Boys Like You by Jaye Pratt
I ride with Levi in his jeep to the café on the beach. As we walk in, the young girl behind the counter instantly runs her eyes over the guys. I don’t like the feeling that courses through me, I have no right to feel jealous, I barely know them. They had a life before they met me and that would have included flirting with girls, yet none of them even notice her. They talk amongst themselves as she flits around.
When she takes our order, she ignores me, fussing over the guys and what they want to eat. They order enough to feed a small country.
Being seated at the end of the table with the guys down the side gives me a perfect view of them. Mercer is the closest to my left, Rocky to my right, Levi next to him and then Maximus. Next to Mercer is Rory. I watch as they all talk amongst themselves. I want to point out that the snotty waitress didn’t take my order, but I also don’t have any money, so I stay quiet.
The girl finds excuses to come back to the table; she brings not one but two jugs of water, at various times, also cutlery. She is kind of cute, a short pixie-styled haircut, almond-shaped eyes, and while she has a small frame, she has nice curves and massive boobs that look odd on her. She makes a point to angle her breasts towards the boys faces each time she comes out. At least she remembered to bring my cutlery. I twist the fork in my hand and slam it hard on the table when she comes over again. She jumps at the sound and the guys all look towards me.
“For shit’s sake will you go and do something else? Your hovering is annoying and not one of them has even noticed you.” Her face goes red and her eyes start to water.
Great, now I feel like shit.
Is having a temper something new or was I always an asshole? She wasn’t hurting anyone, and I just snapped at her. She races away and I look down at the table, too afraid to look up. What if they don’t want to be around me anymore?
“Are you okay, JD?” Mercer asks, placing his hand over mine. I nod, still looking down at the table.
“I didn’t mean to snap at her, she just zeroed in on you guys as soon as we walked in. She didn’t even take my order, sh—”
“What?” Levi snaps. I glance up to see he doesn’t look happy.
“It’s okay, she was blinded by the heat at the table.” They all try not to laugh and remain serious. It was worth a try to lighten the mood.
“I thought she took yours first,” Rocky says, and I shake my head no.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Rory demands.
“I… I don’t have money and I didn’t want to be a burden.” Five sets of eyes look at me like I’m crazy.
“Even if you did have money, we would never let you pay. If you come anywhere with us, you don’t need money. We’re gentlemen,” Levi says.
“That’s a bit outdated, don’t you think?” They all look amused.
“Call it what you want, sweetheart, but our parents have raised us right. Well, except Rory’s mum. She’s been a gold digger since birth.” All the guys whip their heads to look at Rocky. “What? It’s true, you can’t even deny it.”
“He isn’t wrong,” Rory admits. The mood shifts when a male waiter starts bringing out the food. The table is covered. Hearing them order and seeing it is two vastly different things.
“How do you plan to eat all this?” I ask, looking at the plates of bacon, eggs, sausages, muffins, pancakes, toast, and omelettes and fruit.
“Like this,” Rocky says, stuffing almost a whole pancake into his mouth.
“We’re growing boys, plus Rocky has to maintain a crap load of calories because he trains so much. The rest of us just love to eat.” Mercer piles his empty plate full of food.
Levi picks up an empty plate and starts to pile it with a bit of everything and hands it my way. There’s no way I can eat it all, but he insists I eat what I can. Within half an hour, my plate is still half full, but the rest is almost all gone.
Rocky keeps picking from my plate, helping me eat it. Mercer growls at him to stop.
“So, what are we doing today?” Rory asks everyone.
“I’m taking JD to my house. Dad has organised a makeover day.” Without so much as a second thought, they all jump at the idea.
“You all want to tag along for a makeover day?” I ask, looking down the table at all of them.
“Hell yes. Carson, well he… You just have to see for yourself. Carson always wanted a daughter, and I know he loves me more than life, but over the years the guys and I always humoured him and played along. We have the best manicured nails for dudes.” All five of them hold up their hands to show me.
