Bits & Pieces

There would be sparkling lights, food that made her mouth water just thinking about all over, loud music, games, and lots and lots of people. The night would be so much fun, Regan couldn’t wait to get ready. And it was even better that all her brother and sisters were getting to join in.
“Aren’t you excited, Tater tot!” she exclaimed excitingly and swung her surprised little brother around in the air. He giggled and kicked his little feet. Oh how cute he would look in his outfit tonight.
Regan danced into the living room while waiting for her nails to dry. Kim and Jessie were coloring in their new coloring books, both of them concentrated hard while leaning over the coffee table. And Gena had her eyes trained out the kitchen window, watching people start to go down to the beach.
“Kim, Jesse, ready for your guys baths? We need to start getting you guys ready. Aren’t you excited?” She picked up the colors and slid them into a coffee cup while smiling at both of them. They looked up at her confused, both of their warm hazel eyes sparkling.
Regan quickly put them both in the same bath, and washed them off while explaining to them how much fun the night would be. “Mommy or daddy wont be there, just me and all the other kids that live on the island that are your age! You guys will go play with them in the kids section, and I promise to come and over and dance and play with both of you. Tate will be joining you, too.”
“Gena?” Kim asked in a cute, small voice. Her and Jesse exchanged glances. “Will she be there?”
“Of course!” Regan cried out, wanting them to get as excited as she was. “I wish you two remembered, you did go last year you know.”
But they didn’t remember, for they all had way different lives then Regan. Being around so many people would be way different, maybe a little scary. Regan turned on some music, which got everyone in a good mood, and gradually got everyone ready, including herself.
She had decided to wear her black polka dotted swimsuit under white shorts with layered blue and purple tank tops. Her hair was just in a half pony tail, but she had put the effort to put on some make-up, just in case…but the thought had her swallowing hard. Asher wouldn’t come tonight.
Finally they were on the way to the beach, Kim and Jesse bouncing in front, chattering to each other excitingly with Gena right behind them, her green eyes wide. But she kept looking back at Regan, and smiling with love and affection. She really did love her big sister. Tate was wide awake, happy and smiling in Regan’s arms. She hugged him and kissed his forehead.
The beach was beyond crowded, maybe more then last year. Not one spot was empty. Regan dropped the kids off at the kids section, promising each of them that she would be back and told them to have fun. Then she went to join her own friends.
“Hey Regan!” J.J ran up to her, his dark hair sparkling was the water, and his chest wet. “I’m so glad you could make it.” He scanned her swiftly and let out another huge smile. “Come on, everybody has been waiting for you!”
“Me?”
“Duh, you’re the one who makes everything fun.”
Regan laughed and followed J.J, pausing to speak to all the adults.
For the next hour, all the teens played in the water. Playing games like ball tag, baseball games, diving off the dock. Then Regan and J.J went to get something to eat so they could dry off. There was so much food. Hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and desserts of all kind, pop and tropical punches.
The music, just as she had expected, was blaring and it wasn’t long before everybody got tired of swimming and decided to dance. Regan lost count of how many boys she danced with, they all just kept asking her eagerly, all of them glad she was finally starting to pay attention to them. But really, she wasn’t. Her eyes kept looking for one boy, Asher. The night would be unbelievably great if he showed up.
Remembering to check back on her brother and sisters, Regan visited them and took them around to play some of the kiddy games like pin the tail on the donkey, and for the real young kids like Tate, a game where all he did was pick plastic ducks out of a tub of water. He loved it when he won a striped stuffed cat. Gena ventured off with some new friends she was making, a smile stretching from ear to ear as she kissed Regan and told her she loved her and thanked her for bringing them down here.
At six thirty, Brody strode up to the front of the beach and stood behind a long table with trophies on it and medals. He looked so stunning that Regan gasped. Like usual, he wasn’t wearing a shirt. But a Hawaiian necklace hung around his neck and he had on light blue swim trunks. They made his eyes glow bluer then the ocean itself. Regan wondered how they got so blue? His pale blonde hair laid neatly down on his head, the tips flipped to the side of his eyes and black avatar sunglasses on the top of his head. He was glowering from all the attention, his smile made Regan’s stomach drop.
“How are we doing, tonight?” He asked while smiling around at the large crowd. “Are we having fun or what!”
The people went crazy with shouts and cheers. J.J came and stood beside Regan, nudging her shoulder lightly.
“I should be up there, you know,” he said testily. “If he would have just stuck to his word and helped me. But he didn’t.”
“Well he did have a lot of kids to help.”
“I know, I know. You don’t have to stand up for him.”
Regan drew her lips tight and turned away from J.J. Leave it to him to make things awkward. Brody kept rambling on, complimenting all of the surfers on how well they did. He truly didn’t sound like he was 16...or look like it. Finally the awards were all handed out and the party started up again. More music, more dancing, and more games. Now that Brody was done with hosting the award part, he started hanging out with all of Regan and her friends. He kept flashing smiles at her, and somehow always started a conversation.
