chapter seven: seductive
I woke up at eight and didn't hesitate one bit to jump out of bed. Hastily, I pulled out the outfit that I had already planned: a red bikini top, navy blue bikini bottoms with white stars, denim shorts, and a white "USA" crop top. I then slipped my flip-flops on as I scurried to the bathroom across the hall. No one was up on the second floor yet, so I was able to take my time in the bathroom. I brushed my hair and teeth and applied waterproof mascara. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. I groaned. It seemed like no matter how early I got up, I could never escape the wait for the bathroom.
"Kendall, is that you?" Ryan asked from the other side of the door.
"Yes, give me a second," I told him. My eyebrows were looking a little scary today, so I was plucking a few strays.
"Hurry up! I have to go to the bathroom," he grumbled, banging his body against the door with a loud thud.
"If you have to go so bad, go downstairs," I suggested.
"The more I move, the more I feel like I am going to piss my pants," Ryan complained. I plucked a few more eyebrow hairs, placed the tweezers back in the drawer, and opened the door. Ryan was standing with his legs crossed and a look of struggle on his face.
"Thank you," he mumbled. I moved to the side as he carefully waddled into the bathroom. Gosh, he can be such a freak sometimes.
Since I was ready, I went downstairs to wait for the rest of the crew. Surprisingly, the adults were already preparing food for the barbeque. My mom was pulling racks of cupcakes out of the oven and my aunt was preparing the icing. My dad and uncle were outside sticking mini flags into the ground. How long have they been up?
"Good morning, Kenny," my mom smiled as she started to pop the cupcakes out of the trays.
"Good morning," I replied. It smelled amazing and all I wanted to do was steal a cupcake, but I knew that my mom would yell at me. She is very insistent on not eating dessert until it is dessert time.
I took a seat at the kitchen table and observed my aunt as she perfectly piped the icing onto the tops of the cupcakes. I would have asked to help, but she would have declined my offer. Aunt Dina is a perfectionist and would not approve of my shaky, sloppy handwork.
My dad entered the kitchen with a ginormous grin on his face. He loved the Fourth of July just as much as I did.
"Hey, Dad," I greeted.
"Hey, sweetheart," he responded as he walked over to the fridge. He reached inside and began taking out what seemed like hundreds of Jell-O shots. They all must have been up since God knows when.
My uncle then sauntered into the kitchen with a huge portable cooler. There were ice packs covering the edges. He and my dad started filling up the cooler with the Jell-O shots all the way to the brim. It was their tradition to make alcoholic beverages while my mom and aunt made the food.
"Happy Fourth, fuckers," Ryan happily said, skipping into the kitchen and grabbing a Jell-O shot from the cooler. He popped the small plastic container open, ignoring the glares from every adult in the room.
The audacity. Damn.
"Ryan. It is eight-thirty in the morning and you are already taking a shot. Isn't it a little early for that?" My mom questioned. Ryan stared at her as he slowly scooped his fingers around the edge of the container, loosening the Jell-O. He tilted his head back as he put it in his mouth.
"It's never too early, mom," he smirked. There's no saving him at this point.
The adults shook their heads and carried on with what they were doing. While everyone else made their way down to the kitchen one by one, I made myself a bowl of cereal and ate it. The beaches were packed by ten, and I wanted to be ready.
By nine o'clock, my family and I had set up a spot on the beach with all of our stuff. We had to walk a little farther than usual since the party did not happen in front of our house. It was about a ten or so minute walk and was right in front of all of the restaurants and clubs.
It was already crazy busy. The waves were amazing and it was around ninety degrees. Quickly, I ran in and out of the ocean so that I could cool down before I started to tan. Normally, on the Fourth of July, it didn't start to get fun until the sun went down. For now, everyone was just chilling out on the beach. The guys decided to stay in the ocean while the adults and I relaxed, savoring the beautiful weather. Amberly had already made a friend. We had a big day ahead of us.
