Chapter 2: : Chapter 2

“Fridge is open, alcohol’s in hand, so get your asses in here and let’s get this party started!” Cameron repetitively knocks a bottle against the countertop and doesn’t stop until we’re rounding the corner into the kitchen to join her.

“Easy on the granite, Cami baby. Take it out on me instead,” Brady teases, leaning on his forearms.

“Next time, Brady, next time.” She grins.

As she starts pouring the shots into the glasses Chase helped her pull down, I let my eyes roam.

The kitchen is everything you’d expect in a beach home, light in color and wide open. The dining table is a large U-shape bench-style seat with light blue and white pillows in the corners. It sits in front of the large bay window, allowing you to peer out over the beach and watch the sun set or rise without stepping foot outside. There’s a large marble island in the center, the stovetop and double ovens circling behind it, which is where Cam’s now perched, five shot glasses filled to the brim at her side.

She waits for us to claim a cup, seizing the last as her own. “Let’s toast to all the stupid shit we are going to do while we’re here, and to the blast that we are going to have while doing it.”

We laugh, and her blue eyes narrow with playfulness. “I’m serious, assholes. This little vacay is now officially going to be our last memory before our new lives begin. This is huge!”

“She’s right.” Chase steps beside Cam with a grin. “Let’s make the most of it.”

“When do we not go balls out and have a kick-ass time?” Brady reaches over, squeezing her knee. “We’re about to run this beach, girl.”

Cameron grips his cheeks, pinching his lips like a fish. “That’s the spirit, big boy.” She pecks his lips, downing her shot in the next.

The rest of us follow suit, knocking our shots back.

My eyes pinch from the burn of the liquor, and I laugh when Cameron shakes her head, her tongue sticking out.

“Okay, that shit’s nasty.” She laughs, happily passing the bottle off to Brady when he reaches for it.

“I’ll meet you bastards at the beach. Mase, call your cousin, tell him to get his ass down here, and one of you pansies bring the football!” With that, Brady disappears out the back sliding door.

Cam turns to me, mischief written all over her. “Come on, girl, let’s get changed. There’s a gang of beach boys out there calling our names.”

I wiggle my eyebrows up and down. “Maybe those Brazilians will pay off after all.”

“Oh, fuck me, I’m out,” Mason grumbles, rushing toward the patio door. He stops as he steps through, turning back to pin Chase with an expectant glare. “You comin’?”

At first, Chase doesn’t move, but then he shakes his head, and Cameron covers her laugh with a cough, knowing we’ve painted a mental picture in his head.

“Yeah.” He clears his throat and snags the football from the bucket by the door. “Right behind you.”

As soon as the door is closed, Cam and I bend over, laughing.

“That was gold.” She high fives me and we quickly rush up the stairs, dragging our suitcases away from the wall where the boys placed them before disappearing into our rooms.

“I call hot pink today!” Cam shouts.

“I figured so! I think I’m going with my black one!” I flip open my suitcase, planning to unpack later, and pull out my bathing suits.

I’m just getting the bows looped on the bottoms when she barges through our joining bathroom.

“Tie this for me.” She gives me her back. “Also, I’m vetoing the black suit in favor of the red one.”

I roll my eyes and fix her top as she looks over her body in the full-length mirror mounted to the wall in front of us.

“Thank you, Victoria, for your super summer sale,” she mutters.

“She must be doing something wrong, because I don’t see any secrets in this thing,” I tease, and she blows me a kiss.

My best friend has an amazing body, toned and tight in all the right places, and nearly opposite of me in every way.

Cam is an easy five-ten where I’m pushing five-five. She’s tall, fit, and model-like with crazy, crystal blue eyes. While there’s no denying it, she hates to be called thin.

Growing up, people would tease her for being too tall and too skinny. I mean, they’d then get beat up by Mason or Brady, but still. It was bad for a while. The boys always tried to make her height seem insignificant, even when, for a minute there, she was taller than they were, but they couldn’t take away the hurt the words of others caused her.

She’s tried everything from all-carb diets to pharmaceutical drugs, even adding Ensure to her meals every single day for months, and nothing. Her metabolism simply doesn’t work that way. Now that we’ve gotten older, she’s learned to own it, has filled out more in other areas, and is constantly going with the boys to the gym to keep the bit of muscle she’s added to give her more weight. Regardless, she’s always had a confident attitude, the ‘never let them see you sweat’ type.

Cameron throws her long blonde hair into a high ponytail and turns to me.

“Now.” She tosses me my new red suit. “I’m dying to see how those babies look in this.” She gestures to my chest.

“Seriously?”

“Oh, yeah, go hard or go home.”

“Mason might just drag my ass home if I start with this.” I scoff, picking it up, and look over the deep cut of the front. “This thing is like ‘fifth date, trying to get lucky’ worthy.”

