Till the Star Blooms

Chapter 5 - Shells Cove

Summer 64

Falling out of bed I crawled to the front door. Who was calling this time of day? I moaned when I managed to reach the door handle. As soon as it was turned Lorrie burst through the door, followed by Jami and Renata.

“Cameo! What are you doing down there?” Renata exclaimed pulling me to my feet. Lorrie was already scrambling through my stuff like she lived here.

“Lorrie isn’t that a bit rude,” Jami quietly announced a little concern. Lorrie just waved a submissive hand and kept scrabbling through my things. I drifted to the bath room and just slashed water over my face. This was my fail proof way of waking me up. I brushed my teeth and twirled up my hair to its usual messy bun. I drifted out to find a brightly coloured bag thrust into my face.

“What’s this?” I dared to ask. The three of them sighed in unison.

“Don’t you remember Cameo,” Jami asked. “We’re going to Shells Cove, the weather is perfect,” she smiled shyly.

“And we will totally slam those guys’ faces into the ground when we beat them at volley ball.” Renata said all fired up flexing her muscles.

Lorrie pushed some more clothes into my free arm. “Hurry up and change, we’re going to be late.” She smiled.

***

We clambered over rocks and fallen braches, the path was well defined but judging by the mess, it was probably used only during the summer time. I could soon hear the crash of the waves and sound of the guys fooling around. They all cheered when we arrived. There was Leroy and Neil chilling out in the shade with a guitar and Tyrone making a fool of himself.

“Hey girls, let’s see those bikinis,” he grinned. Renata instantly grabbed his ear and twisted it.

“Did you listen to a single word I told you back at the inn?” she dragged him away screaming. Lorrie grabbed my hand and dragged me to where another member of the fun was hanging out.

“Hi Darryl,” Lorrie beamed. “Have you met my friend Cameo?” she asked pushing me forward.

“I’ve seen you around, busy little bee aren’t you? I always seem to miss you when I go on my rounds,” he smiled. He was older than me by a few years but I knew he was the renowned postman.

“I’m sorry, it’s nice to meet you,” I smiled shyly. He patted my shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it; I’m Darryl if you hadn’t guessed.” Lorrie suddenly glued herself to his arm.

“Have you got any special deliveries for me?” she asked off in her own little world now. I decided to slip back next to Jami who was all red in the face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. She shook her head and kept her arms wrapped around her.

“I don’t really like swimming,” she blurted out. I wrapped my arm around the girl as we went to lay out our towels.

“You don’t have to swim you know,” I smiled. “You can just play volley ball and make sand castles if you prefer,” She scrunched her nose up but leaned against me and remained silent. The shimmering inviting blue water sung out to me, but only for a second when the guys appeared and began setting up the net. I nudged Jami a little and whispered in her ear.

“if you don’t like any of those options, there a sausage sizzle over there,” she looked at me confused. I laughed and nudged my head to the side. She followed the direction and we both laid our eyes on the fascinating specimen commonly known as ‘men’. “Ahh, you don’t get that in the city,” I sighed leaning back onto my elbows. Jami giggled her face going redder than her hair. A pair of hands slapped us hard on our shoulders.

“Are you ready to rip their heads off?” Renata grunted through her teeth, flames about to blaze from her eyes any second. Goodbye my ‘hotdogs’.

***

The boys won heads, so they got to serve first. It wasn’t long until Lorrie played her little secret weapon.

“Oh it is so hot, we really should have gone swimming first,” she said like she was some pre-recorded doll. She slowly took off her sun dress to reveal her goddess form, putting the rest of us to shame. And as expected all the guys were all looking at her and not at us or the ball. We managed to win the round before they realized what had actually happened. Although we had won, having Malibu Barbie prance around us did weaken pride. Well…mine and Jami’s.

“Yeah take that Tyrone! Who’s the best now!” Renata yelled over us, only thinking of the game.

“That’s what you think!” he yelled back sticking his tough out. What were we, twelve? The guys huddled in and started talking about who knows what. They all turned to us. “We demand a three on three rematch, and the two sitting out will be the referees,”

Renata was going to be in for sure and Lorrie just ‘had to volunteered’, and so Jami and me had to decide who would sit out. I looked at Jami, and smiled.

“You play, I’ll go for a swim,” her eyes lit up and she ran onto the court. Darryl had been the one to sit out. He sat on one of the many smooth rocks. “It’s no fun watching, and it’s way too hot to be out in the sun, wanna go swim?” I asked being polite.

“Nah, you go have fun, someone had got to make sure Renata doesn’t pull Tyrone’s head off,” he laughed. I giggled and walked back to my towel and took my mini shorts off and the long white shirt I had on. Chucking my sunnies off as well I heard someone whistle. Looking up I saw half a dozen eyes on me.

“Wooh, I told you. You’re so rocking it,” Lorrie shouted. “I so knew sunny orange and white was your colour,” she grinned and served the ball, which under-the-belt-fuelled guys ignored. Shock ran up my face when it finally clicked what they were looking at.  I could feel my face go red. Trying to keep my cool I just smiled, waved and quickly made my way to the water where my girly bikini and flesh would be harder to see.