When I woke up from my unexpected nap, it was almost eleven o'clock. The beach was jampacked with people and the ocean appeared to be filled with hundreds of tiny heads from where I was sitting. The guys were still enjoying the water, probably as prune as a raisin and the adults were nowhere to be found. Knowing them, though, they were probably at the tiki bar.
The group next to me was listening to country music on a speaker, and even though the song that was playing was not my favorite, I leaned back and enjoyed it. Since my front was extremely tan, I decided to turn over and lay on my stomach. I didn't need my back to be a completely different color from the front.
"Thanks for the view."
I whipped my head around to find a guy around my age staring at my body. He had long, blonde hair that was a few inches from his shoulders and was wearing a pair of sunglasses that prevented me from seeing his eyes. As if I had invited him to join me, he laid his towel next to mine. With a smirk, he sat down.
"Um, what are you doing?" I asked, startled by his actions. Either he was way too confident, or this was a dare. Suspecting the latter, I looked around the beach for a group of people to be watching us or even someone to be videotaping. When I saw that no one was paying any attention, I looked back at the guy.
"I decided to join you. It looked like the sun was hitting you just perfectly. Thought I needed a tan like yours," he stated simply. I could not tell if he was trying to flirt, but it was creeping me out. He did need a tan though. He was whiter than the sand.
"The sun will hit you at the same angle anywhere on this beach. As long as you don't sit under a palm tree," I said matter-of-factly. Maybe he'll get the hint that I wanted him to leave me alone.
"Hey! What's going on over here?"
Once again, I flipped my head to see who was talking. This time I prayed that it wasn't another creep. Instead, it was Asher walking up to the two of us with a scowl on his face. He did not look happy at all. The guy beside me--whose name I still did not know--could sense this too. He slowly scooted away from me and began to sit up.
"Hey, man. I was just asking her-"
"No, you weren't," Asher growled. The guy uncomfortably laughed as he stood up and picked up his towel.
"Happy F-fourth of July," he stuttered, trying to calm Asher down.
"Fuck off."
I broke out into a fit of laughter as the guy ran away, scared for his life. He must have felt intimated by Asher's tall, muscular figure.
"Thanks," I said to Asher, turning around to face him.
"I just don't want some conceited prick hitting on you" he confessed nonchalantly, taking a seat on his towel that just so happened to be right next to mine. I let out a light laugh. Are all guys this confident?
Rather than laying back to tan, Asher reached inside of the cooler and pulled out a strawberry Jell-O shot. I watched in awe as he swallowed it. What happened to him being a good influence? It didn't stop there. He grabbed another but instead held it out towards me.
"Do you want one?" Asher asked me. Oh, he definitely is not a good influence. I took it, though. It's not like I was not planning on having one later. Better to start off earlier. I guess it's a twin thing.
As if Ryan could sense what we were doing, he appeared out of nowhere. After wiping the saltwater from his face, he grabbed a plastic container and swallowed a Jell-O shot. This was maybe his fourth one already. Jesse just sat back and watched us.
"I am waiting until night time, so don't even ask me. There's no way in hell I am ending up like Ryan did last year," Jesse informed us as if he could hear my thoughts.
"So what are you going to do for the next seven or so hours?" Ryan questioned.
"I'm gonna scan the beach for hot chicks," Jesse grinned. Ryan's ears perked up at the mention of girls. Asher, however, did not seem phased.
"I already found a hot chick," Asher whispered so only I could hear. I bit my lip.
"No blonde's this time, though," Ryan pointed at Jesse. "They were bad news last time."
"Agreed. Strictly brunettes," Jesse responded.
"I love brunettes," Asher butted in. Shyly, I tucked a piece of my chestnut hair behind my ear.
Ryan gave me a look but didn't say anything. I was proud of him for biting his tongue, but surprised that he was able to hold himself back from commenting on Asher's statement.
