Disclaimer: Resident Evil and everything associated with it belong to Capcom.
Life's A Beach.
By: StrikerChris slowly opened his eyes as the rays of the sun poked through the curtains. He turned and looked at the clock resting on the nightstand. The red LED numbers revealed that it was still early Wednesday morning. The sound of birds chirping helped to lull him back to sleep. He just closed his eyes when he felt a shifting next to him. He rolled over and stared at Jill, who was slowly waking up. She looked breathtaking as the soft light hit her skin, giving it a warm glow. Chris looked into her pretty blue easy as he reached up and ran his hand through her auburn hair. "Morning beautiful."
Jill smiled and stared back into his light brown eyes. "Morning to you too handsome." She scrunched a little closer and gave him a kiss. "What time is it?"
"According to the clock it's nine twenty-three." Chris replied. "By this time I would be at work. I'm glad I got today off."
"I'm glad I did too." Jill said. "We have the whole day to sit around and do nothing. Funny thing is I have this feeling that I'm forgetting something."
"Don't worry about it." Chris pulled Jill close to his body. "Let's get back to sleep." Jill agreed and snuggled up to Chris. No sooner had they closed their eyes than someone started pounding on the front door.
"HEY YOU GUYS!" Claire's loud voice bellowed from outside. "YOU TWO WERE SUPPOSED TO BE AT MY HOUSE A HALF HOUR AGO!"
Both Chris and Jill's eyes shot open. "Oh shit." Chris said.
"The beach." Jill finished.
Claire continued to pound on the door. "I THOUGHT WE AGREED TO GO TO THE BEACH TODAY?" Her hair was tied back as usual. She was also wearing her biker shorts and a lime green top.
"Maybe you should quiet down." Leon said, leaning on the hood of his car. He was dressed in shorts and a black tank top. "You're going to wake up everyone in the neighborhood."
Claire wheeled around and stared Leon down. "They promised that they would come with us. It's not every day that all of us can get together. Both Jill and my brother knew about this several days in advance. I am not going to believe that they forgot."
The door opened and Chris leaned out in a white T-shirt and boxers. "Jesus Claire, you could have called."
"I shouldn't have had to." Claire retorted. "You should have been up at quarter to nine."
"Well I forgot to set the alarm clock." Chris growled as he slammed the door.
"You forgot?" Claire asked. "I CAN'T BELIVE YOU FORGOT! NOW WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!"
The door opened again. This time it was Jill in a pattered robe. "It doesn't matter if we're a half hour late." She growled.
Claire put her hands on her hips. "That's one half hour that we're wasting having to wait for you that we could be spending at the beach."
"So sue me." Jill said, slamming the door.
"God Claire, lighten up." Leon said.
It was no use. Claire's infamous Redfield temper kicked in as she stormed through the front door. She scanned the living room and den from the front hall. "Where the hell did you go?"
Chris came running down the stairs now dressed in a pair of gray swim trunks and a T-shirt. "Jill is getting her bathing suit on." Chris said. "A few more minutes and we'll be ready."
"You should have been ready a half hour ago." Claire said angrily.
"Tough shit." Chris growled back.
Claire clenched her fists. "You know how much I was looking forward to this."
Chris began to stare down his little sister. "What do you want me to do? Get on my knees and beg forgiveness?"
"Don't make me hit you." Claire hissed.
"Bring it on." Chris replied.
Leon walked inside and saw the Redfields head to head. He had seen these two get into fights before. Half the time it ended with them beating the hell out of each other. "Guys, why don't you two just drop this so we can get going?" Leon asked, trying to end the argument before it came to blows.
"SHUT UP!" Both Redfields yelled.
"I tried." Leon said, throwing his hands up in defeat.
Jill came down the stairs in a green and white striped, short sleeve T-shirt and denim shorts. "Are you two fighting again?"
"Better stay out of this." Leon said.
"Well I'm ready to go." Jill said. She walked over to a duffle bag sitting next to the door and scoped it up. Are you coming?"
"Not until we settle this." Claire said.
"If you want me to apologize I will." Chris said. "I'm sorry that I forgot. I'm such an idiot. There, now are you happy?"
Claire's scowl turned to a grin. "Quite." She said cheerfully. She walked out the door smiling to herself.
