"Yeah we danced on tabletops, and we took too many shots, think we kissed but I forgot! Last Friday Night!"
Skyla gazed out the window of Khloe's Mustang as Jackie and Elise sang along to the music at the top of their lungs. She hoped that the serene, picturesque view of the beach would ease her mind more than the twelfth over-the-top pop singalong would stress it out. It did somewhat.
The four women had looked forward to this day for years. When they all met in middle school, they determined that as soon as they all turned 21, they'd book a fancy beach getaway and have the summer of their lives. And now, Skyla, the youngest of the four by a few months, finally hit that age. Thanks to Elise's vacation planning skills - and a few connections - they were able to find the perfect spot. Spotless sandy shores, fun kitschy outdoor bars, and a spa not too far away from the small timeshare house Elise's family had a stake in. It was everything the girls had wanted and more, frankly.
"You having fun back there?" Khloe smiled as she looked at Skyla from the rearview mirror.
"Can't you tell by how loudly I'm singing along?" Skyla quipped.
"She loves it, she's just too cool to show it," Elise ribbed as she poked Skyla in the side. "Hey, I said if you knew of any stations that played the music you liked, you were free to switch over."
"Yeah, you said that knowing full well that the radio doesn't play the music I like," Skyla grumbled.
"Let's drive in silence for now. We've had the music on for a while," Khloe offered as she turned the radio down.
"No, please, don't stop for my sake," Skyla droned, clearly not meaning it even a little.
Still, she couldn't help but blush at Khloe's thoughtfulness. It's things like this that made Skyla wonder how the four ever stayed friends this long in the first place. Khloe was the total picture of a cool girl: fashionable, nice to everyone, and never seemed to be worried about anything. Any girl would be jealous of her long, flowing dark hair and beautiful green eyes. Not to mention her tattoos adding to the trendy image.
Then there were Jackie and Elise. Jackie was a total musclehead in every meaning of the word: loved sports, worked out every day, and didn't seem to have a shred of self-awareness. It was her who kept insisting the four hang out back in middle school, and that certainly stuck. Despite her short blonde hair and sporty clothes, her body made it abundantly clear that she was all woman.
Elise, meanwhile, had too much self-awareness, and simply chose to tease others on purpose. She was pretty and curvaceous enough to get away with it, and she knew it. Between her coquettish attitude, voluminous red hair, and her parents' money, she had always been popular with boys. And she certainly indulged in that.
Meanwhile, Skyla was always aloof and not willing to open up to others easily. She trusted the other three, but even that took some time. She often felt like others didn't understand her, be it for her unconventional interests, her conservative sense of style (chin-length hair and oversized sweaters for as long as the others had known her), or her general inability to express her emotions.
Of course, her feelings for Khloe were one such emotion. Skyla had had a crush on Khloe basically since they met, though she didn't realize it until high school. She knew her place, though. There was no way she'd risk her friendship with Khloe by flying too close to the sun. Besides, Skyla was happy that popular girls chose to hang out with her in the first place. The constant comparisons from others never bothered her much; she was just happy to be included. That didn't happen often before she met them.
"Man, this is going to be great!" Jackie declared as she stretched her arms. "I've so been looking forward to bar hopping with my girls!"
"Is that what it is, or do you just want to show off your summer bod?" Elise snickered.
"Well yeah, obviously, that too," Jackie grinned as she pounded her abdominal region. "I'll try not to take all the attention from the rest of you, don't worry."
"There's no way you actually brought a one-piece swimsuit, did you?" Elise asked.
"What? Of course not," Jackie boasted. "But I didn't paint my nails at all. That should give the rest of you a fighting chance."
"And we appreciate your generosity," Khloe played along.
"Wait, you never paint your nails," Skyla pointed out.
"See, even when we're not at the beach, I'm still looking out for you three," Jackie laughed.
----
The rest of the drive was largely uneventful, and as the sun set over the horizon, the four friends arrived at the timeshare.
"Now, I know it's not quite as luxurious as you all expected," Elise humble-bragged as she unlocked the front door. "But here it is! Make yourselves at home!"
The group walked inside, greeted by charming decor one would expect from an upper-class beach house. The front room was a combination living room and dining room, with the kitchen a little further back. The house branched off into a hall on either side.
"I don't know if I said this already, but there aren't enough bedrooms for each of us to get our own," Elise continued. "So we'll have to pair up. And, well..."
She traced a finger along Jackie's bicep. That was the other big thing: Elise and Jackie had recently started fooling around. It all started after a drunken sleepover, and Skyla and Khloe didn't find out until a year later. They both insisted they weren't an item: just friends with benefits. They also each extended an offer to have a drunken sleepover with the other two, but both Skyla and Khloe declined.
"I don't mind bunking with Skyla," Khloe smiled. "You two can have your fun. Skyla and I are out here proving that abstinence is still cool."
"Heh, y-yeah... what she said," Skyla agreed, avoiding eye contact with the others.
"No need to be jealous," Elise winked.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Khloe played off. "I'm going to unpack, and then maybe we can figure out something fun for us to do."
"Sounds good!" Jackie agreed. "Let's meet on the beach in ten! Break!"
----
After eleven minutes - six of which involved Khloe and Skyla waiting outside - Jackie and Elise emerged from the front door in their bikinis.
"Let's go!" Jackie whooped.
"Huh? Were we supposed to change into our suits?" Skyla asked.
"We didn't establish that. I think these two just wanted to back us into a corner," Khloe figured.
"Well, it is the beach. Unless you wanted to go swimming in your big ol' sweater," Elise teased.
"We never said we were swimming!" Skyla objected.
"You don't go to the beach very often, do you?" Jackie asked. "That's generally what people do."
"You're the one who kept going on about bar hopping and stuff. I wasn't about to show up anywhere underdressed," Skyla murmured.
"Sky, sweetheart, there's no such thing as underdressed out here," Elise assured her. "Well, besides the obvious, but..."
"And even then, that's still not underdressed when we're in the house," Jackie snickered.
Khloe squeezed Skyla's shoulder. "Come on, let's go change. We drove all the way out here, so we might as well have all the fun we can."
"...Fine," Skyla relented.
A few minutes later, Khloe and Skyla re-emerged from the front door, now in their swimsuits. Skyla figured it was only natural that she was the only one in a one-piece. As the most petite of the group, she never felt comfortable in anything more revealing than that. She even brought a hoodie jacket to wear over it. Khloe, meanwhile, proudly displayed the tattoos on her shoulders, arms, and torso thanks to her tasteful bikini.
