Chapter Two

"Ugh, I forget how much driving for so long sucks," Angela said, groaning as she stretched. "But we're here!"

Bella stretched as well, her shirt sticking to her back. An hour earlier, Angela's AC decided to kick it. With the windows down and the fresh ocean air, it was considerably cooler, until they had to slow down to find the beach house. Cayucos wasn't huge, but it had been years since Bella visited the area.

She pulled off her t-shirt, tossed it through the open window of the car, and adjusted her bikini top. They were waiting for her Aunt Alice, since she had the keys. "Are we early?"

"You're here!" They turned around and stared as a woman in her late twenties came running out of the house, heading straight for Bella. "Oh my God, look at you, girl!" Bella hadn't seen her aunt in a few years. She was the black sheep of the family, but had recently made efforts to reach out, since they lost Bella's grandfather.

"Aunt Alice," Bella said, sighing when her aunt wrapped her tightly in a hug. She had always loved her aunt and couldn't understand how the family could stay away for so long. The falling out had to do with marrying way too young with an older man, giving up her education to follow him to an army base across the country from her college. It all seemed so trivial, considering how short life could be. "I didn't see your car."

"SUV now that Amy's been born, and Jasper went to grab something," Alice said, introducing herself to Angela. "And I've told you before, no Aunt Alice, just Alice." She had Bella turn around to get a good look at her. "I can see why Rosalie said that I will probably have to come check on you two." She winked as Bella and Angela blushed. "Two beautiful girls are bound to cause trouble. This area might not be party central, but I have a feeling a few more boys are going to show up."

Bella groaned. "Did Dad ask you to come by and spy on us?"

Alice laughed, leading them inside. "He didn't come right out and ask, but he implied." She held out the keys for Bella to take, and handed Angela a copy. "Jasper already turned on the water heater and he went to grab something to take a look at your car, Angela."

"I think the AC just needs to be charged." Angela looked around and whistled. "Nice place, and this is all ours for three weeks?"

"It sure is," Alice said, a bright smile on her face. "It has three bedrooms, one with two twin beds, two bathrooms. As you can see from the view, we're very close to the beach."

"It didn't feel so open the last time I was here," Bella said, walking toward the ceiling to floor windows that made up the back of the house.

"Jasper and I renovated a lot between rentals," Alice said, opening the fridge. "We stocked the kitchen for you two, so you won't have to worry about buying groceries for a few days. I left directions to the best place to buy a couple of things in town or in Morro Bay, if you need to, but the prices are generally higher. If you don't mind the drive, I'd head to Walmart in Paso Robles about forty minutes away, and if you do, call me, we'll do lunch or something."

"That sounds great," Angela said, still staring at Bella's aunt. Alice had that effect on people. She was a tiny little thing, at only five feet tall, but had more energy than a kindergarten class full of children combined. She had a bounce to her step that made her long brown waves dance. The colorful ink that colored her arms from shoulder to wrist probably held her attention, too.

"Oh, that's your uncle," Alice said, swirling around and heading out the front door.

"She's so freaking cool, and like a cyclone," Angela said, looking at the food in the kitchen. "Oh my God, she bought us wine coolers."

Bella giggled and shrugged. "She'll give us a lecture about drinking and driving and make us swear on one of our favorite band's life that we will adhere to the rules."

"I'm okay with that. We've driven enough in the last couple of days, thank you very much."

Bella laughed as she returned her attention to the view and gasped. She wasn't ready to put herself out there, but she could appreciate hot boys. "You need to see this, Angela." The near breathless quality of her voice had her friend running to join her by the window.

The sight before Angela made her nearly swoon. "I think I'm really going to like it here."

Three boys, not much older than Bella and Angela, were tossing a football around on the beach. A dog ran around them, barking with its tail wagging. One of them had a guitar along one side of his body as he tossed the ball high into the air, seemingly laughing as the dog tried to intercept. He knelt to rub the dog's ear and say something to his friend. A few more guys joined them within seconds, and the scene looked more like a photoshoot rather than real life. There were a lot of board shorts, backward caps, and lean muscled abs.

Bella smiled as the guitar-holding boy shielded his eyes as one of his friends pointed toward their house and waved. "I say summer is looking very promising." She waved back, but before she had a chance to go outside, Alice called out for them from the front of the house. Bella and Angela shared a look. "I'm suddenly not feeling so tired. You?"

"Nope."