Chapter 18 #2
“Oh good. Neve seemed nice the other day. How are you doing?” He raises an eyebrow at me. “I mean, did you sleep last night?”
“You worry too much,” he says.
“I’ll always worry about you, Grumpy,” I reply.
Nick stares at me for a minute, then flips onto his back and pulls his sunglasses over his eyes. I’m used to his ways now and don’t take offense.
I watch Bay and Alex bobbing up and down underwater while Seb and E have fun swimming through the waves. I’m dry again when Seb and E head towards the canopy. “I’m getting sandcastle building supplies, Sunshine,” Seb tells me, jogging towards the house.
E waves me over to him, so I get up and walk over. “We need to create a moat for the castle first,” he tells me. “Help me dig a big circle?”
“Sure,” I smile. I copy what he does, and we work in opposite directions to create the moat.
Seb comes back with a mesh bag full of different buckets and little shovels.
He hands me a scoop and helps me work towards E.
When we meet up with E, the moat is about 5 ft across and filled with water. “What’s next?” I ask.
Seb and E show me what to do, and soon Bay and Alex join us.
I’m having so much fun building the castle.
We’ve got turrets and stairs and doors, and it’s huge.
I also have sand in places there should never be sand.
Nick walks over as we’re setting the flags to let us know Ceres will be here in a few minutes, then jogs back to the house to meet them.
Seb drops to his knees in front of me. “Climb on my shoulders, Sunshine, so you can reach the center and set the last flag.”
I agree and climb on. We’re a little wobbly at first, but E helps us get over to the middle turret. “Hang on,” Bay calls as he runs back to the canopy. He quickly comes back with his phone. “Need to get a photo of you completing your first sandcastle,” he says.
I smile for the photo as I place the last flag in the turret. Seb bends down so I can get off his shoulders as Nick comes back with four people following him, so we walk towards the canopy to meet everyone. “Hi Summer,” Neve says.
“Hello, nice to see you again.” I introduce the guys, and everybody exchanges hellos.
I offer the newcomers a cinnamon roll, then we spread out among the chairs.
Ceres sets up a lounger for Neve as the other two guys spread out a blanket and get lathered in sunscreen.
Between Ezra, Seb, and Neve, there’s plenty of conversation.
Seb asks Ezra to take a photo of the six of us in front of our sandcastle, so the guys and I sit on the sand by the moat.
Most of the guys hit the water as Nick and I join Neve and Ceres by the canopy.
I take a seat on the chair next to her lounger. “Not a fan of the water?”
“I can swim. The water is too cold for me yet.”
“Ah. There weren’t many people in the water today besides us, now that I think about it.”
“I grew up in Southern California, so unless the water is warm, you’ll find me on the beach.”
“Fair enough.”
“So, tell me about yourself, Summer.”
Deep breath Summer. “Well, I’m from Virginia. I just moved here at the end of March, and these guys adopted me right away. I run track and take a lot of science courses in school. I love plants and gardening.”
“A newbie too,” she smiles. “The guys and I moved here from Portland. I met them in college. My grandmother lives in Charleston and is getting on in years. I always knew I’d move here one day to take care of her, and that time has come.
I was close to her growing up. She’d spend summers in Southern California with me to avoid the humidity here,” she tells me as Ceres leans over to tell her he and Nick are going for a run.
Ceres gives her a peck on the lips, then they walk towards the water.
I see him holler to Ezra and Levi, then point back to us.
“My overprotective man,” Neve says, shaking her head with a smile.
“Anyway, it took little convincing to get those three to move here with me. I think we were all tired of the rainy weather.”
“That’s amazing your friends could come with you,” I say.
She smirks at me. “Not my friends. I have three boyfriends,” she says, watching me to see my reaction.
That was not what I was expecting, but love is love. I don’t judge people like that. Mom raised us to respect people’s choices. “Well, you go, girl,” I smile.
“I knew I liked you. Ceres didn’t want me to say anything, but I figured a girl with 5 guy friends would be cool. We had some harassment issues back in Portland, and Ezra’s family was not happy when they found out.”
