Back at the beach, it would appear that the lesson between Luke and Pinky was going relatively...uneventful; despite the events that had happened moments prior. For the past half-hour, there was nothing going on between the two that could be considered flirting, especially coming from Pinky; although, it wasn't clear to Summer if the prep was had some sort of plan up her sleeve or not, which was mainly what she was keeping an eye out for. All in all, it was basically nothing more than just a regular old surfing lesson; no more, no less. Unfortunately, this calm state wasn't going to last much longer...
After what felt like an entire hour of nothing, Summer just stood there and watched as the two's surfing session continued, with Luke cheering Pinky on as the latter was now riding along one of the waves with ease. The lifeguard hadn't removed her eyes away from the two for the past thirty minutes; in fact, she was so engrossed in the two's session that she completely hadn't noticed that the beach had gotten a little more packed, up to the point where one of the random patrons had to see if she was lost in some sort of daze or something like that; and even that wasn't enough to get her to focus on something else. It wasn't until one of her own coworkers called out for her that she finally took her mind off of Luke and Pinky, and got back to her focusing on her job.
"Hey, Summer!" A random male lifeguard shouts from below her tower, catching the girl's attention. "I need your help with something!"
Summer lowered her binoculars and peered over the balcony in order to look at the man down below. "Sure." The former of the two lifeguards replied. "What is it?"
"So, I've been stationed at the tower you were previously in last week, and...I don't know how and I don't know why, but I've got a bat flying around inside of it." The man explained as Summer came walking down her tower's ramp. "Do you mind helping me get rid of it?"
"Sure." Summer agreed as she collected a butterfly-net that just so happens to be leaning against the left side of her tower. "Sorry you had to deal with that; let's just say that Yuki wasn't happy with me when I took the last chocolate bar from one of the vending-machines out in the parking-lot, and...well, let's just say that her little 'act of revenge' on me was to find a bat somewhere in her attic, hide it inside that tower's locker, and wait for it to attack me; thankfully, it didn't. In any case, I'll help you catch it so that we can release it back into the forest that's next to the station after we're done."
From a distance, Pinky was watching the two lifeguards head off to another part of the beach, prompting her to smirk upon seeing this sight. 'Looks like now's my chance...' She thought, before turning her head to look at Luke, who was just laying on his board staring upward towards the sky above. "Hmm...you seem exhausted, Lukey-Pukey." The prep stated as she drifts closer towards the surfer. "Did all that surfing tire you out that quickly?"
"Eh, I'm not totally tired yet." Luke says nonchalantly with a shrug. "I'm just letting myself chill for a bit before I continue surfing some more."
"Well, I never would've imagined laying on a board that's gently floating in the ocean to be...comfortable, unless it's one of the floating bed-floaties, then I could imagine it." Pinky comments with a hint of a giggle in her voice. "Although...we could always go back to shore so that we can relax together in my spot, and maybe we can...you know, get to know each other a bit more, if you want." She drifts a little bit closer to the surfer, giving him the same cute smile she previously gave him moments prior to their lesson. "What do you say, Lukey-Pukey?"
"Is your spot somewhere at the edge of the beach?" Luke jokingly asked, which causes the prep to instantly lose her smile.
"No, it's not." Pinky muttered, before pointing off to where her spot actually was. "It's over there, next to where the changing-tents are." She then leans forward, laying her stomach down on her board before proceeding to swim back to shore. "Come on, Luke; let's go to my chair so that we can dry off and relax."
"Eh...I don't see why not." Luke accepted while shrugging both of his shoulders nonchalantly, before flipping onto his stomach in order to follow the prep back to land.
Once the two got back to shore, they got off their boards and carried them over to where Pinky's beach-chair was set up at, which was where they stuck both of their boards upward in the sand; afterwards, Luke sat down onto the chair and watched as Pinky dried herself off with a blue towel that she brought along with her here. Once she felt like she was dry enough, the prep sat down next to the surfer and gave him her towel, so he can dry himself off next. "So, do you mind if I ask you something, Lukey-Pukey?" The prep asked as she inched closer to the surfer. "It's...kinda important."
"W-Well, I guess it depends what question it is." Luke replied as he placed the towel aside on the arm of the chair. "What do you want to ask?"
"It's weird of me to ask this, especially after your little friend came along and ruined our talk beforehand; but do you ever, like, wonder what it's like to have a girlfriend?"
