He's My Brother's Best Friend and My Enemy, This Can't Be Good!

Since it was a half hour drive to get to the Santa Monica beach the six of us were up bright and early. By seven thirty we were out the door and pilled into a minivan styled taxi. Despite it being so early everyone was quite hyper.

The beach wasn’t too crowded when we arrived. We ended up laying our towels and belongings down a few feet away from the water. Let me just tell you California beaches put our little beach to shame. Once we got everything settled I assumed my position on a towel and began to take in my surroundings. You could tell who lived in California by their tan skin. I was a bit envious of it until looking down at my own pale legs.

The boys had each rented body boards and were currently screwing around in the water with them. Ava, Miranda and I were trying to get some sun while watching the three idiots. It wasn’t extremely hot so I had my tank top on still over my bathing suit. I never felt comfortable just laying in my bathing suit on a beach. The other girls didn’t have my problem though.

“Damn Ava,” Miranda said as Ava was taking her cover up off. “Do you work out?”

Ava was uncomfortable with the attention Miranda was giving her. I could tell by the way she pulled her knees into her chest. “I used to cheer competitively,” Ava confessed.

Ava never seemed to be the cheerleader type to me. She was always dressed modestly and never rude to anyone. Not that cheerleaders were the opposite, I mean there were some nice girls on our team. Ava’s cheerleading experience did explain her tone body, however.

“I didn’t know that,” I added. “How come you didn’t try to cheer here?”

Ava shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not into the whole mean girl scene. I couldn’t cheer under Charlie, there would be too much tension.”

This made Miranda and I laugh. “Well, it’s a good thing she leaves this year. You should try out,” Miranda encouraged. Miranda loved watching the cheerleaders perform almost as much as she loved football. She always cursed herself for not sticking with gymnastics at a younger age.

“I was thinking about it,” Ava replied.

Just then the boys were walking toward us, body boards in tow. They looked exhausted from their lack of skills. It was actually quite comical.

“What are you thinking about?” Max asked while trying to catch his breath. For a football player he sure sounded winded and out of shape.

“Nothing,” Ava said trying to change the subject. I could tell she was uncomfortable with the sudden attention she was getting from everyone.

“Don’t be silly,” Miranda said before turning to Max. “She’s thinking of trying out for the cheer team next year.”

“I didn’t know you cheered,” Parker stated. He was trying to get comfortable on the towel that was directly in front of me. “You should do it. You’ve got the build for it,” Parker admitted.

Ava’s face got progressively redder. She quickly turned to look at me to make sure what Parker just said hadn’t offended me. I smiled sympathetically at her. Ava didn’t like having all the attention on her and I could tell this conversation was getting to be too much.

“He’s right you should,” Max added before changing the subject. He clearly picked up on the same discomfort I had.

The six of us stayed lying on the beach for much of the early morning. At one point everyone was in the water, leaving me alone under the hot sun. From where I sat I could see them all perfectly. Max was carrying Ava toward the water despite her many protests. By the time he let her go she was waist deep in the cold water. Jayden and Miranda were a few feet from them splashing each other in between kisses. It was too much for me to handle. I crossed my arms on the towel and let my head rest upon them, closing my eyes. I could hear the crash of the waves followed by muffled conversations and laughter.

I was deep in thought when I felt cold water fall on to my back. I jumped up from where I was laying down. “What the hell!” I exclaimed.

Parker was standing beside me holding an empty bucket that was once filled with water. “I couldn’t help it,” he murmured.

“You suck,” I whined trying to dry myself off. Before I knew it Max was carrying me toward the water with Parker following behind, smirking at me. “Max put me down,” I threatened.

“I will once we’re in the water,” Max remarked.

I was going to kill them. Sure I was at the beach but I had no intention of going in the water. Unfortunately I ended up in the water. Max finally released me, dropping me into the water. My hair was now sticking to my back.

“Fuck you,” I said. It didn’t come out as hostile as I wanted it to. It sounded more like a chuckle than a sneer.

I stayed floating in the water for quite sometime. The water was cold at first but once my body got used to it I was fine. I was glad they got me in it, not that I was going to admit that though. After a while we decided to go walk the pier. We ended up eating a bunch of junk food. After our stomachs were full of food we rode some of the rides and played a few carnival games. Parker ended up winning this giant bear. He was going to give it to Lexis.

