"Laney, Riley, where are you? I need help with the groceries!" she screamed as she tried to open the back door though her hands full with two bags of food. "Quick!"
Laney opened the door. "So, what do we have for tonight?" she asked looking through the bag while it was still in Liz's arms. "Ahhh, this looks good! And OH! I love that!"
"Will you shut up and take one of the bags?! They are heavy!"
"Opps, sorry!" she said jokingly taking a bag from her.
"Hey, what's up?" Riley said walking into the room.
"There are more grocery bags in the car that need to be brought in!" Liz said.
"Yes sir!" Riley said, saluting Liz .
"So what's for dinner tonight?" asked Laney.
"I got fry-ed chiken, and sal-ad!" Laney said in an overdone Kentucky accent.
"Well that sounds yummy! Geez, Liz! Did you get enough food? How many people are coming tonight? Are we feeding everybody on the beach?" Riley asked, walking into the room with the last two bags.
"No, but there is the three of us. You, me, Riley, Megan, Nick, and Brian will be there. Darren invited Juliet. And then there's Zach, he invited Heather. At first Heather couldn't come because her younger sister, Amber-I think that's what her name is-is in town, so Zach said that she could bring Amber. And it works out because she's AJ's age. And then I decided to get some extra food because half of the people that are coming are male, and they can each eat for ten people!"
"And did you breath at all while reciting that list to me?"
"Yes, through my nose while I was talking! So there!" she answered, sticking her tonge out at Laney.
"Have you noticed anything weird about AJ lately? I mean, I have only seen him this morning, but he seems to be acting strange," Laney commented.
"Yeah. I don't know what it is! I think that he might have had a fight with his girlfriend or something happened between the two of them. He always talks about her and I don't think he mentioned her once today!"
"That's true," Riley commented.
"Brian will find out what the problem is and he'll tell me, wondering what advice I have to give him to give AJ," Liz laughed.
"What else is new?" Laney joked.
"But ya know Zach's new friend, Heather? Her sister, Amber, is AJ's age. I just hope that they become friends or something!"
Ring…Ring…Ring…
"Hello?" Liz said answering the phone.
"Hey, Liz," Brian sang.
"Okay, you can't lie to me! What's goin' on with AJ?"
"How did you know?"
"Call it a wild guess. Now what's up with him?"
"Well, you remember Jessica?"
"Oh course, he is in love with the girl!"
"Well, he caught her seeing someone else."
"Oh God!"
"She has been seeing multiple 'someone else's' for a few months now. When he caught her, she told him everything. He says that she might be pregnant with one of the guy's baby."
"He must be devastated! When he walked into the house this morning I knew something was wrong, but I didn't think it was that bad! He acted almost normal!"
"He hides what's inside a lot."
"When did he find out?"
"He found out about four days ago. It's a good thing that we're not on tour now. If this had happened then, we would have had to cancel some shows. He's so upset."
"Yeah, he needs some time to rest and get his head back on strait," Liz commented.
"Hey, AJ," Brian said to AJ when he walked through the room. "Liz, I gotta go, but I'll see you later."
"Yep, four o'clock."
"Buh-bye," they said in a chorus and hung up.
"So did he tell you?" Laney asked, walking into the room with Riley tagging along at her heels.
"Yeah," Liz sighed.
"Well?" asked Riley.
After Liz explained what Brian had told her, she looked at her watch. "Okay, girls. We have to get ready for the beach!" Liz said walking to her room. After a few minutes of looking threw her drawer for a bathing suit, Liz found a bikini. "What is this?" she asked herself. Liz might have been thin, but she had never felt comfortable in a two piece suit. She had never even bought a bikini. Now all of her bathing suits were missing, and she could only find a bikini. "Laney!" she shouted walking to her room with the bathing suit in hand.
"Laney, open your door right now!"
"What? What happened? Are you hurt? What's with all the screaming?" Laney said, opening the door. Without even saying a word Liz held up the bikini in front of her, and Laney grinned. Laney and Riley had always told Liz that she should wear two piece bathing suits. Out of the three of them, she had the best figure, but she was the most modest. She had never felt comfortable in low neck shirts or short skirts. Laney had always told Liz that she expressed her wild side in her fashion designs where she would design fabulous dresses, shirts, skirts, etc. Most of which Liz would never wear herself.
"Where are my bathing suits?" Liz asked.
"Well what do you call that?"
"This is one of YOUR suits."
"No, Liz. Riley and I bought it for you! You are twenty-four years old now! You have never-over the course of those years-decided yourself to wear a bikini, so Riley and I took it upon ourselves to hide your one piece suits and not give them back to you until you have worn the bikini."
"Riley," Liz said turning around to see Riley standing there nodding her head. "You had something to do with this?"
"It was my idea! I plan to change your wardrobe before you hit twenty-five!"
"Where did you hide my suits?"
"We'll give them back to you tomorrow, but only…" Laney said.
"ONLY if you wear the bikini tonight. The rules are that you have to wear the bikini with nothing over it while you are swimming. Then you can tie a towel around your waist when you are not in the water." Riley continued.
"This is a topic that you can't win! Just do this one thing for us tonight! Please!"
"No, I can just hear Brian laughing at me right now when he sees me in this."
"If he laughs at you, you can slap Riley in the face!" Laney joked.
"And you won't have to slap Laney cuz I'll do it for you."
"I'm not going to wear it!"
"Oh, please. What are you going to swim in?"
"I just won't swim!"
"Liz, your whole life you have been told that you were a dolphin in past lives! You love to swim, that's half of why you moved down here!"
"Fine, then I just won't go!"
"Okay, Liz. Listen to me! You are going and you have two choices: You can wear this bathing suit tonight and get your regular ones back tomorrow, or you can not wear the bikini tonight and never see the your precious bathing suits again!" Laney threatened as if she were in a bad old movie.
"Nevah!" Liz shouted returning the bad movie tone.
"Oh, c'mon, Liz! Please?" Riley begged.
"What's going on up here?" Megan said running up the stairs. "Liz, I thought you swore never to wear a bikini in your life? What are holding onto one for?" Megan asked not knowing what the conversation was about.
"Ahhhh!" Liz shouted running to her room.
"Well, let's get ready. It's up to her if she wears it or not," said Laney.
Knock, knock, knock…
Liz answered the door. "Come in," she said.
"Hey Liz," Megan said. "What's this all about?"
She held up the navy blue bikini with Hawaiian flowers on it. "They want me-no, they are forcing me to wear this tonight! They stole my regular bathing suits," Liz whimpered.
Megan burst out laughing.
"That's exactly why I'm not going to do it!" Liz said.
After she calmed down she said, "I'm sorry. They planned this and all. Are you going to wear it?
"God, no!" she said. "Are you mad?"
"Liz, why not?"
"Why would I? People would laugh at me, I'd look horrid!"
"Liz, when we were younger, mom and dad would always say, 'I don't understand it. Megan wears the cloths for Liz's figure and Liz wears the cloths for Megan's figure.'"
"Yeah, but you were a little over weight back then."
"A little? Oh please, I'm glad I finally lost it. But Liz, the point is, you've always had the figure to wear this stuff and Laney and Riley are trying to make you realize that."
"What if I don't want to wear this stuff?!"
"Then you're just a moron. So put on the bikini and have a good time tonight! Now, I have to go get ready."
"What time is it?"
"It's quarter to four."
"Geez, okay. You leave 'cause I have to get ready myself."
"Elizabeth, choose wisely!" Megan said in an English accent as Liz raised her eyebrows. "What? I heard it in a movie!" she said closing the door.
Lauren M. Elizabeth "Littrell" © 1999
