Chapter 18

"Did you and Mark catch the meteor shower last night?" Chris asked, lifting up his baseball cap to fix his hair.

"Yea yea we saw tons of shooting stars it was great." I nodded enthusiastically.

"What'd you wish for?" Chris asked, wrapping his arms around my waist as I straightened up the array of chips and snacks next to the cash register.

A giggle escaped my lips as I turned around to face him.

"Well excuse me, but if I tell you then my wish won't come true." I laughed, raising my eyebrows.

"True, true." Chris nodded, pressing a sloppy kiss to my forehead before turning to serve our next customer.

A frown crossed my face as I looked out across the ocean.

The sky was pretty dark out there.

Chris seemed to notice the exact same thing that I did.

"I'm sorry we're closed." He suddenly said to the customer.

The lady looked shocked for a minute, but walked away with a frown.

"Marley stay here." Chris said before jogging over to Tommy next door.

I frowned as I peeled a banana.

Chris came running back.

"We need to close up." Chris said quickly, turning the key in the cash register.

"What? Why?" I frowned, chewing my banana.

Chris pointed out to the ocean.

"So it's getting dark, big deal." I shrugged.

Chris shook his head, taking the banana out of my hand.

"It's almost hurricane season, Marley." Chris said quickly, tossing my banana in the trash. "Help me get all of the tables and chairs in here."

"In here?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Well do you want to be outside when they start blowing around everywhere?" Chris raised his eyebrows, jumping over the counter.

I frowned, quickly following him.

"Is that a hurricane?" I asked, pointing to the ocean.

"No but it's a pretty big storm that's coming fast." Chris shook his head as he grabbed two chairs.

I saw everybody else on the beach quickly trying to pack up their stores.

So I helped Chris pack everything from around the store into the small space between the counters.

Chris looked out at the ocean as it started pouring.

"Chris go!" Tommy called as he locked the door to the bikini shop.

"Lock up." Chris tossed me the keys before taking off down the beach.

My hands were shaking and slippery as I locked the door and pulled the cover down over the counter.

"What do I do now?" I called to Tommy.

"Go home!" He called back through the rain.

I pushed my wet hair out of my face, realizing that I still had the baseball cap on.

Chris usually took the keys, but I just stuffed them in my pocket and ran through the rain to get to Aunt Audrey's house.

She looked worried as I burst into the house, soaking wet.

"Where's your brother?" She asked quickly, handing me a towel.

"I don't know what's going on." I shook my head, tossing the baseball cap aside as I dried my face with the towel. I'd started to shiver.

"Help me get all of the windows shut." Aunt Audrey said quickly as water started to come inside of the house.

I ran down the hall to my room, swearing under my breath as I forced the window shut and locked it. By the time all of the windows were shut and locked, Mark still wasn't back.

"I mean he's at the restaurant it's farther down the beach than I was." I said, joining her as she stood by the window. It was really windy and rainy outside now, the sky almost pitch black.

She shook her head, worry written all over her face as she reached for her phone.

I sat at the kitchen table, watching my aunt frantically call multiple people, asking if they'd seen Mark.

After the fifth call, she set the phone down, her face pale.

"What?" I asked quickly, my heart starting to race.

"No no it's probably nothing. He's probably somewhere, I just, nobody's seen him." Aunt Audrey shook her head.

I was shaking now, partly from the cold but also because I had no idea what was going on.

Whenever there's a storm in Michigan, we just sit in the living room and watch movies. And if it's a tornado warning, we'll go down to the basement and play ping pong or something.

But here, they're acting like the world is about to end.

"What do you mean nobody has seen him? Wouldn't he be inside somewhere?" I asked quickly, pushing my sort of dry hair out of my face.

I'd put one of Mark's sweatshirts on, as I was freezing cold. The temperature had dropped drastically since this morning.

"I called the restaurant and nobody answered. It's fine. He probably found somewhere." Aunt Audrey said. But the look on her face said differently.

"You mean to tell me that Mark is outside right now in that?!" I exclaimed, pointing outside.

Aunt Audrey nodded.

I gasped, tossing my towel aside as I jumped up from the chair.

"Marley!" Aunt Audrey yelled.

"He could be hurt!" I exclaimed, pulling open the wooden door to go to the patio. The screen door slammed behind me as I started running in the direction of the restaurant.

I could barely see five feet in front of me and I was soaked within an instant, but there was no way I was going to leave Mark out there when nobody knew where he was.

"MARK!" I yelled, pushing my hair back from my face as I struggled to keep my footing through the wind.

But all I could hear was the wind howling and the rain pounding on the surrounding buildings.

"MARK!" I yelled, nearly choking as a huge sheet of water slammed me in the face.

"Marley?!" I heard someone yell back.

"Mark! Where are you?!" I yelled, holding my hand up to block the water.

Finally I came within distance of Mark, who was making his way up the beach to the house.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Mark exclaimed as I threw my arms around his neck.

"I thought you were hurt." I cried, squeezing him tightly.

"I'm fine we just had to put all the deck furniture inside." Mark said loudly over the wind. "Whoa Marley why are you crying?" He frowned, wrapping his arms around me too.

"I don't know Aunt Audrey was getting all worried and everyone was freaking out and then you weren't home." I sobbed as we turned to make our way back to the house.

"I'm fine, Marley. I'm fine." Mark reassured me, grabbing my hand as we got closer to Aunt Audrey's house.

"Marley what the hell were you thinking!" Aunt Audrey exclaimed, pulling us both into a massive hug when we got inside. "You could've been injured out there!"

"I'm sorry." I mumbled, grabbing a towel from the kitchen table.

"Your father would kill me if I let you out there in the middle of a storm." Aunt Audrey shook her head. "Get dried off before you get a cold. I'll make you some tea." She added as she shut and locked the heavy wooden door.

I changed into a pair of sweatpants and another one of Mark's sweatshirts, tying my wet hair up into a ponytail.

We all sat down on the couch with tea. It was as dark as nighttime, which seriously creeped me out considering it was only 10 in the morning.

"Why did Chris run off so fast?" I asked curiously, draping my legs over Mark's lap.

"He probably just wanted to make sure his grandma is alright." Aunt Audrey said softly, lighting a candle on the coffee table.

I nodded, taking a sip of my tea. I didn't know he lived with his grandma...

Mark sighed, leaning back against the couch.
All of a sudden there was a power surge, all of the lights in the house brightening for a quick moment. And then everything went black and eerily quiet.

The only source of light coming from the small candle on the coffee table.

"Oh shit." I gasped, grabbing Mark's shoulder.

"We're fine." Aunt Audrey reassured me. "The power goes out during any storm."

Mark patted my knee. "Calm down, Marley." He laughed. "You're acting like a baby."

I slapped his shoulder, a frown forming on my face. "I'm just nervous." I whined, resting my head against the couch.

"Oh it will blow over." Aunt Audrey shrugged. "This is nothing compared to what we usually get this time of year."

My stomach flipped at the thought that Mark and I would be here for two and a half more weeks, during the fast approaching hurricane season.