Nikki was getting ready for the beach when she heard her doorbell ring. She let out a sigh of annoyance and hurried to the door. She opened the door to find A.J. and Amanda standing there.
“Hey!” Amanda said as she hugged her.
“Hey, guy,” Nikki said as she let them in. “What are you doing here? I thought we were all meeting up at the beach?”
“We are, we just stopped by to say hi since we’re early.”
“I see,” Nikki said softly.
“What’s wrong?” Amanda asked.
“Nothing, don’t worry about it.”
Amanda turned to A.J. “Have a seat on the couch. Nikki, come with me,” she said then took her arm.
Amanda lead Nikki to her room and shut the door. Nikki sighed and turned away from her.
“Talk,” Amanda said.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Nikki lied.
“Don’t even try that with me. I know you too damn well. What’s going on in that head of yours?”
“It’s just something silly,” Nikki said while waving her hand in the air.
“It’s Howie, isn’t it?”
Nikki felt her cheeks burn. “No.”
Amanda snickered and sat on the bed. “Liar.”
“Okay, it is Howie. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
“You could try telling him how you feel.”
“It’s not that easy, Amanda.”
“Sure it is. You open your mouth and say what’s on your mind. You two have been friends since you were diapers. It should be easy.”
“Well, it’s not,” Nikki said with a huff. “Look, just forget about it, okay? I’ll tell him when I’m ready. I’m not right now.”
“Okay,” Amanda said as she stood up. “I guess we’ll see you at the beach,” she said as she opened the door.
“See you there,” Nikki said as she went into the bathroom.
Nikki finished putting powder on her face then sighed at her reflection. She knew she needed to tell Howie how she felt, but the time was not right. With one last glance in the mirror, she turned the light off and went to her Jeep.
Nikki drove to Howie’s house and sighed as she pulled into his driveway. Usually he would be outside waiting for her, but this time he was nowhere in sight. Not wanting to get out of the Jeep, she honked her horn. Within seconds, Howie came darting out the door and to her car.
"Howie hurry up we're already late!" Nikki shouted from her Jeep.
"Sorry, I overslept," he said while catching his breath.
"It's alright. It's not like anyone is going to kill us if we're few minutes late," she said as she pulled out of the driveway and headed to the beach.
Howie smiled and sat back in his seat. "Nikki, is something wrong?"
"Wrong? No, nothing's wrong. Why would anything be wrong?" she answered quickly.
"You just seem a little stressed. It's not like you to be that way."
"I'm fine, Howie. Nothing is wrong," she said with a sigh and gripped her hands on the steering wheel.
"Did something happen before you came here? If so, you know can- - "
"Howie, for the last time, I'm fine! Let’s drop this before I get really mad!" Nikki shouted.
Howie gave her a hurtful look. "Okay, but I'm here if you want to talk."
"Thanks," she said quietly then parked the Jeep by the beach. "We're here," she said then got out.
Everyone had already arrived and were already eating. Nick waved at them as he pulled a hot dog off the grill.
"Hey, you guys couldn't wait for us?" Howie asked as he put his beach towel down on the sand.
"Sorry, D., we were all hungry. Dig in," A.J. said as he took a bite out of his sandwich.
Howie picked up a plate and began filling it up with food. Nikki took a seat next to Amanda and sighed.
"So, did you tell him yet?" Amanda asked in anxiety.
"No," Nikki said as she looked down at the sand.
"Why not? Girl, you know he likes you."
"No, that’s jus the thing, I don't know. I just don't want anything to happen to our friendship."
"Nothing will happen to your friendship. It will richen it. Trust me, I know. A.J. and I were practically best friends before we started seeing each other. You know that."
"I know," Nikki said with a sigh.
"So, what do you have to lose?" Amanda asked her with a smile.
"You know what, I really don't want to talk about this right now," Nikki said then bit into her hot dog.
"What are you two talking about over here?" Howie asked Amanda as he put he sat down next to Kevin.
"Nothing, just girl stuff," Amanda answered.
"Yeah, girl stuff, "Nikki echoed with a fake smile.
Everyone finished lunch and they went their separate ways for a while. The sun was starting to set and everyone congregated back to their original location.
