Nothing's Better Than a Summer's Storm

It was just a normal summer night, the perfect night to attend some beach party, get totally wasted and suck face with some total stranger. Just another night in the life of Lisa Hudson, but that’s not me.

I was dragged out to this party, like every other one, by my cousin who brought me along as a cover story. I was perched upon a bolder watching the antics that are supposedly normal for teenagers to take part in from afar, just another night in the life of Olivia Cooper.

The football team was the ones throwing a huge barbeque on the beach, so Lisa and I were here at 5pm. As soon as the families and tourists, left the tunes got turned up and the booze came out. The fire was currently being surrounded by a bunch of guys attempting to be seen as manly making the fire bigger by throwing as much drift wood as they could find. There were girls who were roasting marshmallows, gossiping, and giggling loudly. Just a small distance away was some of the lust-happy couples making out just outside of the ring of light, and of course there were people dancing, well if you call that dancing.

I sighed loudly bored out of my mind, when I heard the distant sound of thunder, which was unnoticed by the rest of the party. I stood up and kicked my flip flops off before I started walking away from the party and towards the edge of the water.

The sound of music got faint after a while, and a small smile of relief graced my face. I waded out into the water, giggling slightly as the cold rushed at my feet; cooling and relaxing the nerves. The light from the fire was minuscule now I was surrounded by darkness but rejoiced in it, as lightning danced in the sky. I could hear the distant sound of ‘wow’s echoing in the night air and shook my head; I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one person was rushed to the hospital after the storm.

I kept walking until the echoes of the party were no longer following me, I was still staring out at the lake watching every stroke of light fall from the sky when I noticed the glow of a new fire, curiosity got the best of me and I walked towards it.

I was just out of their sight when I was able to take in the whole scene. Four boys were around the fire, two of them had acoustic guitars; they were strumming and singing to songs I wasn’t familiar with. Being brave I walked closer towards them.

One boy, who was tapping his foot to the beat, stopped, turned towards me and shot me a genuine smile. “Hi,” He said softly.

“Hi,” I said, suddenly becoming self conscious because I was in very close proximity to four good looking boys, none of which I knew.

“Where’d you come from?” One of the boys with the guitar asked, as he set it down.

“From a party,” I shrugged, pointing vaguely behind me to show them the way I had come.

“That’s a far ways away,” A third guy spoke up, I nodded slowly in response, “You aren’t drunk are you?” He asked.

“Nah huh, I don’t touch that shit,” I shook my head vigorously.

“What’s your name?” The first boy asked, laughing slightly.

“Olivia, but you can call me Liv,” I said quickly.

“I’m Spencer,” He smiled. “That’s Jon,” He said pointing at the guy who asked if I was drunk, “Brendon,” The one guitar boy, “And lastly Ryan, he’s just shy around new people,” Spencer said pointing at the one who had yet to talk.

“Most of the time you’re not that out going either Spence,” Ryan quipped, placing his guitar away from the fire. “Liv would you like to sit down?” Ryan asked pulling out a third lawn chair.

“You brought extra chairs?” I laughed slightly.

“Yeah, always come prepared,” He shrugged.

“Well then thank you,” I smiled, making my way towards the chair beside Ryan.

“So why’d you walk all the way out here?” Jon asked after I was seated.

“Yeah why would you leave a banging party?” Brendon added to the question.

“It’s not really my scene, I was kinda forced to go by my cousin but I’ve had enough ‘fun’ watching her get drunk and go home with some random guy all summer,” I confessed.

“Wow that sounds sucky!” Brendon exclaimed.

“Indeed it is,” I nodded, stretching out my legs and wiggling my toes.

“Where are you’re shoes?” Ryan asked amused.

“Back there,” I said, nodding my head in the direction of the party.

“Why aren’t they on your feet?” Jon asked.

“Well you can’t go walking in the water with shoes on, it just gets messy,” I said seriously.

“Looks like your feet are messy anyways,” Spencer laughed.

“I love the feeling of sand between my toes, besides it’s nothing a shower can’t fix,” I waved it off, burying my feet into the sand.

“I know exactly what you mean,” Ryan laughed, pulling his feet out from the sand to wiggle his toes at me.

“Hypocrite,” I huffed. He only laughed in response.

*****

The night continued on and I had lots of fun getting to know the guys, it was sad when thunder clapped loudly and it started to pour.

“We should probably go home,” Spencer sighed, the rest of the guys all nodded and then looked at me.

“How are you getting home?” Ryan asked.

“My car’s back that away with my shoes,” I pointed in the direction of the party that I had long forgotten.

“I’ll walk you back, so long as I can get a ride home,” He smiled sweetly.

“I don’t need to be walked,” I protested.

“It’s a thunderstorm, I’d be more at ease if I walked you to make sure nothing bad happens,” He said sternly.

“Alright then,” I nodded knowing he wouldn’t give up. “Bye guys,” I smiled at the other three.

“Bye Liv!” They all shouted, running towards me and engulfing me in a group hug.

“We have to hang again!” Brendon cried out, as they started walking towards their cars.

“Come on,” Ryan smiled, taking my hand and we started the walk down the beach, back to where the party was.

“Thanks for letting me join you guys, it was much more fun then staying and watching the party,” I smiled slightly, as my eyes adjusted to the lack of light.

“No problem, you’re tons of fun. You’re always welcome from now on,” He smiled, looking down at me.

I giggled slightly and looked ahead of us; there was the faint glow of a dying fire; which was quickly diminishing as the rain went from drizzling to pouring. Lightning flashed and thunder sounded, as we neared the remains of the party. There were bottles all over the place - some of them broken - and other garbage littered the area.

“Stay here, I’m going to go look for you’re shoes,” Ryan said turning to face me.

“They’re flip flops!” I told him.

“Found them!” he exclaimed after a moment of rummaging, holding them above his head he ran back to me. He lightly pushed me down, so I was sitting on the wet sand, and he placed both flip flops on my feet before helping me up.

“Gee thanks Ry, now my butt’s all muddy!” I rolled my eyes.

“Well we’re drenched anyways,” He laughed.

“True,” I nodded slowly. “Hmm since we’re drenched anyways,” I said walking away from the mass destruction that was from the party and into the parking lot, “Want to dance?” I asked.

“Dance?” He laughed.

“Yes dance, I don’t want to leave just yet,” I smiled innocently.

“Well I suppose we can dance,” He smiled, wrapping his arms around my waist as I placed my arms on his shoulder.

He started humming a slow tune and we swayed to the wind, when suddenly he stopped. I went to ask him why when he slowly tucked some of my hair out of my face and behind my ear. He then rested his hand on my cheek as he slowly started leaning in. Before I could comprehend what was happening his lips connected with my own in a sweet soft kiss. He pulled away rather quickly though biting his lip; I smiled up at him and stood on my toes to kiss his cheek.

“Come on,” I said and started to twirl and skip my way towards my car. Just as I reached it he picked me up and spun us around making me squeal slightly. He set me down on the ground again and quickly pecked me on the lips again before letting me open my car.

Soon we were on the road; both of us had huge smiles plastered on our faces. This wasn't going to be the only time that we would dance in the rain either, that much I can tell you. The rest, well we had plenty of time to see what was in store for us as it came.