Chapter 8

Bucky’s internal clock had him up at 6 am just like he had planned. The room clock would go off at 6:10, but to be kind to his parent he made sure to shut that off. Bucky took a quick shower, dressed in clean clothes, and then headed out to meet the girls.

At 6:17, just as he was about to go to the front desk to have them call Jackie’s room to see if they were awake, all 3 of them came trooping around the corner from the stairwell and looked sleepy as hell, but were awake enough to make it down to see the sunrise.

Bucky had to laugh because one of them thought to bring a blanket with them, and of course, it was Hannah. When they were about 10 feet away Bucky said “Hannah, not to nitpick, but are we going to watch the sunrise or take a nap?”

Hannah just lifted the blanket and said “Maybe a little bit of both.” Then she stuck out her tongue and said “Got a problem with it?”

Chuckling Bucky said “No sis, none.”

With Megan leading and Hannah bringing up the rear of their 3 girl-girl train they proceeded to walk by him, and as they did so each gave him a peck on the cheek as they walked by. He smiled at each of them and then fell in behind Hannah at the tail-end of the line following her out of the lobby doors. Once out the doors, Hannah took a few quick steps so that she was walking beside Megan and Bucky did the same to walk beside Jackie. She smiled over at him and asked “Did you sleep well? I hope so cause I did.”

Bucky returned her smile and said, “As a matter of fact it was a little hard for me to fall asleep right away, but I managed after a little while.”

Her smile got a little bigger and then she reached over with her hand and took his hand in hers and squeezed. “If only you didn’t have to leave last night maybe you could have stayed with us and then you could have gone to sleep ‘relaxed’ instead of ‘hard’.”

Shocked at the innuendo that came from her Bucky looked over at her in surprise and saw a combination of playful mirth and fear in her eyes and said the first thing that came to his mind “Trust me Jackie if I had stayed longer than I had one of our parents would have been breaking down that door faster than we would have liked and we would have been in wicked trouble. I’m happy for what we did as it gave us a wonderful memory, but I’m also glad we didn’t push for anything more.”

Jackie looked at Bucky for a moment and then pulled her hand in close to her so that his entire arm was touching her body such that she was giving it an awkward one-armed hug and then said “I couldn’t agree more. Megan was the one pushing for more after you had left, but I was the one trying to convince her that what we had was perfect and anything more would ruin it. Thank you for a wonderful time last night.” And with that, she again leaned down and kissed him on the lips, but this time without attempting to stick her tongue in his mouth, it was just a small simple peck.

They walked along in silence for the next few minutes behind the other 2 girls who were chatting away like long-lost friends who hadn’t seen each other in years and they were soon at the seating area near the boulder. Hannah chose the same bench as the night before, the one facing in a generally easterly direction, and sat down right in the middle of the bench. Megan sat on her left side, and Jackie sat on her right side, but with enough space between them for Bucky to sit. The invitation was obvious so Bucky took the spot on the bench between Megan and Jackie.

Once Bucky was settled, Hannah spread the blanket she had brought across all of them, she then leaned her head against Bucky and sighed saying “Humm ... soon we’ll be toasty warm”. Megan did the same on the other side of Hannah and not to be left out Jackie did the same. Looking to his left and right a small smile came to his face as Bucky couldn’t help but think that he wouldn’t be surprised if all 3 were asleep in about 5 minutes.

They all sat quietly for a few minutes and just as Bucky started seeing the eastern sky start to grow lighter, Megan quietly asked “How do you guys handle bullies?”

Her voice was so quiet that Bucky wasn’t sure if he had heard it or not, but he guessed that he had because Hannah responded with “I’m not sure about either of these 2, but I try to ignore them as much as I can until it doesn’t work anymore. Then I punched ‘em.” Hannah then sniffled and said, “I also cry a lot in my bedroom at night when I think my mom and dad can’t hear me.”

