Chapter five

"There you go!" Robert E grunted as he put the large grocery bags down on the camping table. "Surf 'n' Turf for everyone, guys."

As both circles of friends had agreed the day before, they met up at the beach around noon. Grace and Rob had gotten together before that so that they could do the shopping... .. and maybe some heavy flirting.

Will and David had brought the house's huge barbecue grill down to the beach. Charlotte, Rory and Michaela had prepared some salads and the group around the Sully brothers had provided all the drinks.

Like old friends both houses had greeted each other. Michaela had shaken Sully's hand a little reservedly but Sully put that down to her being a little shy around people she still had to warm up to.

As Daniel lit the grill and tended to the fire, Hank took his daily bottle of beer from the cooler, offering everyone another one. Michaela declined. "I'm only sixteen."

Hank and Jake could not stop themselves. They looked her up and down in her khaki bermuda shorts and blue bikini top. "You're kiddin', right?"

Rob chimed in. "It's the company she keeps. She's a College girl after the holidays. The girl's a genius."

Michaela blushed under Rob's praise and changed the topic. "First things first. Our introduction the other day was cut short I'm afraid. I don't even know where you're from...But maybe I should start..."

"I'm Michaela Quinn," she smiled. "And this is William Burke or Will... Dorothy Rory Jennings... David Lewis... Charlotte Hayes and Rob Ewing... but he nowadays only answers to Robert E." She ruffled his dark hair. "We're from Boston."

"Nice ta meet ya!" Hank spoke for everyone. "I'm Hank Lawson. Ya already met Jake Slicker, our amazing Grace Johnson, Daniel Simon, Larry Cloud Dancing who we call CD... .. Sully and his brother Wills... .. Where are HB and Abby?"

"Abby's driving the car. They'll bring another cooler with them. HB's foot is still a little weird," Daniel provided. "Oh yeah, and we're from Colorado Springs."

"You're must be joking!" Charlotte and Michaela cried.

Charlotte was excited. "I'm from Colorado Springs! I was gonna ask... I thought I heard the accent! Ya sound like home!"

Jake was the first to respond. "No kiddin'? That's terrific! What a coincidence! Where exactly are you from?"

"Old Town. I went to Howbert, then Mountain Song. And you guys?... I know, I'm a bit older. I'm twenty-one. But isn't it peculiar that we never met before?"

"We went to Cheyenne Mountain High which is not so far away! Grace, Abby, Daniel, Hank, HB and myself live in Broadmoor. CD and the Sully's in the outskirts. And it is very peculiar!... I always thought we live in a small town." Jake laughed and everyone joined in.

Hearing the brakes of Sully's old truck screech, Daniel announced. "Here come Abby and HB. Let's see what they have ta say about meeting another townie out here... .. Hey, maybe you know Abby's parents, my foster parents? They own a big convenience store in Old Town."

Michaela saw a girl climbing out of the driver's seat of the truck and help HB unload the cooler from the platform. This was indeed Abby, the girl who was in love with Sully. Michaela could not help herself thinking that she looked very nice. She heard Charlotte, who stood beside her, gasp with incredulous surprise. "Abby?!... ... Abigail Bray?"

Abby's eyes grew wide. "Charlotte Hayes? My eyes must be deceivin' me! Watcha doin' here?!"

The young women threw their arms around each other's necks. Seeing the surprise on everyone's faces, Abby explained. "Charlotte's always been a customer at my parent's store. And when we found out that she aced in biology, she's been giving me extra tuition. You know how I sucked at remembering the formulas before that. It did the trick when Charlotte reminded me that they were like simple cooking recipes... ... Charlotte! It's great to see you! Last I heard you were goin' to school in Boston."

"Yeah, that's right. I trained to become a midwive. I just finished school. After this vacation I'll move in with my fiance Ethan back home in Colorado Springs."

"Why goin' all the way to Boston then?" Jake was curious.

"I was livin' with my aunt Elizabeth and uncle Josef Quinn... Mike's my cousin and my best friend." She touched Mike's arm.

"You are Mike?" Abby's eyes alighted on her. "You're all the talk I hear since yesterday! Ya helped HB with his jellyfish incident. That guy swears that he would've lost his foot if it wasn't for you."

Michaela turned deep-red. Abby could tell and leaned in closer. "And they were right when they all told me how pretty you were."

"I..." Michaela searched for another topic but failed. Abby's enthusiasm could not be curbed and was actually quite infectious. She took Michaela's hand. "I think we'll be fast friends... ... Ya also think so, Charlotte?" Charlotte nodded happily.

"Cheers to that!" Hank toasted and everyone raised their drinks.