“You’re talking like you didn’t already undo your top to swap it.”

“Touché.” I strip out of the black suit, slipping into the tiny red one.

Cam sprawls out on my bed, quickly checking her notifications, but then faces me when I spin, giving her my best Marilyn Monroe pose.

“Whatcha think?”

“I think you better thank the big man upstairs on the daily for those Dolly Ds he blessed you with.” She looks me up and down. “These new-gen Baywatch babes got nothing on you.”

“Why, thank you, friend. Now let’s go.”

I head toward the door.

“Wait,” she rushes, crawling to the edge of the bed. “Let’s talk for a sec.”

It’s clear she’s nervous about something, so I drop onto the mattress next to her, waiting for her to speak.

“Our last trip ended in a sad shitstorm with your cousin and Deaton’s car wreck. That was heavy, but this is our chance to end the summer on a good note.”

“That’s why we went home with our parents for a couple weeks, to press the reset button.”

“No, I know, it’s just now we’re closer to the start of school, and once we get to Avix, our schedules are going to be all over the place. For the first time, we won’t have a ton of free time together,” she begins, a bit overly serious for her.

“Cam, we’re roommates.” I laugh. “We’ll see each other plenty and we’ll always have the weekends.”

“Yeah, but,” she huffs. “I guess I just want to live it up, you know? This is the last time we’ll have virtually no responsibility outside of not getting shit-faced and murdered.”

I laugh, but she doesn’t even pause.

“So, I vote we do like we did on our secret little trip and have some fun, flipping invisible middle fingers at the boys along the way.”

“We’re gonna sunbathe topless, the boys be damned?”

An amused groan leaves her and she sits up, shaking my shoulders. “I didn’t say try to get them to murder us,” she teases with a grin. “But yeah, same vibe.”

The two of us laugh.

“So real eighteen-year-old fun, swim, layout, barbecue, drink, dance, flirt…” I lift a brow.

“Make out with a couple of beach boys we’ll never see again,” she adds with a shimmy and ends in a shrug. “The boys are going to, so if we want to do the same, we should. And the best part is no one here will be afraid of ‘big brother and his boys.’” She grins.

Chuckling, I pull myself up, walking backward toward the door. “No overanalyzing, no second-guessing, just go with the flow kind of fun that we may or may not have to sneak around the boys.”

“But if we can’t…”

“Invisible middle fingers and we do it anyway.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Screw these boys and their obsessive need to know! Let’s have as much fun as possible and whatever happens, happens.”

“Whatever happens, happens,” I agree.

Cam squeals, hops up, and tosses her watch onto my bed. “Now, let’s go make some poor fools drool. We didn’t spend the last four months in Booty Boot Camp for nothing.”

She pushes her forehead into mine and we smile at each other.

“It’s game on, bitches.”

We search the beach as we step off of the back deck, spotting the boys about thirty feet down the sand line, so we make our way toward them.

“Looks like Brady’s already found the hottest girl on the beach to keep him occupied,” Cam jokes, nodding her chin in his direction.

I squint, skimming over the small group, stopping on the gorgeous, tan-skinned, dark-haired girl perched on a rock, and a smile takes over my face.

Kalani Embers is her name, and she’s definitely the most beautiful girl around, but she’s not free for the taking. She’s my cousin Nate’s soon-to-be wifey, who we had a chance to meet and hang with when we came down to set up the house at the start of summer. She’s also the only girl to ever beat Brady at sports trivia. He literally bought every game in the book to ‘study’ the answers, so the next time he saw her, he could take back his know-it-all title, but Kalani, or Lolli as we call her, was born into the game, her entire family having been a part of the NFL world, and stats are her jam. Poor guy doesn’t stand a chance.

She’s not only the youngest but the first female franchise owner in NFL history.

“Aw shit, here comes trouble!” Brady whistles, gaining the others’ attention.

Mason groans, shaking his head, shouting across the sand. “You guys tryin’ to see me knock a fucker out?”

“What’s the matter, Mase, afraid someone might take the bait?” Brady throws back with a grin.

It’s no secret Cameron has a thing for Mason, but none of us really know how he feels about her. He does things like running off guys who try and talk to her and will hold her when she cries, but it’s hard because that’s who Mason is. Protective by nature. He looks out for her as he does me, is there for her when she might need him, as are the other boys. As I am. It’s what we do. We’re family, the five of us, and where we come from that little fact trumps all else. It’s also what makes it so tricky to understand. It’s like I said, Mase treats her as he does me, so there’s a chance there’s nothing romantic about it. He doesn’t know how to care a little; it’s always with all of who he is.

It’s a blessing and a curse sometimes, because he stresses and overanalyzes more than necessary, but he can’t help himself.