We lingered on the beach and pier for a little while longer before catching a taxi back to our hotel. Jayden had made reservations for a fancier restaurant that night and we all needed time to get ready.

I let the Miranda and Ava get ready before I did. They had someone to impress I just needed to look semi decent. By the time it was my turn to shower I didn’t have enough time to do my hair. Not that I minded too much. The beach always gave my hair this natural wavy curl to it. I hadn’t packed anything too fancy so I had to improvise. I settled on a high waisted skirt with a black shirt and paired it with black knee high socks and my converse. This would have to do.

We met the boys down in the lobby and piled into another taxi. The restaurant wasn’t that far from our hotel, maybe fifteen minutes. It was on the outskirts of what appeared to be a mall. We went inside and were seated. Once everyone had ordered we filled the night with more plans.

“So what’s next?” Max asked. He had his arm draped around Ava. They were sitting closest to me. I was once again at the end of the circular booth. Parker was, of course, across from me with Jayden and Miranda to his right.

“We figured we’d walk around here some and then head to a movie. There’s a theater like a block from the LA Live area,” Jayden answered.

I had to suffice a groan. I was in no mood to walk around or go to the movies. The beach really wore me out. I kept my protests inside, not wanting to ruin the night. Parker was watching me again. His foot kept playfully kicking mine under the table the whole night. I would be lying if I said I didn’t like it.

“What’s the plan for the rest of the vacation?” I asked. Jayden and Parker were still keeping us into the dark as to what was going on.

“We were thinking of driving a couple hours to this mountain to snowboard for a couple days,” Parker answered.

At first I thought he was joking but Jayden nodded his head in response. “Are you guys serious? You’ve never snowboarded in your life. What if you get hurt?” I questioned.

None of the boys could afford to get hurt right now, especially Jayden and Parker. If they got hurt they could kiss their first season of college football goodbye.

“I could get hurt walking on the street Jos,” Jayden retorted. Making his point perfectly clear. “We’re gonna head up there tomorrow afternoon. We have a room for two nights and then we’ll head back down here and have one day left in LA before we have to leave.”

Food came shortly after our conversation. It was the best meal we had since arriving. Not that In n out was hard to beat or anything. The dinner was excellent but I knew that it was also costly. I couldn’t help but think what our parents would think when they got the bill for this vacation. I didn’t dwell on it too much. They owed the boys this much for always being gone. After dinner we all headed out to the mall and toward the LA Live area. We didn’t get too far before stopping for food again. This time dessert. We each got a cupcake from the iconic Sprinkles bakery. I was in heaven.

Once finished we headed off toward the movie theater. Parker was walking so close to me that his hand kept brushing against mine. It took all the strength in the world for me to resist holding it. He had been teasing me all night and it was driving me nuts. As we got closer to the movie theater the exhaustion of the day began to hit me.

I stopped walking abruptly watching the others continue on. “Hey guys,” I yelled causing them to walk back towards me. “I think I’m gonna head back to the room. I’m tired and I think I ate too much.”

“Are you sure Josy?” Miranda questioned.

“Do you want us to go back with you?” Ava offered.

“No, no. You guys go watch your movie I don’t want to be a burden. I can get back,” I said. I didn’t give them time to protest. I started to walk back toward the restaurant where I knew I could find a taxi easy. For such a popular tourist spot LA didn’t have an excess about of taxis around.

I had only got a couple stores over before I felt a pair of arms spin me around. I jumped at first before relaxing when my face was met with Parker’s.

“What are you doing?” I asked in disbelief.

“You honestly thought I was going to leave you alone in an unknown city,” he said a hint of disappointment in his voice.

To be honest I hadn’t even thought about him following me. I just really didn’t want to see the movie. I wasn’t trying to make some grand excuse so we could hang out together. I was glad he followed after me though.

“You’ve been teasing me all night,” I confessed before turning around to continuing walking. Parker followed next to me, his hand still brushing against mine.

“What on earth are you talking about?” he questioned innocently.

He was such a dork sometimes. “Come on Parker. You knew you were walking close enough for our hands to touch and that the foot you kept kicking was mine,” I said.

Parker chuckled to himself. “You’re the one who’s been teasing me,” Parker confessed.

