No Salt

7- The Brookies

~Song: Left Hand Free

I walked on the side walk next to Nora, happily munching on my breakfast burrito.

Nora, as promised took me first to a food trailer on the ocean shore. It was called Marcos burritos, I'd remember that because of how good they were.

I watched Nora as she walked, happily talking about her town and all the stores we passed. Just like her mother in the airport everyone we passed greated Nora.

"And down there is the Yatch Club, my dad owns it so you can practically go in whenever you want." She explained pointing down the hill.

I nodded as I looked at the building, so far I was realizing that Nora's family owned a large portion of the town.

Nora walked with her brown wavy hair bouncing. I had to admit that her bikini top was slightly... distracting.

In the short period of the morning I'd learned so much about Nora. Her favorite places to eat and hang out, favorite color and animal, as well as her favorite hobby: surfing.

She was a fast walker and a fast talker, when she got excited.

It had been a nice calm morning regardless. The town was definitely slow moving, no one was in a rush to get anywhere.

"And if you're ever interested in a job you can always work for my dad." Nora said with a smile.

She was walking so close our hands were almost touching, I was walking next to the road and could feel the wind as each car drove past.

Based on the cars that drove by there was a lot of money in Ocean Bay.

"I might take you up on that." I said with a chuckled.

I brushed my hair back and finished the rest of my burrito, but stopped short as a voice called out Nora's name.

"Oh Nora, that wouldn't be you by any chance?" The voice called from behind us.

And for the first time since I got here I watched Nora's face scrunch up in disgust.

"Fuck" Nora mumbled causing me to raise an eyebrow.

She turned around and I did the same, Nora gave her what could only be described as a sour smile.

The girl that had called her was around Nora age. She had apple red hair and a starlight sky amount of freckles.

As she walked closer to us she looked me up and down, eyeing me like a bag of candy.

"Hi Kia." Nora stated very blandly.

Her upbeat personality quickly disappeared, even the shy one seemed to be gone. Nora now held a stance, close but not quite equal to Kia.

"You weren't out on the break this morning, I was hoping you'd finally quit." Kia said with a not so friendly smile.

Nora just let out a small chuckle.

"But now I see that you were preoccupied." Kia continued before turning to me.

Nora rolled her eyes as Kia did, but I could also now sense the nervousness in her stance.

Nora pretended not to look at me and Kia but she was, eyeing us out of the corner of her eye ready to pounce at any moment.

It felt overbearing almost.

"Hi I'm Kia, please tell me you have a name as hot as you are." She stated and I laughed nervously

"Um it's Finn." I replied trying to be polite

"Finn." She repeated with a smile nodding her head to herself.

"Well Finn, if you're ever interested in a surf club or some private surf lessons I can always-" Kia stopped short as Nora not so discreetly licked her pointer finger and held it up in the air.

Almost like she was checking the direction of the wind.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kia asked curiosity taking over her 'flirt session' with me.

Nora gave a half assed smile before responding.

"Oh me? I'm just trying to figure out which direction this conversation is going?" Nora said acting innocently with a smile before continuing, "because right now it seems to be going no where, so fuck off."

I stood there slightly in shock by Nora's attitude. Sure Kia was overbearing but this entire time Nora seemed more like a quiet kid in a loud group.

Now she seemed confident, upfront, and on a mission to wreck this girls confidence.

Kia sneered at her before promptly turning on her heal and leaving us. As soon as she was without of earshot I turned to Nora.

"What was that all about?" I asked sounding more like my dad that I wanted to.

Nora didn't take her eyes off of Kia as she walked away. Some very clear tension sat between the two of them.

"There are two surf schools in Ocean Bay 'Masters Surf School' and 'Brookers Surf School' otherwise know as the brookies."

I remembered Nora's private comment to Ryan last night at the fire, them making fun of the Brookies. It was a classic surf, turf rival.

Nora stood there for a second almost like she was remembering something as she watched Kia turn the corner and out of view.

What ever she was remembering, it turned her hard posture soft and replaced confident Nora with the shy Nora again.

"Look, you can do whatever you want I don't give two shits. But if you want to join a surf club down here, join the Masters. They're a better club anyways, and provide more opportunities."

She spoke as if she wasn't apart of either club, more of an outsiders opinion.

"What club do you compete for?" I asked, it sounding like a dumb question.

"Non-affiliated." She stated, "though I do sometimes compete with the masters. And all my gear is there, along with my coach."

There seemed to be more to that awnser than she was letting on. Why be Non-affiliated yet have all your stuff at one club?

But Nora didn't go into more detail, instead see seemed slightly on edge and no longer calm like before.

It was hard to believe only moments ago she was laughing and joking with me.

I felt my jaw clench in some sort of concern.

Maybe this small beach town wasn't so slow moving after all.

"We still have a while till we have to meet Luke at the dock." Nora stated her words and her posture alittle less stressed. "Is there anything else you're dying to see?"

I shrugged, not really sure what else there was to see. In the past few hours Nora had shown me the movie theatre, grocery store, candy shop, beach, play ground, docks, and surf shop.

"Maybe the inside of the yatch club." I said honestly.

I'd never been inside one before, so I thought it may be interesting. But Nora just slightly laughed.

"Sure, if all you want to see is old rich white men." She replied

I laughed as well. Her posture had returned back to normal, I had to admit I liked it better this way. What ever other alter ego moment she had with Kia was terrifying and told me, without saying it, to never get on Nora's bad side.

"Sure why not, we can play smash or pass while we are there." I said with a light smile on my face.

Nora playfully rolled her eyes at me. The smile once again returning to her face as she began to lead the way back to the yatch club.

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