"Is it me, or is it freaky how Claire can do that?" Leon asked.
"Chris does it too." Jill said. "Now let's get going before Claire gets pissed again." The group exited the house. Chris locked the door before walking over to his SUV. Jill opened the back and tossed the duffel bag in. As she closed the rear hatch she noticed that Sherry wasn't in Claire's car. "Where's your darling little girl?"
"Sherry slept over at Ark's last night." Claire replied. "He didn't mind the company."
Leon opened the driver side door. "Man, that guy needs a girlfriend. Speaking of which so does Carlos."
"If you ask me, I think Carlos has something for Becky." Chris said, opening the driver side door of his vehicle. "He did buy her that puppy."
"Whatever." Claire said. "Let's just get going. The others must be wondering where we are."
Everyone got into their cars and drove off towards the beach.
It was almost ten by the time they got to the beach. As Chris got out of the SUV he could smell the salty sea air. The gentle breeze lifted Jill's hair as it blew by. Claire removed her hair tie and let her hair flutter in the wind. The sun shone in the clear, blue sky. Chris retrieved the bag from the back of the SUV. Leon got a bag out of the back seat of his car. The two couples walked down to where the others had gathered. The beach wasn't nearly as crowded as it usually was, but there were still plenty of people there. Small groups of women were laid out on beach towels, getting a tan. A group of men where tossing around a Frisbee. Children and teenagers frolicked in the water. One family was busy eating an early lunch. Two lifeguards watched over the people from a nearby tower. Barry was lying on one of his family's towels in black swim trunks. Kathy was rubbing sunscreen on Margaret and Polly's backs. They looked adorable in matching yellow one-piece swimsuits with pink and purple flowers on them. Kathy had on a yellow one-piece swimsuit with her dark brown hair in a hair tie. Carlos was checking out the women while Ark and the other kids were putting the finishing touches on a sandcastle. Carlos was dressed in orange swim trunks and a gray T-shirt with the words ARMY written across the front. Ark had on dark blue swim trunks and a tan T-shirt. Sherry was wearing a cute blue and green striped one-piece swimsuit. Lott was wearing the same thing as Ark. Lily had on a rainbow colored one-piece swimsuit and flip-flops.
"OK guys." Ark said. "Let me take a picture of that. Gather around it and smile." Ark raised a camera as Sherry, Lott, and Lily got behind the castle. Ark snapped two pictures. "All done."
"All right." Lott said. "Let's trash it." The children started to demolish the structure.
Carlos watched the kids and turned to Ark. "You know, the point is to keep the castle standing."
Ark held up the camera. "Why do you think I took the picture?"
Claire walked over to Ark. "Did Sherry behave herself last night?"
"She was a little angle." Ark replied. "Half the night she was up in Lily's room. Those two get along like sisters."
Claire turned to Sherry, who had just jumped into the middle of the castle. "Hey honey. Did you miss me?"
"Hey mom." Sherry replied, running up to Claire and giving her a hug. Sherry had begun calling Claire her mother since Claire had adopted her. She had started to call Leon her dad, even though Claire and Leon were not married. "Ark took us to Pizza Hut last night."
"Why were you guys so late?" Carlos asked.
"My future in-laws forgot." Leon said, joining the group. "Hey Sherry, ready to go swimming?" He ruffled Sherry's long hair.
"Quit it." Sherry said, batting away Leon's hand.
"Hi Leon." Lott said. "We were all waiting for you."
"Well now we're here." Leon said. "Is everyone here?"
Carlos shook his head. "Becky hasn't gotten here yet. She may have run into traffic."
Claire began to fume. "She better of not forgotten."
"Well I got to take a trip to the men's room." Ark said, heading to the bathroom.
"I think I should set up." Leon said, quickly walking away.
"I'll go say hi to Chris and Jill." Carlos said, following Leon.
Claire watched the men leave. "Why did they go all of the sudden? Never mind, let's go join the others." She and the kids headed for the rest of the group, leaving a pile of sand behind them.
Jill took off her engagement ring and pendent and stuffed it into a side pouch of the duffel bag. "I can see why you would take that necklace off, but why are you removing your engagement ring off?" Kathy asked.
"Cause I don't want to loose one of my prized possessions." Jill replied. "This ring cost Chris a couple hundred dollars. I don't feel like having it slip off in the water."
