, so while he wasn't anywhere near what Mike looked like, he had pretty solid definition. He was the designated captain, so was foregoing the booze for now, but proudly wore the skipper hat instead. They had seen it at a gift shop and unanimously decided that they had to get one for the captain. He would occasionally step onto the bow with binoculars, scanning the horizon for who knows what, before giving the "all clear" signal.

Jenny was giddy at being on the lake and couldn't wait to jump in. She was sporting a sheer sarong over her white bikini, brown hair up in a loose ponytail. Anna and Evy had to practically restrain her to get her to apply sunscreen, and the moment that was done she was already in the water racing with Andy.

Evy was wearing a wide brimmed hat, giving her shade and preventing her from bursting into flames from too much direct sun exposure. She had always burned easily, her fair skin nearly pearl white and almost always jumped directly from slightly darker white to bright red with no in-between. She was wearing a slightly more daring pale-yellow bikini that complemented her blonde hair and did little to cover her butt cheeks.

Anna had surprised everyone, except for Evy, when she had stripped her beach cover mini-dress and shown off her toned, and "bootylicious" in Evy's words, body. Her pale-blue bikini hugged her tightly, putting her perky D cups on display. She had been hesitant to wear it, but Evy finally convinced her through a mixture of late-night wines and facetime conversations. Evy caught Tal looking more than a few times with his binoculars that just happened to be pointed her way a lot more than the other directions. Jenny noticed too for that matter, but she couldn't really fault him for it, wishing that she were that stacked too.

They spent several hours out there, swimming, relaxing in the inflatable lounge seats, drinking and listening to music. Jenny, Tal, Andy and Anna would take turns racing one another from the boat to wherever Evy had floated on the lounge. Evy much preferred to float along the top of the water than to get in it, but she did enjoy dangling her long legs in while she was sipping her cocktails. Mike admitted to not being a particularly strong swimmer and spent a lot of time floating aimlessly with Evy or playing water volleyball with the others when they tired of racing.

A few other boats would come by at times and they would converse, but they were mostly college age kids who left after not getting much attention. Of the two hours they were out there, Jenny probably spent two minutes on the boat; one to get ready to get in the water, the other getting out of the water and drying off.

There was another spirited game of rock-paper-scissors for who got to be the captain on the return voyage, and this time Anna was the victor. Tal begrudgingly handed over the skipper's hat but couldn't be too upset with Anna as she excitedly tried to captain the boat. She had absolutely no boating experience whatsoever, so she deputized Tal to be her first mate, which really just entailed him standing behind her and telling her what to do. She would occasionally, and in Evy's mind perhaps intentionally, bump into him during the rougher waters where he would hold her steady tightly to him. Jenny just seemed to be in a happy trance, lounging with her head in Mike's lap while he and Andy were laughing about something.

After bringing the boat into the dock with, almost, no incident, they showered and changed back into their clothes. Anna was back to wearing her slightly bulkier clothes, a loose blouse that obscured her shape well and capris that showed off her tight calves, but the image of her bikini-clad body was seared into Tal's mind, though he kept trying not to think about it. Her soft brown curls bounced lightly as her heels clicked on the sidewalk. It was becoming harder and harder to honor his agreement with Jenny about roommates being off-limits.

Jenny was wearing a cute pink sundress with a thin white belt running along her waist and a matching white shawl drawn over her bare shoulders. She wore her soft brown hair down with a flowered clip in the back. She beamed brightly at the two who had organized her party. She slowly approached Andy, hugged him and gave him a lingering kiss on the cheek. She then turned to Mike, doing the same.

"Thank you both, for making this a wonderful birthday. I couldn't possibly be happier." Her smile was dazzling, making both of their hearts skip. She squeezed their hands, Andy's in her right, Mike's in her left. She lingered for a moment longer, then wrapped them both in another long hug.

Anna stepped in close to Tal, he could smell a faint fragrance of flowers and honey on her. She pulled him into a soft hug, wrapping her arms around him, pressing herself against him. She looked up at him and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. They stood there for a moment, neither saying anything, before she stepped away and joined Jenny as they got into their car.

Evy was pouting as Tal, Mike and Andy watched the car leave. She had her blond hair swept behind her ear, a little clip holding it in place, and round, black wireframe glasses on, which accented her button nose and the soft curves of her face. A white, high-waist skirt accentuated her heel clad legs and tight blue top made her blue eyes sparkle, but no one was paying her any attention. Mike, perhaps sensing a disturbance, turned to look at the silently fuming Evy.

"Wow, you look amazing E," he started, before she waved a hand at him dismissively.

"Too late, I don't want your attention anymore," she sniffed, shifting her weight to her other leg. Andy also looked apologetic, though he wasn't really sure for what.

"Hey Mike, did you want to talk through Tuesday night's campaign? I can give you a ride to my place, I still have some of that bourbon from last time." Evy's eyes flashed dangerously at him, but Mike quickly threw an arm around him, turning them both away and walking briskly off.

"Bye Tal, take care of the little one. I'll be back later. Don't wait up." It was impressive that he was able to get that all out in one breath.

Evy spun on her heels to face Tal, crossed her arms, and waited expectantly.

"You look very nice Evy." She didn't react. Tal sighed, "Okay, I'm sorry, alright. I know I wasn't paying much attention to you on the boat, but I was kinda distracted."

"Don't make excuses." He rubbed the bridge of his nose; how did Mike always manage to do this to him.

He took a deep breath and tried again. "Evy, you look gorgeous today. I think this outfit really suits you."

Evy smiled widely "That's all I wanted." She extended her hand like she was royalty. "Now, take me home and shower me with attention," she commanded. He rolled his eyes, but took her hand, nevertheless. She rested it on his inner forearm and hummed happily as they walked back to the car.