Knock Knock

“You were out late,” Mike said as I tried to sneak into the house. I froze in the foyer and turned to see him waiting in the recliner next to the TV.

“Sorry Mom,” I teased, shaking my head as I walked towards the kitchen.

“Cute unicorn, where’d you get it?” he asked, and I raised my eyebrows.

“I won it. You know I’m a beast at the water gun games,” I said, grabbing a glass from the cabinet and filling it with water.

“True, but I thought maybe you’d coerced one of the Flyers into winning it for you. I mean, you’ve been wearing that hat all day,” he said, and I felt my cheeks flush before I whipped off the snapback.

“I didn’t want to get sunburn on my head and I didn’t have a hat of my own,” I lied quickly, tossing the hat onto the counter.

“Sure, sure, keep lying to me. You forget that I can read you like a book,” Mike smiled knowingly, and I flipped him off.

“Goodnight Mike,” I sighed heavily, heading to my bedroom.

The next day I woke up to find the house empty. Damn, I slept late didn’t it? I thought as I headed into the kitchen and poured myself a bowl of cereal. I checked my phone to see that Sean had texted me four times telling me to wake up and head to the beach, which made me laugh, and I put my bowl in the sink before heading to the shower. The hot water relaxed my muscles and I took my time, enjoying the peace and quiet of my family shore house. I had practically grown up in the house which had originally belonged to my grandparents. When my grandfather passed away, he put in his will that it would belong to me once I turned eighteen and even put enough money in a bank account to cover the property taxes and utilities until my twenty eighth birthday. He had been incredibly wealthy, and since I was his only living grandchild he had given his entire estate to me. My grandmother kept the house clean until she passed away a year ago, and then I found myself driving the hour and a half from my house to Wildwood to clean the house and make sure that there weren’t any leaks or break ins. My parents hadn’t been happy when I finally was given the keys to the house in December, but they realized that I could handle the house if my grandfather had willed it to me. I smiled at the memories of my grandfather, from the time we went fishing in the bay and he fell off the boat, to the time I convinced him to go on the Great White Shark (an old school wooden roller coaster), and he got hooked on rides permanently. Once I was out of the shower I wrapped a fluffy blue towel around my body and walked into the hallway. I froze when I heard someone wolf whistle at me, and I turned around slowly to see Max, Sean, and Claude standing in the family room.

“Mother fucker,” I hissed, sprinting into my bedroom. I quickly put on my favorite hunter green bikini, a pair of tan shorts, and a gauzy white tank top, and threw my hair into a messy bun before walking back out into the family room.

“How the hell did you guys get here?” I asked grumpily, grabbing a beach towel from the white wicker basket sitting by the front door.

“Mike told us the address, so we decided to come and wake you up,” Sean said.

“But our plan obviously didn’t get to be put into action because you were already awake,” Max pouted.

“Remind me to kick his ass when we get to the beach,” I said, putting a water bottle, the beach towel, sunscreen, and a snack into my backpack.

“Will do,” Sean smirked, and I shook my head before grabbing Claude’s hat off of the countertop. I put it on my head, and Claude shook his head before spinning the brim around so that I was wearing the cap backwards. Max and Sean exchanged a look which I ignored before grabbing my key off of the seagull shaped key ring holder hanging on the wall, and ushered the guys out the door.

Claude’s Point of View

When we got to the beach, Nathalie made a beeline for Mike but was intercepted by John, who looked like he was panicking about something. He dragged her over to a small boy, who was crying his eyes out.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“We think the kid is lost, but when you and Max went to get Nat, we lost all of our Frenchies. We don’t have a clue what he’s saying,” Marie muttered, and I nodded.

“Quel est le probleme?(What is the problem?)” Nathalie asked, crouching down so that she was eye level with the boy.

“Je perdue ma mere et mon pere! (I lost my mom and dad!)” the boy sobbed, and I felt a frown forming on my face.

“Savez-vous leurs nombre telephone? (Do you know their phone number?)” Nathalie asked. The boy sniffled and wiped his big blue eyes before nodding.

“Oui, je said leurs nombre, mais je n’ai pas une mobile (Yes, but I don’t have a cellphone),” the boy squeaked.

“Ici, utilise ma mobile (here, use my cellphone),” Nathalie said before handing her phone to the boy. The boy dialed the number and bit his lip anxiously as the phone rang.

“Maman? C’est Pierre. Je perdue vous dans la foule, et j’ai ne pouvais pas trouver une personne qui parle francais pour quelques minutes. Mais j’ai trouvais une femme qui parlez francaise et elle m’a prete son mobile, (Mom? It’s Pierre. I lost you in the crowd, and I couldn’t find a person who spoke French for a few minutes. But I found a woman who speaks French and she lent me her cellphone),” the boy said quickly. I heard rapid French on the other line before the boy gave his mom directions on where he was. A few seconds later a frantic looking mother and father ran over and hugged the boy tightly, kissing his head and scolding him lightly before turning to Nathalie.

“Merci beaucoup pour aidiez notre garcon, (Thank you very much for helping our son,)” the mother said, and Nathalie nodded before the couple whisked their son away.

“I didn’t know you speak French,” I said casually.

“What Quebecois doesn’t speak French?” Nathalie smirked, and I felt my jaw drop.

