I know i have no business starting a new story. Seeing as i have three other stories on the go and none of them are close to finished but this chapter is in my head and i need to get it out!
Life's a beach house chapter 1: Hello Neighbour
Caroline had thought that summer's in Virginia were hot, but they were nothing compared to the blazing heat of South Carolina. She hadn't even stepped outside yet, but judging by the number on her dashboard and the heat she could see rising off the pavement outside it was sure to be a scorcher.
She had been driving for almost five hours from her home with her mother in Virginia to her father's beach house on the southern most tip of the carolina coastline. Her family used to spend every summer at the old beach house that had been in her dad's family for generations, all together playing in the sand and walking along the boardwalk,but Caroline hadn't been there for years. After her parents had divorced her father had moved into the beach house permanently while her mother Liz kept their rancher in the sleepy town of Mystic Falls.
Caroline was just entering the ninth grade at the time of her parents divorce, and therefore remained in Mystic falls with her mother so she could continue to go to her same high school. She saw her father every few months or so when he drove thru town on his way to business near by. But he never invited her to visit him at the beach and for a long time Caroline had never known why. Her answer had come earlier that year when her father had introduced her to Steven. His boyfriend. Of over three years. She had been shocked to say the least. But now that all of her dad's secrets were out in the open he had invited her to spend the summer with him and Caroline had felt more then pressured to say yes.
Although her Dad wasn't around much Caroline owed him a lot. He was the one who paid her mother child support, as well as her weekly allowance, the car he had bought her on her sixteenth birthday, gas money for that car and above all her college fund. The least she could do in return was spend a few months with him. So instead of spending her summers the way she usually did, lifeguarding at the local community pool and steadily making her way thru her summer reading list, she'd be headed south. Slightly.
She had tried to tell herself it wouldn't be that bad. Spending the summer at the beach was most teenagers dream, and she was still in touch with a few of her old friends from previous summers she had spent there, in fact some of her friends from home had houses there themselves, so she wouldn't be entirely alone. But still, she hadn't spent more than six straight hours with her father in almost four years. Plus she knew next to nothing about her father's boyfriend. Caroline tried to shake the negative thoughts out of her head as she slowed her speed. She was just pulling into the small tourist town that her father now lived in all year around.
She looked around as she drove down the busy street watching as groups of kids emerge from the local ice cream shop, or teenagers milled around the outsides of one of the many surf shops. She hoped that the breeze coming off the ocean would be enough to cool down the insane heat outside her car window. After a few more minutes the store fronts faded into the rows and rows of beach houses. She began to count in her head as soon as the first house came into view. It was a game she had played as a child. She would count every house as she passed them until they finally arrived at their family vacation house. 17, 18, 19 she was watching each house as it passed out the window, 20, 21, 22 and there it was. The twenty third house on the ocean side. She slowed her car and parked outside wondering if she had miscounted. The house looked nothing like she remembered. The peeling and faded blue siding of her memories had been replaced with a bright beige colour. There were vibrant flowers blooming in the once unused and unoccupied flower pots out front, and the weather beaten roof had obviously been redone in a new colour.
She got out of her car and popped her trunk pulling her suitcase and duffel bag out of the car and placing it on the hot pavement. She rolled her bags up the drive and hauled them up the front steps. Once she reached the door she was unsure what to do. Did she knock or just let herself in? This place had once felt like home to her, and now she was just a visitor. Before she could dwell on the decision much longer the choice was made for her. The door flung open and a tall, toned man with blinding white teeth and thick chestnut hair rushed out to embrace her. The scent of sandalwood and what seemed to be cinnamon overwhelmed her as she stood in the awkward hug with his beautiful stranger.
"Caroline! I can't tell you how excited i am that you'll spend the summer with us!" He let go of her and then proceed to place his hands on her shoulders and looked her up and down trying to take her in.
" Your father is no liar. You're quite the beauty." Caroline laughed awkwardly unsure what to say.
"Where are my manners!" The man exclaimed and extended his hand to her to shake.
"I'm Steven which i assume you've figured out. I swear i'm not usually this over excited but i've just been rushing around all day trying to get everything all set up for you." Steven ushered her inside, taking her duffel bag off her shoulders and the handle of her suitcase. He lead her down the hallway and it felt odd to Caroline having to be guided through a place she used to know so well.
"Your dad should be home any minute now." Steven promised as he left her to get settled in.
Caroline had just finished emptying her suitcase into the closet and drawers of her old room when her dad arrived home. She heard him greet Steven before walking over to Caroline's room to greet his daughter.