When afternoon turned into evening and into another glorious sunset, Sully laid back on his lounge chair, enjoying mother nature's spectacle in the sky. He thought about the day they had spent frolicking on the beach, having barbecue, getting to know each other, exchanging childhood memories and dreams for their future, surfing and swimming in the ocean. It was amazing to watch how well both groups blended together. It seemed they had known each other for years.

As wonderful as it was, the afternoon had been a bit puzzling and frustrating for Sully as well. Of course, he had been very much looking forward to spending time with Michaela, getting to know her more. But every time he had tried to engage her in a deeper conversation, things had started happening until he felt he was the involuntary participant in a game of the musical chairs.

The first time was when he had carried his plate loaded full with food to where she sat on a huge fallen tree trunk, Charlotte and Abby on either side of her. Charlotte had motioned for him to sit between herself and Michaela, who was busy talking to Abby. When Michaela had felt his knee accidentally brush against hers, she had looked up startled. "Oh, sorry!" she had exclaimed. "You must want to sit here... .." She hastily stood up and took a seat in a plastic chair to their right. Abby and he had exchanged a confused gaze.

Some minutes later, David had joined them with his plate and crouched down beside Michaela. Judging by the uncomfortable position of the blond Bostonian, Sully gathered that he was not only in for a place to sit but to chat Michaela up. Sully could perceive that Michaela liked the guy but that she was a bit apprehensive, too. Each time David paid her a compliment, she blushed and seemed reluctant to take it for more than honest appreciation.

Abby, dear Abby, had sensed what was going on. She was very perceptive and Sully had confided in her on their morning walk that there was someone he liked and that this someone was here in Mexico. She had put two and two together and quickly made the connection when she first saw him gaze at the girl. Also realizing that Michaela seemed to be interested as well but needed a little push to act on it, she decided to be the one who gave her that push. When she rose to get herself a beverage from the cooler, she pointed at her spot beside Sully. "Ya can take my spot, Mike. It seems more comfortable than your chair."

Michaela had startled from her conversation with David and looked up confused. When she realized that she was to take Abby's vacant spot beside Sully, she politely declined. "Why, thank you! I'm good... But you should take it. It's better than crouching down beside us." She literally pushed David toward the seat. Bowing to her wishes, David ended up beside Sully, an arrangement both of them had not particularly wished for.

So Sully had succumbed to the situation and tried to get to know more about all of them, keeping the conversation going between himself, David, Wills, Charlotte, Will and Michaela. That way, he found out that Charlotte was engaged to Ethan Cooper, a guy he knew from a rivaling soccer team back home. Remembering that he had not liked the pompous, sleazy guy, he had puzzled over how that couple worked out with Charlotte being such a great, caring girl. But he had held his counsel. He had also been told that Will, David and Michaela wanted to become doctors. With lively gestures, Michaela had described how she had been influenced by her Dad who was a surgeon. He had been very impressed when he realized that she was not only pretty and charming but also caring and incredibly bright. In exchange he had told them about himself. That he wanted to be an architect, focusing on homes that blended in well ecologically and aesthetically with the environment. But before that he wanted to spend some time in a little settlement in Brazil where he had lived with his parents and baby brother for some time when he was little. He shared his dream of doing some development assistance there by building wells and houses. That had been when Michaela had become very animated and interested, assuring him that she loved the idea.

A short while later, she had went off for the cooler to get herself and Wills a Sprite but got wrapped up in a conversation with Abby once more. As soon as he had joined them, she had politely excused herself and Sully had ended up with Abby again.

As he stretched his limbs on the beach lounger watching the descending sun, Sully mulled over it. Her behavior this afternoon had puzzled him. Had he read her that wrong? When they had finally found each other yesterday evening he had had the distinct impression that she liked him. That there was a chemistry between them they could not deny.

Maybe he had just wanted to see the signs that pointed into that direction. Maybe he had misinterpreted her politeness for more than interest.

His insides hurt at the thought that she might not return his feelings. He had to find out and soon.

He spotted her at the water's edge. She was cleaning her sandy bikini top in the ocean having traded it with a tank top and a white blouse. As he went to her, he walked past Robert E and Grace who were snogging behind a small rock on the beach. He had seen that one coming. They had made respective advances and innuendos all day long.

Not wanting to startle her, he walked up from the left side so that she saw him coming. "It's a beautiful sunset, ain't it?"

She straightened up. "Yes, it sure is."

"Makes ya wish ya had somebody to enjoy it with." He discreetly pointed at their friends who had turned to cuddling.

Seeing the proof of their friends' affection for each other for the first time, Michaela gasped. "Yeah!.. .. For sure!"

She giggled and her cheeks turned pink. Then she sobered up.

"Maybe you want to share it with your girlfriend." She tried to sound unemotional.