My brother is the toughest person I know. He’s everything a father would hope for in a son and more than I could ask for in a brother. He’s the most important person in my life, and if there’s one person in this world I want to make proud, it’s him. My twin is the other half of who I am, but that doesn’t mean I understand his every move, even if I wish I did.

Either way, Cameron refuses to think on it to keep herself from getting her hopes up. She’s not lovesick, by any means, and she doesn’t sit around and hope like I might be pathetically known to do, but as it stands, she’d take his hand if he offered it in a heartbeat.

What makes it a bit more difficult is the fact that Mason is the biggest flirt known to man, possibly neck to neck with Brady, but he means no harm and would never intentionally lead her on, so I guess only time will tell.

I look to Mason as he flips Brady off, but Brady only laughs.

Lolli smiles, pushing off the rock she was sunbathing on. “Well, well, looking fresh as always.”

I grin, reminding myself not to go in for a hug. Lolli isn’t the touchy type. “Had to try and keep up with you.”

“Girl, please. You should have seen the suit she tried to wear today. I had to sex her up myself.”

“So Chase has you to thank, huh?” Lolli smirks.

I squash my lips to the side, and she laughs.

Lolli guessed my feelings for Chase the day we met, and she loves to pop off with off-color jokes to make the boys uncomfortable, while still attempting to be stealthy, but only for my sake. She’d outright tell him to strip me in the sand if it were up to her. She’s down like that.

“Have you heard from Kenra yet?” I ask about my cousin, Nate’s older sister, as the events of a few weeks ago flash through my mind.

Kenra just got out of an abusive relationship, one that took a turn for the worse when her now ex-fiancé crashed with her and his younger brother in the car. He and Kenra made it out okay, but his younger brother, the father of Payton’s unborn baby, wasn’t so lucky. He was only seventeen.

Talk about a cruel mess.

“How’s Payton doing?”

Lolli lifts a shoulder, glancing behind her, where I spot Payton walking down the beach. “I try not to ask. I’m better at entertainment, so I keep her busy when I can.”

“I bet that helps more than you know.” Cam smiles at her.

Lolli looks off, uncomfortable with the deep stuff, so I change the subject.

“So, what’s the plan for today or do we have one?” I ask, looking around at everyone.

Brady shrugs, tossing the football in the air. “I figure we’d start it off right, go out to eat, dance, get fucked up, then bum it and bonfire tomorrow?”

Cam and I nod. “Sounds good to us. Lolli, you guys in?”

“My man reports for practice in two days, so that would be a no.” She smirks. “We’ll be locked in our room all night, but we’ll see you guys tomorrow, I’m sure.”

“On that note…” Nate steps up, hugs us hello, and waves goodbye in the next second, quickly carting his fiancée toward their house.

“Well, okay then.” Cameron laughs. “A night of dirty dancing it is, but first!” She takes off, charging right into the open waters, Brady on her heels.

“Hold up, I’m snaggin’ Pretty Little.” He jerks his head in the direction of Payton. “She could use a little distraction.” With that, Mason jogs a few feet down the beach toward the young blonde sitting alone on a rock, searching for answers she won’t find in the California waves.

Slowly, Chase and I make our way closer to the water’s edge.

He bumps his shoulder into mine. “You happy to be back at the beach?”

“Always, you know that.” I grin his way, but a heavy breath leaves me as I face forward. “Let’s hope this time is less traumatic.”

“Yeah.” He nods. “I can’t imagine what she’s going through.”

We glance Payton’s way in time to witness her eyes widen, having spotted Mason coming at her at the last second. He bends, swooping her up with no effort, and she squeals into the air, making us laugh.

I smile after my brother, a calm only the ocean seems to bring me settling over my shoulders. “I think this trip will be different.”

He glances over. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I nod. “When we came at the end of June, it still felt like we were fresh out of school, you know? Like we had the whole summer ahead of us, but we don’t anymore. Summer is almost over and we’re moving out on our own the minute we leave here. It’s just… different. Like we’re grown and this is life now.” I scrunch my nose and turn to look at him. “Don’t you think?”

That one-sided smile of his I love appears. “Yeah. I guess it is different.” He’s quiet for a second before he adds, “Maybe a lot of things will be different now.”

It’s as if he’s speaking more to himself than me, so I don’t respond.

A moment later, he stops walking and faces me. He frowns at my swimsuit, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Is there a problem?”

“Yeah.” He nods, his eyes lifting to mine. His frown doubles, but not even a second later, a grin pulls at his lips, one I recognize.

“Chase,” I warn, but before I can make a break for it, he’s already tossed me over his shoulder, and is running for the ocean.

The others laugh as I’m tossed on my ass, and swim over to join us.

I wish I could freeze this moment, our entire crew enjoying the last bit of the summer sun because who knows what the summer’s moon will bring.

I look to Chase, who smirks at me from across the water.

I, for one, can’t wait to find out.