A/N: Thanks so much for all the amazing reviews! I'm really happy to hear that you're enjoying.
There's one important change that I want to let you know about, I'm trying my hand at a 100 prompt table. So I changed the names of the first 3 chapters, but I don't think I'm going to publish the table itself because I don't want to ruin the element of surprise. So from now on, the first part of the title is going to be the prompt word. xoxo
Chapter Four: Languid or Young and Proud
Audrey Bass loved Thursdays. Something about the day that hung between Wednesday and Friday made her life perfect. To start, she was born on Thursday, while her sister was born on Wednesday, seventeen minutes before her. She had her first real kiss with Drew Baizen, three years her senior, on a Thursday, in a broom closet at a birthday party when she was twelve. She had her first cocktail at a Festival de Cannes party last summer celebrating the Palme d'Or recipient, obviously on a Thursday. Of all the epic Thursdays in her life, Audrey loved every Thursday in the Hamptons. The icky tourists extracted themselves after four days of scouring the beaches for celebrities or socialites, and the boring workaholics didn't arrive from Manhattan until Friday afternoon. 'This Thursday would eclipse them all,' Audrey thought to herself, 'because Phillip Howard Archibald has been cast as the male romantic lead in the story of my life, and tonight I'm going to make him mine.'
Flip's voice snapped her out of her reverie but she couldn't see him with the blinding sun in her eyes. "Hey Bass, catch!" suddenly a football was flying towards her face, and although she tried to capture it the tanning oil on her hands caused it to slip and stumble on the sand.
"What the hell! You could have killed me, or worse, broken my nose!" she yelled, half joking, up at her valiant Adonis who now stood over her. "Flip, you're standing in my sun," she drawled while slightly pouting her lips. Boys turned to putty at the sight of Audrey Bass' slightly parted pillowy lips. She ran her right foot slowly up his calf eliciting a chuckle from the boys' chest before he ran off again, football in hand.
Isabelle collapsed on the plush towel beside her BFF Audrey, exhausted from being chased mercilessly by her brother's friends. "Okay A, you have to help me with this one," she slipped her Gucci sunglasses over her eyes and turned on her stomach. "Taylor Baizen, Wyatt Fisk, or Kennedy Astor?"
"You mean slimy, gropey, or dopey? Seriously Iz, you have to start looking beyond your brother's friends for hook-up buddies," Audrey responded with thinly veiled disdain. When Flip finally realized that they were prefect for each other, her first order of business would be recruiting new friends for Prince Charming.
"Who said I was looking for a hook-up buddy?" Izzy snapped back. When Audrey unsuccessfully stifled a laugh next to her, Isabelle buried her face in her palms. "Forget I said anything," she whined, but it came out as a muffled jumble of syllables.
Flip ran over to the girls and kicked a pile of sand onto his sister triggering a swift and hard kick to his shin. "Fuck Iz!" he yelled while bending to rub his now sore leg. "You guys want to grab some lunch in town? Ken is baked out of his mind and thinks he's dying of starvation."
Both of the bikini-clad goddesses smiled up at him from behind dark designer glasses. At the same time, they sprinted across the beach in the direction of Flip's Mercedes GL550, pushing, and laughing all the way. Flip sighed as he collected the items the girls had left behind before turning to his friends and sending them to the SUV as well.
Despite being three inches shorter, the Bass twin had beat Izzy to the car and immediately claimed the front seat. "Look at it this way Iz, you can interrogate your future boyfriend now while I entertain your brother," Audrey stated with a self-satisfied smirk. Her father's smirk.
"Very funny A," Isabelle responded as she climbed into the backseat. She reached down to grab her phone but found empty air and leather seats. "Shit, where's my phone?"
The driver's side door popped open and a small piece of metal came soaring towards her head. "Looking for these?" Flip questioned the two girls who had bound off the beach with no abandon. Not that he minded of course, because watching Audrey's petite body running in a white bikini was always a welcome sight.
Once everyone piled into the car, Ken and Wyatt in the last row, Izzy and Taylor in the middle, with Audrey and Flip riding shotgun, they finally set off in search of food.
Suddenly embarrassed by her state of undress, Audrey turned to Flip. "You didn't happen to grab my skirt when you took my cell phone, did you?" a slight blush crept into her cheeks without her realizing.
Flip smiled at her wickedly, "No, I thought I would enjoy the view better this way." His voice was low and gravely, clearly his flirtations were only meant for Audrey's ears.
Audrey heard her best friend gasp from the behind her before the blond popped her head through the opening between the front seats. "Is this true Audrey?" hurt and anger mixed her voice. Whenever Izzy called her Audrey, she knew the other was upset, but she was saved from any awkward conversation when Flip's phone rang over the car's speakers.
"Shut up every body, its my parents," he called out to the other teens before answering. "Hey mom, what's up?"
"Hi sweetie, your dad and I are just getting off the highway. Where are you?"
"Audrey is this gossip girl blast true?" Izzy pushed ignoring everyone around her except for her supposed best friend.
"Shut up Iz," Flip whispered harshly to his sister. That ridiculous gossip website could wait. "We just left the beach and we're going to grab a bite to eat in town," he responded to his mother.
"Great, we should be home—."
Her daughter's hysterical questioning drowned out Jenny's voice. "Is this true Audrey, my brother? You're in love with my brother?" the whole car was suddenly washed in uncomfortable silence. Audrey's eyes were wide and she couldn't find her voice.
"Flip, maybe you and Izzy should come home now. Your father and I are pulling into the driveway."
When Audrey did not respond to his sister's allegation, Flip shoved Izzy back to her seat. "Okay mom, see you in twenty."
Flip had gone to Wyatt's house first since it was the closest but the tension in the car was so unbearable that all the teenagers scrambled away upon their arrival. Izzy sat in the second row with a dazed expression gracing her features. She knew her brother was good looking and lots of girls at Constance were interested in him, but she felt completely betrayed by Audrey's behavior.
Audrey ran to the trunk as soon as the car was parked in Wyatt's driveway, and by the time Flip came to the back she was dressed in a brown printed mini skirt and white cotton top. She was repacking her beach bag when she realized that he was inches from her, whispering her name in her ear. Audrey turned to him with wide eyes, her breath caught in her chest.
With a soft smile on his lips, Flip tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. He thought he was comforting her until he noticed the crimson blush creeping up her throat and he quickly stopped his ministrations. "Hey, about the blast…I know it's not true so don't worry about it,"
Everything was crashing around her. A second ago, Audrey thought he was going to kiss her. She thought that he had finally realized his feelings for her now that the truth was laid at his feet. A solid brick wall quickly erected around her heart as she responded, "I'm a big girl Flip, you don't need to worry about me," she hoped she sounded forceful, like her father closing a business deal. "I mean, I can't even believe gossip girl would post something ridiculous like that," her heart was pounding uncontrollably. "Besides, everyone knows Drew Baizen is more my type," she added with a lecherous smile before walking away.
Flip was completely dejected when he got back into the front seat. He watched as Audrey's swishing mini skirt teased the tops of her thighs when she walked up the stairs to Wyatt's house, and he shifted uncomfortably at his body's reaction. Out of the distance, he heard the passenger side door slam closed and Izzy's voice somewhere in the back of his mind.