"So when exactly did you pop the question?" Barry asked.
"Last week." Chris replied, lying out a towel. "I decided to ask her during dinner while we were alone. I didn't feel like having an audience."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Barry asked.
"I did." Jill said. "I called Kathy with the good news right after Chris proposed. Didn't she tell you?"
Kathy slapped her forehead. "I guess I forgot."
"Well now I know." Barry said.
"So how have you guys been doing?" Chris asked.
"Fine enough." Barry replied. "So I see you two messed up today."
Chris nodded. "We had to face my sister's wrath. I thought she was going to break the door down. So where's Rebecca?"
"I don't know." Kathy said. "I hope she didn't forget. Claire had her heart set on today."
"I'm sure she'll be here." Jill said. "She was just as excited as Claire."
Chris took an umbrella out of the duffel bag and set it up next to his towel. "So what's the plan?"
"I'm guessing that we swim till one then eat lunch." Barry said. "After that we swim until the beach closes and go home."
"Sounds good enough." Jill said.
"Hey guys." Carlos said, walking up to the group. "I heard that you forgot."
"Don't remind me." Chris moaned.
Carlos chuckled. "Well, don't worry. Becky has yet to arrive. I'm sure Claire is going to give her hell when she arrives."
"Carlos, watch your language." Kathy snapped, pointing to her girls.
"Sorry." Carlos said.
Claire and the other children soon arrived. "Hi guys." Sherry said.
"Hi Sherry." Jill said. "Ready to have some fun?"
Sherry eagerly nodded.
"How are you two doing?" Jill asked Lott and Lily.
"Fine." Lott replied.
"All we have to do is wait for Rebecca and we can get down to business." Claire said.
Ark bent over and took a drink from the water fountain. As soon as he was done he quickly turned to leave. He smacked right into a blond haired woman, almost knocking her down. "Sorry lady." Ark said. He took one look at the woman and froze. She was gorgeous in a greenish yellow bikini. He was drawn to her soft, green eyes.
"Sorry." The woman said, equally taken by Ark's appearance. "I wasn't looking at where I was going."
"It's OK." Ark said. "I should have been more careful myself."
"I see that you came to the beach too." The woman said. "Are you with anybody or are you by yourself?"
"I'm with a bunch of friends." Ark replied. "It's one of those big group outings."
The woman nodded. "Well, I'll let you get back to your friends. Maybe I'll see you later."
"Ok. Bye." Ark watched the woman leave. As soon as he lost sight of her something dawned on him. "Shit. I didn't get her name." Disappointed he went back to the others.
"Hi guys." Rebecca said, quickly walking towards the group. She was wearing a NIKE shirt and gym shorts. She was carrying a gym bag in one hand and a cooler in the other.
"And where have you been?" Claire asked. "I thought we agreed to be here around nine?"
Rebecca moaned. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you said ten." Rebecca brightened back up. "At least I'm here."
"Don't worry Becky." Chris said. "You're not the only one to screw up."
Rebecca looked around the area. "Well, I better set up and get ready." She opened her bag and tossed a frisbee at Leon. "Here. I brought this to use a little later."
Leon caught the frisbee and found it covered with teeth marks. "I know I'm going to regret this, but why is this frisbee chewed up?"
"That's because I play catch with Max with that." Rebecca replied.
Leon cringed and dropped the frisbee. "Why did I ask?"
"You know, ever since you got that dog you've done nothing my talk about him." Jill said.
"That's because I love him so much." Rebecca said. "He follows me around the house, lays on my lap when I watch TV, keeps me company when I'm lonely, and sleeps with me at the foot of my bed. He's loyal, dependable, trustworthy, everything I could want in a boyfriend."
"Why don't you marry him?" Claire asked sarcastically.
"You need a boyfriend." Carlos said.
"I would get one, if the right guy asked." Rebecca said, flashing Carlos a smile as she walked past him.
Leon waited until Rebecca left before slapping Carlos on the arm. "Damn man, she has the hots for you."
Jill agreed. "She's probably waiting for you to ask her out."
"Are you sure?" Carlos asked.
"She practically asked you too." Chris said.
"I don't know." Carlos said.
Claire grabbed Carlos by the arm and pushed him towards Rebecca. "You go and ask her out right now. If you don't we won't stop hounding you until you do."
