Bea & the Broken Record

Chapter 24: The Mystery Girl

I woke up the next morning with a stiff back and a girl's head lying on my chest. It was Bea, or course, still conked out and breathing softly.

But it wasn't the beautiful scene in front me that woke me up. It was the feeling of rubber being smacked on my head over and over again. I reached up and tried to snatched the balloon out of someone's hands before they jerked it away, and I heard a girl's giggling and a guy's snickering behind me. I carefully rolled over on my stomach and gently let Bea down on the pillow.

"What the -" I stopped short when I realized it wasn't a balloon and it wasn't rubber - it was a blown-up condom. My eyebrows raised and my mouth fell into a straight line.

"You should really get yourself some of those," Grayson said, the one who had been smacking me with it. "We don't need any mini Asher and Bea's running around here."

I snatched the condom out of his hand and popped it under my arm. Bea jerked beside of me and shot up from her sleeping position.

"Whoops," I chuckled and sat up to pull her into my side and kissed the top of her head. "Sorry, Bea."

She didn't say anything, just sleepily and grumpily rubbed her hazel eyes. I glanced back up at the three guys and Mia looking down at me. I gave them a flat look.

"Why are you guys sleeping out here?" Mia asked curiously.

"Because your snoring woke all of us up," I retorted.

"I second that," Ben laughed. Mia reached across the picnic table she was sitting on to smack the back of his head. In return, he reached back across the table and kissed her. Right on the lips. I hopped up from the blankets and leaned against the picnic table, staring at my best friend and little cousin skeptically.

"When did this happen?" I raised an eyebrow. Mia's face turned rosy pink and Ben - well, Ben just smirked. "Benny boy, I'm glad you finally got yourself a girlfriend. It's just that this one, you better not screw up."

My threat made him step back a little bit, but I knew he wasn't as fazed as I wanted him to be. So, I grabbed his t-shirt and pulled him face to face with me, mimicking his now gone smirk.

"You think I'm kidding?" I asked. "Try me."

"Okay break it up. I just slept on a porch all night and I don't have the energy to break up a chick fight," Bea piped up. I turned around to see her standing behind me, hands on hips and messy hair.

"So I'm downgraded to a chick?" I pouted, wrapping my arms around her.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I'm grumpy."

I leaned down to kiss her lips quickly. "I can tell."

"Please keep it down or I'm going to buy you some more of those," Quentin groaned as he pointed to the popped condom still lying on the blankets. The glass door slid open, revealing a clean-looking Liam.

"Alright, ladies. Asher has somewhere to be and the rest of us have some fun to have." Liam furrowed his eyebrows. "If that made sense..."

"Where are you guys going?" I asked. I knew where we were going - to see mom. But I didn't know everyone else was going anywhere.

"We didn't want to crowd you guys at the rehab center, so mom and dad are taking us out to some place," Liam explained.

"Okay," I confirmed. "Let's go get ready then, Bea." I pulled her through the doors and up the stairs, parting ways when we reached my bedroom door.

I took a quick shower and dressed, eager to get the day over with. Seeing my parents after so long made me jittery. It was as if I had drank a dozen cups of high-caffeine coffees that morning.