An Eyeful

Just as quickly as the bags were unpacked and clothes stuffed into available dressers, did Nick hear the hollering from Jayden outside the bedroom. "Heading down to the docks, we have hours of daylight left and I don't know about the rest of you, I plan to enjoy it!"

"Let's go get the net out of the car and set it up!" Journey's voice pitched in as she rushed down the hallway, tugging Alex by the hand as she went.

Alex softly chuckled, "Yes, yes, I know, Volleyball." The dry sarcasm was pitched toward Leah behind him who softly snickered under a smile covering hand.

Nick watched Ivey, Cass, and Sam follow past the bedroom next before Noah shut the bottom drawer of his nightstand, "Well, I mean, that's why we all came out this way, right? Might as well start sooner than later." He nudged Lilly with his elbow.

"Ughhhh, I said I wanted to take a nap." She groaned back.

"Then take a nap." Nick shrugged.

"Yes, and appear more anti-social than me."

Lilly rolled her head lazily toward Noah, "Oh, that's just a low blow."

Noah shrugged, "What's the point of laughing if you can't do it at yourself." He grabbed his phone off the bed, "Coming or going?"

"Fine...but I'm only dipping my feet in the water. I'm not like Cass or Journey, I'm not bouncing around for everyone out there."

"Yeah, nothing to work through there..." Nick stretched with the words, earning a sock to the shoulder as Lilly passed by. He let out a laugh, earning an additional middle finger as she rounded out the door with Noah, "Be right behind you guys."

He pulled out the last of his clothes from the duffel bag and stuffed them into the top drawer, then grabbed a towel and tossed it over his shoulder.

Stepping out in the hall, Nick made it down two doors as he passed by the main bathroom. The door sat only three quarters shut, and through the half-foot opening, his eyes glanced at movement reflecting in the wall mirror. Inside, Haley took a few steps away from the counter, tossing aside a top while her bikini bottoms still remained half pulled up. Haley hooked her thumbs into her bottoms as she started to turn back, pulling them up the rest of the way with a small snap of fabric around her full hips. Yet her untied top hung loosely below her breasts as she faced the mirror fully. Nick's lips parted and he heard his own sharp inhale as his eyes took them in; naturally resting in a tear drop with puffy pink areolas, they put to shame every childish fantasy he once had for her. For one second, he was sixteen again. His chest tightened, his mouth went dry, and every mature thought he might have claimed to possess abandoned him completely. He knew he should look away. He knew it immediately. That somehow made it worse, because knowing didn’t make him move any faster.

Then the giggle.

“Wow,” she said, drawing the word out with a soft laugh. “Nicky. Very mature.” Nick's eyes lifted and he found them locked on Haley's through the reflection. She had a knowing grin as she perched a hand on her hips, doing nothing to cover herself, "Peeping tom on day one, what would Sam think?"

Nick’s stomach dropped and he half-raised a hand, already backing up a step. “Sorry, I --” The sentence never had an ending when it began.

Haley tilted her head, waiting as if she was genuinely curious to see whether he could manage a better excuse. Which he didn’t. She gave a quiet little hum, amused more than offended. “You really haven’t changed, have you?” The little jab stung all the more with the adoring tone in her voice, "Go outside, Nicky." He leaned forward and grabbed the edge of the door, pulling it further shut as his eyes stayed low.

Haley rolled her eyes. “Nooooo, I’m not mad.” Her gaze flicked over him through the mirror, and her smile sharpened. “But you may want to take a lap before you head down to the beach.”

Nick followed her glance, then immediately wished he hadn’t. His loose swim trunks had done nothing to help protect any notion he wasn't as invested in what he was seeing as he'd have wished. “Ah, shit.”

Haley laughed and nudged the door shut herself, the click of the latch somehow louder than it had any right to be. Nick stood there for half a second, face burning, before he turned and moved quickly down the hall toward the living room.

Amazingly done, Nick. What a display, no truly, you're an inspiration to yourself.

He paused, cupping a hand over his face, the absurdity of the situation really settling in his mind as he stood with a pitched tent after gawking and being teased by his sister's best friend.