Carlos tried for fight Claire off. "Stop it guys. It's not that I don't like her. It's just that I'm worried that she'll say no if I ask her."
"You won't know if you don't ask." Jill said. "Take it from someone who knows."
Carlos took a deep breath. "OK, I will. Wish me luck." Carlos strolled off after Rebecca.
Just as he left Ark appeared. "Hey guys." He said in a depressed tone.
"What happened to you?" Leon asked.
"I met a hot woman." Ark replied.
"And that's a bad thing?" Claire asked.
Ark shook his head. "No, I didn't get her name."
Leon leaned on Ark. "Listen buddy, there are four thing you need to get when talking to a woman, her name, her age, her phone number, and her sign."
Kathy gave Leon a funny look. "Are you sure you know how to talk to women?"
Chris looked over at his sister. "And you fell for him because?"
"I'm starting to ask myself that myself." Claire replied.
"I'm sure you'll see her again today." Barry said. "So keep your hopes up."
Ark nodded. "I hope I do." He went and sat down next to his stuff.
"Well I'm going to take a nap." Chris said. He walked over and laid down on his towel.
"I think I better get some sun." Jill said. She peeled off her clothes revealing her blue bikini. Claire did the same. She was wearing a purple bikini underneath. Leon took off his top and laid down next to Claire. The children took off for the water.
Carlos approached Rebecca, how had set up her towel a few feet from the others. "Hey Becky." Carlos said just as Rebecca pulled off her clothes. She had on a hot pink bikini that perfectly outlined her body. "Whoa." Carlos said.
"Hey Carlos. What do you want?" She noticed that he was staring oddly at her. "Hello, Earth to Carlos." She snapped her fingers in his face.
Carlos snapped back to reality. "Oh, I just wanted to talk."
"About what?" Rebecca asked, spreading out her towel.
"I want to ask you something." Carlos said.
Rebecca sat down on her towel and looked up at him. "What is it?" She was hoping it was what she wanted to hear.
Carlos sat down next to her. "Well, it's been a couple of years since we've known each other. We've been great friends and all but I was wondering if you and I could, you know, maybe, uh."
Rebecca giggled. "Are you asking me out?"
"Yes I am." Carlos replied. "I was wondering if you'd like to go to a movie or something?"
"I would love to." Rebecca said. "I was wondering when you were going to ask me out. I thought for sure you were after you got me Max."
"I wasn't sure if you would yes." Carlos said.
"I was giving you hints that I wanted to go on a date." Rebecca said. "Remember last week when I was asking you about those movies. And before that when I made that comment about that one restaurant."
Carlos chuckled. "I guess I missed those. Anyway, where would you like to go?"
"How about dinner and then a movie." Rebecca said.
"OK." Carlos said. "How about Friday at six?"
"It's a date." Rebecca replied.
"Great." Carlos got up. "Just let me get my stuff and then we can talk about what to do." Carlos walked over to wear Ark was brooding.
Ark looked up to see Carlos in a happy mood. "What did you just do?"
"I just asked Becky out and she said yes." Carlos replied.
"Whoopty damn do." Ark said.
"And why are you in such a rotten mood?" Carlos asked.
Ark pointed over towards the bathrooms. "I ran into a woman, literally. Only thing is I didn't get her name or number. I feel like an ass."
"Describe her." Carlos said.
Ark recalled what she looked like. "Well, she had long, blond hair, green eyes, and was wearing this greenish yellow bikini. She was just beautiful. She looked like one of those models from a Victoria Secrets catalogue."
Carlos looked around and spotted someone that matched the description. "Hey, I think that's her." He said, pointing past Barry and the others to a woman lying on her stomach.
Ark looked over and recognized the woman. "That's her."
"Well why don't you go over and talk to her." Carlos said.
"Maybe I will." Ark said. "Wish me luck buddy." Ark got up and headed for the woman.
Carlos shook his head and got his stuff.
Chris was sleeping peacefully under the shade of his umbrella, a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes. Jill was lying next to him, also wearing sunglasses and working on her tan. The others were staring at Chris.
"Why is it that that man is constantly tired?" Leon asked.
"It's amazing how much he can sleep." Barry added.
