My Brother's Best Friend

three

I set my towel on top of my beach chair and sunk my toes into the burning sand. Honestly, life was great at the moment. I am starting to feel happy again without having to force it upon me. All I would be doing at my old house was sitting in my room all day, pretending my life was better than it was. Now, I wanted to spend time outside, whether it was by myself or with others.

My mother would be so proud.

She never seemed to care for me, though I was her only daughter. She favored her firstborn (by fifteen minutes) more than her daughter. I was always closer to my father, even when he tried to get Mom and me to connect. She didn't breastfeed me, only Matt. She went to his sports practices and games, but not mine. It almost made it easier to leave, knowing we didn't have much of a relationship.

I left as soon as my ticket boarding pass finished printing my flight that was scheduled at noon. Now looking back at it, I regret not telling my father goodbye. I do miss him, and I wish he would leave her, but I am a child who knows nothing about relationships.

I slipped my cover-up off, revealing my black bikini that probably showed more than it should. It was getting smaller, as I was battling with happiness, meaning I was eating now that I was happier. I wish I could meet some nice girlfriends so we could go shopping at the trendy places in Malibu. It was hot today, though it was only ten in the morning. The UV index was already climbing.

Garrett had convinced me to let him come with me again, but it seems that he fell asleep as soon as he sat down. I couldn't help but chuckle at his appearance. He was sprawled out on the chair, his hands hanging off the edges of the armrests and his feet were stretched out as far as they could. He wasn't even flexing and his arms were still massive and swole. I wanted to reach out and grab his bicep to feel how hard it was.

...That was a weird thought.

I slid my sunglasses on my face and rubbed sunscreen on my body since it felt like a million degrees. The last thing I remember doing is putting my headphones in my ears before letting sleep take me over.

-

A cold surface splattered onto my back making my skin tingle; not in a good way. It almost felt as if I had belly-flopped into a pool. I opened my eyes and I was in the middle of the ocean, alone. There wasn't anyone near me. What was happening?

Did I sleepwalk into the water?

"Oh my god that was hilarious!" Someone nearby had said, I could barely make it out what they said; my ears were tingling and the person was laughing too hard.

I turn in their direction to see Matt and Garrett. I rolled my eyes, of course, it was them. I wasn't sleepwalking. They carried me and threw me in.

"I hate you guys!" I screamed and began to swim away, back to shore, but before I was waist-deep, I noticed something was wrong.

My eyes widened in fear, "Matt!"

"What?" He responded, playing Frisbee in the water with Garrett not bothering to turn in my direction.

"Come here! Now!"

"Why?" He still hadn't looked back at me. I felt extremely self-conscious by now, even though there wasn't a single soul around me.

"It's an emergency. Please come!" My anxiety was going through the roof.

He groaned and swam closer to me. Once he reached me, I made him bend down to my eye level. I whispered in his ear and his eyes widened. "Are you serious?" His eyes looked like a deer in headlights staring into nothing. He was freaked out.

I run a hand through my wet hair, "I'm serious!"

He ran a hand through his hair, nervous, "Crap, Jess what do we do? How did that happen I mean-."

Garrett, noticing something was wrong, swam our way and said, "What's going on?" Matt spoke before me, "When we threw her in, her bottoms came off." He laughed and then smirked, "Jess, you can't do that. This isn't a nude beach."

"Shut the hell up, Garrett!" I said furiously throwing my hands in the air, "What do we do?"

Garrett chuckled, "Feisty."

"Well, you're not getting out, I can tell you that!" I rolled my eyes at Matt.

I gasped, "Oh! Um, you can go back to the house and go in my drawer and get another!"

"I guess that will work. I'll be back in 5 minutes or less. Garrett, you stay here and guard her."

"Yeah, okay." He replied watching Matt swim away, then turned around and faced me. He swam closer till he was inches away from me, "Can I feel?"

"What? No! Get away!" I try to push him back. But he got closer.

One of his hands wrapped around my back and the other was placed on my thigh. My breath hitched in my throat as his hand slid up past my waist, almost resting on my ass. I push him away and he mutters, "lame," under his breath and puts distance between us.

I roll my eyes and begin to see Matt running back from the house. My anxiety was skyrocketing due to my surroundings. From me having no bottoms and a boy touching me, and me liking it.

"Jess! I'm coming!" Matt screams from the shore with a pair of bottoms in his hand. He begins to run like he's in Baywatch, but he crashes into a wave, falling face-first into the ocean.

I giggle and turn to where Garrett was a few seconds ago to see if he had seen it. He didn't. He had swum over to a group of girls nearby. I don't know why, but it hurt.

Matt finally swims up to me and I slip on the bathing suit bottoms. I just can't believe I lost my freaking bathing suit bottoms in the freaking ocean. I swam back to shore and felt the bottoms cutting my circulation off because they were too small, and I know my ass has to be hanging out.

Once I had reached the shore I could hear cat-call whistles coming from one direction. I turned around and saw who was causing the commotion.

It was my brother's best friend.

Yet, Matt does nothing to stop him. Which is weird, usually my twin is very protective of me.

Why has he decided to stop now?