Chapter 2

I woke up to the bright sun pouring through my curtain-less window, momentarily blinding me when I opened my eyes. 

There was a knock on my door, followed by my Aunt’s voice. “There’s a purple towel in the bathroom for you if you’d like to shower! Breakfast in 20!” She called through the door. 

I heard her footsteps disappear as I slowly pulled myself out of bed. 

My clock flashed 6:54am. 

Why was I getting up so damn early? This was summer vacation…

I stumbled over to my suitcase, feeling both drunk and hungover, even though I was neither of those. My summer was supposed to contain lots of parties, lots of alcohol, and lots of late nights with Logan. But now I was single, in a town that I didn’t know anybody, and the thought of getting drunk with my aunt and brother was quite unappealing. 

I picked out a simple black string bikini that was really old. I’d bought it before the Bahamas last Christmas, but it still fit me.

I grabbed a pair of jean shorts and a plain white v-neck. I grabbed my hair brush, shampoo, conditioner, and soap, then quickly walked down the hall to the bathroom. 

I thought the shower would be freezing in this small, run down house. But it was pleasantly warm.

I didn’t even attempt to get a brush through my hair, and it wouldn’t make it up in a bun. So today was going to be a bad hair day… Oh well.

I put everything back into my room, then walked down the hall to the kitchen. 

I already could smell the bacon and pancakes. 

There was someone standing at the counter, pouring orange juice into four separate glasses, and it definitely wasn’t my aunt or brother. 

“Who the hell are you?” I asked quickly, walking around to the other side of the counter. 

“Chris.” He replied, not turning to look at me. My eyes momentarily widened when I realized that it was the tall attractive guy that I saw last night. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked carefully. 

“Pouring orange juice.” He said simply, putting the top on the large bottle. 

Chris was wearing a white tank top and black swim trunks, nothing on his feet. As he reached to put the orange juice back in the fridge, the muscles on his shoulder tensed, and a shiver ran through my stomach.

A smile grew on my face. 

“Where’s my aunt?” I asked. 

“On the porch.” Chris replied, taking a sip of his orange juice. 

“And my brother?” I frowned, unsure what was going on right now. 

“On the porch.” Chris replied, carrying the plates to the table.

“Why are you here?” I asked, crossing my arms. 

“He’s a family friend.” Aunt Audrey said as she walked into the kitchen with an annoyed Mark behind her. “Chris this looks delicious.” 

“Only the best for the best.” Chris smiled, sitting down at the table. 

Aunt Audrey sat next to him, leaving Mark and I to sit opposite my aunt and the stranger.

“Right. So now, by your father’s orders, we actually have to lay down some rules.” Aunt Audrey said, raising her eyebrows at me and my brother. Mark and I exchanged glances, both of us annoyed at our dad’s way of handling things. 

I took a bite of my bacon. Damn it was good. 

“I don’t care what rules your father had, or what your mother does in that awfully large house of hers. This is my house, my rules.” She smiled. “I have only two rules. One, no drinking alcohol inside of this house. Two, no sandy shoes inside. Leave them outside, understand?”

I nodded, glancing at Mark. 

“Got it.” Mark nodded in agreement, taking a big bite of his pancakes. 

“Now I don’t care what you get up to when you’re not here, but if I catch you drinking or doing anything that your dad said was a problem, I’m going to have to call him. So I won’t ask where you’ve been as long as you don’t come home drunk, understand?” Aunt Audrey said, giving Mark a look. 

“You’re not asking, we’re not telling.” Mark winked. 

“Excellent. And about the job I was telling you about, Chris works there, he’ll show you around.” 

“Got it.” Chris said through a mouthful of pancakes. 

I couldn’t quite tell if he was being sarcastic or not. 

“But there was a tiny change of plans. Marley, you’ll work with Chris. Mark, there’s a small restaurant about a mile down the road, and that’s where you’ll be working.” Aunt Audrey said to my brother. 

My eyes widened. 

“We’re not even working together?!” I exclaimed. 

“No that’s not happening.” Mark said quickly. “You can’t just leave us out there and-” 

“Quiet. Both of you. They’re your jobs.” Aunt Audrey said harshly. “I’m going into town now, I’ll see you later.” She added, standing up. 

Chris, Mark, and I were left to clear the table. 

“Where the hell do I go?” Mark asked Chris. 

The taller boy gave my brother directions, and Mark nodded, giving me a slight nod before leaving the house to head to his new job. 

This had to be a joke… There was no way dad would make us do this all summer…

“So when are we leaving for wherever we work?” I asked Chris with a smile. 

“We’re leaving now. And we work at the smoothie shop.” Chris told me, walking to the back porch. 

I followed him, stepping into my flip flops while he headed away across the sand without me. 

“Well hey! Wait up!” I called, jogging after him. 

