Thirty minutes after finishing their burgers, Reggie, Otto, Twister and Sammy waited outside the Shore Shack for the "shoobies" to come back. They weren't anywhere in sight.
"Maybe you scared them off, Ottoman." Twister said. He was sitting on the rail of the pier with his arm around Reggie.
"Man, I hope so! I can't believe you invited shoobies to hang out with us, Reggie." He casually pulled of an ollie with his skateboard.
"Chill Rocketboy. They seemed nice." Reggie said, getting annoyed. "What do you have against shoobies?"
"Yeah, Otto. I was a shoobie at one time if you remember." Sammy said.
"Nah, you were just a Squid. There's a difference between shoobies and squids." Twister pointed out.
"Shoobies suck. They throw trash all over the beach, get in the way of surfing and are all around lame-o's." Otto said. "Besides, I thought you didn't like them either. What's the deal, Reggie?"
"The only reason I asked them to hang out is because you were so rude to them Otto. Raymundo was about to bust you and you know it! You better be nice to them."
"Whatever" Otto mumbled as he grinded the rail. "If they're not here in five minutes, I'm outta here."
"I'm with you bro!" Twister said.
Just then, they saw Alex and Will walking down the pier. They both said "Hey!" as they approached.
"Great." Otto muttered sarcastically. He went back to skateboarding, purposely ignoring them.
Sam and Reggie returned their greeting. Twister lowered his eyes and tightened his arm around Reggie's waist. He wanted to be sure they knew that she was his girl.
"You ready to learn how to surf?" Reggie asked, jumping off the rail and out of Twister's grip.
"Sure! We don't have any boards though. We don't have much need for surfboards in Arizona." Will said.
Reggie laughed. "I couldn't imagine living without the ocean. Anyway, you can borrow ours."
"What! NO way!" Otto stopped skating and acknowledged Alex and Will for the first time.
"It's not like they're going to break it." Reggie snapped at him and glared.
"That's my brand new board! Nobody is using it but me." Otto said and shot a challenging gaze back at her. "Especially not some damn shoobie" he muttered under his breath to Twister and Sammy.
"Fine. Act like a lame-o, Otto. They can use Twister and Sammy's board since I need mine to show them the moves. You don't mind do you?" Reggie asked.
"No problem" Sammy said. "That is if you don't mind my big, clunky longboard."
Twister just shrugged and looked away. He wasn't going to argue with her.
"Twister!" Otto frowned at him as if to ask 'what the hell are you doing?'
"Come on bro, it's not worth getting aggro over." Twister said.
Otto groaned. "Let's
just hurry up and get this over with."
*******
At the beach, Otto ran into the water with his board, leaving the rest of them behind. He obviously wanted to take the opportunity to show off. Alex and Will watched in amazement. "Wow, you're brother's really good!" Alex said to Reggie.
"He likes to think he is. Come on, I'll show you how to really surf!" she said. They picked up their boards and followed her into the water. Since they had nothing to surf with, Twister and Sammy stayed on the beach.
Reggie was explaining the basics of surfing when Otto paddled over to them.
"Hey! Awesome moves bro!" Alex said.
Otto was annoyed that Alex was trying to sound like a local, but he let it slide. "Of course they are. I'm the best surfer in Ocean Shores. I'm going pro as soon as I'm eighteen. You should see all of my trophies." No matter how much he didn't like a person, Otto never passed up an opportunity to brag about himself.
"Can it, Rocketboy. They don't want to hear about how great you are." Reggie said.
"Whatever." Otto mumbled and went back to surfing.
"So after you paddle up to the lip of the wave, you have to get your balance and stand up. It takes a lot of practice, don't give up if you can't do it the first few times." Reggie continued the lesson. "Want to give it a try?"
"Could you show us first?" Alex asked. He wanted to see how good this girl really was.
"Sure." She paddled up on a huge wave. She expertly maneuvered the board through the tube and topped it off with an aerial. Breathless, she paddled back to them.
"That was great Reggie! You are so awesome. You're beautiful and you kick-ass at surfing!" Alex said and reached for her hand.
Reggie quickly pulled her hand out of his grip and looked toward the beach to see if Twister had noticed. Luckily he appeared to be talking to Sammy and wasn't paying attention.
Too shocked to say anything else she just gave him a weak "thanks."
"So after we finish this lesson, do you want to go hang out somewhere?" Alex asked.
"I can't. I'm probably going to the pier with Twister." She said, trying not to sound rude.
"Is that dork your boyfriend?" Will asked.
"He's not a dork!" She said defensively. "And yes, he's my boyfriend."
"Sorry for my brother's manners, Reggie." Alex apologized. "Don't pay any attention to him."
"Yeah, sorry. I didn't know..." Will said.
"It's okay, I know how it is to have a little brother." She glanced over at Otto, who was still showing off.
"I just thought that maybe you could show us what the locals do for fun. We're tired of hanging out with our parents. We're leaving in two days and this is the most fun we've had the whole time!" Alex said.
"Well…I guess we could all hang out tonight."
"Sweet!" Alex said excitedly.
Back on the beach, Twister and Sam sat in the sand and watched the lesson.
"Man, this stinks." Twister said.
"Yeah, I'd much rather be in the water too. It's way too hot today." Sam agreed.
"No, not that Squid. I mean it stinks that Reggie is hanging out with these two shoobies. I think that Alex guy likes her."
"Really? I hadn't noticed." Sam said.
"He didn't say anything, but he keeps looking at her funny. It's really bugging me."
"I wouldn't worry about it Twister. After everything that happened, I'm sure that Reggie isn't going to leave you for some shoobie."
"I guess you're right, Squid. I just don't like that dork looking at her like that."
"You're not jealous are you Twister?"
"Me? Jealous? No way! I just don't like the dude, that's all."
"Okay." Sam said, and then tried to change the subject. "Look! That guy is worse than I am!"
"Yeah, what a lame-o!" Twister laughed.
Over an hour later, they finally came out of the water. "That was pretty good guys. If you were here longer, you'd be pro's by the end of the week!" Reggie said.
They sat down beside Twister and Sammy. Reggie gave Twister a quick kiss on the cheek. Nobody noticed when Alex rolled his eyes.
Otto walked up and plopped down beside them. "Ok, you got your lesson. Why are you still hanging around?" he asked.
"Otto!" Reggie shouted.
"What?" He asked innocently. He was either completely unaware that he was being rude, or just didn't care—probably the latter.
"Actually, I asked Alex and Will to go to the pier with us." She said nervously.
"I'm outta here. I'm going to go rip it up at Madtown. You with me bro?" Otto asked Twister.
Twister's gaze shifted from Otto to Reggie. He didn't want to leave her with Alex and Will. He trusted her, but he definitely didn't trust Alex. On the other hand, he didn't want to piss off Otto either. He also didn't feel like spending the remainder of the evening with these two kooks.
"So are you with me, or what?" Otto repeated impatiently.
"Um…sure. Let's do it!" Twister said. He gave Reggie a look that had 'I'm sorry' written all over it. He was relieved that she wasn't too upset.
"I guess I'll catch up with you later then." She said.
"You coming Squid?" Otto asked Sam.
"No, I think I'll go to the pier. I'm really in the mood for a funnel cake!" Sam said.
"Alright, later!" Otto said and started walking off. Twister followed him, but turned around to glance at Reggie one last time. He hoped that he wasn't making a mistake.