#shameless plugging

So I ended up tagging along since Stevie was my friend and I practically did everything with the Wilkersons. Honestly, I was stoked to do some actual outdoor activities and tan a little bit. I even brought a bikini I had been dying to wear somewhere nice; this weekend seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I was wearing jean shorts and a thin top. I had my blonde curls up in a ponytail with a baseball hat on to shield me from the scorching sun. I hadn't been able to wear something this breezy and cute in ages. I wasn’t your exact definition of a tomboy, I just hadn't had opportunities to showcase my femininity, so I often got told off as one.

I had a few hefty bags in hand, but they were not much. Reese came in insisting to take them off of me, of course. Even though he already seemed to have a lot on his hands. "Hey, it's fine, I can handle a few bags. Look at you already struggling with those chairs," I teased.

"Whatever, just trying to help you out." He said with a snarl in that gravelly voice of his, I still hadn't gotten used to how much he was changing. Him and Malcolm, but him moreso. His voice had gotten much deeper, his features had gotten more defined, and he was slightly taller than me. I had always been taller than the Wilkerson boys asides from Francis, I mean, Reese was exactly my height less than a year ago! I didn't like puberty on him, nor Malcolm.

We got in front of the house and set our bags on the ground for some rest, Dewey had already rushed in but quickly came out screaming. "There's no TV!"

Hal turned around to the lake's view. "There's your TV."

I gotta admit, it sucked that there wasn't a TV, but I could look at that view forever.

Reese interrupted my brief moment of wonder, "I don't see any TV." I let out a scoff at his stupidity.

Mr. Kenarban caught up to us, and we continued moving. I set my stuff inside the house boat, it was small, but actually kinda nice. I wasn't sure where i'd be sleeping though... oh well, we always figured something out. I noticed the guys were still outside, so I went over to check on them.

I braced myself from the morning sunlight, and I saw all three of them in locked a trance. I looked at their field of view, and there was a boat with a bunch of hot girls on it. Of course. I heard the girls giggle, and all three of the boys' mouths hung wide open. I rolled my eyes at their idiotic behavior. As if that could get those girls to notice them.

"Wait, where are you guys going?" Malcolm said to the girls.

"Follow us and find out." One of the girls said in a nasally voice. I didn't understand why those older girls would want anything to do with these three idiots.

"Get... the boat." Stevie says breathily and they all scrambled towards it. I followed behind them with a frown. Before I could interject with anything, Hal came out with his fishing gear and hat on.

"Ready to go fishing, son?" he said, but Malcolm was already on a different boat. The man exchanged a few words with Malcolm before grabbing Reese by his shoulders instead.

"Now don't you take this personally, son. This is a special thing between Malcolm and me, just this one time." Reese nodded, he obviously had no problem with this.

"Too bad you can't come with us." He turned to Malcolm smugly.

"Too bad we're taking the boat,” Malcolm rebutted, and Reese's expression shifted instantly into his trademark scowl.

"Wait, you guys aren't seriously trying to follow those girls, right?" I finally said. They looked at me and back at each other.

"I mean, we were. But now that Malcolm is taking the stupid boat." Reese frowned and kicked the air, and before he could continue, Hal walked back out all prepped to go on the boat.

"C'mon, son." He said joyously. The boat began to move away as he waved at us.

"What... are... we.. gonna do... now?" Stevie asked in defeat. Reese thought for a moment, and in the next ten minutes he was combining each floatie we've got to create a makeshift boat. He was tying Stevie's wheelchair to it when I interjected on his handiwork, "So you guys are just gonna leave me here?" My voice was laced with desperation. I sunk into my flowy top, accentuating my poor posture. How pathetic.

Reese lifted Stevie up with little to no struggle. The younger boy was almost his weight—I had no idea he was capable of doing that. I began to question if I could still beat him up just as well as I could when we were little. He set Stevie on the boat and he crawled to the seating. "I'm... sorry... Tessa." Stevie breathed.

I shook my head at his apology and turned to Reese, who was still on the deck with me. "Reese, you better not do this to me. What am I gonna do here all alone?"

