Drowning in the Waves

Ch. 37: Fourth of July Party Surprise

Chapter Thirty Seven

Penny’s POV:

I woke up and smiled. Today was the Fourth of July. Clover and I spent the rest of the week planning, shopping and sending invitations to everyone. We focused on every little detail making the night perfect.

I was going to get to see fireworks tonight for the first time! Getting up, I walked over and jumped in the shower really fast.

Getting out I picked out my Fourth of July outfit. I put on my navy blue shorts with white stars on them, then slid on a plain red v-neck that hugs my body in all of the right places. I then slid on my red and white converse.

I walked back into the bathroom to apply some makeup. Walking out of my room satisfied with my look, I made my way downstairs. It was around 12 by the time I got downstairs.

“Good afternoon, Sleeping Beauty,” Clover said to me over her shoulder as she prepared all of the food that we would put out for everyone. Colton and Ryan weren’t here yet and I’m guessing Trevor, Uncle Ben and Gavin were in their rooms getting ready. Everyone was coming over around 3. We still had a lot to do.

“Clover, once you’re done with that can you come outside to help me put out the pool floaties?” I asked walking over to the back door.

“Sure thing,” She said wiping her hands on a dish towel before following me outside.

We opened the shed and grabbed as much deflated floaties as we could. Throwing them on the porch I said, “I got this, you go and finish getting the food ready,”

She nodded and walked back into the house whistling. I walked back to the shed and found a machine that would help me blow up all of the floaties. Carrying it back to the patio, I found Colton leaning on one of the chairs.

“Need any help?” He asked holding up a floaty. I smiled.

“Only if you got another machine,” I said pointing to the machine beside me. He shrugged and put the floaty to his mouth and started blowing. I rolled my eyes and grabbed another floaty, putting it up to the machine.

By the time I had finished blowing up 4 floaties, Colton had only blown up 1 and was now out of breath.

“I told you only if you had another machine,” I said as he finally finished blowing up the last floaty.

He put his hands up in the air in surrender and said “Hey, I was only trying to help,” I laughed and walked back into the house. Clover and Ryan were sitting at the dining room table, Clover on Ryan’s lap.

They both looked up from what they were doing as I walked in, “We only have 2 hours until people start to come!” Clover said to me getting anxious. She always gets like this.

“Calm down, I’ll have Trevor or Gavin run out and get whatever else we need,” I said just as they were walking down the steps. Gavin was wearing tan khakis and a baby blue polo while Trevor was wearing navy shorts and a white polo.

They put their hands up and said, “Whoah whoah, where are we going?” Both me and Clover laughed.

“Just to run to the store to get a few things,” She said handing them an already made list of what we needed.

Their eyes got big as they saw how much was on the list, “Calm down peanut brains just run to target or BJ’s. Both should have everything on that list,” Clover chuckled and went back to whatever she was doing.

    “Fine, we’ll be back in around an hour and a half,” Trevor said grabbing Gavin’s arm and dragging him to the car.

    “What else do you need me to do?” I asked and she gave me a whole list. This was going to be a long two hours.

***********

    It was around 2:45 by the time the boys got back from the store. It took them three trips to get all of the bags into the house.

    “Good job boys,” Clover congratulated them and rummaged through the bags setting everything out on the counter.

    “Boys?” Clover asked looking over her shoulder at them. They looked up.

    “Yes?” They asked in unison.

    “Where are the 4 bottles of soda I wrote on the list?” Clover asked her voice getting a little deeper in a threatening way.

    “We didn’t see any soda listed on the paper,” Trevor said his eyebrows furrowing.

“Well you idiot it was there! Now in 15 minutes everyone’s suppose to come and there is going to be nothing to drink!” Clover said throwing her hands up in the air in surrender.

“Clover calm down,” I said soothingly looking over at her.

“No! I’m gonna wrap those two around the mailbox and play a good game of darts using them as the dart board,” She said starting to lung at them. I grabbed her from around the waist stopping her.

“Clover, I’ll run out and get the soda,” I said calming her down, “Do we need anything else while we are out?” I asked.

She calmed down and answered while glaring at the two brothers sitting at the table, “Yeah, they also didn’t get the chips and the dip I put on the list too,” She said and I nodded taking the paper she handed to me.

Walking over to the porch I found Ryan and Colton sitting on a deck chair talking. “Colton?” I asked opening the door. He looked up from his red cup filled with beer.

“Yes beautiful?” He asked smiling.

“Is it possible if I could just borrow your car while I go to the store to get whatevers on this list before Clover has a panic attack or tries to kill of the guys in there?” I asked.

“Sure, no problem. Do you want me to go with you?” He asked throwing me the keys. I shook my head.

“No, stay here and enjoy yourself,” I said over my shoulder walking back into the house before he had time to reject or get up. I walked out to his car and got in and was off to the store.

After a 10 minute drive then 20 minutes spent in the store, I had everything I needed and just needed to head on back home now. Everyone should be there by now, I hoped.

Pulling onto our street, I saw that the whole block was taken up by cars. I smiled and parked in Colton’s driveway. Grabbing the bags I made my way into the house and walked past a ton of people. I said hi to some while others ignored me.

I walked into the kitchen and set everything down on the counter. Looking around I couldn’t find Clover anywhere.

I walked onto the deck, the pool, the dining room and the only other place to look was the living room.

Walking into the living room I gasped as tears started dripping down my cheeks. The saying ‘fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me’ was running through my head as I stared at what was happening on the living room couch.

“Colton?” I said, not too loudly but enough for him to hear. He looked up at me with wide eyes and red lipstick smeared all over his lips. The stupid girl who was wrapped in his arms turned around and smirked at me. I realized that I knew the girl that was just sucking on Colton’s face, it was Sarah.