Nate (A Texas Jacks Novel) (47 page)

“Nope, not this time,” she frowns over at the boys. “It was actually Jude, if you can believe it.” She says under her breath, so no one but she and I can hear.
That is a shocker
. Jen is normally the best at this game, and Jude’s not one to make bets.
I wonder why he did that.

“Really? That is a surprise. How much do you owe him?” I laugh at her pouty face.

“I don’t owe him anything,” she says, which confuses me. “I have to take him out to dinner,” she mumbles.

Okay, what?
Does Jude like her after all?
What the world is going on here?
I’ll find out later, but as for now, I want to see how far I can tease her before she cracks.

“What’s that? I don’t think I quite heard you right. Can you speak up a little louder? With all of these waves, it’s making me a bit hard of hearing.” I lay on the innocent act. I want her to have to say it louder, and watch as her face blushes a brighter shade of red. Sometimes I think she has a secret crush on him, but refuses to admit it.

“Oh, you heard me, big ears! I’m not repeating it.” She huffs and puffs, and I think she’s about to tackle me. However, she decides to splash water in my face instead, and it gets in my eyes and mouth.

“Hey, it’s on, now!” I shout before diving towards her, causing her to scream and laugh while trying to escape me, but she can’t swim away fast enough. I manage to get to her and push her head underwater, then swim a bit away from her. She comes up for air, sputtering out water while trying to wipe her eyes. She looks around, and spots me before diving my way, causing me to freak out because she’s good at payback and no way do I want to be near the ocean when she gets her revenge. The boys are egging her on while laughing at both of us. I swim to the nearest sandbar and get out on it as fast as I can. Pretty soon, the boys and Ava have joined us as I try to run away from Jen, looking like a crazy lady while cracking up. I’m laughing so hard that I end up tripping as I step wrong and go down for the count.

Next thing I know, it looks like we’ve started our own WrestleMania match before someone shouts, “Let’s play chicken!” If that doesn’t get the boys’ full attention, then maybe that topless lady down the beach will do the trick.
Seriously, did you have to go there?
I scold my brain, causing my arms to form involuntary goose bumps.
I’ll have a nightmare about her tonight, that’s for sure.

By the time we crawl out of the ocean, flopping onto the sand like beached whales, our waterlogged bodies are exhausted. The skin on my face feels hot and tight from the sun, and my limbs are all like limp noodles. My brain has given into fatigue, and no one dares to move from our spots. But eventually we do get up and make our way back to the hotel. I’m not sure how we even managed to get back to our rooms without dropping dead on the way up, though.

I’m lying on the bed, when suddenly a pillow smacks me in the face, eliciting much laughter from two people at my expense. “Oh, so mature,” I laugh with them, because I’m too tired to care or do anything else. “Let’s just stay in tonight, rent a movie, and order in our dinner.” I say, right before Ava pegs Jen on the side of her head, which makes me laugh so hard. But I’m so tired that I can’t move to join in on the fun.

“Hey, watch it, woman! I have a sunburn, and geez, that hurts.” She laughs then quickly winces when she feels the stinging of the sunburn hitting her at full force. I’m not sure why, but right now this makes me laugh like a hyena.
I can’t help it. I’m so exhausted that everything is funny, I suppose.

“Are you high?” Ava eyes me suspiciously.

“Are you even playing right now?” I ask her, cracking up. “Oh my gosh. Why would you even ask a stupid question like that?”

“I don’t know. I figured you must have gotten a contact high after being in the elevator with all of the potheads from the floor above us. Can’t you smell it?” she asks, rolling her eyes at me.

“How do you even know what that smells like? I know nothing about it, and plan to keep far from it. So there’s your answer. I’m not high,” I state as I roll onto my side so I can pull myself up to a sitting position. “So, what’s the plan for dinner?”

“I know we’re tired, so maybe we can rest for an hour then head out and find food after?” Jen hopefully asks both Ava and I.