God, I'm such a fucking loser...- - - - - -

Meanwhile, Mackenzie made her way back up from the lake with the empty sunscreen bottle pinched between two fingers. She had known it would run out. She had even told Ivey it would run out if everyone kept passing it around like they were trying to glaze themselves for a rotisserie. Luckily, Mackenzie had packed two more bottles in her bag, because apparently, she was the only one who believed in planning ahead for anything beyond swimsuits and bad decisions.

At least, that was the reason she gave herself for heading back to the lodge. It was not the only reason or even the main one. Nick still had not come down. She had noticed it earlier than she wanted to admit. Everyone else had been too busy moving toward the water, dragging coolers, arguing over the volleyball net, laughing too loudly over nothing. But Mackenzie had glanced back once, then again when Sam came out on her own, and then a third time when it was only Noah and Lilly following.

Mackenzie hated that it did, because noticing Nick always came with complications. Ivey was the first one. Ivey, her best friend who had been heartbroken only a few short months ago over the guy. She was supposed to be on her side, wanting to kick his nuts into his throat for hurting her best friend, but Mackenzie knew she didn't feel that way. In the most uneasy truth, she had been happy when she learned they broke up. If anything, her anger came from learning that Nick was spending his time looking at Leah outside of Ivey. He blew everything up for a girl that he had barely shared a few words with, who never had the right interest in him to begin with.

Then there was Alex, her idiot half-brother who had an opinion on every guy who looked at her for more than two seconds. Nick being his friend wouldn't make that any better. If anything, it would make it worse; Alex would turn unbearable. Protective, nosy, smug. Impossible. So it made all the sense in the world to stay away, to give the occasional wave whenever Nick was around but nothing else. It was safer, no issue from Alex and no guilt from Ivey. But that didn't stop her from feeling the flutter in her stomach the entire car ride here. The disappointment for not getting set in a room with him earlier. And the antsy feeling wondering why he wasn't out here already where she could see him.

So when the opportunity to head back to the lodge for a totally legitimate reason came, why shouldn't she have taken it? She could get the sunscreen and maybe bump into him. Maybe finally share a real one-on-one conversation with him with no Ivey to keep his attention away from her and no Alex to burn a hole through the back of her head for lingering too long. It could be nothing, ask him how the car ride over went. If he was excited for the trip. Anything...anything at all.

She stepped onto the back porch and opened the lodge door. Her heart was already moving faster than the walk uphill could explain. Maybe he would be in the kitchen. Maybe she would catch him alone for half a minute. Maybe they would joke about Journey forcing Alex to already break out the volleyball net. Or Noah actually leaving the cabin, and she could just keep his eyes on her for a while.

The lodge was quieter than she expected when she stepped inside. The laughter from the lake dulled behind the door, leaving only the hum of the air conditioner and the faint creak of the floor beneath her feet. Mackenzie glanced toward the hallway first. He wasn't coming down. She quickly turned to the nearest window, and he wasn't heading down the hill toward the water either. She chewed on her lower lip for a moment, a tightening frustration building in her chest.

Where is he?

Then she finally spotted his light brown hair peeking over the top of the couch. He was sitting in the living room, half-hidden by the angle of the couch, one elbow braced on his knee and his hand partly covering his face. “Nick?”

She took a step forward, coming around the side of the couch tentatively. His eyes flicked down, then away again, like he was arguing with himself and losing badly. Mackenzie cleared her throat softly to get his attention again. “Nick, are you okay?”

She took another step around the couch, finally getting the full view of him as he dropped back against the couch with a sharp exhale, rubbing his eyes slowly once more. “Did something happen?” Then it did, all at once, and heat rushed up her neck so fast she nearly forgot how to breathe. “Oh.” The word escaped with her air.

Nick’s head snapped up and he finally looked over at the redhead who stood rosy-cheeked, eyes wide. "Mackenzie?" He croaked, his own face turning to flame once more as he reached for a throw pillow and **** it over his crotch.