Chapter 6: Teams

I was hanging out with Eli everyday, all day. We mostly stayed on the beach, but sometimes we would go up to Periniam for a movie. It had only been a week or two, but we grew closer. I guess that’s what times does to you.

We were now sitting at Jitter’s Critters, waiting for his friends to meet us after the flight. They needed to freshen up, drop off their luggage, and probably check in with their family. They were late and the anticipation was killing me.

“Geez, calm down, Cutie. You’re more excited than I am, and they’re my friends!”

“Sorry, I just can’t wait to meet them!” I was practically bouncing in my seat, my eyes glued to the door.

“Why are you so eager? They’re just my friends. It’s not like they’re famous or anything.”

“Because then I could hang out with people other than you!”

Ooh, that came out a little harsher than intended. “Well that doesn’t hurt the ego at all.”

“Sorry, Eli. You know what I mean.”

“You know, people are usually scared to meet their boyfriend’s friends. You know, intimidated?”

“But you’re not my boyfriend.”

“Right, but still, I thought you said you hated meeting new people.”

“Oh, I do.”

“Then…?”

“But I have you to make things less awkward. So don’t leave me alone. If you have to go to the bathroom, hold it in.”

“I—“The door opened and then a bunch of loud teenagers that all looked like they belonged on a cover of a magazine walked in. “That’s them,” he whispered, waving them over to our booth.

And that’s when the nerves started to get to me. What if they didn’t like me? Would Eli stop hanging out with me if they didn’t? Would I be in for a friendless summer? Eli wouldn’t just leave me like that, would he? But he might, these are his friends. I’m just some girl who fell on him at the beach.

I sat their awkwardly as Eli was bombarded with hugs and greetings. They filled the booth. We chose one of those round ones that could fit a lot of people. A waitress came by and took our orders. Judging by the look on her face, she recognized them and wasn’t too pleased about the volume.

“Who’s the girl?” asked a guy that I immediately recognized as Dylan.

“Oh, sorry guys,” Eli apologized. “This is Ashlyn, the one who didn’t ditch me to go to Hawaii. I met her on the beach. She’s new around here and is going to be hanging with us for the summer.”

“Hi Ashlyn!” they all chorused, which reminded me of the sharks from Finding Nemo.

I gave them a small awkward wave. “Hey.”

They all went around introducing themselves, all nine of them.

Marcus, El’s older brother, was dating Alexis, a cheery brunette who loved animals and long walks on the beach. Aaron, the brunette and blue eyed beauty, was engaged to Isabella, a girl with shiny black hair and dark brown eyes. They were so cute together; it was obvious that they were in love.

Then there was Zander, who had spiky brown hair and blue eyes, who had a long distance relationship with Cheyenne, my Cheyenne. It turns out she wasn’t lying when she said she was in a relationship. What a small world. Apparently they didn’t believe Zander either. I guess I’d have to tell the girls back home that it was true.

Prescott and Dylan are the cutest thing ever. Like seriously, can I package them up and put them in a snow globe? Then there was the mystery guy of the table: Blake. I don’t think he even spoke two words. His girlfriend, on the other hand, was the total opposite. While he had dark hair and grey eyes, Taylor was a bubbly, talkative blonde with light aqua eyes. I guess opposites really do attract.

His friends were really friendly and I immediately took a liking to them.

“So where are you from?” Alexis politely asked.

“New York.”

“Like New York, New York?!” Taylor gushed. “That is so cool. Do you like live in the upscale part?” She seemed like an airhead to me, but was really sweet.

“I guess?”

“Where’s Kaitlyn?” Eli asked, peering around.

“I don’t know,” Prescott answered. “I thought she was with you.”

“Didn’t you guys carpool from the airport?”

“We did, Kaitlyn didn’t,” Dylan said. “She didn’t even come on vacation with you. She told us that she was going to stick around with you.”

“But she told me…”

“She was lying to you, bro,” Marcus said.

“Knowing Kaitlyn, she’s probably cheating you,” Isabella said matter-of-factly.