Jill looked up and pulled down her glasses. "You try getting up almost every day at eight and you see how tired you'd be."
"Maybe he'd get more sleep if you didn't keep him up at night." Claire said coyly.
Jill grinned at Claire. "Unlike you and Leon, we don't have an overactive sex drive."
Claire pointed to Leon. "He's the one with the overactive sex drive. Sometimes I feel like I'm dating Black & Decker."
Leon crossed his arms. "Well excuse me. Sometimes you're the one who wants to do it. Yesterday you wanted to do it one the kitchen table."
Kathy put up her hands. "That's more than I needed to know."
"I'll tell you this," Barry said, "Chris doesn't know what he's missing."
Jill heard Chris chuckle. "I think he heard everything."
Leon grumbled to himself. He then got an idea. He looked around for Carlos, Rebecca, and Ark. He only saw Carlos and Rebecca talking to each other. He grinned wickedly as he walked towards them.
"What is he thinking?" Barry asked, watching Leon leave.
"I don't want to know." Claire replied.
Soon Leon returned with Carlos and Rebecca. Leon had Rebecca bring her cooler with her.
"You had us come over here to watch Chris sleep?" Carlos asked annoyingly. "Whatever you want it better be more than this."
"Don't worry." Leon said. "It'll be good."
"Why did you ask me to bring my cooler?" Rebecca asked.
"Because your ice pack will be the coldest." Leon replied. He opened the cooler and grabbed one of the ice packs. "Man it's cold."
Jill looked at the ice pack and then at Leon. "What are you going to do?"
Claire had figured it out. "You are not putting that thing on my brother's chest."
"He did forget about today." Leon said.
Claire sat in thought for a few seconds. "Do it."
"Leon, you don't want to do that." Jill said.
Leon inched closer to Chris.
"You don't want to do that." Rebecca said.
Leon got closer to Chris.
Barry grabbed Leon's arm. "You REALLY don't want to do that."
Leon ignored Barry and moved closer.
Ark walked up to the woman and hesitantly knelt down next to her. "Hello lady, I believe I know you?"
The woman looked up at him. "Hey, you're the guy from the bathroom. I knew I'd run into you eventually."
"I know it's a strange thing to ask, but I would like to know your name." Ark said.
The woman smiled. "My name's Tiffany Sears. I don't believe I have your name either."
"My name's Ark Thompson." Ark said.
"Nice to meet you Ark." Tiffany said. "Or at least know who you are."
Ark was stumped by what Tiffany had said. "What do you mean?"
"It's just that I've seen you so many times I never caught your name." Tiffany replied.
"Where have you seen me?" Ark asked. "This is the first time I've ever seen you."
"I work as a waitress at Carl's diner." Tiffany said. "Most of the time I'm in the kitchen, but occasionally I wait on people. I believe you and some of your friends come in often."
Ark looked closely at her. "Yeah, you do look familiar. I guess I didn't recognize you without your uniform."
"Most guys don't recognize me." Tiffany said. "Usually I have my hair back and under a hat. I also have to wear that frumpy uniform. I'm like a different person when I'm at work."
"Tell me about it." Ark said. "When I go to work I'm a different person too."
"What do you do?" Tiffany asked.
"I'm a detective for the local police force." Ark replied.
"That sounds interesting." Tiffany said.
Suddenly they both hear Chris yell. They looked over to see Chris in a rage holding the ice pack, a wet mark on his shirt.
"Alright, which one of you did it?" Chris growled. He saw Leon laughing. "You." Chris hissed, pointing at Leon. In one quick motion he chucked the ice pack at Leon. Leon dodged and the pack hit Carlos in the stomach.
"Hey," Carlos said," do the words innocent bystander mean anything to you?"
"As far as I'm concerned you're all guilty." Chris replied.
"Jill, Barry, and I tried to stop him." Rebecca said pleadingly.
Claire grabbed Leon. "If you want I'll hold him for you."
Leon turned to Claire. "What are you doing?"
"If it'll save my ass I'll do it." Claire replied.
Tiffany watched the scene, trying not to laugh. "I believe that those people are?"
"My friends." Ark said, hanging his head.
"They sure are an interesting bunch." Tiffany said.
Ark shook his head slowly. "You have no idea."
"So how exactly do you know them?" Tiffany asked.