Forty minutes later, we pull up at Mercer’s house. It’s a nice two storey, in a gated community called Parkland Place. It’s almost spooky how identical the houses all look. The lawns mowed to perfection, each front yard is separated by hedges, not fences. Each yard has nice full gardens. The outside is painted a mustard yellow colour, the porch painted white. We all walk up the stairs, Mercer leading the way with me standing behind him. He calls out to his dad as we walk in.
My eyes dance around the room. They weren’t lying when they said he gave them all regular manicures. Carson has outdone himself. There are foot spas set up with what looks to be rose petals floating in them, nail polish set up on the coffee table. Towels rolled up neatly on the floor. A single bar stool in the corner with a white sheet underneath. The curtains are closed and it’s dark inside, vanilla scented candles burning around the room.
“Told ya,” Merce says, walking further into the house. Carson comes bouncing into the room, followed by a larger man with muscles in all the right places.
“Hi, you must be JD. I’m Phillip, Mercer’s dad.” He doesn’t offer me a hand to shake or try to touch me, and I know I have Mercer to thank for that.
“Nice to meet you. Thank you for having me in your house.”
“Any friend of our boy is a friend of ours. Now, I’m heading to the gym before my husband guilts me into all this.” We all laugh, even Carson. With a quick kiss and a slap on the ass, Phillip is off and out the door.
“Boys, I made snacks in the kitchen, be gems and get the fold-up table from the garage and bring the food out here.” All the guys get to work, leaving me alone with Mr Cole. I even my breathing. It’s only Mercer’s dad, I’ve met him before and he is amazing.
“My son tells me you need a makeover.” He gestures for me to take a seat on the couch. I follow his lead and he sits next to me. “Your hair looks nice and something about nails.” He picks up my hand and looks at them then back to me, not understanding why I need a makeover. I sigh, explaining it is hard but I try anyway.
“When I look in the mirror and see the blonde hair and the fake nails I feel like a fake. I don’t feel like that kind of girl.” He nods as I speak.
“So, what are you thinking?” he asks, touching the ends of my hair.
“Well, I like the colour of Levi’s hair, how it looks blonde but also looks brown. A more natural look or even the dark brown like Maximus’. Hell, I’d even settle for black like Rocky.” He laughs.
“With how milky white your skin is, if we go too dark it may make you look washed out. I say we start with the natural look of Levi’s hair colour. If it still doesn’t feel right, we can make it darker another day.” He turns my hand over, running a finger along my nails. “And how about we remove these and see what we’re working with underneath?”
“Sounds good to me. I just want to feel like me, even if I don’t know who that is yet.”
He claps his hands and jumps up off the couch. “Let’s get this party started.”
The guys come back into the room. Rory and Levi have the collapsible table and start setting it out, while the others bring out the food. I can see fruit, small sandwiches and cupcakes.
Carson calls me over to sit in the hair-cutting chair. My straight blonde hair hangs down my back, almost touching my butt. “How much do you want to chop off?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Maybe to where my bra strap is.” He touches a point on my back, raising his brows as he waits for my confirmation. When I give him the nod, he gets to chopping. The guys are all seated on the couch with their feet in foot spas. I admire them for giving Mr Cole the love they do; a bunch of teenage boys getting pampered isn’t something you see every day, yet they’re all here with not one complaint.
“This is heaven, Carson,” Rocky says, looking at him with a smile.
“Now, spin around and have a look in the mirror and tell me what you think,” Carson says. I spin around to face the mirror.
“I love it.” It isn’t so straight and perfect now that he’s added some texture.
“I was thinking we do like a caramel brown with some blonde highlights.”
“I trust your judgement. Anything other than this Barbie blonde would feel more like me.”
He gets to work adding colour and foils to my hair; he wants to keep some of my blonde. The guys all dry off their feet and stick these weird bootie things on; apparently, they draw out toxins. Even so, they look ridiculous.
