Coming Home (Pierpoint View #1)

Chapter Twelve - Summer

CHAPTER TWELVE

Summer

Despite my disappointment about Brooks not coming to see me yesterday, I got a late night text from Alex asking me to come with her, Gray and Brooks to watch a movie on the beach. I’m not entirely sure how that works but apparently it’s something that happens every summer in town. Alas, Alex told me that Brooks would pick me up around 7PM to meet them down at the pier.

I hear Brooks truck outside the building and I make my way down to him, already regretting my choice in sandals. I figured I would wear something that could be easily removed for walking on the sand but I can feel blisters forming already.

He watches me through the window of the truck and pushes open the door from the inside for me.

“Thank you for picking me up,” I say, putting my seatbelt on. I look over at him and he’s wearing his hat again, come to think of it, it’s not often I see him without it.

“No problem, you’re on my way.” He shrugs, pulling away from the curb.

“Have you been to one of these before?” I ask. I really want to ask what I’m really thinking, and that is ‘Why didn’t you come see me yesterday’ but I’m neither clingy or ready to embarrass myself any more with this man than I already have so I steer clear of the subject.

Brooks nods. “They’ve been going on since I was a kid, it was where we all hung out in the evenings in high school too, although I haven’t been to one for a couple years.”

We get to the parking lot for the pier and I see Alex and Gray standing up on the sidewalk at the entrance waiting for us, crowds of people moving around the area.

“They’re always together, eh?” Brooks asks, following behind me as we make our way to the other two.

I laugh. “They are, I find it cute though.”

Before Brooks can answer, we meet Alex and Gray halfway and they lead the way to the movie set up.

I never knew this was a thing but if I did I would’ve definitely been here before now. It happens every week and from the poster as you walk on to the beach, each movie that plays is from the 90’s or 2000’s which is arguably the best era of film and today, it’s my favorite, Clueless.

“Gray and I will grab food if you two grab the seats?” Alex suggests, pointing in the direction of the food stands.

“Sure thing.” I walk us over to one of the only sets of four bean bags available and it happens to be off to the side, near a big bonfire. It’s kind of far away from the screen but it does mean that we won’t be distracted by any other movie goers.

As we wait for the other two to join us, I turn to Brooks, “Do you think they’re good for each other?” I ask. “Alex and Gray, I mean.”

He thinks for a minute, looking off in their direction even though we can’t see them from our position.

“I think if Gray was going to be with anyone, he could do a hell of a lot worse than Alex.”

I agree and I tell him so, I think they really are perfect for each other but then again I’ve only known them just over a month, but from what I do know, they compliment each other’s personalities quite a bit.

“What about you?” I ask him.

“What about me?”

“Do you have a significant other?” I ask. I shouldn’t ask him that but with the way we’ve been acting I should hope he doesn’t for his sake but I also can’t believe a catch like him would be single.

He shakes his head vehemently. “No. I haven’t had the time and with my schedule it would be hard to keep something going. I value my career and I don’t want to have to sacrifice any part of my career or a relationship.”

It’s a very mature way of looking at things I suppose, though I can’t say it doesn’t hurt the tiniest bit knowing that he feels that way, even though I’d already made the executive decision that this would never be anything more than friendly, it just sucks to know that it wouldn’t ever be a possibility.

“What about you?” He asks, “I obviously know you’re situation, but are you looking for something?”

I debate what I want to tell him but figure there’s no reason not to be open, especially because he was. “I’m not actively looking and I’m not super picky, my ex was… well known in his industry and he had money so it meant he had a lot of influence. Ideally, that’s not something I want to be part of again, I don’t want someone to use their influence to keep me stuck with them, which I know is a very rare occurrence so I don’t have to worry much about that, but I think that’s my only stipulation.”

He nods, looking as though he’s in thought. It feels like this whole conversation is a way to feel each other out, figure out what the other is feeling and thinking, at least on my end, it’s helpful to my feelings to hear where he stands.

We’re interrupted by Alex and Gray, their hands completely full with food and drinks for us all.

“We bought a lot so we can all share,” Alex says, handing me my drink. “Coke for you, of course and iced tea for you,” she says, handing Brooks his drink.

They take their seats just as the opening credits start on the big screen. I’ve not experienced anything like this before, it feels really intimate even though it feels like half the town are sitting around us.

Throughout the film, Brooks had to take a couple phone calls and he’s now on his third, walking along the shore line too far away for us to hear what he’s saying.

He comes back and takes his seat next to me and notices me watching him, “I’m sorry, it’s work,” he apologizes.

“They call you even though you’re off work injured?” I ask, confused at what kind of company would need to call their employee this often.

He sighs, relaxing back into his bean bag. At some point during the movie our bean bags have moved closer and his knee now knocks against my crossed legs.

“It’s kind of a 24/7 job—”

“Shhhh.” Alex throws a glare our way.

