'What do you think about this?' Ecie asked holding up a navy blue tank top. 'Keep? Or to The Poor House?'
'To The Poor House,' replied her twin sister, Esme, looking up from a magazine. 'So what do you think about going to that beach party tonight?'
Ecie shrugged as she threw a pair of jeans into The Poor House pile. 'I've got a shift down at the store this afternoon and I don't know how tired I'm going to be.'
'How many hours are you working?' asked Esme. 'The party starts at eight. There's going to be a bonfire and s'mores and everything. You don't want to miss out do you?
'I guess not,' replied Ecie. 'Do you have any idea what you're going to wear?'
'I was thinking of raiding mom's closet,' replied Esme turning the page. 'But I could come down to the store later and see what you've got new in stock.'
'Do you know who else is coming?' asked Ecie as she threw down a whole neatly stacked column of clothes to the floor and kicked them towards The Poor House pile.
'Truman Adler, Grayson Booker, Coleman Holmen, Martina Scotch, Jessica Rah, Paul Messer, Lucy Hal, Jennifer Fox, Catherine Roster,' replied Esme. She put the magazine down then shook out her shoulder length brown hair and sighed. 'Who's the really hot guy on the football team you have a crush on?'
'Langley Duke,' replied Ecie pushing more clothes into The Poor House pile. She nodded. 'What about Verd? Is he going?'
Esme shrugged as she got up from her padded wooden chair and shrugged. 'I don't know. He was supposed to stay over last night, but I think he had chores or something.'
'Oh right,' Ecie nodded. 'Can you believe we'll have to go shopping when mom gets back? We are giving away all of our clothes to The Poor House.'
Esme looked at the large pile her twin had accumulated then looked up at the blank shelves in their large walk-in closet. 'When does mom get back?'
'Tomorrow morning,' Ecie replied, starting on the shoes. She picked up a pair of white canvas plimsoles. 'Do you know if dad's around?'
Esme shook her head. 'They never go at the same time,' she replied. 'Did you go surfing this morning?'
'Yeah,' replied Ecie. 'It was nice to have an empty beach.'
'Who did you go with?' asked Esme sitting back down and watching her sister.
'Smith,' replied Ecie. 'We went to Huntington.'
'Smith? I can't believe that guy has a last name for his first name,' Esme laughed. 'That's so weird.'
Ecie rolled her eyes. 'So what do we need to bring to this beach party?'
'Food,' replied Esme. 'When did you say you get off?'
'Seven,' replied Ecie. 'What time are we going?'
'About nine,' replied Esme. She looked down at her peeling red black nail varnish. 'I'm gonna have to get these looked at this afternoon.'
'I think we're done for now,' Ecie announced as she pulled out the last of their shoes. 'I'm going to stop by dads on the way to the store.'
'What are you going to wear?' asked Esme. 'You've just thrown all of our clothes out.'
'Oh snap,' Ecie replied looking at the floor then at the shelves. 'What does mom have?'
They left their closet and walked through Esme's bedroom and into their mother's bedroom.
'It smells so good in here,' said Esme as they entered her closet. 'She hardly left anything.'
Ecie thumbed through Julian MacDonald dresses, Malene Birger blouses, Marchesa and Roksanda Ilincic gowns, Vince sweaters, and Sass & Bide leggings.
Ecie pulled out a pair of Aubin and Wills Clawley track pants and a white Ralph Lauren FTBC fitted polo shirt. She then pulled out a pair of white sneaker Converse.
'I'm gonna get going,' said Ecie when she had taken what she needed. 'I'll call you later.'
'Sure thing,' replied Esme who was still skimming through the clothes. 'Are you doing anything for lunch?'
'I'll text you,' replied Ecie. 'See you later.'
Ecie climbed down from her Argento Ice Lexus RX 450h SE-L Premier then locked it before walking into the kitchen of her father's house.
'Ecie, darling,' greeted Clive, the housekeeper and chef. 'How are you?'
