After a few moments of lounging in bed, she finally slithered out and opened her suitcase. In twenty minutes, she was ready to join her sister on the beach, dressed in her bright blue flowered bikini. However, when she got outside, Jessica was nowhere in sight. “Must have gone for a walk,” she mumbled. Careful not to get any sand on it, she spread her towel on the beach and stretched out comfortably on her back.
Struggling to keep her eyes open, she began to wonder why it was this was so relaxing. Was it the bright blue sky above her, or maybe the waves lapping against the sandy shore so rhythmically? Whatever it was, it certainly helped her escape from reality. It was hard to believe that just nine or ten hours earlier, it had been storming. Finally, her eyes closed, and she began to doze off.
A soft, sexy male voice interrupted her nap from somewhere off to her left. “Excuse me, miss.”
Annoyed, Lauren opened her eyes to find a tall man with blonde hair standing over her. “What do you want?” she snapped.
“I just wanted to know your name,” he said apologetically. He sat down on the sand beside her.
“Why don’t you tell me yours first? Then I’ll tell you mine,” Lauren replied, her voice still cautious, but not quite so edgy. He looked surprised that she asked. “What’s wrong? Haven’t you got a name, Blondie?”
“No-I mean-well, yeah, I do have a name. But…you-you don’t recognize me?” he said, looking at her in disbelief.
When he remained silent and didn’t tell her his name, Lauren became even more irritated. “Can you say egotistical? Obviously I don’t! Are you going to tell me who you are or not?”
“I’m Nick Carter.” Her expression remained blank. “Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys.”
“Well, not everyone pays attention to these things, you know,” Lauren muttered.
“Are you gonna tell me your name? That was part of the deal,” Nick reminded her.
“Lauren. Now is there any other reason you’re interrupting my sunbathing?”
Nick rolled his eyes, which, ironically, were the exact same color as the ocean before them, as well as the same color as her own. “I just wanted to introduce myself. I moved into the house next door. I met Jessica this morning.”
Lauren smirked. “Great. Now Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys is all she’ll be talking about all summer. Well, it was nice to meet you, Nick,” she muttered sarcastically. “I’ll be seeing you around, I guess.”
“Yeah, too bad,” Nick grumbled as he walked back to his door. Lauren was certainly beautiful, but she lacked people skills.