Chapter 7

Conrad's POV

We walked outside, leaving the group behind. Me and this Hudson guy that Belly apparently wasn't getting with. I didn't know what was going on. If he liked her. If she liked him. I knew about as much as a potato. We went through the formalities first, 'Hi' 'How are you' all of the basics before he turned to me.
'Do you like her?' he asked cautiously, but bluntly at the same time.
'Man to man? Yes, of course I do.' I replied slowly, watching his face
A smile threatened to cross his lips, 'Good man, that's what I wanted to hear' he said smiling.
'You can't tell her though' his smile vanished
'Are you going to?' he questioned me
'In time.. but not yet' I finished, 'it has to be right'
'Conrad, can I ask you something?'
'What?' I wasn't making promises to answer anything
'Don't fuck her about man'. That's when it hit me,
'Do you like her?' I asked slowly, looking him directly in the eyes
'No man' he responded, 'I mean she's beautiful and funny and everything but no spark'
No spark I thought. It reminded me of them that night at the party. 'Forget it Con' I told myself, he's being nice, don't overreact. So I just smiled at him.
'I have a question now' I said after a minute
'What man?'
'Is your hair naturally that blonde or what?' He just smiled at me.
'Between us, I use lemon juice' He said grinning. I burst out laughing and realised that I liked this guy, he'd make a good addition to the group. We turned back to the house and walked, talking about mundane things and arranging a surf session the following week. For the first time this holiday I felt happy. Like everything was slotting into place.

Belly's POV

They came back laughing and smiling. Wow. Three out of the four guys I cared most about were here with me laughing and getting on. It was a shame Steven wasn't here but he had Lacie now. They were happy in New York. Anika had asked if I'd wanted to fly with her and visit them while she saw her parents but I'd said no. Anyway Jere was going now.

They were together at the moment, she was leaning on him and the pair of them were talking to Ellie as the boys came back in. There was a gap beside me and Con sat down filling it as Hud sat across the circle next to Flynn who had returned from his sandwich experience, mostly unharmed. Mostly.

As Hud sat down I shot him a look of eyebrows raised, as if to say 'What was that about?' he merely shrugged and chuckled at me which frustrated me even more. I then turned to Conrad but before I could say anything he mouthed, 'later' at me which shut me up for a while. Conrad then proceeded to ask the group,
'What game now then?'
Jere looked up and replied one word, 'Poker' I groaned. I sucked at poker and what made it worse. Jere and Conrad were really good. It used to annoy the hell out of me but whatever, I could do this.
'Pairs or singles?' Dean asked
'Shall we let them have a little bit more of a chance?' Jere asked turning to Conrad
'Hmm I guess' he replied, 'as long as I'm not with Belly.' I hit him. He laughed.
'Okay' Jere said, 'Anika and I, Dean and Flynn, Ellie and Hudson and Conrad and Belly'
'Cool' everyone replied in agreement.

'The trick is too bluff your way against the other players' Conrad was telling us. 'For example you always know when Belly has a good hand as her face lights up'
'It does not!' I retorted
'Sure it doesn't Iz' Hudson laughed, 'I've watched it happen 3 times in a row.' Hudson was surprisingly good at poker, so was Dean, and obviously Jere and Conrad were which balanced all the teams out. Anika, Flynn and Ellie weren't even watching anymore having left to go outside for a cigarette. They'd asked if I wanted to join but I refused. Susannah had always told me not to smoke. So I never did. I hoped she'd of been proud of that.
Conrad did smoke however and at one point let me in charge of our team while he went outside quickly. Unsurprisingly I lost pretty bad which didn't lessen the teasing from the group.