It was cooling off, now only in the high 70’s. And it was seven thirty, the party would still go on for an hour and a half. Now families were just laying around watching their kids swim.
A slow song began to play, giving all the dancers a chance to relax and take a breath. Couples from all ages danced on the floor together. Regan sat down at a bench, sipping at her drink, and tried ignore the sickening thud her heart was making. If Asher was here…but she pushed him to the side of her mind and went over to Jesse, stealing him from his twin and twirled out to join the other people dancing.
“We is dancing!” he laughed and threw his head back. Regan rocked back and forth, spun, and hugged him tightly. She didn’t get to see her siblings near enough, they were all getting so big.
“How is Grandma and Grandpa?” she asked him as the song was ending.
Jesse peeked at her from under neither is shaggy dirty blonde hair, his eyes bearing into her. “Good. But when you gunna come live with us? I misses you.” He leaned his head on her chest. Regan tried not to think to much of it.
After the song ended, she danced with Kim and Gena too. Then J.J wanted a turn with Gena, she giggled as he lifted her up into his arms.
Regan watched them dance while she took a break, resting in the soft white sand.
“I didn’t think you would ever get done dancing,” Brody said. He sat down next to her and leaned back casually on his elbows. “Your brother and sisters look like they really like you.”
“We don’t get to see them very much,” Regan said softly. She watched J.J spin Gena, her pale yellow dress flew around her. Regan couldn’t help but smile.
“Do you want to dance?”
The question was sudden, and very straight to the point. His eyes were dancing around her face, sparkling and beautiful. Regan couldn’t turn them down, and that was the only reason, so he wouldn’t feel bad. Or that is what she kept telling herself as they moved through the dancing crowd. He slid his hands around her waist and she hung hers around his neck. They stayed at a pretty good distance from each other.
“I think I am the only boy that hasn’t danced with you yet,” he teased, smiling still. Regan laughed.
“I know, I’m going to sleep good tonight.”
Brody began to hum right along with the beat, and Regan was surprised to hear how good he sounded just at humming. They didn’t say much, but it was relaxing all the same.
“He isn’t here is he?” Brody asked, trying to yet again, start a conversation.
“Who?” All though she very well knew who he was asking about.
“Whoever that kid is, Asher, or whatever. Your hopeless romance.”
“It isn’t hopeless,” Regan said defensively. “He will come back, summer has just yet started. He never said when,” and she couldn’t help but sigh. But he had promised…
“I’ve been able to tell this whole evening you haven’t been fully enjoying yourself.”
“You don’t think it’s creepy that you have been watching me?”
Brody chuckled and pulled her a little closer, not enough for her to protest. “I can’t help but watch you, you look beautiful tonight. Really, you do.”
“Well, thank you.” Regan blushed and turned her head to hide it. A lot of boys had told her that tonight, Brody wasn’t any different. So why did she feel so different when the words came out of his mouth? She scanned the people around her. J.J was dancing with a different girl now. Would he care if he saw them dancing?
Brody started to hum again and slowly started turning so they weren’t just standing there. “What if he didn’t come back? Would you allow yourself to fall in love with somebody else?”
Why did he always insist talking about Asher? Did he not understand it was a hurtful topic. “Maybe within time, I don’t fall in love just like that you know.”
“No? So you already knew this guy or something?”
“No.” Regan glared at him, he laughed and waited for her to go on. “It was different with him. I can’t explain it. Have you ever been in love?” Now it was time for him to answer some personal questions.
“Not yet.”
“Do you plan to?”
“Of course I do. Who doesn’t? But when I fall in love, it is going to be for real. My girl is going to love the water, and we wont fight very often. If we do, I will always be the one to apologize first, even if I didn’t do anything. We will go on walks on the beach, eat out, and always have fun. We will be best friends and never have any secrets, and I wont every, ever treat her unfairly.”
Regan stared at him with her mouth gaped. As he had told her that, she had seen a side of him that she had never seen before. A much softer side, he looked so innocent and romantic. Now it was Regan who was scooting closer to him.
“That sounds just about perfect,” she said quietly.
He gazed down at her, now they weren’t far apart at all. “And how about you? What type of guy do you want to fall in love with?” He asked this so innocently.
“Um,” Regan fluttered her eyes and without thinking, she was running her fingers through the stands on the back of his head. His hair was so soft… “I haven’t taken much thought to it, to be honest with you.”
“Maybe once you do, you are going to realize that possibly Asher really isn’t the guy for you. You deserve to be happy.”
Why was he doing this? Was this what he called flirting? But he was so serious. Regan couldn’t understand what he was trying to get across to her.
She didn’t know what to say to this. “I don’t deserve anything.”
