A/N - Hey everyone! Long time, no see! :) Just a quick update, I have gone and edited the previous chapters to change some things and to make it...well, better I guess! Feel free to go back and re-read (or just skim) the past few chapters. With that said, here's chapter 4!
Chapter 4 - Like What You See?
Brittany fluttered her eyes open. She had just woken up from her cat-nap. She shifted her weight on the bed to look at the clock that was sitting on the side table. 6:10 p.m. She sighed and rolled onto her back, looking up and staring at the pure white ceiling. She thought about how she lied to Miss Miller, told her she was at camp. She felt like smacking herself. Camp?! Really!? That's the best I could come up with? she berated herself internally.
After a moment of reflection, she decided to get up and look at herself in the mirror before going downstairs. She studied her reflection. Her makeup was a bit smeared and a little cakey after her nap. Her hair was also looking flat in a few places. She let out a little huff and tried to fix herself a little. She knew some would find it self-absorbed to make sure you looked like a movie star even if you were just walking around your house, but she didn't care. She was Brittany Miller. She always had to look her best, no matter what. After fixing herself and making sure every part of her looked perfect, she made her way downstairs.
The second she walked into the living room, she smelled something delicious. She turned her head to find Eleanor and Theodore in the kitchen, cooking dinner. Jeanette and Simon were in the dining room, setting plates and silverware. Brittany walked toward the kitchen island where Theodore was preparing sandwiches. "Something smells good," chimed Brittany. Eleanor turned her attention to Brittany simultaneously while continuing to stir whatever was in the big pot in front of her. "Thanks!" she smiled. Eleanor always loved the compliments about her cooking, especially when it was her sister's. "Theo and I went to the corner store a bit ago to get some groceries with the money Simon gave us. I just whipped up some homemade soup real quick. Theo's making sandwiches to go with it." Theodore smiled a big, childlike toothy grin to Brittany. Brittany couldn't help but give a little smile back.
"Since your up, could you go get Alvin and tell him dinner's almost ready?" Brittany did not like that idea at all, but knew she would feel bad if she denied her sister's request. She shrugged. "Sure. Where is he?"
"He's most likely surfing by the beach," Eleanor pointed with her thumb at the front door. Brittany nodded and proceeded to get herself ready to go get him.
Once ready, she left through the front door and started to make her way across the street and down to the beach. The wind was blew through her hair and she could smell the salty air coming from the ocean. It was relaxing and refreshing. Even with her sandals on, she could feel the hot sand underneath her feet. If she wasn't busy with getting Alvin to come eat dinner, she wouldn't have minded lounging on the beach. She almost started to forget all her worries as she walked across the sand.
However, her worries seemed to come back instantly as she got closer towards the ocean and saw Alvin. Once she saw him, all she could think about how annoyed she was with him that day. The closer she got, she studied the way he surfed. The waves were pretty mild, but Alvin handled it like a pro. His skills didn't look half bad in Brittany's opinion. Brittany waved one of her arms at Alvin to get his attention and called his name. Once he noticed her, he started making his way to the shore.
"'Sup Britt?" Alvin asked as he trotted up to her, carrying his surfboard along with him. Once he approached her, Brittany couldn't help but notice how fit Alvin was. She knew he was athletic, but she couldn't recall if she had really seen him with his shirt off. He was wet from head to toe after emerging from the ocean. He ran his fingers through his hair and Brittany couldn't stop looking at his toned stomach. She had never seen him like this before.
Alvin seemed to notice Brittany's staring and a smirk appeared on his face. "Like what you see, Britt?" Alvin teased and started to pose with his surfboard to make fun of her. Brittany scrunched up her face and pushed him away. "Gross! Get inside. Dinner's ready." She immediately turned on her heel and stomped towards the house, embarrassed and mad. She could hear Alvin laughing at her, which made her even more angry.
Lord, please give me the strength to not attack him during dinner Prayed Brittany.
