[Dedicated to Caitlin, a fantastically cheerful friend I've made here on Wattpad. Maintaining a conversation with her never fails to cheer me up, and simply put--she's the best.]
"So, we're back at the beach. Should this mean anything?" I mused to Dacey, who didn't seem to be listening to me as she lounged on the beach towel, daintily sipping out of a glass of lemonade. I scoffed and rolled my eyes at her even though I was fully aware that she probably couldn't see me. "Dacey. Come on."
"Hm." Dacey finished her lemonade and picked it up, holding it up to me like I was her maid or something. I let out an extra long sigh and took it from her, stuffing it back in my beach bag. Sometimes, she was just so annoying, like the completely dependent younger sister that I never had. But again, other times, she was the comforting older sister that I wished I had.
Dacey really needed to make up her mind about her role as my "sister".
"All right, come on." I pushed my beach bag away from me, placing it behind the two of us on the sand. "Stop ignoring me. It's not nice."
When Dacey didn't respond, her eyes glued on someone in the distance, I slapped her shoulder, earning a hiss from her. "Hey!" she protested, lifting her sunglasses off the bridge of her nose. "Stop annoying me. I'm trying to watch Carter in peace."
I had long gotten over the fact that Dacey had the hots for my idiot brother. (That was a good thing. I was overly sensitive to a lot of things, and this didn't have to be one of them.) "Dacey, just please. You're not helping yourself by turning into me."
Since when did I refer to myself as an undesirable person? Maybe Cara's sarcastic comments had finally gotten to me. I winced. Damn, I'd vowed that would never happen to me. What was happening to my life? Or maybe I finally decided to see the truth-I was an undeniable sap who totally had a thing for Dominic Amaro. Also, I liked his abs just a little too much.
At least one plus I got out of being a sap was understanding Dacey's point of view a little better-but not that much better. My brother didn't really have that great of a set of abs. I mean, Dom had fantastic ones because he actually worked out along with playing a sport, but I couldn't really say the same for my brother. The most physical activity I'd ever witnessed him partaking in happened at night...in his bed...with another person. (But I didn't have to tell Dacey that. Maybe she'd be able to reform him. That would be great.)
"Well, that was rather candid," said Dacey, completely startling me as I settled myself down on my stomach on the beach towel next to her. Goodness gracious, her timing was impeccable. I really did hope that I wasn't speaking my thoughts out loud... "You finally admitted that being Lottie Ingham isn't as fantabulous as you make it out to be."
I scoffed loudly. "Of course it is as fantabulous as I make it out to be. Everyone wants to be me. Have you seen the freshman girls just wish they could be me?"
Dacey shook her head.
I sighed. "Oh, whatever. But I can read their thoughts, and they all want to be me. Just saying."
"But anyway," Dacey said abruptly, sliding her sunglasses back down on her nose, "you asked Dom, right? Will he help? I mean, he is my last hope at this point in time."
"He is not your last hope," I retorted sharply. "You still have me as your secret weapon, and I would really prefer it if you stopped referring to me in such a derogatory way. I mean, I might even refuse to help you." I topped off my speech with the best pout I could summon.
Dacey took one look at my face and let her lips twitch upward. "Oh, Lottie," she said, throwing an arm over my shoulders, "you know I love you, right?"
"Of course you do." After clearing my throat and allowing Dacey some time to laugh a little, I continued, a little more seriously, "But yeah. Dom's getting to know Carter right now." I shot Dacey another glance. "You know, he gave me the most annoying snort that I've ever heard when I asked him to be our inside man."
"Why?"
"I don't know!" I threw up my hands, feeling my cheeks warm up. Oh God. I hadn't even been talking about his face or anything. "I don't think he's ever been caught up in something so...girly in his life." I covered my face with my hands. "And it's totally humiliating that one of the only times I text him, it's for a matchmaking favor."
"It's all for a good cause." Dacey patted my back with the arm she already had around my neck heartily. I swore that my heart could feel the vibration from her thumping. "Don't worry about it. I bet Dom loves me. I mean, I'm his first friend who's also friends with you."