"It's a long story." Ark said. "Ever hear of Umbrella? I was involved in what happened with the company."
"I heard that they were making some sort of virus and that a group of people shut them down." Tiffany said. "You were one of them?"
Ark nodded. "I was."
"So you're a hero then." Tiffany said. "Were they involved too?"
"They were." Ark replied. "We all went through hell together. Sometimes I didn't think I'd make it. But I did and here I am now."
Tiffany smiled. "What you did was very noble. You should be proud of that."
"I am." Ark said.
Tiffany handed Ark a bottle of sunscreen. "Since you're here, why don't you rub some of this on my legs and back."
Ark took the bottle and squeezed some on his hands. He began to rub the lotion on Tiffany's legs. He soon heard his friends begin to cheer. Both he and Tiffany turned to see Ark's friends hooting and hollering. Ark sighed while Tiffany laughed.
"I will have to meet them." Tiffany said.
"Believe me, you probably will." Ark said.
"Three, two, one, GO!" Barry yelled.
Margaret found herself catapulted into the air. She hit the water a few feet away and went under. She shot up and turned around. "That was fun. Can I do it again?"
"Wait your turn." Barry replied. "Your sister has to go next." He turned to his youngest daughter. "You ready?"
"Sure am." She said. Polly swam up to her father, who was standing next to Chris and Leon. The men were up to their chests in the water. Chris and Leon held her feet while Barry supported her butt. One the count of three they launched her through the air and into the sea. Lily was next, and then came Sherry. Lott swam up and got into position.
"Are you sure you can do this?" Lott asked. "I think I'm a little too heavy."
"Hey, what better way of showing off our strength than tossing you around." Leon said.
"Now turn around and get ready." Chris said. "You may not go far, but you'll go somewhere." Lott got launched, landing a foot closer than the girls. "You know, eventually the lifeguards are going to yell at us."
"If they haven't already, they won't period." Barry said.
Kathy came swimming over to the men. "Are you sure this is safe. I don't want to see my angels get hurt."
"They won't get hurt, I swear." Barry said.
"Good, because if they do, so do you." Kathy said.
Chris watched Kathy swim over to her girls and check on them. "Boy, I can tell who wears the pants in this family."
"Ha, ha." Barry replied.
Leon looked at the children as they happily splashed around. "I think we need to find someone bigger." Leon turned to the shore and spied Rebecca and Carlos. They were sitting next to each other talking about their upcoming date. "I think we found a winner."
"Which one?" Barry asked.
Leon grinned and started back to shore. "Hey Carlos, can we barrow your girlfriend for a bit?"
"That depends." Carlos said. "What are you going to do?"
"It's a surprise." Leon replied.
Rebecca jumped up. "I love surprises. Let's go." Before Carlos could intervene Rebecca followed Leon out to the other men. When they arrived Rebecca looked around. "So what's this surprise?"
"Should we demonstrate?" Chris asked.
Barry nodded. "Any volunteers?"
Margaret swam up. "I want to go again."
Rebecca watched as the guys launched Margaret into the air. "Oh no guys, I don't think you could do that to me. I think I'm a little too big."
"We always like a good challenge." Chris said.
"Well, it does look like fun." Rebecca said. "I'll do it." Rebecca got into position. As she felt herself get lifted up, she began to worry. "What if my top comes off?"
"You can always have Carlos put it back on for you." Leon said.
"I'm serious." Rebecca said. "And what if we get in trouble for this?"
Barry laughed. "Don't try to get out of this now. Three, two, one, GO!"
Rebecca yelped as she was catapulted into the air. She flew two or three feet before hitting the water. "That was fun." She said after surfaced.
"Now someone else." Leon said. He turned his attention to Claire, who was sunning herself. Leon smiled as he began to approach his girlfriend. "Claaaaire." He said.
Claire's response was concise and to the point. "Do it and die."
"Hey Carlos, care to help me get Claire?" Leon asked.
Carlos shook his head. "Oh no man, I'm not tangling with Claire, she goes for the groin."
"Smart man." Claire said.
"I'll help." Chris said, walking up next to Leon. "Come on Claire, time to go for a swim."
Claire turned to Jill, who was reading a magazine. "Hey Jill, could you give me a hand here?"
Jill pulled down her sunglasses and lowered her magazine. "I'm not getting involved. You're on your own girl."