Brody took a hand off of her waist and cupped her chin, tilting it so she was looking at him in the eyes. His beautiful, crystal blue eyes. So stunning, so charming…
“You deserve more then the world is giving you.”
Her breaths were embarrassingly choppy, he was simply taking her breath away. In romantic books or movies, this would be where the boy would lean down and kiss the girl, and they would fall deeply in love. But instead, Brody dropped both of his hands and smiled sheepishly at her.
“We have been dancing for three songs, I think I’m hogging you.”
“O-oh.” Regan stepped back in a daze. “Right, well, I’ll see you around. I mean, there is still like a whole hour left right?”
“Sure the party isn’t over yet.” He smiled and they walked back to join their friends together. Exactly what had just happened was a mystery to both of them.
For the rest of the night, Regan spent every second of it dancing. She danced with J.J and he siblings again. There was a game of limbo, and then other little games like Simon Says. But as it grew closer to nine, people started fading away. Ten minutes till, Regan was gathering up all of her tired brothers and sisters. Tate laid his head on her shoulder asleep, softly snoring.
“Come on guys, lets go home.”
“Don’t want to,” Jessie complained, but couldn’t help but yawn. He rubbed at his eyes and then took his twin’s hand. “Don’t want to,” he mumbled again but followed anyways.
Getting them all up the hill would be a struggle. They all needed someone to carry them, except for Gena, and she was even dragging.
“Just a little bit further, come on,” Regan urged.
“Need some help?” A charming, low familiar voice came from behind them. Regan let out a breath in relief.
“Would you?”
“Of course.” Brody swept up the twins, one in each arm. Kim eyed him uneasily, but rested her head on his shoulder anyways. They weren’t use to staying up so late and doing so much in one day.
The trip up the hill wasn’t so bad now that Regan didn’t have all the kids to worry about. When they got to the house, Regan led Brody to the twin’s rooms and quickly dressed them in night clothes while he watched, leaning against the doorway. Next she tucked Tate in his crib, kissing his soft forehead and whispering that she loved him. Gena was already in bed, dressed.
“Goodnight little sissy,” she whispered and kissed her cheek softly. “I love you.”
“G’night big sissy, I love you too.” She didn’t have very much energy left in her. She stared up at Regan with love and affection, and then her eyelids closed and her soft breathing told Regan she had fallen asleep.
Brody was sitting on the couch in the living room, looking around. He stared at all the pictures of her as a child. Her dance pictures, surfing lessons, the ones that showed her playing in mud in nothing but a diaper with J.J right beside her.
“They didn’t start leaving so much until I was twelve.”
He moved his eyes off of the pictures and onto her. “Why do they leave you here by yourself?”
“Well, my dad, he works with a lot of business stuff. So he needs to travel. I see my dad more, and that shouldn’t be. My mom always is doing odds and ends jobs, and she parties a lot. I don’t know where she stays, or where she goes. She doesn’t like to be here when my dad isn’t here.”
“And that doesn’t bother you?” He asked, his face clouded over.
“Not anymore,” Regan whispered and looked at the family picture on the wall. “I don’t think about it. People here on the island love me, J.J’s mom loves me. I don’t need my parents anymore. And I’m not deprived in anything. She is always mailing me tons of money to buy groceries and clothes, or anything I need. I don’t ever pay the bills, so I guess she does all that.”
Brody let out a grunt of disapproval, still eyeing Regan’s expression carefully. “Their loss.”
Regan blushed and nodded. “I think my dad loves me more then she does. I’m not sure if she really even does. We always argue about me going to live with my grandparents. But I don’t want to switch schools, even if there are only ten people in my grade.” She laughed. “But even if she doesn’t love me for whatever reason, she shouldn’t not love my brothers and sisters. They need a mom more then me, and they are all so sweet.”
“I can tell that they love you a lot. You can see it in their eyes every time they look or talk to you.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
They locked eyes for a minute, and then Brody stood up, breaking the long stare. “I really should let you go.”
Although she would never tell him, but Regan was a little disappointed. She loved talking to Brody, he was very comfortable to be around.
“Yeah, it is getting late isn’t it.”
They walked out the back door together. The beach was perfectly still now, all the music gone along with the few people who stayed behind to clean up.
“Well, thanks for helping me bring up the kids.”
“Anytime,” he said with a charming smile that send Regan’s heart racing. He nodded bye and turned to walk back to the beach. He paused, though, and turned back to Regan.
“Hey Regan?”
“Y-yes?” Had he caught her staring at him?
"I want to be friends with you."
Was he asking for permission? She stared at him silently waiting for him to go on. Finally he did.
"So do you want to hang out again tomorrow? I want to get to know you more."
She only nodded, dumbfounded. Brody grinned uneasily and then continued walking.
Regan went back inside with her head pounding. As she laid in bed, the night replayed through her mind. Why had she told Brody everything about her parents? He knew so much about her, yet she didn’t know a thing about him.

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