"What?" I squinted at her. That reminded me that I really needed to purchase myself a nice pair of Ray Bans someday. But again, I never was a fan of sunglasses on my own face. On the other hand, Dom looked the sexiest when he had a pair on his face...
"Hey!" a voice called from behind us. Instinctively, I ducked-and stopped for a second. Huh...I swore that it sounded vaguely familiar. Before I could turn around to inspect the person, a volleyball flew over Dacey's head.
Dacey let out the loudest squeal I'd ever heard-it probably had something with the fact that she was practically screaming in my ear-and dove away from me. What did she think she was doing? She wasn't in some minefield on a battlefield, which was a good thing for her.
I swore she was the most dramatic person I'd ever met sometimes.
Gingerly, I turned around, meeting a pair of sheepish cornflower blue eyes. I got up immediately. "Oh my gosh! Levi!"
Levi quirked up his eyebrows. "Hey, Lottie." He pointed behind me. "Could I have the volleyball back?"
I glanced behind him, where there was a group of people playing volleyball. Of course. However, they all looked a lot older than he was. I also caught sight of someone's blonde hair and a flash of blue eyes when he turned his head in my direction. I looked back to the kid, who looked more and more antsy by the second. In fact, he was looking everywhere but at me. "You're playing with them?"
Levi shook his head. "Nah, I'm just hanging with my brother. My mom didn't want him to leave me at home alone for, like, no reason."
I turned around and took the ball from Dacey, who raised her eyebrows. She had such a bad memory sometimes; I swore I told the story of how Evan blurted out that his brother had a thing for me at least a hundred times out of pure amusement. "Here you go," I said, handing over the ball to him.
Did I just catch him staring at my boobs? Well, it wasn't really his fault that I was in my favorite lavender bikini. I sighed, failing miserably at keeping my mouth straight. I really did want to give the kid a hug-he was adorable and so polite too, which was a nice plus. However, I didn't think he could...handle me. So I settled for ruffling his hair.
"Hey!" Levi ducked out from under my hand. Wow, he really was that much shorter than I was. (I wasn't even that tall!) Well, from his brother, I knew he'd have a growth spurt sometime. He was such a cutie.
I shook my head at him. "I don't know why you keep being so mean to me." Oh God, it was really, really hard to keep from bursting out into giggles now, especially with Dacey poking my ankle. "I mean, I've been nothing but nice."
"It's nothing personal," responded Levi, who turned another shade of red. Cue the aw in my head. He pointed behind him again. "Um, they're waiting for me."
And with that, he took off. I followed him with my eyes, watching how he threw the ball over to his brother, the referee, so quickly that Evan almost didn't catch it. Evan turned his head a little, squinting until he seemed to catch sight of me. And then, with the girliest hair flip I'd ever seen a teenage male execute, he shot me a wink and turned back to the game.
I flopped back beside Dacey with a giggle. "I love Evan and his brother," I sighed. "They're both so funny to mess with."
Dacey shrugged. "You think Dom has competition for your affection now?"
I let out a laugh. "Oh Dacey."
↔
After a while of laying on the towel with Dacey in silence, I got up, telling her that I needed to go look for Cara, who was taking a ridiculously long time getting my drink. Really, I didn't mind how long Cara was taking-God knew that she needed to have some fun other than occasionally getting pissed drunk-but watching my brother frolic in the water like a little lamb with Dom got boring. And I had surprised myself that it was, in fact, possible for me to get bored from watching Dom and his abs.
I learned new things every day, I supposed.
I trudged through the sand, wincing as the heat bit into my feet. I really should have put on my sandals before I got going, but Dacey had been so insistent about making comments about my brother's "biceps" (if he had any) that I couldn't get away any faster. And now that I was walking along the beach blindly, I realized that I had absolutely no idea where the snack bar was.
So I just stood there, surveying the passerby and the landmarks.