He turned to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Look, we've gotta do this. Now you can either tell our Moms, and ruin our lives, or stay cool. And I asked you if you wanted to come! So just... hang out with Dewey—or Mom. Just don't tell her, okay! We'll be back before ten... I mean, I can't promise that, but..." He gave me a sympathetic smile, but my frown did not dissipate. I said nothing as he joined Stevie on the boat and began to row away—agonizingly slow, the other boy turning back to me to wave goodbye. I didn't wave back, my fists remained clenched at my sides.

"Jerks!" I yelled towards them, letting out all my frustration, but they probably didn't even hear me.

I watched helplessly from the deck as they kept sailing away. I turned away to take the walk of shame to the lake's shore. I wallowed in self pity. Why would they do that to me? Leave me all alone on that deck for a couple of random girls. Actually, I knew exactly why. Ugh, I should have expected that from Reese. It was like every few months he just got to be more and more of a womanizing player. So gross! And he never even got any girls! If anything, they just flocked away from him. I was probably the only girl that had given him the time of day for years before those girls came around and happened to talk to him.

It was moments like these when I really missed Francis. Before he moved away, at least there was somebody around here who cared about me. He always made sure I wasn’t left behind, sometimes even favored me above the rest of the boys, much to their dismay. For the past two years that he had been away, it was like they had gained full permission to act like assholes.

Maybe if Francis were here, we would have lit fireworks by the lake and ran away from the rangers who were chasing us down because we had just done something totally illegal. Maybe then, the boys would have regretted missing out and leaving for those girls. What was I supposed to do without Francis?

The sound of laughter interrupted my thoughts, and I looked towards it. A group of tall teenage boys were messing around by the lake, all broad chests and luscious hair—how convenient. They were huddled around with their surf boards and... were those some kind of water motorcycles? I fell into a trance similar to the one the boys were in before me, before I was pulled out of it by the sound of one of the guys' voice, "Hey, Blondie, you want a ride?"

I looked around to make sure they were talking to me, subconsciously touching my frizzy blonde hair. I hate when the humidity gets to it, I thought.

I let out a girly giggle, something unusual to come out of my mouth, quickly covering my braces wired smile, "Me?"

"Yeah, you, who else?" A boy with blond hair yelled back at me. I slowly walked over to them, what's the worst that could happen?

"Hey, you guys surfers?" I pointed to their surfboards. "I’m from Huntington Beach, you know, ‘Surf City’." I lied. I did a weird wave motion with my hands, as if that was what a cool surfer girl would do.

"Yeah." A cute guy with long, messy brown hair came up to me, "We got our Jet Skis too, the whole deal." Oh, that's what those things are called .

"Cool." I shuffled nonchalantly. I tried my hardest not to blush since all four of them were shirtless and... hot. I looked around, Reese and Stevie were nowhere to be found on the lake, And not a sight of Lois. It was safe. It was a bit intimidating being around four boys that looked like that. I didn't even know if they were my age, though they looked somewhere around it.

For the next few hours, I lost track of time as I rode on their jet-skis and soaked up all the attention they gave me. The brunet boy particularly took interest in me, and I didn't mind it at all. He was straight out of a magazine cover. When we said our goodbyes, I was the exact personification of 'giddy as a schoolgirl'.

I walked back to the houseboat with a huge smile plastered on my face, hair wet and wild from the water that splashed on it during my escapade with the jetski boys. Yeah, I did spend the entire time falling off and lying about my supposed surfing skills, but at least I got one thing out of it. I fiddled with the piece of paper scribbled with the brunet's number in my hand. I ran into with Reese and Stevie on the way, they had arrived from their search of the boat girls with smiles on their faces akin to mine. So they did find them...

Reese was helping Stevie back on his chair while raving about something when his eyes met mine. I gave him a death glare, and he knew exactly what it meant since his grin quickly disappeared. I absolutely had not forgiven him for leaving me stranded like that, even though it led to me having much more fun than I would with him. I walked past him and right into the houseboat. He left Stevie on the deck and stumbled to follow right after me. "Tess, wait!"

I shut the door of the houseboat in his face to stall him, but he just opened it immediately after. "What?" I whipped around to face him once we were both inside. Malcolm and Hal were already back and lounging in the houseboat, but I wasn't sure where Lois and the Kenarbans were.

