"You wanna use my bathroom? It's free", Sam offered a disheveled looking Elizabeth through a wide smile.
He was on his way to grab some breakfast when he saw Elizabeth plod to the bathroom down the corridor. She was usually quite graceful in her movements, not to say she was a ballerina or anything, but she was much more feminine that her current morning performance would have anyone believe.
She had grimaced a little and turned away from the family bathroom when Grandpa had shouted from within that it was occupied and he would be a while and would whoever was at the door please shut the windows in his workroom because it was going to rain later and he didn't want any bugs nesting in the badger waiting to be stuffed. He finished by saying he thought he'd only be stepping out for a second but he guessed last night's dinner caught him off guard.
"Yes! Thank you, Sammy" she said gratefully, happily backing away from the occupied family bathroom. She gave him a brief squeeze-hug. Sam pulled back a little with a grimace and Elizabeth asked immediately, "What's wrong?"
"Don't take this the wrong way but you're…" Sam didn't know how to say this nicely. Girls were sensitive. "..You're kind of…musky this morning"
Musky? Realization dawned upon her and, stepping back hastily, her cheeks reddened. She sniffed her armpits and groaned, "I'm sorry" how embarrassing "I must have been going crazy last night, I woke up under all my blankets and it was so hot and my sheets were rumpled, so I'd obviously been kicking about…"
Some of her hair had been stuck down to her glistening forehead when she woke up, but she wasn't going to mention that.
This was embarrassing enough.
"Nah it's fine" Sam reassured her, genuinely meaning it, "It happens to everyone, right?"
She laughed a little, glad for his sweetness, "Yeah, I guess so"
She headed towards his shared bathroom, "Mike still sleeping?" she asked as Sam followed.
"Nope, he was up kinda early. I think he's outside working on his bike"
"What's he doing to it?" Elizabeth asked a little confused; as far as she knew it was in perfect working order. He'd driven it up here for last leg of the trip without issue, anyway.
Sam made a 'how should I know?' noise and quickly stopped her before she went into his bathroom.
She looked at him in confusion.
"Sorry" he said quickly, dropping her arm. They were stood in the doorway of his bathroom now, "I just remembered. Did you brush your teeth last night?"
Elizabeth flung her hands to her mouth in mortification and Sam, understanding her thoughts quickly assured her, "No, no, no you're fine. You're fine. You just stink a little, your breath's OK from here"
She slowly lowered her hands and started at him, "of course I did!" she replied quietly, trying to expel as little air as possible.
"Mike didn't. Don't you think that's weird?" Sam asked.
"It's gross…" Elizabeth said not sure why Sam really cared and now wanting desperately to shower and brush her teeth.
"It was like he just collapsed in bed, we didn't do anything too crazy?" Sam said questioningly but Elizabeth shrugged a little.
"Maybe the move just caught up with him? If he's up and about already, can't have been anything more…right?" she reasoned, "I mean, I was exhausted too.."
Sam didn't like the answer, he felt unsatisfied with it but at the same time even he had to admit it made sense.
"I guess" he conceded, "I'll shut Grandpa's windows. Wanna eat breakfast together?"
"Sure, gimmie ten?" Elizabeth asked stepping into the bathroom now, "Mom's not home?"
"Gone to the bank and then she said she was gonna meet with a girl who worked at the video place. Get like an introduction to the job or something"
Elizabeth nodded and began to shut the door, smiling as Sam told her he would fix breakfast.
When she came down to the kitchen not even ten minutes after she'd stepped in the shower, Elizabeth looked like her bright, usual self. Her thick, brown hair was still damp and was discoloring her shirt a little bit but she was looking good.
Sam grinned, "Hey! You don't stink anymore!"
"Not ready to joke about it!" she replied in a laugh that belied her words.
Sam had put two bowls, two spoons, a carton of milk and five different cereals on the table.
He had also poured orange juice into glasses.
"Wow, quite the spread" Elizabeth smiled.
"Mike was cleaning his bike or whatever" he said with a shrug, selecting a cereal box that screamed 'CHOCO ROCKS!', with a caveman character smashing rocks with an electric guitar on the front. Elizabeth chose the same, "I put on this amazing display and you choose the same?!" he asked in mock shock.
They enjoyed breakfast, talking lightly about nothing of particular importance or seriousness. Sam mentioned that he hadn't read his new comic yet but he had finished his current one last night.
"Do you want to go to the boardwalk tonight?" Elizabeth asked him carefully through a mouthful of damp cereal. She liked to save the milk for last and drink it in one, enjoying the chocolatey taste but the risk of dribble wasn't what made her speak carefully.
