The next day, I slept in until 11:00am because my family had stayed out until 11:00pm the night before, and I had been exhausted anyway. When I woke up, the bass from Brandon's music was already blaring through the house. I groaned in exasperation and stomped down the hall. I pounded on his door with my fist and impatiently tapped my foot. "Oh, good morning Alicia. How lovely it is to see your face," Brandon said sarcastically.
"Let's get one thing straight, Brandon. Even if you are going to be my stepbrother, you can't go blaring your music through our house." I shuddered at the word 'our'. "Not all of us want to listen to screamo." Brandon looked at me in disgust.
"It's metal, smart one," he said matter-of-factly.
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes. "It's loud and obnoxious, just like you." He smiled sourly at me and responded in a threatening tone.
"Alicia, it would do you good not to get on my bad side because you have no idea of the things I am capable of." I scoffed.
"Wow, how low of you Brandon. Threatening me. You really need to get a grip or something." I heard Brandon growl in the back of his throat, but he remained calm.
"Like I said, Alicia. Stay on my good side. Otherwise, you'll regret it." I rolled my eyes once more, and I walked downstairs. To my dismay, I heard the volume on Brandon's 'metal' music go up, and I could almost see him smirking. "Moom!" I whined as I walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning to you too," Mom replied. I could see her at the stove, probably cooking one of her own recipes.
"Oh, right. Good morning," I added.
"Now what were you whining about?"
"Make Brandon turn his music down. It's giving me a headache." My mom rolled her eyes but started towards the stairs. A couple of minutes later, Brandon's music went almost completely down. Hallelujah! I sighed in relief, and my mom came back down. "Thanks, Mom," I said as she came into the kitchen. She smiled and went back to the stove. I was still in my pajamas, which was a black camisole and pink booty shorts. I heard someone heavily coming down the stairs, and when I turned to look, Brandon was walking down the stairs, already dressed in jeans and a simple black t-shirt. He sent me a glare, and he walked up to my mom and gave her a hug.
For some reason, this caused anger to boil up into me from my toes til the point where it would seem as if it were curling off the tips of my hair. I growled in the back of my throat, and Brandon slid into the seat farthest from me. I returned his glare, and then, I turned back to face my mom. "So what's on the agenda for today, Mom?" I asked her as she set a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of me.
"Nothing, really," she said, sitting a plate in front of Brandon. I internally groaned. Don't give him food, I thought, let him starve! I frowned but shook my head to clear my thoughts. I took my fork and dug hungrily into my eggs. "Mmm, yummy, Mom," I said.
"Thanks," she smiled at me, and I returned her smile.
"It is good, Mom," Brandon added. I shook with anger. He had no right at all to call my mom 'Mom'. He was just taking over like he'd lived here all his life. I took a deep breath through my nose, and I tried to calm myself. I quickly finished my breakfast, and I planted a small kiss on my mom's cheek. "I'm gonna go get ready," I told her, and then, I quickly ran up the stairs. As soon as I got to my room, I punched my bag in the corner of room in anger. I grimaced and punched my wall. Oops. I rubbed my now red knuckles. Ouch, that hurt. I really shouldn't do that. I turned my attention back to the punching bag that was hung from the ceiling.
I vented all my anger into the poor bag, and when I was done, I was exhausted. I collapsed on my bed and stared at the ceiling. I relaxed for a few minutes, and then, I got up to choose my outfit. I slipped into the denim shorty shorts, and I pulled a dark purple tank top over my head. I slipped some black high-heeled flip flops with small rhine stones on the straps. I happily turned on Start at the Heart by The Ransom Project, and I started jumping up and down in my room, rocking out on air guitar. I giggled giddily, and I grabbed my iPod off the dock. I ran down the stairs and nearly crashed into Mark. "Oh, hi Ma- Dad!" I giggled. I was still giddy from my little rock out session.
"Good morning, Alicia," he chuckled. He gave me a hug before he walked upstairs. I grabbed the keys to my Ford Explorer.
"Hey Mom!" I called. I heard her voice reply from her office. I poked my head in. "I'm gonna drive down to the beach for a while, okay?" My mom's eyes searched her laptop.
"Mmhmm," she murmured.
"Okay, cool, thanks Mom!" I jumped out of the room and headed towards the garage.
"Wait, Alicia!" I heard my mom's voice. I skipped back to her office.
"Yeah?"
"Ask Brandon if he wants to go with you." I groaned.
"Do I have to?" I whined. She nodded, and I groaned again. I marched upstairs and banged on Brandon's door. I crossed my arms and asked him robotically.
"Yes?" he answered.
"I'm going to the beach; would you like to come?" I asked monotonously.
