A few weeks went by. The boys were surfing, but it was around the time they would be heading back soon.
Hungry.
I put all their orders in and went to take care of the new table that was outside on the deck. Amber said it was a party of one, so I carefully placed a glass of water, chips and salsa on the tray with my eyes intently watching the movement of the glass. I hated using this damn thing.
It wasn’t the tray this time, just my plain ol’ clumsiness as I accidentally hit the glass, knocking it over and into the customer's lap.
“Crap! I’m so sorry!” I ran to get more napkins and when I came back he stood, wiping off all the water from his board shorts. It was then that I noticed how tall he was, as tall as my boys.
He hovered above me. “It’s okay, accidents happen,” he said, sitting back down and looking up at me for the first time.
He seemed around my age, bright green eyes and blond hair, fair skin. A dimple on each side of his cheeks, I noticed them and he wasn’t even smiling. The complete opposite of Lucas, but I still found him very attractive.
I blushed when I realized I hadn’t stopped staring at him. “Sorry.” I bowed my head, cleaning up the mess from the table and handing him the napkins. “Your lunch is on me.”
“That’s not necessary.” His voice was deep, also like the boys. With a crooked grin exposing the dimples in his cheeks, catching me off guard, he asked, “What’s your name?”
My hand wiped small circles on the clean spot while I tried like hell to regain composure. My name? What was it? I could only think of one thing. “Half-Pint!” I yelled out in realization.
My new friend laughed a cute, raspy laugh while I felt the crimson burn in my cheeks, knowing they were visibly glowing.
“I think you misunderstood. I was asking for a name, not a measurement.”
I felt the red color leaving my face when I laughed, too. “Yeah, sorry. Everyone calls me Half-Pint.”
“Cole, Cole Hayes,” he nodded with an extended hand and the same boyish grin, exposing the cute little dents in his cheeks again.
“Alex, my name’s Alex,” I reaffirmed as my small hand slipped into his. I could still feel the damp, wrinkles in his palms from surfing in salt water all day. It felt like Lucas’s hand. The unfamiliar handshake was a nice change of pace. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d shook someone’s hand. Maybe the Pastor from church? This handshake was different. It was nice. I let my hand linger in his while the name Cole rolled silently off my tongue.
“Alex? What’s it short for?”
“How do you know it’s short for anything?” I questioned with my hand on my hip, rag in hand, still holding his hand, or was he holding mine? I think we both held the grasp.
“You’re too pretty to have a boy name.”
That’s when I pulled my hand away. That’s when I tried to be cool, keep my eyes from expanding, and reel in the crimson burning my nose, hoping like hell he didn’t notice.
“That color of red looks really nice on you,” he acknowledged in a teasing tone.
I grinned, peeking up at him through my lashes and catching my bearings. “Alexandra, Alexandra Collins.”
He smiled, big and wide. It lit up his entire face. “Well then see that’s a beautiful name, it fits you. Nice to meet you, Alexandra Collins.”
I nodded, not being able to form the words to describe what his flirty banter did to me.
“You from around here?” he asked, leaning back into his chair with his arms casually placed on the sides.
“Yeah born and raised. My parents actually own this place.”
“I’m here on vacation. Well actually my parents just bought a beach house a few miles down the road so I’ll be here every summer until I go away to college, I guess.”
“I know,” I blurted out, immediately shaking my head in astonishment of my crappy flirting skills.
His eyes widened, surprised, making my belly flutter and my palms sweaty.
“No, I mean I know you’re not from around here. I would remember you.”
He grinned, all knowing.
“No… not in that way… I mean… just in general…” I stuttered. “You know because I live here… and it’s a small town… and everyone knows everyone… not in a stalker… crazy girl kinda way…” I sighed from my own mumbled banter. “I’m going to stop talking now.” Highly embarrassed with my babbling.
“How old are you?” he replied amused.
“I’ll be fifteen in a few months. You?”
“I’ll be sixteen in a few months. Freshman?”
“Going to be. Sophomore?”
