I opened the sliding door of the girls' room. They were all still asleep. Since I was insistent on sleeping on the couch, I was already in front of the back door and decided to watch the sunrise before they woke up. Quietly, I shut the door and walked onto the grass before the pools. The girls had gotten a nice small room on the bottom floor with two beds.
Yellow and orange began peeking out of the ocean. Why was I was awake this early? I never am. My feet continued to lead me to the beach. It was low tide and no one was out yet. I sat down once the dry sand became damper. Hugging my knees to my chest, I stared out. The sun was yawning and slowly waking up, painting not only the sky but the water with its reds, yellows, and oranges. The word beautiful slipped from my mouth as I thought. "Then take a picture." I jumped as I looked at source of the voice behind me. It was The eldest son of the Batman, Richard Wayne. I looked down at the sand then took my phone out. Waiting for the brightness to focus on my camera, I noticed the reflection.
The reflection showed my eyes. Golden eyes stared back at me. Whether if the reflection was a good one or not, I could've sworn that the irises were longer. Like cat eyes. I clicked the bottom to take the picture and let my arms fall back to hugging my knees. The ocean breeze pushed my hair back as I continued to stare ahead. My tongue licked my teeth, my canines were sharp. Richard silently sat next to me and stared as well. My dad had watched my every move and told me to leave, like taking caution of an animal. After a long silence, I let one question escape from my lips, "What am I?"
Richard was surprised at the question. He opened his mouth then shut it again before he thought for a moment. "You're a wonderful person who is talented and kind. A woman who is as beautiful as she is brave. You're Nichole." Richard turn his head towards me as he answered yet my eyes never left the sunrise. Person? Woman? Was I even human anymore? My eyes closed as another breeze kissed our skin. I felt a cold stream run down my cheek. After the breeze past, I stood and Richard followed. I turned to leave before Richard hugged me from behind. He let go as he felt a drop of water land on his hand. 'Hopefully' slipped from my lips as I walked back to my room. Richard looked down at his hand where the droplet landed. There were no dark clouds in the sky as the young superhero watched her leave.
Dani was the first to wake up. "Good morning." I sang from the stove. "You're awake? It's like 7," She walked into the kitchen, "and are those pancakes?"
"Well this is why you brought it right?"
"How do you know I brought it?"
"Dani. It was in the Cookie Monster bag with the smile face button on it." We laughed as I flipped another pancake. Dani had always loved pancakes, especially mine for some reason. Natasha was the next to come in with extreme bed head, "I smell good food!" She sat at the high counter attached to the sink. Dani laughed as she served her three. She then served herself and sat next to Natasha. We all laughed and talked until Lilly wobbled in.
Lilly obviously had a hangover. She sat down quietly as I served her and gave her a big glass of water. She mumbled a thanks and slowly ate. I soon finished the last pancake and took Natasha's spot as she helped clean up. Dani helped Natasha as Lilly and I began finishing our plates. "So what's the plan for today?" Natasha ask as she grabbed my plate to wash. Lilly gave her plate as well and flopped on the couch, "We can go driving." I turned towards her from the counter chair, "Eh it's not that fun unless you have a quad or a side by side."
"That's what I meant."
"You drove a trailer here? You can barely drive a truck."
"Beto helped her drive halfway down here." Dani giggled from the kitchen. Natasha also giggled, "Oh yeah, he wouldn't leave until he knew she was ok driving." A smirked placed itself on my lips, Beto also had a thing for Lilly and Lilly is just now starting to see. I preferred Beto over her last boyfriend either way. Beto was very good with cars-probably why he was able to teach her-loyal, mature, and was a hard worker. Lilly's ex barely knew how to drive, flirted with other girls, took nothing seriously, and made Lilly do everything-even if she'd get in trouble. "Yeah, yeah. He even let me borrow a quad. Do you wanna ride or not?" Lilly sipped from her water as we laughed.
We were walking to the parking lot as I observed my group. Dani wore a high waisted skirt that went to her shins and a crop top, Lilly simply wore shorts and her bikini top, Natasha wore a bikini cover up, and I wore an off shouldered shirt with shorts. A sweet smile formed on my lips as I thought of taking a picture. Once I announced my thought, everyone eagerly got into a position. Lilly took the picture and gave me back my phone as we laughed and continued to her car. As I gazed at the picture, I remembered I should text my mom. My thumbs typed the message and pressed send, 'I wonder if she'll answer.'
Lilly didn't come in her old Mustang, she came in one of Beto's trucks. 'Should've known, you obviously can't pull a trailer with a Mustang.' Either way we all stared at Lilly mischievously as she unlocked the truck. "Shut up, it's Beto's, whatever just help me undo the things!" A blush crept to her face as she tried pulling the straps. I laughed and walked over to her, "That's not how you do it. Stand on the other side and I'll tell you what to do." The straps slowly loosened as I cranked the ratchet. Lilly's side by side was a normal black and white Teryx her family has had for a couple of years. Beto's quad was the vehicle I lingered on. It was a nice, very clean Polaris that had multiple custom parts. "Beto must make bank restoring and working on cars because this is really nice." I stated as I got on it to roll down the ramps of the trailer. A grin grew on my face as the engine roared to life.
"Damn Nikki-Nik nice quad." David called as he walked over to us. I met him halfway, in love with how smooth the quad was, "What are you doing here?"
