"I'll drive!" Marci told the group waiting downstairs as she took the keys from Nathan. He was used to her driving his car when they were together. In fact, he preferred it. She was also avoiding the remote possibility of ending up seated between the brothers. She'd have to literally sublime if that happened. Nathan gave her the key and walked to the passenger side of the car. Someone was already there but simply jumped back.
"Hello beautiful people, how goes summer?" she asked generally as she started the powerful sounding four wheel drive. She liked driving it, it made other drivers scared of her.
"Hey Marci." Tony or David the Third mumbled. She never got his name straight. The only part she was sure about was that he was the third person to be named that in his family. And to think, over a billion names to choose from. Go figure.
"Hey yourself, you look injured! Stella, Beatrice and guy asleep." Marci said quickly looking at the people in the back seat. The car moved well. It was a very short ride to Nathan's place. Drew was actually waiting outside the gate when they got there.
Marci's heart was two seconds away from bursting out of her chest cavity. No exaggeration. There was dangerousness about the new Drew she wasn't entirely comfortable with. He seemed the type to call bluffs, plough on pretending not to notice awkward moments and worse, he was terribly honest. There was no way he was going to let the incident from the other day slip. She just knew it.
"Hey Guys!" he said in a cheerful tone as he walked around to her side of the car. Marci's heart was beating to some grunge rock inside her. She fixed a warm smile on her face and turned to greet him. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Nathan getting out of the car. Maybe he was coming out to slag both of them.
It was much worse though. He slipped into the back seat and left the front empty for his big brother. She'd have preferred the slagging. Drew touched her cheek briefly in greeting then rounded the bonnet into the passenger seat. Marci sighed deeply eliciting an eyebrow from Nathan who she could see in the rear view mirror.
It was going to be a long long ride.
* * *
"Do you want to drive!?" she snapped at Drew twenty minutes later. He was the co driver from hell. Granted Marci wasn't exactly ever going to ace Formula 1 but she could at the very least cause the car to move in the intended direction. He pointed, told her to slow down and just generally nagged until finally she contemplated running all of into a tree.
"No, you keep at it." He answered ignoring her harsh challenging tone. He actually smiled at her.
"Relax Marci, he does that to all of us." Nathan put in from the back. He'd been listening to the two of them, waiting for her burst up. She was very easily baited when it came to driving.
"I am not "all of you" so can you tell him to stop." She replied. Staring hard at the road, her hands tightly gripping the steering wheel, she exhaled deeply. It was hot and humid, her emotions were a mess and she highly suspected a hangover was about to rear its ugly head. Half a bottle of wine from the night before was proving to be a really bad idea.
"I'm right here Marci." Drew protested at the remark
"I really wish you weren't." she again snapped. He chuckled. She lost it. Pulling suddenly onto the side of the road, she glared at him, and then glared at Nathan who looked perilously close to apoplexy. He was suppressing laugher.
"You drive. Nathan, get in front with Lewis Hamilton here. I'm going to quietly fume behind there." She said getting out of the driver's seat. The two men were looking at her like she was speaking twit. She probably was but she didn't really care.
Nathan refused to get into the front so Stella jumped forward instead. Sliding into the backseat between Nathan and Beatrice, she spared the guy in the boot having a nap. He was lucky; he was missing all the turmoil.
"You ok babes?" Nathan asked in concern when she leaned back and sighed yet again.
"I'll be fine. Brian will cheer me up." she told him. He didn't look convinced. She placed what she hoped was a reassuring kiss on his lips. He made it longer than she had intended but she appreciated the concern nonetheless. Leaning back into the seat after the brief but sweet kiss, her eyes collided very accidentally with Drew's in the rear view mirror. They were unreadable and yet she felt a slight chill run down her back. She smiled at him and tried to take a nap. Or pretended to try and take a nap in Nathan's arms.
"We're almost there." Drew called out to the back seat fifteen minutes later. His driving was heart stopping. Literally. Even the guy who had been asleep in the boot had woken up. The kind of driving that inspires silence. Traumatized silence. He turned into a driveway and drove down to their beach house.
Brian was at the door before they were all out of the car. He rushed to hug her and she loved it. He was her best friend.
Before he went to say hi to the rest of the gang, he pulled her close to whisper in her ear.
"I thought you were done messing with Drew."
Mouth gaping like a fish, she watched in not-so-well hidden terror as he exchanged greetings with the rest of the group. He hugged his brothers, was courteous to the two girls and worried about the still very sleepy guy. Marci made a mental note to ask about that, she had to stop referring to the guy as the "sleepy guy". He must have some sort of name.
After everyone had changed into swim suits and such, they all headed out to the beach front. It was a great day for the beach Marci acknowledged. She'd been trying to get Brian into a conversation for the last half hour. He was either avoiding her or maybe he was just preoccupied with his guests. The two girls certainly had his full attention Marci thought with a pout.
