“My parents have stayed here before,” Pris said as she fell into the over-stuffed green chair. There was only the chair and a couch for furniture. Decent sized TV a whole bunch of knick-knacks that I never really understood why people put out. It wasn’t my style, but would definitely be a cool place to hang out at for the next few days.

“I still can’t believe they rented this place for you. My mom is cool, but not that cool.” I said.

Pris looked at the ground, her shoulders slumping. It was an un-Pris-like thing to do. “That’s because she’s not trying to get rid of you.”

I crinkled my eyebrows, but before I could ask her what she meant, Aspen grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the stairs. “Let’s go pick our rooms!”

“No way. We’re in on this one. I’m not getting stuck with the crappy room.” I jogged after them. Not one to be left behind, Jaden was right behind us. There was a bunch of clomping as we all raced to the top of the stairs. There were four doors in the hall, two on opposite sides at the very end and two closer to the stairs. We all headed for the back, everyone pushing to see who could get there first.

“Chill out, guys. It’s Pris’s birthday and her beach house. She gets first choice.” Aspen grabbed onto my arm and I stopped my pursuit of winning the killer room. Wow, this girl already had me wrapped around her fingers.

What was it with girls and the power they held over guys? Seriously, if this had happened a week before, I probably would have plowed my way through, given Pris the eyes and begged her until I got my way. Now, I found myself saying, “Woodstock is right. Pris chooses, then me.”

“Hey!” Aspen bumped me with her hip and I wanted to grab her there and pull her closer to me. “Whatever happened to ladies first?” It was strange. The little zing that went through me when she looked up at me with those big green eyes. It was at that moment I wondered why girls ever needed me—The Hook-up Doctor, I mean. If they all had the power she had in those eyes, they could have anything they wanted.

When I opened my mouth to reply, Pris cut me off. “You’re mistaking them for real men, Aspen.”

“Dude, what did I do?” Jaden asked. “I’m just standing here being all gentlemanly.”

Pris rolled her eyes and mumbled something in Spanish. “I’m taking first choice, Aspen next and then you boys can argue over the last two rooms.”

Just like I knew they would, the girls picked the two back rooms that looked out over the ocean, Pris on the right and Aspen on the left. I pushed past Jaden to try and call dibs on the better of the two leftover rooms, but he had the same idea. Luckily, I had way more skills that he did. Sticking my foot out, I tripped him up and reached for the other door on the left. Except, it wasn’t a room. Jaden whooped from across the hall.

“Have fun sleeping in the bathtub, bro.” He laughed and I elbowed him.

There was no way I’d be sleeping in the damn bathroom. “Pris, I think we’re missing a bedroom here.”

“No, it just looks like it’s a three bedroom house,” she replied. “You know what they say about beggars.”

Great. That would have been useful information before the trip. I leaned against the wall. “Why’d your parents get us a three bedroom place?”

“They didn’t. They got me and Aspen a three bedroom house. You guys are crashing the party.”

Shit. I’d forgotten about that. I looked over at Jaden. I really didn’t want to share a room with him, but before I could say anything, he shook his head. “Nope. I need to have my space. Well, unless it’s a girl doing the sharing, but not with you. Sorry, man.”

“’Cause you’re going to get lucky this weekend. Yeah right.”

At the same time Pris said, “You’re not having a girl spend the night here with you!”

Ignoring what she said, I turned to the girls. “Can’t you guys share a room and I can have the other one? It can be like a slumber party or whatever. You can put those weird masks on your faces and talk about how hot I am.” They both narrowed their eyes at me. “What? I’m just sayin’.”

“Have you ever tried to sleep in the same room with Pris? She snores like crazy. I’ll be up all weekend.” Aspen put her arm around Pris and pulled her closer. “I love you, girl, but you know it’s true.”

This weekend wasn’t getting off to the start I wanted. “Okay, so my choices are the bathtub, living room, or sharing a room with Cupid over here who thinks he’s getting some this weekend?”

Aspen sighed. “I guess I kind of owe you. I’ll give up my room even though I really don’t want to.”

Like that was going to happen. I was raised by a single mom. Like I’d let a girl sleep on the couch, or put up with Pris’s snoring. “Sometimes it sucks to be so damn sweet.” I looked at Aspen. “You don’t owe me, Woodstock. You can keep your stupid, oversized room with what is no doubt a really comfortable bed. I’ll sleep downstairs.”

Jaden laughed. “Sucks to be you.”

“Do you always have to be a jerk?” Pris defended me, but I had a feeling it had less to do with me and more to do with her obvious anger at Jaden over something.

I turned to head for the stairs, but a cold hand on my arm stopped me. Then, somehow, it magically turned warm. Almost electric. “I have a King size bed in there. As long as you promise to be on your best behavior, you can share a room with me.”

I froze. Every nerve ending in my body short circuited. Aspen wanted to share a room with me? Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner! I turned to face her. Pink tinted her cheeks. Man, I loved that look. Who would have thought blushing could be so sexy?

“I mean,” she shrugged. “‘Cause I owe you.”

Deflate ego. It was an obligation thing. “I told you, you don’t owe me,” I snapped. The last thing a guy wanted to hear is that a girl wanted to share a room with him because she owed him.

