Welcome to the Family

May 2011

A heavy weight woke me from my peaceful sleep. I groaned and cracked one eye open to see those beautiful green eyes staring at me. “Good morning sunshine.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Get up. Get dressed. You’re coming to Brian’s. We’re going to the beach.”

I mumbled curse words under my breath as the covers were pulled off my body. “What time is it?”

“Time to go to the beach. Come on you have ten minutes.” Zack struggled to pull me out of my bed for a few minutes. When he did he pushed me towards my dresser. “Get your bathing suit on.”

“Good God you’re pushy.”

He smiled and kissed my cheek. “Yep. Now you only have eight minutes. So hurry.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled my bikini out of my dresser. I made sure Zack was really gone before changing and then throwing some shorts and a t-shirt on over it. I didn’t bother with any make up since we would be in the ocean, so I just threw my hair up put on some deodorant and grabbed my sunglasses.

When I got downstairs I saw Zack sitting on the couch with my Dad. “That was quick.”

“Well Mr. Baker decided to only give me ten minutes to get ready.”

Zack laughed. “Eight minutes. You wasted two of them.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Whatever. That was your fault.”

Zack and my Dad both laughed. “Alright, well let’s get going. Everyone is waiting for us at your brothers house.”

“Have fun Gem.” My dad called to me as Zack and I walked toward the front door.

“I will. Bye Dad.”

Everyone was at Brian’s already waiting for Zack and I to arrive.

“It’s about time! I thought you kidnapped my sister.” Brian yelled from the kitchen as we walked into the house.

“I thought about it, but I figured I’d restrain myself.” Zack said playfully.

“Whatever. I’d kick his ass anyways.” I mumbled while walking into the kitchen to hug my brother.

After sitting around and drinking a few beers with the guys we all headed down to the beach. All the guys headed down to the water straight away. Michelle, her twin sister, who was also Matt’s wife, Valary sat on the blanket we carried from the house.

Us girls talked for a while before being rejoined by Bri and Zack, who only annoyed us. Eventually we shooed them away so we could continue talking.

“So Gem, any cute boys at your school?” Val asked.

I shrugged. “A couple.”

“Anyone catch your eye in particular?”

“Not really. They’re all so immature. It’s disgusting.”

Val and Michelle both laughed. “Get used to it. As you can see, they don’t grow up. Look at our husbands.” Chelle pointed to Brian who was chasing Matt around with handfuls of wet sand.

I fell back onto the blanket with a groan. “Oh god. I’ll be stuck with an idiot no matter what.”

“Welcome to the club.” They said at the same time.

Before I could respond I heard a lot of different yells. A football landed right next to me. A tall shirtless boy, who I recognized from my school ran over to us to fetch it. “I’m so sorry. Didn’t hit anyone did it?”

“No. But it was damn close.” I snapped as I tossed the football up to him.

“Gemma?” He asked cocking his head to the side. “I’m Kyle Pierce. We have Physics together.”

“Oh. Yeah. Hi.”

He laughed. “Well I’m here with a few people from school if you want to come hang out.”

Val and Michelle both stared at me. Chelle nodded her head towards the group of kids my school subtly.

“I guess I could hang out for a while.”

“Awesome. We’re trying to play football, but the girls are kind of shitty.” He mumbled the last part.

“Hey, not all girls are shitty at sports.” I shoved him playfully.

“Well you’re going to have to prove that to me then.”

Kyle split everyone up into two teams. I was supposed to be defending against Kyle, which I was sure he did on purpose.

“Really think you can stop me?” He had a playful smirk on his face.

“I know I can.” I shot back.

“We’ll see about that.”

His friend Paul put the ball into play and tossed it to Kyle. I blocked him a few times before he grabbed my legs and threw me over his shoulder.

“Kyle!” I squealed. “This is cheating!” I pounded on his back with my fists. He reached the end zone we had set up and spiked the football. Finally he put me down, a shit eating grin on his face.

“You are such a jerk.” I smacked his chest softly.

“I’m sorry. Can I make it up to you?”

“Depends. How do you plan on making it up to me?”

“Let me take you out to dinner.”

I bit down on my lip before nodding. “I think that would due.”

“Great. How about next Friday?”

“Sounds good.”

“GEMMA!” My brother screamed at me. I turned around quickly. Brian was motioning for me to get over there since it looked like everyone was ready to head back to his house.

“Who is that?” Kyle asked with a frown.

“My brother.” I grumbled.

“Oh. Well I’ll see you in school. We can talk about Friday.”

“Okay. I’ll see you on Monday.”

Kyle leaned down and kissed my cheek softly. “Can’t wait.”

When I turned around I knew I was blushing, but I didn’t care. Brian was waiting for my with my towel in his hand.

“What the hell was that?”

“He’s a kid from my school.”

“He just kissed you.”

“Thank you captain obvious.” I snatched my towel out of his hand and headed towards his house.

Brian continued to ask me questions until we got into his kitchen.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

Everyone’s heads seemed to turn in our direction. “Dear God Brian. No. He is not my boyfriend. He asked me on a date. That’s it.”

“Wow. Way to go Gem. You were with that kid, what an hour? And you got a date out of it?” Michelle smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes and looked at Zack with pleading eyes knowing he was the only person who would help me out of this.

He chewed on one of his lip rings before sighing. “I filed for divorce today.”

Now everyone’s attention was on Zack, our mouths all hung open in shock. I did not expect that to be how he would get the attention off of me.

“W-what?” Val asked.

“I filed for divorce. Me and Gena aren’t working out.”

“Does she know?” Bri asked.

Zack nodded. “Yeah. She’s staying at her parents for now.”

“Holy shit. I’m sorry man.” Matt patted Zack on the back.

Zack simply shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. It happens.” He walked out the back door without another word. I followed after him a few seconds later. I found him sitting on the hammock Brian had on the deck.

“Zee…you didn’t have to do that.” I took a seat next to him.

“I had to tell them. I couldn’t just act like nothing was happening. And you were drowning in there.”

“Thanks Zack.” I leaned my head against his shoulder.

“No problem Gem.”

The sun was just starting to set, the sky was full of pinks and oranges. It was so pretty.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” I said almost in a whisper.

Zack looked down at me and smiled. “Yeah. It is.”