Summer With the Bertram Brothers

Finally, the sun is shining bright after these rainy days. I open my blinds and open my window all the way. The smell of the ocean smacks me in the face.
“Finally!” I yell by myself. Straight away, I open my small closet and grab out my swimsuit and sandals. I run to the bathroom and pick a bright colour towel. I squirt sunscreen like it’s the end of the world. Suddenly my door knocks. I open it to find Winnie glowing.
“Are we going swimming or what?”
“Yeah, yeah,” I fan, “Let me grab my stuff!”
I quickly stuff all my things in a blue tote bag and rush out the door with Winnie.
We sing about the sun and find a perfect spot under a colourful umbrella. I slip off my sandals and strip into my bikini. Winnie already leaves me for the water. I run after her and we splash away our worries and have fun. All wet and sandy, I walk to the smoothie stand nearby. A few other teens are hanging around. I lean over the wooden counter as the worker smiles at me.
“One strawberry and banana smoothie, please,” I order, cheerfully, when a voice I know behind me speaks up.
“Make that two.”
I turn around to see who it is. Trim wraps his arms around me from behind and nestles in my neck. I get all ticklish.
“Hey there, sexy,” he says in my ear. I blush into a tomato by his sudden words, making me unsteady and self-conscience all at the same time.
“Hi, Trim,” I say back, fighting my smile.
We get our drinks and walk down back to the beach. He keeps his hand around my waist, keeping me close to him. He also has been swimming since I see his curls drip water and he’s wearing just his swimming trunks. This is perfect, I thought. It’s bright and sunny; I’m with Trim having a smoothie, stuck together with sea salt.
“So what’s up?” he asks.
I shrug, “Nothing much.”
“When the dock opens, I’m going jet skiing,” Trim explains. I love his voice. Listening to him talk makes me realize how much I’ve missed him. I can’t stop smiling. He gives my waist a little squeeze, “You want to come with me. It’ll be fun.”
And fun is what I need.
“Sure!”

I join back with Winnie, who’s already found Rico. I pout when I spot him, but eye Winnie.
“Hey!” she says when she’s me and Trim coming, “Hey, Trim, what’s happening?”
“We’re going jet skiing,” I say.
“It’ll be cool if you guys can come, too,” Trim proposes.
Rico joins the conversation, “Let’s have a race then.”
“Okay,” I see Trim’s face change with cool competitive excitement. I bet Trim and Rico do this often… compete… “If me and Ambi win—because we will—”
“Ha!” Rico laughs, “In your dreams! Winnie and I are going to win.”
“Totally,” Winnie agrees.
I snicker, starting to become competitive myself.
“The prize is Giovanni Pizza. If you win, we’ll pay the bill. If we win, you’ll pay the bill,” Trim says like a business man.
Rico nods, “Fair enough.”
They shake on it and then we all run to the docks on the other end of the beach.Trim and Rico rent out the jets. I stand in front of the parked jets, trying to choose which colour I want to ride on.
“I pick the blue one!” I shout. Winnie huffs and puffs.
“I wanted that one!” she argues.
I place my hand on my hips and smirk, “Too bad, I called it.”
This competitive spirit sure is contagious. Trim then comes back with green life jackets. I slip the smaller one on.
“Perfect. The green represents our island and the blue jet represents our lake,” I nod.
“You’re right. That’s cool. We’re the Islanders,” Trim plays along.
I point to our opponents, “And they’re the Losers!”
Trim and I laugh hysterically, high-fiving our inside joke that isn’t so ‘inside’.
“I can taste the pizza now,” Trim jokes as he licks his lips. We sit on the jet pretty romantically. I sit in front as Trim sits behind while we both steer the jet. Trim did most of the steering. Trim drives us away from the dock near Rico and Winnie’s jet. We’ve establish that the finish line is across the opposite side of the ocean. It’s really an obstacle race since we have to dodge all the other boats and other jet skiers and the floating posts and everything else. Trim veers as the race starts.
“Ready! Set!” Winnie sings, “Go!”
Water flies everywhere. And I’m woohooing the whole way. Trim speeds up and twist and turns around the Jet Ski. Rico is way ahead of us.
“Come on Trim! Hurry up!” I encourage. The jet bounces over the surface of the water as we catch up to them. Rico turns his head to see us tailing him. He keeps getting in our way when we try to overpass him and Winnie. Trim tilts the jet so sideways I almost fall over. But Trim’s grip is strong. By the time we level back to normal, we’ve passed Rico. I hear Winnie yelling something but her voice shrivels under the sounds of the motors. I laugh hard in victory.
“I hope they like Peperroni!” I hear Trim yell in back of me. I nod frantically and laugh while we reach the finish line. Trim cuts the engine and we surf slower on the water. I raise my hands above my head like a rock star and sing we are the champions. By the second verse, Trim joins me.
“We are the champions! No-o time for losers ‘cause we are the champions of the wo-orld!”
“Giovanni, here we come!” Trim sings. I laugh in his arms as he gives me a victory hug.
Rico and Winnie’s jet trots over to us.
“Alright, alright already,” Winnie sighs.

The beautiful sun sets. I didn’t see why Rico looked so defeated from the race on our way, that evening, to Giovanni’s restaurant… until we reached Giovanni’s restaurant. It’s a new high end pizzeria, unlike the locals I know so well. It’s on the border of L’Acadie where all the other high end shops are and hotels for tourists. The place is huge with velvet carpeting. I’m glad I let Winnie pick my wardrobe or else I would be standing in a tank top and ripped shorts. Of course Winnie knows about this place, I thought. Her parents come here for their anniversaries since it was here they first met, which I think is very romantic.