"Yeah... .. sure... ." It registered on him. "Wait! What?"

"With your girlfriend," she spelled it out for him. "With Abby."

He was frankly shocked.

"Come again?... .. Wait, with my girlfriend? ... Michaela, Abby's not my girlfriend."

Michaela stared at him suspiciously. "But...?"

Then it came to him. That was it! That was the reason she had acted so weird all day long, so reluctant to be alone with him, always pushing him into Abby's direction. A weight was being lifted off his shoulders. He stepped close to her and without hesitation took her hands into his and gazed into her eyes.

"Ya gotta believe me. Abby is not my girlfriend. We're friends. That's it. Nothing more. She's not in love with me... .. any more," he stipulated.

"But...!"

"Wills was wrong to say that. She's not.. .. I'm not... .. I like someone else," he grinned at her. "As does she. She told me so this very morning but I'm not at liberty to tell ya more. It's private to her."

It finally dawned on Michaela. She felt that what he was saying was true. That she could trust him. All her doubts fell off of her.

Gently, he squeezed her warm hand. He felt the same tingling sensation he had felt each time he touched her. Bravely, she stepped closer and took him into a long embrace.

It felt wonderful to have her in his arms. Although she was a petite girl, she fit perfectly into his body's contours, her face resting in the crook of his neck. Her hair smelled of the sun, of flowers and the ocean. It was all too soon when she slowly released him from their embrace. She shyly smiled up at him.

The moment was broken, when her friend Rory came up to them and excitedly took Michaela's hand dragging her back to the spot where the others made a huge bonfire for the night. "That Cloud Dancing is some guy! He'll definitely make it into my book."

Sully looked at Michaela for an answer.

"Rory majors in journalism. She intends to write a book one day."

"Terrific!" Sully returned. "What's it about?"

"People!" Rory exclaimed proudly. "It will be about the people I met. And the people I will meet on my travels. Interesting people. Like CD... .. There's so much that he's told me... .. about the Cheyenne culture, about medicine men, about the Indian tribes... He's so full of knowledge... .." Closing in on Michaela, she whispered in her ear. "And he's so cute, too... .. Too bad, he's got a girlfriend back in Colorado. Helena... But he calls her Snow Bird. Isn't that cute?"

Empathically, Michaela looked at her friend. 'I'm sorry,' she mouthed but Rory bravely brushed it off.

"That sounds great, Rory." Jake stepped in and got her a Coke. He really liked the graceful redhead.

Sully turned to Michaela. "Will there be a chapter of you as well?"

"I'm really not that interesting. But if there was I'm sure it would be titled 'twelve years a slave of Lizzie Quinn'."

Shocked that she had spoken that out loud, she put a hand over her mouth and looked at him with big eyes.

"I didn't want for that to come out like that!"

Sully chuckled.

"I'm sorry. I sometimes talk before I think... It's just that my Mom can be very strict sometimes... But I realize that there are things that are a lot worse. I didn't want to make an undue comparison."

Sully took her warm hand in his.

"Hey, relax. It was just a little joke. Nothin' to apologize for... .. And I get it. I have met your mother. She scared me too," he quipped.

"It's just that she is very protective of me, of all of her five girls... .. Our reputation is important to her."

"I understand that. And I think she's right to want to protect you... ... Just know, that she... .. or you have got nothin' to fear from me."

Self-consciously, he looked at the ground.

"Now look at me, gettin' ahead of myself."

She squeezed his hand and he looked into her eyes.

"I like the way you're thinking," she confirmed,

They smiled and gazed into each other's eyes.

Relcutant to brake the moment, he asked her. "So tell me. Seeing that your mom's so strict, how did you get her to agree to you takin' a vacation like this? Just you friends, no adults."

"Well, first of all, I'm the only minor. Rory, Rob, Will, David and Charlotte are a bit older than me. My parents know most of them since they were little. Except David. And they really liked him when they met him... .. But it was the fact that Charlotte would be coming along that led Mom to agree. As you already know, she's my cousin. And my parents think the world of her. They regard her as very dependable and responsible... which she is! Charlotte convinced her that she could trust me.. .. It's just that I wish she would know that on her own. My Dad does! But she... .. I never acted out of line.. .. Sometimes I wish... .. "

Sully was curious but he did not want to push her.

"Plus, my sister Marjorie and her husband Everett will join us in the house by the end of the week. After that, it will be my oldest sister Rebecca and her son Sam... ... So Mom thinks she has her spies set on me."

"Well, I think we'll have to stay under their radar then," Sully grinned. Michaela's heart leapt at the insinuation.

Wanting to change the hot topic, Michaela smiled shyly up at him.

