Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82163 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82163 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“Can you tone it down just a touch?” Christopher whines, holding his hand up and moving it up and down. “There is an echo in the house.”
“There is no echo in the house.” Gabriella shakes her head, looking him up and down and pointing at his shoes. He finally looks down and must see that they’re two different colors, but he takes off his sunglasses anyway to make sure.
“Where is everyone?” Matty says from beside Gabriella, looking around.
“My guess is they are sleeping.” I look at my Apple Watch and see that it’s just a little after eight thirty in the morning.
“Didn’t you tell everyone to get here bright and early?” Matty walks over to his partner in crime and sits beside him.
“What time did you guys go to bed last night?” Not only did my brother and cousin make the playoffs but they also won the Stanley Cup. The past ten days have been one celebration after another. It’s been a whirlwind since they won the Cup. Then the party at home. Then the parade and street party. Then the team party, it’s just been one party after another. Finally, yesterday was the last event they were doing, and in five days, we are finally going on vacation.
“I haven’t,” he says. “I left Dylan’s at four and decided it would be better to just stay up.”
“We went over to my house,” Matty adds, “and decided to make breakfast.” I just stare at him with my eyes big. “Let’s just say my mother was not a fan of the pans hitting the floor. So she kicked us out.”
“We tried to sneak into Uncle Matthew’s house, but the alarm went off. Also, did you know that he sleeps naked?” Christopher informs, cringing.
Matty just laughs beside him, shaking his head. “He was not a happy person.”
“Okay, how about I order some food for you two?” I suggest, walking to my phone. “You just bring the boxes in, and I’ll organize them.” I open the Uber Eats app. “What do you want?”
“Pancakes,” Christopher rattles off, “scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fries.”
“I’ll take two of that,” Matty says, pointing at Christopher.
“Does anyone want a mimosa?” Gabriella says, and the guys just groan, “Don’t drink with the big boys if you are straight out of daycare.”
Christopher gets up and looks at her. “That makes no sense.” He holds out his hand to help Matty up, who just swats his hand away.
“I can do it myself,” Matty declares, getting up and then falling back down on the wooden step, hitting his elbow. “Motherfucker.” He rubs his elbow and gets up. “Can we just get this over with?” He takes out his phone. “Where the hell is Stefano?”
“I’m right here,” my other cousin, Stefano, says, dressed in blue shorts and a white shirt, holding a box in his hand. “There are a million boxes outside.”
“Listen”—I look at the three of them—“if it’s too much work for you guys, I can always call the girls.” I look at Gabriella. “Last time, it took us forty-five minutes to unload Zoey’s things.”
Stefano looks over at Christopher. “We can do it.” Christopher nods at him. “Dude, why are you wearing two different shoes?”
“It’s a fashion statement,” Christopher grumbles, making Matty laugh.
“Yeah, it’s an ‘I got dressed in the dark look and didn’t notice,’” Matty explains. “Let’s go and beat the record.” They all walk out of the house.
“It took us seven hours to do Zoey’s house,” Gabriella reminds me, folding her arms over her chest and looking over at me. “Well played.”
I nod my head. “I must get it from Uncle Matthew,” I say, turning back to the phone and ordering five of everything the guys said they wanted.
It takes them three hours to get all the boxes inside the house, but that’s because they stopped to eat for an hour. The three of them leave, heading straight to each of their respective houses to sleep.
Gabriella and I work side by side, unpacking the whole kitchen, which takes us the longest time. By the time I walk up the stairs to go and tackle my bedroom, I’m honestly exhausted. As soon as I step into my bedroom, I take off my flip-flops and walk over to the white side table, putting down the glass of water I brought up. The bed is still unmade from this morning, so I just throw the cover back on it. I walk over to the tall brown boxes and open one to see all the clothes hanging. Walking over to the white door to the side of the bed, I open the door and turn on the light. It takes me a full hour before everything is hung up, and I’m walking to my en suite to start a bath. My head hits the pillow about twenty minutes later, and I only wake up when I hear the soft alarm ring.