Like Nobody Else

The previous night had gone smoother than Marley could have hoped for—the trio ended up eating an authentic French dish, all in honor of Sophia, and Marley had even picked up a few French words. Such as "putain"—which meant whore, and entailed a half hour of laughter from the three after Sophia had explained its meaning.

After dinner, they settled in to watch a movie—The Notebook set in French just for Sophia. Once the hour and a half movie was over, the two girls headed upstairs for Rhia's room.

When there was a knock on the door, Marley didn't really expect it to be him. She would have expected him to call ahead to notify her but no—it was a surprise, and to say she was stunned would be an understatement. She was thankful she had nothing in her hands, because she would have definitely dropped it.

Zeke had all of her attention that she didn't even notice the five foot six brunette standing behind him with a smirk. When she did realize it was Fallon and not the usual escort Zeke seemed to prefer, Marley shrieked—more than likely sounding hysterical.

"Holy shit!" Marley nearly shoved past Zeke to jump on the Italian woman, and was surprised that the pair didn't tip over—then again, Fallon was strong for her height and build. After composing herself, she gave a brief hug to Zeke before asking, "When in the fuck did you two get into America? And how the fuck could you not call me ahead of time?"

When laughter boomed from the stairwell, Marley looked over her shoulder to see Rhia doubled over, clutching her stomach as she leaned on the wall for support. "I have never heard you cuss so much in one time period—that killed me, really. Now who are they?" Marley noticed Rhia wasn't being hostile, like she normally was when any visitors came over—excluding anyone that actually came over for Rhia, though.

"This is Fallon, my best friend, and Zeke, my agent." Marley's career had come up during dinner, and she had finally confessed to Rhia that she took a break from her surfing career.

At the time, Rhia even looked teary-eyed when she heard her sister's heartfelt declaration to come and take care of her instead of letting some old hag from a foster home do it—though she had passed it off as the light catching her eyes wrong when Sophia even dared mention anything about it.

"Oh, it's very nice to meet you two. I'm Rhiannon, but please—call me Rhia." The seventeen-year-old sounded sincere to Marley as she got to the bottom of the steps and crossed the foyer to the newcomers, offering her hand to shake.

"Your sister has told me a lot about you." Fallon smiled softly as she shook Rhia's hand, glancing over at Marley.

"Yeah, I bet she has, and as much as I'd love to stay here and chat with you guys all night, I have a guest of my own." Rhia winked at Marley who simply rolled her eyes with a grin.

"Don't mind her, at all." Marley answered playfully, making sure it was loud enough for Rhia to hear even though she was retreating up the stairs. The only response she got was seeing Rhia's middle finger when she looked, which made her laugh. "Anyways, please, come in—we have a lot to catch up on." Marley ushered them inside, gesturing for them to take seats in the living room.

"Yes, we do, and we need to discuss when you're coming back—ow!" Fallon's hand was sore from the shot she took at the back of Zeke's head to shut him up, and she knew he would have a headache within the next five minutes. "Totally unnecessary, you bitch." Zeke hissed in a low voice, shaking his head at her.

"Nobody would ever believe you two were siblings with how much you bicker," Marley spoke sarcastically, a smirk lifting the corner of her lips as she took a seat in the only chair in the room so she could face the "brother" and "sister" sitting on her couch.

"There's a proper term for what we are, Marley—it's step-siblings, use it." Zeke responded in his thick Australian accent, rolling his eyes as he relaxed on the couch.

"Calm down there, no need to get your panties in a twist." Marley tsked jokingly before looking over at Fallon.

"You surf any waves here yet?" Fallon asked—although she already knew the answer.

"No...not yet." Marley sighed before catching the look on Fallon's face—she knew that look better than anyone. "If we're caught down at the beach, we can get charged for being on the beach after hours. From midnight to four the beach is off limits—that's when it belongs to the state." Fallon gave Marley an incredulous look.

In Australia, Marley wouldn't have hesitated to go to a beach after hours—hell, she would be the one to suggest it.

After sitting in silence for more than five minutes under Fallon's constant puppy look, Marley gave in. "Okay, come on. You can borrow one of my boards and one of my suits." She led Fallon upstairs, and after twenty minutes, the trio was standing at the beach's entrance.

Zeke had long given up surfing—after he nearly drowned when the current was far too strong and pulled him under for three minutes; he claims to like being an agent even better though.

"You ready for this?" Fallon let the question hang in the air, glancing at her best friend out of the corner of her eye.

A smile was on Marley's lips as she took off running towards the water, her surfboard under her arm. She didn't feel forced by Fallon to surf, she wanted too—for the first time since she's come to California.


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I apologize for the brief wait! I had been doing really good with updating, but with that sister weekend shit—it was impossible to update. Oh well, I hope you guys enjoyed (:

bloodyvengeance—Yeah (: I aimed for making her as sweet and innocent as possible; for the most part, haha. Thanks for commenting (:

WhitneySheree—What Matt does will actually be in the next chapter (: Haha, I'm aware that it's going to be on the cheesy side, but I think it's pretty adorable :D Thanks for commenting!

ladyofsorrows101—I'm glad you liked their date (: And I've been thinking of the angles of how Rhia will find out, but you will all know how it plays out soon enough (: But I will tell you now that Marley is not just being nice to Sophia in hopes that Rhia will be nice to Matt, haha. Thanks for commenting (:

bloodravyn—Thank you and thanks for commenting (:

I love you all (:
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