Bet Me

Chapter 11

After everyone got settled into their rooms, we all decided to head to the beach. Everyone got changed into shorts and we packed towels and got ready to leave. “Where’s James?” I ask Luke. We were about to leave the house when I noticed that James was nowhere in sight. “He might be out on the patio, behind his room.” Luke tells me. “Okay. Ya’ll go ahead and go. We’ll meet you there.” I tell Luke. He agrees and the rest of the group followed him out.

I walked into James room and saw him, outside on the patio, standing near the rail. I walked outside and said, “Hey. We were looking for you.” James glanced at me and turned back. “What’s wrong?” I ask him, noticing his face. I walk up next to him and turn to look at him. He continues looking out into the backyard but he begins talking.

“I haven’t been here since my brother passed away. This place has so many memories.” He tells me. “Oh, why’d you invite us here if it’s too painful for you to come here?” I ask him softly. “My parents thought it might be a good idea. I think so too, but I think it’s just that since it’s the first day back here, it’s a little tough on me.” He says, glancing at me.

I leaned on the rail and looked out into the backyard. “What was the most memorable moment you and your brother had here?” I ask him. “We came here for summer a few years ago and my parents had went out for dinner, I was out on a date, and my brother Aaron was out on a date too. After my date, I came home and I thought no one was home so I went into my room and started watching TV. I started hearing noises from the next room so I got up and went to Aaron’s room to try and figure out what the noise was.

I opened his door and I walked in. He was cornered in the room with the girl he was on a date with. She was trying so hard to get him to sleep with her. She literally was trying to rip his pants off. It was such a funny sight. I tried to help him but she punched me in the face. That girl was nuts! After a bit of a fight, we got her and kicked her out of the house. She was pissed. She cursed us out in English and Spanish. That was a really funny experience. From then on, we decided to never bring a local girl back to the house.” He tells me, smiling.

“Ya’ll were really close, huh?” I say. “Yeah. I miss him so much. Sometimes, I’ll forget he’s dead and think, ‘wait till I tell Aaron what happened today!’ but then, I’ll remember and I’d just get sad all over again.” He tells me. I didn’t know how to respond so I just hugged James from the back. I wrapped my arms around him and held on tight. He put his hands on top of mine and we didn’t move.

“He’d want you to be happy.” I tell him. “I know. It’s just hard sometimes.” He says. After several minutes, I let go of James and held my hand out to him. “Come on, let’s go down to the beach.” He grabbed my hand and we walked inside. “Do you need to change?” I ask him, looking at his outfit. “Yeah, give me a minute.” He answers me.

I walked out of his room and headed into the kitchen. I got us water bottles and took a seat on a barstool. “Ready.” James says, walking towards the front door. I turned towards James and I let out a little gasp. James had on a pair of board shorts with a tank top on, showing off the muscles in his arms. He looked really good. I regained my composure and walked past him, outside. James locked the door and we began walking.

We arrived at the beach and saw Seirra, Zach, and Luke sitting on a towel. We walked over to them and took a seat next to Luke. “Hey man. Everything good?” Luke asks James. James nods. “Thanks to Ms. Elena.” he says.

Around 7, we headed back to the house to get changed for dinner. We were going to eat dinner at one of the shacks near the beach. I kept my shorts on and changed into a light blue top. I put on my light blue sandals and let my hair down. I touched up my makeup and headed into the living room, where Megan and Kevin were making out.