Coasting

Chapter 3

Day 10-or Night 10, really.

Brendan was drunk.

I didn't even know him and I knew he was wasted when he opened the front door of his house and flailed his arms in the air at the sight of all of us. He quickly greeted all of them, saw me, and introduced himself as Brandon, which Lucy then told me it was, in fact, Brendan. Kyle and Courtney had stayed behind, claiming they didn't 'feel like going out.' Michelle had gotten back at Courtney by telling them to use protection right before we left.

Brendan's house was fairly packed. I'd say about fifteen people were inside his house and another ten in his backyard, right along the Intracoastal Waterway. We split up pretty quickly. The boys went to the kitchen where there was apparently bottled beer in the fridge and a smorgasbord of liquor. Avery, Michelle, Lucy and I went out to the backyard, where there was a porch and a beneath it a grassy lawn that sat right on the waterway. On the lawn closest to the porch was the keg with a bag of plastic cups right next to it.

When each of us had filled up our beers, Michelle spotted one of her guy friends from high school and hitched arms with Avery as they sauntered off. Lucy sighed, taking a large gulp from her beer.

"Do you get annoyed easily?" she asked suddenly.

Taking a sip of my own beer--feeling pretty tipsy already since I'd had about four beers at Kyle's--I shook my head.

"Well I do," she huffed. "And trust me, I love Michelle and Avery, but sometimes they're so attached at the hip it's like other people don't even exist."

When I didn't respond she continued, "It just gets so old. It feels like high school." She sighed. "God, I need college."

I sighed through my nose. "Why do you think I chose a college 3,000 miles away?"

"It did cross my mind," Lucy said with a shrug.

"So, you know Brendan from high school too?" I asked.

Lucy nodded. "Oh yeah. He's always been our party friend, if that makes sense."

"Totally," I agreed, and immediately thought of Landon the kid at my school who always threw parties, knew of parties, and went to parties. If nothing else was going on, you could count on Landon.

Lucy took a sip of her beer dramatically. "Anyway, one of my closest friends, Brooke, has been hooking up with him for, like, three months. It's kind of stupid, if you ask me."

"Oh?" I said, as Lucy and I both scanned a group of guys that came out on the porch, empty handed. They had definitely just arrived.

"Not stupid," Lucy corrected. "I just mean...well, Brooke could do better. But couldn't we all. Speaking of which, where the hell is Brooke? You should meet her. She's like the sweetest, most down to earth southern sweetheart you'll ever meet."

As Lucy looked around the outdoor area, I could tell she snuck more than a few glances at the group of guys now getting beers at the keg. Regardless, she looked at me and said, "I'm going to go find Brooke. You wait here, I'll be right back," before she disappeared into the house.

I sighed and chugged down a significant amount of beer in my cup. Michelle and Avery were almost at the waters edge talking to three guys. I could tell Michelle was flirting, but Avery seemed slightly out of it, glancing at her phone every few seconds.

It was dark now, and the moon was rising just in the distance, casting a light glow on the narrow waterway. It was beautiful. That was undeniable. But a different beautiful than the jagged, truly magnificent coastline of California. It was just stunning in a simple way. Quaint, classic, underplayed but still breathtaking. And for some unknown reason, I felt like I belonged here.