I start to yawn as I see the first streaking meteor fly across the dark inky sky. Everyone oohs and ahhs at the bright flashing trails of light falling one after another. It’s like we’re watching our own private fireworks show, one I get to enjoy with three of the most wonderful guys I’ve ever known.
Chapter 4
Summer Before Eleventh Grade
Elizabeth
It’s summer vacation before eleventh grade starts and we’re planning to head down to the Outer Banks next week for July fourth. Our families - mine, the twins’, and Ryder’s - rented a huge ten room three-story beach house on the barrier island of Topsail for all of us to stay. Hailey and Brea decided they wanted to share a room together which means I get a room all to myself.
Beach trips to the Outer Banks are my absolute favorite type of vacation. You would think living about three hours from the coast, we would go every summer, but our families like to mix things up. Some summers are spent in the mountains, some visiting major cities, while others are spent camping and hiking.
Needless to say, I’m a beach kind of girl, even though my fair skin burns easily, and North Carolina has some of the best beaches. The southern barrier islands have nice, flat, white sand that goes on for miles. Between the barrier islands and the mainland are a network of sounds and during low tide, sand bars will emerge. You can paddle your float across and walk along the sand bars to find hermit crabs, sand dollars, conk shells, scallops, and various mussels. One thing I would like to do is rent a boat and sail along the Intercoastal Waterway. Perhaps I can suggest that to Mom and Dad for a future vacation.
My best girl friend, Maria, and I went shopping for swimsuits this morning. I think we tried on like fifty different swimsuits before I settled on three: a bright blue bikini with matching halter top, a long-sleeved swim shirt that zips up the back and comes with bikini bottoms, also in blue, and a medium green one-piece paired with black board shorts. The green one matched my eye color, so Maria said I had to get it. She took pictures of the winning pieces using my phone, and I sent them to the boys and Hailey asking what they thought. With the amount all three cost, I didn’t want to spend the money if everyone else thought they were butt ugly.
I get two thumbs up emojis from Julien and Hailey, but no response from either Jayson or Ryder until they unexpectedly walk into the clothes shop barely ten minutes after I sent everyone the group text.
Maria runs into the dressing room where I'm sliding my legs back into the shorts I had on that day, my ponytail swaying in front of my face, wisps continuously getting in my eyes.
“Sexy boy alert!”
“What?”
I look up and puff a wayward strand of hair out of my face. I have always kept my hair long, but it has really grown out a lot the past few months. It’s halfway down my back now and keeps a permanent wave to the strands, which I love by the way, but the temperatures are too hot right now for me to do anything other than tie it up into a high ponytail. I'm considering cutting it. Would a medium bob look good on me, I wonder?
“Jay and Ry are here. They’re looking for you,” she informs me, jumping around the front of my dressing room door.
The boys seem to make her nervous for some reason. She says it’s because they are totally and utterly hot and she can’t deal with all of the hotness. I don’t disagree. They are hot. Always have been. As they’ve grown older, though, their level of hotness has exploded exponentially. Once all three of them hit their growth spurt, Jayson and Julien shot up to six feet, but because they both are so active in sports, their muscle mass compensated for the sudden height gain and they do not look gangly at all. Ryder has filled out as well, partly because of all the heavy lifting of equipment he does in his dad’s garage, and partly because of the strength and endurance he needs to race.Sigh. I called them my princes when I was little. Now they are my kings. The boys I grew up with are turning into men and it’s creating a short circuit in all my girlie hormones.
“What do you want me to do? Aren’t you done yet? Get your sweet ass out of there.”
“I’m coming. Calm down.”
I poke my head out of the dressing room door while hopping on my left foot trying to pull my sandal over the heel. I turn to grab my small cloth bag that I use as a backpack purse, grab everything that I am purchasing, and head to the registers to pay.
Ryder is going to race his dirt bike in the Fields tonight, so he and Jayson left early this morning to ready the bike in preparation for the race later that evening. Maria and I were planning to walk over to Ryder’s dad’s garage when we finished here to see if the boys were still there. I told Maria we could stop by the ice cream shop on the way for slushies. Since they're here now, perhaps we can all go together.
When I come out of the dressing room area, Jayson and Ryder are walking toward us.
“What are you guys doing here? I thought you were at the garage. We were about to head over.”
Jayson
It’s almost noon, and Ryder and I have finished checking over his bike getting it ready for tonight’s race at the Fields. All the kids in town and some of their parents, even a few sheriff's officers, usually attend to watch. Ryder is a sight to see. I honestly think he has it in him to go pro, whether racing bikes or cars. He says he does it for fun and doesn’t plan to take it to the next level. He knows what he wants in life, and that future includes taking over his pop’s custom auto shop.
My and Ryder’s phones ding notifying us a text came in through our group chat. I unlock the screen.
“Fuck,” I say out loud drawing the word out. That girl is going to be the death of me.
Ryder’s head pokes up from under the hood of the 1970 Camaro Z28 his dad brought in this morning.
“What?”
I hold my hand out in front of me so Ryder can see my phone’s screen.
“Fucking hell,” he groans out before wiping his hands off on a towel and grabbing his own phone from where it sits on the work bench.
I notice he swipes a few times, swipes back, and then saves each picture to a file on his phone. He puts his phone in his back pocket and looks over at me. His eyebrows raise and I smirk.
