Page 3 of We Thought We Were Invincible
I took care of table five and started running food out from the kitchen. Anna, the head cook, cranked out orders.
“Duck,” Colby called.
I obeyed, and he sidestepped me, swinging a bucket of dirty dishes over my head to get to the dishwasher.
Leaning on the counter next to my brother, I noticed the bags under his eyes and the tired tilt of his shoulders.
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
“A couple hours. Kat needed help opening since someone ran out super early.”
“Sorry, I know it was my shift, but-”
“The waves,” he finished for me. “Yada yada yada. I know. You've been my sister for seventeen years and Jamie has been my best friend for almost as long. I know you guys have that obsession.”
“Oh, come on, we rarely get to surf, especially in the summer.”
“It's always too flat,” he cut me off again. “I know that too.”
“Callie,” Kat called. “Colby.”
“Coming,” we said in unison.
He rolled his lean shoulders and straightened his glasses as he walked off, looking every bit as confident as he was. At school that confidence paid off. He was quiet, but strong; well liked, popular even, without trying too hard. The perfect combination.
He was so very different from me. Our brown hair and dark eyes might give us away as twins, but he was calm and I could be volatile; a fact everyone knew.
I followed him to where our aunt was ringing bills into the register. He took over for her as she stepped back into the kitchen, and I grabbed the warm plates from the pass-through, setting them in front of Jay and Jamie who now sat beside him.
“You guys going to the beach party tonight?” Jamie asked.
“The end of summer thing? I don't know.”
“It'll be fun.” Jay sent me a charming-do-it-for-me smile. “One last hurrah before I leave tomorrow.”
I laughed, knowing full well I had no other choice. “Fine. Let the debauchery begin.”
Jamie clapped his hands together in excitement as I heard my aunt calling me again.
“Duty calls.” Wiping my hands on my apron, I got back to work.
2
Callie
Kids trying to hold on to the last remnants of summer with both hands packed the beach. I slipped off my sandals and picked them up with one hand while I held the other out to Jay. I didn't want to be there, but I wanted to be with him. My best friend.
He smiled at me, the full pearly white kind of smile and pulled me to him.
“Hi,” he whispered.
“Hi yourself.”
“Let's have fun tonight, okay?”
He knew what I'd been thinking. This was not my scene.
“Stop reading my mind.” I pushed him back, and he laughed, wrapping an arm around my waist.
