One Summer

Chapter 2

Our flight to Cali was uneventful. Except for an elderly man sat a few rows in front of us that snored loudly for most of the flight. Chris' impersonation of him was on point, but it earned him a stern look from the man's wife. Our car ride to the beach house was slightly more interesting. Everyone was excited, even our parents, and for a while, I forgot all about having to see Chase again. Since we came to the beach house every year, we knew all the people that owned the houses in the surrounding area. As we drove down the dirt road to our house, we could see that some families had already moved in for the summer, whilst some still stood empty.

"Looks like the Wilson's have rented their house out this summer," Mum commented, gesturing her head to the left as we drove. We all turned our attention to the house, where a family we didn't recognise were unloading their car. I was glad the Wilson's aren't going to be here this summer. Last summer, I got into a huge fight with Madison Wilson, and to be honest, I'd be more than happy to never see her face again.

"We should pop round later and introduce ourselves," Dad suggested.

Chris rubbed his hands together in glee. "I wonder if they have a daughter my age."

I feigned gagging. "You are vile, Christopher."

He rolled his eyes at me. "It's only a bit of fun."

"No, what's fun is whopping your ass on the jet ski's and going on too many spinny rides at the fair. Besides, we aren't here so you can add more names to your little black book."

"I don't have a little black book," he tutted. "My little book is red," he added, with a smirk.

I punched him on the shoulder as he howled with laughter. I'll never understand the male sense of humour. It was one of the universe's many mysteries. As we turned onto the road come drive way for ours and the Richards' houses, I noticed a car parked on the right hand side.

"Oh look, the Richards' are here," I informed the car, even though they could all see for themselves.

Dad pulled the car over to the left hand side of the road, and parked up, before we all jumped out. I put my arms up above my head and stretched out. Stretching after being sat in the same position for a while, was honestly one of the best feelings ever. Chris and I headed straight for the Richards' house, abandoning our cases that Dad had just unloaded from the car. We were half way across their garden, when Mr and Mrs Richards appeared at the door.

"Lexi! Chris! It's so good to see you again."

Mrs Richards, or Nicole, as she'd made us promise to call her when we were younger, met us in the garden and threw her arms around us both in turn.

"It's lovely to see you both too," I told them, after Mr Richards (Rob, as he was more commonly known), had joined his wife and had given me a hug and shaken hands with Chris.

"Have you been here long?" I asked Nicole, as we made our way back over to our house.

"About an hour. We have only just finished unpacking the car. The boys have gone for a wander into town. They left not so long ago, they'll probably be gone a while."

This struck me as odd. Alex and Chase didn't venture into the town very often, but I let it go.

"How was your trip down here?"

"Uneventful. I'm just glad to be here."

We stopped walking when we reached the side door. Chris and I grabbed our suitcases, whilst Rob and Nicole walked straight in. Mum was making cups of coffee when I stuck my head around the kitchen door and told them I would be upstairs unpacking. Lugging my case up the stairs was a task in itself. The distance between each step was slightly larger than the average staircase, which meant there was a higher chance of me breaking my back.