Chapter 4
Summer Before Tenth Grade
It’s summer vacation before tenth 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, conch 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 rode our bikes into town to go 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.
“Cute 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 in 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. The boys I grew up with are turning into young 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 butt 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 this 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.”
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 auto shop.
My and Ryder’s phones ding, notifying us a text came in through our group chat. I unlock the screen.
“Liz,” I say out loud, drawing her name 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.
He groans before wiping his hands off on a towel and grabbing his own phone from where it sits on the workbench.
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.
Liz just texted our group chat pictures of herself, asking our opinions on various swimsuits.
She’s excited about our families’ beach trip next week.
So texting your best friends to get their opinion should be normal, right?
Totally innocent. I mean, she, Jules, and I have grown up together and have been best friends for years.
We used to have sleepovers together all the time when we were younger.
She should be like a sister to me, right?
No.
Elizabeth Penelope Fairchild is not and has never been just a sister to me. That beautiful, wonderful, blonde-haired, green-eyed girl has been the love of my life since we were six years old. Since the first time I laid eyes on her. Since the first time me and my brother rescued our princess.
But there’s a problem.
I glance at Ryder. He loves her too. So does my twin brother, Julien.
Whoever said that teenage boys were full of rampaging hormones was correct.
And all of mine are aimed directly at Liz.
My feelings for her keep getting stronger and stronger, year after year, and the only thing holding me back from grabbing her and kissing her is my friendship with Ryder and my loyalty to my brother.
I’m confident that Julien will step aside if I ask him to, so my worry is with Ryder.
If I break his trust, if I step over the line and tear apart our tight unit, it might end my friendship with Ryder and hurt Liz.
I could lose not one but two of my best friends, so I keep my mouth shut.
It’s hard, especially when I see pictures of Liz posing in swimsuits.
Ryder is already heading out the door when I look up from my phone. Yep. I’ve been staring at her picture in the blue bikini this whole time.
“You coming or what?” he asks me.
“Yeah.”
I know what he’s thinking because it’s exactly what I'm thinking. It wouldn’t surprise me if Ryder threw an ankle-length winter coat over her as soon as he sees her. I’ll be the guy buying her the swimsuits because I’m not totally stupid. I’ll get to see her wear them on the beach next week.
Jay keeps looking down at his phone on our way to the clothing store located four blocks from my dad’s garage.
I have a good idea who has his attention.
I don’t think I’m going to survive next week when all of our families are together in the same house for our beach vacation, having to watch Elizabeth walk around in her bathing suits.
I've been thinking a lot about her lately, about us, about Jay and Julien. I feel guilty. I want to ask Elizabeth out. I have for a long time. But I know both of them like her too, especially Jay. I see the way he watches her. The way he can’t seem to not touch her in some way whenever she’s near him.
Jay and Julien have known Elizabeth for two years longer than I have.
They were a tight group of three before I came barging into the picture in third grade.
I remember that first day like it was yesterday.
The way Elizabeth stood up for me, teased me, brought me into the group, no questions asked.
And I’m glad she did. Jay and Jules became my best friends.
They are my brothers from another mother.
I would do anything for them. That has included not letting Elizabeth know I have feelings for her. That I want her to be mine.
I’ve tried several times to talk to Jay and Julien about everything. Each and every time, I chicken out. I plan to talk to Jay and Jules tonight after the race. Get it out in the open and hope they aren’t mad at me for wanting to break the “No one dates Elizabeth” pact.
“Heard Elijah’s racing tonight,” I tell Jayson.
Fallon, a guy I know from Highland High, our rival school, told me about it yesterday when he came to the garage.
Elijah is on the swim team for Highland High.
We first met him three years ago when he was going to Highland Middle and swam against Jayson.
He started coming to the Fields last year to race his Yamaha WR250R.
We suspect the real reason he comes out is to see Elizabeth.
Well, he can take a ticket and wait in the back of the line.
“I’ll keep my eye on him and make sure he stays away from Liz,” Jayson grumbles, not looking up from his phone.
“You know, distracted walking is against the law.”
He turns his phone off. “You’re messing with me. Really?”
My grin gives me away. Jay is too easy to mess with and will believe anything I tell him. I don’t take that for granted. That trust was built on years and years of loyalty and friendship. Which makes it even more imperative for me to talk to him and Julien tonight about my feelings for Elizabeth.
We approach the store and immediately see Maria through the large glass windows. She watches us walking up to open the door of the store. Her eyes go wide, and she runs off toward the back. That girl is so weird
Before we open the door to enter, I stop Jay with my hand to his shoulder. “Hey. There’s something I've been wanting to talk to you about. Julien too. Mind if we meet up at my house after the race?”
Jayson’s mouth thins as he considers what I would want to speak with both him and his brother about. He gives me a curt nod
“Yeah, man. Whatever you need. We’ll be there.”
We enter the store to find our girl. After seeing the pictures she texted, I have an impulsive need to throw a blanket over her and whisk her away so no one else can see her bikini-clad body.
Maria rushes out from the dressing room area with Elizabeth right behind her.
God, Elizabeth is beautiful. Blond hair swinging.
Long legs encased in frayed blue jeans shorts, toenails painted pink. Gorgeous green eyes sparkling.
“What are you guys doing here? I thought you were at the garage. We were about to head over.”