“Oh, really? You just squirted me straight in the face! Where did you think my eyes were?”
“I… somewhere else,” he answered feebly.
I pushed him, and he actually laughed.
“Sorry,” Kyle said, and then wrapped me in a hug and gave me raspberries on my neck until I giggled my acceptance of his apology. Damn, he was hard to stay mad at! And why, after spending some quality time in his arms, would I have welcomed another mouthful of salt water in my face?
As we headed back up the beach, I offered some helpful advice: “Your yoga skills suck, by the way.”
“I’m aware. That shit’s actually way harder than it looks. My muscles are killing me.”
“Oh, yeah? I wasn’t aware you had any.”There you go, Kenzie. Hit him where it hurts.
“I do. I have one in particular I’d like to show you later,” he offered suggestively.
“I’ll pass,” I said, forcing myself to sound uninterested, when we all knew I’d welcome the show and tell.
“I guess I have to stop making fun of yoga now,” he conceded. “That shit is legit. Maybe I’ll become a guru or something.”
“I could see that.”
“So back on the beach, while I was all folded up like a decorative napkin, I started thinking,” he began.
“Uh-oh. That’s never a good thing.”
“I know, dangerous, right? Anyway, we call the others the Fab Five,” Kyle said, flashing me an unimpressed scowl. “I figure we need some catchy tagline too.”
“You’re right. What do you suggest?”
“I don’t know, maybe the Fucked Four.”
I laughed. That little tagline, as accurate as it was, was most definitely not going to make it on TV.
“I think we need something a little less in-your-face.”
“You think?” he grinned. “I mean, it’s got to have some meaning, you know.”
“I agree. We are an odd grouping and deserve a grand title.”
“What’s another word for four?”
“I don’t know if there is another word,” I said, as my mind searched my brain. “Oh wait, quadruplet… ooh, we could be called The Quad Squad.”
“No, that sounds too middle school girl chic.”
I nodded my agreement.
“I got it,” Kyle burst out, excitement playing out over his face. “The Dork Quad!”
I laughed loudly. It was the perfect name for our perfectly imperfect group.
TV Confessional
“Yeah, I’m really only into yoga for the pants.”
—Kenzie
19
