Because of You

Chapter 3

We woke up the next morning at 8:15 by the sound of Andrea's 4 year old brother screaming, and , surprise surprise, we didn't leave at 7:30. Not even close. We rolled out of bed and walked into the kitchen.

"Momma.." Andrea whined

"What Andrea?!" her mother snapped back. You could tell she had had a stressful morning 

"I thought we were leaving at 7:30..." Andrea replied, with slightly less whine this time.

"Well I'm Sorry, but I've been way to busy this morning to get much of anything done. If you want to leave soon, help me! Put all of your bags in the car and get dressed. Then come help we with your brother."

We dragged ourselfs back into Andrea's room, still half asleep. We picked up our bag off of the carpet and walked through the house and out onto the drive way. It was sunny and warm, like a normal New York summer morning is. Both of us were barefoot and still in pajamas. Andrea popped open the trunk to her parents blue SUV. We threw our bags in the back and shut the door.

"Ugh, I just wanna' leave already." Andrea said. She obviously couldn't wait to see her grandma.

"I know, me to... but don't you think we should get dressed first? We're still in our PJ's." I said and laughed a little. Andrea seemed confused and looked down.

"Ohhh! Yeah your probably right. Good thinkin' Kat." She giggled and we turned to walk back inside.

Both of us got changed into everyday clothes. Andrea was wearing tan shorts and a pink tank top. I wore a gray skirt and T-shirt. A little funky of an outfit, I know, but it worked out alright.

It must've been at least 98 degrees out that day, because as soon as we hopped in the car on its leather seats, we felt it. The whole ride up was scorching hot. Andrea and I were crammed in the back seat with her little brother and his car seat. Her mom and step-dad both sat in the front. We slept most of the way up, only waking up maybe one or twice from being so uncomfortable. When we finally got to Andrea's grandmothers town, we had to drop off her step-dad with his own parents. Of course, as a reminder, right before he shut the car door on his way out he said 

"Remember Andrea. No Boys. Behave. Got it?"  Andrea just nodded her head, rolled her eyes, and mumbled something under her breath.

Good. She was as annoyed with him as I was.

Andrea's mom took the wheel and we traveled another 10 minutes until we got to Elena's house. We stepped out of the air-conditioned car just to be shocked by the extremely hot air outside. It felt like the sun was beating down in waves. Both Andrea and I groaned as we walked to the trunk to get our bags. Before I knew it though, Elena was out beside us hugging and saying hello.

Now, Elena is not like most other grandmothers. Sure, she's sweet and loving like normal, but she's very.. outspoken. She talks like a teenager, swears like a trucker, watches teenage shows, and pretty much lets Andrea do as she likes, within reason. Which is why I love this women. She turned to talk to Andrea.

"Damn child! You've gotten so tall. And Katherine, how are you? Its nice to see you again." 

"Im good, and it's nice to see you to Elena" I said, She smiled.

"Well you girls take your things inside. You know where the room is." 

Which was true. Andrea and I climbed the Steps to the porch and went inside. Since her grandma doesn't use air conditioning, it's almost as hot inside as it was outside. She leaves all the windows open and uses fans, but it's still hot.

We set our bags down on the beds. Well, there not exactly beds. One is an air mattress blown up by the window. The other is a pullout love seat, which makes a twin bed. The room was small, with toys and an ancient television taking up a lot of room, so there was barely enough room to walk around. Andrea set her stuff down on the pullout. I carefully crossed the room and put my stuff on the air mattress. Right then Elena walked up to the door way and peeked in.

Why don't you guys get dressed and head down to the pool?" She said and walked away to help Andrea's mom with the rest of the stuff.

This town actually had a public pool. It was down behind the school, complete with a diving board, lockers, changing rooms, lifeguards, and all. It was within walking distance from Elena's house on main street, so we thought, 'why not?'

We both went and changed into our swimsuits and put a T-shirt and shorts on over. Andrea grabbed two towels from under the sink. She tossed me one as she picked up her purse. We waved to her mom and grandma as we walked down the driveway and disappeared around the corner.

We made small talk while we walked. When we got to the pool about 5 minutes later, we were sweating bullets and ready to jump right in the cool clear water. Andrea walked over to a shaded area behind a picnic table and laid her towel on the ground with a flutter. I followed and did the same. We stood up and got down to out bathing suits. We just stood there looking at the pool, seeing if there was anyone there that we noticed.

Me? I was making sure Chace wasn't in there splashing around.

When I had checked over and told myself he wasn't in there, I was a lot less nervous. I started to walk towards the pool when Andrea stuck her arm out in front of me. 

"Wait..." She said and continued to stare in the direction of one of the lifeguards. "I think thats Chace."

I froze.

I turned my attention to the lifeguard she was looking at. It did look like him.

"No. It's not. It can't be him." I said, trying to convince myself it wasn't.

"No it is, for sure, him" she said.

I turned right around an sat down on the picnic table.

"Oh my god. I'm so not ready for this." I joked and laughed. I was laughing, but inside, I was nervous.

Then I look back to were he was sitting. And what do I see now? Chace Lanford walking straight towards me.