By The Sea

Chapter Two

Shoving our way through the crowd of people getting off of the ferry, we saw the two cute guys again. Maybe I could try and find them at some point, I could hear them talk about talking to me earlier. We made it off of the dock and saw my mom and Julie sitting in the large golf cart smiling. We walked over and were greeted by hugs.
"I can't believe you're going to be 21! It seems like just yesterday you were in diapers!" Julie hugged me and smiled. My mom smiled, a giant hat shading her face and shoulders.
"I am so excited!" All my friends were excited I would finally be old enough to drink. I was the youngest out of all of my friends because I had a late July birthday. We struggled to pile all of our stuff on the back of the cart and drove off to the beach house.
The house always surprised me with how big it was. It was right on the beach and had lots of windows and wrap-around porches. The outside was a pale yellow with two floors and high ceilings. I couldn't stop thinking about what it was going to be like once Damon got here.
"So what time are Damon and Andy getting here?" My mom asked, reading my thoughts.
"They should be here around five or five thirty." My dad said, checking the time on his phone. It was only three o'clock.
"That gives you guys enough time to unpack then pick them up." My mom replied, grinning at us then turning back around to look at the colorful houses we passed.
When we pulled up to the house I sighed relief, I had heard enough of my mom talking about yoga to Julie. She owns a yoga studio and my mom always wanted to ask her questions about it since she was a professional. I hopped off of the cart and grabbed my bags, not paying attention to my mom tell me which room I was staying in. I always stayed in the upstairs room with the twin beds.
I stepped into the house and shivered, the cold was a harsh contrast to the extreme heat. I kicked off my shoes and walked past the kitchen, climbing up the stairs. I pushed open the door on my right, dropping my stuff onto the bed farthest from the windows. I always liked to sleep by the windows so I could see the ocean when I woke up. I opened the sliding glass door and stepped onto the small balcony, breathing in the saltwater air. It was going to be a long summer.

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"Come on Cat, we need to stop by the grocery store then pick up Damon and Andy." My dad yelled up the stairs, always impatient.
"Coming!" I yelled back, turning off the tv in my room and looking at myself in the mirror. Hopefully this was cute looking. I was wearing light blue high waisted shorts and a tucked in white tanktop. I sighed at my reflection and closed my bedroom door behind me. My dad was waiting in the large six-person golf cart when I walked downstairs.
"They're at dock C by the marina." Julie said, walking towards me as I was walking out the front door. I nodded and walked down the steps to the deck, then the steps down to the small driveway.

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My dad whipped to a fast halt, parking in the mini parking lot in front of the grocery store. He turned the golf cart off and whistled as he started walking to the entrance, not caring if he left me behind. I rolled my eyes and followed, he always loves shopping for food. I had to search for him when I walked in, looking between aisles until I saw him looking at drinks.
"What do you think Damon would like?" He asked me, drumming his fingers on his side.
"How would I know? I haven't seen him in eight years." I said, folding my arms, irritated.
"I think he would like sweet tea." My dad said, more to himself than me. I pushed around him and grabbed some strange blackberry drink I've never seen before. I handed it to him and shrugged when he gave me a questioning look.
"I thought it looked good." I turned and headed to the cash register, hoping he would follow.
I glanced and saw him grabbing yet another case of beer. I rolled my eyes, they were always drinking. "One day the wind will change and your eyes will be stuck like that." He pointed out, raising an eyebrow and setting down the drinks for the cashier.
The cashier handed my dad the bags after we paid and we headed back to the golf cart. I took the bags from him and held them as he turned on the golf cart and backed out. The golf carts always make this horrible screeching buzzer sound when you put it in reverse.
As we got closer to the main entrance to the island, I let out a long sigh. I had to mentally prepare myself to see him. We passed by Mojo's, the most popular restaurant on the island aside from the country club.
"We should stop there sometime while we are here to eat." My dad said, following my gaze.
"Don't we always?" I said, smelling the fried food and fish as we passed the marina.
"Keep your eye out for dock C." He said, ignoring my comment. I looked around as we drove past the dock entrances.
"Well there's dock A." I pointed to the sign. Within a few seconds we passed dock B and saw dock C approaching. I realized I was holding my breath as we got closer. My dad whipped the cart around, again, and pulled into a tiny parking space. My dad jumped out of the cart and I checked my phone for the millionth time, hoping someone could distract me.
"Hello hello!" Andy yelled out, waving his arms around. He always was a loud person.
"Hey! We couldn't find you at first!" My dad yelled back, grinning. I finally got out of the cart, adjusting my clothes. "Hey Damon!" I heard my dad yell and my head snapped up. Damon was walking up the ramp pulling luggage behind him.
He looked so different from last time I saw him. He was tall with toned muscles and a strong jaw. He was wearing dark sunglasses that hid his face. A baseball cap was pulled backwards over his thick, curly, dark brown hair.
"Can I help you?" Damon said, glaring at me.
"It just seemed like you needed help." I said, trying to find an excuse for staring at him. He rolled his eyes and shot me an irritated glance. Then flipped me off. I furrowed my eyebrows got out of the cart and walked around him as he ducked down to throw luggage on their cart with ease, obviously not needing help.
     Geez he could've just said he didn't need help.
"How come you guys have a cart here?" I asked, raising my eyebrow in confusion. Why did we have to pick them up if they had a cart?
"Julie and Meredith dropped one off for us while you guys went to the grocery store." Andy replied, smiling brightly. He had the same smile as Ben, large and a little crooked. The resemblance stopped there though. Julie and Andy both had curly dark brown hair that was almost black with dark tanned skin and dark brown eyes. Damon easily looked like his parents, while Ben had lighter tanned skin, dark blond hair, and blue eyes.
I walked down the ramp to the docks, trying not to stumble as they rocked on top of the water. Andy and my dad talked about what day they should go fishing this week as they handed me bags to carry.
"Hey Damon, how about we go fishing tomorrow morning?" Andy yelled up at Damon, who was now rolling the empty cart down the ramp towards us. He shrugged and mumbled that it was fine and wheeled the cart around to put a giant Yeti cooler in it.
I yanked the bags up over my shoulder and tried not to fall as the dock rocked to the side with the shift of weight. I walked up the ramp and set the bag down in the back seat, wondering just how much stuff they needed.
When we had everything packed up on the carts, we headed back towards the houses. My dad and Andy yelling back and forth between the two carts as we drove. You would've thought they were brothers with how good of friends they were. The Maddok's had been my parents' best friends for as long as I remember. My parents like to tell the story of how they met almost every time we vacation together.
They met at a party when we were all little and Ben ended up blowing out his diaper and getting his own poop all over himself. Andy and Julie didn't have another diaper and saw my parents had me so they asked to use a spare one. Ever since then, they all had been best friends.
We pulled up to the house and Andy yelled out a loud hello to the moms and they waved back. I jumped off the cart and grabbed two bags. One of them was a soccer bag. Why would he bring his soccer stuff to the beach? I guess it would be fun to play soccer on the sand but it seems strange.
I walked up the stairs heaving with the weight of the two bags. My mom got up quickly and grabbed my arm. I raised an eyebrow at her excited look on her face.
"Look how cute Damon has gotten! I told you it will be a fun summer!" She peaked at him around me. I rolled my eyes and kept walking. Leave it to my mom to want to set me up with one of the Maddok boys.