Instead of answering the prep's question, Luke just stared at her in complete silence, because he already knew where this was going; but rather than shutting the conversation down and leave, he decided to answer the question anyway, not wanting to be rude to the blue-haired prep. "I haven't thought about it ever since I left California a couple days ago." He told the girl as he placed the towel aside. "Not that it really matters to me anyway, since...truthfully, I haven't had any sort of luck trying to get any of the girls I like to like me."
"Really?" Pinky asked in an intrigued tone of voice. "Well, I fail to see how something like that could possibly be the case for someone like you, because...you've got to be one of the most handsome men I've ever met thus far."
"It's mostly because every girl I become friends with only sees me as...well, a 'friend'; and that's it."
"Well, I like you, and...I wouldn't see you as just a 'friend'." Pinky scoots even closer to the surfer, fluttering her eyes cutely at him. "I'm probably be the first girl in your life who actually has an interest in you, beyond a friendship."
"Personally, I'd call us 'acquaintances' more than 'friends', but..." Luke shrugged his shoulders yet again. "Thanks."
"There's no need for you to be so snide to me, Lukey-Pukey..." Pinky leans closer, staring at the surfer directly into his eyes in a romantic manner; but little does she know that, around this time, Summer was just now returning to her tower.
"What in the..." Summer began uttering as soon as she noticed the two sitting on the beach-chair together, clearly displeased by the sight of it.
"I'm just saying that you should cherish a moment such as this one, Lukey-Pukey; because it's unlikely that you'll ever get to have someone as beautiful, rich, and has almost everything in blue again." Pinky says softly, gently placing a hand on Luke's cheek as she continued to stare into his eyes. "Don't you ever want to know what it's like to go out with a girl who has a lot of money?"
"Well, I never thought about it, but-" Luke started off, only to stop as soon as he notice that the girl was now kissing him on the lips, much to his, as well as Summer's, surprise.
'This girl is trying to test my patience...' Summer says in her own thoughts, glaring at the prep as she was still kissing the surfer. 'Screw this...' She then thought as she stormed down the ramp and headed over to confront the two, specifically Pinky.
"Hey, preppy!" The lifeguard's voice boomed as she marched over to the kissing duo, causing both of them to stop and turn towards her direction, seeing the pure anger expressed on her face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"He and I are just confirming our relationship together, that's what." Pinky answered as she glared at the lifeguard standing next to her and Luke. "Is that a problem to you?"
Summer then turns her head to look at the surfer. "You and this girl really decided to start something together?" She asked him in a disgruntled tone of voice.
"No, I didn't." Luke said as he shook his head defensively. "It's just that I-"
"Bullshit; you and I kissed, so that means you are now officially my boyfriend." Pinky interrupts Luke, before scooting closer to him so that she can wrap an arm around his shoulder. "Besides, a hot guy like you deserves to have someone such as me to be your girlfriend, because I can give you whatever you want, and I'll be honest and faithful to you no matter what circumstances lie in our way." She then glares at the lifeguard again. "Most of all, I won't be anything like your so-called 'friend' here, who's clearly jealous of us being together now, and most likely has issues in her own relationship if she's willing to pester us for finally starting one of our own."
"Shut up..." Summer muttered.
"Pinky, that's enough." Luke says in an attempt to intervene. "Relationship troubles or not, Summer's still my friend."
"Well, some friend she is if she's going to deliberately try and stop us from being together." Pinky says in a pompous manner, crossing her arms and shaking her head in disappointment.
"What is it that you want to hear from me, preppy?!" Summer asked as she continued to glare at Pinky. "If you want to hear that I have issues with my boyfriend, then I will happily talk to you about it!"
"Summer, please calm down..." Luke said as he attempted to stop this argument, noticing that some of the nearby patrons were witnessing what's going on.
"Now you're just proving to me that I would probably be a much better girlfriend to her boyfriend too." Pinky remarks cunningly, giving the lifeguard a taunting smirk.
"This is totally getting out of hands here, dudes."
"No, it's not; because of this bitch, I realized that, right now, I must do this in order to make myself happy for once!" Summer blurts out as she pulls Luke up onto his feet.
"What do you mean by-" Before Luke can finish the rest of his sentence, he was immediately interrupted by Summer kissing him straight on the lips without any sort of hesitation, catching him completely off-guard; after a few seconds, the two backed away from each other. "S-Summer, I-"
"So, you really were interested in him all along..." Pinky says as she shook her head. "How am I not surprised?"
"You don't deserve him anyway due to how much of a bitch you are." Summer retorts, continuing to glare at the prep.
"This coming out of the girl who just cheated on her boyfriend."
"Well, I was planning on breaking up with him anyway!"