“Keep up.” Chris told me, not turning to look at me. 

He ran his hands through his hair, pushing it back from his face. 

I frowned, crossing my arms. 

“Why are you so bitter?” I asked him, raising my eyebrows. 

Chris turned to look at me, his green eyes meeting mine. “I’m not bitter.” He said simply, jumping over the counter at a little shack-like building that faced the beach. 

“We open at 8:30.” Chris told me, pulling some keys out of his pocket. “The delivery of fresh fruit comes at 7:45 and that’s when we put it into those ice buckets. You’ll be the cashier today, just taking orders. You’ll tell them to me, and I’ll make them. Got it?” Chris told me, unlocking a drawer underneath the counter. 

I nodded, walking around to stand next to him rather than jumping over the counter like he did. 

“What do we do until the delivery arrives?” I asked curiously. 

“We clean.” He said, handing me a thing of cleaning wipes. “This counter has been open all night, it’s dirty. Clean it.” He told me, pointing to the wood counter. 

I nodded, taking a wipe out of the packet. 

“And hurry. I see the truck.” Chris said, pointing down the road that travelled behind the beach. 

By the time the truck arrived, I’d finished wiping down the counter. 

“Come on.” Chris told me, walking over to the truck. “Hey Nick.” He said to the guy who got out of the truck. I recognized him as the shorter one that stayed with Chris at the drinks thing last night. 

“Hey man. You got some help I see?” Nick laughed, looking over Chris’s shoulder to me. 

“Yea whatever. Just open the truck.” Chris said with a smile. Nick grinned at him, opening the back of the truck. 

“Hey you, carry these boxes over there and put them on the prep counter in the back, got it?” Chris told me. 

“All of them?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. 

“No not all of them. I’ll carry some too.” Chris sighed, gesturing to the boxes. “What’s the matter? Are they too heavy for you?” 

“Not in the slightest.” I said with a smirk, easily picking up a crate of bananas. 

Chris and Nick each grabbed a crate as well, and we moved all of the crates in silence. 

“So you’re the girl staying with Audrey, right?” Nick asked me once we’d finished with all of the crates. 

I silently nodded, unsure what to say about that. 

“That’s cool. She’s the best.” Nick smiled. “Hey Chris, I’ll see you later.” Nick called. 

“Bye!” Chris called back. He turned to me. “Alright. Now we put everything in the coolers. Each cooler is labelled for it’s designated fruit, and anything dairy goes in the actual fridge, got it?” 

I nodded, grabbing some apples. “What grade are you in?” I asked curiously. 

“Just graduated.” Chris replied, focusing on what he was doing. 

“Oh cool, do you know where you want to go to college?” 

Chris looked at me for a second as he put the bananas in a cooler. 

“NYU.” He said simply, still looking at me as he blindly transferred the bananas. 

“That’s cool.” I smiled. “My oldest brother is just about to be a senior there.” I replied. 

I wondered what everyone was up to at home… All of my brothers were home for the summer and I could only imagine how much fun they were having with the massive pool…

We worked in silence for the remainder of the time it took to put away all of the fruit. 

“Because most people come to the beach around lunch time, we eat at 1.” Chris told me, lifting the cover from the front of the shack. “We have to put out the tables and chairs now. They’re stacked in the back.” 

Chris easily picked up one of the tables with the chairs still on it, and I raised my eyebrows at his taut muscles. Nice. 

I grabbed two of the chairs, deciding to take it in pieces. Sure, I was strong, but I knew I’d probably just embarrass myself if I tried too much. 

There was a total of 7 tables with four chairs to each, and we set them out in the sand in front of the shack in about 3 minutes. 

“We’re open now.” Chris smiled, turning the sign in the front of the shack from ‘closed’ to ‘open’. “Help me get these stools?” He asked. 

I helped him put down the stools that had been turned upside down and stacked underneath the counter on the customer side. Now there were 8 stools set up in front of the counter. 

“Alright. So a smoothie with 3 ingredients in it is 3 dollars. It’s an extra fifty cents for each added ingredients, got it?” Chris told me, pointing to the cash register. “And any of the snacks are one dollar.” He added, pointing to the array of chips, candy, and nuts. 

“That’s easy.” I nodded, smiling. 

Chris nodded and pulled his tank top off, tossing it on the ledge underneath the counter. 

“Excuse you.” I laughed, hyper aware of how close his bare torso was from me. 

“You might want to do the same. It gets pretty hot back here.” Chris said, pulling out two red baseball caps with pictures of fruit on the front around a sign that said ‘smoothie shack’. 

“I’m not taking my shirt off.” I laughed, shaking my head. 

“Suit yourself.” Chris winked, putting the baseball cap over my head so low that it covered my eyes. 