“Who cares where she is?” Alexis interjected. “It’s not like you actually like you, unless something’s changed?” She lifted an eyebrow.

“No, I was actually planning to break up with her.”

“Finally, dude. She’s driving us crazy,” Zander breathed.

Everyone agreed, nodding their heads and murmuring about it. Now I wanted to meet her and see what all the fuss was about. “C’mon guys, I think she’s nice!” Taylor beamed. The whole table turned to stare at her and she burst into fits of laughter. “I can’t believe you guys believed me! No one likes Kaitlyn.” She turned to me. “Have you met her yet?”

If little sweet Taylor didn’t like Kaitlyn, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to. I shook my head. “I thought she was on vacation with all of you…”

“It’s a good thing she didn’t come. She would’ve spoiled it!” Alexis cried. “She’s a diva.”

“She complains about everything,” Dylan agreed. “A total beeotch.”

“What made you change your mind about her?” Aaron asked Eli.

“Ashlyn.”

Whoa, he did not just do that. They all turned to me, wide-eyed. It’s like they were all in sync with each other. Creepy.

“How did you do that?” Alexis hissed. “We’ve been trying to get him to dump her sorry–”

“Lexi!” Marcus cried. “She’s still his girlfriend. We should at least respect her.”

“But not anymore. They were never in a relationship, not like us.”

“Anyways, what everyone is trying to say, thank you,” Prescott said, giving me a gracious smile.

“Um…I didn’t do anything…”

“Sure you did! Remember that text you sent me telling me to break up with her? And then you told me to dump her and then get over Rachel…” Eli reminded me.

“I was joking!”

“Not the second time.”

“You know about Rachel?” Aaron asked, curious.

“A little bit.”

“How much do you know?”

“That he’s still in love with her.”

“See? I told you guys he still had feelings for her,” Isabella boasted.

“You’re just biased,” Zander disagreed.

“How so?”

“You are a sucker for childhood relationships.”

“I am not!”

“Yeah you are, Bells,” Aaron said. “Us, remember?”

She blushed. “Right. Well who cares if I am? They had a connection!”

“So did my laptop and the Internet,” Dylan said.

“Dyl, that makes absolutely no sense at all,” Alexis said.

“Sure it does!”

“It really doesn’t…”

“I still think they’re perfect together,” Isabella stated. “And Taylor agrees with me, right Tay?”

Taylor hesitated before answering. “Well…she did leave him.”

“Guys, I’m still here!” Eli announced.

“Tay! I thought we were on the same page!”

“It’s okay, Izzy,” Marcus said. “I’m Team Rachel.”

“This isn’t freaking Twilight or the Hunger Games guys! There are no teams,” Blake growled. Ah, so he does talk!

“Besides, there are no other love interests besides Kaitlyn. And she doesn’t count. So it’s just Rachel,” Prescott concluded, linking hands with Dylan. Aw, that was so cute! I wonder how long they’ve been out…

“Yes there is!” Alexis cried, stealing a glance at me.

Oh, no. No. She wouldn’t.

“Who?” Aaron asked.

“Ashlyn!” I winced as she cried my name.

The table started murmuring again, as if they were discussing a law or something. Hello? I was right here. “I don’t think–” I started to protest.

“Aw, yes! They would be totally cute together!” Taylor squealed.

“I don’t know about cute…” Blake started, but Taylor hit him lightly on the chest.

“Team Ashlyn!” Zander cried, holding up a fork like it was a sword or some sort of declaration symbol.

Eli just sat there, amused by all of this. Me? I wanted to just crawl under the table and hide my face. They just shouted out whose team they were on. And the results were in.

Team Rachel: 3 {Marcus, Isabella, Prescott}

Team Me: 4 {Taylor, Zander, Alexis, Aaron}

Team Nobody Cares: 2 {Blake, Dylan}

“What team are you on, Eli?” Taylor asked.

“Um…Tay? I think he’s on Team Rachel,” Isabella told her.

“Well that’s not fun. Let’s convert him into Team Ashlyn!”

“I don’t think anyone can do that but Ashlyn...” Zander told her.