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that. I understand bullying more than you can imagine. In April, someone kidnapped me after Seb, my friend Holly, and I were subjected to chloroform. Two of them were bullies, jealous of my friendship with the guys.”
“Shit. That’s insane. Sorry right back. People can be horrible sometimes. Ezra doesn’t speak to his parents anymore. Cere’s mom is indifferent, and Levi has one mom and four dads. That’s where the idea came from.”
“That’s called a poly relationship, right?”
“Yup. We call ourselves a quad, though. I fought it for an entire year after we met and was miserable the whole time. We’re all happy now, though.”
“How long have you been together?”
“Three years now. How about you? Got your eye on one of your friends?”
“No. We're just friends,” I say as Seb jogs over from the water.
“Sunshine, got any more snacks?”
“There’s a couple of protein bars from yesterday in my bag,” I tell him.
“Yay, thanks,” he replies, walking past us. He comes back and plops onto the blanket in front of us. “So, what are we talking about?”
“We’re just getting to know each other,” I smile, looking over at Neve. I’m certainly not going to mention her relationship to someone else.
“Is he cool?” She asks me.
“Yeah, they all are,” I nod.
“How do you feel about poly relationships?” She asks Seb.
“Considering I’ll end up with a girl and a guy, I’m pretty cool with them,” he shrugs.
“Oh, you’re bi?” She asks.
“Yeah.”
“Great. You just met my three boyfriends,” she says, watching him, but I know Seb won’t mind at all.
“Cool. So how does that work? Are the guys bi? Did you meet them all at once? Were they friends first? How long have you been together?”
Neve opens her mouth, then closes it.
I chuckle at someone else on the receiving end of the Seb effect. “I call him Hurry. Short for Hurricane. You get used to it,” I tell her. “Let’s try one question at a time,” I say to Seb.
“Sorry,” he smiles sheepishly. “I’m just curious. I haven’t met any menage or poly couples before, and I have questions.”
“No, that’s okay,” Neve replies. “You caught me off guard. Ezra and Levi were best friends before I met them, and they knew Ceres. They’re all straight.
I met all three of them within a month, but at separate times.
Levi comes from a poly family, so he suggested it, and it didn’t take Ezra too long to get on board.
Ceres struggled with the idea, but I was the biggest holdout. I waited a year before giving in.”
“That’s so cool. I will probably bug you another time with more questions if you are open to that?”
“I don’t mind at all,” Neve says. “I had a good feeling about coming here today. I’m happy I was right,” she smiles. “Ceres is so cautious about telling anyone about us. He doesn’t want me to get harassed or bullied. He’s a punch first, ask questions later kind of guy. Which I love, by the way.”
“You’ll find no bullies or attitude amongst our group,” Seb tells her.
The remaining guys join us on the beach, sitting or lying in the sun. Alex dries off with a towel, then puts on more sunscreen. When he’s done, I hold out my hand for some to rub on his back. “Thank you,” he smiles.
“No problem, Alex.”
“Shall I get the grill going?” E asks.
“Yes, I’m starving,” Seb replies.
“Me too,” Ezra says, holding his hand up.
“I see you have a bottomless pit too?” She asks me.
“Yeah, although all the guys eat a lot,” I say.
E pulls the grill off to the right side of us, downwind, then gets the charcoal lit. “Summer, can you help me with the rest of the food from the house?” E asks.
“Of course,” I smile. I follow him back to the house and into the kitchen.
“How are you and Neve getting along?”
“Really well. She’s nice. I think Nick and Ceres are kindred souls.”
“Seems like it. That’s good for Nick,” he says, handing me totes full of hot dogs, cheese slices, buns, and chips. He fills another tote with napkins, paper plates, individual condiments, and utensils.
“Is this enough for everyone?” I ask.
“Levi brought a cooler with sausages and hamburger patties for them, so we should be good.”
“Alright. Do we need anything else?”
“Yes, I need a garbage bag and gloves to handle the raw meat, but we can get those in the storage area underneath. Follow me.”
E sets his bags on the concrete floor before opening the storage room and getting a garbage bag and disposable gloves.
We take everything back to the beach and put the bags under the canopy.
I offer to help cook, but E waves me off, telling me he’ll let me know when dinner's ready so I can set out everything else.