Rachel's arms were a bit sore...it had been quite a long paddle from the dock in their two-person kayak, longer than Trevor had thought it would be. Pulling the kayak onto the beach, they disembarked and he began pulling the gear out of their backpack while she looked around at the empty, sandy beach. On the weekends the place supposedly got really busy, but being on summer break from college, the two had the weekdays to explore. Still, a "private" beach to themselves was nothing to scoff at!
Trev had the blanket spread out and was opening the cooler, meaning it was time to get some sun. Rachel hooked her thumbs on the waistband of her shorts and pulled them down, revealing her red bikini bottoms that had a slightly smaller, sexier cut than her previous suits. Trev hadn't seen this one yet and she hoped he'd be into it. The gasp of a bottle opening sounded behind her.
"Beer?" Trev asked.Trev had a bottle in his hand extended toward her. "Double IPA" the label read. Taking it, Rachel smiled, pretending not to be a bit miffed that he was so obsessed with these strong craft brews. Couldn't he have picked a drink that was a bit less heavy for a hot day like today? Still, the beer was cold, and it was alcohol, which lived up to her standards as your typical college student. She took a sip, the strong bitterness coating her tongue. Grimacing slightly, she took a sip from the water bottle...she didn't think she'd have to chase her beer with water all day.
Laying back on the towel, she looked at her phone while she worked on her beer. Happy to be out in the sun at least, she couldn't help but feel a bit...bored...having spent the last week staying with Trevor's family in their small town. Looking at her friends on social media spending their summers at the beaches on the coasts was giving her serious FOMO. She didn't want to be unappreciative - she loved Trev's family - but she did feel like the two of them could use some excitement in their lives.
Some movement on the water caught her eye, a boat was motoring toward them pretty quickly across the lake. She sighed, supposing they'd now even have some company at their "private" beach.
"Well, guess that's that for having the beach to ourselves." Trev said matter-of-factly, seeing the boat for himself. The boat arrived shortly and stopped just off the shore. Rachel could see then it was filled with young people in swimsuits. Mostly guys, there was one girl with them, but they all seemed to be around their age. Seeing that lifted her spirits a bit. Maybe she'd make some friends!
The small group jumped off the back one by one into the shallow water, carrying their own bags to the beach. Squinting, she took special notice of the girl. As she came closer, stepping out of the water Rachel thought that maybe...was it...?
"Lauryn??" Rachel yelled. The girl looked up and a shocked smile came across her face.
"OH MY GOD! Girl what are you doing here!??" she yelled back to Rachel excitedly.
"I'm just visiting my boyfriend Trevor's family!" she said excitedly, pointing back at him "What are YOU doing here babe?"
"We're just visiting our friend's lake house." she replied, hugging her friend hello when she made it to them. "I haven't seen you since we left the dorms! How are you??"
"I'm good!" she replied, snapping herself out of her previously bored demeanor. "Just getting some sun here."
"Cool, us too...well...we're actually probably gonna do a bit more than just tan..." her old friend said with a grin, pointing at the guys offloading a cooler.
"Nice!" Rachel laughed. She paused, remembering she had introductions to make. "Trevor! This is Lauryn, we were on the same floor in the dorms!"
"Hello!" Trevor said, still lying down and waving at her from the blanket, eyes glued to his phone. Rachel rolled her eyes.
"As you can see my boyfriend is already in chill mode." she smirked, embarrassed for his lack of manners to come and say hi.
"It's all good, hope you folks don't mind if we're in more of a party mode." Lauryn gritted her teeth.
"Oh no, go right ahead, we're always down for friends in party mode." Rachel replied a bit awkwardly.
"Cool!" Lauryn looked behind her at the minimally consumed double IPA in the sand by them. "Oh and we've got a buttload of White Claws if you want. We're happy to share!"
"Oh! Um...well...actually I might take you up on that!" chuckled Rachel. With the bitter IPA still lingering on her tongue, a refreshing hard seltzer actually sounded amazing to her in that moment.
"Wanna come meet my friends?" Lauren waved her over as she walked over to the unpacking group. "This is Brent, that's Andy, and Ted." she said, pointing out each of them one by one. "Guys this is Rachel, we were in the dorms together freshman year."
"Alright! How's it going Rachel?" Brent said happily, shaking her hand. The other guys followed. Rachel smiled, contrasting these guys being very gentlemanly compared with her boyfriend, who was still lost in his phone.
"Do we have a spare Claw for my girl here? She seems like she's in need of one." Lauryn teased.
"Oh sure! We've got way too much actually, here ya go," reaching in the cooler, Ted produced an ice cold can for his new friend. Taking it from him, she brushed some ice from it, and cracked it open.
