VERA AND I both groan at the sound of more construction and while she rolls onto her side, I sit up and my hair falls in front of my face unceremonsionuly. I needed the get a brush through this thing.
"What the hell is that?" Vera groans, her eyes still closed and attempting the savour the last few minutes of her sleep. I push the sheets from my legs, stand up and lazily waddle towards the large window where I pull back the sheer white curtain.
I look down at the porch to see many bodies busying about. Some were setting up tables and chair and others were bringing in big leafy plants. Vera was right; what the hell is that?
"I'll be back." I sigh before turning and my heels and heading towards the door of our bedroom.
"Get me a glass of water?" Vera questions from where she was spreading out like a starfish on the bed.
I laugh lightly at her position and nod, "Sure thing."
Turning the handle, I walk out in the hallway to see Noah doing the same thing. He stumbles out of his bedroom shirtless and rubbing his eyes, his blonde hair was spiking up in all sorts of directions.
"Did it wake you up too?" I question as we both stop at the sight of each other.
He nods, "Yup and I was having the best dream too." He pouts in a child-like manner and I grin at his cuteness, "Penny's still asleep. She can sleep through fucking anything."
I laugh as I continue my way to the stairs, "I'll report back to you."
"Aye aye." Noah mutters behind me before I hear the door close, indicating he had returned to his bed.
I continue my way down stairs and into the mayhem that was waking everyone up. People rush in and out of the front door and the entire living area was packed with people. I walk past them and outside, having a clear idea who's behind all of this.
I walk past a young guy who was drilling together a chair and in my sleep-deprived rage I grab the drill off him. He looks up at me with a terrified look.
"Go grab some plants." I order and he quickly scurries off. Too harsh? Eh, maybe.
"Hayden, please do not interrupt my making of a master piece." Spencer walks over to me, dark sunglasses over his eyes and fanning himself with a floral fan. I roll my eyes as I spin around and fold my arms.
"What the hell is all this?" I question as I gesture around the porch, my eyes landing on the same boy across the space who was currently reaching down to grab another drill, "Hey!" I point at him and he quickly glances up at me, "I told you to go grab some plants."
Spencer chuckles at me as we both watch the guy run at the speed of light back inside.
"Here, this might help." He grins as he hands me his half-empty mug of coffee and I take it gleefully. "Welcome to Beachside Haven or otherwise known as the most fabulous twenty first birthday party in the history of twenty-first birthday parties."
I swallow the coffee, "You're having it here?"
"Well since your mom and David are driving up to Sacramento to pick up his son, they offered it to me." Spencer grins as I roll my eyes and groan, "Perfect timing really."
"And you decided to put all of this together at seven in the morning?" I say as I glance around, mostly to make sure the boy hadn't returned to grab the drill again.
"It wasn't suppose to be set up until tomorrow but there's some celebrity wedding and apparently that's more important than my birthday!" Spencer shouts as he spins around, frightening the two young girls who were carrying in plants.
I glance around at the mayhem of everything when my eyes fall on two familiar faces laughing together as they walk up the porch stairs from the beach. Chase and Levi come to a stop when they reach the top and his hazel eyes meet mine. Slowly, his gaze drops to my body or rather what was on my body.
I glance down too, curious as to what he was staring at so intently, only to find that I was wearing one of his vintage t-shirt as a nightgown. I hadn't even thought about it when I through it on last night, but then again my subconscious is a traitorous bitch.
"Oooh, hunny. That stare is enough to incinerate my panties." Spencer chuckles to himself while fanning him as I roll my eyes at him, "What, don't pretend you don't love it cousin."
"I don't." I lie before yanking the shirt over my head, leaving me in a lace bralette and light blue cotton pyjama shorts. I wrap it up in my arms, press it to my chest and storm inside with the workers moving things into house.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
"Did something happen between you and Chase?" Vera questions from where she sat in her deck chair, applying yet another layer of lotion to her exposed stomach. She had finally joined us at the beach and wasn't ashamed to show of her baby bump. "The awkward levels have sky rocketed."