Why was my life such a failure?
I decided to follow a family of four since the kids looked severely dehydrated-perhaps they'd unwittingly lead me to the snack bar. But soon enough, I figured out that my people-reading skills were horrible. I walked with them for about five minutes before they stopped at a public bathroom, letting the little kids in first.
Wincing, I crossed my arms as I leaned on the outside of the restroom building, where the changing stalls were also located. Who knew that the look of severe dehydration looked a lot like the look of absolute desperation to take a dump?
I followed a group of teenagers back out on the beach. That was probably a good idea age-wise...but they all headed back to the volleyball court where Evan was refereeing. Basically, I was back to square one.
I wandered down the beach. (I really did not want to come back to Dacey and her comments about my brother.) Once or twice, I glanced down at the waves to check on my brother. He was notorious for going missing, and I was responsible for driving him back since I was the only one with the car keys at this point. I found it a little odd when I couldn't find him anywhere, no matter where I looked.
Oh God. Had he finally drowned and left the world? That would make my life a whole lot easier.
But then again, Dom wasn't there either. A pang hit me in the chest. I hadn't realized how much I liked the sight of his glistening, tanned abdomen. That, paired with his windswept dark hair, he was basically the teenage dream...
Why were my thoughts wandering down that lane again?
As I kept walking, I thought I caught sight of a long mane of dark hair-Cara's hair-and gingerly stepped around a little tree. Oh, there was Cara standing on the side of the parking lot. In fact, she was standing right next to my car. But she was accompanied by my brother...and why did it look like she was cornering down Dom?
While I ducked behind the tree, I couldn't help but let my lips twitch. How often could I watch a doofus and a cross country runner corner down on one of the best soccer players my school had ever had? I leaned over so I could still keep the group of them in sight.
Luckily for me, the three of them were speaking loudly enough for me to hear from my slightly far away location. Actually, now that I thought about it, all three of them were blockheads for announcing their business for the world to hear. I shook my head, chuckling. Well, I supposed this was why I loved them.
Did I really love Dom though? That was a good question to ask myself. But not now, of course-now was the time for me to be thoroughly amused by the show the three of them were putting on.
"So, Dominic," Cara started daintily, lifting her chin as if that would make her seem taller. Given, she was a couple inches taller than I was, but Dom was still taller by a couple more. "You know why you're here, right?"
Why did this sound like they were taking lines out of a horrible teen movie?
Did Carter, who had his arms crossed across his chest and was nodding (and looking rather intimidating, if I had to say so), think that he was playing the part of the overprotective father to Dom's no-good love interest?
(He would have been the worst father ever. He already failed miserably at being a remotely nice older brother.)
"Um, no." Dom certainly sounded like he was taking this seriously, but I'd been around him long enough to recognize his crooked little smirk.
Oh, Dom.
"Well, we just wanted to make sure that you have good intentions," said Carter. Was he deepening his voice? It didn't make him sound any manlier-in fact, he sounded like a little kid who was trying to impersonate his father's voice on the phone.
I bit my tongue to keep a particularly loud cackle from bursting out. But that wasn't good, because soon enough, I was tasting blood. I was always bad at figuring out how hard I had to bite myself to inhibit my laughs. So this was the sad truth of my life.
"Good intentions," repeated Dom.
"Yes, bucko," Cara shot back.
Bucko? Where'd she get that one? I clamped my hands over my mouth, bending over and hiding my face behind the tree. Once I finished having my mini-heart attack, I gasped for air and licked my lips. I couldn't wait to try that out on someone some time.
Bucko. What a word.
It didn't seem like anyone had my sense of humor because the three of them still had their relatively straight expressions. (Only Dom looked like he didn't consider the meeting between the three of them as a death threat.)
"All right," said Dom. He nodded. "I'm not intending on strangling Lottie or anything." He paused. "Actually, it's really hard for me to keep myself from doing that whenever she raves on about Nathan New York or someone, but, I mean-" He shrugged.
