“Ooh! I bet this would look cute on me!” Caroline said excitedly, holding up white cashmere sweater up to her chest.

            I cocked an eyebrow. “Cashmere? Do you really want to spend that much?”

            “Well, no, but…”

            “Come on,” I urged, grabbing her by the hand and dragging her out of the expensive clothing store with a name I couldn’t remember for the life of me. “We’re supposed to be shopping for me, anyway. Not you.”

            She pouted. “But Anthony gave me permission to go as well…”

            “Because you pestered him for three days straight! He showed me all the times you called him! How did you even get his number?”

            A secretive smirk crossed her face. “It’s a secret. And hey, it isn’t like he’s against the idea. He seemed more than happy to ask his parents if I could go as well and just as excited when they agreed.”

            “That’s because he wanted me to take along a friend,” I responded, pushing my bangs behind my ear. “I think it’s because he wants me to hang out with someone other than Julius if he’s busy with something.”

            “Don’t know, don’t care,” Caroline told me, her eyes scanning the signs of the stores we were passing. “I’m going to Florida, and that’s all that matters… Well that, and I’m with my best friend,” she added after seeing my dirty look.

            Smiling in spite of myself, I shook my head. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s go to Hollister. I need to buy a bikini.”

            “Me too!”

            “Don’t you have like, ten?”

            She beamed at me proudly. “Yep, but my boobs finally got bigger.”

            I laughed as she patted her chest with a pleased expression. “You’re a weird girl, Carol.”

            “Just because you’ve been blessed by the Goddess of breasts…”

            Flushing slightly, I turned my head away. “They’re normal size!”

            “Not for someone your build. Usually skinny chicks have no tits.”

            “C-Caroline! Shh! Someone might hear you!”

            Unaffected by my comment, she just shrugged. “What? Girls have boobs. It’s pretty obvious. As obvious as guys having dicks.”

            Embarrassed, I ushered her into the clothing store thick with the smell of perfume. “Let’s just buy our bikinis.”

            “I dare you to buy a thong bottom—”

            “No! And you’re not allowed to either!”

            She grinned, leading us toward the back of the store where the bathing suits were located. “I’m kidding. I don’t want to look like a slut.”

            “Well…”

            “Ellie, stop talking.”

            I bumped her hip with mine. “Just kidding.”

            A friendly cashier greeted us as we passed the check out bar and Caroline gave him an overzealous response, which earned a blush. I shot her pointed look to which she returned with a sheepish one. Everyone knew (and saw) that she wasn’t the ugliest person on earth. In fact, she was quite stunning. So much so, even I, her best friend, was jealous. But because of this, a lot of girls were jealous and gained an unjust hatred of her. Basically myself and our two other friends Rebecca and Savannah were her only girl friends. I had a couple other girl friends, but she wasn’t too interested in being friends with them. Which was perfectly fine. Our little circle of friends were more than enough.

            “I think I want a red one,” Caroline announced, coming to a dead stop in front of a rack of bikinis. “Red looks good on me.”

            “Your last one was black, right?”

            “Right. So I think I’m going to go with red,” she responded, fingering the fabric of a scarlet bikini top. “This is too thin.”

            Letting her do her own thing, I browsed bikinis on a different rack, trying to decide on whether I wanted a string or halter top. Halter tops were more annoying to put on, but Julius enjoyed pulling bikini strings way too much. Not too mention the string bikinis bottoms would barely cover even the smallest backside.

            Sighing, I pulled a few halter bikinis off the rack, heading to the changing rooms. Whatever fit would work. Impressing Anthony wasn’t one of my highest priorities because impressing Anthony, also meant showing off to Julius and my brother. And that would just be awkward and uncomfortable. Caroline was lucky. She wasn’t blood related to either of the three men going.

            Ten minutes later, I finally decided on a black halter top bikini with a white flower pattern. Caroline was still hunting for the perfect one, so I decided to try on a few pairs of shorts. Florida was a lot hotter than Massachusetts. I silently thanked my grandma for buying me a two hundred dollar Hollister for Christmas two years before. Even though I hadn’t believed her at the time, she’d told me I would need it at some point.

            So, one hundred and fifty dollars later, Caroline and I trudged out of the store with our new merchandise in hand. “I really hate expensive stores,” I muttered as I sifted through my four pairs of shorts, bikini, and two tank tops. “If I went to like, Marshalls, I would’ve gotten five times this for the same amount.”

            “Yeah, but this stuff is cute,” Caroline retorted, grinning like a maniac. “Don’t you want to look cute for Anthony?”

            “Yeah, but I don’t want to spend so much.”

            “You had a gift card.”