"Hey, anyone up for some volleyball?" Brian asked as he twirled the volleyball on his finger.
Rachel stood up and snatched the ball away from him. "You think I'm good at basketball, wait until you see my spike."
"Oh, come on! A shorty like you can play volleyball? Please!" Brian said with a grin. Kristin let out a snicker. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing except for the fact that you just made the biggest mistake of your life by saying that."
"Why don't we split up boys and girls and see who's better," Rachel said in a cocky tone.
"Alright, you're on!" Brian said with a confident grin. "Losers have to swim in the ocean naked."
"I'll go for that," Rachel said as she picked her side of the net.
"Umm, Rachel, maybe this isn't such a good- -" Amanda said, but was interrupted by Kristin who stood between them.
"Don't worry, these guys don't stand a chance with her. Trust me, she's good."
Amanda grinned. "Do they know that?" Kristin shook her head. "This is gonna be hilarious," Amanda said with a laugh.
Nikki got up from the table and noticed that Sarah was sitting on her beach towel by herself. She nudged Kevin's arm for his attention.
"Is that the girl you've been talking about?" she asked.
"Yeah," Kevin said with a smile. "I'm just playing the friend card for now."
"Good idea, but why is she sitting there by herself? You should ask her to come play with us."
Kevin stepped over to Sarah. She looked up at him and smiled. "You should come and play volleyball with us. It'll be fun," he said as he crouched down next to her.
"No, that's okay you guys go ahead and play," she said as she put her sunglasses on.
"Are you sure?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah, I'm not too much into volleyball."
"But we'll be uneven if you don't play."
"Don't worry about it, Kevin, we'll be okay with only four girls," Rachel commented. "Sarah, you keep score."
"You're going down, Crawford!" Brian shouted.
Rachel snickered. "Dream on, Littrell!" she said then made the first serve.
The game went on and Nikki found herself staring at Howie. Her heart nearly stopped as she watched him pull off his T-shirt and toss it to the sand. His define upper body made her weak in the knees. She was so into watching him that she never noticed the ball coming toward her. It bounded off her head and she fell to the sand. Howie ran over to her.
“Nikki, are you okay?“ he asked.
She looked into his big, brow eyes and slowly nodded. “I’m fine.“
“Are you sure?“ he asked as he extended his hand to her.
“Positive,“ she said as she took his hand and stood up.
“Shall we continue?“ Rachel asked as she stepped up to Nikki.
“Yeah, let’s finish the game.“
“One last point, guys!” Rachel said with a grin. “Next spike means game.”
“Bring it on!” Brian said.
Rachel smirked and turned to Nikki. “Can you serve?”
“Yeah, I got it,” she said as she took the ball from Rachel.
Nikki served the ball over to the boys’ side of the net. She watched as Rachel blocked Brian’s spike and set the ball up for her own spike. Rachel pulled herself back and spiked the ball over the net in between Nick and Brian. The ball hit the sand and the girls cheered.
"Okay, I give up! The girl is too good!"
Rachel laughed and turned to Sarah. "What was the score again?"
"Boys 24, girls 45," Sarah said then started laughing.
"Hmm, I guess we all know what that means," Rachel said with a devious smile.
"Hey, I was just kidding when I said that, you know," Brian said innocently.
"I wasn't," Rachel said as she moved toward Brian. "Swimming trunks are going bye bye," she said as she ran her finger down his chest.
"Come on, guys! You heard the lady! Let’s go!" Brian said as he headed to the ocean.
All the guys followed him and took off their swimming trunks when they were far enough into the water. The girls all laughed at the sight.
"Oh, my, god this is cold!" Nick shouted.
"You'll get used to it," Kevin said.
"How would you know?" Kevin raised his eyebrows and grinned. "That's disgusting! I don't even wanna know about it."
"Has little Nicky never been skinny dippng before?" A.J. said with a chuckle.
"Shut up!" he shouted and dunked A.J. under water.
Nikki laughed as she watched the girls scoop up the boys’ swimming trunks. They were too busy wrestling around in the water to notice what the girls were doing. She focused her eyes on Howie and laughed as he tried to take control of the situation.
