Chapter 2 - On Our Way
Simon put his suitcase into the back of the van. He looked down out his outfit. He had changed into a blue Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts and sandals. He felt like a total dork. Simon groaned. Why, oh why, do I force myself to do these things? He thought to himself. He was supposed to be the responsible one, yet here he was, disobeying Dave and doing what Alvin said to do. He really needed to stop being a pushover.
"Ummm...Simon? Could you scooch over a little bit?"
Simon turned around. Theodore was holding a heavy looking cooler. He was wearing a green t-shirt, basketball shorts and flip flops.
"Oh! Sorry Theo. Here-" Simon took a step to his right to get out of the way so that his brother could place the cooler into the back of the van.
"I can't wait to be at the beach house again! It feels like we haven't been there in ages." Theodore said as he put down the other bag. Simon leaned up against the car. "Yeah," he gave a little huff of annoyance. "Is Alvin done packing yet?"
"I think he's almost done. He went to go get his surfboard," Theodore said. Simon scoffed and folded his arms. "What's wrong Simon?" Theodore asked. "Aren't you excited to hang out with your friends and family at the beach house?"
Simon sighed. "It's not that. It's just…" he paused for a second. "We shouldn't be doing this by ourselves. We're too young and irresponsible. This won't end well." Simon looked at his warped reflection on the turquoise van. He had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Well, that's why we have you with us. You're one of the most responsible people I know," Theodore sweetly said. Simon looked at his brother, who was giving him a wide, reassuring smile. Simon exhaled and gave him a pat on the back. "Thanks Theo. That means a lot to me."
Suddenly, the front door slammed wide open. There was Alvin in his tank top, shorts, and sneakers. He was wearing his favorite red cap and sunglasses. Under one of his arms was a surfboard and in the other hand was his bag with his stuff in it. He trotted down the steps with a big grin on his face. "Alright guys! I think we're almost all set. We just have to wait for the Millers." He started to put his bag in the trunk.
"Speak of the devil," said Simon, his thumb pointing to across the street. And there they were.
Brittany was wearing a light pink tank top with high waist acid washed jean shorts and white heeled sandals. Her light pink heart shaped sunglasses and her white sun hat matched her outfit to a T. She had plenty of luggage with her, which, to many, was expected of her. Jeanette was wearing a white t-shirt and overall shorts with white slip-on shoes. She was reluctant to wear this outfit because of how short the shorts were, but with some reassurance from Brittany, she decided to wear it. Eleanor was wearing a light green sundress with sandals. Her hair was up in her usual pigtails with light green hair ties.
"Woah ladies! This is a summer vacation not a fashion show," Alvin joked sarcastically as they approached them.
"Hi Alvin," Brittany said with a slightly annoyed tone, pretending that she didn't hear the comment Alvin made. She and her sisters started putting their stuff in the back of the van with the rest. Eleanor ran up to Theodore. "Teddy!" she squeaked excitedly as she hugged Theodore, acting like she hadn't seen him all summer. He chuckled and said "Hi Ellie!"
"Oh I just can't wait for us to hang out at the beach together! We're gonna have so much fun!"
"Yeah! Think of all the sandcastles we can build!" Eleanor giggled at Theo's statement and gave him another hug.
"Afternoon, Jeanette," Simon greeted her formally. Jeanette smiled sweetly at him. "Hello Simon. Are you excited about this trip? I know I am."
"I guess you could say that," was all that he could respond with.
Once Alvin secured his surfboard to the top of the van, he closed the back door of the van and rubbed his hands together. "Alright guys! We are good to go."
"Wait a second Alvin," Eleanor interrupted. "Where's Dave?"
"Oh! Dave? He's on a business trip for the week," Alvin replied.
"Wait...So we are going to be there all by ourselves for the week?" Jeanette asked.
"Yeah Alvin," Brittany chimed in "Did you even ask Dave?"
"Of course I did. He's totally cool with it. Did you ask Miss Miller?"
"As a matter of fact I did! She is fine with it as well," Brittany turned around to get into the car.