“Well Ashlyn? Are you up for the challenge?” Alexis asked, her eyes glistening.

“Challenge?” I echoed.

“Yeah! Are you going to convert him? We won’t tell the Team Rachel groupies. They’re just a bunch of ninnies,” Taylor whispered loudly.

“Thanks, Tay,” Marcus said sarcastically. “I’m feeling the love.”

“Join the light side,” Alexis drawled, pecking Marcus on the cheek, “we have kisses!”

“Hm…tempting, but no. Rachel and Elijah are soul mates, no offense Ashlyn.”

“Why would I be offended?”

“I don’t know…but they are. You didn’t see them when they were little and growing up. I was the only one there, except for Elijah, but he doesn’t count.”

“But you have to see them now, Marcy! They have chemistry. And they looked adorable together!”

They kept arguing about who was better for him. Quite frankly, I really didn’t care. The waitress finally arrived with our food. I expected it to be at least a little bit quieter, but it didn’t. They were just as loud as ever. That is, until the door opened. A honey blonde model with pale blue eyes walked in.

“Hi Kaitlyn!” I said, waving to her.

She gave me a tight smile and walked over to us. “I thought you said you didn’t know her?” Alexis asked, giving me an accusing look.

“She’s my brother’s girlfriend.”

“She’s also Eli’s girlfriend.” Alexis didn’t even look a bit surprised. It shows what kind of character and reputation Kaitlyn has.

“Hey guys,” Kaitlyn chirped, ignoring all of the glares she was receiving.

“Can we talk, Kaitlyn?” Eli asked.

“Sure.”

“In private…”

Well, at least Eli had enough class to not break up with her in public. Kaitlyn made an ‘o’ with her mouth. “I get it. You want some alone time.”

“Exactly!” Eli said, relief evident in his face.

She winked. “Meet me in the bathrooms.” She sauntered away.

Eli’s jaw dropped. “You gonna get some before you dump her, bro?” Zander asked, waggling his eyebrows.

“ZANDER!” Taylor scolded. “I thought you were Team Ashlyn!”

“I’m Team Sex too, Tay.”

“Zander!” Alexis scolded, covering Taylor’s ears. “Don’t spoil my Taylor’s innocence!”

“I think Blake’s already done that,” Prescott pointed out.

“What we did and didn’t do is none of your concern,” Blake fired.

“Ah, so you did do it!” Zander cried.

“We were talking about Eli going to the bathrooms?” Blake changed the subject smoothly.

“Right, so you gonna do it, man?” Zander asked, strangely enthusiastic about it.

“No. I’m breaking up with her.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t have a good bathroom break.”

“It’ll give her the wrong idea.”

“No, it won’t. She already knows that we know that she cheated. She’s not going to expect you to forgive her.”

“No, Zander,” Eli rejected firmly.

“What’s gotten into you? Before we left, you would’ve done it. What’s changed, man?”

“It’s Ashlyn!” Alexis squealed. “He’s trying to impress her, Zan!

“No he’s not!” Marcus disagreed. “He just came to his senses.”

“He misses Rachel! He’s going back to her!” Isabella shrieked, clapping her hands.

Out of all the reasons, I would say Marcus was the most believable. He already told me, and quite rudely, that he was not going back to Rachel, and we were just friends. I wish people would just believe that.

I just picked at my fries and burgers, trying to go at the pace everyone else was going at. They were going at it rather slowly, except for Aaron and Prescott. They were just chowing down like no tomorrow, pretty much shoving it all down their throats.

Eli rolled his eyes and shooed everyone on his right to get out so he could get up. “I’ll be back.”

“Don’t come back smelling like sex! Taylor doesn’t need to know that scent!” Zander yelled, half towards Eli and the other towards Blake.

I could hear Eli grunt and Blake looked like he was one comment away from strangling Zander. Ah, I could get use to these people.

“So tell us Ashlyn, how did you two meet?” Alexis asked, resting her elbows on the table, looking at me eagerly.