"What about your parents, Sully? Tell me about them. I love what you told us about them. Going to Brazil, living there. I think it's great that they try to find out more about how the rain forests influence our eco-system. It sounds like an important study to me."

"They're terrific!" Michaela could see his love for them in his eyes. "They currently stay in the settlement I told you about earlier. When they come back they will take those of us who don't fit into my truck back to Colorado."

"What about Wills? Weren't they afraid to leave them with your group of friends? I mean, he must a have a whole other set of interests being that much younger?"

"Oh, not at all. Wills has always been part of the group. In case, ya haven't noticed, he's a little wisecrack... .. My friends all love him and are protective of him... And it's not that we're some partygoing animals either. We're all very laid back just wanting to enjoy our holidays."

"Then it's just the best thing that we met ... .. I think, we'll all go along great." With a tug she pulled him back to the others, helping to light the bonfire.

"That was a beautiful day," she remarked when he accompanied her back to her house in the dark. Her hand was resting in his as it had done since their talk by the bonfire. Those of their friends who were not as wrapped up in somebody else as Grace and Robert E had noticed and the looks they had received were mostly happy and benevolent.

Having reached the steps to the front porch, Sully turned her around to face him.

"Yes it was," he agreed. "Havin' found you after all this time was.. ..." He stopped himself not yet ready to acknowledge and express the deep feelings within him.

"So watcha doin' tomorrow?" He steered the conversation into lighter terrain.

"I've got nothing planned, really. We all agreed not to stick to a certain schedule on our time here. We just go with the flow and see what finds our fancy."

"So what if I took you to Puerto Aventuras? And maybe somewhere else after that? Have you ever been there? There's a catholic church from the 17th century I always admired because of its architecture. I'd like to show it to ya."

"No, I've never been. And I would love to go with you... But I have to check with the others first. I don't want them to feel like I abandoned them."

"I got the feeling that they will manage to have a good time on their own. At least, Rory and Robert E will," he smiled. "But... .. maybe Will will miss ya... .. and David. .."

"Sully!" she gently chided.

"So will you come?" he lightly grazed her hip.

"Yes," she gulped. "I'll come with you."

"Good," he was encouraged. Slowly he descended his face to hers staring deep into her open eyes.

Michaela saw his face, his lips come ever closer to her own. This was it! This was going to be her very first real kiss! She did not dare flinch or close her eyes in case she had been dreaming this day and he was gone when she openend them again. But the warm breath she felt on her lips was real. She felt the first brush of his mouth on hers.

"Sul! Bro! Where are ya? Give us a hand, will ya?"

It was his little brother who brutally yanked Sully from the acting out of his longtime dream. "Damn," he hissed. Tearing himself away from Michaela, he frustated yelled into the darkness of the yard. "What is it?"

He saw Wills and David come into the diffuse light of the porch's lamp, struggling to carry the large barbecue grill.

Without another word, he stepped up to help Wills and David, both of them in the realization of what they had interrupted.

When they had settled the grill, Sully awkwardly brushed his hands on his pants. Not really having a clue at how to behave in that kind of situation, he motioned for his brother to join him. "Come on Wills, it's time to leave."

Wills obeyed, giving David and Michaela a wink. "Night Mike, night David. It was nice meetin' ya," he said politely.

"You too, Wills. We'll be seeing each other very soon, I suppose," Michaela touched his shoulder.

"Yeah, I suppose!" Wills grinned his cheeky grin at her. He liked her.

Sully came up close and under the scrutinizing eyes of the other two, he shortly brushed his lips across her cheek. "I'll pick you up at ten."

Looking in David's subdued face, Sully was compassionate. "Night, David."

They nodded and the Sully brothers left her alone with David.

Embarrassed, David shuffled his foot.

"I guess that was the answer to my question if you would be willing to go out with me sometime."

"David, it's not what you think." She defended herself.

"No, what is it then?" He was truly interested to know.

"It's not like we met the other day and now I let him.. ... kiss me... ... We met years ago. And yesterday we found each other by accident." Unable to go on and explain to him what she could yet not grasp herself, she implored him with her eyes.

"I see," he tried to be understanding. "Michaela, I'd be lying if I said that I'm not dissappointed. I had the hope that maybe we'd get to know each other more... .. you know as more than friends... .. I really like you a lot."

Exhaling, he went on. "But I understand. I, too, have been in that position. I know what it's like to really like someone but not liking them for more than friendship. I guess, I hope that's what we at least have... ... a friendship?"

Michaela was immensely relieved. David was indeed a god guy and he was offering her the easy way out.

"Of course, David. I'd love to be your friend." She honestly said and took his hand to shake on it.

AN: Please tell me what you think. Good or bad, your comments are appreciated.

Thank you to those who have already left a review. It means very much to me.