I pull my sunglasses down the bridge of my nose, "We just had a little argument."
"About what?" Vera questions as I rest my chin on my folded arms. We had all come back to the main beach today and Vera and I were the ones currently guarding our spot. I was lying on my stomach, hoping to get rid of the tan lines I had.
"He just...he was being too caring." I explain with a small shrug as Vera throws her head back and laughs loudly. I frown at her in confusion. "What? We had agreed to be just friends and he was ignoring that."
"Just friends?" Vera pause to ask before throwing her head back and laughing again, "Oh my love, 'just friends' don't look at each other like the way you and Chase do."
"What? We don't....he doesn't...." I mumble before sighing in defeat, "Fuck. Am I stupid, V?"
"Yes." Vera says without hesitation and my jaw drops in offence, "I'm not being mean, darling, but breaking up with Chase was the biggest mistake you've ever made."
I groan as I drop my head to the ground with Vera giggling at me. I feel her pat the top of my head lightly.
"Hayden!" The sound of my name has my head perking up and I peer through the dark shades of my sunglasses. Emily walks towards us, waving her hand while struggling to hold everything in her arms, "Thank god I finally found you, I thought I was going to pass out from heatstroke."
"Yeah, sorry, I'm not the best at giving directions....or following them." I laugh as I tie the back of my bikini and quickly sit up onto the knees. I pat the area of sand next to me, "You can put your stuff next to me."
"Thanks." Emily smiles before unloading everything, causing some sand to fly onto my towel.
I glance at Vera to see a confused look on her face and I quickly realise why, "Oh! V, this is my friend Emily from my old high-school. And Emily, this is my other best friend Vera Miller."
"So, you went to the Academy too?" Emily questions as she pulls her shirt over her head to reveal a dark green bikini that contrasted with her very pale skin.
"Oh, so you've hear of me. I'm not surprised, you'll find I'm quite amazing." Vera explains as she flips her short curls that were mostly hidden by her large, designer sun hat. Emily gives me a slightly panicked look and I scoff.
"You'll get use to it." I chuckle as Emily finishes settling down everything as if she was moving in. When she was down, she sits down and folds her legs while playing with small grains of sand.
"So...uh, where's Chase?" Emily questions as both Vera and I exchange glance, "And the other guys, of course."
Of course.
"I think they all went swimming." I explain as I peer out towards the very busy ocean.
"Well, it is quite hot. It makes sense." Emily mumbles on and I knew what she was going to ask before she even did, "Do you want to go swimming, Hayden?"
"Uh.." I glance up at Vera who was watching us quietly, "Sure. Vera, you in?"
"Someone's gotta watch over our stuff." Vera explains while settling back into her chair, "I will guard it with mine and my daughter's life."
"Thank you for your sacrifice, your majesty." I say with bow before we both start giggling. Emily watches us in quiet and I start to feel bad that she had to witness this. I lock my arm with hers and pull her towards the ocean, "Let's go."
Emily nods as we start walking towards the water, dodging the groups of people and families like land mines.
"Hey," Emily starts as she tucks her dark hair behind her ear, "I was just wondering if Chase was seeing anyone? Like does he have a girlfriend or something?"
I knew this was coming since the second I had introduced them but I still hate it.
"Nope, not that I know of. But Everett is always with some other girl so it'd probably be better if you didn't get involved with him." I ramble, hoping to some how put her off him. I shouldn't be doing this, I have no right to control who Chase can and can't date.
Emily leans towards me, "Why do you call him by his last name?"
"Uh...I don't know." I shrug truthfully as I begin to explain, "In Elwood, all the boys called each other by their last names. Chase called me Jones and at the start I just called him Everett to piss him off but now it's kinda stuck."
"Hmmm." Emily nods in understanding, "I was just wondering since everyone else calls him Chase."
"I mean Noah calls him Chasey but I doubt anyone else would want to call him that and end up with a broken nose." I scoff as I unhook my arm from hers and my toes touch the chilly ocean water. I notice a couple of familiar heads swimming in the deeper part and point towards them, "Over there."