"YOU'RE WHAT?!!"
Summer's angry expression soon faltered when she heard that voice coming from close by; it was Tim. She immediately looks behind the prep and saw her boyfriend's best friend, standing there, giving her a look of both surprise and disappointment. It was clear to her that the boy had seen and heard everything that had happened during the argument, especially the kiss; but in hindsight, and despite being just as shocked as he was, a part of Summer didn't really feel bad that she was caught, because deep down, she knew that this was bound to happen eventually; but she did feel bad that Tim had to witness all of this regardless.
"Tim, I-" Summer says as she tried to step closer to the blue-haired boy, only for the latter to turn around and run back to the Boardwalk behind him. "Oh, now look what you've done." She said to the prep with a glare.
"Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, this is your fault." Pinky told the lifeguard as she stood up from her chair and stepped over to Luke. "Looks like you've lost both your boyfriend and your new friend here at the same time...how tragic; I almost feel bad for you, lifeguard."
"I-I think I need to go to work now." Luke says as he collects his board, before glaring at the prep. "By the way, you and I are not dating." He told her before taking off to the harbor, leaving the prep completely aghast.
"But..." Pinky tried to say to the surfer as he walked away from her, which was when she turned to glare at Summer once again and started talking. "Well, thanks a lot, lifeguard." She berated. "Looks like Luke's all yours now, if he's not too pissed with you for lying to his face and cheating on your own boyfriend with him." She then packs up her stuff and proceeded to make her way over to one of the nearby changing-tents, leaving Summer alone to solemnly think about what she had done.
It was around this time that Chaz and Renee had finally arrived at the dental-office that the latter was assigned to go to today. It wasn't too far of a drive for the former to get to, regardless if he was going back to the auto-shop or the latter's school; but unfortunately, there was one glaring issue that he has with this building: it's the one that's on Main Street; in other words, it was the office that Katie and her father work at. He probably should've been aware of this when he was beginning to find some of the buildings somewhat familiar, and he probably should've known that this was the address that his aunt had sent him via text after Renee got into the car moments prior. Things were surely about to get awkward if he's forced to stay throughout the entirety of the appointment...
After the two got out of the car, they both entered the building, where Chaz went to the sign-up counter while Renee went off to play at the table of blocks that could be found in the center of the waiting room. "Uh...hey; so, I'm dropping off my cousin here because she has an appointment today." The former said to the receptionist at the desk. "Her name's Renee Adams."
"Renee Adams, let's see here...ah, we do have that name on the list today." The receptionist says to herself, before looking up at the biker and becoming confused. "She's the daughter of one of the teachers down at the elementary school, right?"
"That would be correct." Chaz answered with a nod, which was when the receptionist became a little confused about him.
"So, who are you supposed to be?"
"I'm her cousin, Chaz." The biker's answered as he proceeded to write Renee's name down on the paper that was just given to him. "Her mom's busy right now, so I'm the one who's dropping her off here instead."
"Dropping her off?" The receptionist asked with an eyebrow raised at the biker. "You're not going to stay here and wait for her appointment to get finished?"
"Well, I have a job I've got to get back to in case you haven't noticed." Chaz reminded as he tugged on the badge of the mechanic's jumpsuit he was still currently wearing.
"Well, we're not aloud to have patients who are children be in here unsupervised." The receptionist retorts, causing the biker to let out a frustrated huff.
"So, I'm stuck here until the appointment's over?" Chaz asked, only to receive a nod from the receptionist. "Well, shit..."
"I'll let you know when Dr. Morris is ready for her." The woman said before standing up from her chair and heading off to the hallway behind her.
"Hey, wait-" Chaz tried to say, only to immediately give up and walk over to where his cousin was, sitting down on one of the chairs close to her. "Well, this is just great..." He muttered to himself.
"What's wrong, Chaz?" Renee asked her cousin.
"Apparently, I have to stay here until your appointment gets done; despite the fact that the woman up front knows I have work I have to get back to myself." Chaz answered as he lets out a frustrated huff. "Tim's going to be pissed when he finds out about this; he's probably still at the Boardwalk waiting for me to arrive right now...that, or that girl decided to drop him back off at the auto-shop herself, and he's probably working on a bunch of cars by himself." He then glanced at the door that leads into the hallway behind him for a second. "Also, I haven't told you about this yet, but...I may know somebody who works here."
"You know one of the dentists here?" Renee asked in a suspicious tone. "How?"
"It's a long story how I met her, but...her name's Katie Morris; she's one of the coolest girls from the Royal Academy."
