One of the Boys (Original Story)

Chapter 1

I hang up my Crab N' Go Snack Shack apron on the metal hook, before locking the door to the snow cone stand to head home for the day. It feels good to feel the heat on my shoulders, instead of the ice cold freezer air. 

"Larry! Did you lock the door?" Doug calls when I'm walking past the Crab N' Go window. His parent's own the little convenient store on the beach. The main store sells snacks, soda, and keychains, or things people typically forget when coming to the beach, like sunscreen. When I was in junior high, they added a snow cone stand on to the side of the little shack. It's mostly operated by high schoolers in need of gas money during the summertime. Some work year round though. It's pretty laid back, but still has a constant stream of customers. 

"Yeah, Doug. You're welcome to check if you'd like," I say jingling my keys in front of my face. 

He scoffs, handing an eight year-old girl a basket of chicken strips and a bottle of aloe vera. "Just asking. You never know."

"Well, if someone happens to steal the coconut syrup, I'll buy you some more." I grin, waving bye as he gives me the stink eye and shakes his head. 

I check my phone for any messages from Mom, seeing if she wants me to pick up dinner on the way home, even though it's a little early. Instead, there's just a voicemail from Dad, but I clear it from the screen. I'm about to reach the parking lot when I spot my brother's sandy blond head. He's standing around with some of the other seniors. 

I'm halfway when they spot me, Noah's shoulders dropping. "What? You get fired already?" he says, looping his arm around his girlfriend's waist. 

"Hilarious. It's four-thirty, genius," I tell him, turning toward Jenna so my back is mostly to Noah. "What are y'all doing?" 

"Catching some waves before we go get pizza at Pete's," she says. Pete's is where the juniors and seniors hangout on Thursdays. I've never understood why. It's just greasy pizza with burnt crust. Although, there's an ice cream machine with unlimited refills. I've only been a handful of times with Casey and Elody when they both had a crush on Duncan Beyers last year. 

"And you can't come," Noah chimes in. 

"You hangout with me and my friends all the time" I argue. I don't really care to go, so I don't know why I'm trying to guilt trip him into bringing me. I guess I'm just tired of his attitude toward me these days. We are only a year apart, he hasn't experienced much more than I have, though he would disagree.

"That's because your friends are actually cool. You on the other hand, are not," he says. I stick my tongue out at him. 

"You can come, Hillary. I'm driving anyway," Jenna tells me, putting a hand on my arm.

 I really like Jenna. She is probably the nicest girl my brother has ever dated. I didn't really know her all that well when they first started dating last year. I kinda hated her at first because Noah was supposed to be teaching me to drive stick in the Bronco for my drivers test, but then he would invite Jenna and spend half the time teaching her instead. It pissed me off because I had been practicing for months already, so I was pretty good at it, but Jenna was just starting out, so her driving was really jerky and awful. I've spent a lot of time with her and Noah this summer since all my friends are at the lake, so I've come to realize how great she is. That's another reason I really shouldn't go today. I've followed them around so much the last two months already, with minimal complaining from Noah, so I should respect his wishes for time with his friends. 

"It's alright. Really. Mom just texted me to bring her home dinner, anyway. Y'all have fun, though," I say, walking off. Noah gives me a nod of thanks, knowing full well Mom didn't say squat. 

I decide to pick up Chinese on my way home since I'm already out. Mom isn't home though when I walk in, so I put her orange chicken and fried rice in the fridge, and decide to call Jake to see what time they are supposed to be back tomorrow. The reception up there isn't great but it never hurts to try every now and then. At one point during the summer, I tried for a week straight to send Casey a picture of a swimsuit I wanted to buy from the mall. I eventually gave up and showed it to Jenna. She's kinda become my Casey and Elody replacement this summer. 

To my surprise, Jake answers on the third ring. "Why, if it isn't Harry Larry."

"Jake," I warn. He's always coming up with horrible nicknames for me. It has driven me crazy ever since we were little. 

"What's up Hill Billy?" 

"Currently wondering why I called you," I say, unable to stop the grin from spreading across my face. "Just got off work and picked up dinner for me and Mom. What about y'all?" I put him on speaker as I dump my teriyaki chicken on to a plate and sit down with a glass of water. 

"Oh you know, the usual." I eat while he tells me all the drama that unfolded during the summer. Elody and Tyler got into a fight on the Fourth of July because Elody forgot her jacket and Tyler wouldn't give her his, so she sat with Casey during the firework show. All the boys were out at the jet ski course when Bryce and Grayson's jet ski ran out of gas, and Jake and Tyler had to tow them back home. And then, Casey got really sunburned because she decided it wouldn't be bright enough to need sunscreen when they spent the whole day on the pontoon boat. He said there were a ton of good things that happened, but thought I might want to hear some of the embarrassing mishaps that went down, since the girls were going to swear them to secrecy  before they got back. Plus, I would most likely get an earful of all the merry adventures they went on anyway. 

By the time I'm about to get off the phone, I don't even realize that the sun has sunk below the horizon, and my mom and brother are watching tv in the living room. Noah pokes his head in, probably hearing me cackling like a crazy person. "Is that Jake-y?" he says. I forget sometimes that because Jake is an only child, and we've been thrown into each other's lives since birth, that him and Noah are friends too; that we share him.

"No. Go away," I tell him, flipping onto my stomach, so I can see him. 

"Let me talk to him," Noah says, reaching for the phone, but I roll out of the way. "You've probably been on this thing for hours already. Maybe I wanna be able to call my girlfriend and not have you croaking in the background."

"You just got back from hanging out with her. What could you possibly have to say to her already? 'Oh, Jenna, the walk to the front door was so lonely. I miss the site of your face. It's been ten whole seconds without you,'" I say.

"Shut up, and give me the phone." I hand it over, kicking him in the thigh when he sits down on my bed next to me. "Hey, Jake! What's happening man? When you coming home?" 

Jake says something I can't quite hear, and they both start laughing about someone named Susan, who I assume is a girl from school, and then Noah gets up and leaves to continue his conversation somewhere else in the house, leaving me there alone. And it's moments like these that make me realize how invisible I am. If Jake knew I was on the same playing field as Casey and Elody now, would he have told my brother he'd talk to him later? I don't want to date Jake, but it would still be nice to not be a place holder for his man crush on Noah. Or when he's not chasing after a girl, like he did with Elody last year before she started going out with Tyler. He kept trying to get me to talk him up to her, or sneak him into conversations when the girls were all hanging out together.

About an hour later, when I've moved on to looking at my Seventeen magazine, Noah pokes his head back in to return my phone and tell me Jake says he'll see me soon. And I realize I'm not even worth a proper bye, and I suddenly can't wait for tomorrow to get here.