I laughed and adjusted it so that I could see. Chris pushed back his hair with his hand and set the baseball cap on top of his head. 

“It’s usually pretty slow until around 10.” He informed me. 

“Then why open so early?” I asked, leaning against the counter. 

“Because some people go for a jog on the beach, get a smoothie, and jog home.” Chris replied, leaning against the counter next to me. 

I nodded, resting my chin on my hands. 

By noon, my t-shirt was long gone and I was sweating like mad.

At first, I kept getting confused about prices and what to do, but by 11 or so, Chris and I fell into a rhythm that seemed to work. 

“Strawberry, banana, honey, oranges, blueberry.” I said over my shoulder to Chris. “That will be 4 dollars.” I told the woman in front of me. 

She handed me a five dollar bill. 

“1 dollar is your change. Your drink will be right up.” I told her as I handed her the dollar bill. She gave me a smile and walked to the other end of the counter, sitting on one of the stools. I closed the cash register, pressing clear so that the screen was blank. 

“Marley, flip the sign, it’s our lunch break now.” Chris called over the sound of a blender. 

I let out a sigh, leaning over the counter to flip the sign. 

Chris poured the smoothie into a cup and snapped a top on it. He called out the order and the woman raised her hand. 

“Here you go Jan, have a great day and tell Bobby I said hi.” Chris grinned, handing her the smoothie. 

“You know like everybody.” I laughed, as he removed his hat to run his hands through his hair before putting the hat back down. 

“By the end of the summer, so will you.” Chris said confidently, putting a key into the cash register. “Come on, let’s go get some lunch.” 

“Lunch?” 

“Food. That you eat. Around the middle of the day.” Chris laughed, walking through the short door at the end of the counter. 

“What about the shack?” I asked, frowning. 

“Tommy, watch it for me?” Chris called to the boy at the cash register of the swim suit shop next to the smoothie shack. 

“Yep!” Tommy called back. 

I recognized him as one of the guys that had been with Chris and Nick the night before. 

“What sort of food are you in the mood for? We can have hot dogs, hamburgers, salad, sandwich, anything.” Chris told me as we walked to the beach. “Even ice cream.” 

“Hotdogs?” I suggested, looking up at him. 

“Sure.” He nodded, walking up to a guy who was standing in between two barbecues. 

“Hey Pete, two hotdogs please?” Chris asked. 

“Of course, help yourself.” Pete nodded, gesturing to the table in front of him with hotdogs already in the buns. 

“Sweet, thanks man.” Chris grinned, picking up a hotdog. I did the same as him, but while he only put mustard on his, I only put ketchup on mine. 

“See you later Pete.” Chris called, walking away. 

“But don’t we have to pay?” I asked Chris, raising my eyebrows. 

“Nah, we work here, we don’t have to pay for food. Just like if any of them came by us, they wouldn’t have to pay.” Chris said, his mouth full of food. 

I nodded, taking a bite of my hotdog. “Mm this is good.” I said happily. 

“Course it is. It’s Pete.” Chris said, walking back to the shack. “We’ve still got about 15 minutes left of our lunch break, so if you want a smoothie I’ll make you one.” 

“Sure.” I smiled. 

“What do you want in it?” Chris asked, looking down at me. 

“Surprise me.” I grinned, my eyes trailing over his glistening torso. 

“Ooh Marley, you’ll regret that.” Chris winked, swallowing the last bite of his hotdog. 

“Please don’t kill me.” I laughed, sitting up on the counter opposite the prep one. 

“Don’t worry. Actually any combination is pretty good.” Chris said, his back to me as he prepared my smoothie. 

“Got any pineapple?” I asked, looking over his shoulder. 

“No, do you want some? We can start ordering some if you’d like.” Chris said, pouring some milk into the blender. 

“No I’m allergic. I was just letting you know incase you had any.” I laughed, crossing my legs. 

“Don’t worry. Pineapple isn’t that good in smoothies anyways.” Chris shrugged, scooping some ice cream into the blender. 

We were silent for the time that it took him to make the smoothie, but I was happy with just watching him work. It was weird being with a guy that wasn’t Logan, but in a way I liked the change… This was the first time I’d thought of Logan all day. I was determined to have a good time this summer, and Logan wouldn’t be a spoiler in my thoughts the whole time.

“One of everything.” Chris grinned, handing me a smoothie. 

I hesitantly looked at it. 

“Does it taste good?” I asked skeptically, tilting my head. 

“Yea.” Chris nodded, taking a sip of it. “Yum.” 

I laughed and took it from his hands. I nervously took a sip, but a smile soon spread across my face. 

“This is good!” I said, looking at him with wide eyes. 

“Told you.” Chris winked, resting his hands on either side of me on the counter. 

“What time does this place close?” I asked curiously, taking another sip of the smoothie. 

