Summer Love, Hidden Feelings, and Mistakes

Spencer-
We sat down at a picnic table to eat our ice cream and talk. We made fun of the tourists in their fanny-packs and Bermudas. We even saw a couple people who had their small children on leashes. I grabbed my camera out of Eva’s bag where I had put it this morning, and snapped pictures of them. One mother saw me do this, and angrily pulled her child away, while the father glared at me. Our whole table burst into laughter, even the twins, who I’m sure were just laughing because we were and actually had no idea what was going on.
By then our ice cream was eaten, so we tried to think of something we could do that would be fun for everyone, including the twins.
“Oh, how about we check out the tide pools?” Lara said, and we all agreed that would be really fun for us and the little girls, so we went off the boardwalk and to the little sea-creature filled pools of water on the rocky shore.
The twins were instantly enthralled by the starfish, crabs, and clams that lived in the tide pools. They ran from pool to pool, examining each one with the interest only a young child could have. The rest of us strolled at a more leisurely pace, occasionally pointing things out to each other, and taking some pictures here and there.
We stayed at the tide pools for a couple hours, eventually settling on some rocks and watching Lauren and Briana, who were still completely entranced. Tori was sitting next to me. She rested her head against my shoulder, and I slipped my arm around her waist. I looked over at Eva and saw her and Ian in almost the same position. Lara was sitting in Hunter’s lap, and Maria and Kaitlynn were still wandering around the pools.
Some guys walked up and started flirting with Maria and Katilynn, and I saw one of them hand Maria a lime green piece of paper. She looked at it, then they waved goodbye to the guys and walked over to us.
“Hey guys, there’s a concert tonight on the boardwalk. Lots of different kinds of music,” Maria said. “It starts in an hour. Do you all want to come with us?”
“Can I see that paper?” I asked Maria, and she handed it over. It listed 3 bands, a rock band that I knew because we went to school with the members, a country band, and another band that I had never heard of. It also said there would be ‘free food, dancing, and fun for all ages’.
“Looks like fun. I’m in,” I said, wondering if I’d get a chance to dance with Eva. Or Tori.
“Yeah, I will too,” Eva said.
“I’m doing whatever Eva’s doing, so ok,” Tori said. The rest of the group agreed to go too, except Ian, who had to check with his aunt and uncle first.
He said goodbye, and went to get the twins and take them back to the hotel where their parents were waiting. Good riddance.

Eva-
Once Ian left, we started the long walk back to where Hunter’s car was parked. I walked with Maria and Kaitlynn, and we talked about Ian. They gushed about how hot he was and how lucky I was to have snagged him. I laughed and agreed, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about Spencer, and how attractive he was. I had never really noticed it until yesterday on his dock.
We got to Hunter’s car, grabbed our stuff, and started walking towards my house. Kaitlynn, Maria, and Lara all rode with Hunter, because they lived a bit farther away from the beach than me and Spencer did. When we got to my house, Spencer walked off to his house after hugging both me and Tori goodbye. We agreed to meet in half an hour.
When we walked inside, my parents, who had been at work when Tori arrived, hugged her and said all the things parents say when they haven’t seen someone in awhile: look how tall you’ve gotten; your hair is so long; how are your parents; how does your brother like college; does he still have that nasty pet snake; you’ve become such a beautiful woman. Tori responded to all these exclamations and questions, and I told my mom we were kind of in a hurry. She asked about the concert, and made us promise to either be home by 2 or let her know where we’d be.
“I love your mom,” Tori said as we went upstairs to my room. “She lets you do whatever the hell you want.”
“Yeah, she’s pretty awesome,” I said. It was true, my parents were pretty much cool with anything, even guys sleeping over or me staying out until whenever I felt like coming home.
We got into my room, and I changed out of my swimsuit into a blue and white glittery strapless dress and sparkly silver gladiator sandals; I put on a silver flower bracelet Spencer had given me for my last birthday. Tori slipped on a dark blue dress with a beaded neckline, a really pretty ring that I knew had been her grandma’s, and strappy sandals. The heel on them made her almost the exact same height as me.
“You look stunning,” I told her. “Spencer’s gonna love that dress.”
“Thanks sweetie. You look gorgeous too. Ian won’t be able to keep his hands off of you,” she responded with a mischievous smile.
“Shut up,” I told her, but I was smiling too. Ian.. My yummy British boy. I just had to focus on keeping my mind off of Spencer.
We went into the bathroom to do hair and makeup. Tori pulled her hair into a ponytail and curled it. I left mine down and also gave it some curls. We both put on minimal eye makeup, chapstick, and body spray, and then we were ready. We had 5 minutes until we were meeting Spencer, so we went downstairs.
My family was all in the kitchen. Mom and Dad were sitting at the island drinking wine, Sebastian was making a sandwich, and Sienna was sitting on the counter with a glass of orange juice. They were talking about us.
We walked in and the talking ceased.
“Wow, you guys look super pretty,” Sienna said, jumping down from the counter and hugging us. Sebastian, his mouth full of sandwich, nodded his agreement.
My dad got up, gave us both a hug, and handed us $20 each.
“For food, souvenirs, or emergencies. You both have your phones?” We nodded. “Alright, have fun girls, be safe, stick with Spencer and your friends. Love you.”
“Love you too, Daddy, thanks,” I said, and hugged him again.
There was a knock on the door, and then Spencer walked in. He said hi to all my family members, then turned to us and opened his mouth to ask if we were ready. No sound came out, he just stood there staring for about 10 seconds with his mouth open.
“Dude!” Sebastian said, hitting him as he walked past on his way upstairs to his bedroom. Spencer snapped out of his speechless daze, and gestured to the door.
“Should we go?” he asked, slowly turning pink. Tori and I giggled and nodded, then walked out the door, with Spencer following us.

Spencer-
I got back to my house after walking the girls to Eva’s. I went up to my bedroom to change, but as I was taking my camera out of my pocket, I decided to go through the pictures I had taken today. I turned it on and started scrolling through. There were a few pictures on the beach of our group of friends; there were the pictures from the boardwalk, including the one of the child on the leash; there were pictures from the tide pools, of sea creatures, the twins, and my friends. There were a few really good ones that I liked a lot.
I set down my camera and changed into white shorts and a black button up shirt. I tried to tame my hair, but it didn’t work. I put on deodorant and a little bit of cologne that Eva had bought me. I put my camera in my pocket and went downstairs to tell my mom where I was headed.
She told me to be safe and be home by 2, gave me some money, and asked if I wanted to borrow the car. I declined, knowing Eva would rather walk. Then I headed out, crossed the backyards, and knocked on Eva’s patio door, then let myself in.
Her whole family was sitting in the kitchen. I greeted them all, and then turned to the girls to ask them if they wanted to head out. The words never left my mouth.
They looked like something out of a magazine. Especially Eva. I was speechless. I knew I looked ridiculous standing there staring with my mouth hanging open, but I couldn’t stop. Sebastian walked by, hit me, and said, “Dude!” That snapped me out of it. I started to blush.
“Should we go?” I asked them, then followed them out the door, mentally punching myself as they laughed at me.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out to a text from Sebastian. It just said:

“Smooth, dude.”

I rolled my eyes and texted back:

“Screw you.”