Sunset Love

Sunset Love: Chapter Five

Nicole's POV

Sitting at the kitchen table eating the food Lauren had prepared us, I started to wonder where she had gone. My worries were short-lived, though, because she came home at around 10:15. She had walked through the door with a hoodie, which looked like it belonged to a guy's, Starbucks in her hand, and on her phone texting away as usual. All the while, Eric entered the room in a wet towel looking like he just came out of the shower--and Heaven. My eyes widened when I saw him, six-pack and all. I admired his bare chest, bug-eyed, until he caught me staring. I looked down at my food, blushing. Lauren had broken the uncomfortable silence that we had and said,

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauties. How is your breakfast?' she asked cheerily--way too cheery for the morning.

"Morning, and it's good! Since when do you cook?" I said, my voice sounding a little shakey from just waking up and seeing Eric half-naked.

"Since forever. How do you think we ate at the apartment? Magic?"

She shrugged. "Hey, don't blame me, I'm blonde."

Eric laughed and gave her a high-five. "Blonde squad."

"Um, Eric," Lauren said hesitantly, pursing her lips. "Maybe you should go put on some clothes." My gaze diverted to Nicole, whose face was still a rosey pink. "For someone's sake," I added.

Eric glanced at Nicole, smirked, then walked to his room to get dressed.

"So where have you been?And who's jacket is that?" I asked Lauren and pointed to 'her' jacket. She blushed and looked down at the floor, saying,

"Oh, just someone's," she said just as her phone went off.

"Ooo, who is it?" I demanded as she turned a florescent pink and walked away, leaving me alone in the kitchen while she went to answer her phone.

Just as I had finished my breakfast and threw my dish into the sink, Eric walked in with just shorts on and a lack of a shirt. He walked over to me.

"Where was Lauren?" he asked, staring down at me with those blue eyes.

"Starbucks. And I think she met someone there," I said, nudging him, and he laughed.

"Hey guys I'm going to get ready for the beach! And I'm bringing a friend." Lauren walked back into the room with pep in her step and a blush on her face.

"Haha okay then! BEACH SWEG!" Eric screamed loudly, throwing us into laughter.

"Okay then! Letsa' go!" Lauren screamed, holding out the "o" in "go." She was really excited and jostled up the stairs for her room to get changed, leaving me and Eric in the kitchen once again.

"She definitely met a guy," I confirmed, chuckling.

He snorted. "No shit. I didn't know girls got that excited about guys."

I pursed my lips. "You'd be surprised, Purple Hair."

Eric blankly stared at me with an annoyed look in his eyes, mouth in a straight line. His expression made me laugh even more.

Eventually, he said, "So, er, I meant to talk to you about last night." He rubbed the back of his neck, his face slowly phasing into a deep red. Damn- I loved when he blushed.

Nervousness swept through me. I pulled out the chair to the table and sat down, him mirroring me. I managed to keep a straight face, even though my insides were practically churning.

"What's up?" I asked, swallowing. My mouth was practically dry.

He cleared his throat, his gaze wandering everywhere but me. "Well, it was pretty cool. I've never been to a restaurant that freaking fancy."

I laughed, but I was positive that what he said was not even funny. My nerves were resurfacing.

His face grew to an even more enflamed red, and I speculated the info was either really good or really bad in my favor. "I, uh..." he hesitated, then leaned forward in his chair to rest his elbows on his knees. "I don't know about the whole 'date' thing, though."

My heart dropped into my stomach. I felt as if air was stuck in my throat- I couldn't breathe. I managed to choke, "It wasn't a date," to retort.

Eric thought about that for a moment, pausing. He then nodded, saying, "I know, I know. I was just saying that it'd feel too weird if we were to...ya' know..."

 "Date?" I finished. 

He nodded. 

Before I reply to him, Lauren came rushing down the stairs in her bathing suit, hair done, and all set with a beach bag screaming, " YOU GUYS READY YET?" 

Smirking at her, Eric walked to his room to change, leaving Lauren and I in the kitchen.

"Hey, you ready?" she asked, discarding a towel from her beach bag. 

 "No, I have to go change." I decided not to tell her about the whole Eric thing yet--why would I want to bring down her whole demeanor now? 

 "Then go change!" She threw the towel at me and I caught it. 

 "Fine," I muttered, all the sudden not wanting to go to the beach. Unfortunatley, I had to go; today was my first day on lifeguard duty. 

 Trudging up to my room to get changed for 'work', I racked my brain over the essentials. Green flag means safe to swim, red means dangerous waters, and yellow means it's not reccomended to swim in the area. Every few hours I'd have to check the currents and tide, and then I'd have to move the orange flags that tell what areas to swim in. And in case of an emergency, I'll have the life preservers, the rescue buoy, all the instructed flags, a first-aid kit, whistles, two-way radios, megaphones, and even signal flares. To make matters worse, I'd have to lug around an air tank every time I got up. They took it really seriously--a little too seriously.

  After I slipped into my bathing suit and covered it with a red, lifeguard T-shirt, and topped it with a lifeguard hat, I met up with everyone downstairs. Lauren and Eric were always prepared; Eric had his trunks on and Lauren was basically bouncing up and down in anticipation. 

"Look who's finally ready."  Eric teased. Even though I was mad at him, he still managed to cheer me up in the slightest bit. 

"Okay! Make sure you guys have everything cause I'm not making this a double trip." Lauren chuckled walking out the door calling her 'friend' on her phone.  Following her, we walked out side and I held the door open for Eric but I wanted to shut it on his face for some reason.  I was a nice person and didn't. For once.  While Lauren just wrapping up her conversation on the phone, I walked back up to the door and locked it with my key. Looking at the two, Lauren squealed like a little kid and said, "Lets GO!!!"