'I'm okay,' she replied setting her black leather Miu Miu Nappa quilted hobo shoulder bag down on the work surface. 'I was just on my way to work. Is dad around?'
'He's upstairs,' replied Clive. 'Can I fix you something to drink?'
'No thanks Clive,' Ecie smiled. 'I'll take a rain check.'
'Suit yourself,' Clive smiled back. 'I'll see you around.'
Ecie smiled one last time at Clive before going up to her father's room.
'Dad?' she said opening his bedroom door.
'Come in, come in,' Jonathon replied.
Ecie pushed the door open and found her father on his hands and knees looking for something underneath the bed.
He looked up and turned to face Ecie.
'Hey dad,' she smiled.
'Ecie,' he grinned. 'Well this is a surprise. What's going on?'
'Nothing much,' replied Ecie. 'What are you looking for?'
'A script,' he replied. 'I'm driving up to Newport in twenty minutes and I can't remember where I left this script I was supposed to be reading.'
Ecie nodded. 'Well I was just on my way to work and I thought I'd stop by to see if you were around. I think mom's coming back tomorrow.'
'Oh that'll be good,' he replied scratching the top of his head. Ecie could tell he wanted to get back to looking for the script. 'I'm flying out to Chicago tomorrow evening.'
Ecie nodded as she looked around the room.
'I'm so sorry about this,' Jonathon said getting back to the floor and searching for his script again. 'So what are you girls up to now?'
'There's a party tonight at the beach,' she replied. 'We might show our faces later on.'
'Oh that's a great idea,' Jonathon replied not really listening. 'I was going to suggest that we could go out for dinner tonight or lunch. But as I have this meeting, I don't think I can do the lunch bit.'
'We could do it some other time,' replied Ecie watching her father. 'When do you get back from Chicago?'
'On Tuesday,' he replied. 'We can go out for dinner on Wednesday night,' Jonathon pulled out a thick pile of paper which had been stapled several times along the spine. 'Aha, Roger Hammond.'
Ecie looked puzzled.
Jonathon put the script onto the bed then straightened up and picked it up again. 'The script,' he said as he carried it to the desk that sat in front of a pair of large windows overlooking the beach. 'What are you doing on Wednesday night?'
'Nothing yet,' replied Ecie.
'Pass me your cell phone,' said Jonathon taking out his black BlackBerry Bold 9700 from his tan pants.
Ecie rummaged through her bag and took out her black BlackBerry Storm2 9550, then handed it to her father.
'When did you get this?' he asked as he went to her planner. 'This looks nifty.'
Ecie chuckled. 'Thanks. Mom got it for me.'
'I think I might need to get one of these,' said Jonathon, mainly to himself, as he finished what he was doing and passed back Ecie's BlackBerry. 'I shall call you if I get stuck for another day, but hopefully that won't happen.'
'Cool,' Ecie smiled checking the time quickly before slipping the BlackBerry back into her bag. 'Anyway, it was good seeing you. I've gotta run, so I'll see you on Wednesday. Have a safe trip.'
Jonathon snorted. 'You wish.'
'Bye dad,' Ecie grinned as she gave him a hug. 'See you later.'
'Love you Ecie,' Jonathon called as Ecie left.
'Do you think we can get a twelve pack of donuts?' Esme asked as she leaned against the counter of Krispy Kreme.
'Of course. Which ones would you like?'
'Actually could we get the twenty-four pack?' asked Verde peering into the glass shielding the donuts.
'How much money do you have Verd?' asked Esme. 'I've only got ten dollars and all of that will cost like twenty.'
'I've got thirty dollars,' replied Verde turning back to the man behind the glass. 'Could we get four plain glazed, two coffee filled, two maple glazed, two caramel dreamcake, one glazed lemon filled, one glazed kreme filled, two cinnamon apple filled, two chocolate iced with sprinkles, two chocolate iced kreme filled, two chocolate iced glazed, two chocolate iced custard filled, and two chocolate dreamcakes?'