“Sure. A nap would be nice. How about we all take turns in the hot shower to rid ourselves of this saltiness, and then nap off our drunken, sun-induced state before heading out. Sound like a plan, Stan?”

“Why do you always look at me when you say ‘Stan?’” I ask her.

“I don’t always look at you,” she says as she heads to the bathroom to shower first.

“Whatever. Just go shower, Joe Schmo, so we can all get this nasty salt off. I’m closing my eyes for a bit until you’re both done.” I say as I flop back down onto the mattress and relax.

The next thing I know, I’m waking up with salt on my body, sunburnt skin, and a roaring headache. I look over and see that no one else is in the room with me. I feel slightly dazed and just plain rotten. I take a glance towards the sliding glass door and see that it’s visibly later in the day, so I climb out of bed and head to the bathroom. I’m sure the girls are off visiting others from our school. I decide to hop in the shower and get ready before they get back so we can eat soon. I’m starving, and my next meal is as far as my brain can really let me think about.

About 45 minutes later, I’m ready, and I hear people at the door. I pop my head out of the bathroom, where I was adding the last touches of makeup, to find that the girls are back, along with some guests. I eye them with brows raised, doing my best to give them the ‘mom look,’ while crossing my arms over my ample chest.

“We have company,” Ava cheerfully states the obvious, a bit too late.

“I can see that, smart-aleck.”
Oh my gosh, I just sounded like my mom right then.

“So, this is our friend, Hollie.” Jen says, trying to dispel the embarrassing moment.

“It’s nice to meet you, Hollie. I’m Jason, and these guys are my friends, Chase and Evan.” Jason says with a slight nod toward his friends.

“We’re actually your upstairs neighbors. Our room is directly above yours,” Evan states.

“And how did you all meet, exactly?” I look to Jen for the truthful answer.

“Oh, see, earlier while you were sleeping, the guys were goofing off and dropped a shoe over the edge of their balcony, and it landed on our patio. So, we threw it back up to them. Then we got to talking, and they invited us up to hang out until you woke up.” Ava explains, instead of Jen.

“The guys were just talking about ordering a pizza and hanging out here. They were tired of being around all the smoke on their floor,” Jen fills me in.

“And once again, how do you know about this drug?” I wonder aloud, for the second time today.

“We’ve never tried it, as you should know, but we’ve heard about it around school. You live in a bubble sometimes, and you don’t always realize what’s right under your nose,” Ava chides me a bit.

“Mom? Did I remember asking you to come on this trip with me?” I say to her, reminding her to check her
mom-a-tude
at the door.

“So—anyway, what do you ladies say to pizza?” Jason asks hopefully, while giving Jen his best charming smile.

“I think it sounds good. Though, we should get out of this hotel and find a place to eat at. I know I could eat a whole pie on my own. I’m
that
hungry right now.” I embarrassingly blurt out.
Oh well. It’s not like we’ll see these guys again after this week is over.

“Awesome. There’s a
Round Table Pizza
right across the street,” Evan shares with us. We all end up easily agreeing to it, as it sounds to me like the best possible plan at the moment.

“Follow us, boys,” Ava says in her best flirty voice. I roll my eyes over at Jen, then go to grab my purse and hotel key before heading out the door.

Once outside of the hotel, we make our way across the street, enjoying the late afternoon weather. I’m glad I put on shorts and sandals, as it doesn’t seem like it will cool off any time soon.
This weather is nothing like Holly Grove, that’s for sure.
One could get spoiled by this weather every day.
It’s perfect
.

Over pizza, the girls flirt to their hearts’ content, and the guys eat it up like it’s ice cream. They just can’t get enough. They joke around and tease us, and in the end we all have a really good time. Even if I was a grump at first, and didn’t feel so great, I’m really enjoying myself now. These guys are pretty funny, and have turned out to be a lot of fun to be around.