"Caroline!" He exclaimed wrapping her in a tight hug before letting her go and grinning down at her.
" How was your drive?" He asked his smile too big for his face as she blinded her with his too white teeth. She smiled at him trying to act natural.
"It was good." She started rubbing her arm up and down awkwardly.
" I thought we'd go out to dinner tonight. A little celebration of your arrival." She nodded shooting her had another smile.
So Caroline, her father and Steven piled into her dad's shiny new crossover and headed back down the beach and slightly inland to the country club her parents used to call pretentious but that her father apparently held a membership to now. Despite the fact that the building had been constructed only fifteen years earlier it had been designed to appear as an English castle in complete contrast to the rest of the beachy feel of the town
They were seated in the large dining room which was overrun with people. It's old world Victorian theme didn't suit the rest of the atmosphere. It was a Thursday night and it seemed as if the whole town was out for their family dinners. Caroline tucked into the table neatly and placed her napkin on her lap following the rest of the dinners lead. She flipped through the large menu noting the vast variety of seafood options available to her.
Steven forced conversation between the three of them. Her father, Bill, seemed to have exhausted everything he had to stay to her once he had finished asking her how she had found the drive down from Virginia. Steven and her father had begun to talk enthusiastically about something or other but Caroline had long since stopped listening. She was looking around the dining room at the other families enjoying their dinners. Her eyes fell on a large table straight across the room. There were 8 people crowded around a table.
Two adults were joined by who Caroline assumed to be their children. Five of their kids were nearly grown themselves, all in their late to mid teens, while the last couldn't be more than 12. Five of the couples children were boys including the youngest and their one daughter sat beside her father tapping her fingers on the table, looking painfully bored and tugging on her long blonde hair.
But it wasn't the young boy or the golden haired girl that had truly caught Caroline's attention, it was one of the older boys.
His hair was quite short but despite it's length he could not hide his hint of boyish curls. His mouth seemed to be set in a sort of permeant half grins while his eyes were blue and bright with a devilish glint. There was no doubt that he was attractive, beautiful even, but that wasn't what had caught Caroline's attention.
What had drawn her gaze was that he was looking at her. Not just looking, what he was doing may even have been classified at staring. Even when their eyes met and he knew he had been caught he did not look away ashamed, but cracked a blinding grin. She let out a tentative smile before looking down at her plate again.
The mystery family has long since cleared out by the time Caroline's group had finished their meal. As the family passed Caroline's table on the way to the exit the boy caught Caroline's eye again, smirking at her and nodding ever so slightly.
Once they were back at the beach house Caroline returned to her room grateful for the a joining bathroom. She stripped off the wrinkled clothes she had been traveling in all day and cranked the knobs in the shower which started the water flowing. She climbed in letting the water wash over her and unwind the knots that had formed in her back from driving all day.
Caroline took her time in the shower, wasting as much time as possible until it would be an acceptable point in the night for her to go to sleep.
Yet despite her exhaustion her desperation for sleep was not met the moment she climbed into bed. She laid there for what seemed like hours waiting for the sleep which didn't seem to be on it's way. When she glanced at the alarm clock on her dresser across the room she noted the time. 11:07. Caroline sighed heavily and sat up in bed. Walking as quietly as possible, she exited her room and crept down the hallway towards the living room. She slide open the glass door that faced the water and took in a large gulp of sea air. She walked across the deck and down the few steps to the patio where the pool was situated. She sat down at the far end of the pool, sitting on it's edge and letting her feet and calfs soak in the water. Caroline craned her neck and looked over the old wood fence that separated her father's property and public beach. She watched the water and listened to the waves crash lightly against the shore.
The moon above her was nearly full that night and lit up the beach as if a flashlight was set on the sand.
Caroline fixed her gaze on the moon instead until something broke the silence of the waves around her.
She glanced down the beach and saw a figure jogging towards her. The pounding of the person's feet in the sand wasn't particularly loud but it had alerted her to their impending arrival. As the person, now revealed to be a man, drew closer Caroline felt her heart drop. It was the boy from the club. The same boy who had caught her eye before and dazzled her with his bright smile.
He noticed her a short time after she noticed him and as he jogged past her house and their eyes met once again he raised his hand to her in greeting.
Caroline gave him a small wave, a tad wary and he turned back to the beach in front of him. She watched as he ran away from her but he seemed to be slowing. To her surprise he turned upward only four houses down and unlatched the gate letting himself into the house.
Caroline shook her head to herself.
Hello neighbour.