(59) Smile. Charm. Threat.

The one on the left looked at the three high school teenage girls like eye candy. Like age was just a number. And statutory rape isn't illegal.

The one on the right scowled so hard she figured his face might be stuck like that.

Both of the suspicious looking government dudes were attractive in their own ways but neither wore wedding bands on their ring fingers. Interesting facts she gathered as she approached them with a blooming sunshine smile.

"Gentlemen...can we help you?" Makennah asked, making pointed eye contact with the both of them to begin to disarm them. She looked for weapons hidden on their bodies but didn't spot any obvious lumps.

The one on the right stood to his full height - a very tall, tall height - and glanced Makennah up and down, assessing her as friend or foe. "We're just waiting for a friend to show up to head inside."

She maintained her smile and felt the girls shift in closer to her side. Meredith crossed her arms over her chest. "What friend?" She asked obtrusively.

The one on the left also stood to his full height and looked down his nose at Makennah, Grace, and Meredith. "Just a friend."

"Wouldn't it be more comfortable to wait in your car? It is a tad cold. Don't you think?" Makennah inquired from Grace.

Grace nodded enthusiastically. "Indeed."

"Much more comfortable," Meredith added.

The one on the left covered his laughter with a cough while his friend gave him the evil eye. Both of them stepped closer to them from the car. Act of intimidation? It wouldn't work on her. The thing about living this fabulous wealthy life with the Sinclairs is that no one knew where she came from and didn't expect a cute little teenage girl from Braxton, Colorado, to put someone...anyone...in their place. "Well..." Guy on the right cleared his throat. "We drove a long way and wanted to stretch our legs."

"A long way from...where exactly?" She asked, craning her ear in their direction.

Surprised at her chipper interrogation, both stared at her, suspended in the twilight zone where teenage girls asked the questions and held all the power. "North."

"Right." Makennah crossed her arms too and tapped her fingers impatiently on her bicep as she considered her next move. "And from what government agency do you hail?" She raised her eyebrows, expecting an answer.

Neither answered her. Guy on the left bit back a smirk. This was amusing to him.

Because they didn't answer, she charged onwards. "Oh sorry, was I mistaken? Is that not your vehicle? With the government plates and tags?" She pointed to the car. They looked.

Government plates indeed.

Makennah stepped forward just as they had, mirroring their tactic for intimidation. Grace and Meredith slithered up to her side, following her lead. "A little tip for the next citizens you taunt...don't show up in a government car expecting no one to notice. Also, I don't know what you think you're doing here, but unless you can present a viable search warrant or a warrant of any kind really, now would be the time to depart." Her cheery smile returned. "Another tip as decent human beings that I expect you are, this is a funeral. I'm not sure if you gathered that from the location, the black attire, the crying attendants, etcetera. I'm sure you're here for Mr. Rothair, the gentleman of the hour. Whatever it is you think you need, I'm most certain that it can wait because whatever it is you think he did or didn't do has already been done...or not done. The problem or issue will still be there after the calling hours and after the funeral. So you may leave now and let this family grieve before you interrupt their lives and ruin all of the good fond memories they have of their father. Can you do that?"

Guy on the right slacked a hip and propped his hands up on his waist. "We're not doing anything wrong."

"You are."

"It's a private family affair," Grace mentioned.

"So leave. Or I'll call the authorities." Smile. Charm. Threat.

Without giving them time to comply, Makennah hooked her arms through Grace's and Meredith's arms and pivoted to walk away. The girls bent their heads together, whispering amongst themselves so that the suspicious government dudes couldn't overhear.

"What the heck is happening?" Grace asked ask soon as their backs were turned.

"CIA, maybe?" Meredith asked as the same time.

Makennah shook her head. "They drove a car with government plates, you idiot. CIA agents are like spies and stuff. That's not a very good disguise on their part."

"FBI then," Meredith offered.

"Again, I ask...what the heck is going on?"

So Makennah filled them in. "Grandma Rothair came to visit me at work and warned me that grandpa did something bad. Something very bad that a lot of people didn't like. She asked me to watch out for Carolynn and make sure she doesn't find out."

"The dearly departed did something bad enough for the FBI to care?" Meredith shared an interested questioning look with Makennah.

Makennah shrugged and waited for Grace to open the doors to the funeral home. "Not my business. They gone?"

