Anarien

Chapter Two

 

  Anarien considered the full-length mirror and fixed her sunhat. Veronica wrapped her long red pony tail up and into a bun. She smiled at her sister and they quickly grabbed their beach

bags and room keys and headed for the door. They knocked on the boys' door. A thud sounded from within and then a scrambling of feet and then Garret pulled open the door a backpack still wrapped around his foot. Liam poke his head around the corner and waved when he saw them "Hey, girls! We are almost ready. Ok well we are ready but SOMEONE IS TAKING FOREVER ON HIS HAIR!"

Veronica and Anarien glance at each other and started laughing even as Kyle's voice came from the bathroom "Some of us like to look presentable". The boys rolled their eyes. Both running their hands through their hair both had red hair though Liam's was little more blonde and cut short on the sides and only a little longer on the top. Garret's was more brown but was down to his shoulders. He normally kept it back in ponytail while working or going out but now it was loose. Kyle opened the door his perfectly styled hair was spiked up and had just the right amount of lean to it. "I'm ready now" Ana giggled "you know all that hard work is going to go right down the drain with the first wave, right? Well, I guess it's more right down the beach"

The siblings laughed while Kyle sputtered. "I used special beach gel! It's supposed to with stand the waves" They laughed even harder as his hair drooped. "Are you kids ready to go?" They turned to see their parents in the hall. They both smiled at them. Ana hugged her mom, whose long auburn hair was in thick braid. Kyle's hair color exactly matched Veronica's shade of hair and they both had hair as red as their Dad who had dark red hair." Ana tugged on a lock of her own dark ponytail. Her Dad threw an arm around her. "Don't forget your room key boys. We aren't going to come back until later this evening. "Let's go get something to eat before we go to the beach." They all filed down the hall and into the elevator. They all knew exactly where to go as they always came to the same place and they all loved the little restaurant just up from the beach called "The Old Sea Bucket" They had really, fresh seafood and good chicken. Anarien and the others loved seafood but Josie and Kyle didn't like it at all. Anarien always got the 'Seafood platter deluxe' then shared some with Liam for some of his 'Seafood soup' The owners of the restaurant knew them and normally started their food the moment they saw them walk in the door. True to form they got seated and within 10 minutes all their food had arrived. They eat while they chatted a bit the twins filled them in on their school. While Garret told them how Abby was flying Egypt that weekend then on to London. "Will she have time to go visit her parents while in England?" Veronica asked. Garret nodded "Yeah, she has an extra day there and decided it was a good time to go see them." Anarien chimed into the conversation. "Well, tell her to take pictures of little Rose we all love to see your niece." Garret smiled "I'll do that as soon as I skype her tonight"

As they headed down to the beach and set up their towels and big beach umbrella. Then Veronica quickly kicked off her shoes and pulled off her cover up yelling as she ran toward the water "last one in carries the stuff back to the rooms" with a yell they all quickly pulled off their outer layers and ran after her. Ana quickly reached the front and jumped over an oncoming wave and farther into the water but stayed where her feet could touch. She laughed as she saw that her dad was the last one in but only because her mom had thrown her jacket into his face at the last moment. They all splashed for a few moments then went back to the towels to pick up the trail of shoes and shirts and cover ups. Ana pulled out one of her sunscreens and quickly started layering it all over the exposed areas. The boys pulled out the tanning oil and started slathering it on making Ana laugh when Liam yelled at Garret "Hey don't take it all!" She turned to Veronica "hey can you help me get my back?" "Sure" She quickly got her back then laughed when Ana put on her sunhat and tied it under her chin. "You always try so hard not to get tan and always end up the darkest of us all." Ana scowled "I know! It's not fair! I don't want to be tan and I have to put layers and layers of sunscreen on and then tan in like 10 minutes then you guys lay out in the sun and don't get a shade darker for hours!" She sighed "Sometimes I really wish that I had the same coloring as the rest of you." Veronica smiled and gave her a light shoulder bump. "But hey then you wouldn't have those pretty gray eyes." Ana gave a slight smile "Well, I guess there is that part." She glanced at the various shades of blue eyes of her family then shrugged "But I do like your eyes thought" Veronica smiled "We loved yours's from the moment we first meet you at the hospital." Ana smiled at her sister. "Thanks, Veronica".

"Anytime, but now let's go into the water! I want to catch some waves on the body board." With a laugh, they both grabbed the boards and went for the waves. Anarien loved water but she didn't like deep water very much partly because she wasn't the best swimmer. She was just careful not to get to far out beyond what she could reach. She smiled as she watched the boys play water Frisbee. She ducked under the water and swam over to Liam and popped up behind him using him to push herself high enough to grab the Frisbee and throw it to Veronica as she slid back down. With that it was on Girls and Dad against the boys.

It was a peaceful afternoon as they had one of the best days at the beach Ana could ever remember having. Finally, they all went back to the hotel. Their Dad carrying the beach stuff since he had lost the race at the start of the day. The kids all went to the girls' room so that Veronica could hand out the clothes she had packed for the party. She pulled out a dark green maxi skirt and silky white tank top for herself and a royal blue maxi dress for Anarien. Then a green, black and gray polo shirt for Garret, Liam and Kyle respectively. The boys already had their shorts that they would wear. They all went their different ways to go get ready with Kyle promising to come and do the girls hair. Veronica got her shower first since her hair would take longer to blow dry and Kyle got one first in the boys' room since he needed to be ready when the girls were ready. Liam and Garret were left to get ready on their own. By 9:30 they were ready and on their way. Brain greeted them on the dock and Ana smiled when she saw his eyes light up upon seeing Veronica. She glanced at Liam who smiled and started taking pictures of

everyone all candid so that it wouldn't take forever for them to pose though he did occasionally call out for smiles. As the time for the question drew closer Anarien got more and more excited finally, the song came on and she quietly moved a few people out of the way so that Liam could capture the moment in videos while their dad came right next to him with the video camera on.

The song drew to a close and Veronica stopped and looked confused when Brian stepped away from her then he got on one knee and her jaw dropped and her eyes filled with tears. Her smile grew so big her hand couldn't hide it and when Brain finally got to the question she squealed and threw herself down into a hug for him yelling "YES! YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES!" The cheers from all the guest all family and friends cheered and made other people walking past pause and look at the boat curiously. Ana pushed through the crowd and hugged Veronica, who in turn hugged her so tightly she wasn't sure her ribs where all left in the right place. Veronica turned when Liam came and pulled her away from Ana and into his own hug. Veronica pulled away her eyes narrowed when she saw the camera on its strap on his side. "You knew! You Knew that he was going to ask!" Liam laughed "yeah, I knew I wanted to take pictures and Brain asked me if I could. But I still want those Gingersnap cookies" Veronica laughed "fine, consider it your payment for being secret photographer that wasn't so secret." Liam smiled and hugged his sister again "deal".