Okay, I know that I wrote some of these people out of character, but it was kind of hard to really nail who they were. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this anyway!
Disclaimer: I don't own Summerland or it's characters
Braden sighed with relief as he dropped an incredibly heavy cardboard box in the back room of Jay's surf shop. That was the last box that he had to haul from the truck, and he was thankful because his muscles were aching from all the heaving lifting and surfing he had done that day.
He quickly looked up at the clock that was high on the wall; he only had two more hours and then he could go home and sleep.
"But I don't understand why you……." Braden heard Jay's upset voice drift towards him.
"Then when are you coming back, Erica?" Braden was surprised to hear the desperation in Jay's voice. They couldn't possibly be breaking up again, that made no sense. Recently Erica and Jay had become happier together than Braden had ever seen them, why would Erica leave now? "Why won't you tell me where you are though?" Hmm, Braden thought that this was odd too. Erica wouldn't usually keep such basic information from Jay, there had to be something wrong. "Please, don't hang up." As Jay breathed these words, Braden's heart constricted. How could Erica blatantly hurt Jay this much; she had said just yesterday how much she loved him.
As Jay put the phone back on the receiver in pitiful defeat, Braden casually walked into the room pretending as if he had heard nothing. "Was that Erica," he questioned airily.
All Jay could do was nod as he looked down at the floor sadly. Then, he shook his head violently as if snapping back to reality and gave Braden a smile, "Yeah, and as it turns out, I think we're going to have to hire someone else to help out at the shop now."
"Why?" he asked as if he didn't already know.
"Erica quit and is on vacation." Jay said this matter-of-factly. Braden looked into his eyes and couldn't see any of the previous hurt in the Australian's round face.
"Oh" was all Braden could manage to say. He was thinking about why Jay thought that it was necessary to lie to him and say that Erica was 'on vacation'. Obviously it wasn't true because people don't just pick up and leave on some random day for a vacation. Usually a person gives warning to where they are going.
"I guess I should get the now hiring sign out then," Jay added briskly. It was odd how Jay could keep all of his emotions at bay and pretend like he didn't care that Erica was gone.
"Mm hmm," Braden said in slow agreement as he walked behind the register to check out a customer. He still couldn't shake how odd he felt about Erica's little 'vacation'.
………………………………
Three days passed by and the only people that seemed to apply to the surf shop were the ones that knew not a thing about surfing. The last sandy haired teenager that tried to get a job here didn't even know that you could wax a surfboard. It was frustrating to have all these useless applicants and not one of them have the least amount of potential. With Erica gone, Braden had to work a lot more too and he didn't like that. He wanted Jay to just pick the next loser that walks in the door because he couldn't take it if he had to work another long day.
As Braden was bitterly thinking to himself, he was placing some of the new items they had in stock on the back shelf. He was still deep in thought when a cold finger tapped his shoulder. This took him by such surprise that he jumped and to his horror he dropped all of the stuff he had in his hands on the floor. As all of the items pathetically clunked to the ground he spun around in embarrassment and fury to see who had cause him all that trouble.
He groaned as he set eyes upon the girl who had seen him make an utter fool of himself; she was gorgeous. Her impossibly long, jet black, hair bounced playfully in dazzling curls as she giggled at him. Her eyes also danced in a mocking way as he sputtered, trying to think of what to say. That penetrating stare was making him feel even more inferior than he already felt and soon he couldn't hold eye contact with her any longer so he quickly bent down to retrieve the fallen items.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you." She looked at him in a less mocking and kinder way this time. She seemed to be smiling with her eyes, which, Braden noticed, were beautiful. They were bright yellow like the sun that shown outside on the streets of Playa Linda, but the shape of them were catlike and made her look mischievous.
"Naw, it was my fault, I wasn't paying attention." Braden stuttered while still gathering all the stuff from off the floor. He noticed her drop down to her knees as she helped him gather everything. "You don't have to help…I got it"
"Well, that's just it, I want to," she said with a crooked smile. When he raised his eyebrows confusedly until she added, "I saw the help wanted sign outside and I thought—"
Braden nodded in understanding and replied, "Let me just take these items in the back and then I'll ask you a few questions." He was glad to notice that he managed not to stutter this time when he talked to her.
"Okay" she stood up as he did and watched him go back and put the objects away only to return five minutes later.