"One of the coolest girls in school works here at the dentist?" Renee asked in disbelief. "There's no way that can possibly be true..."
"It is." Chaz told his cousin. "She dresses cool, she acts cool, and she knows how to skateboard too; and she's also one of the smartest girls from my school as well."
"So, you became friends with a girl who's part 'cool girl', part 'nerd'?" Renee asked, still clearly unconvinced by everything that was being said by her cousin. "If she's one of the coolest girls you know, then why are you so against seeing her right now?"
"Uh...let's just say that her dad doesn't know about me, or our friendship, yet." The biker stated awkwardly. "Her father's the one who owns this building, and according to Katie, her dad's just as studious as she is; and let's just say that it's doubtful that a guy like him would not approve of his daughter hanging out with someone like me, due to...well, obvious reasons."
"Because you're a guy who's totally reckless and nearly gets himself killed almost every stunt he could think of?"
"It's more complicated than that, Renee; and also, it's mostly because of the fact that the father of such a studious person like Katie would never allow her to be friends with a dude who owns a motorcycle like me."
"That's exactly what I've just said, Chaz...except you've left out the part where you do dangerous stunts for fun."
"Well, uh..." Chaz paused for a second to try and think of what to say, before deciding to retell the excuse he previously used seconds ago. "I-It's complicated..."
"The fact that it's 'complicated' is exactly the reason why I'm grateful to not be so focused on romance..." Renee mutters as she just continued to play with the blocks on the table in front of her.
"Well-" Chaz halted for a second as he suddenly realized what his cousin had just said. "Wait, did you just say 'romance'?!"
"Maybe." Renee bluntly stated as she shrugged her shoulders. "If she's really as cool as you say she is, then she's probably so cool to the point where you'd consider going out with her."
Chaz rolls his eyes, before proceeding to tell his cousin off for everything she was telling him. "I have a girlfriend already, in case you've forgot." He stated. "Also, as cool as she is, I don't think a relationship like that is going to happen between us, not now or later."
"I was just pulling your leg..." The younger of the two relatives muttered. "Sorry..."
"Renee Adams." A voice calls out for the little girl, prompting her to stand up and collect her pig off of the floor next to her; but before the dentist could go back into the hallway, she was quick to notice the biker. "Chaz?!"
"Katie?" Chaz asked himself, before turning around and seeing his tomboyish friend standing behind him, clearly surprised to see him here; and it was clear to him that Renee's appointment was going to be with her.
"W-What the hell are you doing here, dude; and why didn't you tell me that you have a child?" Katie asked in a harsh whisper.
"Actually, I'm his cousin; not his child." Renee stated, only to be met with the biker holding out a hand towards her.
"Renee, let me take care of this." Chaz insisted, before facing the tomboy again. "Look, I know that now is a really, really bad time for me to be here right now; but you can blame my aunt for this because I didn't know I was going to be staying here during Renee's appointment."
"Your aunt told you to come out here?" Katie asked.
"She's a teacher over at the summer school that's a few blocks from here, which is why she told me to bring her here instead."
"Does Renee not have a father?"
"Um...her dad is my boss, and right now, I'm pretty sure he's busy trying to fix someone's car over by the gas-station."
"Well, boss or not, he's still probably the more suitable option in this scenario." Katie says before pointing off to the hallways behind her. "Do you have any idea how my dad's going to feel when he sees you sitting out here in his waiting room?!"
"Kathryn, what's taking you so long to-" Maxwell asked as he was coming out of the hallway-door behind them, only to stop as soon as he sees his daughter talking to Chaz. "I-It's you." He says in a surprised, yet horrified, tone of voice.
"Well, shit..." Katie mutters under her breath as she slowly turned to look at her father behind her.
Note: It looks like things are starting to building themselves up like dominos, my fellow readers. Summer had kissed Luke right in front of Tim, and Maxwell has finally come face to face with Chaz at his own office. What's gonna happen from here on out is a mystery, but I'll tell you this, one side is just going to get worse from there.
Let's see what reviews we got for today are...
lordgemini: Unfortunately, it seems like Pinky's made things worse by insulting Summer's relationship even further, and now things escalated into inevitable heartbreak for almost everyone involved...maybe except for at least two of them, since the next chapter, I have something slightly easygoing planned for them. I won't say who they are specifically, but they're going to have a moment together once they get back to the harbor. Also, you were right on one thing; Luke did end up rejecting Pinky at the very end of their session together.
It looks like that's it from me for now. Until next time, I will see you all in the next chapter, my fellow readers.