Emily and I waddle through the water until we were so deep that we had to start swimming.
"Hayden!" Noah exclaims when he spots us swimming towards him. He was lying on his back in a complete starfish position.
"Look who finally showed up." I grin as I gesture to Emily. Everyone greets her with a small hi as I slowly swim up next to Penelope. I was purposely ignoring Chase's gaze that I could feel burning my skin more than the sun above us. Noah's foot suddenly floats in front of my face, almost kicking me and I quickly push it away, "Oh my god, Noah."
"What? I'll have you know that being touched by the foot of Noah is a great omen." Noah says as he perks his head up. Everyone scoffs and I roll my eyes.
I snort, "Bullshit."
Noah gasps as he stands up, tall enough to reach the sandy bottom. All of the guys were while we were struggling to keep our heads above the surface.
"Oh I know you didn't just say what you just said." Noah sasses with one finger in the air and the other on his hip. Everyone couldn't help but laugh at him.
"Oh I just did." I smirk as I swim closer to him, "Bull....shit."
And that is how our totally immature water fight started. Penn, of course, was fucking lethal but this time she was on my team. People that were around us slowly moved our away from the complete chaos that was unfolding. We were squealing and cursing and just having a great time.
Half way through I feel an arm wrap around my waist and pull me back against a chest. A chest I knew all too well. I was having to much fun to care and while Chase held me still Levi and Noah completely pummelled me with water. I felt like a secret spy being waterboarded by foreign agencies.
I was squealing and giggling and eventually gave in by apologising to the Oh Holy Noah.
"Ok, I'm in need of a nap." I yawn as I slowly begin to paddle backwards to the shore.
"We're coming too Hay!" Penn says as her and Noah start to follow. Eventually Chase and Levi begin to swim back and just Emily stayed.
I frown as I call out to her, "You coming Em?"
"No, I think I'll stay out here for a bit." Emily says as she continues to float in the ocean water. We all nod and wave to her before turning to the shore and swimming backwards.
We were all walking up the sand bank towards our spot, laughing about our water fight.
"I think got fucking water in my lungs." I say as I cough once again and slap my chest.
"Yeah well at least you didn't get kicked in the balls by Penn!" Levi says as he awkwardly waddles up the sand. Instantly all of our eyes drop to his black board shorts and he quickly covers them, "Don't fucking look!"
We all laugh at him just as a pair of kids walk past us pointing out towards the ocean.
"Dude, look, that girls drowning." One of them creepily says in awe and we all turn around instantly when we hear the sound of screams muffled by the small crashing waves.
"Holy fuck that's Emily!" Noah shouts out as I recognise the brunette struggling to stay afloat. Before anyone could think, Chase takes off into a dead sprint into the water. I glance down the beach to see lifeguards running over, blowing their little whistle.
Like that's going to fucking save her.
I run down to the waters edge with everyone else, watching as Chase dives under the waves. I was squeezing my hands together as I watched, my heart going a hundred minutes per hour. Why does he have to have such a damn good heart?
Thankfully, he eventually makes it to her just as the lifeguards push past us and sprint into the water, the water splashing about in every direction.
However, they were a couple seconds too late as Chase was already pulling Emily in on his back. The two male lifeguards help him carry her onto the sand and we all gather around as they lay her down. Emily lay on the ground, coughing up water as the lifeguards and Chase kneel around her.
"Everyone get back!" The lifeguards scream at the crow that was now forming and throws his arm in an orbit, waving us off.
"Come on Hay." Penn whispers to me while grabbing my hand and pulling me away. I glance at Chase who was staring back at me intently. I hold his gaze for a while before eventually following Penn and the guys. I was still holding Penn's hand as we walk up to where our spot was to see Vera walking towards us while holding onto her sunhat.
"What the fuck happened?" She questions, turning and following us as we walk back to wear all our towels were laid out in a semi circle.