"Well," he said nervously once he came back to the exact spot he had stood in before. She made him feel nervous and he couldn't understand why. How could someone as small and innocent looking make him feel like the littler one? "Do you know anything about surfing?" He knew this was a vague question, but considering how many "no's" he had gotten when he asked the other applicants that question, he thought it was best to know.
"Yeah, I used to surf with a team when I was still living farther up south." She answered while looking around curiously at the shop she was standing in.
"And you know the difference between a long and short board?" this was such a stupid question, but he had to ask. A blonde girl with a pixie-like haircut had come in earlier not knowing the answer to it.
"Of course I do" Sienna tilted her head in amazement at the blatancy of the question.
"And you know that a surf board can, in fact, be waxed?" Braden said still shuddering at the stupidity of the sandy haired boy from earlier.
"Isn't that obvious?"
"Trust me," he smiled, "to the other people that wanted this job, those were the difficult questions."
"I think I'll ace this then," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "I've been surfing since I was seven!"
"Then the job is yours," Braden stated happily. "You start on Thursday." He was pleased that Jay and him had come to an agreement earlier that morning that the first person to apply, that actually knew what they were doing, should get the job. And this girl seemed to know about surfing.
"Oh, that's it?" she asked while furrowing her eyebrows.
"Yep, let me go get a schedule and we can put your name down for—" he stopped in midstep. While turning around to look at her, "What is your name by the way?"
"I'm Sienna" she held out her hand confidently and he walked over and took it.
"I'm Braden Westerly" he looked at her trying to seem confident and nonchalant, but that just wasn't him. He couldn't help but be completely infatuated by her, which made him fidgety. Once he withdrew his hand from hers he stood there quite dumbly not knowing what to do.
She smiled amusedly as if she was enjoying this awkward silence and finally she asked him with a chuckle, "Weren't you going to go and put my name on the schedule?"
"Oh right," he answered back lamely. He couldn't help but feel his cheeks grow hot with embarrassment as he shuffled to get the schedules. He was really going to have to pull himself together especially if he planned on asking her out sometime.
Sienna was smirking at him as he came back to stand in front of her once again. It seemed to him that she found his embarrassment extremely amusing. Maybe that is why she is so intimidating. The way she looks at you and you can tell that she wants to laugh at you. The way Sienna seemed to hold herself upright with her shoulders squared with determination, as if challenging you to get on her bad side.
It was astonishing to Braden how someone with such a small and frail body could still seem so womanly and strong. He gave her a quick once over, observing her hourglass figure before noticing Jay stroll through the shop's doors.
"Jay, come meet your new employee," Braden said, when he realized that Jay was so distracted that he probably wouldn't even have noticed them if they were dancing around naked.
"Wha?" asked Jay absentmindedly
"I've actually found someone who knows a little bit about surfing, shocking, huh?" Braden exclaimed.
"Well, Well," he said as his face lit up in delight. He then looked at Sienna who was smiling shyly at him. Braden noticed how innocent she looked as she batted her eyelashes. "I'm Jay, and I don't know what Braden has told you yet, but you'll be learning all you need to know from him, not me, sadly. I'll have both of you working at the same time for two weeks, so you can learn what you need to and then I'll let you work on your own."
Sienna nodded in understanding and asked sweetly, "So what time on Thursday should I be here?"
"Ten o'clock" he said before turning to Braden, "That goes for you too. Now it's fifteen minutes till the end of your shift, but I'll let you go early as long as you remember to tell Ava that she needs to call Erica for me."
Braden frowned as Jay said this but nodded. He wondered why he would want Ava talking to Erica. He didn't like it when things went on in the house that he didn't know about, but thought that he would ask about it later, when Jay was more inclined to confide in him.
"Alright, well, it was nice meeting you miss……" Jay looked at Sienna and waited for her to finish his sentence.
"Sienna Harper" she said quickly.
"Yes, Miss Harper, I'm glad to have you working here, but I really have to be getting to work."
Braden started walking towards the door with Sienna at his heels. He turned to walk back to the house, and he noticed Sienna turning the other way. Before he could stop himself he murmured to her, "I'll see you on Thursday."
"Oh, I can't wait" she replied. As Braden walked home he tried to think whether she actually meant this or if she was being sarcastic. He sighed. As he thought to himself, She is way out of my league…