            “Which is the only reason we went in there,” I responded, squinting at the Pac Sun sign. “Hey, they have a sale on flip-flops. I think I’m going to buy a pair.”

            Caroline rolled her eyes. “Weren’t you just complaining about expensive stores? Buy a pair of flip flops at Payless.”

            I groaned. “But it’s on the other side of the mall!”

            “Walk,” she ordered, pushing on my shoulder. “While we walk, we’ll talk.”

            “About what?”

            “You and Anthony.”

            “Er… What about us?”

            She wagged her eyebrows. “Oh, you know.”

            “No, I don’t…”

            “How are you two?”

            “Fine?”

            Nodding, she flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “You two were cute during graduation. Savannah couldn’t stop gushing about how cute he was.”

            I smiled, remembering graduation. It hadn’t been a particularly exciting event, but a memorable one nonetheless. Then again, who wouldn’t remember their high school graduation? Anthony had cheered the loudest for me though, standing on Julius and Mason’s shoulders and screaming like an idiot. It was incredibly embarrassing. Lost in reminiscence, I almost didn’t realize we were climbing onto an escalator. “And?”

            “Did you guys go out for dinner after?”

            “Yeah, to Ruby Tuesday’s.”

            “And what did you do after that?”

            I glanced at her. “I went home…?”

            She frowned. “That’s it?”

            “What do you mean that’s it?”

            “You didn’t go back to his place after?”

            “What— no! No!” I cried, feeling my cheeks warm up. “Geez, Carol. We’ve only been dating for barely a month!”

            She seemed unperturbed. “So?”

            I blanked. “I just…”

            “You’ve liked him for three months then, right?”

            “How… How did you know that?” I asked, surprise momentarily replacing my embarrassment.

            Half-smiling, she shook her head at me. “Of course I knew. I go to Walmart with you a lot, don’t I?”

            “Oh, I never realized…”

            “So if he wanted to do it, would you?”

            I made a face. “I don’t know. I mean, I figured he wants too soon. I mean, he is a guy. But I also think he’s one of those guys who don’t exactly care.”

            “All guys care.”

            “Not all…”

            “Ellie.”

            I grinned. “Okay, but still. I don’t know. Maybe if it feels right. But thinking about it now, I think it’s too soon.”

            She tapped her chin. “You know what would be romantic?”

            “Hmm?”

            “Sex on the beach.”

            I did a double take. “Wait, what?”

            A wicked look appeared on her face. “You guys should have sex on the beach. Anthony lives near a beach, right? It’d be perfect!”

            “That would be…”

            “Perfect,” Caroline insisted again, placing a hand over her heart. “I wish my first time could’ve been there.”

            I nudged her with my elbow. “Maybe your first time with Julius.”

            “Nah,” she said passively. “He’s not over you yet. I’m not going to try anything. I’ll just wait patiently until he’s ready to move on. Then I come in and strike.”

            “Ah, sorry,” I apologized sheepishly.

            She laughed quietly. “It’s not your fault you’re a stud, Ellie.”

            “Caro…” I started, but trailed off. There was no use telling her stud was a masculine word. “Never mind. I’m not a stud. Julius and Anthony are the only two guys that like me. And before that, Nick. Until he cheated on me.”

            “He’s a douche bag, so just forget him.”

            I grinned. “I already did.”

            “Did you hear he got a new girlfriend after Bethany dumped him?”

            Bethany was the girl Nick had cheated on me with. “No. I didn’t even realize him and Bethany broke up.”

            “They did. It wasn’t a pretty one either.”

            “Good.”

            “Have you seen his new girlfriend?” she continued, wrinkling her nose. “Total downgrade. Complete downgrade. From you, that is. The new girlfriend isn’t much prettier than Bethany. Meanwhile, you jumped from level one to level one hundred.”

            “No way, his new girlfriend can’t be that bad looking,” I defended. Even if I hated both Bethany and Nick, I couldn’t hate his new girlfriend. I didn’t know him. She could’ve be the nicest girl ever, for all I knew. “Does she know he cheated on?”

            Caroline nodded. “Yeah, I told her the first time I saw her. She just smiled and shrugged. I don’t know what to make of it.”

            “Huh. Well it’s not like I care, anyway. He’s off to college. I’m off to a different college hopefully and I also have Anthony now. He’s way in the past.”

            “If he ever saw Anthony I bet he’d be overcome with jealousy.”

            I smirked. “Yeah, Anthony is a lot better looking.”

            “I know, right? I’m surprised he even likes you. Maybe he’s faking it.”

            “Hey!”

            Caroline laughed, looping her arm through mine. “I’m kidding, El. There’s no faking the looks he gives you.”