"Look, I'm sorry. But you can't blame me, those girls were all over me! What was I supposed to do?" His shrill voice yelled. Malcolm tried to contain his shock at what Reese was saying since his father was right there.

"You—" Malcolm tried to say to his brother, but forced his mouth shut.

"Stop making excuses Reese! Plus, I don't care anyway. I made a few friends of my own." I gave him a smirk.

"What are you talking about?! What friends?" You don't have any other friends." Ouch, now that hit a nerve.

We continued bickering for the rest of the night, and when we had dinner, I didn't sit with Reese, Malcolm, and Stevie like I normally would have. Lois asked why, but I just brushed it off, saying I just wanted to spend time with her. I caught a glimpse of Reese sniffing what looked like a bikini top during dinner and I almost gagged. Great, now my appetite was ruined. He could be so disgusting. What really ruined my night though, was the Kenarbans' constant fighting. It reminded me of my parents before their divorce, and caused some unpleasant memories to resurface. I thought this trip would go way better.

As we were settling in to sleep, I realized I would have to share a bed with Reese, just as we normally did during sleepovers. I was hoping there would be more room for us to bunk separately tonight, but alas... Usually, I didn't mind it. I was always a deep sleeper so his squeaky nostril and occasional snoring didn't bother me. His incessant drooling was pretty gross though.

Right now, he didn't need to drool for me to be grossed out by him. He was giggling with Stevie just as they had been doing the whole night. The only person who seemed to share my sour mood was Malcolm, who slumped onto his bed alongside Dewey. At least he didn't have to be in the middle of the two boys.

I spied Reese shoving a little piece of fabric under his pillow, and I quicky grabbed his arm, catching him red handed. It was the bikini top he had been sniffing earlier.

"Hey! I'm not sleeping anywhere near that nasty thing. Get it away from me!" I scolded him in a loud whisper. He scowled and begrudgingly got up to shove the top into his backpack, muttering indignantly as he came back to bed and kicked his way into the sheets, elbowing me in the process. I kicked him in the shin for good measure, before turning away, only to be faced with Stevie on the other bed holding another bikini top up to his face as he slept. I didn't think my eyes could roll back any further. I turned back to Reese who was also frowning at the sight of Stevie.

"This is such bullshit. I'm barely tired... I wonder what those girls are doing at this time of night," he sighed. My own thoughts trailed back to the boys I had met today, and I wondered the same thing about them, albeit my thoughts didn't sink as far deep into the gutter as Reese, I could imagine.

"I'm sure it's nothing as exciting as what you're thinking of," I deadpanned as I finally twisted into a comfortable position on the cheap foam mattress.

"Whatever, you don't get it," Reese grumbled as he did the same, our knees clinking at the movements.

He was right, I did not get it. Stunts and explosions I could get, but chasing after girls I did not get. My heart clenched a little at his distant tone. He used to share everything with me, no matter how shocking or upsetting. Not being able to share something together didn't quite feel right, but I wasn't sure if he felt the same way.

What if he was pushing me away? I smothered those angry feelings away as I felt his breathing slow down. The sounds of everyone else's snores mingled together and lulled me to sleep, not allowing me to dwell on my little dispute with Reese any longer.

☆

The next day, I was back with the hot guys, Reese and Stevie were back with the hot girls, and Malcolm was back to fishing with his Dad. All seemed to be in its right place.

I decided to wear my bikini with my jean shorts this time, since there was a chance I could take a dip, and it was sure that I would be getting splashed a lot.

The brunet guy, who's name I learnt was Josh, was being extra touchy with me today. And when the day ended, he stopped me before I could leave for the house boat. "Wait up, Blondie!" I had told him my actual name, but I could get used to that nickname coming from such a pretty mouth.

"Yeah." I stopped and turned to face him.

"I just—" he stammered, "You're coming tomorrow too, right?" He smiled at me, it was such a perfect pearly smile too. He walked closer to me. The sun was beginning to set behind us.

"I don't know, probably not. Why are you asking?" I let out a light laugh and squinted at him cheekily.

"Well, uh. I guess I just don't want you to leave so soon." He came even closer and pulled me in by my waist, and my smile grew.