Now I was the one who was fuming. Nathan New York? What the hell was that? It wasn't that hard to remember Detroit. Detroit. It was a fun word, and it went with Nathan's name perfectly. New York...I couldn't find any words in my head to express my rage, so, sputtering, I shifted my focus back on the three of them.
"I know we've accepted you and everything," Cara asserted, crossing her arms and assuming my brother's stance, "but we just wanted to make sure that you weren't a security threat."
Was I some sort of government building with high security prisoners or something?
"You have nothing to worry about." Dom bit his lip. God, he was so sexy. He let a little hint of his amusement through now. "Why would I be someone you'd worry about?"
Cara and Carter exchanged a glance like they were about to disclose a secret to him. Oh God, were they going to tell him about my long-term crush on him? I sat up straight behind the tree, my heart thundering in my chest. That would be disastrous, oh my goodness. Fervently, I held my hands to my forehead and hoped the two of them wouldn't let that spill.
"Why aren't you taking this seriously?" demanded Cara after she broke off her conference with Carter. She turned back to her colleague. "Well, Carter, it looks like we have to take some action."
Carter nodded and cracked his knuckles, stepping in closer to Dom.
And that basically broke it for me.
Stumbling out from behind the tree, I struggled to keep myself upright as I choked on my own laughter. It was incredible that Dom's abs had no effect on me. I couldn't help but guffaw though-my stomach was already hurting. I held onto a speechless Cara's shoulder once I made it to the three of them.
Once I was wiping the tears out of my eye, I caught the three of them staring at me, eyes all wide open. "What?" I said.
"You were listening?" Carter sounded so horrified that I wanted to pat his head. However, he was taller than me. That was a chronic problem.
I wagged a finger at the lot of them. "You all need to find a better place to have these confrontations. And oh my God, that was one of the best things I've ever witnessed in my life." I turned to Carter specifically. "I'm sorry, but you aren't a very intimidating figure at all. You're nothing like Brother Abernathy, Sarah Brown's supportive avuncular fellow mission member."
Dom just stood there, staring at me with those intense eyes. I found that I couldn't open my mouth, especially with him looking at me like that. And then, because the silence was growing more and more steadily awkward, I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.
"I ran into Levi today, and it's now so totally obvious that he has a crush on me!"
Cara shot me a concerned glance and started to pull me away from the two guys. "Lottie, are you okay?" she muttered.
"And you're not off the hook for calling Nathan Detroit Nathan New York!" I called to a stupefied Dom.
Cara shook her head.
By then (we'd trudged back onto the sand of the beach), I'd recovered my wits. "Are you okay?" I pointed at her and shook her hands off my upper arm. "What were you thinking? Did you really believe that you could confront Dominic Amaro?"
"Well." Cara shrugged sheepishly. "It was worth a try, wasn't it?"
I sighed and shook my head. "You and my brother are idiots."
Cara couldn't really argue with that.
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Hey guys! Here's to a slightly early update, right? (I try so hard. I really do.) How is everyone? Please do share any anecdotes you have about school, uni, life, etc. in general--I'd love to hear stories from people who aren't failing hard at life like I am!
(This is not related to the book; you can skip this rambling paragraph if you desire.) My school's homecoming dance is in two weeks! I'm super pumped for the spirit week (although I am a little worried about what to wear), and I just wanted to share that with you all. Anyway, let's watch and see how everything develops!
Back to the book: this is honestly one of my favorite chapters to write. I don't know if I've said this before (or said anything contradictory to this statement), but Carter is one of my all-time favorite characters--he's such a doofus! And really, so is Cara at heart (even though she'll never admit it). What are your takes on it? What's going to happen to #Dottie? ;)
The namesake of this chapter has been mentioned in a previous chapter, and like his solo song, he's kind of an underrated/obscure character. I myself am still looking forward to learning more about him. A picture of this fatherly figure to the obstinate and unsure Sarah Brown is attached above!
I hope you guys have had a lovely week, and I'll see you in a bit!
Anne xo