"Thanks!"
"Of course!" he replied, smiling widely. Her stomach turned slightly. She hadn't expected a literal boat full of cute guys to show up but here they were. "You two are old friends?"
"Oh, just since freshman year." Rachel replied
"Well any friend of Lauryn's has to be cool by default!" Ted grinned, tapping his can against Lauryn's.
"Stop it you cheeseball!" Lauryn bumped him with her hip.
Rachel began downing her drink faster than she expected as she caught up with Lauryn (with Ted's joking interspersed), talking about life, relief at being done with finals, and soccer. Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted as thumping music started up.
"Eyyyy!!" Brent yelled happily, doing a goofy dance for the girls.
"Are we starting up the dance party already?" asked Lauryn, laughing at Brent's dorkiness.
"Never too early OR late for a dance party!" Brent smiled.
"We gotta pace ourselves though, we've got a long day with many...activities...ahead of us..." Lauryn warned.
"Or we can just go hard the whole time." Brent reasoned.
"These guys..." Lauryn smiled back at Rachel.
"They seem so fun!" Rachel offered. Then she realized something her friend hadn't mentioned. "Hey where's...I thought you had been dating someone for a while?" Lauryn frowned slightly at the question.
"Well....um...we're kind of...on a break right now?"
"Oh...shoot...I'm sorry"
"Don't be! It's cool, and probably really good for me....and him...and both of us." she said.
"Well that's good." Rachel followed awkwardly, desperately wanting to change the subject. "What kind of activities did you folks have in store?"
Lauryn's smile returned. "Wellll we've got another boat of friends that are gonna join us at some point and um..." she trailed off.
"...what?" Rachel probed, teasing. "Potato sack race? Arts and crafts?
"Almost..." Lauryn said "A bit later we were gonna do some molly actually?"
"Oh...wow...that's...wow" Rachel didn't know how to respond. Like, the club drug?
"I know, I was a bit weird about it too until recently but I did it for the first time a little while ago and it was so much fun!"
"I just...didn't know you were into it is all...is it dangerous?"
"Oh no, it just makes music sound REALLY good and makes people really friendly and a bit touchy-feely," Lauryn said matter-of-factly, "...and just makes you feel really good of course."
"Huh. Cool. Wow I guess you guys really are here to party!"
"I told you so!" Lauryn laughed. Rachel guzzled the last sip of her can a bit nervously. "Another one?"
She considered and thought, well, the alternative was Trev's bitter IPAs, so maybe she'd bum another from her friend. It didn't seem like they were low.
"Sure", she said with a smile. They were so nice and friendly, despite apparently being serious partiers. Still, maybe she could just hang with them until they started going harder.
"Another for the lady?" Lauryn asked Ted who was near the cooler.
"You got it!" he smiled. Rachel's stomach fluttered again. Producing another can, he threw it to her and she snatched it.
"By the way, that bikini is hot AF!" complimented Lauryn.
"Yeah where did we go right to keep ending up hanging out with all these cuties?" Brent said, half serious. The guys cheersed, murmuring the agreement.
Blushing, Rachel laughed "Oh my god you guys shut up!" She couldn't help but feel flattered that this group of good-looking guys thought she was cute.
"For real you really do look good though, why is Trevor not over here telling you this?" Lauryn asked, looking over Rachel's shoulder.
"Oh I don't know, he's not super into groups and he's kinda shy I guess." Rachel said, looking back over at Trev, still living in his phone. She felt the pangs of embarrassment again
"Awww, well maybe he'll open up after a few more of those IPAs." Lauryn said.
"Maybe!" Rachel said.
"Eyyyy!!! There they are!" Brent yelled suddenly. The group looked toward the water, another boat was zipping toward them.
"Alright!" Ted said.
As they arrived, Rachel could see this boat was a bit bigger, carrying 7 or 8 people. This really was going to be a party. Pulling up, the crew started hopping out and Ted went out to greet them. This group was also mostly guys, but there was another girl with them as well; she was fit, sporting a floral green bikini.
The group disembarked one by one, and Lauryn left Rachel to say hi as well. Going straight to the girl, they hugged hello, and returned to Rachel together.
"Rachel, this is Michelle, we're on the soccer team together."
"Um and also besties!" Michelle laughed.
"Oh, yeah that too I guess." Lauryn joked.
"Nice to meet you!" Michelle said, as she moved in and hugged Rachel. Rachel hadn't expected a hug greeting, but hugged her back all the same. These people sure were friendly! It didn't seem to be that big a deal for her then either, the Claws seemed to be taking their effect at that point.
