Coasting

Chapter 11

Day 31

I got home around nine Sunday morning. We all had slept over at Brendan's the night before. He had upwards of sixty people at his house and since all of us had gotten sufficiently drunk, we decided to stay over rather than take the chance of any of us driving home.

Justin--aka J boy from Jonesboro--was there, which I was expecting since he was one of Brendan's close friends. When Lucy, Michelle, Avery and I were waiting in line to grab beer from the keg outside, he approached me, his hand resting on my shoulder blade.

"Hey, Jamie."

"Hey," I said, politely slipping out of reach of his arm.

He noticed, frowning a little. "Long time, no see."

I shrugged as we reached the front of the line. When I reached out to pour myself a cup from the spout, he took it from me and grabbed a cup, saying, "Here. Let me."

I smiled uncomfortably. "Thanks."

Lucy elbowed me and gave me a confused look. I widened my eyes in desperation.

When he handed me the full cup, he said, "So what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Um, working," I said, which wasn't a lie. I unfortunately had to work from noon until closing.

"Oh yeah? You said you worked at the Beach Brew, right?"

Shit shit shit. How the fuck does he remember everything? I nodded, afraid to speak.

"Maybe I'll stop by," he said, inching closer to me.

I felt an arm snake around my waist from behind and Justin stopped short. I looked up to see Fletcher come around to the side of me, pulling me slightly into his waist. "'Sup, Justin."

"Fletcher," Justin frowned as he glanced from Fletcher, to me, to the hand wrapped coyly around my waist. His frown deepened. "I'm alright. What's up with you?"

"I'm doing great," he said cheerfully, pretending to be completely oblivious to the fact that he had just totally murdered Justin's happiness. Justin looked coldly at Fletcher, but Fletcher's smile never faltered. "I hate to steal her away but I have a beer pong game lined up and I need my partner."

Fletcher squeezed my waist a little tighter and Justin took a step back, pretending to shrug off his upset demeanor. "Yeah. Sure. No problem."

"Thanks, buddy," Fletcher said happily, punching him lightly in the shoulder before whisking me off.

Fletcher didn't look at me as I smiled up at him. "Were you just...jealous?"

He looked down at me, mouth agape as he slapped a hand to his chest theatrically. "Me? Jealous?" Then he smirked at me. "Don't get cocky on me now."

"Me? Cocky?" I repeated, mirroring what he had just done.

He threw his head back and laughed before pulling me tighter against him as we headed towards the beer pong table inside. "Let's kick some ass, weirdo."

Now, the next morning, Fletcher was dropping me back off at home. He had to be at work at eleven, so we both left Brendan's house earlier than most of the others. As he pulled into my aunt and uncle's driveway, he said to me, "Okay so don't forget. Surf lesson, tomorrow morning at ten sharp."

"Yes sir," I said saluting.

"And I'm coming in to the Brew during my break today. I expect my hot chocolate to be extra delicious since I held us both on the table last night."