"Owen go get us some towels!" Ian calls.
Owen stops where he's standing, shirt in hand, chest bare. He's got a swimsuit on, just like the rest of us, but he hasn't gotten into the hot tub yet. He frowns and shakes his head.
"No, get your own," Owen replies, hopping into the hot tub beside me. I feel all tingly when his bare and muscular arm wraps around me, and it's not because of the piping hot water.
"I have to pee and you're denying me a towel?" Ian asks, putting a dramatic hand to his heart.
"Yes," Owen nods. "I am."
"Then I'm gonna pee in your hot tub," Ian crosses his arms.
"This is your hot tub too," Owen raises his eyebrows.
"I don't mind sitting in my own pee," Ian shrugs.
I scrunch up my nose and resist the gag in my throat. "Fine! I'll get the stupid towels," I exclaim. Then I roll my eyes. "Men."
I climb out of the hot tub, leaving a smug Ian and a surprised Owen behind. I dry myself off with the one towel I brought out for myself and then walk inside with it wrapped around me. The towels are in some closet from what I can remember.
The main hallway of his house is upstairs, so that's where I head. The house is dark and eerily quiet because their parents aren't here right now. Clarin's out with Lucas again. Everyone else is gone. So this is pretty creepy walking around about now.
One of the cabinets is already open, so I walk over and search through it. No towels, just sheets. The next contains hair supplies. The next has old shoes and clothes. Finally at the last one, I find the stack of pool towels. I grab two and shut it again.
Someone squeezes my waist and I let out a squeal, turning around quickly after jumping a mile.
"You should've seen your face," Joey laughs.
"When did you get here?" I demand angrily.
"A minute ago," he smiles at me. "Clarin and Lucas just got here too. Oh yeah, and the doorbell rang a second ago. You should probably go get that."
My mouth falls open and I stare at him incredulously. "And you couldn't go answer it?"
"Hey," he holds his hands up in surrender, "you're just mad because I scared you."
"Shut up," I roll my eyes and head down the stairs.
Joey was right. Through the glass window on the door, I can see people just outside it. I pull it open and am not shocked to find Drake, Parker, Jake, Phill, and Ben staring back.
"Brinley!.... Or maybe Clarin?" Drake says, looking unsure.
"It's Brinley," I say.
"Right, I knew that," Drake smiles. "Twins, you know? Ian and Owen are hard enough..."
"I get it," I shrug. "I slapped Ian across the face... And punched him a little... Thinking he was Owen, when I first met him."
"No way, what did Owen do to deserve a beating that never really came to him?" Parker looks thrilled at this information.
"He didn't do anything. I saw Ian making out with some random chick and flipped out. Just a bit," I shrug.
Parker and Drake both let out a loud laugh. "I wish I was there to witness that."
"Can we come in now?" Phill asks in an agitated tone.
Can you shut up now?
"I was pretty embarrassed when I realized I had the wrong brother," I tell him.
"And you were pissed," Ian walks up behind me and smiles at his friends, now using a towel I didn't grab him. Wow, I went upstairs for absolutely nothing. "Owen got an earful, I could hear it from across the lawn."
"Right," I look away, remembering the revelations that day held. Ian pushed me out a window. He tried to kill me, in fact he threatened to. And here I am, conversing with him like it's normal. I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to team up with Jonathan to kill me after all this. "You can deal with these guys, I'm cold. I'm going back to the hot tub."
"Hot tub?" I hear Parker ask excitedly as I walk away from them and out through the back door.
Owen, Lucas, and Clarin are all already sitting out in the hot tub, grinning at each other and talking. I throw the unused towels on a table and hop right into the piping water beside Owen.
"Hello, Brinley," Lucas grins at me, arm around Clarin who's still laughing about something I don't know about yet.
"Hi..." I say slowly, looking at all three of them in both annoyance and curiosity.
Clarin bursts out laughing again and Lucas lets out a short chuckle.
