Summer Lovin'

“Nahla, get up please. It’s time for you to get ready.”

I groaned, burying my face further into my covers and pillow, practically growling at my mother. "No."

"Honey, remember, you have to go to lunch with your friend. Then you're going site seeing. Come on, I know it's early, but you have to get up." My mother said in a gentle voice, rubbing my back lightly.

"Why can't lunch be later?" I grumbled, slowly getting up.

"Because then it would be called dinner." She smiled.

I laughed along with her and forced myself out of my comfy and warm bed and into the hot shower.

[&&SL]

I sighed, running my hand through my hair as The Surfboard came into view, a few people coming in and out of the little shack. People were at the beach today because it was a particularly hot day out, so I guess the ocean water of the Pacific was the only way of getting cool.

I walked in the shack, bumping into a few people by accident on my way over to the counter where Marley was busily trying to get the people their change.

I stood to the side, trying to get out of people's way as they crazily searched through the store for the item they wanted. And Marley delt with it calmly, as if she was used to all this business. Finally, after ten minutes, the store was as busy as it was when I went the night before: empty.

I walked up to counter and tapped the bell lightly, getting Marley's attention. "Uh...excuse me, I'm looking for a Marley girl. I'm supposed to meet her here for lunch, and we're gonna go site seeing. Do you know her?"

She shook her head, scrunching up her face in disgust. "I hate that girl. She's so annoying. She isn't around. I guess you'll just have to deal with me."

We laughed and she took off her apron and but it in a drawer behind the counter. "Is it okay if I bring my best friend? He should be here any minute. He knows the town better than I do."

I shook my head, giving her a smile. "No, that's perfectly okay."

She smiled, leaning on the glass counter.

"He?" I asked, suddenly realizing she said her best friend was a boy. Which was nothing wrong with it at all.

She nodded, biting her lip. “You’ll meet him. He’s really sweet.”

I sighed looking in the mirror with my sunglasses. “I think I like better in the purple ones.”

“No way. You look way better with the white ones.” She denied, and the sound of bells clanging at the door cut her off before she started talking again. “Hey!”

I bit my lip, looking at my sunglasses in the mirror. “I don’t know…I kinda like the…” I stopped, looking in the background of the reflection in the mirror behind me. I turned around quickly, a figure standing in front of me. And not just any figure. “…purple ones….”

“Nahla, I want you to meet my best friend, Nick Jonas. Nick, this is Nahla.” Marley introduced, smirking a bit when she saw me practically gawking at her best friend.

I cleared my throat, shaking my head of all my thoughts and gave Nick a small smile and wave. “Hey, nice to meet you.”

“You, too.” He nodded once, a small smile dancing on his lips. “Nahla…that’s an interesting name.”

I shrugged. “Like I said…my parents are…interesting people.”

“I like it. It’s really pretty.”

A blush crept up my face, and I looked down at my feet as if they were the most interesting things in the world. “Thanks.” My voice was barely a whisper, and it didn’t sound like much since I was looking down.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, I looked up at Marley, taking a deep breath. “So, we should get going.”

She nodded, smiling widely, and we all headed out the door, saying goodbye to Marley’s replacement for the day.

“Mar, we’ll take your car, kay? I’ll be right back. I need to get something out of mine, though.” Nick mumbled to his best friend before heading over to a navy blue Mustang.

I pulled Marley over a little faster to her car, half glaring at her. “You didn’t tell me he was your best friend!” I whispered.

“You didn’t ask!” She smirked, her sly grin getting wider and wider by the syllable.

I groaned. “But you talked about him yesterday as if you didn’t know him!”

She gave me a shrug. “Eh, I don’t usually talk about him much, so I guess it’s a little weird talking about him. Besides, who knew you’d be coming to lunch with us?” She grinned, getting inside her car in the driver’s seat.

I groaned, rolling my eyes slightly and went to grab the handle, but someone else’s hand went for it the same second, his hand touching mine, causing us both to pull back immediately, blushing slightly.

“You go ahead.” He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

I shook my head, looking at my shoes again. “No, it’s fine; you go.”

He shook his head at me. “No, you. I’ve ridden in the front of this car many, many times. I think one ride in the back isn’t going to kill me.”

I bit my lip, smiling a small smile. “Fine, but you have it on the way back.”

He smiled widely, never showing his teeth though. “Deal.” He opened the door, gesturing for me to get in, and with a quick thanks, I got in and he shut the door, quickly getting in the back soon.

“So, uhm, where are we going?” I asked, biting my lip.

“To this little restaurant. You’ll love it. It’s the best food in town.”

I nodded, looking at my fingers, then looked out the window. “I hope so. I’m starving.”

[&&SL]

“Here it is! Johnny’s Catch!” Nick grinned, still never a hint of teeth showing when he did.

I smiled, looking up at the restaurant as we walked in, Nick right on my feet for some reason. I walked a little faster, knowing I needed my personal space, but he kept up with me.

I sat across from both Marley and Nick, all by myself in the side of the booth. That’s okay, though; I like sitting by myself. Sort of.

After we ordered, my phone starting ringing. I went wide-eyed, quickly grabbing it out of my pocket and seeing who it was. It was Addie calling, most likely to see how I was doing, but I just tapped ignore and shoved it back in my pocket, blushing at Nick and Marley who were staring at me. “Sorry, it was just my friend calling.”

“You should’ve taken it.” Nick said, shrugging. “We wouldn’t’ve minded.”