            Deciding I didn’t want to talk about my relationship with Anthony anymore, I changed the subject. “While we’re in Florida, we should definitely go to an eighteen or over club.”

            “Ooh, that’s a great idea!” she said excitedly. “We won’t have to worry about any impressions because we’ll never see any of the people in it ever again.”

            “Exactly.”

            “Do you think they have them?”

            I raised an eyebrow. “Are you kidding? Of course they do. Every state has to have a few.”

            “Maybe we could get Julius to help sneak us into a twenty-one and over one…”

            “Umm, no. He would use that for blackmail against you until you die, Carol.”

            Laughing, she nodded her head in agreement. “He definitely would, but that’s to be expected of Julius.”

            “What’s to be expected of me?”

            Both Caroline and I jumped in surprise, turning our heads to see the blonde grinning like an idiot behind us. “Speak of the devil,” I muttered.

            “Hi Julius!” Caroline greeted brightly.

            “What are you guys doing?” he asked, his chocolate eyes zeroing in on my Hollister bags. “Ooh, don’t tell me! You bought bikinis!”

            As he reached for my bag, I whipped it out of his reach. “You’re intuition scares me, Julius.”

            His eyes twinkled. “Bikinis are in my nature.”

            “Pervert.”

            “We’ll have to put warning signs up on the beach,” Caroline stated, smirking. “Remember, Julius, you can be considered a pedophile now.”

            “You can too,” he countered. “You’re eighteen, aren’t you?”

            “But I don’t prey on someone younger than me…” She sent a pointed look at me.

            I glowered at her, sensing Julius’s embarrassment. “Caroline.”

            Julius cleared his throat awkwardly. “Er…”

            Chuckling, she patted Julius on the shoulder. “I’m kidding. It’s okay for guys to like younger girls. Just not too young.”

            “Ah, so someone your age?” he responded, bouncing back to his usual jubilant self. Boy was he resilient.

            “Pfft, no thanks, Grandpa.”

            “Hey!”

            I grinned. “Grandpa Juju…”

            Julius snorted. “That makes me sound like the leader of some African tribe.”

            “Actually, juju is a popular style of music among the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria. So you’re pretty close.”

            Both of us stared blankly at Caroline.

            She smiled sheepishly. “I, uh, pay attention in history class?”

            “That’s crazy,” Julius said, shaking his head. “I can’t even remember when World War II started.”

            “Juju also means a charm or fetish,” a new voice interjected smartly. Glancing beyond Julius, I realized Anthony was there. He smiled and waved at me before continuing. “And World War II started in 1939. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany after Hitler’s invasion of Poland in September. After that Germany defeated occupied France and then overran most of Europe. Then Italy joined Germany in 1940 and then Pearl Harbor happened in 1941 and U.S declared war against Japan, entering the World War on the Allies side. Japan was obviously Axis.”

            Julius gave him a challenging look. “When did Italy surrender?”

            “Easy. 1943.”

            “How do you know all that?” I questioned, incredibly impressed. The only date I remembered in World War II was when the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

            Julius frowned at me. “You don’t know?”

            “Don’t know what?”

            “Anthony wants to be a history teacher.”

            I did a double take. “What?”

            “You guys are dating and you didn’t even know that? Good girlfriend you are,” Julius drawled.

            Anthony elbowed him in the side. “We haven’t talked about what I do in college, Julius. It just hasn’t come up.”

            I chewed on my bottom lip, feeling bad about the fact I didn’t know my boyfriend wanted to be a history teacher. Sure, we really hadn’t had a chance to talk about things like that, but it still made me feel a little ashamed. After all, I knew Julius aspired to be a Spanish teacher…

            “She knows I want to be a Spanish teacher,” Julius informed Anthony in a belittling tone.

            Caroline rolled her eyes. “You’ve been friends with her for a long ass time, Julius. Anthony hasn’t.”

            “Yeah, that and you say you want to be a Spanish teacher at least three times a week,” I mentioned.

            Julius shrugged. “Still.”

            “Did you two come together?” Caroline asked, looking between the blonde and Anthony.

            Anthony nodded. “Yup. Julius needed to buy some lighter clothing.”

            “Me too,” I replied, raising my arm a little to show him my bags.

            “Let me take those for you,” he offered, gesturing for me to give him my bags.

            I shook my head. “Nah, I can handle it, Anthony.”

            “Ellie, I want to.”

            “Fine,” I gave in easily, secretly pleased he’d offered. As lame as it was, I’d always wanted to go to the mall with my boyfriend and have him carry my purchases. “Thanks, Anthony.”