“Okay, fine, not because I owe you, but just because… It’s not a big deal, Bastian. I’m trying to be nice here. I don’t have to have a reason.” As her hand slid off me, I realized she hadn’t let go earlier. I kind of missed her touch.

“You’re sure?” I tried to play it cool, crossing my arms. “I mean, once we’re in that room together it might hit you that you’re sleeping in the same room with Sebastian Hawkins. I’m not sure many girl—ouch!” Aspen hit me. “I kid. I kid.” Mimicking Borat would never get old. I think the movie came out when I was in elementary school, but to me it was a classic. “I think that bed will be much more comfortable than the bathtub. I’m in.” Yes!

“Remember, best behavior?”

I raised my finger. “Scouts honor.” Never mind I’d never been a Boy Scout in my life. I’d promise her anything right now.

Chapter Ten

“Dude, what’s up with sharing a room with Aspen? You know that’s going to seriously kill your chances of meeting any girls this weekend, don’t you?” Jaden and I sat on the wooden steps of the front porch while waiting for the girls to get ready. It was still early since we’d made sure to get up at the crack of dawn this morning when we left home.

I shrugged, fixing the buckle on my leather wrist band. “I doubt I would get any play in the bathtub, so I don’t think I’m losing out on much.” For some reason, my big mouth wanted to open and tell Jaden the whole truth. That I didn’t want any other girl. That I’d rather chill in that room with Woodstock than have my mouth attached to any of the Alexes out there. There was sort of this line we didn’t cross though. Jaden was my best guy friend and I knew he’d always have my back, but we talked about hooking up, parties, piercing, video games and my lack of a vehicle. We didn’t do the real stuff. I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t that I thought he’d give me crap about it, but I guess I didn’t want to be the one to go there first.

Jaden threw a glance over his shoulder. “Aspen… I can see why you wouldn’t mind. Her and Pris, they’re kind of better than the other girls out there, ya know?”

I stopped messing with my wristband and looked over at Jaden. His eyes were directed down at his foot while he slid it around on the step like he was rolling something. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him he better get the idea of sharing a bed with Aspen out of his head, but something about the way his shoulders slumped made me keep my mouth shut. This wasn’t Jaden territory. He didn’t talk like this, so I knew something was up. “Yeah, we’re lucky they put up with our shit.”

“Huh. You can say that again.”

This time, I was the one who looked behind us to make sure we were alone. I needed to tell someone, so I decided to just go for it. Who could you talk to if not your boy? “I like her, Jay. Like-like her. It has me a little freaked out. I don’t want to mess it up.”

He didn’t laugh. Didn’t smirk or ask me if I’d lost my mind. He actually kind of smiled at me. “You should go for it. It was only a matter of time ‘til it happened anyway. You guys will be like, the best couple ever!” He said the last part in a teasing, high-pitched voice. “Seriously though, you have my blessing, but if you hurt my little girl, I’m pulling out the shotgun.”

I laughed. “Thanks for letting me date your daughter. I’m sure she’ll be surprised to find out she’s your love child.” Jaden held out his fist and I bumped it with mine. After a minute of silence, I asked, “What about you? You ready to change your ways and settle down with the old ball and chain?”

The Jaden I’d known for years looked up at me and smirked. “Nah, I’m not that crazy. Too many girls out there to tie myself to one.” I laughed, even though something in his voice didn’t sound right. The screen door slammed as the girls came out keeping me from asking him what was wrong.

We headed out on foot since the town was about the size of my shoe. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating. From what I heard, it was a pretty popular spot for the college crowd to hang out. We went into a few shops, which I fought not to roll my eyes at. The girls liked this kind of crap so this was me trying to be sensitive to what Aspen liked. Even though I knew she already liked me too, it couldn’t hurt to score some extra points in the sensitivity department, since I knew it wasn’t my strong point.

They looked at so many dolphin and ocean pictures, jewelry, the little knickknack-y things that were in the beach house and who knew what else for so long that I nearly fell asleep walking, but unlike Jaden, I didn’t complain once. I was whipped already. Funny, I didn’t even care. Not too much at least…

After what felt like years, we found an all-ages pool hall to eat lunch in.

I pulled up the chair by Aspen and tried to sit down, but Pris leapt between me and the seat and plopped down. O-kay. Obviously, she didn’t want to sit by Jaden. He was ruining my game with whatever was going on between him and Pris.

After everyone decided what they wanted, I offered. “I’ll get Aspen and Pris’s food when I order mine.” When three pairs of eyes devoured me, I added, “Pris’s birthday meal and all.” I didn’t want to look like an idiot. Was I trying to hard? This was tougher than I thought.

“That doesn’t mean you need to buy mine.” Aspen moved to stand up, but I put my hand on her shoulder.

“I want to. Sit down, Woodstock before I tie you to the chair.”

She glanced over at Pris, before turning back to me. “I just want the chicken strips, fries and a coke.”

“Same for me, Bastian. Thanks.” Pris looked at Jaden and rolled her eyes. Okay, there was definitely something weird going on there. They never got along particularly well. It was one of those strange friendships where you knew they were close, just as close as the rest of us, but they never showed it. They never agreed on anything and lately it was even worse.