"Jett, stay outside!" Nora yells at her younger brother. "Go take a tomato bath or something." She shakes her head, placing her hiking bag on the kitchen ledge. "I can't believe he got sprayed by a skunk."
Jett sticks his face against the screen cover of the back door. "I thought it was a bunny!"
"Hey, back up," Nora demands. "Don't stink up the Kennedy house."
I laugh, feeling slightly sad for Jett but also more concerned his smell will linger into the house. "Do you want anything to drink?"
"Actually, I should be getting home with Jett," Nora says. "My aunt will kill me for letting this happen."
"Okay. Well, I had a nice time today on the-"
"What is that awful smell?"
Elliott and Flynn come into the kitchen, sweaty from their workout. Nora stops from leaving and stares at the two boys for a minute, evidently surprised by all the manly beauty in the room.
"Oh." She fixes her hair quickly. "Hello."
"The smell would be me," Jett speaks, holding his hand up from the backyard. "I got sprayed by a skunk that closely resembled a bunny."
Elliott scrunches his nose up. "That's gross, dude."
"Guys, this is Nora and her younger brother, Jett," I introduce. "They're the new neighbors from across the street."
"Hi, I'm Flynn," he says with a happy smile that always seems to be on his face. "And this is Elliott. He lives here. I just come for the food."
"Hello," Nora says all dreamily.
"You already said that," Elliott notes, digging through the refrigerator to find water bottles.
Nora nods, blush on her cheeks. "Well, we should get going now!" She leaves the house, plugging her nose as she grabs Jett by his t-shirt. "Bye!"
"Bye," I say and wave to the two.
"Nice to meet you!" Flynn calls after them. "Good luck with the smelly problems, Skunk Boy!"
Elliott tosses Flynn a water before pulling himself up to sit on the counter top. "Was that kid wearing a kimono?"
I nod with a closed-mouth smile. "He's unique."
"If that's what they're calling it these days," he mumbles and takes a sip of his water.
"Hey!" Flynn exclaims after reading something off his phone. "Guess who's having a party tonight!"
"Mark?"
"Why would you guess Mark?" Flynn asks Elliott angrily.
"I don't know. Why are you getting mad at me for guessing Mark?"
Flynn shakes his head in disappointment. "It's just- Never mind. Ivy, any guesses?"
"The girl Elliott gave a black eye?"
Elliott stifles a laugh.
An unamused Flynn clenches his fist together, calming himself down. "I really don't see how she would have anything to do with us. You guys suck at guessing."
"I thought it was a good guess," I mumble.
"It was a good guess," Elliott assures me. "Who's having the party, Flynn?"
"Giano Bertolini!" he exclaims, throwing his hands in the air. "The only person who is important to all three of us!"
"Why exactly is Giano important to me?" I ask slowly.
Flynn sighs at my ignorance. "Remember like a week or so ago when Elliott wouldn't go to Giano's party with me because he didn't like the homemade pizza? And then I said we could stay for dinner as long as we go to the next Giano party and you come with us to make a decision on whether the pizza is worthy of praise or not."
"Ah." I nod in remembrance. "I didn't technically agree to that."
"Oh, don't be like that Ivy," Flynn says. "It'll be good for you to get out of the house. Have you had any time off this summer?"
"No," I admit. "But Lena and I never talked about me taking any breaks. I wouldn't be doing my job if I hired a babysitter to watch the kids tonight."
"You don't have to hire a babysitter. Addison is quite capable of watching her siblings," Flynn reminds.
I sigh. "I know she is. I just don't like making her do it. She could have plans tonight."
"Let's ask her."
Flynn motions for me to follow him as he walks to Addison's room. She is sitting on her bed with her headphones in, singling along to a Beyoncé song. Seeing us, she takes the headphones out and sits up on her bed.
"Hey. What's up? Why are you so sweaty, Flynn? And, Ivy, do you have a leaf in your hair?"
I raise my eyebrows and pluck a leaf out of my hair. "At least I didn't get sprayed by a skunk, right?"
She nods. "I could smell Jett from my room."
"So, Addison, what are your plans for tonight?" Flynn asks, sitting at the edge of her bed.
"I didn't make any yet," she says. "Why?"
"Well, there's this party that Ivy really wants to go to and-"
"Hey, I don't really want to go to it," I argue.
Flynn rolls his eyes. "It's a party that Ivy really should go to. I mean, she never gets out."
"That's true. She's like a hermit," Addison says. "I can stay home and watch the kids."
"Addison, you don't have to do that," I say. "If you want to see friends, then you go out. It's my job."
"I can invite my friends over to help watch the others. My friends love the kids more than they love me."
