You're My Sunset

Chapter 20 - New Friends

"Hey!" Amber's bubbly voice said into the phone. "Are you doing anything this afternoon?" "No," I replied. "Great! We're going to the pool. I'll pick you up in an hour." With that, she hung up.

I pulled out my blue bikini and put it on. I felt a pang of regret, remembering the last time I wore it, when Ryder took me to the beach and I wore his shirt. I pushed aside the feelings and threw on a bright sundress over it. I packed a deep blue beach bag with my towel, tanning lotion, and a slice of cake in a tin. (Yes, I like cake. Don't judge me.) I slipped on my waterproof sandals and rushed downstairs, grabbing my sunglasses on my way out. I repositioned them on my forehead and waited for Amber.

When she pulled up, I saw she had Mia in tow. "Hiya, girlie!" she called excitedly. I waved back and climbed in the backseat with Mia. "So what's up?" I asked her. "How's it going with Drake?" She blushed and mumbled something. "What was that?" I asked her evilly. "I...we....love each other." From the front seat, Amber squealed. "I knew it!" We laughed at her before reminding her to keep her eyes on the road. She stuck her tongue out at us. I know right. So mature.

We arrive at the community pool minutes later and we immediately walked over to claim the lounge chairs for the day. "So who's ready to go SWIMMING?!" Amber yelled. We cheered and stripped. Amber was wearing a light red bikini with swirls on it. Mia was wearing a light blue bikini with starfish on it. Some boys were swimming at the other end of the pool, but they stopped what they were doing to check us out. As we entered the pool, one of the boys swam over to me. "Hey," he said. "Hi," I replied. "What's your name?"

"Max," he responded. "Yours?" "Lily." "Well, Lily, don't mind those boys over there. Just ignore them. They're desperate." he said with a grin. I smiled back and asked, "Do you go to this school?" He nodded. "I just moved here the other day." I smiled. "Welcome to the neighborhood."  He smiled and said, "Let's play 20 Questions." I remembered fleetingly when Ryder and I had played 20 Questions in his car on our way to the carnival, but I pushed aside the thoughts, and mustered up a smile. "Sure."

"You single?" he asked. I rolled my eyes at his question, but answered, "At the moment, yes. I had a boyfriend, but we broke up yesterday." "How come?" he asked, interested. "I caught him making out with another girl," I answered in disgust. He winced. "Whoa. Big mistake." "You got that right," I said. "Anyway, I'll be seeing you, Lily. Consider us friends already." Max said with a wink. Then he walked back over to his group of bros. I felt the familiar blush creep up my cheeks as I caught another glimpse of his tan, well-muscled body. He turned around and asked, "Done checking me out, Lil?" I blushed, embarrassed, and shook my head. He just laughed.

Later, when it was just us girls on the lounge chairs, Amber lifted her eyebrow and said, "So, you and Max?" I shook my head. "We're just friends. And how did you know his name?" "We kinda got along with his friends while you guys were talking," Mia supplied. I shook my head. "You guys have boyfriends, remember?" "So?" they said in unison. I rolled my eyes. They laughed.

"So guys, I won this vacation thing from a photography contest. It's a vacation to this really cool out-in-the-boonies place with cabins and a waterfall and stuff." Amber said. We nodded and she continued. "The vacation is for 10 people, and I was thinking we could go and invite the boys, too." We nodded eagerly. Amber gave me a look and said, "Lily, Ryder would have to be there." "It's okay," I said. "I can't avoid him forever." She said okay and then said, "Lily, Ryder didn't cheat on you. He was so drunk he thought Claudia was you." "Oh." I didn't know what to think. "Well, that's good."

"Anyways," Amber said. "We still need four more people to come with us to fill the vacation." On a sudden inspiration, I said, "Why don't we invite Max and his friends?" "Okay," Amber said. "We can invite that girl who's over with them, too. That'll make 10." I caught sight of the girl, who was chatting with the boys. We walked over, and Max introduced us all. "Girls, this is Ethan." He gestured to a cute blonde boy with blue eyes on his left. He smiled at us. "This is Alex," he said and Alex waved. He was good-looking, too. Dark hair and brown eyes. God, were all of Max's friends gorgeous? Finally Max pointed to the girl. "And this is Michelle," he said. She gave us a shy smile, but I didn't miss the way she was looking at Alex. And I didn't miss the way Alex was looking at her. I smirked inwardly and exchanged glances with Amber and Mia. I think I just found another reason to include our new friends in our trip. I opened my mouth. Time to play Cupid.

***

I finished packing my bag and waited outside for Amber. It was the day of departure on our vacation.  Max, Ethan, Alex, Michelle, Ryder, Hayden, and Drake agreed to go with us. We were taking three cars. In the first, Amber and Hayden were sitting up front. In the back, Ryder, Max, and I would be sitting. In the second, Alex and Michelle were going with our luggage. And in the last, Ethan, Mia, and Drake were going with the rest of our luggage. So basically, the first car was stuffed with people, and the others were stuffed with luggage. But we were just going to the airport. We had to fly there.

Amber pulled up and I vaulted into the backseat. We still had to go and get Ryder and Max. Everybody else was already in place. We pulled up to Max's house first and he got in. When we got to the airport, we got on our plane and I sat on the window seat. Amber and Mia were sitting by their boyfriends, so I'd coaxed Max into sitting with Ryder and I.

He raised his eyebrow at me and I knew he was asking, "You wanna sit by Ryder?" I shook my head, so Max sat down beside me. I gave him a grateful look. Sitting by Ryder would have been too awkward. I'd sort it all out later.

Ryder came and they started talking bro talk, so I tuned them out and listened to my IPhone.

I started to feel drowsy, so I took off my sweater and laid it across Max's lap. Then I laid down so my head was on his lap. He looked down at me. "What are you doing?" "Going to sleep," I replied. "What does it look like I'm doing?" He rolled his eyes and put his arm around me so I wouldn't roll off the seat or his lap. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

Authors note: How do you guys like this chapter? How do you like Max? There might be a bit of chemistry between Max and Lily... ;) Btw bigfoot5500, I FINALLY decided to include your name in my story. How do you like his character so far? He might end up getting one of the girls...Just a hint. Anyways, comment below how you liked it! Sorry it took me a while to update. Anyways, don't forget to comment and VOTE VOTE VOTE!

OH and btw how do you guys like the cast I made? Any tips/suggestions would be appreciated!

All my love,

Em