Filed to story: Breathe Story (Sadie White & Jax Stone)
“No way!”
He grinned. “I should have guessed: you’re a Tennessee girl. But it’s all right, they are also grilling burgers, corn on the cob, and ribs.”
“I love burgers, corn, and ribs.”
“Ah, good. Well, we’re going to a friend’s house. They’re grilling out today, with raw oysters on the half shell as the appetizers.”
I grimaced at the thought of raw squishy slimy blobs on a shell people were actually going to put in their mouth.
He laughed at my face. “I guess when you grow up around here, it doesn’t seem so bad.”
I didn’t respond because I wasn’t sure how anyone could get use to eating slime.
“Rock has been my best friend since elementary school. You’ll like the bunch over at his house. We’re going to grill out, and then go water skiing. They have a boat and we’re going to go launch it at the marina. Ever been water skiing?”
“I’m afraid not, but I would love to try.” It seemed to be the thing to say because a huge grin broke out on his face
“I can teach you. You’ll be skiing before the day’s over.”
We pulled up to a single story house on stilts, like most of the houses around here. It wasn’t fancy, and it appeared to have survived a few hurricanes. The siding had been patched up quite a few times.
Marcus met me as I got out of the truck and slid a pair of sunglasses on my face. “You’re gonna need these. Without them, the sun will give you a headache.”
“Do you carry around women’s sunglasses on a regular basis?” I asked teasingly.
He laughed. “No, I have a sister.”
I didn’t know anything about his family. I liked knowing something about him other than the obvious.
“Please tell me you put on sun block. Even the best tanners get burnt in this sun.”
“Yes, I’m slathered up.”
“Come this way,” he said, pulling me behind him through some really tall grass, which grew in the sand. A simple rectangular in-ground pool stood in the center of the yard, surrounded by guys in swim trunks and girls in bikinis. They were slinging back slime from a shell, and I reminded myself not to grimace when they talked to me and ate those things. Marcus squeezed my hand and pulled me into the party.
“Marcus, it’s about time you got here. All the shells are almost empty,” called a guy with long, brown dreadlocks.
Marcus smiled down at me and whispered, “I won’t eat any in front of you, I promise.”
I shook my head. “No, really, it’s fine.”
He laughed and pulled me over to the group of guys standing with the dreadlock guy. Several people called out to Marcus, and he waved and nodded. My stomach churned with nervousness when I realized the majority of the people here were staring at me.
“Hey, guys, this is Sadie, Sadie this is Rock,” a rather large muscular guy with a shaved head, “Preston,” what I considered a beach bum, with long blond hair and dark tanned skin, “and Dwayne,” the dreadlock guy, who also happened to have several tattoos and piercings. “We’ve been friends since second grade.”
Dwayne flicked the dreadlocks out of his eyes and grinned. “Ever since Rock beat the shit out of Preston and ol’ Marcus here jumped in to take up for him, who then started getting pummeled by Rock, until I jumped in, and about that time we all got suspended from school.” The four of them laughed at the memory, and I tried to picture them all as little boys fighting.
“Our parents were all so proud. They had elementary school delinquents.” Dwayne grinned and flipped back an oyster.
“Dwayne will reminisce all day if you let him. Don’t act like you enjoy his stories. He won’t stop,” Marcus said, smiling.