“You’re Canadian?!” I gasped.

“Well, sort of. My mom and dad are from Quebec; he’s from Montreal, and she’s from Quebec City, but I was born here,” Nathalie shrugged.

“Wait, I thought that your shore house used to be your grandfather’s,” Mike said quietly.

“It was. He came down with my dad when my dad got drafted. He found a job working for an architecture firm and got his green card. When the firm was handed over to him, he made tons of money and bought the shore house. That was about a year before I was born,” Nathalie explained, and I let out a low whistle.

“Wait, your dad got drafted? Into what?” Max asked.

“Hockey,” Nathalie said quietly.

“Hold up, are you related to Guy LaFleur?” Sean asked.

“No, but everyone asks that. It’s uh…well…my dad didn’t make it very far. He got drafted by the Devils when they first started up, but he got into a car accident a few years in and um…well, he broke his spine. He hasn’t walked since, so needless to say his career ended. He went back to school and became an investment banker,” Nathalie explained quietly, and I swallowed roughly.

“That uh…that’s rough,” I said.

“Yeah, but my dad says he doesn’t mind so much. He said that when I was born a few months after his accident, he forgot all about hockey and fell in love with being a dad. He says that he’s actually sort of grateful that he couldn’t play anymore because he got to witness my whole childhood,” Nathalie smiled, and I felt a grin form on my face as well.

“That’s an awesome way to think about things,” I said.

That night we had everyone over to hang out. We settled down to play video games and watch movies, and by twelve everyone except for me, Nathalie, Scott, Wayne, and Marie had passed out. Scott and Marie were playing Mario Kart, Wayne was listening to his iPod and trying to sleep on the couch, and Nathalie was texting someone, so I decided to grab a beer and head out onto the back porch. A few seconds after I went out the door opened and closed again and I turned to see Nathalie standing next to me. The night breeze carried the smell of salty ocean water, and I took a small sip of my beer as Nathalie looked up at the stars.

“It’s beautiful out here,” Nathalie smiled, and I nodded in agreement.

“I love it here. The guys convinced me to come down with them this summer, and I thought it was going to suck at first, but I’ve been here less than a week and I’m already in love,” I grinned, and Nathalie laughed.

“Wildwood does that to people. I can’t imagine not coming back every summer,” she said quietly, letting her fingers trace the whorls in the wood railing.

“I probably can say the same now,” I said, taking another sip of my beer. We stood there for a few minutes, just soaking in the peaceful silence, before Nathalie turned towards me.

“Claude, do you ever wonder if we’re supposed to meet certain people at certain times in our lives?” she asked.

“What, like fate or something?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

“Yeah,” she said.

“I dunno, maybe. Why?” I asked.

“Because I never was really comfortable talking about my dad, or using French in front of people, or getting to know a new group until I met you guys. Sean is a weird freaking kid, but I can honestly say that I’m almost as comfortable with him as I am with Mike, and I’ve only known him for four days. It’s the same with the other guys too. And then today I was just spouting French all over the place even though I haven’t spoken it in a year, and I told you guys about my dad, and I just…it’s weird,” Nathalie explained, her eyebrows scrunched as she thought about what she was saying.

“Well, I know what you’re talking about. I’ve gotten really comfortable with you and your friends really fast too, and I’ve never been the go out and get ‘em type guy either. I’ve always been more comfortable just floating along, but now I’m well…I’m here,” I laughed, realizing that Nathalie probably wasn’t the only one to have changed a bit since the start of vacation.

“So, do you think we’re supposed to have met?” Nathalie asked.

“I uh…yeah,” I stammered, praying that my cheeks weren’t burning. I had only just admitted to myself earlier that day that I was beginning to develop a bit of a crush on the girl.

“Cool,” she said quietly before staring at the railing for a few minutes. I sipped on my beer and willed my heart beat to slow down, and just as it did so Nathalie did something unexpected. She slid over so that she was right next to me, her arm pressing against mine, got up on her tiptoes, and kissed me softly on the cheek.

“What was…” I began.

“I want to take a chance this summer Claude. I uh…” she started, but as soon as I saw the look on her face I knew exactly what she was talking about. Broken heart, ready to get over it, going out on a limb, taking a risk and knowing that she would never have to see me again after this summer if something went wrong. It was exactly what I had been considering a few nights ago when I was talking to Sean. Instead of letting her continue, I captured her lips with mine and kissed her gently. She placed a hand lightly on my chest and kissed me back, and I was surprised at how well our lips fit together. We broke apart and she smiled at me before kissing me. I cupped her cheek gently in my hand and put down my beer before putting my other hand on the small of her back. She slowly wrapped her arms around my neck and began to toy with my hair, which made me smile against her lips. Just as the kiss was about to deepen, I heard the door open and close again and we leapt apart like two preteens who had just been caught by their parents.

“Sorry,” Mike said sheepishly as he noticed us, and he darted off the porch and headed for the sidewalk with his phone glued to his ear.

“Typical Mike,” Nathalie muttered grumpily before smiling cheekily at me.

“So, I’m guessing you’re in,” she laughed.

“You only live once, so what the hell?” I shrugged.

“You’ve been hanging out with Zac too much,” Nathalie chuckled before kissing my cheek again and disappearing into the house.