"Awh, that's so sweet." I said softly. His face was a few inches away from mine, and my breath hitched. The warmth of his hand was comforting against the cold air on my bare waist. He kept getting closer, it was like he was about to kiss me. Oh my god! He was about to kiss me!

And he did.

His lips were soft against mine, and at first, I didn't exactly know how to react. I had thought about this moment for years now, practically studied it, but my knowledge failed me. I began to move my hands up to run them through his curly hair as I kissed him back. I didn't know if he was just that good of a kisser or if it was my lack of experience speaking, but I completely sunk into the kiss, my self doubt an afterthought.

The sunset behind us and the mountains and the view of the lake. It felt so magical that I did that stupid foot-pop thing like in the movies, and immediately tried my hardest not to cringe.

I bet Reese didn't get to meet such a perfect girl and end up kissing her like I was right now. Wait—why was I thinking about Reese? I was having my first kiss and thinking about him?! I mentally slapped myself and tried to refocus on what was going on at the moment.

That was before something hit Josh and he abruptly pulled away. A rock.

I looked towards where the rock came from.. and speak of the devil. My blood boiled at the sight of him.

Reese had the absolute nerve to ruin my perfect moment with the perfect guy at the perfect lake in front of the perfect sunset. With rocks! I seethed. Really?

"What the hell?!" Josh yelled at him.

"Leave her alone!" Reese yelled back, his voice was small and even mousy compared to Josh's. He was winding up to throw another rock. 

"I'm sorry, wait a sec'," I excused myself before grabbing the rock at our feet, and throwing it back, hard. It hit his arm with a thump. Dammit, I was going for his face! Josh stared at me in disbelief as I stomped towards where Reese was, a bit ahead of the shore. As I walked, I yelled to him, "What the hell is wrong with you, Reese?!"

Josh called out to me in disbelief as I made a beeline towards Reese, "you know this guy?!" I ignored him and continued scolding the Wilkerson boy.

"What the hell is wrong with me? What is wrong with you?!" He retorted, a scowl on his face.

"You're the one that threw a rock at us!" I scoffed. I couldn't believe him.

"Hell yeah I did! Who is that creep anyway?! I wasn't gonna' let him grope you like that."

"Oh, so now you're a saint. We were kissing and you interrupted that! Or do you not know what a kiss looks like, huh?" I resisted the urge to punch him square in the jaw.

"Why are you kissing some guy you don't even know anyway?!" he retorted.

My eye landed on a hickey, huge, purple, and pulsing on the side of his neck. Gross! "That's easy for you to say. Look at that giant bruise on your neck! You probably got that from some random tramp who would stoop so low to even touch you!" My rage was insurmountable at this point. He was such a goddamn hypocrite! Who does he think he is?

"Oh, I'm sorry I tried to protect you," he drawled sarcastically.

"I don't need your stupid protection, Reese! Get away from me!" I clencheed my fists, resisting the urge to handle this the good ol' fashioned way. After all, we made a pact not to get into any physical fights just recently. He gave me one last look of disdain before whooshing around.

"Whatever, but don't come running to me when he does something to you!"

"Oh, I assure you, I won't be needing your assistance anytime soon!" I glared daggers into his back as he stormed away. I shook in anger and almost regretted letting him off so easily. Where was he even going? That wasn't the right direction to the houseboat. What an idiot!

I finally turned to Josh, who was dumbstruck, staring at us. I ran back to him. "God! I am so sorry about that," I apologized casually, my smile returning. That was so embarrassing. He frowned at me, it was a look I hadn't seen on his flawless face before.

"You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend." His tone was stiff. That charming look in his eyes was gone and was now replaced with contempt.

I stared at him in confusion. "What... Reese isn't— he's just my stupid friend, who-"

"No. I know how this shit works. How could you not tell me about this?" He looked at me in disgust before walking away, and all I could do was stand there. I tried to form words but all that came out were a few indiscernible 'wha' sounds.

Reese was going to pay for this.

I stormed into the houseboat, the flimsy door slamming shut behind me. Lois was there and noticed the rage practically seeping out of me and asked what was wrong. "I don't know, Lois! Maybe if you could raise a better son there wouldn't be anything wrong!" I quickly regretted saying that, especially with that tone. The look on her face confirmed that I was right. Oh no.

