Never in my life had I been more disgusted, and that's saying a lot considering I live with two teenage boys. My brother, Duncan, was currently trying to chat up an old crone by the poolside, who looked like she was literally knocking on death's door. One misplaced, Duncan-esque joke and he would have a case of manslaughter on his hands, considering she looked about one fit of laughter away from kicking the bucket. 

I just sighed and got up, absolutely needing to put a stop to the madness. I left my towel on the sun lounger but slipped my flip flops on, and edged around the pool to where my idiot brother was trying to act like some sort of casanova.

"Duncan!" I called out, and he turned to look at me, "Mum's looking for you!"

"Oh, okay," he said before turning to the old lady and saying, "I must leave, mon cheri, but I will return, I promise."

We got a few steps away before Duncan looked at me expectantly. "Are we just going to ignore whatever the hell that was?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. 

"What? Oh, you mean Beryl? She's nice isn't she?"

"Yeah, really nice... for an OAP! Not you, a skinny little boy."

Duncan gave me a look of disbelief. "I'm not a little boy."

"Compared to her, you are. She could be your grandma."

"Well, when she keels over and I'm the one written in her will, leaving all of her assets to me, don't come knocking."

I rolled my eyes, approaching the lounger where I had left my things. On one side, there was an empty lounger (Duncan's), and one with a towel, a t-shirt and a pair of sandals strewn haphazardly across it (Quigley's). Then next to me on the other side sat two empty loungers, ready for our friends the Baudelaires, who were meant to be joining us shortly. 

"So what did Mum want?" Duncan asked me and I gave him a look.

"Duncan, Mum's not even here. Or did you somehow forget?"

"It's all the lovely ladies, they're distracting me," he said, a dreamy tone to his voice.

The lovely ladies he was referring to included: a waitress at the nearby juice bar, a thirty year old yummy mummy, and Beryl, who had now put on a floral swimming cap ready to join the water aerobics class that was taking place at the other end of the pool. I wasn't sure why the list surprised me though. Ever since summer break started about a week ago, Duncan had been flirting with just about anything that moved. If it had a pulse, Duncan would chat it up. 

As for my other brother, Quigley, he had somehow joined a bunch of guys playing water polo, despite not knowing them before today. He was always good at talking to people, though, so him making friends with strangers was just the norm at this point. However, despite him being extremely charismatic, there was one person he always struggled to talk to. And that was the topic of conversation that my best friend and I would probably end up talking about today, since we usually ended up there most of the times we talked.

"Isadora!" I turned to see the subject of my thoughts, my best friend, Klaus Baudelaire, walking towards Duncan and I, flanked by his sister Violet.

Violet and I were good friends, bordering on best friends, as well but Klaus and I were always closer. We had been since we met, probably because we could bond over books and things like that. He had told me about all the poetry books he had read and we had instantly clicked, and even now he would always send me good poems or excerpts of books he thought I would like, and I would send him all sorts or interesting things, just to see if he already knew about it. Klaus was an encyclopedia of knowledge and I thoroughly enjoyed testing his mental boundaries. 

I hugged both of the Baudelaires and we spoke briefly as they set up their towels and belongings on the loungers adjacent to mine, Klaus in the one closest, of course. Quigley even finished his game of polo to come and speak to everyone. Klaus and I shared a look as Quigley- my ever confident, eloquently spoken brother- tripped up on his words as he asked Violet about her newest inventions, and Violet- usually so composed and focused- was left looking slightly flushed upon seeing my brother shirtless and soaking wet. 

"Does anyone want drinks?" I asked, being the lifeline I knew my brother was looking for. He tore his eyes away from Violet and nodded quickly.

"The usual please," he said, then glanced back at Violet, "W-what are you having?"

She shrugged. "Whatever you think is nice."

I nodded. "Okay, come on Klaus."

The two of us got up to head to the juice bar, giving Violet and Quigley a moment to themselves. Duncan was still there, perched on his lounger, but I could tell by the way he was scanning the area that it wouldn't be long before he spotted his next target to flirt with. 

"You didn't ask Duncan what he wanted," Klaus pointed out as we approached the little hut decorated with bamboo, fake palm leaves and leis dangled from the roof. 