When I’m all foiled and dyed up, Carson brings over something that smells terrible, along with cotton balls and aluminium foil. He soaks the cotton balls and places them on my fingers and wraps foil around them. For fifteen minutes we wait with bated breath as he tends to each nail. When the time is up, he unwraps the first tinfoil package, and using this magic tool, he pulls the acrylic nail clean off. Once each finger is done, he makes me go wash my hands so he can see the damage. Turns out, I actually have decent nails underneath. I don’t understand why I would have fake ones on in the first place.
“Go pick a colour,” he says, and even though he was talking to me, all five guys move over to the small table and start passing around different colours, even arguing over what would look best. I walk straight over and ignore them all. I see Maximus holding a dark purple with glitter. I hold out my hand and he passes it to me, the other four still bickering. I hand the purple nail polish to Carson, and he gestures for me to sit on the couch, giving me a small white wash cloth to put under my hand.
“Boys,” he cheerfully calls out. Maximus had already sat down, but the rest turn and look at us.
“No fair, you should do this blue. It would look great on you,” Rocky whines. The others go to argue but I look over at them.
“Well, you shouldn’t have been fighting. I went with the colour Maximus chose because he wasn’t part of all that, whatever it was.” Carson tries to hide a laugh, and Maximus pokes his tongue at the others.
“That isn’t fair, you know he doesn’t talk. If you two weren’t in the room, he would have listed at least ten reasons why that colour would suit you and have an argument to back it up.”
“Levi, I didn’t take you for a whiny little bitch.” Again the words are out of my mouth before I get to think it through.
“And I didn’t think you were just a bitch. We learn something new the more we hang out with each other.” His smile is a dead giveaway that he’s being playful.
Once my nails are painted, I’m told to go into the kitchen and put my nails in front of the small fans set up on the kitchen bench. Rory follows me, jumping up onto the counter. His legs almost touch the ground when they hang over the edge.
“Maximus told me you need a phone. I messaged Mumma B and let her know I would have one for you tomorrow.” It’s strange, when I look into Rory’s eyes, I feel like we have known each other forever. That feeling comforts me, even if it’s all pretend.
“You really don’t have to go to any trouble. I won’t be going anywhere by myself. Beth can always call one of you.” Standing this close to him, I notice his hazel eyes have some green specs in them.
“I upgraded my plan, so I have my old one just sitting at home so it’s no bother. Plus, how will I text you if I want to talk?” He smirks.
“You would want to text me?” I ask. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, but I have to wonder why they’re willing to go to so much trouble for a girl they barely know. They feel sorry for me, I’m sure of it. But what happens when I know who I am again? Will they all go back to their old lives? As much as I’d like to know who I am, there’s a part of me that hopes my memory doesn’t come back. I’m not sure I can go back to being a blonde with fake nails.
“That’s what friends do, JD, they text and call each other. And I have a feeling we’re going to be good friends.” Even his smile makes me feel safe.
“You do?” He nods, and I can’t help but notice how handsome he is. A strand of hair has fallen from the ponytail holding the hair from his face. It allows me a glimpse at his sharp jawline and the slight dimple in his chin.
“I was wondering if you wanted to come watch me ride my dirt bike? I have a track at home the guys helped me build so I can practice.” He seems nervous asking to spend time with me.
“Of course, I would love to.” His face lights up.
“Sweet,” he says, jumping down from the bench. “Your nails will be dry now, just don’t bump them for the next half hour and they will be fine.” He winks and walks away. My heart is beating way too fast, first with Rocky making my knees weak and now a wink from Rory. I need to get myself together, perhaps start carrying a hand-held fan to cool myself off whenever they’re around. Hot guys make a girl’s body do some crazy shit.
Back in the lounge room, Carson is watching the guys set up a game console while he waits.
“Sorry, I wanted the setting to be relaxed but they outnumbered me. Are you okay to come upstairs so I can wash your hair out? Or we can make one of the guys come with you if you’d rather.” I’m grateful that he understands.