Each of them was quiet for a few minutes thinking about what she had said when Jackie spoke up and said “I’m the same way, but I cry in the shower. I’m really sick of being called a freak all the time. Like it’s my fault I grew almost a foot in half a year? Like it’s my fault I have the body of a teenage boy, but the hips and ass of a full-grown woman? You should hear some of the things that are said to me? And not just from kids my age. I’m 13 for Christ’s sake and getting frickin’ hit on by perverted old men that want to ‘break me in right’. Some of the things they say are nasty. And I have no idea how to handle the bullies in my school, forget about the damn adults.”

Megan looks over at Jackie with tears in her eyes and says “I know what you’re dealing with Jax. I know I parade around with my body to get attention, but it’s only because I hate the fact my dumbass brother gets so much of my parents’ attention. But then my body developed and the older boys and younger men started looking at me, I kinda liked it, but now girls my age are calling me ‘slut’ and ‘whore’ and other nasty things and I’m not sure how to handle it. You know my parents, I’ve never really been on a date or really made out with a guy, let alone fucked a guy!”

Now Megan was on the verge of tears so Hannah turned towards her and wrapped her in her arms and Bucky looked over his shoulder at Jackie and gave her a look that tried to say “Huh?”

Jackie moved her mouth close to Bucky’s ear and said quietly “Don’t worry about her, it’s that time of the month. She’s just really emotional right now and she’s a drama queen.”

Turning back to Hannah and Megan they saw Hannah hand Megan a tissue or napkin or something and then heard Megan say “Oh god, I must look like such a mess, all weepy and crying.”

Jackie smiled and said, “Yeah, you look like a little bitch.”

The comment caused Megan to recoil back on the bench for a moment and then Megan smiled and said “Oh yeah ... screw you to bitch. I know how you get when ‘your friend’ visits you every month. You get 10 times worse than me and are doubled over in pain. At least I just get crazy, weepy, horny, and crave chocolate...” Stopping herself mid-rant she points her finger at both Hannah and Jackie and then says “and since the only thing that I can do about it is eat chocolate, which one of you bitches has the brown stuff?? Huh? Come on hand it over.”

Laughing in reply Hannah digs in the bag she brought with her and hands over a few high-end chocolate bars. Ripping into them like she hasn’t eaten in days Megan pops the first piece of chocolate into her mouth and then ‘hums’ in enjoyment and then sits back on the bench with a smile on her face.

Seeing her emotions flip around so quickly reminded Bucky so much of his sister that he has to laugh. When the other 3 heard him laugh their 3 heads swung towards him so quickly and in sync it was freaky. What freaked him out, even more, was when, as one. they asked, “What’s so funny?”

Unsure how to answer without upsetting them Bucky slowly said “Um ... seeing her react to eating that chocolate reminded me of how my older sister was with ice cream when she was pregnant. She would be upset or angry one moment and then get ice cream and then be as happy as a clam. That was it.”

Again, as one, all three girls smiled and laughed and then said “Aww, you have a niece or nephew?”

“Yes, a niece. And please stop talking all at the same time, it’s creeping me out.”

They each look at each other again and then all laugh up a storm. Hannah smiles and then pulls Bucky in for a hug and says “Sorry about that Bucky but we were practicing that all night. We wanted to see if we could do it. Excuse us for having a little fun with you.”

Bucky looked back at her for a moment and then said “Hannah, that was just weird, cool yes, but weird.”

Laughing again Hannah says “Yeah I know, think of the fun we could have with our parents.”

At this point, the Sun is well and truly up over the horizon and Bucky looks down at his watch and says “Girls, it’s almost 7 and the Sun is up. Do you want to stay here much longer or do you want to head back and get some breakfast?”

Jackie is the first to speak up saying “I’m for heading back simply because I’m starving and I know my dad is going to want to get on the road early. He’s going to expect us packed and ready to be out of the room by 9 so that when he’s done his morning meetings we can just leave. What do you 2 think?”

Hannah looked over at Megan expecting her to say something, but she was happily chewing on another candy bar. When Megan doesn’t say anything she looks at Bucky she simply says “You know my dad and how he is.”