Every Beginning

2

I woke up the next morning to sunlight hitting my face. The guest room, although decorated perfectly, was missing blinds and the flimsy white curtains did nothing to block the strong rays. I groaned pulling the sheets up above my face. I laid like that for a few minutes, before realizing there was no way I was getting back to bed. Rolling over, my eyes focused on the alarm clock that sat on the bedside table. 8:42.

The house was quiet and I knew by now that Julie would be at the bakery for the morning rush and my dad would be in his office working on his latest book. I didn't bother changing out of my oversized t-shirt and I headed straight to the kitchen to find coffee.

The coffee maker was easy to find and I was overjoyed to find fresh coffee in the pot. It took me a minute to find the mugs, but once I did I chose the largest one and poured myself a cup. Not bothering to find creamer, I took a long sip. Leaning back on the counter, I let the coffee do its work and felt myself waking up.

"Morning."

The sound of a voice broke the silence and caused me to jump, hot coffee splashing on my arm. I yelped and dropped the mug onto the counter, my hand clutching my now pink skin. I turned to see Dylan walking in, a bowl of cereal clutched in his hands. He sent me a look of amusement, his eyebrows raised. "Morning," I grumbled.

"Mom's at the bakery, dad's upstairs. You could go say hello but he's kind of touchy about people interrupting him. Nat's at school."

I knew Dylan was trying to be helpful, but I immediately became annoyed at him. It wasn't his fault, but the fact that he was talking as if he knew my dad so much better then I did got on my nerves. Of course, my dad had been more present in Dylan and Natalie's lives than he had been in mine, but he was still my dad.

I grabbed a paper towel and cleaned up my mess before taking another big sip of coffee. I glanced over at Dylan, who was now focused on eating. He definitely had changed since the last time I saw him, he was taller and his brown hair was darker. He had a bit of a five o'clock shadow forming on his jawline. Dylan, Natalie and I had never became close, despite us being step-siblings.

Dylan was a year older then me, meaning he had just finished his first year of college at Duke. He was there on an athletic scholarship for baseball, which my dad never failed to bring up.

Natalie was two years younger and was still in high school. The last time we'd seen each other she was going through the awful middle school catty phase, and least to say we didn't get along. My dad assured me she'd "grown up" a lot since then, but when I passed her extremely pink bedroom last night, I doubted he told me the whole truth.

"So," Dylan began, looking up to meet my gaze, "My mom wants me to introduce you to some people today."

"Uh, that's really not necessary."

Dylan rolled his eyes and walked around the island to place his empty bowl into the sink. He hopped up onto the counter and narrowed his eyes at me. "What are you going to do all summer if you don't know anyone?"

"I'll figure it out."

"Yeah, sure you will. I'm going to the beach in thirty, you're going to want to change," he looked me up and down, taking in my disheveled appearance with a bit of grimace. "Seriously, you're going either way so you can change or we can go like that," he continued when I made no move towards going upstairs.

Realizing there was no way out of this, I grumpily finished my coffee and trudged upstairs. I changed into a simple black bikini and pulled on a pair of denim shorts and a white tank top over it. As I passed the mirror in the bathroom, I grimaced at my hair, realizing now why Dylan was looking at me like I was a monster.