To Spend a Fortune

I look over the half naked girls at the pool thinking about the fun that I could end up having with one of them. I smirk as I eye a particular blonde sitting on a lounge chair. She’s putting on sunscreen as I walk up and sit down next to her.

I grin at her and hold out my hand. “I’m Ryan. Who might you be, pretty lady?”

She blushes and I just smirk.

“I’m Melody.”

“Melody,” I murmur to myself. “That’s cute. Kind of like you.”

Melody blushes again. “Thanks.”

“You know what? I-“ I growl as my phone begins to ring. “Hello?”

”Hey, Ry. Want to hang out?”

I scowl at the sound of my best friend’s voice. “Damn it, Cameron. I’m a bit busy right now.”

”Oh. You’re with a girl aren’t you?”

“Yeah I am. So can we talk about this later maybe?”

”Sure. Call me when you’re done then, I guess.”

“Will do. Bye.”

I hang up before he has a chance to reply and grin at the girl.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay,” she says shyly. “You know, you can go see your friend if you want to. I don’t mind.”

I just give her my most charming smile. “Why would I want to go see him when I have you right in front of me? So, are you new around here?”

“Yeah. My family and I just moved here a couple of weeks ago.”

“Well then what do you say about me giving you a grand tour of this city?”

Melody looks around us and laughs. “It doesn’t look like there’s much to show.”

“Come on. I’m sure that there’s a lot more to this city than you think.”

I internally laugh at myself knowing that she could probably see most of the city from where she’s sitting.

“Well I guess if you really want to show me around,” she says hesitantly.

“I do.”

“Okay then.”

I help her out of her chair and wait for her to pull her clothes on over her bikini.

“Come on. I know the perfect place to show you.”

I take her hand and lead her down the road toward a grouping of trees.

“Where are we going?” Melody asks.

“It’s a place right past this tree line. I think you’ll love it.”

We walk about half an hour before we end up on the other side of the trees.

“Wow,” she breathes.

“Isn’t this place awesome?” I question, referring to the stream in front of us.

“Yes.”

She bends down to pick a couple of flowers. I pluck one from the ground and brush her hair out of her face to place it behind her ear. Melody blushes at the sudden contact and I smirk. I try to kiss her, but as soon as our lips make contact she pushes me away and slaps me.

“What kind of girl do you think I am?” she exclaims.

I gape at her as I hold my cheek. She turns and sprints back to where we came from as I stare after her in shock.

I stand in the same place for a good ten minutes before huffing and bitterly making my way to Cam’s house.

I open his front door without a thought.

“O’Connell!”

I hear thundering footsteps resound through the house and laugh to myself. Cameron makes his way into the front room breathless from running.

“I thought you were going to call,” he says.

“Yeah well… No.” I wave him off.

“What happened to your face?”

I lift my hand to my cheek and feel the heat still radiating from the spot that was slapped.

“You know how I was with a girl?” He nods. “Well, she slapped me when I kissed her.”

Cameron cracks up and I just glare at him.

“It’s not funny. It hurts like hell.”

“That doesn’t mean that it isn’t funny,” he scoffs.

“Yeah well… You sound like an elephant when you run through the house!”

We continue to bicker with each other before Cameron finally rolls his eyes and tells me shut up.

“So what should we do?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. You’re the one who wanted to hang out.”

“Oh yeah. We could watch some videos on YouTube for a while and then maybe play Guitar Hero.”

“That sounds good.”

We head over to his computer and after a couple of videos I notice how cold his house is.

“Geez, Cam. Your house feels like Antarctica.”

“Yeah I know. My mom won’t let me turn the AC down at all. She has it set at 60.” He shakes his head in disapproval and I groan.

“Can I borrow a sweatshirt or something then? I’m not exactly dressed for winter,” I say sarcastically as I glance down at my shorts and wife beater.

“Go ahead. Can you get one for me while you’re at it?”

I agree and haul my ass out of the computer chair in search of something warm to wear. I find a giant pile of them in the corner of Cameron’s room and grab two random ones. Heading back into the computer room, I toss one of the sweatshirts to him and go to pull the other over my head.

Just as I lift the piece of clothing above my head, paper falls out of the pocket. I pick up the sticky note and see a couple of numbers written down on it.

“Hey, Cam, what’s this?” I ask in confusion.

His eyes light up a bit and he starts to explain something to me about a package, money, and some other stuff. He only manages to say a few words before I get overwhelmed and zone out.

“Ry? Ryan, are you listening to me?”

I shake my head to clear my thoughts. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

“Ryan,” he sighs. “I got a card in the mail. It’s loaded with money.”

I can feel my eyes light up. “How much?”

“I don’t know. A lot.” Cameron shrugs. “I figured I’d go out and get Michaelangelo some of that good cat food that he loved the one time we gave it to him. Maybe get a new iPod or something.”

“Cam, you’re thinking about this all wrong. You have a card with a lot of money,” I say mischievously. “Think big. Go out and buy a car or take a trip to Vegas. I don’t know. Just… Think about more than your cat for once.”

“Hey! My cat is amazing! Also, that sounds wrong.”

I just smirk at him. “Maybe I meant it to sound wrong.”

“I am a male, thank you very much!” Cameron protests with a glare.