"What's going on?" I demand.
"Owen just," Clarin laughs, "he just," she clutches her stomach and coughs on a giggle, "he told the story of when you told off your teacher."
"What?" I ask, looking over at Owen expectantly.
"Yeah, what?" Parker, Drake, Ben, Jake, and Phill all walk out the back door.
"Come here, hurry," Clarin ushers them. "You don't want to miss this story."
"Okay, okay, it was sophomore year," Owen starts once everyone's squished into the hot tub. "Brinley was up all night the day earlier doing some project. She was asleep on her feet the whole day, only keeping her eyes open thanks to Mountain Dew. We got to Science class and Mr. Jamison asked you a question about our homework," he grins at the memory. "You sprang out of your seat at the sound of your name, eyes all bloodshot. And you said in a really slurry and angry voice..." He laughs, dragging a hand through his hair. "And I quote, 'Gosh, leave me alone, okay? I'm having a horrible day right now and when you accuse... or abuse... Whatever. When a retarded teacher makes me do pointless bookworm and homework and crap-squat work, I could be doing better and more productive things. And I will. I hate your class anyways.' And you walked out of class, went into the locker room and took a nap."
I blink a few times as some of the people laugh at me. I do get grumpy when I sleep, don't I?
"This is even more priceless than seeing her slap Ian!" Parker exclaims.
"Hm, I think it's a close second," Drake smiles.
"No way, I'd much rather see her yell at a teacher," Parker replies. "Tell me, was the teacher elderly?"
"Don't ask me, remember, I don't know anything," I hold up my hands.
"Yes, he was elderly. His last year before retirement," Owen says.
"Wow. Great job, B. Mess with the senior citizens. You deserve a nobel peace prize," Joey ruffles my hair, to which I slap his hand away.
"I'm glad you all find my embarrassing moments fun to discuss about," I roll my eyes.
"If you didn't have any embarrassing moments to share, I couldn't be your friend," Joey says.
"What about you?" I ask, raising my eyebrows expectantly. "If you get to know my embarrassing moments, I want to know yours."
Joey's eyes widen and when he sees the look on Owen's face he shakes his head violently. "Don't tell that one, Owen. Any one but that one- oh, and the other one... You know..."
"Fine, fine," Owen smiles. "I want to tell you the story of Joey's first date."
"Oh gosh," Joey smiles and lets out a loud laugh.
"Seventh grade. Her name was Shannon Marshal. Joey was so obsessed with this two-person bicycle. He picked the poor girl up to go to a play on that bike. She was wearing a dress," Owen and Joey both laugh, "It was five minutes into the ride when her skirt caught on the wheel and she fell down under the bike and onto the concrete, Joey falling on top of her. She had tire marks on her face for two days."
"And I never got to see the play," Joey adds.
"I should really take note of your impressive dating skills," Ben nods.
*•*•*
"Oh, sorry, Owen. I'll be inside in a minute," I say, tying an elastic around the excess material of my pajama t shirt. "I left my phone out by the hot tub."
"Okay," Owen calls through his bedroom door.
I start down the stairs and into the kitchen where the doors are and yank it open. It's really dark outside, hooray. I flip a few switches and one of them turns on a dim light along the little pathway to the hot tub. Good enough.
I try to hurry quickly, because, you know, I'm getting eaten alive by bugs here. Not the best time. My phone is sitting on top of one of the chairs. I grab it and turn it on.
I hear a noise behind me and flip around. I don't think there's anything there. Or at least, it's too dark to tell. I look back down at my phone screen.
A branch cracks. I look back out towards the yard. I don't think I'm alone here.
"Hello?" I ask in a shaky voice.
There's no answer. I squint to try and get a clearer view of the lawn. It's far too dark to see anything, though. Maybe it's an animal or something?
And then I see a figure walking towards me. It's still too far away to see the face. I take a step backwards, my heart beating quickly. This is it. This is the end.