When it got too around 3 in the morning Ellie, Flynn, Dean and Hudson left us.
Us four debated about going to bed but considering it would be light in a matter of hours decided against it. We shoved on Hot Fuzz and laughed at the hilariousness of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. When the movie finished, the sun was just rising and Jere and Conrad decided to go for a surf. They said they'd be back for 10 before changing and heading to the sea. Anika and I changed into bikinis and went down to the pool to watch the sunrise and the boys surf subtly. We must have fallen asleep in the sun chairs because when I opened my eyes it was dusk, a whole day gone. Right before my eyes.

Anika was still sleeping on the lounger so trying not to wake her I stood up and went in search of the boys. They were leaning over the barbeque cooking more burgers when I arrived.
'Go get Anika' Con called as he saw me walking up. 'Dinner's ready.'
With that I went to wake Anika and together we walked back up to the boys smelling the delicious burgers, sausages and kebabs. During dinner we laughed, joked and mucked about as the four of us. Nothing was strange or awkward, everything was piecing together for this summer. All I needed to do was talk to Conrad- especially after kissing last night. There were some things that needed to be said. but I was perfectly content to relax and enjoy the summer until then.

A nagging thought played on my mind that Anika would be leaving soon and an imbalance may occur but I shrugged it off. I didn't want this day to have any imperfections.

The next week passed quicker than ever. We partied hard one night at Luke's, one of Jere's old co-workers, but mostly just relaxed together. It was mainly the four of us, playing monopoly, going to the boardwalk, picnicking, the boys teaching Anika and I to surf etc. Hudson joined us one day when we went to a water park and out for a meal and then him, Jere and Conrad went surfing most mornings. They saw him more than I did but I told myself I'd change that when Anika and Jere left and I had more time. Till then I wanted to see them as much as possible. Especially Anika, she would be leaving in three days which seemed like nothing at all. If Jere hadn't been going as well he'd of probably put a downer on her leaving. Luckily that wasn't the case and as they planned for New York, Conrad and I planned for cousins. They were leaving on Monday (today was Thursday) and we'd already planned to go scuba diving on the Thursday next week. I was so excited. I'd never been before. Adding to this Conrad and Hudson had promised me proper surf lessons, something I'd never got the hang of previously but they promised to have me riding like a professional by the end of the week.

Right now the main plan was to host a kickass party for the Anika's leaving. It was meant to be a surprise but I think she'd guessed already. Not that she'd said anything. It was going to be on her second last night here so we could all chill together at the end and it meant we could go even wilder on the party night.

Everyone had a job to do:
Jeremiah was sorting out food
Conrad was organising alcohol
Hudson and Dean were creating a playlist
Ellie and Flynn were making sure any valuables were safe
Finally I was in charge of inviting everyone.

The party was going to be Saturday night and today was Thursday. I decided tomorrow I would go round Cousins telling everyone we wanted to arrive so they at least had some notice. A day was enough notice wasn't it? I hoped so.

Friday dawned and everyone had jobs to do. Jere was multitasking, going food shopping and distracting Anika, telling her he wanted an amazing meal to say bye with so we had to have all her favourite foods so therefore she had to go. As soon as they left Ellie and Flynn started moving vases into more secure rooms and out of the kitchen and living room. Conrad was nowhere to be found. I sent him off to find tequila in particular - Anika's favourite. That left Dean and Hudson. They were on the patio working on the music. I walked up to them and said to Dean,
'Hey can I borrow Hudson for a few hours?'
'What do you want Iz?' Hudson smiled at me
'You too help me invite people today' I admitted
'So you basically want me to do your job for you'
'Ye.. No!' I exclaimed, 'not at all'
'Sure I'll come- you don't mind do you Dean?'
'Nah it's cool, we're pretty much finished anyway' Dean responded
'Yup, I'll come' Hudson finalised
'Okay, let's go'

We walked down to his car and as he put the key in the engine he asked 'Where too?'
'Where the people are' I responded 'the town, then the boardwalk and finally any passers-by on the beach we like the look of' I winked at him
'Okay your majesty' he responded, 'let's host a mega party'
I smiled, laughing as I rolled down my window.