Grace glanced over her shoulder through the crack in the door just before it closed. "Car is backing out."

Theo shuffled over to them the second they entered the funeral home. "I can't find Matt."

Makennah rolled her eyes so hard she wished they would just roll into the back of her head and she could pass out and avoid all of this drama. Really? She couldn't get a break today. "When did you last see him?"

"I'm gonna go see Nick. Caio." Meredith wiggled her fingers goodbye and pranced off to stand with her boyfriend.

"They're sickening," Grace whispered.

"Remind me why I set them up," she said to Grace, watching Meredith throw her arms around Nick's neck and peck him on the cheek with her lip-gloss lips.

Theo cleared his throat to gather their attention again. Makennah forgot how easily her friends tended to distract her. Plus, she missed them. She really missed them. What with everything going on, she didn't get to see them or talk to them often outside of school. "As I was saying. Matt."

"Am I the only single one left?" Grace groaned.

"Where did you last see him?" Makennah asked.

"It's depressing," Grace added, going on like Makennah wasn't even speaking.

Theo eyed Grace carefully. "I don't know. One second he was there. The next he was gone."

"I just wanted a cookie," Makennah groaned.

This was turning into a real crap shoot. Calling hours or atomic bomb three? Everything was falling apart before her very eyes. And she was only one girl! One girl can only do so much!

"What cookie?" Theo asked.

"I want a cookie! Funerals have cookies?" Grace asked, a little confused but also excited at the prospect of snacks for the dead.

Makennah sighed. Taking a second to gather her thoughts, she flicked her gaze over the clusters of people, crying and sharing memories of dear granddad. In the far off room, Makennah spied Carolynn and Grandma Rothair hugging people in the receiving line which had now extended to the front door. Apparently, Grandpa was a popular man.

"I'll find Matt," Makennah resolved. Maybe he didn't want to be found though. Makennah didn't really want to be found at the moment either. "Where's Jonah?"

"Uh..."

"You just had to watch Jonah!" Makennah threw up her hands and walked away from Theo and Grace before she lost her cool and unloaded her frustrations on her boyfriend.

Boyfriend.

Gosh, she forgot.

Add another concern to the list of things she might lose sleep over.

Restroom. She needed a restroom.

Makennah opened a random door, hoping to find the bathroom. She was told it was hard to find. Maybe if she just ran around to all the doors, she might happen upon the bathroom.

But she didn't. Oh no she didn't.

Instead, she found Matt.

Wrapped up in a lithe leggy brunette with wispy bangs and French tip nails.

At her disturbance, Matt ripped away from the girl and twisted towards the open doorway. When they made eye contact, his eyes widened with panic. She blinked once. Twice. And stepped inside the broom closet with the lip-locking couple and shut the door behind her before anyone caught onto their little hiding place.

"No, no, no!" Matt insisted, clutching the pretty girl to his chest.

She glanced around and found a long cord hanging from the ceiling attached to a single uncovered lightbulb. She pulled the string and the light turned on, casting long grey shadows around the room and illuminating the floating dust particles, disturbed by Matt and the make-out chick.

"Great hiding place," she congratulated him on his find. "Can't believe you found it first."

The girl plastered her hands to Matt's chest and huddled close to him as if Makennah's intrusion was the only thing wrong about this situation.

Matt tilted his head back and closed his eyes, keeping the girl close to him. "You're major cock blocking right now."

In the tight space, Makennah leaned against the door jam and heaved a giant sigh, sucking in some dust. "How do you know she's not your distant cousin or something?" She inquired curiously, ignoring his comment.

Matt gave her a questioning angry look. "What? What are you even saying?"

She sneezed. "I'm just saying. It's a funeral full of all of your close and distant relatives. How do you know you're not related to her?"

The girl's mouth dropped open and she looked up at Matt with a horrified gaze as if that predicament might have just occurred to her.

"She's not my cousin. I know all of my cousins," Matt said, assuming that would clear the awkwardness.

Makennah shrugged. "Well sometimes we don't."

Matt pointed a finger at himself. "Well I do!" He yelled.

"Keep your voice down!" Makennah corrected him sternly. "I'd rather not be found right now! I'm hiding!" She sneezed again.

The girl slowly but surely extricated herself from Matt. However, with the cramped space, there wasn't really anywhere for her to go. So she stood in between Matt and Makennah and cleaned off her freshly kissed lips.