"Sounds like bullshit to me," Alvin said under his breath. Brittany whipped her head around immediately, her face all scrunched up. "Alvin Seville, what did you just say to me?"
"You heard me."
Brittany immediately started to walk up to Alvin, but Eleanor held her back.
"Let me go Ellie! Let me at 'em!" Brittany yelled as she struggled to be let go from her sister's grip. Alvin just stood there smirking with his arms crossed.
Jeanette sighed and looked at Simon. "Do you think they're gonna be like this all week?"
"I'm afraid so," Simon said, looking directly at the conflict that was happening right in front of him. He walked over to them. "Alright, alright. Break it up you two." Simon announced as he spread his arms out to separate them.
"Listen to me, you two. I want the fighting to come down to a minimum while we are on our trip. Is that clear?
Both of them sighed and replied with an annoyed "Yes". Eleanor let go of Brittany. Brittany stomped her way to the van and sat in the front passenger seat. "I'm ready to go now!" She shouted from the van, making sure everyone heard her.
"Guess we're ready then," Simon said. "Everybody get in. I'm driving." When those words came out of his mouth, he couldn't help but crack a smile.
If you were to ask how the ride to the beach house was, it depended on who you asked. Brittany would say it lasted an eternity and complain how it was super boring. She was either looking at her phone the whole time or just listening to the radio and tuning out the chatter that was going on in the back of the van (unless the chatter involved her, then she would totally join in). She regretted sitting next to, in her words, "the most boring person ever" but in her mind it was better than sitting in the back. Whenever Simon got on her nerves, she turned up the radio in protest. At least Simon was the most responsible one, aside from maybe Jeanette or Eleanor.
Simon didn't mind driving. It was a comfortable, almost relaxing thing for him to do. He liked to watch the world go by while he drove. The scenery as they drove to the beach was beautiful and made him forget that he was basically breaking his promise with Dave. He wasn't a big fan of sitting next to a huffy and annoyed Brittany, but he tried not to let it get to him.
Theodore and Eleanor sat in the second row and chatted the afternoon away. They talked, joked, and played games with each other the whole time. They were the only two talking in the van, unless they invited someone else into their conversation.
Alvin was a little grumpy, having to sit next to Jeanette in the 3rd row of the van. It's not that he didn't like Jeanette, she seemed nice and all, but Alvin didn't have anything to talk about with her. It didn't matter anyway because Jeanette was reading the entire ride.
Jeanette was a little bummed out that she wasn't able to sit next to Simon. She didn't really mind that she was sitting in the back next to Alvin, but it would've been nice to have someone to talk to. At least she brought a book to read, as long as she could tune the chatter out.
They had been on the road for quite a while. It was now the afternoon and the sky was clear and blue. Eleanor practically squealed with enthusiasm. "I'm so excited! You guys never told us you had a beach house before." Simon shook his head. "Dave doesn't really like us telling others about it. He didn't want it to seem like we were bragging."
Alvin poked his head out from behind the seats in front of him. "I just know Brittany would never be able to keep that kind of secret. She would just blab to everyone about it." Brittany turned around to say something but she caught Simon giving her a "knock it off" look and resorted to giving Alvin a grumpy stare. Alvin stared back at Brittany with an evil smile, knowing he was getting on her nerves. Jeanette tried to change the subject to prevent them from fighting. "What kind of stuff are we going to do when we're there?"
"Alvin's entering a surfing competition," Theodore replied. Brittany looked at Alvin, this time with a less annoyed look. "I didn't know you surfed."
Alvin shrugged. "Yeah. I do. I just don't get to do it that often." All Brittany could do was stare at Alvin with a blank expression.
"Not including the beach, there's some pretty fun things to do there," Simon said, looking at the teens through the rear view mirror for a split second. "There's a few different shops to visit. There's an aquarium. The-"
"Oh and there's also a boardwalk! They have the best funnel cake!" Theodore chimed in. Eleanor grinned ear to ear at Theodore's cute comment.