The dining room erupted in laughter from everyone, except Alvin. Simon was telling an anecdote about one of the many situations Alvin got into when he was younger.
"And then," Simon said, trying not to lose it "Oh god- You should have seen Dave's face when he came home and saw the mess. He banned Alvin from using bubble bath solution for pretty much the rest of his life." All the teens, except yet again for Alvin, laughed. The dinner went well. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food and liked chatting with each other.
Alvin was antsy and couldn't keep his eyes off the clock in the dining room. Suddenly, he stood up, disrupting the conversation. "Thanks for the grub." He was itching to rush out of the house. "Where are you going?" Jeanette politely asked. "It's been 30 minutes, I can finally go back to surfing," Alvin said, booking his way to the door and picking up his surfboard on the way. Before they knew it, he was gone. Eleanor was surprised. "I didn't think he was the type to be able to wait 30 minutes after eating to go swimming." Simon shrugged. "I guess that's because he learned the hard way before. When he was a kid, he ate a big lunch one time and went surfing immediately after. He had one of the worst stomach cramps ever after that." Brittany tried her hardest not to chuckle at that story.
After a beat, Simon started to get up and collect the dishes. "Thank you for the wonderful dinner, Eleanor and Theodore. It was delicious." Eleanor was about to protest "Oh! You don't have to get the dishes. I'll get them." Simon shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I don't mind cleaning up. It's the least I can do to pay you back for the dinner. You two go have fun." Eleanor smiled. "Thanks Simon."
Jeanette stood up as well and began to gather dishes with Simon. "Here let me help."
"Oh! You don't need to-"
"Nonsense. I don't mind helping."
Simon smiled. "Well, alright then."
Brittany sat back in her chair and tried not to roll her eyes. God, nerds flirting is so corny she thought. She got up to go sit on the front porch for some fresh air. Theodore noticed Brittany making her way across the room. "Are you going to go watch Alvin surf, Brittany?" Theodore asked innocently. Brittany shot him an annoyed look. "Hell no," she replied. "I just want some fresh air." She swiftly made her way to the entrance and nearly slammed the front door, making a few of the teens flinch for half a second. Theodore felt a little bad for annoying Brittany. Eleanor noticed Theodore's mood and put her hand on his arm. "Hey Teddy. Wanna go play cards?" Theodore's smile came back. "Ok!" he said, which made Eleanor smile back.
As the two teens went into the other room, Jeanette and Simon gathered all the dishes and started getting to work on cleaning up the kitchen. They decided on Simon doing the washing and Jeanette doing the drying. While they did their work, they chatted about school, science, their siblings, the vacation. There was a window right in front of the sink that let the teens look out at the sunset. It just felt so peaceful and familiar to the teens.
"It sounds like you have a lot of fond memories of this beach house. I assume you went here a lot as kids," said Jeanette as she wiped the rim of one of the dishes with a rag. Simon nodded. "We came here pretty much every summer and spring break. Everyone seemed to like it here. Even Alvin seemed to mellow out while visiting." He chuckled as he rinsed one of the dishes with the faucet wand. "No wonder Dave liked taking us."
"What was your favorite thing to do here?"
Simon shrugged. "A lot of things. When I was really little, I liked to collect seashells. As I got older, I liked to lounge outside and read. And sometimes..." Simon looked behind him towards the living room to make sure the others weren't listening. He turned around and leaned towards Jeanette and whispered. "There is way to get to a secluded beach. It's a secret I've kept from the others but..." He paused for a second. "I wouldn't mind showing you sometime." Jeanette smiled and tilted her head to the side. "That sounds great," she whispered as she stacked one of the dishes. "It sure is relaxing here," she said, back in her normal, but still timid, voice.
"Sure is," Simon said as he handed her another dish to dry. "Dave would sometimes go here by himself whenever he had writer's block when producing music. That's why there's a piano in the sun room."
