ALEX'S P.O.V.
I woke on the couch at around noon. Sun filtered through the delicate lace curtains, creating pools of sunlight. A throw blanket had been placed over me, but that wasn’t what seemed different. There was no alarm.
I could smell the chocolaty aroma of baking cookies. Many voices overlapped each other, as at least two different conversations took place.
I sat up and stretched. I was itching all over, and sand was still clinging stubbornly to me. I got up and moved into the sunlight, hoping that would wake me up. Through the French doors I could see a beautiful day unfold before me. A family with two little toddlers and a babysitter ambled down the boardwalk, carrying ice cream cones. The oldest of the kids-maybe six years old-ate all of her ice cream cone at once and got a major brain freeze. She looked up at her dad and started crying. He picked her up and put her on his shoulders, to keep her happy. She started laughing and clapped her hands.
I made my way to the kitchen, leaving the family behind. A ladder dominated the room, right in the middle of it. People were arrayed around it, adjusting themselves around the ladder. Plates laden with cookies were housed on the steps of the ladder. I walked beneath it to sit beside Lili. Great. I had probably just caused myself seven years of bad luck.
I counted everyone in the room. There were seven people, including myself. I automatically skipped over the seventh person, then did a double take and turned my eyes toward him. Xaeren. He sat there, munching on a cookie as if he lived here. As I watched him, he struck up a conversation with Jacob, laughing animatedly as he started a story. Jacob listened intently as he plowed through plate after plate of cookies. He was hardly chewing!
The timer went off, and my mom hurried to get the pan out of the over. She shoveled another pans worth of dough onto the sheet and popped them back into the oven. Lili ate a few more cookies, sensing soon that the sugar-coma inducing delicacies would soon be taken from her. Elizabeth had a chocolate chip on her right cheek. I pointed it out to her, and she flushed and wiped it off.
A knock at the door was followed by the entrance of John and Morris. Morris saw the cookies and immediately dove, mouth first, into the cookies. I flopped into a chair, abandoning grace for a fiery exterior. I chomped a cookie and pointed at Xaeren.
“So, what is Mr. Fantastic doing here?” I asked, dangerously wielding a cookie. In the battle against a gladiator, my weapon would be a cookie. Everyone loves cookies.
“Xaeren, the dear, fixed the fire alarm sweetie. And then he did the sweetest thing! He volunteered to help me make cookies for Farmers Market. Tell her how you fixed the fire alarm.” My mom said, absolutely doting on Xaeren.
“Well, after talking to your mom, finding out what y’all have tried, I did a little guesswork, and it paid off. I took out the batteries, undid the safe wires, and put something non-conductive between the wires.” Xaeren said modestly. Is it bad that I just sat there listening to his voice? It was adorable when he blushed as I stared at him.
“He even carried you in after you fell asleep on the beach. And he tucked you in. Oh! I just had the best idea! Xaeren, Alex, why don’t you two go to the dance together?” she asked. “I mean, he is new, and he doesn’t know anyone in town. You would look so adorable in a tux.” She crooned, smiling at him. “Besides Alex, you don’t have a date and you bought the cutest dress the other day.” She said her eyes wide. I knew that she would force me into this, but I had to try.
“I’m sure he wouldn’t want to go with me.” I said, noticing as I said this that he was shaking his head.
“Fine, that might not be true, but I wasn’t going to go with anyone. It was going to be a group outing.” I said, looking at my friends for back up. They just looked at me and smiled.
“Oh, we don’t mind, Alex. Besides, you two would look so cute together.” Taylor said, crossing her ankles.
Gods curse that girl.
“Fine! If it means this much to you guys, I’ll go!” I yelled, frightening them. I glared at Xaeren as I stalked out of the room. I blame you, I thought, wishing he could hear me. “My dress is red!” I threw over my shoulder as I reached the bottom stair, going to take a shower. I could hear everyone behind me burst into giggles at my discomfort. They were actually planning the night out! As if it were a battle strategy, on that needed to be thought out, planned, and then executed. I could hear Jacob start his “big brother” speech, asking Xaeren about his intentions for the night.
I knew I could have accepted the request with more grace, but no one has ever asked me out, even indirectly.
When I got to my room, I threw myself down onto the bed. Not a good idea. The sand chafed against my skin. I needed a shower. I smelled like sweat and the ocean, which is a euphuism for fish poop and sea brine. My hair was a tangled mess.
As I stepped into the piping hot shower, all I could think about was Xaeren and the dance. I had been hoping he would ask me-just the slightest-but to have my mom force me on him, it was embarrassing.
I thought this all over as I soaped through my hair and body with a lavender scented bath set, until the water turned cold.
I got out of the shower, rubbing gardenia scented body lotion into my skin as I got dressed. I brushed out my soft as velvet, honey colored hair. I braided my hair in a simple side braid, a braid that almost reached my waist.
I put on gold sandals, a white Greek style dress, and gold hoop earrings. So I like the Greek look. It doesn’t mean anything.
My descent down the stairs was hurried. I didn’t want my mom to break out all of the naked baby pictures. And, trust me, there were a lot.
My mom squealed when she saw me descending the stairs.
“Oh my gosh, Alex! This is going to be amazing. Let’s see, when is it? Oh, of course it’s on Halloween. It’s the Halloween dance. This is going to be so much fun!” My mom squealed as she bustled around, sweeping and wiping everything down with a wet wipe.
And, for some reason unbeknownst to us, she was wiping my friends and me down with a wet wipe too.
There was a knock on the door. It was probably Morris. He was the only one who knocked, but then proceeded to let himself in. As he rounded the corner, he was holding one of the sleeping bags.
“Care to explain this?” he asked, shaking out the sand.
A crab dropped out from within its folds. It wasn’t a big crab, but they scare me to death. It scuttled towards me. It must have been able to smell my fear. I grabbed the thing nearest me and tried to hit the crab with it. Of course I missed…and hit Morris. Oops. He fell to the ground, clutching his slightly bleeding nose. At least-since I’m so small-it didn’t cause any major damage. The crab escaped unharmed. Just because of that, I’m going to cook sushi for dinner.
Morris sat up and examined himself. Everything except for his nose seemed to be in order. His face was okay-the big money maker. His nose was bleeding a little. That’s fine, it’ll dry. His glasses were askew.
“Hey, you okay? I’m sorry I hit you.” I said, helping him sit up.
“Good thing you hit like a girl.” Morris said.
“I am a girl. What’s your excuse?” I asked, semi-harshly. I hate sexist jokes.
He noticed Xaeren and the cookies at the same time. It was obviously a struggle between his need for cookies, and his want for gossip. To provide a third solution, I held up my plate of cookies when he passed me. He snatched the plate out of my hands and bulldozed forward. I leaned over and grabbed a cookie from Lili’s plate, getting ready to watch the combination of male testosterone and chaos as it unfolded before me.
“What is Mr. Fantastic doing here?” asked Morris. I like the way that kid thinks. I’m not the only one fooled by a pretty face…then again, they are friends with me.
“I was just fixing Miss Dori’s fire alarm.” Xaeren replied, biting into a cookie and looking up at Morris. After a couple of minutes, Jacob broke the silence with a very awkward throat clearing.
“I finished one of my rockets. Do you guys want to go with me to launch it?” He asked, his voice quivering with the embarrassment of being the first to break the silence. He knows we would never miss one of his rocket launchings.