"Okay, let’s get our trunks and get out of here," Howie said as he moved toward the shore, covering himself with his hands. He quizzically looked around for his trunks. "Hey, where are my trunks?"
"Oh, boys!" Kristin said in a sing song voice. "Looking for these?" she asked as she held up Nick's swimming trunks.
The boys looked up and noticed all the girls holding their trunks. Nikki couldn’t help but giggle as they looked like deer caught in headlights.
"Okay, very funny give them back now," A.J. shouted.
"Come fetch!" Amanda said with a laugh.
"Aw, that's not fair!" Nick whined.
"We're not coming out until you give us back our trunks," Brian said.
"Too bad. Must be awfully cold in that ocean," Rachel said as she started to walk away.
"Okay, all you girls can kiss my white ass!" A.J. said as he stood up and flashed them his butt.
The girls cracked up and fell to the sand laughing. Nikki had only wished she’d brought her camera.
"Okay, you big babies, you can have them back now," Rachel said as she grabbed all of their trunks and tossed them to the boys.
They all put their swimming trunks back and ran toward the girls. They all screamed as the boys grabbed a hold of them and threw them into the ocean. Nikki caught sight of Howie running towards her. She tried to dodge him, but he caught her and picked her up. She squealed as he tossed her into the ocean.
"Oh, cold!" Nikki shouted.
"Now you know how we felt," Howie said with a grin.
The girls got out and wrapped themselves up in beach towels.
"Brrr, cold!" Nikki said as she leaned up against Howie.
He laughed and rubbed his hands up her arms to warm her up. Her teeth were chattering.
"Geez, you are cold, aren't you," he said as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Uh huh," she said as she shivered.
"Hey, guys, why don't we warm these ladies up with a bon fire," A.J. suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Howie said as he went with the guys to get some twigs.
By dark, the fire was fully lit up and everyone was sitting around it. Everyone was talking and having a good time, except for Nikki. She realized she was the only one in the group who wasn't on a semi-date and it made her feel out of place. She glanced over at Howie, who was roasting marshmallows on a stick. The light from the fire danced over his face. He looked over at her and smiled.
"Smore?" he asked as he observed his marshmallows.
"No, thank you," she said.
“You look a little lost in though,” he said softly.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said as she stood up and out to the shore.
She was staring out into the ocean with her towel wrapped around her arms. Nikki let out a sigh and was nearly startled by the touch of Howie's hand on her waist. She whirled around and their eyes met.
"Nikki?" he said gently.
"Howie, just leave me alone," she said as she turned away from him.
"What's wrong? Why won't you tell me?"
"I don't think you wanna hear about it."
"Try me," Howie said with his hand on her shoulder.
Nikki turned around and looked at Howie. Her eyes were filled with tears. "Howie I. . .I. . ,"she said with her voice quivering.
"You what?"
Nikki sighed. "Never mind," she said as she ran off to her Jeep.
"Nikki!" Howie shouted, running after her.
Nikki was almost to her Jeep when she was stopped by Amanda.
"Nikki, what's gong on?"
"I can't do this. I'm sorry, I can't," she said in between sobs.
"You can't do what?”
"You already know!" she said as she started to open the door.
Amanda grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the Jeep. "I'm not letting you go out like this."
Nikki jerked her arm away. "Just leave me alone!" she shouted.
Howie ran up to them. He stepped up to Nikki and pushed her hand away from the door of the Jeep.
"Nikki, you're starting to scare me," he said.
"Howie, just let me handle this," Amanda said firmly.
Howie hesitated for a moment then left them alone. Amanda drew her attention back at Nikki.
"Nikki, you're really thinking too deeply into this. Why don't you just tell him how you feel?"
"I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand," Nikki spat.
"Someone like me? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"Amanda, our situations are nothing alike, okay? You were just a fan when you met A.J. Yes, you guys were friends first, but that's not the same," she said as she sniffled. "Howie has been in my life since we were two years old. He knows everything about me. I think my situation is a little more delicate than yours," she said as she pushed Amanda out of the way. "I'm going home now. I'll call you in a few days," she continued as she got into her Jeep, leaving Amanda standing alone.