Flynn jumps off her bed. "Perfect! Now, Ivy, I won't actually force you into going. I just feel like you need a break. So, let me know if you really, really don't want to go."
"But if you do go, Jonas will get off your back about not having a life," Addison adds.
I sigh and place my hands on my hips, thinking about the three weeks I've spent in this house with the kids. "I'll go."
Just before dinner time, Flynn returns to our house, freshly showered and ready to party. He wore khaki shorts and a buttoned shirt.
Addison helped me pick out an outfit for tonight. According to her, I was in need of a major fashion makeover. I apologized for not bringing any mini-dresses and heels to a babysitting job.
She ends up picking out a black romper tied together with her own strappy-sandals. She thought it'd be best because it's summer casual, yet could be seen as dressy. The shoes are a little small on me, but Addison didn't really care about my pain. She just shot back a simple, "pretty hurts."
I also agreed to letting her do my makeup. She claims my daily routine of foundation and mascara isn't going to get me a boyfriend. I laughed. It was sort of amusing listening to her ranting on and on. She acted as one of those beauty gurus on YouTube as she put my eyeshadow on, repeating the strangely named colors she used each time she blended.
"How was camp?" Flynn asks Ethan as he takes a seat next to him in the family room.
"I ate a ladybug!"
"Oh!" Flynn raises his eyebrows. "What are you guys going to do tonight?"
I sit across from them, next to the twins. "You better not be planning on burning the house down. I'll most likely lose my job."
Rose giggles. "We're going to watch a bunch of movies! Addison said Mike has a huge movie collection."
I whip my head in Addison's direction. "Mike is coming over?"
"Yeah. Did I not mention that?" she asks.
"It must've slipped your mind, right?" I eye her suspiciously and try to decide whether I should be okay with this.
"I'm sorry," she apologizes with a small smile. "He wanted to meet everyone. Don't be worried, please. We're responsible."
"Yeah, yeah," I sigh. "I know you are. I just know nothing about this Mike guy."
"He's bringing over High School Musical 1, 2, and 3," Addison informs me. "He is no bad boy, Ivy."
I smile. "Fine."
Elliott walks into the family room, wearing a gray t-shirt, dark jeans, and a backwards baseball hat covering his dark drown hair.
"Are you seriously going to wear jeans to a beach party, Liott?" Addison asks. "I shouldn't have been focusing all my time on Ivy."
Elliott's eyes flicker to me. For a split second, his eyes trail down my body. My cheeks heat up, and I drop my head to hide the blush forming. He turns his gaze back to Addison. "I don't plan on staying very long."
"Why not?" Rose asks her older brother.
He smiles softly. "I don't want sand in my buns, Rosie."
She giggles. "We'd have to start calling you Sandy Cheeks."
He pinches her cheeks lightly. It's an "aw" moment to see him be so sweet to his younger sister. There's something special between Rose and Elliott. I've seen glimpses of their moments throughout the last three weeks.
"We should get going," Flynn says and stands up from the couch. "Have fun, guys."
"Be safe," I say and rub Addison's arm.
In the driveway, Flynn runs to open the passenger's door for me. I take my seat and notice the angry gesture Elliott sends his friend before climbing into the backseat of the car. Flynn starts the engine and drives down the street to Giano's house.
"I hear Carter might be there," Flynn says, peering at Elliott through the rearview window.
"The girl with the black eye?" I ask.
"That's the one," Flynn confirms. "She has a new boyfriend. I think he's an aspiring model too. I hear they're serious."
Elliott nods. "Whatever."
"Were you dating?" I ask curiously.
"Just hooking up," he answers.
"On and off for a whole year," Flynn says, giving Elliott a knowing look. He mouths to me, "they were dating."
I raise an eyebrow. "A whole year? That's a long time."
Elliott sighs. "Look, I don't care what she does with her life. She can date however many stupid aspiring models she wants!"
"Someone seems a little hurt," Flynn patronizes.
"I'm not," Elliott tries to convince his friend. "I don't give a shit about Carter. End of conversation."
I bite my tongue, keeping my thoughts to myself. It just seems unnatural for someone to be with someone for a year and not to have any feelings towards them. He has to feel just slightly hurt that she moved on from him quickly and is now in a serious relationship.
We pull up to a house near the water. There are cars lined up along the street, and Flynn has to park far away. I get out of the car and feel slightly apprehensive. Although I won't admit it to Flynn and Elliott, this is my first huge school party. I went to a few small get-togethers with my friends, but never to a party like this. I always had work on the weekends anyway, so I never made time for it.
Flynn seems so comfortable as we enter the house, high-fiving and hugging nearly every person we pass. Elliott stays more to himself with only a few head nods to friends. I can tell these people are more whom Flynn spends his time with.