In my 14 going on 15 years of growing up alongside their family, Lois had always spared me her rage. No matter what part I played in the boys' train of horrors, she gave me mercy.

I had been practically the partner in crime to the Wilkerson boys ever since I could walk. And although I was always somehow included in everything that they got up to, I never failed to come out unscathed. Never-minding the times I joined in on their punishments for my own leisure, none of Lois' methods were ever particularly directed at me.

I guess you could say I was immune to this family.

Until now, where Lois was giving me a look I had learnt was only reserved for the boys.

"Hey, calm down, missy!" Her eyebrows scrunched at the middle, "sit." She pointed to the seating area. So I obeyed, legs still bouncing with anger and newfound fear. She took another look at me, "is it Reese?" I didn't say anything, confirming her suspicion. She sighed and sat next to me, her anger simmering down quickly. "So, what'd he do this time?"

Some tension instantly released out of my shoulders as I slumped in relief. She didn't seem as angry as I thought. But the pit of anxiety in my stomach got deeper as I realized I had to explain to her what had ensued the past few days. "Promise you won't get mad at me... or tell my dad?"

"When have I ever gotten mad at you?" I tried to give her a smile at that comment, but I was too upset even for that.

I sighed. "I met this cool guy at the lake. Like, really cool... and cute." I started, and she smiled at the last part.

"Go on..."

"And, I've had an awesome two days with him since Reese and Stevie left me all alone to do... boy stuff." I contemplated telling her about the girls and Reese’s hickey, but I decided against it. My loyalty to never snitching even after what Reese did to me still strong, that would have to be the absolute last resort. "The guy ended up kissing me today, like, he actually kissed me; and it was amazing." Lois tilted her head. "But then Reese comes in out of nowhere, and he decides it's a great idea to throw rocks at him. Can you believe that? Rocks in the middle of our kiss!" I averted my eyes from their position staring at the ground to look at her, feeling a lot braver now that the difficult part was over. "And then he tries to justify that by saying he was trying to 'protect me'—when he's the one that left me alone this entire vacation! And now, he's ruined my chance at getting a boyfriend. That cute guy doesn't even wanna talk to me anymore, all because of him."

She put an arm around me and rubbed my arm affectionately. "Oh, that boy is such an idiot."

"Tell me about it." I leaned into her comforting embrace.

"But, you do know he has good intentions, right?"

'Really? cause it just seemed like he was trying to ruin my vacation for his own fun,' I thought.

"The both of you—you're getting older, and you're having all these new, confusing feelings... Look, I know what he did really hurt you, but it seems like he really thought it would help you... You know how he's always been willing to fight anyone that spoke badly of you or bullied you," I nodded, remembering all the times Reese had stood up for me. She continued, "well, now there are more threats now, and he has more things he thinks he should protect you from. That includes boys that you could date. In Reese's eyes, all of them are up to no good. And I get it, you can handle your own problems, but he just doesn't want to stand by and let anything bad to happen to you." Her kind eyes bore into mine. "He loves you, you know that." I nodded again.

She raised her eyebrows and spoke again, "truth is, it's starting to sound like he might even like you a little bit." My eyes widened at that, and inside, my stomach fluttered wildly. Reese liking me?! In thatway?

It was a ridiculous thought, I told myself. I felt blood rushing to my cheeks.

She patted my shoulder and got up. "Ha! I'm just kidding. I can ground him for you if you want, even make him do all the housework he hates. You name it."

I laughed, "No, I don't think even Reese deserves that. I think I'll handle him on my own, give him a nice punch in the face. I haven't done that in a while." I joked.

"You know, I think you completely have the right to do that..." She shook her head. "Oh, and if you have that boy's number, try calling him when we get home. If he really likes you, he'll try to understand. If not, then he never deserved you in the first place."

"Thank you, Lois."

When I saw Reese again, I pushed him into the lake instead of punching him as promised. 'that's for ruining my vacation!' I had said.

However, when he emerged out of the water, soaking wet and frazzled. I got the strange urge to pull him in for a hug.