“Soon to be,” he admitted at the precise moment his head cocked to the side and his eyes scanned my body. For the first time, I felt like the center of someone’s world, someone besides my boys.
He smiled with a dimply grin. “I like fresh meat.”
“Me too, motherfucker,” Lucas roared from behind me, making me spin so fast it may have caused whiplash. I should have known better, but I guess I was gluten for punishment. I saw the look in his eyes. The eye of the storm stood before me, but this time it wasn’t directed at me.
It was directed at Cole.
This wouldn’t be the first time and trust me when I say, it damn well wouldn’t be the last.
He put his arm around my shoulders, tugging me into his body. I immediately placed my palm on his chest in a calming gesture. It usually worked, and for the first time. It didn’t. “Bo,” I softly warned as I looked up at him with pleading eyes.
He grinned not paying me any mind with his intent stare focused solely on Cole. “Let’s get one thing straight so we don’t get off on the wrong foot or anything. You already made an asshole of yourself on your board the other day. But seeing as you clearly don’t know the rule of cutting another man’s wave, it’s the same as fucking with another man’s girl,” he paused to let his words sink in. “We clear?” he challenged with raised eyebrows and a confident demeanor.
I took a deep breath while shaking my head. If I hadn’t been embarrassed enough before, this definitely took the cake.
“She your girl?” Cole responded with not a hint of intimidation in his voice.
“Damn straight,” Dylan declared, standing beside Lucas. I knew Jacob and Austin weren’t far behind.
“Alex here is off limits,” Jacob added, his arms folding over his chest, walking up next to me.
See? Told you.
I never wished for the ground to swallow me whole as much as I did in that second.
Cole stood tall, firm, and wide. Not backing down in the least, and I swear I thought this boy must have a death wish or something. No one squared off to my boys.
No one.
He didn’t falter. “Well seeing as Alexandra here didn’t tell me she was off limits.” He arched an eyebrow. “Or that she was your girl,” he retorted only looking at Lucas, who I swore was ready to jump over the table and pounce him like a lion. The only reason he didn’t was because I was still firmly placed on his side. He wouldn’t have let me go even if I wanted him to.
“Until Alexandra tells me otherwise, I’ll be seeing her around,” he added once again, emphasizing my name like he knew it would piss Lucas off.
He provoked him.
I didn’t understand at the time what happened, other than normal testosterone fueling through the air. I realized later that this is where the animosity between Lucas and Cole began, this is where the line was drawn and I had to choose a side. I didn’t. I couldn’t. I would spend years trying to remain in the middle, neutral to both of them. At least I thought I did. Lucas never saw it that way, saying I always leaned toward Cole.
He backed away, but not before he flaunted a smartass smile for the boys and then a kindhearted one for me. If I noticed it, I knew damn well my boys did, too.
Especially Lucas.
Cole left, Austin sneering as he walked past him. I watched him leave with scornful eyes, and anger quickly replaced the embarrassment that I felt in my core. I was livid, and as more minutes passed it only added fuel to the fire I felt for the boys.
Particularly Lucas.
I instantly pushed off of him. He staggered a bit and looked at me like I was crazy. The eye of the storm now directed at me. I didn’t care. For the first time, I let my emotions get the best of me and they would each hear the wrath of my reaction.
“Who the hell do you think you are?”
Their eyes widened and their faces frowned, a domino effect of confusion and shock from my outburst.
“This. Ends. Now. Do you understand me? All of you?” I shouted while putting my hands on my hips, coming to an upright position to accent my pissed off composure.
“Half-Pint,” Austin mumbled.
“No.” I fervently shook my head. “Don’t Half-Pint me. I’m sick of this. There is not ONE boy in this town that will even talk to me. Not one! They’re all scared of you, and it’s not fair. How dare you embarrass me in front of him?”
Lucas scoffed, “Who the fuck cares about him?”
“I do!”
His eyes narrowed at me with hurt and sadness all in one.