“Sorry, sorry!” I whisper, raising my hands in defense and grimace. She winks at me with a grin and goes back to watching the movie.

Brooks moves his bean bag even closer to the point we may as well be on the same one and he holds out a box of popcorn.

He leans over, whispering, “I didn’t realize she was such a stickler for rules.”

It makes me snort, trying to hold in my laughter and I cast a glance over at Alex and she’s staring at me again although this time she’s kind of smirking as if she knows something I don’t.

I turn away. “Well, can you blame her? You’ve been on a phone call the majority of the film.”

He groans softly. “I said I was sorry.”

“Not to her,” I say, gesturing in her direction.

She shushes us again and this time Brooks turns and apologizes before saying to me, “Do you want to go for a walk?”

It’s not a hard choice for me. “Yes, please.”

We place the popcorn on the floor beside us and luckily we’re sitting on the edge of the area so that we can get up and leave without getting in anyones way.

We walk towards the ocean, the sound of the movie fading into the background the further we get. The sun is also setting now and it really is beautiful here at this time, the golden hues causing Brooks to look almost godly as he walks alongside me.

“What was it like growing up here?” I ask. Despite getting to know each other really well in the last couple weeks, we haven’t really touched on that.

“It was okay, obviously there’s not much going on so as soon as there was any chance to get out of town, we’d take it. Once Archer started driving — he’s the oldest in our friend group — we were barely here on the weekends until I went away for college.”

“You went to college?” I ask, not sure why I’m so surprised, “What did you go to school for?”

“I went on a sports scholarship luckily because I wouldn’t have gone otherwise, and I majored in business.”

“Wow, what sports? You must’ve been really good.”

He nods slowly. “Hockey.”

“Very Canadian.” Maybe I should really start getting into hockey now that I’m here.

“I assume you didn’t go to college?” he asks.

I shake my head. “In England the school system is a little different, we finish high school at 16 and then we go to college for 2 years, so yes I went to college but not your kind of college,” I say.

“So what do you do in your college?”

“It’s kind of like extra school, I guess, but you choose a subject you want to do thats relevant to your career. It seems kind of pointless when you compare it to your guys’ school system. Although I guess some subjects in college give you the qualification to do certain jobs without having to go to university.”

“Would you ever want to go to university if you were given the option?”

I hum. “I feel like I missed out, but not on the education per say, but more for the experience and at this point it doesn’t seem worth it. Not unless I wanted to go be a doctor or a lawyer or something, you know?”

“Makes sense. College was a good experience for me for sure, I learned a hell of a lot living in my hockey house than I would have if I stayed here.”

I wrinkle my nose at the thought of a house full of 18 year old hockey players only just figuring out life skills. “I bet you house was so gross.”

“Hey,” he said, lightly pushing me just enough that my feet end up in the ocean making me yelp at the cold water, “I had no complaints from any of the people I brought over.”

“They’re probably just as bad you were.” I laugh, pushing him back.

He shakes his head. “Nope,” he says, popping the P, “It really wasn’t that bad. Although there was one time we had a mouse running around and every time we’d find it, it would hide again and it took us like… a month to get rid of it.”

“That’s disgusting.”

He shoves me lightly again, this time ending up further in to the water.

“What the hell!” I grab his arm trying to pull him in with me but he resists, trying to push me in deeper.

After a couple minutes of battling and me trying my hardest to wrestle him in to the water, somehow we end up tripping over each other and I end up falling on my back and if he hadn’t stopped himself with masterful reflexes with his hands either side of me, he would’ve ended up squashing me underneath him.

I’m a little breathless from the wrestling, the laughing and the fall, and now even more so from being so close to him. For a few seconds, the faint sounds of the movie and the crowd fades away and it’s like Brooks and I are the only people on Earth and after a few shared breaths and a couple seconds of searching each other’s eyes, Brooks murmurs, “I’m sorry, I’ll get up.” His statement seems more like a question, because he doesn’t move.

In fact, it seems like he’s perfectly content to stay in this position with me and I can’t say I’m not a fan either.

It’s only when I whisper, “Okay,” that he lifts himself off me slowly and I push myself up to sitting. He’s still kneeling over me but Brooks’ hand comes into view and I place my much smaller one in his, letting him help me up and brush the sand off of me my back.

“Should we head back to the movie? I’m pretty sure it’s nearly over,” he says.

I look over at the movie in the distance, it’s got a lot darker since we left and it looks so much more cozy with fairy lights and lanterns adding to the warm glow of the bonfires. I can also just make out Alex and Gray and they are actually sharing a bean bag now, seemingly not paying attention to the movie, they’re faces inches away from each other’s.

I reluctantly agree, “Yeah, we should.”

We walk back and I’m acutely aware of his hand pressing into the small of my back, part of me wishing I never gave him the go ahead to get up and that I should have pressed my lips to his instead.