It's a bit awkward for me, seeing I know everyone here but just not well enough to feel comfortable. I imagine this is how Elliott feels when Flynn takes him to parties.
"Ivy Lynch!"
I turn at the sound of my name. "Oh, hey, Jake."
Jake was in my gym class last year. We talked during rock climbing unit, bonding over the lack of climbing skills. He's nice, good-looking, and funny. His downfall is that he's one of those people who refer to others by their first and last name. Every time.
"How has your summer been, Ivy Lynch?"
"Good," I answer. "Yours?"
"I've been having a blast! The weather has been great."
"It has." I glance around his head to see where Flynn and Elliott have gone. "Have you been to the beach yet?"
"I actually work as a lifeguard at the beach. Do you work?"
"I'm a nanny," I answer.
He nods. "That's right! I remember that about you, Ivy Lynch."
"My superlative was Most Likely To Be a Beverly Hills Nanny For the Rest of Life."
He laughs, a bit too loudly. I decide it has something to do with whatever he's drinking from the red cup in his hand. "Who'd you come in with again? I thought I saw you with Flynn McClean and Elliott Kennedy."
"Yeah," I confirm.
"I didn't know you were friends with them," he says.
"It's a new thing." I look to my shoes. "Speaking of, I should probably go find them."
"Oh, right!" He wraps his arms around my shoulders and gives me a sloppy kiss on the cheek. "It was good to see you, Ivy Lynch!" He moonwalks back to the room where a few kids are dancing.
I give him a fake smile before heading through the crowd of kids to try and find the guys. The conversation with Jake is one of those things I was hoping to avoid at this party. It's an awkward "wow haven't seen you in forever and didn't plan on it but now that you're here hey let's be friends" conversation.
Walking through Giano's huge house, I run into some of my old friends from high school. Once again, the ones who had promised to keep in touch but didn't bother sending me a simple "hey, how are you?" text. But I can't blame them. I didn't send any of those texts either.
In the large kitchen with homemade pizza covering the countertops, I spot Carter and who I can assume is the aspiring model. They're making out, so close to the pizza that I almost lose my appetite.
"I love you so much, baby," the boy breathes as he kisses her aggressively.
"You're so hot, babe," she speaks and grips his hair tightly.
Moving on with the urge to gag, I walk out onto the balcony of the house. That's where I find Flynn in the middle of a conversation with some football players. Instead of interrupting, I take a minute to appreciate the view. The sun is close to setting, just at that painful time when it's still bright and sinking and landing directly in your eyes. The water looks beautiful, the cliffs surrounding the sides.
There's some guys in the sand with wood, preparing for a bonfire. A few couples walk hand-in-hand along the water. I look down the beach and see families still sitting in beach chairs and watching the sunset. It reminds me of the days when my parents would take me down to the beach and we'd watch the sunset. Sometimes we would spend the night on the beach, sleeping in beach towels. Although I'm sure I'd hate it now, it was my favorite thing to do as a child.
Elliott appears next to me, a red cup in his hands as he leans on the balcony edge. "Jake Acker just told me you told him that you wanted to have a foursome with me, Flynn, and him."
"He said he wouldn't say anything!" I exclaim jokingly.
He laughs shortly. "I'm sorry to break your dreams, but I don't think I can handle Jake screaming 'Elliott Kennedy' all night long."
I cover my ears with my hands and make a face of horror. "Enough, please."
"I'm kidding," he says. "Though not about what Jake said. He's so drunk."
"I could tell when I talked to him. He-"
"It's pizza time!" Flynn bellows, wrapping one arm over Elliott's shoulders and the other over mine.
He drags us into the kitchen, taking three plates and giving one to Elliott, one to me, and keeping the other for himself. We go down to the beach to eat. There a couple beach chairs scattered around and we sit by a few of Flynn's friends.
I take a bite of the pizza, pleasantly surprised by the delicious taste. Mrs. Bertolini is quite a cook and I wouldn't mind going to these parties more often for the pizza. Elliott tries to hide his delight while eating the pizza, but Flynn and I can see right through it.
"Admit it!" Flynn yells. "You love that freaking pizza!"
Elliott rolls his eyes, taking another bite and mumbling every so quietly, "I love Italians."
Flynn tells his friends the whole story. He adds a few extra points that didn't actually happen, but I will admit that it made the story more exciting. Elliott would look to me every time Flynn would tell a white-lie during his story, a cute little moment to share. The additional quirks worked though because his friends were very invested by the whole thing at the end of it.
Eventually, the friend group starts playing What Are the Odds?, in which two people say a number at the count of three. If they say the same number, one person has to do the dare they're told to do. I opt out of playing, more amused to just watch.