We all sit in a booth. I stare at the menu while Rico plays with the salt packages. Winnie giggles all the way and tells him she adores salty foods. He asks her what kind. She answers her top favourite is potato fries. Trim stretches his arm around me and looks into my menu in my hands. I love to feel him breathing on my skin.
“Aw! You guys look so cute!” Winnie winks. I blush red like the red chairs.
“Not as cute as you two,” I spray back. Winnie gave me a heavenly smile. I feel like I’ve gain a million Winnie points for saying that. I make eye contact with Rico. He seems amused. I look back down at the plasticized menu, “Well, I think I’ll just have a cheese pizza.”
“Careful they put 600 different kinds of cheeses,” Rico warns me.
“Good,” I raise my brows, “I like to try new things.”
“No you don’t,” Rico murmurs, shifting his gaze to his own menu book. I heard him loud and clear.
“I’ll try the extra thin crust goat cheese spinach and ricotta penne pizza,” Trim reads off my menu, pointing at its long name.
“I’ll have the same then—” I decide before Rico cuts me off.
“Of course Trim has to pick the most expensive pizza on the menu,” Rico inquires, sarcastically.
Trim looks around the room as if he’s looking for something.
“What’s that I hear?” he also says sarcastically, “Is that the sound of cheapness?”
I never knew Trim like to joke so much. It makes me realize how little I know about him. I try to turn the conversation to another place.
“So Winnie,” I start, “I hear you want to go to Royal.”
I’m a professional. By the look on her face as I brought it up, I’ve gain another thousand Winnie points.
“Yeah!” she beams, “I definitely want to work hard to get in a top school.”
She says it as if she doesn’t know Rico goes there.
“You’re going to Royal?” Rico seems interested now, “I go to Royal. It’s a hard school.”
“She’s got the brains. Winnie is very smart and athletic,” I turn to Winnie, “You should try out for cheer.”
“Well, it’s still a year away. I just hope I’ll get in when I apply.”
“You’ll get accepted in a heartbeat,” Rico says. Now, he’s gain a trillion Winnie points and her everlasting love.
She beams and lights up the room with her smile, “Oh, you really think so?”
Rico nods politely. Trim nudges my shoulder.
“Are you going to Royal?” he asks me.
I shake my head, “No, I don’t think that’s the school for me.”
Suddenly, I feel a foot under the table against mine. I shoot a look at Rico, a bit surprised. He catches me off guard with his stare. I look back to Trim as I pull my leg away.
“Besides, I’m planning to go to New York to study.”
Trim seems impressed, “Really? Me too. That’s so cool.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it’s either that or Juilliard.”
My eyes pop out like bread pop out of the toaster.
“Juilliard?” I exclaim, “That’s amazing.”
“You mean it’s either the family business or Juilliard,” Rico taunts. If I didn’t have eyes, I wouldn’t see the electric annoyance in their looks.
“Winnie,” I divert, “Have you gone surfing yet?”
She seems to feel the tense atmosphere. She robotically replies, “No, not yet. I’d love to, though.”
“Ask Rico, he surfs like a pro,” I point.
Finally, our pizza appears.
“Really, I’d love if you could teach me some time,” she looks at Rico. But his eyes are on me. He knows that the offer was open up to me when we met. I stare down at the pizza.
“Mmm, this looks good!” I say. I feel like I’m talking too much. We eat a little more in calmer spirits. Enjoying the elaborate pizza, tomato sauce drips over my lip and so I look for a napkin. Trim takes my chin and sucks it right off with his mouth. I blush of embarrassment.
“Hey,” I whine at the surprise. He just grins. I shyly look away.
“You taste good,” he says lowly for only me to hear.

Time passes quickly. At the end of our dinner, Rico offers to pay the bill. Winnie must think he’s a complete gentleman. We slide out of our booth and walk into the warm purple night. After walking around town, Rico and Winnie decide to go to a bar. Trim and I go to our lake. During the whole walk, we didn’t talk. I start to think Trim is different when it’s just the two of us. Suddenly, it seems like he has nothing to say. We sit on the rocks, facing the island. I listen to the crickets and the frogs. The silence irritates me.
“Trim,” I say out loud, interrupting the frogs’ song, “Do you and Rico have a good relationship?”
He nods and shrugs. That means yes and no. I watch him pick up a rock and toss it in the water.
“You seemed really different today,” I say. He shrugs again and pauses.
“How?” he asks.
“I don’t know… you looked annoyed at everything,” I reply, “And now you’re not talking to me.”
He looks at me and tilts his head sideways.
“That’s because you weren’t giving me any attention the whole night,” he rants, “You didn’t even look at me. You were looking at Rico the whole time.”
Now I realized I’ve triggered something. He takes a big breath and exhales loudly.
“It made me jealous,” he gets up to his feet, “I don’t want to have to be the jealous type.”
He’s leaving. I sit there, not knowing what to do or say. I don’t want him to go. I want him to stay here, with me. I jump up and chase behind him and wrap myself to his back.
“Don’t go,” I order, “If you go, I’ll miserable and lonely.”
He turns around in my grasp.
“And I don’t want to be the miserable and lonely type.”
He looks away, trying not to make fun of me.
“I’ll give you my full attention,” I nod. He makes like he’s thinking about my offer.
“Fine,” he says slowly, unbothered, “But you have let me do…”
Oh great, I thought, there’s a condition.
“This!” he shouts and suddenly tickles me to death. I scream and laugh trying to escape his hands.
“Hey! Stop that!”
We fall on the grass and I hold my sides for protection. He rolls on top of me and puts his nose on mine, grinning. I slip my hands in his curls.
“Don’t do that again,” I whine.
He kisses me deeply.