From Me to You [Complete]

11

"Mom? Are you ready, yet?" I ask in a yell through the door to the guest room.

"You guys can go; we'll follow in a few minutes. Find a good spot!" She adds, as I turn away.

"So?" Andy inquires from the end of the hall. His blue bathing suit has dark blue flames running down the sides of it. He has a blue towel slung over one shoulder, an umbrella in one of his hands, a beach chair slung across his other shoulder on a strap and my orange, yellow, green, etc. coloured towel in his other hand. He looks like he just swallowed a beach. A blue one.

"We can go. They'll catch up," I tell him, as he hands me my towel and the umbrella.

"Sweet. Everyone else is outside."

"Let's go, then." I say, and sprint to the front door, hearing Andy follow me.

He edges around me to open the door, in a goofy way. "After you," he says, gesturing, and I laugh before stepping outside onto the steps and flying down them.

There's a pretty big group already gathered outside. Somehow Ann snuck past me, and she stands with Robert off to one side. Robert is trying to bribe Ann into carrying a tube, among other things. Michael and Jean are on the other side, having a pool noodle fight that Jean seems to be winning; Ann keeps giving them sharp, annoyed looks, clearly seeing their playing as an interruption to beach time. I bet my mom and Alice, who requested the pool noodles to float around with, weren't expecting the Lyons to take such good care of them.

"We're off to the beach," I announce to the world.

"Good," Ann says sharply, eyeing Jean and Michael.

"Wait. I have...to beat him," Michael says, and I look at him slightly incredulously.

"You...got that...wrong," Jean says through gritted teeth that he is pressing together in his effort to beat Michael. I notice Andy standing grinning off to the side, and wonder what he's thinking about now. Probably food.

"Doesn't anybody want to sit on a beach instead of do this?" Ann mutters.

I smile. "Only you, Ann, only you," I say, and move to stand closer to the duel.

I notice approvingly that Ann, along with the rest of the group, moves to crowd around Michael and Jean to watch how the fight will end. A great time to stare at Michael, I realize with a small smirk.

He's wearing a red bathing suit, and his torso is –well, this is Michael after all–the tiniest bit slick from sweat, and tanned from a summer in the sun. I have already seen it once, but not in daylight, only in the dim lighting of his bedroom. His bedroom. I feel goose bumps appear on my arms as I realize that I have been in that particular bedroom twice in less than 24 hours. What I've done in Michael's room in that time span.

I glance worriedly to either side of me, looking at Andy, Ann and Robert, feeling like they can read my thoughts. My cheeks burn but no one knows about what happened between Michael and me. Although Andy might know. He was the one to tell Robert I went jogging this morning. I frown worriedly and look at Andy out of the corner of my eye, considering him. His aloofness fits him so well that it's really hard to tell what he is thinking. Maybe–

"You're still here?" asks Alice's confused voice and I look around, blinking into the bright light of the sun.

Everyone aside from Andy, who stands watching me bemusedly, are walking down the driveway away from us, laughing and joking –except Ann, of course, she's on a beach mission. I didn't even get to see who won the noodle fight. The three boys wrestle as they walk and Ann looks like she is trying very hard not to say anything that will make them walk even slower. I smile, and look over my shoulder to Alice who is just locking up the cottage.

"I'm goin', I'm goin'." I roll my eyes at my own silliness and start to walk down the road with my brother and his goofy grin stepping in beside me.