Jeanette let out a little hum of agreement. Then, there was a beat of silence. Despite it basically being chores, Jeanette seemed to enjoy doing the dishes together quite a bit. She liked this little routine, where Simon would wash the plate till he could see his face in the reflection and hand it to Jeanette, who would dry it and neatly stack it. There was something so cozy and familiar about it.
"You know," Jeanette said in a soft voice "this is pretty nice."
"What is?" asked Simon, confused.
"Doing the dishes together. I don't know...this is silly," Jeanette grew a bit sheepish. "It makes me feel like we're an old married couple." She lightly laughed.
Internally, Simon was freaking out. An old married couple? He thought. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Was she joking? Does she think I'm boring like an old person? Or is she saying she's felt comfortable with me for a while? Is she just trying to be nice?
But then Simon got a glimpse of Jeanette's face. To Simon, she looked as beautiful as she always had. She was smiling a sweet, soft, genuine smile. He knew then what she really meant. Simon looked at his reflection in the clean shiny plate and smiled back.
"Yeah. I guess it is nice."
The sound of seagulls and the crashing waves surrounded the windy beach. The setting sun made the golden sand shimmer like a thousand jewels. The air was warm and everything felt serene. Brittany was leaned up against the railing of the patio, staring out into the ocean. Well, she would like to say she was just staring out into the ocean, but really, she couldn't keep her eyes off of Alvin.
She watched him surf. On big waves and small waves. He was far away enough where he looked like the size of an ant, but Brittany could still watch his moves clearly. Brittany knew next to nothing about surfing, but she thought he was good at it. Even from pretty far away, she was able to watch him pretty clearly. Doing spins and standing on one leg, he was still showing off even though he thought no one was watching. Brittany didn't come outside to watch Alvin. Yet why couldn't she stop watching him?
"What's up, Brittany?"
Brittany's thoughts were interrupted by someone yelling her name. She looked left and right but couldn't find who was calling her name.
"Down here!" yelled the voice. Brittany leaned over the railing of the patio and looked down at the street. It was Max.
"Oh! Hi Max!" Brittany replied, surprised and happy to see him.
It was clear that he had just returned from a surfing session. Max had his surfboard planted on the ground. He was only in his swim trunks and flip-flops and had a towel slung over one of his shoulders. While his hair looked good while it was dry and styled, to Brittany, it looked even better after being drenched in water. Brittany couldn't help but ogle his athletic body. She studied every single corner of his body, down to the little freckles on his shoulders. To Brittany, he looked like heaven.
Max seemed to notice Brittany's staring. "Like what you see?" he joked. It was the same exact thing Alvin said earlier to tease Brittany.
Except this time, Brittany smiled.
She laughed, actually. "Oh, stop it Max!" she jokingly scolded in a flirty way. Part of her was a little self-conscious that he knew that she was checking him out, but part of her was happy that he actually noticed. Max smiled and Brittany gazed at his face, slightly tilting her head to the side. Brittany didn't pay that much attention in English class, but she felt like she was Juliet on the balcony and Max was her Romeo.
"Hey, well, feel free to come out and watch me surf whenever you would like. It's great having an audience." Brittany gave a cutesy shrug. "I might have to take you up on that offer." She looked into his green eyes and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
"Sounds great. Can't wait to see you there," he said. Brittany swore she saw him wink. He started to pick his surfboard back up. "Well, I have to get going. Time for me to hit the showers."
"Uh...Well have fun!" Brittany immediately cringed when those words came out of her mouth. She felt like she must have sounded like a creep or a weirdo. She felt her face turn hot in embarrassment.
Max laughed, not in a way that would make Brittany feel bad, but in a way that made it seem like what she said was cute. "Oh, you're funny Brittany! I will!" He replied with a grin as he walked to his beach house a few houses down the street, surfboard in hand. He waved goodbye and Brittany waved back, still embarrassed and red-faced. Once he was out of view, she put her head into her hands. Great. Now I'm the nerd that doesn't know how to flirt She thought.
After a moment, Brittany lifted her head up and looked out to the ocean again. She continued to watch Alvin surf, yet all she could think about was Max.