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“Hello? Anyone going to fill me in on the story or what?” Kyler dramatically folds his arms and stomps over to an empty seat at
the table.
Dani composes herself long enough to begin the story. “So it was the summer going into our sophomore year, and the boys had just gotten back from the gym. They smelled horrible.”
“Horrible doesn’t even cover it!” I interject.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Zach shouts over his shoulder.
“You smelled like roadkill!” I respond to my husband, glaring at him.
“Anyways,” Dani continues, “our girl Hails here thought she had never smelled anything worse than the way the boys smelled post-workout. So, I saw an opportunity and took it.”
An evil grin takes over her face, reminding me of the gif of the little girl who you know is up to no good. I throw a stern expression in her direction, and she waves me off.
“What! If you weren’t just like my brother, where you can’t refuse a dare, we wouldn’t have had a problem, now would we?” She sits back in her chair, so proud of herself.
I close my eyes, and the memory is still as fresh as if it were yesterday. My best friend’s voice is ringing through my ears. “I dare you.” I hear those words, and I refuse to back down. Maybe that had to do with growing up with such a competitive brother; I had to prove I could hang. More than one occasion though it has gotten me in trouble, and this one was no different.
“Without even thinking, Haylee accepted the challenge, and I had to race behind her to catch up as she went to where the gym bags sat by the front door. Now for the record…” She turns away from her fiancé to face me. “…yes I should’ve stopped you. I had been near those nasty things before, and let me say, they were N-A-S-T-Y.”
“So, Haylee grabs my bag,” Zach shouts.
I guess he still believes that I did it on purpose, no matter how many times I have tried to say I didn’t know if it was his or my brother’s.
I interject, “Hey, as I told you for the millionth time, I didn’t know it was yours.”
“Yeah, sure, babe.”
I roll my eyes at him.
“Wait, so what happened?” The intrigue in Kyler’s voice draws my attention to him.
He is like a little kid listening to this story. His elbows rest on the table, propping his chin up, and his eyes are wide as he waits for the rest of the story. I can’t believe neither Zach or Dani has told him this before.
I go to open my mouth to continue, but Dani begins talking first, fully animated and full of life. “So Haylee picks up a gym bag, not knowing whose bag it was.”
She turns to her brother, whose attention is back on the grill. I mouth, “Thank you” in her direction, and she nods.
“She unzips the bag and stuck her face in it, her face instantly turning green and gasping for air.” She bends over in laughter.
I’m not sure who more entertaining to watch: Dani enthusiastically telling the story playing out the actions, or Kyler listening. It’s sweet watching his full attention on her.
“Oh, shit!” Just when I thought Kyler’s eyes couldn’t get any bigger.
I press my lips together, knowing that her favorite part is coming. I had never seen Dani laugh as hard as I did at that moment in time when I would have much rather have been anywhere but the foyer of the Jacobses’ house. Tears are streaming down her face, and she is trying to catch her breath. I swoop in to finish the story.
“After I stuck my face in the bag, my face turned green, and I immediately dropped it. All hell broke loose. I puked right into it.”
Kyler chose the wrong moment to bring the beer bottle to his lips because at that moment as I continued the story, he turned his head and sprayed the beer that he had planned to drink, forcing more laughter from us.
“So Zach came running down the stairs to see what the commotion was and found me hunched over with his gym bag open and Dani leaning up against the wall laughing uncontrollably.” I point in her direction. “Basically, how she is now.”
“Holy shit!” Ky’s face fills with joy, and he joins his fiancé in laughter, wiping the tears from his eyes. “Oh, man, that’s fucking amazing. I can’t believe you never told me that story before.”
Zach sets the plate of cooked food on the table and walks over to where I sit. He pulls me to my feet before taking a seat and pulling me into his lap.
“Well, that’s because it’s not a fond memory to recall.”