After our late lunch or early dinner—because I honestly can’t decide what that just was—we get up from the table and head out of the chilly restaurant and into the pleasantly warm air. I sigh with relief upon exiting the doors. My body went from freezing to warming up instantly.

“So, the guys and I were talking earlier today about renting mopeds. Would you want to come with us?” Jason asks, giving Jen a hopeful look. “It’s supposed to be a lot of fun. We may even be able to double up.”

“Sweet, that sounds like fun. Let’s totally do it.” Ava excitedly says to me and Jen.

“Sure, why not? We did say we wanted to do all that we could while we are here. I’m down for it.” Jen says, which makes Jason seem happier.

Jason
is
a good-looking guy with his dark hair, amber colored eyes and tall, toned form. But I still think Jen and Jude would be the perfect match. They would make cute babies together, all with blond hair and blue eyes and creamy pale skin. I feel an elbow in my ribs before I realize I’ve been caught daydreaming about my much too young friend and Jude making cute babies.

I blush with embarrassment, even though they have no clue what I was thinking. “Umm, sure that sounds like fun. I’m in.” I manage to get out.

The guys are happy, and Evan shares a smile with us. “Awesome. Okay, let’s go rent some mopeds and explore while there’s still daylight.”

I sure hope we know what we’re getting ourselves into. We don’t even know these guys, and here we are being extremely trusting. But as we make our way towards the moped rental place, we see other kids from our school headed in the same direction.

And oh look, there’s Jude.
“Hey Jude!” I call out, just because I can. For some reason, I want to giggle. Jen gives me a sharp look.
Oh boy
. Someone doesn’t want me to rain on her happy little parade with Jason.

“What are you doing?” Jen hisses quietly at me.

“What?” I ask with my best innocent look. Ava and I crack up quietly, so the boys don’t know what in the world we’re up to as they walk slightly ahead of us, yammering on about sports.

“You know what. I don’t have a secret crush on Jude. He’s cute, nice, and just not my type,” she says in an annoyed tone.

“Sure, whatever you say.” I laugh then pick up my walking speed to catch up with Jude and the gang.

“Hey Hollie, what’s up?” he asks as soon as I make it a few feet over in his direction.

“We’re on our way to the moped rental shop. What are you guys up to?”

“We were actually headed that way, too. Cool. We can all ride together.”

“Perfect! I’ll tell the others, and you can meet our new friends.” I smile over at Jen and Ava as they catch up to us. “Guess what?” I say to them, fighting a smile.

“I don’t know. What?” Ava plays along.

“Jude and the guys are headed the same way we are, and said they would love to ride with us. Isn’t that great?” I make my voice sound overly excited.

“Yes, great it is, indeed.” Jen says coolly. I know that later, she will exact revenge on me.

“Good. Let’s introduce all of the guys together, and get this party started!” Ava shouts.

Jason, Chase and Evan make their way over to us and I make the introductions. Then we set off to
Honolulu Moped Rentals
. It’s about a mile-long walk from our hotel, and it feels good to walk off the greasy pizza we just ate. It’s also a good way for the guys to get acquainted, and to enjoy the sunshine in a leisurely way. One thing I can say about Jason and his crew is that they are efficient with information and directions. They told us at the restaurant that they had mapped out everything that there was to do here that morning. They wanted to try as much as possible, and didn’t want the hassle of being lost or taking excessively long routes around the island. They scouted the area out, and asked a lot of questions at the front desk. They also have a map of the area, highlighted and scribbled on. They would make great boy scouts, which makes me wonder if they ever were.

We had a blast riding on the mopeds, and bringing Jude along was a great idea. We drove all around the area, making sure we didn’t end up on the highway to the North Shore. After all, we did have a time frame to have the mopeds back by.

After walking us to our hotel room, the guys say goodnight to us, then head down the hall. However, we notice that they stop in the middle of the hall and put their heads together, talking quietly for a few moments. Then they look back at us with grins on their faces and make their way back over. Jason nudges Chase in the ribs.