A year after losing her older sister in a tragic accident, Charlie's Mom marries the father of the most popular boys in school. Still grieving, Charlie struggles to accept her new family and gets involved with her stepbrothers worst enemy, the capta...
"So, is this where you bring all your girls?" I asked him.
I couldn't help, but wonder if he was that sort of person. He was the captain of his football team and I couldn't resist questioning how much he conformed to the stereotype of someone in his position.
"You think I'm a player?" Billy questioned, almost amused.
"People say you're bad news," I shrugged.
"People say a lot of things, but I don't need to tell you that." Billy said, his eyes focusing on the ocean in the distance.
"How so?"
Billy raised his eyebrows and looked at me almost surprised. I found myself wondering exactly what he was thinking about. What had he heard people talk about?
"You are the Lakewood's stepsister. I'm sure people have had a lot to say about you." Billy shrugged.
I thought about it for a moment. I hadn't paid too much attention to what was going on around me to know if anything had been said about me. I knew people were noticing me more and I didn't fade into the background as much as I used to, but I never considered I'd be the subject of anyone's conversation further than the simple fact my Mom married their Dad.
"I think the only thing that fascinates them about me is that I'm the Lakewood's new stepsister. Beyond that, I bet their conversation's go stale." I replied, but then found myself sighing as the memory of when I was the talk of the school captured my attention. "I mean, there was the whole Alice thing before I was a Lakewood, but I guess that wasn't really about me."
I remembered the months after Alice's death like it was yesterday. The accident was the talk of the town. Long Shore had never seen anything like it before. People couldn't just put it down and mind their own business. It was exhausting.
"It must have hard." Billy said, his voice pulling me out of my thoughts.
I forced my attention off of the ripples in the ocean and found myself looking at the blue ripples in his eyes. He was looking at me with a sad smile and I hated it.
"So you like football, huh?" I asked, deciding to change the subject before it got too heavy. "You must be pretty good if you're the captain."
Billy smiled and looked down at the ocean below us like he was trying to avoid my attempt at a compliment.
"That's what my couch tells me, but whether I get a scholarship or not will be what determines it."
I raised my eyebrows at him in interest. "So it's something you want to go into?"
Billy shrugged, "all I know is that I enjoy it and it's fun. Who even knows what they really want to go into at seventeen?"
I nodded, relating slightly. "I get you, I'm the same. I know I like English, but I wouldn't want to pursue it as a career and I can't think of anything worse than a 9-5."
Billy cracked a smile, but nodded like he agreed with me. "What is it your parents do?"
"My Dad's an accountant who hated his job and my Mom and my stepdad are lawyers, which sounds fun, but in reality looks like a load of paperwork."
Billy nodded and took another drag of his cigarette. "It's good money, being a lawyer and all." He commented.
I shrugged, knowing my parents financial privilege, but I didn't want to make it sound important.
"What about your parents, what do they do?" I asked, wanting to move the focus away from my messed up family.
"My Mom's a storm chaser." He replied. "She loves the chaos of a storm."
I felt a spark of interest rise up through me. My parents had boring traditional jobs to match their boring personalities. My Mom was a perfectionist and his Mom admired chaos rather than trying to control it. I couldn't help, but wish my Mom had that sort of approach.
"That's so interesting." I replied, giving him a soft smile.
"Yeah, she loves it, but she's always away because of it. She got involved in some research project at college and never really moved on from it. Studying the weather is her life, I don't know what she'd do without it."
Despite the outward differences, Billy's Mom's commitment to her work reminded of my Mom's. Sometimes when she's working on a case, it's all she thinks about and it sort of takesover.
"What about your Dad?" I questioned, realising he'd only talked about his Mom. "Is he a storm chaser too?"
Billy shook his head and took another drag of his cigarette. "My parents split up when I was six. I haven't seen him since."
I looked at Billy curiously, suddenly feeling like we were somewhat similar.
"My Dad left too," I said, pausing as my thoughts came flooding in. I wasn't the sort of person to open up to someone I barely knew, but somehow I felt comfortable sharing with him. "A couple of months after my sister died he took off. I haven't spoken to him since."
Billy looked at me surprised. I couldn't work out whether he was surprised by my honesty of if he was surprised by my father's actions. I knew how they sounded. Leaving after she died was selfish, but it was also cruel. He made sure I didn't only lose a sister, but I also lost a father.
"I'm sorry."
I shook my head, rejecting the pity. I wanted to tell him I was over it. I wanted to tell him I wasn't curious and I didn't think about him. Yet, I knew if I did, I'd be lying.
"Peter, my stepfather, is nice." I told him, smiling slightly. "I'm still getting to know him and despite his sons, he seems nice."
Billy smiled, but didn't say anything. We let comfortable silence fall between us as we sat there staring at the sea. I felt myself relaxing slightly as I felt myself getting lost in the smell of the salt water and the sound of the wind blowing through the late afternoon air.
"Shit." Billy said, suddenly pulling me out of my thoughts. I turned to him and saw his eyes looking up at the sky as grey clouds formed overhead.
"You think it's gonna rain?" I asked him.
He nodded. "Yeah. Doesn't look like a storm, but we should go back."
"Yeah, I should probably head home now before my Mom loses it."
Billy nodded, "You live near this part of the beach, right?"
I nodded and we both stood up. The two of us walked down the beach and began talking about our favourite coffee's and why I hate cinnamon so much. It was only when we reached the dirt track leading up to my road that we stopped in our tracks.
Billy's attention focused on me. My heart slowed with the ease of his gaze. His dark blue eyes glistened like the water before a kind smile grasped my attention.
"Do you maybe, I don't know," Billy said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Will I see you again?"
I felt butterflies slowly begin to flutter around in my stomach as I looked at him. The ripples in his eyes had calmed. Yet, his eyebrows were slightly raised in anticipation as he looked at me expectantly.
I let the corners of my lips tug into a smile before I replied saying, "maybe, I'll have to think about it."
Once the words had left my lips I took off down the path, heading back to my house.
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