Be My Anchor

Chapter Three

Tristan had shiny blonde hair and was wearing a perfectly pressed button-up with a subtle tropical pattern. He walked with all the prestige and confidence that I lacked.

I was...skeptical. Nobody looks that perfect.

He reached our group and said, "Mom, I couldn't find your sweater." His voice was deeper than I expected. I didn't want to admit that I liked the sound of it.

Mrs. Hale gave a dismissive wave to the long-forgotten sweater. "That's alright, honey. You know Luke, Davis' friend. These are his parents, Greg and Ann, and his sister, Marjo."

Tristan flashed the brightest smile I had ever seen. I might have been blinded if I looked directly at his brilliantly white teeth. "Nice to meet all of you," he remarked, then looked directly at me.

I nodded. "You too."

Mrs. Hale's eyes brightened as she said, "Why don't the adults go have a drink together and Marjo and Tristan can look after the boys."

Mom almost literally jumped at the opportunity. "That sounds perfect!"

Did it? Babysitting on vacation?

But the adults were already leaving as Mom put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Have fun."

Thanks, I thought. I won't. If only to spite her.

Tristan came over and peered down at me. He had at least five inches on me. "Guess it's just us." He looked directly into my eyes as he spoke and I had to resist the urge to look at my feet.

"And our little brothers," I added. Tristan laughed, but I remained unamused.

I looked to my left to see Luke and Davis shoving each other around, nearly crashing into people. "Luke," I yelled. "Stop that! You're going to hurt someone."

Luke shouted back, "I won't! Go away, Mar!"

I sighed. "I hope you run right over the railing."

Before Luke could retort, Tristan interjected and addressed our brothers. "Both of you stop. This is not the place for that."

I turned to him, a little stunned and curious about his next move. Davis stopped short and Luke slowly lowered his arms.

"And if you got hurt," Tristan continued, "you wouldn't want your sister to say 'I told you so', would you?"

Luke stopped and shook his head. They both uttered an apology.

My mouth dropped open as I stared at Tristan. "How did you get Luke to listen to you? He never listens to anyone."

He shrugged. "I exploited his weakness: his obvious distaste for you."

I gave him a look and we both started laughing.

Tristan took a deep breath, savoring the moment. "Hey, you want to get some ice cream?"

I shrugged, a small smile involuntarily coming to my lips. "Well, we have to take advantage of the free soft serve while we can."

Tristan's face lit up. "Exactly!" He paused to look at the boys who had sat down by the railing and begun their own conversation. "We should probably bring our brothers, right?"

"Yeah," I began, then stopped.

"But..."

"But...I'm sure they'll be fine if we don't," I finished.

He raised both eyebrows at me, shaking his head at me. "You're a bad influence on me."

"Why? Because I suggested what we were both thinking?"

"No. Because you tempt me to actually do it."

I couldn't help but grin. "Hey, it's not our fault. They were running around like delinquent children and we lost sight of them." I gave him a small push. "And I'm just really in the mood for ice cream."

He grinned back. "Lead the way," he said with a sweeping motion.

**

From the second I first saw him I wanted to hate him, but he made it so hard. He was easy to talk to, funny, polite, and handsome, and while we sauntered around the boat, I forgot about all my worries. I forgot about the water. I forgot about my embarrassment. I forgot about Gabe. It was just him and I, getting ice cream all over our faces.

We decided to play mini-golf. I was excited until it took me ten shots to make the first hole. Mini-golf was not my calling.

Tristan agreed. "I hate to say this, but you might be the worst golfer I have ever seen."

I frowned. "Well, you make it look easy," I argued.

He shrugged indifferently. "I have had a lot of practice. You're up."

I placed my ball on the mat and stood beside it, ready to hit. I swung back, but by the time I swung forward again, the club wasn't in my hands anymore. I started running after it, but I wasn't fast enough and had to apologize to the lady I almost hit.

I walked back in shame all the while Tristan was doubled over with laughter. When I got closer he looked up and said, "Okay, that's it. I'm helping you. Frankly, it's dangerous to let you golf on your own."

I scoffed. "Go ahead and try. I might be beyond help."

I got into position, feet shoulder's width apart, right hand over the left, and Tristan walked up behind me. He wrapped his arms around me, resting his hands on mine.

I could feel his breath on the back of my neck, warm and slow. My heart beat faster and I wondered, distantly, how I got myself into this situation.

He whispered in my ear, "You're too tense. Relax."

His voice startled me. I had almost forgotten what I was doing. Then I realized I was tense.

And it definitely wasn't because of the golfing.

I looked down at his arms around me. They were practically double the size of mine. There was no gap between us. I could feel his heartbeat against my back. It was slow and steady but gradually speeding up.

The golf club fell to the ground like my hands forgot to keep holding on. I twisted around to look at him only to see that he was already looking down at me. His eyes dropped to my lips.

"Ewww." Our brothers were staring at us with a look of disgust.

"They were gonna kiss," one of them said.

"I bet they've been making out this whole time. That's why they left us."

I quickly stepped away from Tristan, a furious blush coming to my cheeks. "Shut up, Luke. You don't know what you're talking about."

But a sense of relief washed over me. It wasn't that I didn't want to kiss him.

I did. Didn't I?

I didn't know how to feel.

Just a couple of hours ago, all that was going through my mind was Gabe, and now I was here with Tristan. How did things change so fast?

Nora is going to have a ball with this.

All four of our parents walked up and I was silently grateful that Luke and Davis had interrupted us before our parents had the chance to. They all smiled, looking refreshed from their time away from their kids.

Mom took another step forward and announced, "We're all having dinner together tonight."

My shoulders slumped, but I didn't dare protest in front of the Hale family. That would be rude.

Time to play the perfect daughter, I guess.

A/N: Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed it, don't forget to vote and add this story to your Reading List. Follow me on Instagram (@reeseiswriting) to see when I update.