"Hmm..." Brandon tapped his chin. Please say no, please say no, I repeated inside my head. Brandon shrugged his shoulders. "What harm could it do?" I groaned. Shoot. I took the stairs two at a time. I grabbed my purse off of the hook beside the door, and I rushed into the garage. I slammed the driver's door shut, and I waited impatiently for Brandon to get into the car. I pulled out of the three car garage and turned the music up. I Wanna Go by Britney Spears was playing. "I-I-I wanna go, go, go all the way, way, way, takin' on my freak tonight," I sang. Brandon looked miserable. Good. I pulled into a parking space along the boardwalk. "Okay, let's meet back here at, say, five-ish?" I told him. He nodded, and walked away. I grined at being left alone and I climbed into the back of my explorer. I quickly stripped out of my shorts and changed into a purple bikini, and I pulled on my denim shorts. I climbed out of my Explorer, and I pulled my ponytail out and let my auburn hair fall past my shoulders. I slipped my sunglasses on and started to strut down the boardwalk.
I looked at all the stores, but there was nowhere I hadn't been before; so, I bought a purple towel, and I laid it out on the beach. I laid down and relaxed, watching the waves. I saw a guy approaching me on my left side. I decided to ignore him until he talked to me. "Hey." His voice was a low tenor, and he was crouching beside me in the sand. He had a six-pack, and he was dripping water. "I'm Luke," he said, holding out a hand. There were droplets of water still rolling off of his dark brunette hair. His eyes were a sparkling green. "Hey, Luke, I'm Alicia," I said, taking his hand. I pushed my sunglasses up with one hand to look at him.
"I'm just gonna say it," he said boldly. "You're cute." I laughed lightly.
"Same to yourself." He grinned at me.
"You wanna hang out today?"
"Sure," I replied. He took my hand and pulled me up.
"Have you ever been surfing?" he asked. I shook my head.
"Nope, I wanna though."
"C'mon then!" he pulled me towards the water.
"Luke!" I squealed. "You seem to have forgotten that I've never been surfing! I haven't even been in the water today!" He laughed and kept pulling me towards the water. He went in up to his knees, but I stayed back. "C'mon," he said, splashing me.
"Eeep! Luke!" I shrieked again as I was drenched with cold water. I held up my hands in hopes to catch some of the water.
"C'mon, it's not that bad!" he protested.
"Uh-huh!" I argued. He continued splashing me.
"Oh, c'mon, Alicia!" He scooped me into his arms.
"Wait, what? Where are you taking me?" I laughed.
"You'll see." He ran deeper into the water and dropped me. I squealed.
"Luke!" I screeched. He splashed me, and this time, I fought back.
"There ya go!" he said. I grinned. "You wanna try surfing now?"
"Umm... sure," I hesitated. He grinned.
"Don't worry," he reassured me. "It's fun."
"Okay," I said. He pulled my hand, and he grabbed a surfboard.
"Just wait here, I'll show you," he said. I nodded and sat in the water. Even as a non-surfer, I could tell the waves were awesome today. Luke paddled out, and he almost immediately caught a wave. He was an amazing surfer. He looked like it was sheer fun, and it wasn't any work. I grimaced; no way was I surfing now. He came back to shore and pulled me up. "C'mon," he said. "Time for you to go surfing!" I stayed sitting.
"Nooo! Not after that!"
"C'mon, Alicia!"
"You're too good."
"I'm really not."
"I'm gonna suck."
"It's your first time."
"You sure you wanna teach me?"
"Yeah, totally!" I hesitated.
"Okay." Luke jumped up in the air and pumped a fist. He pulled me up, and he grabbed another surfboard. He handed it to me.
"C'mon!" he said. I took the board, and we walked to the water. Luke walked in with me. He and I both laid down on our boards and paddled out. "Here, here," Luke said. He sat up on his board, and he held out his hand to help me. I sat up too, and he instructed me. "Here, just sit up and kind of just feel the waves moving underneath you."
"Okay," I muttered, and I sat still. I calmly sat. "Ya, know," I said, "This is kinda relaxing."
"That's surfing, baby," Luke told me. I grinned broadly at him.
"Okay, now that you've got that, paddle out," he said. Then, he laid back down and started paddling out farther. I hesitantly followed him, and I saw a wave coming. "Umm... Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"I STILL CAN'T SURF!" He laughed.
"Don't worry, it's not that hard."
"Fine," I grimaced. He laughed again, and I followed him out. We paddled him out, and when he caught his first wave, he yelled at me "Stand up!" but I couldn't. He laughed at me, and we tried again. That time, I stood up, but I immediately wiped out. I came up to the surface, and Luke was laughing at me. "Grr, shut up," I growled, shaking my hair back. He reached one hand down to help me, and I took it and flipped him over. He came up laughing, and I splashed him. "That's for being an awesome surfer and saying it's "easy"." I said, putting air quotes around easy. He laughed again, and we kept splashing each other.