As the rest of the teens talked about what they were going to do while they were at the beach, Brittany turned to stare out the window. She tried to tune out the boring chatter and listen to the radio, her hand resting on her chin. She watched the scenery go by as they drove. There was a growing pit of despair in her stomach that was telling her this vacation wasn't going to go the way she thought it would.
It wasn't long until Brittany started complaining about how long the ride was taking again. She sighed and turned to Simon. "How much longer is this ride going to take?"
"Not very long. We are almost there," Simon said, not taking his eyes away from the road.
"That's what you said, like, an hour ago!" Brittany crossed her arms, frustrated.
"Look. We'll be there in the next 45 minutes or so, okay?" Simon replied, sounding a little bit annoyed at Brittany's pestering. Brittany let out a little huff of annoyance and turned around to stare out the window again.
"Tell you what. How about we stop at a gas station first. We can get up, move around, get some snacks. We need some more gas anyways. Is that okay with everybody?"
"Yeah! Snacks sound great right now!" Theodore said. Eleanor giggled. "I agree!" Brittany let out a little grunt of agreement.
Once Simon was able to find the nearest gas station, he pulled up to one of the gas station pumps. Once parked, everyone else went inside the store for snacks while Simon filled the van with gas.
Walking down the short aisles of the store, Brittany was feeling a little bit fed up. She was tired of being bored and annoyed during the ride. It felt like she was stuck babysitting her siblings rather than having a more relaxing "adult" vacation. She was starting to regret going on this trip. She was about to reach for a bag of lightly salted popcorn when she felt something touch her hand. She looked next to her.
A boy, most likely the same age as Brittany, was standing there with his hand on top of Brittany's. Brittany would be extremely cranky if it wasn't for the fact that she found him gorgeous. He was tall, fit and tan. His cheeks were lightly freckled which complimented his light green eyes. His honey blonde hair was wavy and perfectly styled. In Brittany's words, he was totally "wow".
"I'm sorry. Ladies first," he gestured towards the snack. His smile was so sweet Brittany was sure that she was gonna melt. She gave a cutesy giggle. "Oh! What a gentleman." She grabbed a bag.
"So...Um...Are you heading anywhere?" she asked, trying to make conversation with this handsome new stranger.
"Actually, yes!" he replied, grabbing a bag for himself and placing it into a basket filled with other snacks and drinks. "My friends and I are heading down to their beach house. We're gonna spend a couple of days there."
"Really? So am I!" Brittany said, wide eyed. "My friend is entering a surfing competition."
"Wow, what are the odds of that? I'm entering the competition too!" he smiled and held out his hand to let her shake it. "I'm Max, by the way. Max Tayler." Brittany shook his hand. "I'm Brittany Miller."
"Well, nice to meet you, Brittany," he said in a certain voice that made Brittany question if he was flirting with her or not. Either way, she thought she was going to melt. "Tell you what," he said. "Let me give you my phone number. That way if you guys need any help, we will be close by." Brittany was a bit awestruck. It wasn't uncommon for boys to ask Brittany for her number, but she was surprised at how smooth this handsome guy was. "Sure!" she replied, a little bit nervous.
After exchanging numbers, all Brittany felt she could do was just stare at his face. Brittany just couldn't believe her luck. First day on her vacation and she already met a handsome, funny, sweet guy that seemed to like her. She felt like she was Sandy in Grease and she had just found her Danny. This is only the beginning she thought. His smile was soft and sweet.
All of the sudden, Brittany's thoughts were interrupted by a loud, obnoxious honk coming from outside. Both of the teens turned their heads and looked out the window. The sound came from some teens sitting in a parked red convertible in the parking lot. They were all laughing and one of the teens that was sitting in the passenger seat leaned over and had his hand on the horn.
"Oh! That's my friends. They're probably trying to tell me to hurry up," he turned to Brittany. "I guess I'll see you there?" he asked. All Brittany could seem to mutter was a "uh-huh". Max gave a light chuckle. "Alright. See you later, Brittany!" he smiled again, waved and walked away to go pay for his snacks. Brittany felt like her face was glowing red and she tried not to smile a huge goofy grin from ear to ear.
Maybe this trip wouldn't be so bad after all.