Last night the football game had been 'interesting', which was the word I used to describe it when my dad had asked.

If I was being completely honest with myself, the game had been pretty awesome. Of course, we beat the Otters, and because of that everyone in Palm Beach could sleep easy. I had done all of the interviews I needed to finish before the first issue of the newspaper came out, and I actually realized for the first time since I had moved back to California, that maybe I could get use to this.

That is, until the she devil came along and poured her fucking slushie drink on me.

I'm normally not an angry person, but after that I wanted to beat her to a pulp.

I didn't tell my dad any of this though. He thought everything was back to normal and all was well in the little world of 'Finnly Cage'.

And I didn't want to ruin that for him. He had been so worried that I had settled in alright and that I was ok with Anna and Kim living with us, I couldn't bear telling him that my social life kind of sucked right now.

My dad wasn't stupid or completely oblivious, so I knew he'd figure out everything sooner or later. But for now, he was happier than ever.

"Finn! Anna! We're leaving in two minutes!" my dad called up the stairs, his voice bellowing so loudly that I jumped in surprise.

I slip my feet into my sandals and mentally debated on whether to bring a hat or not before stuffing everything into my bag.

My dad thought a trip to the public beach would be good family bonding time. Although I was getting more comfortable around Kim, the idea of a whole day at the beach with my "family" kind of upset me. My dad use to take my brother and I every weekend to go surfing and my mom would come a long and sit on the beach and laugh as we repeatedly tumbled into the waves.

It was a good time.

Yeah yeah yeah, I continue tieing everything back to my old life, but I wasn't completely ready to let go of it quite yet.

I flew down the stairs as I heard the car engine start, Anna quickly in tow. We piled into the car and turned the air conditioning on before my dad drove out of the neighborhood and toward the beach.

When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the beach wasn't too busy. It was incredibly hot for late September weather, with a roaring temperature of 90 degrees, so it slightly troubled me that no one was around.

"I wonder why it's not that busy" I said to Anna

"Hey, that means more ocean for us right?" Anna laughed, setting out her beach towel under one of the palm trees.

I laughed in response and set my stuff down next to hers, sliding off my cover up.

"Oh Finnly, you know how to surf, right?" Kim asked, as she unfolded her beach chair.

I nodded, "Yeah, I mean I haven't been surfing since last summer, but I can" I said, shrugging.

Surfing and photography. Those were basically the only two things that you could say I excel at. My mother usually took me back to the coastline of California during spring break and the summer so I could continue surfing. In all seriousness It was incredibly important to me, because although I wasn't as good as I had been before I moved, I was still able to hold onto something from my past.

"You're very good at it Finn; how about you show Anna how to do it?" My Dad suggested hopefully, sitting down next to Kim.

"That would be amazing!" Anna said, jumping up excitedly, "I've always wanted to know how to surf!"

Kim nodded happily, "Oh that would be great" She said,

Ok, seriously everyone was trying too hard at this 'family' thing.

I stood up, "Ok, let's go rent some boards" I said to Anna.

Once we were out of earshot from my dad and Kim, Anna rolled her eyes, "It's so annoying acting all excited and peppy around them." She said.

I nodded and laughed, "Whose idea was it to have a family day anyway?" I asked.

Anna shrugged, "Probably my mom to be honest" she said, "I think she's just excited she finally has something she can call a family"

When we reached the surfboard hut, I pulled put some cash on the counter and rang the ring for assistance bell.

"So are you actually good at surfing or were you just saying that to please my mom?" Anna asked curiously.

I gave her a small smirk , "I guess we'll see" I said.

Anna rolled her eyes , "Hopefully surfing won't be too hard.. there are some kids from school here; I really don't want to embarrass myself' she said.

I bit back a comment telling her that surfing was actually pretty hard and it took a long time to even be able to stand up on the board without falling.

I should give her some hope.

I looked over at a group of kids playing beach volleyball. Kyle, Mia's boyfriend, was playing along with some other senior guys and a few girls were sunbathing right off the court.

"You're fine. They're just seniors" I said, "No one from your grade"

"Still" Anna said, turning her attention back to the line of surfboards in the hut.

I crossed my arms in annoyance. Seriously why was the employee taking this long? They had one job.

I rang the bell again and stuck my head slightly into the hut, "Hey! You have customers" I said, being a little terser than I should've been.

I almost groaned and threw myself on the sand when I saw who it was. Flipping shit. Of course.

"Sorry I was in the ba- oh. Hi" Colton said abruptly when he saw who it was.

I gave him an unenthusiastic wave and a forced smile, "Hi. So good to see you" I said sarcastically, kind of surprising myself how cold I was being toward him.

