New chapter…yay! (And thanks for your reviews everyone!)

Esperanza's cell phone was ringing. She looked at her watch. It was only two in the morning. Whoever it was calling was about to get it. She was surprised however when she saw Nicole's cell number flash across the screen. "Hello?" She answered. It wasn't Nicole. It was Max. "Hey Esi." He said quietly. "Wake up Andy and meet us outside in ten minutes." Esperanza sat up and looked over at her sleeping cousin. "What? You are crazy!" "Just do it." Max said before he hung up on her.

Andy tried slapping Esperanza's hand away, but it didn't work. He finally sat up. "What?" She was sitting on the edge of the bed, putting on her shoes. "Nicole and Max just called. They said to wake you up…I don't know what it's for." Andy lay back down and pulled the cover over his face. "Well if you don't know what it's for than don't worry about it." Esperanza picked up her pillow and threw it at him. "Please?" She could hear Max's car running outside. "They are here…just come on."

Five minutes later Andy was dressed and had snuck out of the house successfully with Esperanza in the lead. She slid into the front seat and kissed Max on the cheek. Andy opened the back door and sat next to Nicole. Nicole smiled. "Awake yet Andy?" Andy laughed it off and put his head against the window. "So Max…whom I trust with my life at the moment. Where are you taking us?" Max pulled out of the driveway and headed down Market St. "All the way to the beach." Esperanza wasn't really a beach person, and that's why she had opted out of going with her family while they had been there. But she wasn't upset about going tonight. "During the early hours of the morning?" Max stuck his hand out to let her take it. "That's the best time to go to the beach."

Max parked the car in the driveway of his family's beach house. Esperanza got out and walked around to join everyone else by the front steps. Nicole took out her key and shook it in front of her face. "I'm headed inside…anyone want to come with me?" Andy jumped at the offer. "Are there pillows?" He sleepily asked. "There are even beds." Max said sarcastically. "We like to live on the nice side." Nicole jokingly said back to Max, as she and Andy made their way up the stairs and into the house.

Max grabbed a hold of Esperanza's hand and started pulling her down to the water. "Alone at last." He said quietly. Esperanza pulled him in front of her and pulled his face down to hers. Passionately, she kissed him. A few minutes later the two were lying down in the sand, and Max's hand was slowly, but surely, making its way down Esperanza's back and running his fingers up her spine. She shivered. "Stop…" Max sat up and took his hands off of her. "What? Did I do something wrong?" Esperanza laughed. "I just wasn't comfortable." She wrapped her arms around her waist and shivered again. Max stood up and gave her his hand to help her up. "You're cold. We need to go inside. We can watch a movie."

Esperanza was the first one in the door, but quickly turned around and tried to leave when she saw Andy and Nicole. Max didn't see it though, so he was trying to push his way inside. The two were having an unconscious battle. Max quickly came to a halt though when he saw what Esperanza had seen. He walked over to them and sat down on the couch. "Don't worry. Esi and I won't disturb you two. But may I just say that this comes as a shocker!" Esperanza sat down in the spot beside Andy and looked at her cousin, who by now had jolted back and was running his hands through his messy hair. "It's not what you think." "Well then what do you want to call it? Having an educated discussion? Or I know…how about…discussing today's world issues?" Max said sternly as he looked at Andy. Then Max started laughing. "Like I care Andy! It's not like Esperanza and I weren't just outside doing the same damn thing. I just wish I hadn't walked in on it. Next time warn us."

Nicole got up and walked into the kitchen to get some water. "It just happened anyways."

Esperanza got up and sat down where Nicole had been. "It looked like it was going to storm when we were outside." "Really? I didn't see it earlier." Nicole stated from the kitchen. "The waves were getting rough and the wind was really bad." Andy looked at his watch and then put his hand back down. "I guess we'll all just spend the night here? I mean…if it's going to storm. That might be the safest thing to do."

Bridget and Eric hadn't had much too drink, but any onlooker couldn't tell that. The two were out on the dance floor now, acting like they had when they were teenagers. Bridget pulled Eric off the floor and back over to the bar. "That was fun!" She yelled over the loud music. "What?" He yelled back. She grabbed a hold of his arm again and pulled him in the direction of the exit. When they were outside she finally spoke again. "I said that that was fun! But it's getting late…it's almost three a.m. We should probably be getting home." "Oh come on Bee!" Eric couldn't get used to not having to yell. "Let loose! Have some fun!" Bridget took her hand and covered his mouth. "Eric! You don't have to yell anymore! We are outside…" Eric had removed her hand and was kissing it. She tried to pull it away, but he let go himself…only to pull her closer to himself and kiss her on the mouth. "Excuse me!" Bridget yelled. "What in the hell are you doing?"

Eric backed off and let go of her. "I don't know…I just wanted to do that I guess…" Bridget thought about her next action…and thought. The next thing she knew, she was standing in the alleyway making out with him.

It was six o'clock in the morning when Eric finally dropped Bridget off at the apartment. She got out the key Tibby had given her and held it in her hand. Eric let go of her other hand, and ran his through her hair. She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. "I'll see you tonight." She said while trying to stifle her smile. Walking backwards to the elevators, Eric hit a plant and knocked it over. He clumsily picked it up and put it back where it was supposed to be. "Bye…" He waved.

Bridget quietly entered the room and looked around. No one was awake. (Or so she thought.) Ella and Anna quickly shot up from the couch. Ella ran over to her mom and hugged her. "I thought something bad had happened to you! Why didn't you call?" Bridget put her stuff down and headed towards the kitchen. "Because I'm old enough to take care of myself. Eric and I just went out dancing. It's fine." She grabbed a bottle of water and made her way down the hall and into the guest room. "Good night girls."