"What are the odds you'll go skinny dipping?" Kirk, one of Flynn's friends, asks him.
Abraham counts them off from three.
"Three!" the two say at the same time.
Flynn jumps out of the chair with a scream. "No!"
"You lost, dude. You have to do it," Elliott says and gestures to the water. "Enjoy yourself."
Flynn mutters something before heading for the water. He strips off his shirt and pants, leaving him in just boxers. "Ivy, look away!"
I laugh as Elliott covers my eyes with his hand. He removes his hands seconds later to allow me to see Flynn in the ocean. Flynn jumps around, screaming that the water is freezing. We all laugh as we watch him, dry and warm in our clothes.
"Ivy Lynch!"
I cringe when I hear that familiar, drunken voice. Sure enough, Jake Acker is walking down the beach towards our circle of beach chairs.
Elliott stands and holds his hand out. "Come on. Let's get out of here."
I take his hand to pull myself out of the chair. With his hand gripping mine, Elliott starts jogging down the beach. Jake Acker calls after us, but we pretend like we can't hear him. I glance back to see that he tripped over his one foot and fell in the sand.
As we walk down the beach, the loud music from the party starts the fade. Now, I can hear the soothing noise of the waves crashing. Elliott let go of my hand once we were out of sight from the party.
"Where are we going?" I ask, holding my shoes in my hand and walking through the water.
He doesn't answer right away. "If I told you, you'd turn around to be with Jake Acker."
"That's unlikely," I say truthfully.
"We have to make a pit stop though." He heads up a flight of public access stairs on the beach. "Come on."
I put my shoes back on before walking up the stairs. They lead to a neighborhood of beach houses. Elliott seems to know exactly where he is, cutting through backyards and making sharp turns. Somehow, we end up in front of a grocery store.
"You want to come in? You can wait outside if you'd like," he says and pulls his wallet out of his back pocket. "I'll be just a second."
"Okay," I say and sit down on the bench outside of the store.
I wanted to take time to text Addison to check on the kids anyway. This seemed like a good opportunity. Pulling out my phone, I text Addison. I notice I also received a text from Jake Acker, asking me to elope with him. Steve sent me a couple pictures of my mom on their trip. I don't feel like responding.
From: Addison Kennedy
We're doing great! Ethan fell asleep on Mike's lap! Crystal and Rosie want to stay up to watch Camp Rock. I'll have them in bed by eleven.
I send her a thumbs up emoji and place my phone back in my purse. Elliott comes out of the store with a paper bag.
"What'd you get?"
"Well, that would spoil the surprise," he says and waves his hand over his shoulder to motion for me to follow.
We walk along the road for awhile, not saying anything to one another. I'm not too good at starting small talk, especially not with someone like Elliott. At a random opening in a forest, Elliott walks in. I'm a little hesitant, not entirely sure where he could be taking me.
"I promise not to kill you," he says jokingly.
I hesitantly follow him through the forest. After walking a few hundred feet, I hear voices. Someone howls, their voice slowly drowning out before the sound of splash. There's laughter and music on top of the howling.
The forest ends abruptly, opening up to a large platform before a cliff. A man walks up to Elliott and takes the plastic bag. "Hey, Nate. You and your pretty date can jump as many times as you'd like."
"Thanks, Yogi," Elliott says. "You don't have to call me Nate. She knows."
Yogi- if that is his name?- smiles widely. "She's a pretty one, El. It's nice to meet you, little lady."
I nod, glancing around at the others. They're all rough looking, as Yogi is. They have large tattoos all over their bodies and look like they want to kill me.
"Why did you bring me here?" I ask Elliott as a man jumps off one of the cliffs with a thrilling yell.
Elliott takes his shirt off his back and gives me a grin. "What are the odds you'll jump off this cliff with me?"
~~
AN:
SURPRISE UPDATE (I just couldn't wait for Thursday)
but will she do it??
who are we more threatened by, Carter or Nora?? trick question. the correct answer is Jett.
hey thanks for all the support I appreciate it a lot!! love ya
I know I asked this earlier, but now that you know the characters a little better, who do you picture as the leads? I'll be making a cast list soon. but please don't say overused people because I'll ignore it!!!!!
so many exclamation points but the point must be made
also i really want to keep a schedule for updates but it's already difficult because as soon as I finish a chapter I want to post it to get feedback (which is usually inspiration for me to write the next chapter) but now I have to wait for Thursday and AHHH I'm a mess. does it bother any of you if I post it randomly? I feel like I'm not fit for this schedule life. I'll try my best to do once a week, maybe twice a week. having a specific day is already stressing me. thoughts??
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