Cara brought her sunglasses down from the tip of her head to shield her eyes. She stared at Ava splashing around in the pool and for some reason she burst out laughing. Sam turned around and looked at her curiously. “Do you know what just popped into my head?” She turned to Sam, but spoke loud enough for all of them to hear her. “The day of Luke’s graduation party.”
Luke groaned and took another sip of beer, refusing to look at her. Nick chuckled as he smacked the top of the television with all his might, running out of ideas on how to get a picture on the damn thing.
Joe’s eyes widened as a black and white picture formed on the screen. “You did it! That was genius!” He said as he patted Nick on the back. “You should be a handyman.” He made himself comfortable in front of the television, grinning like a banshee.
Nick looked at Joe, holding back his laugh. “Enjoy.” He said as he reached into a cooler and pulled out a beer, he twisted off the cap and tipped the bottle towards the ladies. “I remember that day like it was yesterday.” He said as he took the first sip of the beer and then turned to Luke. “You remember that, man?” He asked, trying to include him in the conversation. He had no idea what his friend's problem was, but he had been acting all kinds of strange lately.
“Yeah, I remember.” Luke said as he sighed.
“Me and Jake beat your ass in beer pong.” Cara said to his back that faced her.
Slowly, Luke turned around and looked at her for a moment, wishing she wasn’t wearing her sunglasses so he could see the look in those hauntingly beautiful eyes of hers. Christ, did he really just think that?
“Come on Cara, you got this!” Jake said as he rubbed his Cara’s shoulders, encouraging her. “Just aim, shoot and score!” Jake cheered and Cara glanced over her shoulder, winking at him, before she stared down her opponent across the folding table, now dubbed as a beer pong pavilion.
“Jake you’re coaching this poor girl, like she’s in the NBA finals.” Luke laughed.
“Shut up, Lanza. It’s our collective duty to get you wrecked.” Cara said as she threw the ping pong ball across the table right into a red solo cup filled with beer. She smiled up at him and blew him a kiss. “Drink up.”
“That’s my girl. You heard her bro. Drink up.” Jake told his brother as he kneaded Cara’s shoulders. He leaned over her shoulder, whispering into her ear. “Good shot.”
Luke grinned as he gulped the beer until the cup was empty. He pointed to Cara, then to his brother. “Game’s on, kids.”
A smile claimed Cara’s lips as she remembered the day fondly.
“Oh god, that was when the pool collapsed.” She pointed to Nick. “And you set up your D.J. equipment inside the ruins.” She laughed
He smiled at her as he leaned back in the chair. “I improvised.” He stretched his legs in front of him, completely relaxed.
“I used to think you were so cool, because you were a D.J.” Sam laughed at herself and rolled her eyes.
“If you want I can go get my equipment out of storage and we can take a stroll down memory lane.” He offered before he covered his grin with his beer bottle. “And then maybe we can fix that problem of yours.” He winked at her and her cheeks flushed.
“I was hoping we could fix that problem sans the trip down memory lane.” She said, a grin teasing the corners of her mouth.
For most of the day they casually hung out by the pool, reminiscing and joking around with each other. They shared a delicious meal that Deb had prepared which they ate outside on the patio. There was a comfortable sense of familiarity and even though things may have changed, it was evident that things would be okay despite the loss they all felt. Together they could find a way to overcome and begin again.
Leah had joined them after her shift at the hospital, and things became a little weird for Cara. No one intended her to feel like the fifth wheel, but she couldn’t help how she felt. The sun was beginning to set, and they had finished dinner quite some time ago. Cara was ready to leave, to go home and drown in the bottle that waited for her. It was hard to put on the fa?ade all day, to watch the boys drink their beers freely. She was itching for something, anything at this point. She just needed to take the edge off. She looked around the patio set. Nick and Sam were arguing that she wasn’t taking care of herself while Leah and Luke listened... Cara figured it was the perfect time to slip inside the house. She pushed back her chair and rose to her feet.
“I’m going to go see if Joe wants some espresso.” She said and excused herself into the kitchen.
Sam nudged Nick. “See what you did? You freaked Cara out by saying I look sick.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “I said you look run down, like you’re not sleeping or eating enough.”
“Yeah, well, she took it wrong. Now she’s upset.”
“No, now you’re upset.” Nick countered.
“Sam, just start taking a vitamin.” Leah offered trying to defuse the situation. She turned around as Luke stood.