Holly thought she had had a bad dream. She was sure of it. How in the world could that possibly happen? She gathered her things and started back up the hill. When she reached her room, there was a note on her bed.

Holly, Nic and his family are going to be out for the rest of the day. I decided to go with them. I figured you were out taking pictures or something. I have my cell phone if you need me.

Love Effie

Holly jumped for joy. "No Effie or Kori for the rest of the day!" She yelled. Looking at her watch, she realized that she still had some time to catch breakfast. She grabbed her purse and ran out of the house.

Sitting down at an outside table of a café, it was one that Effie had showed her, she took the menu in her hand and opened it. Holly really didn't know that much Greek….she was having trouble reading it when someone tapped her on her shoulder. 'Please don't let that be Kori.' Holly said to herself. When she turned around, it wasn't Kori that she saw. It was a handsome boy about her age. He had his hand reached out to introduce himself. "I saw that you were having trouble reading this. Would you like some help?" Holly laughed and handed him the menu. "Please."

After he had ordered for her, the boy sat down at her table. "I saw that you were eating alone…would you like some company?" Holly didn't get to answer him right away, because in the corner of her eye she saw Kostos coming towards her and the boy. The boy turned around and looked in the direction she was staring. "Oh that's my dad…he can join us too if you don't mind. He knows amazing stories about this place." Holly grabbed the menu and hid her face behind it. Kostos came up to his son and sat down beside him. "I could have sworn that we were sitting over there…" He said pointing to another table. "And I know for a fact that there wasn't a girl sitting with us…who is this?"

Holly slowly peered out from behind the menu. Kostos saw her face. "Hey Holly." Holly took the menu all the way down and placed it back on the table. "Hi Kostos." "Wait Dad," Kostos' son said. "You two know each other?" Holly nodded and stuck out her hand. "I'm Holly." "I'm Stephen…" The boy said. Holly laughed. "Are you serious?" Stephen looked from Holly back to his father. "What's so funny?" Kostos glared at Holly and knew immediately that she must have been told the story about Stephen, the guy who used to be his best friend. "His name is Stephen…by the way…how is Stephen?" Stephen again gave his father a funny look. "Ok! Enough of this whole playing games with my mind thing! Who exactly is Holly? And what is so funny about my name?"

Holly took the initiative. "I am Holly. My mom and your dad…well I really don't feel like telling the whole story. But that ended anyways. And Stephen was your dad's best friend…he's also my uncle." Kostos was surprised. "Your uncle? Your moms let you call him that?" Holly let the waitress put down her plate. "It was my mom's idea…even though he's only Carmen's brother." She made an extra effort to say that it was her mom's idea.

"Was your best friend? How come I've never heard of him?" Stephen asked. Kostos cleared his throat and took a sip of his water. "It's a long story son. I don't like to talk about it. Maybe one day we can go visit Holly and her family…" Holly stopped him before she could finish the sentence. "Over my mom's dead body! I don't think so! And then you'll have to deal with Phen! And that just won't be nice! Did you know that he runs his own gym now? He's in the midst of training Robbins…last year's world champion." Kostos laughed again. "And that used to just be a hobby!"

Holly didn't have an appetite any more. She placed a ten dollar bill on the table and grabbed her stuff. "I have to go now…It was nice to meet you Stephen."

When Holly came back, she had a little surprise. "Mom!" She exclaimed. Lena was sitting on Holly's bed reading a book. Lena looked up. "So I surprised you?" Holly threw her arms around Lena and kissed her on the cheek. "Yes!..." Holly's joy quickly went away when all of the thoughts had finished their run through her (still surprisingly brown-haired) head. "Crap."

"What's wrong Holly?" Lena asked her daughter. Holly put all of her stuff down and sat down next to her mom. "I have some news." "Is it good or bad?" Lena asked. Holly covered her mom's hand with her own and turned to face her. "Shocking…and I guess it could be bad. It just depends on how you look at it." Lena stood up and said some things in Greek, and then came back to her daughter. "How shocking? Just tell me the story, and I promise not to scream very loudly if it ends up how I think it's going to end …so go on." Lena nervously pushed her daughter. Holly grabbed her mom's hand and pulled her out of the house instead. She would have to see for herself.

Holly hadn't been gone for five minutes, and Kostos and Stephen couldn't have finished their breakfast in that amount of time. They hadn't even eaten yet. And it turned out that Holly's instincts were correct. She could see Stephen from where she stood. "Now mom, I don't want you to be angry or anything. It kind of just happened. I fainted…trust me. But please don't pass out or make a huge scene about it. Ok?" "I'll try not to Holly! But what is wrong? You are being stubborn…" Lena stopped when Holly stopped walking. They were standing in front of a little café. Two men were sitting in front of them. Stephen looked up. "Oh hey again Holly…forget something?"

Kostos looked up from his plate and to Holly. "Hey Holly. Listen I'm really sorry about earlier." Lena looked at the other man. Then back to Holly, and then back to Kostos. "Oh my…" Holly caught her mom before she hit the ground. She looked at Kostos who had turned red in the face and was shaking. "And I guess fainting runs in the family…A little help here please…" She said out of breathe. Stephen got out of his seat and ran around to the other side of the gate to help Holly.

I thought it would be fun to bring Lena into it. Maybe it was a little too early though. Since you know…Holly had just met Kostos like two or so hours before…but whatever! I had fun writing this chapter! Hope you like it. (And again… I have no idea where the whole Esi and Max thing is going! Can you tell? My favorite part to write in this chapter was Bee's and Eric's! LOL!) And funny story! I was going to nameKostos's kid Stephen anyways…then I remembered that Kostos was friends with Stephen! (I am such an idiot! I completely forgot about the first Stephen! LOL!)