"On that note..." Jesse gave us a weird look and continued with, "I'm gonna go near the stage since that bands supposed to be playing soon."
"I'll come with you," Ryan said. The two of them got up, not checking to see if Asher was going to follow. I think they knew he was not planning to.
When they disappeared into the swarm of people that were gathering by the stage near the boardwalk, Asher took a seat on the end of my towel. It seemed like he was making a habit of doing that. He pushed the grains of sand off of the towel and looked up at me once he was satisfied with his doings.
"You're very tan," he pointed out. I peered down at my legs and then back up at him.
"I know," I laughed. "It's runs in the family, but of course Ryan always gets tanner than me even though he doesn't even try to." This was one-hundred percent true and extremely aggravating. However, it was probably because he was always in the ocean.
"You even get a little bit of-" Asher leaned forward, his hands lightly skimmed across my cheeks. "-Freckles," he whispered gently. I watched him carefully as his fingers move to caress the back of my neck. His cool breath fanned across my face. I exhaled unsteadily. His hand against my skin was exciting my nerves.
"So do you," I breathed out. His freckles were dark brown, and from this close I could see that they were scattered across his nose and spread all the way to his ears. I wondered to myself if they were because of the sun or if he had them year-round. Mine only showed during the summer.
Asher bit his bottom lip and stared into my eyes. I felt like everyone was watching us, but truthfully, I could care less. At this moment, the only person's focus that I cared about was his.
"You're beautiful," Asher complimented out of the blue. A small smile crept onto my face as my cheeks turned pink. He didn't peg me as the guy who tries to flatter a girl by calling her beautiful. To me, he seemed like he would just call them hot or sexy. This, however, did not disappoint me in the slightest.
"Thanks," I shyly responded, looking away. I was never good at handling compliments, especially from attractive boys.
Suddenly, Asher dropped his hand and leaned his body away from me. Confusion rushed over me. Disappointment followed soon after. What's up with him? Was he trying to tease me on purpose? I couldn't help but think that he was leading me on for some reason.
"I'm sorry. I just-" he began to say. He seemed frustrated with himself. My eyebrows furrowed.
"Just what?"
He hesitated to answer. I couldn't help but think that I had done something wrong. Why did guys' actions always have me second-guessing my own?
It was like he could tell that I was getting nervous. He smiled and reached forward, tucking a strand of my brown hair behind my ear as if he was hoping to calm my thoughts.
"I don't think that I'll be able to stop myself if I keep going," he said to me.
"Stop yourself from what?" I asked. His blue eyes darkened as his pupils enlarged.
"You're too tempting, Kendall," he revealed to me. "I can't do the stuff I want to do to you in public," Asher continued, his voice deepening seductively. My breathing faltered as my stomach flipped. I licked my lips, yearning for him to touch me, but I knew that he wouldn't. The tension was killing me.
Abruptly, Asher stood up and wiped the sand off of the bottom half of his body.
"If I keep staring at you I don't think I am going to be able to restrain myself for much longer," He admitted. I wanted to reach forward and pull him back down, but he was backing away before I got the chance.
Words to describe how I felt failed to escape my mouth. I didn't know what to say. To be frank, I didn't even know how I felt. All I knew, was that my heart was beating faster than ever before.
"I will come to find you in a little. Don't worry," he winked, sensing that I did not want him to leave me just yet. Before I was able to respond, he turned away and jogged off towards the stage, not daring to look back. I was left in awe.
What was he doing to me? And what was going to happen later tonight?
.......
Why did I feel some type of way while I was writing this?? I didn't intend for Asher's character to sound so naughty when I first started this chapter, but now that I'm on quarantine, I guess I'm just writing my fantasies into this book. I would kill for a guy to say this to me. Maybe that's why I love Asher so much.
JUST YOU WAIT TIL THE NEXT CHAPTER!!
Anyways, stay tuned loves! <3