She wasn't entirely sure if she even wanted to go back so soon.
It kind of felt like she shouldn't.
"Actually, Grandpa said we could use the barbecue tonight" Sam told her with a hopeful smile, "he picked up meat. Look in the fridge, he showed me. There's so many beef steaks and hamburgers"
"Huh.." Elizabeth swallowed a mouthful of cereal.
Part of her really had wanted to check out the boardwalk but something, somewhere there was a niggling feeling that tonight shouldn't be the night.
As she frowned trying to process her thoughts, Sam continued.
"It's actually kinda funny" Sam grinned, "He told mom not to waste her money at the supermarket anymore because it's all rip off prices"
Rip off? She thought suddenly, wondering where the sense of de-ja-vu had come from.
Oh, right. The boardwalk, that guy.
Marko.
Maybe a family barbecue would be good, she thought, a strange sense of eagerness but unease washing over her.
"He got the meat this morning. And not from a supermarket" Sam said, heaping another pile of cereal into his bowl, "he drove way out to this wholesaler warehouse or something. He said it's where the supermarkets source their products but he always buys it below cost because he haggles them down"
Elizabeth was smiling now, what time must Grandpa have gotten up this morning?
"He's kind of great, huh?" she said warmly, thinking of her eccentric grandpa.
"So, what do you think?" Sam asked, bringing the topic back.
"Sure. I'd love that" she smiled. A barbecue did sound really nice and if Grandpa went to that effort just to buy them all some meat it would be wrong to say no, "oh wait, didn't Grandpa say it was going to rain?"
Sam shook his head, "he reads the predicted weather in the TV guide, I checked the radio. It's gonna be another clear day. Besides, he'd probably barbecue happily in the conservatory if it came to that"
"Darn right!" Grandpa said, passing the kitchen and entering his workroom.
They both jumped a little, looked at each other, and wondered how long he'd been listening and whether they had sad anything they shouldn't have.
No, they were safe.
"Actually" Elizabeth started, "do you feel like checking out the beach?"
"Tonight?"
"No, today. There should be a path to check out the beach down below the house" below the house was being generous, the beach was a good twenty minute walk down and away from the house, "we can make a picnic and bring our books and enjoy the sun and sea?"
Sam was looking at his sister "that's so cheesy! 'We can bring a picnicccccc and our boooooks'" he trilled in a poor imitation of Elizabeth but was laughing too.
"Cheesy but nice!" she retorted, throwing lone choco-rock from the table top at him.
"Yeah, yeah that's cool" he replied, laughingly dodging the flying cereal. The back door opened and Michael stepped in, grease marks over his shirt and knees.
He took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water.
"You wanna come down to the beach with us?" Elizabeth asked before Sam followed, "Grandpa said we can have a barbecue tonight"
"I'm working on my bike and tonight I wanna go to the boardwalk" Michael said simply, putting his dirtied glass in the sink, "Sorry guys"
"We're right by the beach, you sure you don't want to swim for a bit? We were going to bring food, make a picnic. It'll be fun…" Elizabeth wheedled, tried to make it sound as inviting as she could, stacking her empty bowl into Sam's before he could fill it a third time.
"Nah" Michael shrugged, "Sorry. I really want to finish my bike before tonight-"
"What's to finish?" Sam asked.
"Bike stuff, come on. You wouldn't get it. You've never cared about my bike before" he shrugged, his tone tinged with confused annoyance.
"Asking isn't caring, Mike" Sam chirped playfully, "you going back to chase that girl?"
Michael brushed him off with a wave of the hand, "That's a yes!" Elizabeth laughed.
"Enjoy the beach" Michael said loudly over Sam and Elizabeth's loud, smushy kissing sounds, "and your barbecue. We can do something together tomorrow, OK?" he ruffled his younger brother's hair on the way out and Sam yelped, complaining about oil and grease.
"It'll come out in the sea" Elizabeth assured him, eager to get going.
A day spent on the beach, basking in the warm breeze and the warm sun.
The more she thought about it, the nicer it sounded.
"I'll get Nanook, too. So, what should we pack for the big adventure?" he asked her teasingly.
Pizza. Hamburgers. French fries. Sandwiches. Potato chips. They had already eaten a lot of easily portable food in the last two days. What did she fancy? Elizabeth shrugged.
They faintly heard the heavy work room doors slide open and their grandpa shuffled into the kitchen. He went straight for the fridge and pulled out a root beer.
"Grandpa, what would you bring for a picnic on the beach?" Sam asked.
Grandpa leaned against the fridge, holding his root beer and thinking, "Well...you two going boardwalk way or down the way, way?" he asked.