But I don't see who I expect to see.
"Oh, hi, Lucas," I smile in relief. "Did you forget your phone too?"
"No, Brinley," he replies, walking closer.
"What?" I ask, eyes widening.
"I think you know," he replies, frowning.
I dial 911 on my phone as quickly as I possibly can, throwing the little table between us. He was it dodges it and shoves himself into me, knocking it out of my hand before I can press the call button.
He then grabs me and throws me against the hot tub. I gasp, eyes watering in pain. I kick as hard as I can at him, but he won't let go. Then his hands are gripping my neck. And he's shutting the air out.
"Please," I barely muster. "At least," I cough, "explain yourself. It's only fair."
Lucas pulls out a gun and holds it against my head. "If you scream, I swear I'll shoot you right now. We need to get somewhere safer for this."
"If I'm going to die anyways, at least tell me why you're doing this," I say with as much confidence as I possibly can.
"Walk," he shoves me forward. "Go open the gate. I'm taking you to the park. I'll tell you everything when we get there."
I do as he says, staying completely silent because, you know, he's got a loaded gun in his hands. The walk to the park is not far from Owen's parents' house. We get there in hardly five minutes, and by then I'm shaking in fear.
I sit on the little kiddy stairs and he stands in front of me with the gun outstretched. "I didn't get on Clarin's plane for no reason. I thought she was you. Jonathan gave me an exact description of you, and she matched every detail. I rode with her and asked her all sorts of questions, and I found out she was coming to stay with you. Lucky me, to have parents in the house next door. How convenient."
"Why did you keep playing Clarin on?" I ask in disgust, even though I know his answer.
"She was the perfect way to fight my way into your perfect little party going on here," Lucas smirks. "I flew right under the radar as planned. And here I am, and here you are."
He holds the gun out to me once again, and I panic. "What do you get out of this?"
"Jonathan offered me enough money, and I'll know where to find it when I tell him I'm successful," Lucas answers.
"When you're successful..." I say slowly.
"Don't act stupid. I know Jonathan called you," Lucas hisses, stepping closer to me. "You know what I have to do just as well as I do."
"You don't have to do anything. Jonathan's in jail," I say. But mostly I'm begging him not to shoot me in the face.
"You don't understand," he says, eyes beady and forehead sweaty in anticipation. His hand is shaking with the gun. "I told him I would. I promised him, and I owe him my life."
"You don't owe him anything," I say, my own hands shaking on my lap.
"You aren't going to stop me, Brinley," Lucas says. "I have to."
"You don't!" I call, tears filling my eyes.
He cocks the gun and I can't breathe. His finger rests over the trigger. He tilts his head just slightly as he says, "Goodbye, Brinley."
I close my eyes and wait for the impact to come with tear-stained cheeks. But when I hear the gun go off, nothing comes. I hear a shout and my eyes fly open.
"Run, Brinley. The cops are on their way," Owen calls, slamming Lucas's head into the pole by the swingset.
But my feet won't move. I can't do anything but stand and watch as Owen struggles with Lucas, who just threw a punch into his stomach. When he grunts in pain, Lucas kicks him down to the ground and shoves a new fist into his side.
"No!" I yell, running over to them. I try to shove Lucas away from Owen, which only results in him grabbing my hair and smashing my head against the swingset pole.
As soon as I take a step back, my vision blurs. And Lucas throws my head back at the pole, making me cry out in pain. Tears pour over, and I fall onto the ground when Lucas is pulled off me.
"Go, now, Brinley!" Owen shouts, pushing me away from Lucas.
This time I obey him and stand up as quickly as my shaky legs will allow. My head feels like it's bursted in half, and as soon as I take one step in an attempt to escape, everything is spinning. And suddenly, I'm on the ground, the thunk of my head crashing the cement echoing through me.
I only hear, "Brinley!" before everything goes black.