Chapter 2
REINA
I walk into the kitchen and find Xavier sitting at the breakfast bar eating a bowl of cereal.
"Damn, you look rough." He laughs.
I glare at him.
"Enjoying filling your body with all of that processed sugar?"
I open the fridge and get out eggs, turkey bacon, and some fruit.
"I'm enjoying the finer things in life sis."
Xavier speaks with a mouthful of cinnamon toast crunch.
"Where is dad?"
"He had to go see a client of his, said it was important." He shrugs.
"Oh, okay."
I cook myself up some scrambled eggs and turkey bacon and cut the fruit I found into small pieces.
"I'm going to head out to the beach today with some friends if you wanna come."
Xavier places his empty bowl in the sink.
"Yeah, sure sounds fun."
"Aight be ready in an hour then."
"Okay, boss." I give him a salute, and he rolls his eyes.
"Will your new woman be there?"
"Girl, please, you ask as if we legit."
"Aren't you?"
"You know I don't do commitment."
He shrugs, and I roll my eyes.
"Will Zenith be there?"
"What about loner? Did you not understand?"
"Whatever, Zay."
"Just hurry up an hour goes by fast sis."
"Yeah, yeah." I mumble between bites of food.
"And don't wear your strings." He hollers as he leaves the kitchen.
. . .
Xavier pulls into beach parking for Jacksonville, Florida. We get out, and I grab my bag, towel, and umbrella. We make our way towards the wooden pathway that will lead us down to the beach.
"Is it always this hot?" I pant.
"Midwesterners." Xaiver shakes his head.
"Shut up, I like our weather."
"Yeah, yeah." Xavier starts to jog, "C'mon you'll be cooler once we reach the water."
"Xavier, wait, this umbrella is heavy!"
I run after him, trying my best to keep up. He leads us a ways down the beach, and I stop to take off my sandals only to put them back on immediately when I feel the grains of sand burning holes into my feet.
When I finally catch up to Xavier again, he is kissing a blonde haired girl. Way too sloppily for my taste. I can't help but grimace at them as I try not to gag. There's a whole group of teenagers, some play volleyball, some dance while arguing over the choice of music, and others are drinking what I know is not soda. I clear my throat, and my brother and his girlfriend pull apart.
"Thanks for leaving me back there, big bro." I give him a forced smile.
"Sorry bout that, sis."
"Omg, this is your sister." The blonde girl squeals as she comes up to me and wraps me in a hug.
"Omg Zay bear, she's so cute!"
"Ashley, what did I say about that name?" Xavier rolls his eyes.
"Don't be such a grump." She pouts, then turns back to me.
"We're gonna be besties!" She does a little hop and giggles.
"Oh yay!" I try to match her enthusiasm.
Xavier looks to be enjoying my torment as he smirks at us. I smirk back at him.
"Xavier told me so much about you."
"He did?!" Her eyes light up as she looks from me to my brother, who scowls at me once her attention is back on me.
"He sure did. He told me you're the best he's ever had. And of course he said how beautiful you are." I wink.
"Omg, Zay, bear!" She squeals and runs up to my brother, placing kisses on his cheek.
"I'm gonna kill you later." Xavier mouths.
I smile and shrug as I lay out my towel and set up my umbrella. I place my bag beside me as I sit beneath the umbrella, enjoying the shade as I get out a murder mystery book from my bag. I'm only to chapter 8, and it already has me hooked.
"Word is that you're Xavier's little sista."
An Australian accent takes my attention away from my book. A boy who looks around my age is staring down at me. He has long blond hair that has blue streaks in it.
"Well, the word is correct." I say before looking back down at my book.
"I'm Jacob." He sits down beside me, holding his hand out in front of my face.
I reluctantly close my book and sit up to shake his hand.
"Reina."
"That's a pretty name." He smiles.
"Thanks."
"Stop hitting on my sister." Xavier yells, glaring over at us.
"He isn't hitting on me." I roll my eyes.
"Not yet anyways." Jacob yells back.
"Are you going to read all day?"
"Well, that was sort of my plan."
"On such a beautiful day as this." He gestures towards what's around us.
"I'm not used to the weather being this hot." I shrug, and Jacob laughs.
"So you're not from round here then."
"Chicago."
"Ahh, Chicago. A city girl, then."
Jacob winks, and I smile.
"Ladies and gentlemen, did I just get a smile out of the lovely lady."
"Shut up." I laugh.
"Come." He stands holding out his hand for me.
"Where are we going?"
"To play volleyball, of course."
"Ugh, I don't know." I whine.
"C'mon, it'll be fun."
I stare at his hand and sigh.
"Oh, alright."
"Atta girl."
I let him help me up, and then I follow him to the already ongoing volleyball game.
"Oi, which side needs help?!"
Jacob yells. One of the guys tells us which side we can join, and I find myself already hitting the ball back over the net. When it comes back again, I dive for it, hitting it back up right before it almost touches the ground. One of the girls on my team spikes it over, gaining us a point.
"You're a natural." Jacob winks at me.
I roll my eyes while smiling and then get back into the game. We play for about twenty more minutes and end up in a tie at game point.
"Next score wins." Someone yells.
The ball comes flying over the net directly to Jacob. I watch as he goes for it but trips over his own two feet, crashing hard into the sand. Our opposing team cheers while our team groans. I can't help but laugh at Jacob as he spits sand from his mouth.
"You enjoying this, are ya?" He laughs.
"A little bit." I giggle as I help him up.
"Wasn't playing to win anyway." He says while brushing the sand off his toned chest.
"Right, sure you weren't." I nod my head.
"Again?" He asks.
"Nope, no more for me, I'm gonna go cool off for a bit."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure." I say as I wave behind me, leaving the sand covered aussie behind.
When the water hits my toes, I let out a sigh of relief. Its coolness is pulling me in. I make my way in further while splashing water along my arms. I get in waist deep and then sit on my knees, letting my body cool off. I look around me at all of the swimmers and frown when I see a man teaching his little girl how to float. He laughs at her excitement. I feel an ache in my chest thinking back to when my dad taught me how to swim.
"I think this is yours."
A voice breaks me from my thoughts. I look up into the beautiful green eyes of my next-door neighbor. I stare at him open-mouthed. My eyes flicker down to his abs, then back up at him. He gives me a shy smirk.
"Is this yours?" He asks, and I look down at his open palm. There is a silver necklace with a small starfish dangling from it. It's not mine.
"Oh wow, yes, thank you! Where did you find it." I stand taking the necklace from him. Even at my full height, he is still at least over a foot taller than me.
"In the water." He grins.
"Oh, right." I chuckle nervously as I wrap the necklace around my finger.
"I'm Reina." I blurt out too loudly even for me that it makes me cringe.
"Zenith." He smiles at me.
"I think we're neighbors."
"You think?" He raises his eyebrows while smirking at me.
"N-no, I mean I- I know we are because I watched you working out."
His eyebrows shoot up even further.
"I meant saw! I saw you working out from my balcony."
He smiles mischievously.
"I thought I recognized you from somewhere."
"Heh yeah." I smile nervously, feeling shy from his intense stare.
"I guess I'll be seeing you around then."
"Yeah, totally. I'll see you around."
"See you then, Reina."
My heart does summer saults inside my chest when he says my name.
He gives me one last smirk before trudging off through the water with his surfboard tucked under his arm.
"See you, Zenith." I yell after him, then face palm myself.
"I watched you working out? What the hell, Reina?" I grumble under my breath.
A/N
Chapter 2 complete! I'm already loving Zenith and Reina so much! 🥰 How about you?