This Summer • The Fisher Boys

Chapter Three.

Chapter Three: Falling For You.

        Wow! It was my first day in Cousins and I had just kissed one of the hottest guys in this town. It was completely unexpected, yet totally worth it. At the corner of my eye, I could see Gigi, Nicole and Dara staring holes into my body. I started to feel a little bit uncomfortable so I decided to stand up. Staring at my empty cup I said, "I'm going to get another drink."

         Walking towards the drinks table, I could hear heavy footsteps creeping up from behind me. It was Jeremiah. Finally catching up to me, he grabbed my arm and said, "Hey, don't let those girls scare you away." A look of sympathy displayed on his face.

         I stopped for a moment to look at him, meeting his sympathetic eyes immediately. I also noticed that his curly hair set so perfectly even though we were at a beach and it was a little windy. "I don't care what they say or think about me." I said right before pouring myself a shot of vodka. I thought for a brief second if I should ask him what was up with those girls anyway. They seemed very dodgy from the time I had arrived. "But, what is the deal with them anyway?" I asked out of curiosity.

         Jeremiah didn't even hesitate to answer my question. "Well, Nicole is pissed because Conrad has been icing her out ever since you arrived. Gigi wants a boyfriend and has been crushing on me since forever. And Dara bit me once." Jeremiah chuckled. None of what he had just said bothered him. He was so natural in this environment with these people and all the craziness that surrounded them.

         So Conrad really has been icing out Nicole since I got here. I wasn't imagining it. And I was right, that was the reason behind her truth or dare question. But why was he doing that? I was so determined to find out why but at the same time, I knew that I couldn't ask Jeremiah about his brother after I had just kissed him. "What?" I asked with widened eyes.

         "Yeah." Jeremiah laughed. He drank the remaining alcohol that was in his cup before pouring himself another drink. "Come on, let's go back." He said and gestured his body towards the group.

         As much as that sounded like fun, I wasn't in the mood for any girl drama tonight. It was only my first night in Cousin's. I didn't want to give my family a bad name on the first night upon arrival. My mother always said that it's very important to have a good reputation in the town that you live in because it determines how people see you as a person and how they treat you. I wasn't planning on letting her down on the first night. "You go ahead. I'm gonna go sit by the ocean for a little bit." I said.

         Jeremiah looked disappointed. "You sure?" He asked and I nodded politely. "Okay." Jeremiah said. He gave me a warm smile before walking towards his friends.

         I walked towards the ocean with my cup in hand. I stood near the shoreline for a moment, taking in the beautiful ocean breeze. I looked over to the right hand side of the beach and there he was. He was sitting near the shoreline about ten feet away from where I was standing. The tide was low so even though he was sitting so close to the shore, the water would not reach him. I walked over to him and he smiled as soon as he saw me.

         "Want some company?" I asked and he smiled again. I took his smile as a yes. I handed him my cup to hold and he gladly took it.

         "Yeah, sure. What happened? Why did you leave the game?" He asked as I sat down next to him. I took my cup from him as soon as I was in a comfortable position. I looked towards the ocean as he sat there examining my expression.

         "It got boring." I shrugged.

         "Boring, huh?" He asked, causing me to nod. I turned to look at him and he has a surprised look on his face. "I don't think anyone has ever described kissing Jere as boring." Conrad chuckled.

         I was surprised by the words that came out of his mouth. I thought for sure that Conrad hadn't seen that. "You saw that?" I asked, sounding more surprised than I intended too. Does he see everything?

         Conrad nodded and laughed at the same time. "Everyone at the bonfire saw that." He chuckled.

         "Damn." I shook my head. "That's not how I wanted my introduction into Cousins to go." I said, turning my attention back to the waves. I was embarrassed. I didn't realised that everyone at the bonfire would have seen that. I just assumed only the people in the group saw that but clearly everyone was paying attention to our game of truth or dare.

         "I mean it's not bad. You just kissed everyone's favourite golden retriever." Conrad said, laughing as hard as he could. He was digging me and he was enjoying every moment of it.

         Everyone's favourite golden retriever? It had to be because of his hair. "Hahaha. Very funny." I said, sarcastically.

         "It was a dare kiss, Olivia. Don't worry about it." Conrad said. There was something about the way he said my name. It sounded so attractive coming out of his mouth. It felt so easy talking to Conrad. Earlier today, I thought that he was a jerk because he wouldn't even hug me but now I see that there's more to him.

         I sat there watching the waves build up and crash on the shore. Even thought it was almost midnight, the water was in perfect surfing conditions. If only I had had my surfboard with me. If only I hadn't been drinking, I would riding those waves.

         "Ughhh. This is so annoying. The water is perfect for surfing right now." I said. You could clearly hear the anger in my voice.

         Conrad turned to face me almost immediately. I turned to face him and he looked amazed. "You surf?" He asked. His voice cracking as he spoke. It was adorable.

         "Yeah, why?" I smiled at him.

         "That's cool." He smiled. "We should surf together sometime." Conrad suggested. It felt like he was asking me out on a date but I knew that wasn't the case. I was the new girl in Cousin's and he was just been friendly.

         "Yeah, I would really like that." I said.

         There was a brief moment of silence between me and Conrad. We sat there on the beach, gazing at each other, hopelessly. It was dark and the only light that shone upon us was that of the night sky. The noise from the bonfire soon began to fade away and in that moment, it was just me and him. Nothing else seemed to matter. Just Conrad Fisher.

         I felt myself falling—falling hard for a boy that I'd only just met. It seemed so crazy to think that he could have that effect on me, the way no other boy has ever had. I had known him for just a few hours and I barely had a full conversation with him but yet, there I was sitting there alone with him on the beach wishing that I was his girlfriend. Wishing that I had kissed him and not his brother.

         Conrad could sense that something was happening between us so he decided to break the silence by saying, "uh you know, Jere loves to surf too. If Noah also surfs then we could all surf together."

         I felt my heart sink for a moment. Conrad had totally killed our moment by bringing up our brothers. That's when I knew that his heart still belonged to Belly or Nicole or maybe even both. "Yeah, sounds fun." I smiled. I turned to face the ocean once again. I took a gulp of my drink as I watched another wave crash onto the shore.

         "You know Jere's a nice guy, if you're interested." Conrad said. He was still looking at me. He was so adamant on making his brother look good in front of me that he hadn't even noticed that it wasn't Jeremiah who I was interested in—but rather him. Conrad Fisher, the guy who I had only known for a few hours had already pulled a few strings of my heart.

         Searching for the right words to say, I took another gulp of my drink. "It's too early to say. I don't know Jeremiah well enough to know if I'm interested or not." I said. At the corner of my eye, I could see that Conrad was a bit disappointed and that was when I realised that he was just looking out for his brother. The worst part was that that only made me fall in love with him more.

•••

Thank you for taking the time to read this book. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments.