Chapter 11 - "Are you single?"

    "Stop throwing sand at me."

"Never."

More sand was thrown at me.

"Zoey, stop!"

"No!"

I scoffed at the childish tone of Zoey, shaking my blonde hair out of it's ponytail. It was a couple days later and I still hadn't gone on the date with Luka. He wanted to surprise me so he was planning something and I was nervous. Our friends were tired of work, though, so everyone took the day to come to the beach.

Except we'd just gotten here and Zoey was throwing sand at me.

Zoey slipped her sundress off revealing her pink bikini and the guys a couple feet away whistled. She winked and blew them a kiss, except her new boyfriend Bradley (from the bar) growled and put his arm around her possessively. She giggled, kissing his cheek and the guys from the group visibly deflated. I felt a pair of eyes on me the entire time, grey ones who hadn't left me since I got here.

Gia was next to lose her clothes, producing her blue bikini and earning herself some whistles and cat calls. Chris glared at the guys, grabbing the sides of Gia's face and pulling her into a heated kiss. Once again, they looked dejected and they all looked to me. That would have felt flattering had I not been their last choice. The only one who'd made me a first choice was Mr. Grey eyes.

I was last, ripping it off like a bandaid and throwing my dress to the side to reveal my black bikini. I earned just as much calls and whistles, but when the guys looked towards Owen and Luka, who exchanged glances, I shook my head. When they saw neither of them came over to me they smirked, eyeing me like a piece of meat and I crinkled my nose.

Gross.

I followed the lead of my girls, laying down on my stomach on the towel Luka laid down for me. Zoey and Gia didn't need the tan, but I did. Living in Vermont had ruined any sort of tan I possessed.

I missed the beach more than I'd care to admit. The sand was warm on my skin, acting as a natural heating device for my red beach towel and the sun was out in full blast today. It was humid - like usual, but the mist coming off the ocean just barely hit us enough to make us comfortable.

The ocean was an alluring blue like it usually was, enticing me to go in but I wouldn't. I'd go swimming another day, today was all about getting some tan back since I hadn't had much to begin with. Normally I'd sit in the sun, burn, and go back to pale. Sometimes the sunburns would turn to a nice tan for at least a little while, which made my Irish roots happy. Usually they worked against me.

"Those guys were cute," Zoey murmured, sliding her sunglasses to cover her eyes.

"Brad," Gia mumbled, as if that was explanation enough. And it was.

"You're spoken for too," Zoey grumbled, shaking her head softly. "In fact you're getting married in like a month."

"Three and a half weeks," Gia corrected, sighing softly. "I hate going out, I want to write. I have so many ideas and so little time to write them down before I forget."

"Same thing," Zoey retorted, completely ignoring the second half of Gia's monologue. Rude.

"Did you see me flirt with them?"

"Did you see me flirt with them?"

"Uh... Yeah."

"Shut up."

"Children," I chastised. "You're ruining the sounds of the waves behind me. I'm trying to set the mood for my tan session."

The girls grumbled their disagreements at the fact that I cut them off, which I ignored and closed my eyes. The only bad part about an impromptu visit to the beach was forgetting things, like a cooler, or the umbrella my eyes were currently yearning for.

Gia, Zoey and I had made it a habit to bring an umbrella every time we went to the beach when we were younger. We'd put it just in front of us, at an angle so that the sun wouldn't be in our eyes but wouldn't cover our skin. It worked well, but we had sunglasses too in case the sun moved in an unusual direction.

Except one of the three of us moved to Vermont and ditched her sunglasses.

And that one of us was the only one wishing she'd kept them.

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and bring me out if my thoughts suddenly. The person lifted me off the ground and I squealed, thrashing around. I was no match for my attacker, and whoever it was simply carried me towards the ocean and dropped me in. The cold stung my warm skin like a bullet and I gasped, swallowing water accidentally. I came up spluttering only to see a laughing Luka.

He's a dead man.

With a glower I shot up fast as lightning and ran as best I could out of the water. He turned around, heading towards the sand but I was faster than him this time since his wet swim trunks were holding him back. I jumped on his back, tackling him down into the water and smirking triumphantly.

When I emerged and rung out my hair. I turned around, confused, until I saw the guy with grey eyes offering me a friendly smile. "Hey, I'm Todd."

I returned his smile, dropping my hair from my hands. "Hey Todd, I'm Chloe."

Todd ran a hand through his red hair, tousling it slightly. He was well endowed with taut muscles and a nice physique. He was only in a pair of shorts hung loosely on his hips and I licked my lips subconsciously.

"Hell yeah Chlo! Get some!"

I groaned. Zoey would be the death of me. Todd only laughed though, grinning at me. "Your friends seem cool."

I chuckled at that, shaking my head. "They aren't, trust me."

"Anyone who's friends with you is cool," Todd murmured, eyeing me momentarily before his eyes met mine again. He offered me a crooked smile. "I'd like to be your friend."

"Would you now?"

I grinned at the fact that he was about to say more, but I suddenly felt a presence behind me and two shadows appeared on the sand. I groaned, closing my eyes and shaking my head. I could only guess who the two people behind me were.

"Hope we're not interrupting," Owen commented.

"I hope we are," Luka proclaimed with a grin.

"You are," I told them bluntly, shrugging. "Bye."

"Anyways, Chloe," Todd mumbled with a raised eyebrow. "Are you single?"

"Yes." "No." "No."

I turned to glare at the men behind me, my nostrils flaring in annoyance. "Shut up!"

"She's not available, sorry," Luka told him, shrugging his shoulders.

I turned back to a confused Todd and sighed. "Want my number?"

"Absolutely," Todd mumbled with a smirk, pulling his phone out of his shorts, putting in his passcode and passing it to me.

I looked down at it to see a child was the background. Ignoring that, I pressed the dial pad and put my number in. I was just about to pass it back when it was snatched from my hands.

"What the-"

The words died in Todd's throat as he watched in horror as Luka swiftly lifted the phone and tossed it towards the ocean like a baseball. Owen coughed out a laugh and my mouth was hanging open watching the phone soar through the air then plop in with a small splash.

Luka coughed to himself as Todd turned to glare at him. "My bad, sorry man, I have Dystonia."

The amount of bullshit spewing out of his mouth rendered me speechless.

"Dys- what?"

"Dystonia," Luka explained with a shrug. "Involuntary muscle spasms. I'm so sorry man, one of the repetitive movements I do from it is throwing things."

"Right..." Todd trailed with a frown. "Well that's okay.. I guess."

I caught Luka's eye as my mouth opened in shock and his had the tiniest smirk. Then he turned back with his fake frown, faux concern and mind numbing amount of insincerity. "Thanks for understanding bro, not many people do and it really gets to me."

"Right well," Todd murmured, awkwardly fidgeting with the string of his shorts. "Uh, I guess I should get back to my friends before they leave me, seeing as I don't have a phone anymore.."

"Sorry 'bout that."

"It's alright," Todd mumbled dejectedly before turning to me. "Chloe if you ever wanna hang out, I live right over there."

He pointed to a white house just off the beach and I smiled, nodding in affirmation before watching him walk away to his curious friends. When he was out of earshot I turned and slapped Luka as hard as I could.

"Really?"

"What?"

"I have Dystonia," I mumbled masking my voice with the deepest I could. Then I went back to my normal octave. "You're the worst person."

"I believed him," Owen murmured with a smirk.

"Because you're an idiot."

"Loverboy believed me too, Cheese Puff."

"No, he's probably just shocked you threw his phone in the ocean."

"You say tomato, I say potato."

"That's not even the same thing!"

Our other three friends joined us then, Chris carrying something in his hand. He smiled widely at us, showing us his catch.

A sopping wet iPhone.

"Guys look what I found!"

While Luka and Owen laughed, I glared hatefully at them, then turned it to Chris. "Shut up Chris."

*

"Cheese Puff, I'm ready for our date."

"No."

"But you already said yes."

"No."

"Cheese-"

"No Luka!" I snapped, looking up from Gia's computer. She'd typed up an outline for another new story which would make this the fourth she was working on at one time, and she wanted my input. I gave her credit, the girl was a workaholic. "You ruined someones phone!"

"He was coming on to you!"

"I'm single!" I screeched, pushing Gia's laptop away from me gently. When I got mad, things started flying and her laptop was not about to be collateral damage. "I wanted him to come on to me!"

Luka frowned, hurt crossing his face briefly before he masked it. "But I asked you on a date. I didn't think you were the type of girl to date around."

"I wanted to be his friend, Luka," I informed him, sighing. "And besides, I thought you asked me to make Zoey jealous."

"God, I don't like Zoey!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Then who do you like?"

Luka's mouth opened wide as he stared at me incredulously. He peered around before walking towards the door of the kitchen. "I worry about those kids you're going to teach if you're this stupid."

I scoffed at his insult. "That's really rude."

"It's true!" Luka exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "Why would I ask you on a date to make Zoey jealous when she's not even going to be there? If I wanted to do that, I'd just tell her we were going on a date!"

Well that made sense. But then why did... "But Owen did."

"No, he didn't! He's just a stupid idiot that thinks with his dick instead of his head. There's a reason he went into acting Zoey!"

I cocked a brow. "My name's Chloe."

Luka's eyes widened. "I-I didn't-"

"So you do like Zoey."

"No, we were talking about her I didn't mean to-"

"You know, there's only one other time a guy's called me by another girl's name, and that was during sex. This is new."

He growled, punching the trash can before angrily striding out of the room. I watched as the trash can wobbled side to side before plummetting to the ground with a resounding clash. A couple wrappers fell out at the impact; thankfully Chris had just taken it out this morning. Then I looked back to where Luka had taken off to.

What was his problem?