'Of course you can,' the man replied. 'Let me just get you a big enough box.'
'So are you going to that party tonight?' Verde asked as the man placed their donuts into a box.
'Yeah,' Esme replied. 'Are you going? Please tell me you're going?'
'I heard about it,' replied Verde. 'But I wasn't sure if I was going or not. Where is it and when does it start?'
'It starts at like eight,' replied Esme. 'I'm not too sure where it is, but I think it's on Zuma.'
Verde nodded. 'That's cool I guess. I don't want to drive far.'
'You should come with me and E,' replied Esme. 'She's getting off work at seven.'
'When's your mom getting back?' asked Verde. 'She's been gone for ages.'
'She gets back tomorrow night,' replied Esme. 'So this is kinda like our last night of freedom.'
'Isn't it supposed to be like the last party of the summer?' asked Verde. 'I heard that the whole grade is going.'
Esme laughed. 'I'm not sure that many people are going. I think there's going to be a little bonfire and everything.'
'That's cool,' replied Verde. 'What do you want to do next?'
'I'm not sure,' Esme yawned. 'I have nothing to wear tonight because E was tidying out our closet this morning.'
'Did she throw out all your clothes?' asked Verde.
She nodded rubbing her tired eyes. 'They're all going to The Poor House.'
Verde laughed.
'I had to steal this outfit from my mom's closet,' replied Esme pulling at her Tibi palm-print full-length gown. 'She even threw out the shoes.'
'Well your mom's closet is hot,' he laughed. 'It must be the season of throwing clothes out.'
'E always does this at the end of August,' replied Esme leaning against the glass and facing out. 'Right before school starts, she always cleans out the closet and gets new stuff in.'
'Here are your donuts,' the man said. 'That will be twenty five dollars.'
They paid for their donuts then carried them out to Verde's dark blue pearl 2010 Ford Super Duty truck.
'How's the gf?' asked Esme as Verde drove back to her house.
'She's okay,' replied Verde. 'She's with her parents today.'
Esme nodded. 'You should invite her out sometime for dinner with us,' she said looking out of the window. 'It'd be fun.'
'I'll ask her,' replied Verde. 'But I don't know. She's not too hot about me having girl friends.'
Esme laughed. 'Oh right, I'm sorry. Are you not allowed to hang out with me today?'
Verde glanced over at Esme and laughed. 'Yeah, I'm going behind her back and seeing you.'
'I don't get how you can be with somebody like that,' said Esme tucking a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear. 'It doesn't seem right. E and I are your best friends.'
'I know,' Verde teased. 'What a loser I am.'
Esme laughed. 'Seriously Verd. You need to sort that out.'
Verde shrugged.
Esme yawned as she looked out of the window at the water lapping up against the beach and at the small children running up and down.
'Are you going to dye your hair back?' asked Verde. 'I liked it when it was lighter.'
'I don't care how you liked it best,' Esme laughed. 'I like it dark. It makes me feel hard.'
Verde laughed. 'Are you going to go for the punk look this fall?'
Esme laughed. 'I hate how hot it is in Malibu; sometimes I wish I lived in New York.'
'But I'm not in New York,' Verde laughed. 'How on earth would you survive?'
'I think I'll get by,' Esme joked as Verde pulled up in her driveway. 'I am so hungry. Do you want a bagel?'
'No thanks,' replied Verde as they walked into the house and into the cool kitchen. 'It's so nice inside. I hope it'll be this cool later.'
'So do I,' Esme agreed opening the refrigerator. 'Do you want anything to drink?'
'No thanks,' replied Verde. 'We've got these donuts to get through.'
Esme laughed as she took out a bottle of orange juice and some ice cubes. She then went over to the cupboard and took down a glass plate and started arranging the donuts as Verde sat down on a tall wooden stall and helped.