"The boys wanna take a drive. Came to prep our rides." He held up his keys and walked to his trailer a few spots before us. The trailer held a four seater RZR and two Kawasaki quads. I parked the quad and gave my girls a look that asked what they thought. We all exchanged looks and nodded. After we parked our rides and put away the ramps and straps, we walked over to David. I began undoing a strap as he saw me, "How bout we ride together?" The rest of the boys were stepping on the parking lot as David smirked, "Let's go."
Lilly's playlist blasted through the Bluetooth so we could all hear. Dani danced in her seat with Lilly, air whipping all of our hair back. Natasha sang and did a little dance while keeping her grip on me on the quad. Dante and Mikey rolled next to me in their quads as the rest of the boys were in the side by side David drove. We zoomed through town, looking for a spot to hang out. We ended up in the tourist market overlooking the ocean and filled with as many shops as bars/restaurants. The place was crowded-finding a parking spot was a challenge. After finally using our Tetris skills to fit all of our vehicles in two spaces, we began walking around.
Lilly had already bought new dresses and Natasha was debating on buying both of us matching bikinis. Dani and a few of the boys were looking at glasses as the rest looked at the toys and jewelry. Once Natasha decided to buy the swimwear, I walked out to see Dante and Miley looking at jewelry. I headed towards them as Dante placed the jewelry he bought in his pocket, "Miley? When did you get here?"
"My mom and nana decided to come eat. We're gonna leave in a bit."
"Oh yeah, it's like one huh." I said observing my phone. Still no new texts or voicemails. Miley was smirking at Dante when she stated how she had to go. I stared at her suspiciously before bringing my attention to Dante. "Do you wanna eat?" He rubbed the back of his neck before Lilly popped out of nowhere. She hung her arm around my shoulders as she showed me a paper, "Yeah! Let's go here. Their menu looks good plus it's happy hour!" She started dancing to the music blasting around us from the bars on the second floors. Our group somehow regrouped and agreed.
As we headed up the stairs, Dani couldn't but help express her worry about happy hour. "Half of us aren't 18, were gonna get caught. Besides, some of us have to drive." Lilly brushed her off as she came up with a plan with the eldest of the group. David, Aaron, Carlos, and she fell into that category. Lilly grabbed my backpack and put her and Natasha's small purses in it. We sat and the 18 years old described how we wanted a pitcher of beer for the table first. The waitress asked the awaited question of if we are of age. "Yup except those two." Lilly explained as she took out her ID. The waitress eyed the rest of the table before asking for the rest of the IDs. "Well you see beautiful, only we have our wallets and they forgot their purses, as you can see. Some of us have to be the responsible ones." Carlos winked at her before he and the other two boys showed their wallets.
The waitress giggled before agreeing and noting any other drinks. Dani sighed as Issy laughed. Natasha and I exchanged looks which meant our usual agreement of drinking whatever the other didn't finish. The drinks came and the waitress took our order. Lilly danced in her chair as she poured herself a glass and drank from it. She then pour one for us then the boys had their turn. We all laughed and conversed before our food came.
Suddenly the DJ spoke into his microphone, "Who wants shots!" If he wasn't hyping everyone up before, he did now. Lilly practically jump out of her seat with her beer in her hands. The DJ heard her and analyzed our table before sending shots our way. A tray was set on our table as the hype man asked us if we knew how to take them right. "Hell yeah!" Lilly wooted as she danced. The ones to take the shots were encouraged to stand. I glanced at Natasha before I stood without her. David and Carlos stood as they encouraged Dante. After he finally stood, we all grabbed a glass and wooted with the corresponding actions, "Arriba! Abajo! Al centro! Pa'dentro! Salud!"
We left after two pitchers, two rounds of shots, and after beer bong. Lilly and David drank both shots, had about 3 glasses of beer, and a round of beer bong. Aaron drank both shots, 2 glasses, and had a go with the beer bong. After him was Carlos who drank one shot and 3 glasses. Mikey drank a shot and 2 glasses while Dante drank both shots and one glass. I drank both shots while Natasha and I drank the equivalent of 2 glasses each. Once we got to our vehicles, the keys were taken from Lilly and David. They slumped on each other in the back of the RZR while we sorted out who'd be driving. Dani was to drive the Teryx with Issy as Carlos was deemed fine enough to drive the RZR. Mikey, Dante, and I were also good enough to drive the quads. I grabbed a helmet out from the Teryx and put it on Natasha, she was tipsy and going to be on the quad. It was almost five as we drove out of the market blasting Aaron's music.
We were getting close to our hotel as the reef and public beach was in sight. Mikey signaled to slow down so we could all hear. He suggested we go and the tipsy people hooted in agreement. The rest of us nodded and zoomed past our hotel. I looked to my right to see Dante smirking at me as he tried to pass me. A grin came to my lips as we past the hotels and the road became dirt. "Let's race!" I yelled and speed off the designated road. The sand formed little hills and bumpy terrain. Natasha yelled in delight as I jumped a bigger mound. You could barely hear the music as Dante revved up next to me. We smirked at each other before roaring our engines to see who'd be first. The road to enter the public beach was in sight as I looked around to see no oncoming vehicles. I glanced slightly behind me to give Dante a toothy grin before yelling at Natasha to hold on. I roared the engine once I felt her grip tighten and jumped the sand mound separating the land from the dirt road. My passenger screamed in joy as we landed and I turned in time to go along with the road.
The beach was full of people as the rest of our group rolled up to my quad. "Dude that was savage!" Aaron said from the passenger seat. They all complimented my action before Issy stated to see an open spot. We cruised into the spot and rested as we talked. Dani and Issy handed out sodas and waters from ice chests of the side by sides. We laughed before I glanced over and saw someone on a very nice, pitch black quad.