"Emily almost drowned." Noah explains while he lies down on his towel and places his sunglasses over his eyes. I fold my arms, continue to stand with everyone else.
Levi shakes his head before taking a seat, "So disappointing."
Everyone just ignores him as I glance over my shoulder to see Chase walking towards us. I don't know what the fuck possessed me, but I walk towards him and wrap my arms around his shoulder.
"Why do you have to be the hero?" I whispered into his ear as I feel his arms envelop my waist, "It scared the shit out of me you fucking asshole."
I quickly pull back, not wanting to stay connected to him too long. We walk back to the group side by side.
"She's fine. They're taking her to get checked up but we can go see her soon." Chase explains as I glance at Vera to see her wriggling her eyebrows at me. I roll my eyes as we all come to a stop just in front of our stuff. Chase continues, "The lifeguards are confused since they hadn't spotted any riptides but they must've missed one."
"That was so close. Did she say anything?" Penn questions with a worried frown. Even though Emily wasn't close to any of them, they were all still worried because of their generous and beautiful hearts. Well—everyone except Levi of course.
"She tried to but the salt water and screaming hurt her throat." Chase explains as we all nod with a sigh. I glance down at my feet, hoping that Emily will be ok and thankful that Chase wasn't caught up in the same riptide.
Vera sits back down in her chair, obviously tired as she places her designer sunglasses back on. I glance up from my toes digging into the sand to see Chase staring at me. Why the fuck is he always looking at me? I swear the fly eating Noah's left over sandwich was more interesting than me.
I shrug in question and Chase opens his mouth to speak, but all I could hear was my cousin.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the party has just arrived!" Spencer announces while he dances his way over to us with a blow up beach ball that he no doubt stole from a small child. Spencer stops when he sees the tense situation, "Oh shit, what did I miss?"
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
The sky was a light violet and blue as the sun slowly said good night for the day. The birds were chirping along with the sound of cicadas. It was cooling down, but not to much. I was wearing an unzipped hoodie, my bikini top and a pair of linen shorts and it was the perfect temperature.
Noah and I sat on the porch swing on David's front porch, just listening to nature. I had come out here for some air and Noah had followed me, mostly to get the tea on my relationship with Chase but the other to just enjoy the world.
"I'm just saying, if the Titanic can get a round 2, so can you and Chase. And I will gladly captain that ship." Noah grins at me while I roll my eyes, "A fucking iceberg as nothing on you two."
I tilt my head back and chuckle, "Thanks Noah."
Noah laughs with me as he glances down at me legs that were laying over his lap, deep in thought. It was a rare occasion to see him so focused. I usually only see it when he's hacking something on his computer. It's like he's a completely different person around technology and it's so fucking cool.
"Hey," Noah taps my leg lightly, "This has been bugging me ever since we left the beach."
I sit up straighter with a curious frown, "What is it?"
"I didn't want to say anything around the others but..." Noah glances over his shoulder and through the window before turning back around and lowering his volume, "It's just confusing how Emily almost drowned. I mean you said she was one of the best swimmers at your old school, right?"
I nod, "Yeah?"
"And the lifeguards themselves said they were no riptides." Noah continues and I slowly start to realise what he was getting at. He then sighs and collapses back against the cushioned porch swing, "It's just—shit, I don't know—it doesn't sit well with me."
"Maybe she had a panic attack or something in the water?" I shrug as I try to come up with other reasons, "We're not in Caldwell anymore, Noah, not everyone's bat shit crazy."
Noah pouts and folds his arms, "Well where the fuck is the fun in that?"
"Wow, Noah, out here spitting straight facts." I laugh at him while my nerves began to bubble under the surface.
Noah was right, there was definitely something off about the situation. But it terrified me to think bad of Emily. He took so much from me and like hell I'm going to let him take away my peace by constantly making me fear for the worse.
ooooooh, the tea is getting hot!
here's another update for you guys and i hope you enjoyed it a lot.
please leave your thoughts for me as it does help me write and plan for the rest of the book and the way characters are portrayed. your lovely comments and kind criticism help me more than you know :)