Finding Forever

Chapter 13

Time passes as it usually does, seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, and sixty seconds in a minute until Spring Break appears out of nowhere. With coffee in one hand and my luggage in the other, our group travelled quickly through the LAX airport. Liam is on my right side, chatting away about how excited he is to surf and hang out in the sun. At the same time, Ryan is on my left side, a baseball cap on his head and a tiny smirk on his lips. Maisie walks hand in hand with Jayce, and Kale straggles behind with oversized luggage he's been dragging around all morning.

Jayce leads the way since he grew up in the Los Angeles area, travels back home regularly, and knows his way around. His father is a famous film editor, and his mother was an iconic supermodel during the 1980s. He's lived a life of privilege, but you'd never know it by how he presents himself. Always courteous and well-mannered, you'd never be able to tell he was spoon-fed his entire life. He's also by far the cleanest roommate between the four of them. He's the first person to pick up a mop or wash a dirty dish. And he was also generous enough to invite us to his parent's vacation home on the shores of Newport Beach and expected nothing in return.

"This way," Jayce shouts over his shoulder as we step through sliding doors and into the hot, muggy air. "I see our driver over there."

"Shot-gun!" Kale shouts and starts to jog slightly toward a black Yukon XL. That's the fastest I've seen him move all day. "You losers can ride in the back," he teases.

Liam pulls open the side door for me with a smile. "Ladies first."

Ryan nudges Maisie forward and simultaneously steps before me, blocking the doorway. "Go ahead, Maisie. Like Liam said, ladies first."

"Thank you, Ryan," Maisie giggles and slides onto the backseat. Jayce takes her luggage and tosses it into the trunk.

Liam looks a little taken aback, but Ryan plays it cool as I seethe in his direction. "I think Liam meant to hold the door open for me," I tell him.

"Oh, sorry," he says, his blatant insincere tone causing my blood to boil. "Sometimes I forget you aren't one of the guys."

I've never wanted to slap someone so hard in my life.

I push past him. "Watch out."

He snickers at my backside, clearly amused by my revulsion to him as I scoot beside Maisie. Ryan slides in beside me, forcing Liam and Jayce to the back of the seven-passenger vehicle.

The drive to Newport Beach is beautiful, all ocean and blue skies. We have our driver blast music so we can sing along like an episode of Carpool Karaoke. The scenery begins to change as we pull into the Newport Beach area. The landscape is hillier, the homes gradually grow larger, and the ocean calmer. We cross over a bridge overlooking the sprawling beach circling a bay with virtually every inch of open water covered in white yachts. Our driver turns down a street full of shops and restaurants with girls walking in bikini cover-ups and guys in muscle shirts. It reminds me of a beach town you'd see in a movie.

The driver makes a few more turns before stopping at a dead end that faces the ocean. Gorgeous homes sprawl along either side of a boardwalk only steps away from the beach. I've never seen anything like it.

Jayce thanked the driver and tipped him well. Then, we unloaded our luggage from the trunk.

"Where's this beach house?" Kale asks as his eyes float to a group of beautiful girls passing by on the boardwalk.

"Right here," Jayce says, nodding to a spectacular grey-toned two-story home with a white wrap-around porch almost touching the boardwalk. "Come on, let's get settled."

The six of us follow him up a few steps across a porch and into the sprawling beach house. The entryway is bigger than mine and Maisie's entire apartment. A hallway leads deeper into the house, connecting into an airy open-concept living room, dining room, and kitchen combo. The furniture is plush and the décor is beachy. The colour scheme is a calming collection of white, gray and blues. A twisted staircase leads up to a second floor.