“I want a friend. I want a guy friend outside of you. Outside of all of you.” I glared at each of them, one right after the other. “He didn’t do anything wrong, he was friendly and being nice. He wasn’t hurting me for you to act like that. For any of you to act like that. I’m a big girl. I’m going to be fifteen in a few months and you keep treating me like I’m five, I’m over it. I can make my own decisions. I don’t need any of you to babysit me or tell me what to do.” I stood taller, clenched fists at my sides.
Lucas mirrored my stance and Dylan reached out for me.
I backed away, placing my finger out in front of me. “No! I’m not kidding. You can all do whatever the hell you want. You can date. You can kiss. You can even have sex! And I don’t say a damn thing. I have accepted that you’re growing up, and I’m still there for you when you need me. I’m not going anywhere. I will always be your Half-Pint, but you can’t do this to me anymore. It’s not fair,” I argued, my trembling voice breaking. My throat burned and tears crept into my eyes so I blinked them away, folding my arms over my chest to keep from shaking.
“Fine,” Jacob stated.
“Fine what?” I snapped.
“I understand where you’re coming from.” He cleared his throat like it pained him to say that. “But. We’re doing it to protect you, Half-Pint, that’s all we ever do. It’s not coming from a bad place. Boys are assholes and they fucking suck. Do you understand that?”
I shrugged, not wanting to admit that he was right. Instead I met Lucas’s heated glare, hoping that he realized he was one of those boys, and by the look on his face he knew what I thought.
Jacob exhaled a deep breath and stepped toward me. “I get that you want to grow up. It’s just a little hard to see it. You’ve been following us around since you could crawl. Okay?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does to us,” he stressed.
“We will always protect you. It’s in our nature. We will take it down a notch. That’s the best I can give you, Half-Pint,” Dylan added while glancing at the guys and then back at me. “Happy?”
I sighed defeated. “It’s a start I guess.”
Jacob kissed the top of my head, Dylan pulled me into a tight hug, and Austin rubbed my back, grinning and tugging on the ends of my hair before they made their way back inside. I was left with Lucas, who hadn’t moved or said one thing since I yelled that I cared about Cole. Knowing it had nothing to do with Cole.
It was the fact that I said I cared about someone…
Who wasn’t him.
I needed to be alone with my thoughts.
This wasn’t going to end well if I didn’t control the rage I felt for her sticking up for some fucking douche that acted as if he owned the ocean. Riding up and stealing another surfer’s waves. There aren’t many rules to surfing, but you respect each other’s breaks.
Plain and simple.
I didn’t know what possessed me to act like that.
Yes, I did.
Although the encounter didn’t go as I envisioned it. I was blinded by rage and panic of having her flirt with someone who wasn’t me. The urge to mark her overwhelmed me, and I found myself digging my nails into the palms of my hands to keep from shaking the shit out of her. I wanted to remind her that she was mine. I couldn’t seem to control myself, or the rapid thoughts that circulated my mind. She belonged only to me. As stupid as that sounds, that’s how I felt. I didn’t want her to be friends with another guy, and the reaction that she just pulled on me was complete fucking bullshit.
Neither one of us dared to say a word, knowing that nothing could take away my desire to claim her as mine. Alex knew me like the back of her hand and vice versa. I was jealous and she was resentful, two emotions combined that only led to disaster.
“Tell me, Alexandra, do you like your new friend?” I viscously mocked.
Her eyebrows raised, the shock evident on her beautiful face making me regret my words almost instantly. “Half—”
“Not as much as you like Stacey,” she countered almost knocking me on my ass.
“Leave Cole alone, ya hear?” she added, not breaking the intensity of our stares.
“Or what?” I scowled through gritted teeth.
“Lucas,” Jacob hollered from inside.
I turned to find him staring us both down, taking in our heated standoff with eyes that realized more than I wanted him to. “Come on,” he said with a nod while opening the door wider. The cool air brushed against my heated skin and helped ease the fact that I wanted to hit someone.
Mostly Cole.
I didn’t turn back around. I just left.
All I achieved was adding to the times that I would walk away from Alex.