Nick stood at his bed, stuffing the last of his socks into his suitcase. He and his brothers were spending this summer at a beach house their parents decided to rent for them. A way to give them a little vacation before they went back to working constantly, he guessed.
Joe walked in, “Come On bro, gotta go or we’ll miss the plane!”
Nick nodded his head, “yeah, I’m coming.” Finally managing to zip his suitcase he grabbed his guitar, his most prized possession and walked out the door.
For Marni’s graduation her parents gave her something amazing. Her own house, it was a summer house, set right on the beach and she was ecstatic. She could spend the whole summer at the beach, alone, no parents there to bug her nothing.
She decided to invite Brittany to spend the summer with her.
Brittany was still packing as Marni drove up to her house in her other graduation present, her deep midnight blue mustang with the white racing stripes down the middle. She parked the car in Brittany’s driveway and ran into the house that had become her second home. “Brittany!” she called as she ran up to Brittany’s room.
“Just attempting to zip…” Brittany called back as Marni entered Brittany’s bright yellow bedroom and helping her zip the suitcase that was overflowing with all Brittany’s summer clothes.
She smiled as she pulled Brittany’s suitcase off her bed and heaved it down the stairs. “Ready for the best summer ever?” Marni asked.
“Hell Yeah!” Brittany said grabbing her purse and following Marni out to the car so they could drive the hour and a half to their home for the summer vacation.
The three boys hopped off the plane and into the SUV that their parents had set up for them to have during their vacation.
Kevin drove as Joe read him the directions, getting them thoroughly lost before letting Nick take over.
Nick pulled out his iphone and used the built in GPS to get them to the beach house.
First thing they did when they got there was to claim rooms for the summer. Nick was lucky enough to steal a room on the back right side of the house. He had two views, one of the ocean, the other of the simple white house next door.
He saw a girl in the window, and his first thought was that he needed to meet this girl.
He quickly threw on his red swim trunks, grabbed a towel and his red sunglasses and headed outside, passing Kevin and Joe on his way out, “Going outside guys.” Kevin and Joe just watched as Nick ran out the sliding glass door and down the steps on the deck.
Brittany and Marni arrived at the house and threw their stuff in separate rooms. Brittany’s was at the back left of the house with a view of the ocean and a view of the light gray house next door.
She didn’t want to waste time unpacking; she had all the time in the world to do that. She threw on her Blue Striped bathing suit and her aviators. Grabbing a towel she announced to Marni that she was going outside.
“OK,” Marni laughed setting to work unpacking her bags. She decided she would join Brittany later.
Brittany walked outside. She set down her towel and went about sitting down, turning her ipod on her “summer” play list, and was lying down to get her first bit of real tanning in when someone was standing in her sun.
She opened her eyes, one at a time behind her aviators.
“Can I help you?” she asked, taking out her left earbud, looking at the boy standing above her.
He just stared down at her, “Uh, mind if I sit with you?” he asked.
She looked at him sitting up. He was wearing a pair of violently red shorts with a white v-neck tee shirt and red-rimmed glasses. She laughed to herself seeing that he matched, something she could care less about doing, ever.
Nick put down his towel and sat down next to her as she lay back down replacing the earbuds in her ears. He sat there just staring at her for a few minutes till she removed an earbud, “Uh, want to stop staring Curls?” she said, annoyed that he was staring at her.
“Oh, uh sorry. I dint mean to stare but – ” he began but she cut him off, “So curls, what’s your real name?”
He thought to himself, she doesn’t recognize me? Then answered her, “I’m Nick. Can I ask you your name now?”
She grinned, “Brittany,” and put her earbud back in, soaking up the sun.
He sat there staring at her again, but stopped and looked out to the ocean watching the waves crashing along the shore when he realized he was still staring.
Brittany got up, the sun was setting and she was getting hungry. Nick looked up at her, “Leaving so soon?” he asked.
She smiled, “Yeah, gonna go grab something to eat, see ya around.” She turned on her heel and walked back towards the house.
Nick watched her every move. He couldn’t let her walk away.
“Brittany!” he called to her, “Wanna go grab something on the Boardwalk?” he asked quickly, a blush forming on his face as she turned around.
She smiled and screamed back, “Ok, meet me out front in ten?”
He smiled to himself, “OK,” and walked back to his house. He had ten minutes to go through his clothes and make sure he looked perfect.
As soon as she entered the house she regretted not unpacking earlier. She said ten minutes. She wasn’t going to be ready in ten minutes.
She grabbed her suitcase and dumped it on her bed. She found her midnight blue sundress and threw it on throwing a headband in her short brown hair.
She applied a light layer of lip-gloss and a thin line of eyeliner under her eyes.
Grabbing her lime green purse, she ran to the front of the house, “Marn! I’m going out. I’ll be back later. I have my cell if you need me.”
Marni replied, “Ok. See you later.” And Brittany exited the front door seeing Nick walking towards her from the gray house next door.
Nick dumped his suitcase on his bed deciding on khaki cargo shorts and an orange tank top. He ran his fingers through his curly mop and checked his iphone for the time. He had three minutes to cross to the front of her yard.
Grabbing his iphone and wallet he screamed to his brothers, “I’m going out. I’ll be back… eventually.” He said slamming the front door and walking towards the white house.
As he entered the yard, he saw her. She looked stunning in the dark blue sundress; he couldn’t help but stare as he walked to her.
Brittany sensed him staring from behind his sunglasses. She smiled and met him at the end of the walkway.
“Hey,” she smiled at him, “You clean up good Nicholas.” She assumed his name was Nicholas even though he never said that it was.
“You look amazing.” He said smiling at her and taking her hand as they walked up to the strip.
They walked in silence for a while. “So, what do you want to eat?” he asked her.
She thought for a few moments, “ Hmmm… hamburgers.” Nick laughed and obliged leading her down the strip to a nice looking Hamburger place, Buckeye’s Burger Joint, the sign read.
They entered together and took a table. Nick sat across from Brittany, her hand still entwined in his as they glanced over the list of burgers they could get.
Brittany decided on a regular cheeseburger with ketchup and chips. Nick decided on a regular cheeseburger with fries.
They enjoyed their meal in a comfortable silence.
When they finished eating, they headed off to walk down the strip. Nick asked Brittany about herself, she disclosed everything, which was unusual for her because normally she didn’t open up so fast, but there was something different about Nick. She just hadn’t figured out what yet.
She, in her own turn, asked Nick all about his life and seemed genuinely interested.
They turned around to go back to their summer homes and stopped to get icecream before arriving.
They sat out on the beach finishing their icecream as the weekly fireworks show began.
He looked into her dark brown eyes; they were sparkling in the light of the fireworks and the crescent moon.
She stared into his own dark eyes. “You know Nicholas, you remind me of chocolate.”
He laughed; “I do?” she smiled, “Yeah. I don’t know why, you just… do.”
They both let out a laugh and caught each other’s gaze again.
Slowly Nick moved closer to her. Never letting his gaze drop he leaned in farther and she met him part way.
Their lips locked in a slow meaningful kiss that quickened pace just as the final finally began on the fireworks.
His brothers were watching from the deck on the back of their house and Marni sat watching from the deck of her own house. All of them thought the same thing at the same time, finally.