“I should be fine; you can always call one of them if I have an anxiety attack.” He nods and takes my hand. I smile to myself. He tries to be considerate, but his nature is to take control and get things done.
He leads me to one of the bedrooms upstairs. I assume from the king size bed covered in throw pillows, that it’s the master suite. The bed itself is a four-poster bed in a dark wood that almost appears black in this light. A white rug that matches the throw adorns the carpet at the end of the bed, and there are two sitting chairs, I guess for decoration.
If I thought the bedroom was nice, the attached bathroom is even better. In one corner is a small shower, in the other is a free-standing bath. There are twin sinks and mirrors against the back wall. He even has a salon chair set up.
“Hop in the chair gently. I know Merce says your ribs are sore, so I made him carry this in here.”
I do as he asks, eyeing the bottles set up on the vanity. He tests the water first, then his hands begin to slowly massage my scalp as he rinses the dye from my hair.
“Do you mind if I lock the door? Those boys will get restless, and I want them to be surprised.” I nod. Carson makes me feel safe. He clicks the lock and finishes rinsing out whatever he put in my hair.
“I’m going to dry it and give you some style.” He wraps my head in a towel and grabs a hair dryer from the shelf. “Your hair seems to naturally be straight, which most girls would die for, but I’m thinking a beach look; like those light waves you would see if you went swimming at the beach and your hair naturally dried with the salt water in it.” I just nod because he talks really fast when he gets enthusiastic about something.
It doesn’t take long for the boys to come knocking.
“Go away,” Carson says in his sing song voice.
“Why? I want to see what’s going on,” Rocky’s velvety smooth voice says from the opposite side of the door. His voice was made to seduce a girl.
“It’s a surprise, we will be down in fifteen minutes max.”
Rocky finally gives up and Carson gets to work blow drying my hair, adding some products, blow drying again. When he’s finished, he gets me to stand up and look in the mirror. I instantly touch my hair, feeling the texture and volume. It isn’t straight and boring anymore. The colour is amazing; a light brown with different types of blondes and browns through it.
“I love it.” I try to hold back the tears, but I can’t. Why do I have to cry so much? My tears start a chain reaction.
“I’m sorry, I’m a crier.” He fans his face with his hands. “Anyone gets a tear and I’m right there beside them.” He laughs at himself. “How about we fix your makeup a bit and then go show these boys your hair?” He pulls out all his supplies and gets to work.
I gasp when I see my reflection in the mirror; I look like I’m wearing less makeup than I had on this morning, but somehow he has made the bruise vanish and my Quasi eye looks not as big.
“How?” I whisper, touching my face.
“You learn fast when you get marks and bumps all the time.” I don’t push for information but presume it has something to do with him being gay.
As we are coming down the stairs, Maximus notices first. He taps Levi on the arm who turns to face me, until five sets of eyes are staring at me. Their stares set my skin on fire. I should feel self-conscious, but all I feel is turned on and beautiful.
“Shit, Dad, you made her into a different girl.”
“You look hot, JD.”
“Rocky, you can’t tell a girl she looks hot. She looks beautiful,” Levi chastises.
“Wow,” is all Rory says.
Maximus closes his mouth and pushes his glasses from the bridge of his nose back to his eyes.
I thank them and Mr Cole. He showed me how to apply the makeup to cover my swelling and bruises, and even gave me a box to keep.
Beth messages the boys, making sure they return me by dinner time and Rory offers to take me home.
After we help Carson clean up, he makes me promise to come back anytime. We pass Philip on our way out, and he thanks me for making his husband happy. It’s sad they missed out on having a daughter of their own, but I’m happy to step in if it gives them this much joy.
Once I wave goodbye to all the guys, Rory helps me into his four-wheel drive; the lift kit makes it too high for me to manage on my own. I can’t wait until my ribs are better and I can go out on some 4WD tracks with him to see what this baby can really do.