Page 14 of Save Me
“Sure thing,” I reply as I gesture to Kai to go and get some beers from the cool box.
Chapter 5
Xander
“Why the fuck did we bother going there again?” Rein grumbles once we’re safely stowed away inside of his Tesla. “It was shitter than shit. No more high school parties for me. It was the same people caring about the same crap. There was no booze and even the music was dry!”
“I know,” I sigh back at him, rolling a blunt and placing it behind my ear for later. The guys have almost run my stash from Bodhi dry, so we’re headed to North Beach where I know we’ll find him, no doubt wasted and trying to surf flat waves. “Still Casey’s scene though, isn’t it?”
“Dude, your sister is still living the high school dream,” Mikey says with a theatrical roll of his eyes. “Still queen bee with her little minions. You seriously put up with a lot of crap from her! Especially Kyle Holmes. The guy makes me want to stick a fork in my eye every time he opens that obnoxious mouth of his.”
“Yeah, but she’s my twin sister,” I explain with a smile, “she’ll be in the real world soon enough. Let her have this last year to reign supreme.”
The monkey suit I’m wearing suddenly becomes suffocating, so I rip off my tie and roll my white dress shirt up to my elbows to try and feel less constrained. The other guys have all ripped their ties away and look like they’re in a state of undress too. Rein even brought his board shorts to change into and now I’m wishing I’d done the same. It’s beyond warm tonight.
“Where the hell is Matt?” Rein asks out of the blue. I suddenly realize we’re down one amigo, who we obviously just abandoned to the boredom back at school. “Did he sneak off with Amelie again? God, that guy is on heat!”
“Ah, lay off the poor bastard,” Mikey smirks, “he’s in loooove!”
We all silently gag as Mikey laughs loudly over his friend’s unfortunate relationship status. As we all contemplate our loss of Matt to the illness that is also known as ‘love’, we soon pull up to North Beach where we jump out to hear the crash of waves in the background. I have to admit, it brings a feeling of comforting nostalgia to me; this sound always does. Casey never liked the sea or the beach, she always complained about the sand getting stuck between her manicured toes and the seawater making her hair sticky and frizzy. But for me? I love it, though admittedly, I’ve recently neglected it.
Over on the sand, a party is in full swing and looks a damn sight more inviting than the place I’ve just been to. Not one monkey suit in sight; just a bunch of people chilling back with a few stimulants and a big case of beer. There’s a roaring bonfire making delicious crackling sounds and a few people dancing, while others are stood around the fire, full of laughter and chatter. I know these guys have a reputation for being stoners, but they’re not. They just keep it that way to stop assholes from interfering with their territory.
We sit on the wall at the edge of the beach, sharing the last blunt from Bodhi’s stash and watching people dance to some of Bodhi’s old Bob Marley albums, the epitome of laid-back surfer music. It’s only after my second inhale that I notice Beth in some little denim shorts and a red tank top, dancing with the man himself. They’re grinning and laughing with each other with no hint of sexuality in it at all, just having a good time. For some reason, I find myself taking comfort in that fact. I’ve not seen her this chilled out or this comfortable within her own skin before, and the way she’s laughing is giving me an instant hard-on. I remember her laughter from last week; it was a beautiful sound but seeing it on her face takes it to a whole other level.
“Who’s the chick dancing with Bodhi?” Rein asks, probably because he’s just caught me gawking at her. “I recognize her.”
“Her name’s Beth,” I reply, sounding monotone so as not to give away my attraction to her. “She started at Fairfields on Monday. She’s in our social science class.”
“She’s the one your sister gave a hard time to, isn’t she?” Mikey chimes in as he passes the blunt back to me. “She’s…she’s…well…” he stutters while making lustful eyes her way, tracing the swing of her hips in front of Bodhi.
“She’s what?” I ask curtly.
“Well, look at her, man,” Rein chuckles, “she’s a hot piece of pussy!”
“Don’t call her pussy!” I snap, frowning over his choice of words. “She’s hot, I’ll give you that, but she’s also moody and frigid!”
Beth piqued my interest last week when she told me to stay the hell away from her. I’ve never had a girl speak to me the way she did. In fact, I don’t recall a girl ever having turned me away. It was a new experience; one I can’t quite decide if I liked or not. Usually, I turn on the charm and they’re putty in my hands. Yet, there I was, saying I’d do anything to make it up to her, and she basically told me to fuck off.
“Yeah, she really looks it!” Rein replies sarcastically before taking the final drag on the blunt.
I look at her still swaying and moving her hips around to the rhythm, running her hands through her hair, laughing as she does so, and have to stop myself from emitting a moan of appreciation. She looks so sexual right now, so confident, and ready to tear me apart with just her eyes.
“I call dibs!” Mikey announces, breaking me out of my lustful thoughts. I turn to see him arching an eyebrow at the same time as he looks knowingly at Rein, who just smirks smugly at me.
“Fuck off!” I slap him on the arm before muttering, “I saw her first; she’s mine!”
They both laugh hysterically as if silently congratulating themselves on managing to get at me. The smug bastards.
Just as we’re getting ready to head on over, a car pulls up behind us, out of which a middle-aged guy bolts from it with a look of pure frustration. He slams the door before his feet angrily hit the path to the beach. He proceeds to traipse across the sand, even though he’s clearly not dressed for it, but is no less determined to reach that party. We look at each other, all intrigued as to who this guy is, then silently decide to settle back down onto the wall to let whatever this is to unfold before us.
Bodhi is first to notice the man with a stick up his ass and instantly stops moving with Beth. His face is now looking deadly serious, which is not an expression you would normally associate with the surfer who has such an easy-going reputation. Beth soon notices he’s stopped, so turns to look in his line of sight. As soon as she sets eyes on whoever this guy is, her face contorts into a grimace, and she folds her arm with an irritated sigh. No sooner has she done so, than the guy grips hold of her arm and tries to pull her away and back toward the car. My body immediately tenses as she reluctantly follows behind, looking like she could happily strangle him.
Eventually, they reach the pathway, just behind where we’re sitting. We remain silent, hoping to go unnoticed so we can eavesdrop on this real-life drama.
“It’s time to leave, Beth,” he growls, “you can’t be here acting like this. You know what’s at stake!”
“Get your hands off me, Dad,” she argues back with an exasperated sigh. “For now, it’s my life and I’m living it while I still can.”