"You know my brother, he'll go for anything sweet."

Klaus eyed Duncan as he began stalking towards a group of women dressed in Hawaiian print shawls. "That sounds about right."

We stepped up to the bar and I scanned the menu, quickly finding the drink Quigley loved so much.

"Hi," I said to the waitress who Duncan had tried his luck with, "Can we get three Tropical Twists, a Berry Blast and-" I glanced towards Klaus, who just stared back, not giving me any clues whatsoever, "a Coconut Cordial please?"

I paid the lady and then we waited for her and her colleague to make them for us. In the meantime, Klaus and I took a seat on two of the stools and looked back over the pool.

"I take it that's what you wanted, right?" I said. He didn't need to ask what I was talking about.

"Of course," Klaus replied, "how did you know, though?"

"I felt in it my bones."

"You know what I feel in my bones?"

"That Duncan's going to get himself a restraining order before the end of the summer?" I quipped.

Klaus gestured to where our siblings were sat. "That they're meant to be together."

I observed Violet and Quigley like I had a millions times. The way they slowly got closer and closer, like a magnet was pulling them together, and then one of them would realise and subtly put distance between them. Or they would both notice it at the same time, that their hands were practically touching or their arms or their noses, and they'd jolt back away from each other, content looks replaced with awkward smiles. It was like they were blissfully aware and unaware at the same time- no one could look deep into someone's eyes like that and not know, surely- but then again neither ever bridged that gap, taking their relationship to the next level. It was although the two of them were on either ends of a void, neither one wanting to take that leap of faith and join the other, afraid that they would misjudge the gap and fall. 

I wanted to shake them both, and tell them that the void was nowhere near as huge as they were imagining. 

"I mean, yeah," I said finally, "That much is obvious. But do you think they'll ever get there without a push?"

"You know I don't agree with interfering."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "All they need is someone with a clear head to spell out what's between them."

"And you think that's you?" Klaus said, brown eyes boring into mine.

"I think that's us. We know them better than anyone."

He scoffed. "I doubt my sister is going to listen to relationship advice from me."

He was right, really, just as I doubted Quigley would want to hear it from me. Klaus and I were both extremely close to our siblings and would frequently give advice on different topics. But relationships were a completely different ball game. It was a topic I knew that Quigley would worm his way out of speaking about, simply because he would find it embarrassing. And, because he had such a way with words, he would be segueing before I could even comprehend it and then suddenly we would be talking about something else entirely with no way to get back on track. 

There was also the fact that neither Klaus or I had ever been in a relationship, so our advice on the topic would probably be abysmal. To my knowledge, the only person out of our group of five that had experience was Duncan, and even then, it was only a date to the local cinema that ended with the girl throwing the bucket of popcorn over his head. 

"Then what if we don't give them advice at all," I started, the tiniest drop of a plan forming in my mind, "What if we just influence what happens."

Klaus side eyed me. "And that means what exactly?"

"We're with them all the time. So what's stopping us from forcing the two of them into situations where they have to be together? We can control everything from behind the scenes but make it look natural. Eventually they'll have to admit their feelings, right?"

"I suppose," he replied, "unless they catch wind of what we're doing and stop us in our tracks."

"They won't. We'll make sure they won't. The five of us hang out all the time so they shouldn't suspect anything." I stared Klaus down, hoping he would see that my idea made sense. Plus, we wouldn't really be interfering. It wasn't our fault if we all went out for dinner but the two of them somehow ended up on their own private table.  

Klaus thought for a moment. Then he smiled and shrugged. "Sure, let's do it. We've got nothing better to do this summer anyway."

"Here you go, guys," said the waitress, who's name I had picked up from her badge (Shauna). We thanked her before taking our own drinks and clinking them together. 

"To setting our siblings up together," Klaus said, a satisfied smile on his face. 

"Indeed," I replied, "Cheers!"

And that was how our summer truly began.

A/N:

Hey guys, I'm back with a brand new story! I hope you like the premise so far. Updates should be Tuesdays and Saturdays but I'll let you know if anything changes :))

See you in the next chapter! ❤