Our Little Lie (Complete)

FOUR

I meet Mirren and Tyler at the beach in the morning. They're in the water splashing each other like crazy. Tyler sees me and waves, giving Mirren enough time to prepare a giant splash that catches him off guard.

"Okay, okay, you win!" He laughs.

"I know," she says and starts to walk towards me. "Hey El!"

"Hi Mirren! Hi Tyler!" I smile.

"Glad you're here because I have an awesome idea for today," Tyler grabs a towel,"you are in for a treat."

Mirren and I look at each other and she shakes her head. "Don't get too excited."

"Oh come on, Mirren! Trust your older brother for once would you?"

"Okay you're only older by three minutes and most of the time you act like a two year old."

"I know you are but what am I?"

"My point proven," she laughs. "Okay so what's the plan?"

"No telling," he looks at us,"just doing."

We walk to a bike rental shop and he tells us to pick out our favorites. I choose a cream colored, vintage bike with a basket.

"We ready?" He asks.

"You know I'm never ready for one of your surprises, but I do it anyway," Mirren replies and rolls her eyes. We ride the wind and the roads for a long time. I feel free and wild and young. I run my bike towards Tyler's then jerk away right before it looks like I would crash into him. He's shocked and his bike jumps causing him to lose his balance. Now I'm in the front. So I flash a smirk back at him.

"Oh it's on now!" He yell and I see him come in quick on my left. I swerve side to side, blocking him. "Dang girl!" We keep doing this for a while when he says,"Keep going straight!" and turns onto another street. Mirren and I do as he said. We slow down a bit so we can talk.

"I ship it!" She yells over the howling wind. "You have my approval to date my twin brother."

"Mirren, once I leave, I may never get to see either of you again. There's nothing to ship."

"Can we just live in the moment and pretend you both are stranded here?"

"I'd like that," I reply. But really, I can't help but think about everything thing he knows now. He knows the terrible person I am beneath all the smiling and laughing. How could anyone love someone like me?

Out of nowhere, Tyler swerves in front of the two of us. He smiles back and points to a little shop on the left. It's a bright pink hut with a handmade sign that reads, "Cathy's Creamy Cones." We park our bikes off to the side.

"This looks amazing!" I clap my hands giddily.

"Gotta say, this is one of your better surprises," Mirren says and rests her elbow on his shoulder. They order first. Tyler gets a vanilla covered in fruit loops and Mirren gets a cotton candy swirl.

The lady asks me what I want. "What's the chocolatiest thing you have?" I ask. She points to a picture of a double chocolate ice cream cone dipped in Oreo shavings. "Can I have that, please?" She nods and keys in the price.

"That will be $5," she says. I dig through my purse and pull out my credit card.

"You take card, right?" I ask just to make sure.

"Sorry, ma'am," the woman says, "Unfortunately we don't." A five dollar bill is slapped on the counter in front of me.

"I'll pay for that," Tyler says proudly. I smile up at him.

"Thanks, I owe you one."

"Well technically you owe me more than one thing but that's why we don't keep track, right?"

"Right," I laugh. The lady hands us our ice cream and we sit at the wooden picnic tables overlooking the water.

"So," Tyler half licks half bites his ice cream,"how old are you, El?"

"I turned seventeen in early March, I'm a junior in high school" I swallow the dreamy chocolate,"How about you?"

"I'll be eighteen in May, and I'm a junior too because I was held back when I was really little. Same with Mirren."

"Think how cool it would be if we all went to school together. I mean Dad is always moving us around for his work. It could happen," Mirren says.

"Still very unlikely, where do you live, El?" Tanner asks.

"Arkansas"

"Really? You strike me as an Arkansas kind of girl"

"I live in Fayetteville. Which isn't like the rest of Arkansas. It's more urban. How about you? Where are you guys from?"

"Our mom grew up in Fayetteville! And we're from Springfield, Ohio," Mirren replies. "It's an incredibly boring place."

"That's weird because you two are the most adventurous people I've ever met."

"Well we've only been there for a year, but soon that place will probably turn us into sleepy zombies who don't ride bikes to random ice cream huts," Tyler says.

We all laugh and talk like regular relaxed teenagers, which is basically what we are. But I never was like this at home.