"Yeah, I didn't either!" Matt whisper-shouted. "Why do you think I'm in here?"

Makennah pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest, reclining back further to relax and get comfortable. "Well...if you're asking for an educated guess, I'd say you found a good looking chick and tried to...peel the banana..." She wiggled her eyebrows at her innuendo. "...because you think a rebound might help you get over Cassandra."

"Who's Cassandra?" The girl asked.

Staring her down, Matt clenched his teeth and his fists simultaneously. Man, she was really pissing him off. It was kind of funny. "Peel the banana? Peel the banana? Are you serious?"

She shrugged casually. "I'm just saying. Does Carolynn know you're in here?"

"Don't talk about my mother right now while we're in here!" Matt yelled as if that was so totally absurd at the moment.

The girl's mouth fell open. "Carolynn is your mom?! You're a Sinclair?!"

"Oh my God! You are cousins!" Makennah gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

Matt slapped his hands on his face and closed his eyes. "We're not cousins!"

"You're Matt Sinclair?!" The girl backed away from Matt and pointed her finger in his chest. Her foot knocked over a broom and it fell on Matt's head. Makennah burst out laughing at Matt's confused face. "My mom is your mom's best friend from college! And I'm...I'm in a closet with you!"

Makennah snickered. "Well yeah, hon, you're a little late to the party. You didn't even catch each other's name before exchanging spit?"

Matt raised his head slowly, anger seeping out of his every pore. "You don't get to judge me right now."

He had a point. She sneezed. "You're right. I've done worse at funerals."

"How does it get worse than this?!" The girl muttered, mortified by her actions. Makennah didn't understand why it was so horrible to be making out with Matt. They're moms are just best friends. Big deal.

"I've been to a lot of funerals," Makennah filled in for her, assuming that was enough information. "Also, the FBI was here."

Matt reeled back. "What? Are you sure?"

"No, not really."

Matt threw up his hands in frustration. "Then why would you say that?"

"Well I think they were. But it wasn't confirmed. Although, some hotshot government officials were definitely here. I made them go away," she said proudly, smiling from ear to ear.

"You're Matt Sinclair. My mom wants me to like...marry you."

Both Makennah and Matt turned to the girl. The girl with no name who wasn't Matt's cousin but previously had her private parts mushed up against his private parts. Makennah opened her mouth to say something, but instead sealed her lips and tapped her fingertips together. Yeah, nothing to say to that.

Hands on his hips and tie askew, Matt turned back to Makennah. "What did the FBI want?"

She shrugged. And sneezed. "Something with grandpa. Told them to scram."

"What the heck did the old man do?" Matt whispered to himself, thinking over the facts of grandpa's life as if that would help shed some clarity.

"I've got to get out of this closet!" The girl yelled and reached for the door knob.

"No!" Makennah smacked her hand away. "We can't all just fall tumbling out of this closet! Do you know how that would look?"

Matt rolled his eyes. "God, just let her out!" Matt instructed. "I won't forget this, ya know. You cockblocked me."

"She could have been your cousin," she used as her excuse.

"We're not cousins!" Matt hollered again, reaching to basically pull his hair out.

"Look," Makennah sighed and placed her hand on Matt's shoulder, reaching over the make-out girl. "My job is done. I got rid of the FBI, your banana ain't peeled, and your previous flag pole is at half-mast. So get the heck out of this closet and cry over your dead grandpa like a normal human being."

Matt gagged. "I am so disgusted we are having this conversation."

"Well stop hooking up with your cousins in funeral home closets," Makennah whispered before she turned the doorknob and all three of them accidentally spilled out of the closet at one time.

Makennah sneezed and Matt tripped over her heel, crashing into the wall and knocking over a clock. It crashed to the ground and Makennah jumped out of the way before it fell on her feet. The make-out girl gasped and backed into Makennah.

All of the patrons in the room stopped dead in the middle of their hushed conversations and turned to look that them.

"We're dead," Matt whispered to the three of them.

"Not as dead as grandpa," she joked. Noticing Matt's heated glare, she grimaced. "Too soon?"

--------------------------------------------

Two chapters in one day!

A little humor in the midst of sadness. It was bound to happen.

Happy reading!

Xoxo

W. Carolina