The rest of the table turned and looked at me expectantly. “Well! Out with it!” Zander cried. “No need to keep us waiting.”

“Um…well. I was walking on the beach and I tripped over a bucket and fell on him.”

“You…fell on him?” Isabella confirmed.

“Yeah, I’m not coordinated.”

“Me either,” she replied.

“That’s such a lie, Bells. You’re like a freaking ballerina,” Aaron yelled.

Isabella ignored him. “Tell us funny stories of Eli while we were gone!”

“Make it embarrassing. Then we can blackmail him later!” Prescott suggested.

“There’s really nothing embarrassing. The only thing I can really think of is him proposing to me. Even that wasn’t funny.”

“He proposed to you!?” Alexis babbled.

“Only as a joke.”

“Do tell,” she urged. And so I did.

“Talking about me again, Cutie?” Eli smirked. “I know you have a huge crush on me and everything–”
“Like I said before, don’t flatter yourself.”

“I won’t, you do it for me.”

“He calls you ‘Cutie’!?” Taylor exclaimed.

“Um…yeah. Do you know how to make him stop?”

“Why would you want him to stop? He doesn’t give anyone nicknames!”

“Except for Rachel,” Isabella interrupted.

“We don’t need to talk about her anymore,” Dylan said. Eli shot him a thankful look.

“Anyways,” Taylor continued. “You should feel lucky that he gave you a nickname!”

“It really isn’t that big of a deal,” Eli shrugged.

“It kind of is,” Marcus said. “That means you’re moving on.”

“So you’re on Team Ashlyn now?” Alexis asked hopefully.

“Nah, I still believe Rach and Eli will be together.” Marcus ruffled Eli’s hair and Eli pushed him away.

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about this,” Dylan said.

We finished eating and went our separate ways. Zander joined me and Eli.

“I like your friends,” I told Eli. “They remind me of my own.”

“I’m glad. Sorry about all that team crap. Isabella made us watch the Twilight movies over and over. She said it was a bonding moment. Yeah, right.”

“Don’t be dissing on Twilight!”

He groaned. “Don’t tell me. Team Jacob?”

I made a sound that was similar to a buzzer. “Wrong! Team Edward!”

“Really? Don’t tell that to Izzy, she’ll kill you.”

“I’m Team Jacob’s body though.”

“You disgust me.”

I laughed. “Says the guy with all those posters in his room.”

“Hey guys, remember me? I’m Zander? Are you sure you two aren’t secretly a couple? You sure sound like it.”

“We don’t! We sound like friends and that’s exactly what we are,” I said, turning around to talk to Zander.

“You’re right. You don’t sound like you guys are a couple. You sound like you’re married! An old married couple bickering, yup, that’s it.”

“Well, we are engaged,” Eli said, winking at me.

I groaned. “Are you ever going to drop that?”

“I have no plans to. Now get out, Zander.”

“Do I have to?” he pouted. “I want to hang out with you guys!”

“I’m just driving her home, Zander.”

“I get it. I’m the third wheel around here. I can take a hint. Bye guys!”

“Bye!” we chorused, shoving him out the door.

He muttered a string of curse words before we shut the door and drove away. “Is he your best friend?” I asked.

“Nah, Aaron is.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Just wondering. It seemed like you and Zander would be, with your crazy antics and all.”

“Yeah, Aaron’s pretty mature.”

He pulled up to my apartment. “Thanks for letting me meet your friends!”

“No need to thank me. They like you.”

“See you later, Ells.”

“Ells? Is that a new nickname?”

“I’m just trying things out.”

“Hottie or Sexy could work too.”

“Or Ells,” I insisted.

“That sounds like a girl!”

“And Eli doesn’t?”

“True. Just pick a different one.”

“Then you pick a different one.”

“But I like Cutie! It suits you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You think I’m cute?”

“I already told you that, yes.”

“Bye, Ells!” I called, walking away and giving him a backwards wave.

“Bye, Cutie!”

I heard his car drive off. Now, how to tell Dakota his girlfriend cheated on him and then the perfect day would be complete.

Kaitlyn to the side!