You two? How had grandpa guessed Mike wasn't going, Sam wondered briefly.
Not feeling any real need to go to the boardwalk again today and without a shred of doubt about it, Sam shrugged.
"Uh..down the way way?" he said, looking at his Grandpa again.
"Good choice" Grandpa said with an approving nod. He opened the fridge again and retrieved two plates of stacked, thick cut and overstuffed BLT sandwiches. He placed them on the table. They must have been a nicer batch from egg-mayo ones he'd made yesterday, the bread looked softer than a pillow. "I'd take these, 'cause there's not a shop for miles when you get down there. Boardwalk sucks all the business towards it and leaves just empty space behind"
"Then" he continued, "I'd take some root beers and a pack of double stuffed Oreo cookies" he went in the fridge and removed a packet.
"But these are my cookies-"
Sam exhaled. He knew he wouldn't get the cookies.
"-so you can take a jumbo bag of potato chips – you got cheese or cool ranch, but don't take 'em both, I like to eat 'em when I read about the movies in the TV guide"
"Thank you, Grandpa!" Elizabeth grinned, eyeing the sandwiches, not sure if he was serious or joking about reading the movies.
"Yeah, thanks Grandpa" Sam added, "how do you go down the way, way?"
"Any idiot can get there, just follow the drive and take a left the first chance you get"
He left the kitchen, tucking in to his cookies.
"They look really good" Sam said, looking down at the sandwiches once again and brushing over the 'any idiot' comment.
Elizabeth wondered briefly if they should save one for Michael but Sam, remembering the bacon incident protested heavily.
"I'll wrap, you wash?" Elizabeth asked.
"No way. You wash, I'll wrap"
After a brief stalemate which was ended after a fast and intense round of rock, paper, scissors, Sam began to wrap the sandwiches while Elizabeth washed their breakfast bowls and utensils. They chose cool ranch potato chips and Sam arranged a diet coke, orange juice and a bottle of water into a large, wicker basket. The handle was badly fraying but it was sturdy, all the same. It seemed to be a feature of Grandpa's – well, their house – a bit tattered but definitely reliable. The sandwiches went in last.
They each went to get ready and it was close to eleven when they started to leave the house, Nanook prancing happily in tow.
"Last chance, Mike!" Sam called to his brother.
Michael was sat on the bike, revving the engine. It sounded a little louder than before, the metal was polished almost painfully bright but otherwise not much had changed.
"You know what they say about putting glitter on shit?" Sam asked his sister lowly.
"Shut UP Sammy!" a dirty rag was thrown in his direction.
Obviously not low enough.
"Have a nice day, good luck with it…" Elizabeth called to Mike, beginning to walk down the drive.
She glanced back. Briefly wondering if she should she go later..
"Don't pierce anything!" Sam advised his older brother, "you're way more handsome than the chump she was riding with" but Michael didn't reply, invested in his bike once again.
No. Elizabeth shook her head a little.
It didn't feel right.
She would stay home today.
On the walk down, Elizabeth lightly asked about what Sam had seen last night.
"Not that much to see," he shrugged, his left shoulder moving slower than the right. They were carrying a handle each, "just the girl with the hair, the one he was following. She got onto this dude's bike and they drove away. I was looking at Mike, mostly but I'm pretty sure that's why he's messing with his bike. Those dudes had serious bikes. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?"
"Hah, yeah or he assumes that girl has a type. You said dudes?" Elizabeth asked "plural?"
"Yeah, I dunno five or six or whatever" Sam stopped to think, "I really wasn't paying attention" he repeated again, walking once more. Though he joked otherwise, he had better things to do than concern himself with his brother's sex drive.
Elizabeth was having trouble picturing her caring, older brother emulating a bunch of bikers just to spike the interest of a girl.
"Did they have piercings?" she asked, picking up on Sam's earlier comment.
"At least one did" Sam confirmed with another shrug.
It was the absolute opposite of Michael's style.
He glanced at his sister, "he'll play biker for a few nights, get his heart broken when she doesn't reciprocate and that's gonna be the end of it"
Sam grinned, continuing with his chain of thoughts, "hmmmmmm or not...maybe he'll eat his feelings! Pints and pints of melted ice cream and salty tears, getting chubbier and sadder and fatter and desolate-"
Elizabeth was laughing "OK! OK. I get the picture, you painted it so beautifully!"
They arrived at the beach and Nanook took off like shot, sprinting along the shore and diving into the low rolling waves.
They perched in the sand close to the sea and began their afternoon of nothingness in the sun.