I was glad though that I had decided to wear my gold bikini instead of my one piece. Probably one of the best decisions I had made in a while. Thank the heavens.

And talking about thanking the heavens...he was completely shirtless, his red lifeguard swims trunks hanging loosely on his hips and his abs full and defined as hell.

If I wasn't supposed to hate him right now, I think I would've even taken more than a second to look.

"We'd like two surfboards please" I said, holding my head high.

I could feel Anna eyeing me, and I turned to face her when Colton went back in to get the boards.

"Stop being mean to him! Folton will never happen if you continue acting like you hate him" she said.

"I do hate him" I said.

Ok... maybe I was kind of lying to myself?

"And Folton is never going to happen" I said smoothly.

Colton came back and walked outside of the hut to give us the boards.

"You have 2 hours to surf before they have to be brought in" he said.

Our fingers slightly grazed one another's when I took the board from him.

"Thanks" I muttered, walking to the water quickly before he could see the blush creeping up my cheeks.

There must be some kind of blushing disorder- because I most certainly have it.

~*~*~*~

"Finnly! Why does this have to be so freaking hard?!" Anna groaned, trying to stand up on the board for the millionth time.

Our two hour period was almost over and she hadn't succeeded in standing up for more than 2 seconds before being swallowed by a wave.

Her board flew out from under her feet when another wave surged forward.

"Anna, try positioning your feet evenly. You won't be able to stand up if both of your feet are in the center of the board." I said, "Your weight needs to be evenly distributed" I continued for the hundredth time.

Anna rolled her eyes, "Easy for you to say, you haven't even tried to do it today!" she coughed, holding onto her board.

I slid into the water from sitting on my board, "Fine. Watch and learn" I said.

To be honest, I hadn't wanted to try surfing again in fear that I'd make a fool of myself in front of Colton, who was still working his shift at the hut. But I wasn't going to let Anna have the satisfaction of thinking I had no clue what the heck I was talking about.

I started paddling out to sea, waiting to feel a wave. I dipped under a few of the smaller waves, wanting to catch a bigger one.

Suddenly I felt a bigger wave and turned around to face the shore. Once I caught it I crouched low on my board and road it. I almost toppled over when the full force of the wave hit my board, but quickly regained my balance, straightening up and moving my board back and forth across the wave's surface. The wave grew in size and I did one more turn before I was brought down by the wave.

When I surfaced, I a couple people on the beach stood clapping, yelling "Nice job" to me. I gave them a huge smile and a thumbs up, completely overwhelmed with excitement. I still had it.

Anna slowly made her way over to me, "Wow! Finnly! That was amazing!" she said.

I smiled, "Thanks" I said breathlessly, dramatically flipping my long blonde hair over my shoulder for effect.

"Hey! No need to be cocky" Anna laughed.

I laughed , right before I heard Colton's voice from shore.

"Time to bring it in" He yelled.

I wondered if he had seen me. I shook the thought out of my head as we swam to the shore.

It's not like he even cares I told myself. And if he doesn't care, then you shouldn't either.

~*~*~*~

I took a seat across from Kim in one of the booths in the old beach café.

She had wanted to have lunch a lone with me...and my dad had been more than enthusiastic about letting us go off on our own to eat.

"Thank you so much for teaching Anna how to surf" Kim said, while looking at the menu.

I picked up my own menu, "Yeah, I tried" I said, a small hint of laughter in my voice.

Kim laughed, "Yeah I suppose she won't be in the Olympics any time soon" she added.

I gave her a small laugh and glanced at the menu briefly before closing it.

"Do you already know what you're getting?" Kim asked.

I nodded, "I use to come here all the time" I said, taking a quick look around the small café.

I sighed. Memories.

Kim nodded and then set down her menu.

"I'm sorry that that happened to you." She said.

I was slightly taken back by her sudden remark, "You mean the move?" I asked.

She nodded, "All of it. The move. Your brother... Your parents." she said slowly.

I pursed my lips, "Me too" I said , "But everything's better now" I said, trying to convince her everything was ok .

And maybe I was trying to convince myself too.

She gave me a small smile, "I'm happy" she said, "I really didn't know if you would take...things... well" she said.

I knew what she meant...her and my dad.

I nodded, "He needs someone." I said definitely, "And you're exactly who he needs" I continued, truthfully.

Kim smiled, "I really appreciate that, Finnly" she said, "I feel like I have a family... a real one" she said, fiddling with the ring on her finger "I think the suffering is finally over, it's time to be happy".

I nodded, "Yeah." I said, reassuringly.

At least she was getting a happy ending. One of us sure deserved it.

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Song of the chap: 9 in the afternoon by Panic! at the Disco

Kisses- A