The Hudson Boys

Chapter six

We decided to take two cars: Vince, Mark and I in one car and Dylan, David and Parker in another.

Vince let me sit shotgun for the ride. This drive is my first opportunity to get to see part of California and I'm really excited about it. Palm trees line both sides of the road. I can feel the sun shining down on us and see it glistening over the ocean as we drive. On the road, there are tons of cars with surfboards tied to their roofs.

Since I was a little kid, I always liked to look out of the car window and see all the other cars that are on the road. I would then try to figure out their "story." Who they were, what they were talking about and where they were going. Doing this helped me realize that everyone is different and everyone has a different story.

Pretty soon we exit the main road and look for a parking spot downtown. Mark says that there's not many spots because it's "prime time" for people to be here. A few minutes later we manage to find a spot relatively close and we start to make our way towards the center of town. Dylan had texted Vince saying that they were already downtown, waiting for us in the town square.

After walking for a little while, we see them waiting for us, but they're not alone. With them are a boy and a girl who look to be around our age.

"Hey guys!" Vince and Mark greet them and exchange regular hugs and bro hugs. "This is Jess, the girl who is living with us for the summer."

"Hi Jess, I'm Eric" the boy says to me and flashes me a smile that would make any girl practically melt. Eric has dirty blonde hair and strikingly blue eyes. He has freckles covering his nose from the sun and is wearing a Vineyard vines hat.

"And I'm Peyton" the girl adds. Payton looks very similar to Eric. They must be related. She also has dirty blonde hair and extremely blue eyes. She is taller than me, not that that means much. I'm only 5'4", she's at least 5'8". You could see the confidence radiantly off her. But she doesn't seem like an arrogant, confident person. She seems like the kind of person who is confident and sure of who they are. It's really refreshing and kind of inspiring to see someone like that.

Dylan gets a text on his phone and tells us that the others are waiting for us at Johnny Rockets for lunch. We all head off in that direction. Vince made it his prerogative to stay by me at all times because "I'm a small fish in a new ocean." I tried to ruin his analogy by saying that if a fish went to a new ocean it might not survive because it could be experiencing a different type of water that is harmful to it, but then Vince pointed out that I basically just said I wasn't going to survive living in California, so in the end I only hurt myself by not going along with his analogy.

In front of us, the rest of the boys are laughing along with Vince and I. Except for Peyton and Parker. It seems as though they're in their own little world, playfully shoving one another and laughing to whatever the other person said.

Are they together? A girl could actually stand being in a relationship with Parker Hudson?

Yes, I know that Parker has looks that are practically god worthy, but don't girls get repulsed by his ugly personality?

I guess not.

Once we make it into Johnny Rockets, a group of girls already sitting at a table wave at the boys. The boys smile and then start to make their way over to their table. Vince pulls me along and tells me that they're the people we're meeting up with.

We get to the table and the girls are already all over the boys. It's kind of gross.

We all slide into the circular booth and a waitress comes over to take our drink orders. Barely even a second after she leaves, the girls go back to being all over the boys. But unlike me, the guys don't seem to be very grossed out, but sort of pleased with the girls actions. Peyton however isn't really appreciating it either.