“5.” Chris told me. “But then we have to clean everything up. The leftover fruit goes to the dinner people on the beach, we have to put all the tables and chairs away in the back and clean everything up. So I usually get out of here at about 6, but with you helping it might go quicker.” 

I nodded. “Who says I’ll help?” I laughed, raising my eyebrows. 

“Your paycheck says you’ll help.” Chris told me, taking a step closer to me. 

My heart rate sped up and I could feel my cheeks flush against my will. I felt a flash of guilt. I’d been single for a day and now I’m flirting with someone else? Is this okay?

“We get paid?” I asked. 

Chris nodded. 

“Who pays us?” I asked curiously. 

“Well we get funds every week for the supplies and basic upkeep of this place, and the left over goes to us.” Chris explained, stepping back from me. “Alright. Let’s open back up.” 

I jumped off of the counter and reached over to flip the sign back to open. Chris handed me the keys and I unlocked the cash register. 

~*~*~

“That was easy.” I said, taking the hat off of my head. “Oh boy how bad is my hat hair.” I laughed, biting my lip. 

“Come on, let’s go swimming.” Chris smiled, putting his hat in the bin next to where I’d put mine. “Best way to cool down.” 

I grabbed my shirt as he grabbed his, and we walked out of the shack. Chris locked the back door and walked around to the front. 

I helped him pull down the cover and then followed him down to the beach. 

He dropped his shirt, keys, and iPhone onto the sand and headed towards the water. 

“Come on!” He called to me. 

I quickly dropped my shorts, leaving them in a pile on the sand with my t-shirt. I ran after Chris into the water. 

“It’s cold!” I laughed, shocked that he was already waist deep. 

“Oh come on don’t be a baby!” Chris told me as I slowly inched in. 

“I’m not a baby!” I shrieked, taking another step so that the water reached my knees. 

Chris dove under the water, disappearing for a moment. He resurfaced, shaking out his wet hair. 

“Once you go under, it’s not too bad.” He told me. 

I bit my lip, then dove forwards so that I was under the water completely. 

I came up, gasping for air and shaking my head. “Water in my nose.” I coughed, wincing at the unpleasant feeling. 

Chris laughed, running his fingers through his hair. 

I ducked my head under the water again, running my fingers through my hair to get rid of some of the knots. 

“Chris!” A girly voice said happily. “Hi!” 

“Oh great.” Chris muttered, looking at the beach. 

The two girls that I’d seen last night were standing with their feet barely touching the water, waving excitedly. They were wearing sundresses, one was white and the other was pink. But what shocked me, was that Mark was standing with them with the delivery guy Nick. I was impressed that Mark had already made friends, but then again, here I am with Chris…

“Hey!” Chris called, giving them a wave. “How are you guys?” 

“Great! Do you want to go on daddy’s boat with us?” The one in the pink sundress asked happily. 

“Uh, not today Katie, thanks for the offer.” Chris smiled. 

“Okay! I’ll tell him you can come tomorrow then! Bye Chris!” The other one said happily. 

They both ran away, heading towards a wooden pier farther down the beach with boats docked up and down it. 

“Cheerful apparently.” I laughed, starting to make my way back to the beach. 

“They come here every summer. They’re from New York. Spoiled brats if you ask me.” Chris shook his head as he followed me.

As I pulled my shorts up my legs, I saw Mark walking away from his new friends and up to Aunt Audrey’s house. 

“So do you want to-”

“I should go home.” I cut Chris off, watching Mark kick off his shoes. 

From all the way over here I could tell that he was pissed off about something. 

“Oh…” Chris said, his face falling slightly. 

Without another word, I grabbed my shirt and headed back to the house. 

“Are you about to start slamming up doors and swearing?” Aunt Audrey laughed from the kitchen. “He’s in your room.” 

I nodded, wiping off my bare feet on the rug by the back door before heading down the hall to my room. 

“So how was your day?” I asked Mark, sitting down on my bed next to him. He was laying on his stomach, his head in his hands. 

“I hate this.” Mark groaned. “I absolutely hate it. The girls are hot but they’re stuck up. My job sucks. I miss home. I want to go hang out with Logan but I can’t because he’s in freaken Michigan.” 

“What? Those blondes looked like they were having a good time with you?” I laughed, raising my eyebrows. 

“Yea but I can’t go on a boat.” Mark mumbled. 

“And why is that?” I raised my eyebrows. 

“Bahamas.” Mark said, his voice barely audible. 

“Oh come on…” I laughed, poking his shoulder. “That was 6 months ago.” 

“But it was with Nicole…” 

“Well hey now we don’t have to pretend to love someone?” I offered, trying to find a positive. 

“I just want to get drunk and hook up with someone.” Mark groaned. 

“Me too, brother, me too.”