I shook my head. “Nah, it most likely wasn’t important. She’s just calling to see what was up.”

They nodded, and I sighed of relief when the waiter came and started to take our orders. Once she wrote down Nick’s cheeseburger and Marley’s salad, she looked at me.

I flinched a little, looking down at my menu for a second before looking back up. “Uh…I’ll have a cheeseburger with everything on it. And an Izze.”

She nodded, writing it all down before collecting our menus and disappearing.

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes, all of us avoid eye contact with each other for some reason, probably to avoid starting up the conversation. The silence was broken by Nick clearing his throat. “Uh…so, Nahla, where ya from?”

I bit my lip. “Chicago, actually. Tennessee originally.”

“You here just for vacation?”

I nodded, straightening in my seat a little. “Yeah, we just rented the house by the ocean by The Surfboard.”

Nick nodded, knowing exactly where I was talking about. “Oh! You rented the new one. I see. That’s a nice house. Whoever has the room with the room with the window wall is one lucky person.”

I smiled proudly. “That’s me actually.”

He smiled, chuckling a bit, a real smile with teeth and all. “No way! I was there for A few days with my family to check it out. I really wanted to see that room. I only got a glimpse of it though, sadly.”

“I’ll have to take you up there one time. It’s really a beautiful site in the morning and at night with the sun.” I smiled, and he gave me a wide smile back.

“I’d like that.”

“So, without excluding me out of the conversation,” Marley started, straightening up in her seat, a smile on her lips. “Nahla, have you ever gone surfing?”

I shook my head quickly, a pang in my stomach forming. “N-No, I don’t go in the ocean.”

“How come?” Nick asked, confused.

Our food came then, thankfully, saving me from having to explain to them why I hated oceans so much and that I was practically scared of going in any type of water.

Nick was right, this was the best food I’ve ever had, and I’ve had some really good food before. We ate every last bite, savoring each piece. It was delicious. Best burger ever.

“That was amazing!” I praised as we walked out the restaurant, and Nick and Marley laughed.

“Told ya. Best food in this city.” Nick grinned, putting his arm around Marley’s shoulders casually. “So…off to have a tour!”

[&&SL]

The tour was a bunch of fun. Nick and Marley took me to so many places, such as the park, and this really cool skating rink. I even saw the world’s largest needle, which was really cool. Countless places, endless fun.

“So, you guys wanna go out to dinner, too?” Marley asked as she pulled next to Nick’s Mustang in The Surfboard’s parking lot.

I shook my head at Marley, giving her an apologetic smile. “Can’t, sorry. I gotta have dinner with my parent’s and their friends. Maybe another night?”
She shrugged, giving me a wide smile. “Yeah, I’m sure I can pencil you in.”

We laughed, and she turned back to Nick. “How ‘bout you, Nicky?”

He made a face at ‘Nicky,’ but shook his head, giving her a shrug. “Can’t, I gotta have dinner with my parents and their friends too. I’ll come over tomorrow, though, okay?”

“Thanks a lot, you guys, for the tour. It was amazing. I had a lot of fun.” I smiled, and they smiled back.

“Sure thing, Nahla. It was a lot of fun for us too.” Marley grinned.

Nick and I got out of Marley’s car, and she drove off, going in a different direction from my house.

“Do you need a ride home real fast? I think I can spare a minute or two.” Nick offered, standing by his car, already opening the door.

I bit my lip, blushing a little. “You don’t mind?”

He shook his head, his curls bouncing a little. “Nah, I got time.” He flicked his head towards his car. “Come on. I’ll give ya a ride, Nahl.”

I blushed at the nickname and got in his car, and we sped off.

I took a chance to glance around his car. It was surprisingly neat for a teenage boy. A paper here and there with writing on it was scatter around the car, and there was a few CDs in the dash, but that was about it. I reached for the CDs, looking at him. “Do you mind?”

He looked down at my hand and shook his head, looking back up at the road. “Nah, go ahead.”

I grabbed them, flipping through them, reading the titles. “Bob Marley, Ray Charles, Elvis Costello, The Beatles.” I smiled, putting back the CDs back in their place. “You like the same music I do.”

He looked over with an impressed look on his face. “Really?” He said, smiling a bit when he looked back at the road.

I nodded my head, grabbing another stack of CDs and flipping through them. They were all old bands, with just a few new artists mixed in. “Yeah, I love the Beatles. I grew up with them playing through the house and car. Elvis Costello’s my choice. I love him. Bob Marley and Ray Charles are legends, so I mean, half the world has listened to them.”

“Who’s your favorite?”

“Elvis Costello. Hands down.” I smirked, picking out a specific CD and turning it towards Nick. “You like Brittney Spears?” I started laughing as he went wide-eyed, blushing just a slight when he carefully snatched the CD out of my hand.

“That’s Marley’s.” He mumbled, putting it in a secret spot.

I looked up, flinching once I saw that we were already parked in my driveway. “Oh! Sorry, I didn’t know we were at my house. I’m taking up all your time.” I mumbled, unbuckling and quickly getting out of the car, hearing Nick chuckle.

“It’s fine, Nahla, I got plenty of time.” Nick smiled at me through the window, which I slowly returned, sighing of relief. “I’ll see ya around, Nahla. I had a great time.”

“I had fun, too. Bye. Thanks everything.”

He pulled out the driveway and onto the road, quickly speeding out of sight, and I ran inside the house, knowing it was going to take me a while to get ready for this dinner.