Chapter Two

"Man, she is hot!" Ryan leaned up onto his elbows to get a better view.

"You're telling me. I just don't know. It just didn't feel the same. When I first met her, everything felt so right. I mean, I was only like sixteen, but still, it felt awesome. She's so-"

"Dude, what the hell? I was talking about her." He pointed to a girl about fifty yards in front of them. She was alone, dragging a bright blue surfboard across the sand.

Zac sat up to see what he was looking at. So much for their private beach. Ryan had insisted that they go someplace with a few other people in hopes of finding a female companion. "Well, brownie points for her because she surfs."

The two boys watched in admiration as she paddled out and gracefully caught a

wave. "Either she's a natural or she's done it before."

"Well," Ryan said, "the t-shirt she was wearing said University of California, so I'm guessing she's done it before."

"What are you, some kind of stalker?"

"No, beauty just catches my eye."

Zac laughed at his friend. "Can't we have a girl-free vacation?"

"I think not, my friend. You are the lucky one. You have a beautiful one waiting for you at home. Myself, on the other hand, has nothing, so I might as well have a good vacation. I think I'm gonna go out and talk to her."

"Good luck." Zac rolled onto his stomach and watched his friend approach the red head. She was hot. What the hell was he to do? Thinking about her was such a headache. The way he saw it, he had two options. He could grin and bear it. Well, it wasn't as bad as it sounded. Vanessa wasn't a hard girl to be with. Or he could dump her and move on. It's not like he saw her a lot, anyway. And the media was getting to be a bit much. Everywhere they went, cameras were there. What was supposed to be a nice vacation away from everything and everything turned out to be a media frenzy. It would probably be like that with anyone, though. He looked around at the beach. Minus a few families, it was empty. It was pretty private here. And the surfer was pretty cute, as was the girl that was with her. Maybe he could have a fun two weeks, and maybe they didn't have to be girl free.

Melissa smiled to herself as a cute boy paddled out next to her. Her smile broadened as she saw a nice swell coming towards her. Turning against the wave, she paddled and popped up once the wave caught her board. Once the ride died down, she jumped in and paddled back to her starting position, where Ryan was sitting on top of his board.

"Well, not quite like the Pacific, are they? At least they're warm."

"What?" Melissa replied. "How did you-"

"Oh, it's pretty obvious that you a West Coaster." He held out his hand as she paddled closer. "Ryan."

"Hi, I'm Melissa. And, yeah, you're right. I'm from California."

"See? Although you would never really know it from looking at you."

She looked at her pale skin. "Work has kicked my ass lately. I haven't been able to spend too much time outside."

"Is this your first day here?" he asked.

"I just got in last night."

"Yeah, us too."

"Us?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm here with my friend Zac." He motioned over the beach. "I dunno why he didn't come out. I guess he didn't want to get shown up by a girl."

She laughed. "I'm sure stranger things have happened."

"So, who are you here with?"

Melissa rolled her eyes. "My family. Mom, step-dad, and my brothers. We're visiting my grandma. Well, kinda."

"Bummer. Looks like I got off easy."

She shrugged. "I thought I was going to be the full time babysitter, but I've already managed to sneak off. So how long are you here for?"

"Two weeks." He scanned the ocean, staring at the nonexistent waves over the horizon. "We got in last night too."

"Yeah, me too" she said. "Where are you staying?"

"The brown house on the beach."

"Damn, that's an amazing place. How did you land that?"

He smirked. "Eh, I've got a few connections. So besides the beach, what's there to do around here?"

"Um, I really have no idea. It's my first time here."

"You're, what, twenty, twenty-one?"

"Nineteen. Well, almost twenty. But nothing really matters 'til we hit twenty-one, right?"

"Partier?"

"Well, I am in college. And I do like a good time." She paused. "Yeah, I guess you could call me that."

"I'm sure there's a club somewhere that we could get into. I'm sure my friend and I could show ya a good time."

"Oh really?" she said, smiling. "Would that be an invite?"

"Well, since I don't see any waves here worth catching, I think it would be. Why don't we head in so you can meet my friend? Then maybe we can go hang out in our pool? Or hottub?"

Melissa agreed as the two of them stepped on to the white sanded beach. She dropped her board and grabbed her towel, following Ryan to his friend.

Damn, she had already hit the jackpot. Ryan was quite good looking. With his short, choppy brown hair, deep brown eyes, and tanned skin, he was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. Zac, on the other hand, was a few inches shorter and equally as tan, but with shaggy brown hair and bright blue eyes. She almost had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She was used to being in the presence of good looking guys, for she was quite pretty and was more of a guy's girl than anything else, but she wasn't planning on stumbling upon two gorgeous guys on her first day of vacation.

"Melissa, Zac, Zac, Melissa."

Damn, why hadn't he gone out surfing and found her before Ryan did? Although petite, she was athletically built with fair skin and cheery blue-green eyes. The long red hair that Ryan had pointed out earlier was pulled back into a messy bun. She smiled to him and he thought to himself, Vanessa, Vanessa, Vanessa.