            He bent down and kissed me on the forehead. “No problem.”

            Julius wrapped his arms around both our necks, forcing our bodies to bend as he pressed our heads to his chest. “Aw, aren’t you guys so damn cute?”

            “Let go of me!” I demanded, awkwardly trying to liberate myself. “You’re so annoying, Julius!”

            “Say you love me.”

            “I love you,” Anthony said quickly, being the first to be released.

            I gritted my teeth as Julius now wrapped his free arm around me as well. “And you, Ellie?”

            “I love pie.”

            Anthony laughed loudly while Julius just held me tighter. “Wrong! Tell me you love me.”

            “No.”

            “Dime.”

            “No!”

            “Then I’ll just crush your neck…” He squeezed me.

            “Okay! Okay! I love you! Now let me go!”

            Julius dropped his arms and I pulled away, shooting him a dirty look. He returned it with an innocent one. “What? I need affection and attention like everyone else. And Anthony can share.”

            Anthony punched his friend in the shoulder. “No, I can’t.”

            “I feel like if you guys had your own reality show, you’d make millions,” Carline commented, grinning widely. “I’ll be your manager.”

            “If we had our own reality show, it’d be called The Hell of Ellie.”

            Caroline laughed. “I like it.”

            “Anyway,” I started, turning to face the boys. “My mom wants Caroline and I home for dinner by five, so we’re going to finish shopping. I have to buy flip-flops and stuff.”

            “Can I join you?” Anthony inquired, glancing at both Caroline and myself for permission. “I mean, if it’s a girl’s trip or whatever, that’s fine.”

            “Well…”

            Caroline caught my eye and shrugged. “Not really. You can come with us. Julius, you too?”

            “Yeah!”

            “Boo,” I complained.

            Julius gave me a sarcastic smile. “Your excitement flatters me.”

            “Whatever.”

            Anthony laughed, automatically slipping his hand into mine as we started walking again, a few feet behind Julius and Caroline. “It’s hard to believe you and Julius are close.”

            “It was a lot different before I confessed to him,” I admitted, wincing at the memory. “Then it got awkward. But then better, but not like it used to be. But I guess I now know why…”

            Anthony nodded his head in understanding. “Confessions can really change things.”

            I smiled at the underlying meaning his words. “I guess they can, can’t they?”

            “Just like meetings can.”

            “What?”

            “Make sure you make a good first impression with my parents,” he clarified with a grin. “My life depends on it.”

            My heart skipped a beat. “Wait, are you joking?”

            “Nope. I’m completely serious. It’s up to you to convince them to let me stay.”

            “Wait, how am I supposed to do that?” I demanded, my voice coming out a little panicky.

            “Just be Ellie.”

            “Ellie sucks!”

            “I don’t think that,” he told me honestly, frowning. “I’m sure once they meet you and Julius and Mason and Caroline they’ll realize I’m doing more than okay here. Just promise them you’ll feed me.”

            His words eased my worry a little. “Okay. I can do that.”

            “Good. Now, I think we should slip into Victoria’s Secret and help you shop…”

            “Okay, Julius,” I said, rolling my eyes.

            Julius suddenly stopped and turned around. “Oh, I see how it is. You guys are talking about me behind my back.”

            “Literally,” Caroline giggled.

            I shook my head at them, but couldn’t help grinning. “Just keep walking.”

            “Aye, aye, Captain!”

            “Victoria’s Secret, ho!” Anthony added in a pirate voice.

            “No.”

            He pouted. “Aww.”

________________________________ 

Woo! An update! Finally. Sorry, I've been really busy this week. And this is a really crappy chapter... Writer's block Dx But speaking of busy, THIS IS IMPORTANT. Next Wednesday, my dad is going to the hospital for 8-12 days because he needs surgery because he has intestinal cancer, and you guys probably don't know, but I only live with my dad, so I don't know what I'm doing yet. I might have to go to my grandparents house for that time period and they don't have internet... but I'm hoping I can convince my mom to let me stay at my dad's alone. My aunt's down the street and I did it for two days last week when he had to go in, but I won't know for a few more days. So, if I disappear for a bit, I'm not doing it on purpose, so don't worry :P And after he gets out he needs to recuperate for like, two months. So at least for the first few weeks I'm going to be busy taking care of him and since he runs his own business, I'm going to have to do a few of his odd jobs (like plowing if it snows), so please bare with me! 

Anyway! Please, please go vote for "A Surreptitious Relationship" in the Watty Awards if you haven't! It'd mean a lot to me :) I'm still 3% behind (about 700 votes) and literally need every vote I can get! Thank you so much!! The link to vote is going to be in the external link!