“You guys are too much, honestly, this is amazing.” I addressed all of them with gratitude.
Phoebe beamed with pride. I looked at her, slightly perplexed by how very normal she seemed as well.
“Everybody here seems so normal. So…what brought you here?” I hoped the question wasn’t too personal, but she gave me an equally perplexed look and frowned.
“The same thing that brings everybody here, silly,” she replied. Before she could continue she sniffed the air and her green eyes lit up with mischief. I did the same, hoping I remembered my deodorant this morning, but the rich, sweet smell of cake filled my nose, instead.
“Hey Carmen, what time is it?” Phoebe shouted into the other room. I could hear the delightful anticipation in her tone.
“Smells like….cupcake thirty!” Carmen called back to her. Willow snickered from the kitchen.
“Cupcake thirty?” I questioned Phoebe, but she just licked her lips and dragged me up to the bar.
“Willow’s our baker and cook all in one” She announced proudly and pulled out a stool for both of us.
“Same thing, Phoebs.” Carmen pulled up a stool, too. She pulled her hair back, as if preparing for an eating contest. Phoebe unfolded a napkin and tucked it in the collar of her shirt, creating a make shift bib. I was half expecting them to grab their forks next and start beating them on the counter chanting ‘we want cupcakes’. I could tell I was going to enjoy living with these girls. If nothing else, they were entertaining.
“No they aren’t, a baker bakes things, a cook cooks things. Duh.” Phoebe and Carmen started arguing and I peeked up at Willow, who was in the process of taking the cupcakes out of the pan and spreading on icing. She shook her head at the other two with a disapproving frown and handed me the first cupcake.
“Go ahead and add referee to that list,” she said warily, then spoke up to interrupt Phoebe and Carmen “I’m gonna give these cupcakes to our best friends next door if you two don’t stop,” she threatened, and by the way she said it I can tell by best friends, she meant the complete opposite.
Carmen and Phoebe shot Willow mock looks of horror, then grinned, and stole a couple of cupcakes each.
Phoebe bit down into one. “No way am I letting any of these cupcakes get wasted on those hateful be-otches,” she huffed through a mouthful.
“These are really good,” I complimented Willow, as I took another bite of the red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing. “So I take it I won’t be getting a welcome basket from our neighbors?”
“Not unless it has poison in it,” Phoebe made a face normally reserved for spiders or snakes.
“I swear they are pure evil.”
“Definitely evil,” Carmen agreed, “but it was pretty funny when Olivia got pinched by that crab yesterday. It’s bad when the wildlife don’t even like you.” She giggled and raised her dark eyebrows at Phoebe.
Phoebe put her icing-covered hands up in defense. “I promise I had nothing to do with it.
Seriously!”
Willow grinned, showing her dimples, “Uh huh, likely story, Phoebs.”
Before I could figure out how in the world Phoebe would be able to make a crab attack someone, a yawn fought its way out of me, and I felt the exhaustion of the day hit me like a sledgehammer.
“Oh Stasia, I bet you’re exhausted!” Phoebe said sympathetically, “Plus you need to get your sleep. We’re going out to the beach tomorrow. Only two more days until classes start, so we have to take advantage of every minute of freedom.”
I said goodnight to my new roommates and headed to my unbelievably awesome bedroom. I shut the door and smiled as a renewed sense of hope filled my heart. The House of Lorelei already felt like home.
The next morning, I woke to the aroma of sizzling bacon and singing. I didn’t know if I’d call it singing, however, more like nails on a chalkboard. I threw on some sweats and peeked out of my bedroom door. Phoebe was sitting on the couch listening to an IPod with her hands in what could only be described as a portable sandbox. I could tell it was a type of pottery shaped in a square, completely filled with sand. Maybe everyone there was two fries short of a Happy Meal, after all.
I walked out into the living room and noticed Willow working her magic in the kitchen. The sight of scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese grits cooking on the stove had my mouth watering. I was going to get spoiled if she kept this up. Right when I sat down at the bar, a very irritated looking Carmen came out of her room and scowled at Phoebe.
“Somebody find that dying animal and put it out of it’s misery before I jump off the balcony.” She took one of the ear buds out of Phoebe’s ear, “Hey Taylor Swift, give it a rest.” Instead of a witty comeback, Phoebe put the ear bud back in, blew a kiss at her, and started singing louder.
Deciding it wasn’t worth it, Carmen took a seat beside me. A couple of minutes and one song later, Phoebe snuck up behind us, planted a kiss on each our cheeks, and then hopped up onto the stool on my other side. She still had a thin layer of sand coating her small hands.
“Man, I’m starving! Shaping sand really works up an appetite,” she sighed dramatically and propped her elbows up on the bar. Yep, definitely a couple fries short.
After filling my stomach with a five star breakfast a-la-Willow, I was sporting a light pink bikini beneath a white, cotton cover up and we were on our way down to the beach. I was a little nervous, knowing the whole school would probably be out there, too. But, at least I had three new friends to lessen the anxiety…three very tan and very in-shape new friends, to be exact. Seeing Phoebe’s perfectly sculpted figure in a silver Roxy bikini, I decided I definitely needed to do some shopping. Glancing at Carmen, who resembled a Hawaiian tropic model in her red bikini, I decided some sit ups wouldn’t hurt either.
Outside the sun was shining and the breeze picked up the smells of the beach as it swirled around us. The aroma of tanning lotion and saltwater assaulted my senses, making me smile. There were people playing beach volleyball, groups of girls laying out, and groups of guys watching the groups of girls laying out. The tide was on the way in and the waves were dotted with surfers. We found a clear spot on the sand and put down a soft cotton blanket that held all four of us.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” Willow breathed and slathered some SPF 30 on her pale skin. I was about to agree when a group of guys ran by us carrying surfboards, throwing up sand with their feet on the way to the ocean.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Carmen shouted and wiped sand out of her dark eyes.
They just kept running and I couldn’t help but admire the view. Tan and shirtless, with swim trunks hanging low on their hips, they made it to the water, and immediately jumped on their surfboards and started paddling out. They all had very dark hair. Not one of them had brown or blonde hair. I wondered if they were all related somehow.
“I’d like to watch where they’re going for sure,” Phoebe told Carmen and winked a green eye at me. “Carmen, on the other hand, only has eyes for Logan.” She started making kissing noises and Carmen threw a stray seashell at her.
“Is that your boyfriend?” I asked Carmen.
“She wishes,” teased Phoebe.
“Whatever, Logan can’t stop drooling over Cassie long enough to notice anybody else,” Carmen sighed and laid back down. “I’m so over it.”
“You’re imagining things. He’s definitely into you, not Cassie,” Willow commented, as she put on some light white Wayfarer sunglasses and a straw hat.