I stopped walking, turning to face him. “What on earth are you talking about?” I asked seriously confused. I wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary.

Parker took one of my hands in his and spun me around. “I’m talking about you and your outfit.”

I felt my face blush as Parker stopped spinning me, stopping me in front of him. I began to become aware of the way he was staring down at me. “I’m just wearing an outfit. It’s not like I’m in a cocktail dress,” I muttered.

Parker took both my hands in his now. He was looking down at me with his eyes again. “Josylne you look better like this than you would in a cocktail dress,” Parker admitted sheepishly. I couldn’t help but be taken aback by his comment. “I’m not kidding Jos. You look beautiful.”

Parker was always telling me I looked beautiful and sometimes I pretended that I never heard him say it. I didn’t like being the center attention, letting alone letting my looks be the center attention. I knew that’s not what Parker meant when he said it.

Parker was staring down at me, his blue eyes glowing in the dark night. He had this look in his eyes like he couldn’t believe what was happening. The same look he had when they won the championship game. It took me a minute before I realized that he was staring at me with those eyes. Parker’s eyes made everything he had just said come to life.

“I love you so much Josylne,” he admitted before closing the distance between us, kissing my lips.

“I know Parker,” I said in response. It was the truth. Parker had said he loved me a lot and fairly quickly into our relationship. I never doubted it but I never truly accepted it until this moment right now.

After our little exchange we continued walking back to the restaurant to find a taxi. Thankfully we didn’t have to walk much farther before we saw one coming. I was happy that Parker had decided to skip the movie to follow me. He really was the best. Parker payed the cab driver before escorting me into the hotel.

“Come on,” Parker said taking my hand and leading me toward the elevator. When it opened onto our floor he lead me past my room to his.

“Parker,” I whined, “I really am tired. I wanted to sleep.”

He ignored me and instead opened the door to his room. He finally let go of my hand and I walked over to what I knew was his bed, collapsing on it.

“You didn’t even let me get my pajamas,” I grumbled from the bed.

Parker was rummaging through his suitcase looking for his own set of pajamas. “Here,” he said throwing me one of his shirts before walking into the bathroom to change.

He has lost his mind I thought to myself. I pulled my fitted top off and replaced it with Parker’s loose fitted t shirt. I left my skirt and socks on knowing that if I took those off I would definitely be falling asleep. Parker returned shortly after. I was already under the covers of the bed with the television on. Parker climbed in next to me, taking the remote out of my hand.

“Parker give it back,” I whined. Parker just looked at me with questioning eyes. “I need to flip the channels or else I’m going to fall asleep,” I admitted.

Parker didn’t give me the remote back. Instead he lowered the television volume to almost mute and pulled me closer to him. Letting my head rest on his chest. “Max’s is going to text me before they head back,” he said. “Sleep.”

I knew that should have made me feel better but it didn’t. Knowing I was on a time schedule made my exhaustion drift away, anxiety filling its place. I tried to ignore it focusing my attention on the slow breathes Parker’s chest were imitating.

Parker took notice to my sudden increase in heart beat. He tightened his grip around me and let his head rest against mine. “What’s the matter?” he whispered.
I sighed trying to regain my breathe before answering, “I’m tired of hiding.”

Parker released the breath he was holding in. He once again tightened his grip on me. “I know. I am too,” he admitted.

I brought my face off his chest to meet his eyes. He was thinking the same thing I was thinking. We had kept it a secret for long enough. It was time for them to know. This was going to be harder than I thought. Just thinking about it made my body stiffen.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “Will worry about it after the trip.”

That put my nerves at ease. There was no point of ruining the boys birthday weekend. ‘Cause let’s face it when Jayden and Mir found out it wasn’t going to be pretty. Especially when they find out that people already know. I decided not to worry about it yet. With this new found calmness inside of me I drifted to sleep.

I was expecting to me woken up by Parker telling me that Max had texted him. I was startled when I was woken up by someone yelling.

“What the hell!” I heard Jayden’s voice boom from the doorway.

It took a moment for my brain to register what was going on. I looked at Parker for help but he was just as delirious as I was. We slept through the warning text. Max must have been saying goodnight to Ava because when he finally arrived he was terrified.

“Shit,” he murmured from the doorway.

Well, there goes the plan to keep this trip fun.