Moving In With The Enemy

Chapter 11 ~ "I'm Working On It"

It's hot out today for September, hotter than I was expecting. The second we got there Dustin and Mark muscled the cooler out of the trunk and lead the way down the path to the lake.

In the two minutes of walking, I'd already started sweating. Not a great look for me and it was a huge incentive to swim later.

The clones had beaten us to the beach and Walker cursed quietly under his breath as we approached the clearing between the trees. Thankfully it wasn't just them, Abby, Chase, Darren, Ellis and Sydney had made the trip which made me relax.

The second I get there Abby comes rushing over with a huge smile.

"Yay! I'm so glad you came, Annie!" She squeals and I laugh. "This is going to be the best."

"I'm glad you're here." I smile and she grins.

"Well come on, come put your towel down and let's start the beach day!" She insists. We all crowd around the coolers, one from Mark and Dustin, the other from Abby's apartment. Everyone starts setting out chairs, beach blankets, towels.

I set up next to Abby and kick off my sandals, going through my bag for the sunscreen.

"Hey Annie." I hear and Chase plops down next to Abby. 

"Hi." I smile.

"Abby, would you help me put some of this on my back?" I ask and she grins.

"Yeah, could you do mine too?" She asks and I stand up from my spot on the towel, pulling off my hat and tossing it down. She stands up too and I pull off my t-shirt, followed by my shorts.

"Here, pass it over." She says and I hand it to her. 

I felt a bit envious when I looked at her, I wish that was how I looked in a swimsuit. But I had to remind myself that she was an athlete, I didn't have to look like her even if I kind of wish I did.

"Ugh." I hear her groan and I look over to see Piper pulling her dress over her head and I feel envy round two float through my head. Her bikini was so small that if I wore it I wouldn't be able to breathe without worrying about one of my boobs slipping out of it. But Piper was narrow, small frame and a skinny build. We were total opposites in every way.

"Higher Chloe, you know I don't look good like that." She says and I watch Chloe stand up, iPhone in hand.

"Every minute's a photo-opp for Piper." She tells me and I smirk. I hear her open the tube for the sunscreen and start rubbing it into my back and shoulders.

"Emma, get in this one with me." Piper orders and I watch Emma happily skip over to her and the two of them throw up various peace signs.

"I wish I looked like that." I mumble bitterly and she snorts.

"Annie, why?" She asks with a laugh. "Here's a newsflash, most dudes are more into your body type."

"I thought dudes liked skinny more." I admit. My body had changed since high school, I used to be smaller, I was bigger through second and third year of university, but I'd finally gotten on birth control which had solved a lot of my problems.

I found out that I had PCOS a few months ago which was causing me to bloat a lot more, hold my weight in my stomach and the hormones were pushing me to eat. The birth control had introduced more estrogen into my system which kept the side effects back. My weight had since dropped more into my hips and moved into my breasts, some still lingered around my stomach. 

I didn't think I was big, but I was between a size eight and ten, but fully aware that my body type wasn't what was on billboards and magazine covers.

"Annie, dudes like boobs." She corrects me and I snort. "Only girls look at other girls and wish they were skinnier. Guys don't think that way." She tells me and I roll my eyes. "Okay, some probably do, but those are the sorts of guys you should be avoiding anyway."