Claire turned back to the two men who were quickly approaching. "You stay away from me or you'll be sorry."
Jill watched as Chris and Leon grabbed their target and dragged her into the water. Claire began to shout about how cold the water was and how they were all going to pay. Soon Chris, Leon, and Barry had hoisted her up and launched her into the water. Claire went as far as Rebecca did and hit the water. As soon as she surfaced she made a beeline for Leon and began to assault him. Jill laughed and went back to reading her magazine. After five minutes she got the funny feeling that someone was watching her.
"Jill."
Jill lowered her magazine to find Chris at the edge of the water smiling at her. "No way Chris. You're not tossing me around."
"It'll be fun Jill." Chris said. "Rebecca and Claire liked it."
"Like hell I did." Claire said.
Chris ignored his sister and started to approach Jill. "You'll love it Jill. Won't you do this for me?"
Jill set down her magazine and took off her sunglasses. "If you want to sing Alto for the rest of your life you try."
"You want my help?" Claire said. "I have to pay her back for not helping me."
"I got it." Chris said. He quickly walked over to his fiancé. Jill got to her feet to defend herself. Suddenly Chris ducked low and hoisted Jill over his shoulder. "Resistance is futile." Chris said as Jill squirmed.
Jill gave up and groaned. "Why me?"
"Relax." Chris said. "I'll only do this once and that will be it."
"Have fun." Carlos called, still sitting on his towel.
Jill glared at him. "Shut up."
Jill hit the water with a splash. She shot to the surface and pulled the wet hair back from her face. "Are you guys happy?"
"Wasn't that fun?" Chris said, swimming over to her.
Jill splashed him in the face. "Just don't do that again."
Just then Carlos came swimming out to the group. "The lifeguard told me to tell you to stop throwing people around. Someone could get hurt."
"Well, it was fun while it lasted." Barry said.
After an hour the wind had begun to pick up, making the incoming wave larger. Clouds had also begun to gather in the sky. Some of the people had left the beach. Others had decided to stay. Chris and his friends continued to swim in the sea. The children were having races with Carlos and Rebecca acting as the start and finish lines. Chris stared out at the rising surf. He took Jill's hand and began to lead her out.
"Where are we going?" Jill asked.
"Out to the surf." Chris replied. "Have you ever ridden the surf before? It's one of the coolest things in the world. It feels like you're floating."
Jill followed Chris. "Are you sure about this? I don't think it's safe."
Chris held Jill's shoulders while waiting for a wave to come in. "Relax. I used to do this all the time when my parents took Claire and I to the beach. Here comes one now."
Jill felt herself lift up and gently desend. "That was amazing. It was like I was flying."
"Told you." Chris said. He swam up and held Jill in his arms. "Here comes another one." The couple felt themselves pick up again and fall back down.
"All we need is to have this be night and have no one around." Jill said.
"We can always sneak back out here tonight." Chris said.
"Hey, no gratuitous displays of affection at the beach." Claire said. She and Leon swam up to join them. "There are little children out here."
Chris turned to his sister. "Can you two just leave us along for one minute?"
Leon pointed to the others. "Orders from Barry. We're to go and have lunch now. If we want something to eat we better get going."
Chris sighed. "We better go before Claire starts yelling at us again." Claire gave her brother a dirty look as he and Jill swam by. Soon Claire and Leon followed, leaving the rising surf behind.
Kathy had already unloaded most of the food from the large cooler. She pulled out nine hoagies, five sandwiches, and four bottles of soda that she had bought from the store. She waited until everyone was present before handing out the food. "OK, I got turkey hoagies for Chris, Claire, Carlos, and Ark. I got ham for Jill, Rebecca, and myself. There's roast beef for Barry and Leon. For the kids I got a turkey sandwich for Sherry, ham and cheese for my girls, and bologna for Lott and Lily."
"Where are the chips?" Chris asked.
"Both Jill and I decided to avoid all the junk food." Kathy replied. "We decided that we would eat healthy today."
"That would explain the diet soda." Claire said, pointing to the soda bottles.
Carlos groaned. "I'm going to feel like a pansy drinking that stuff."
"You're already are a pansy." Leon said. "It took you this long to ask Becky out."
"That reminds me, Carlos and I are going on a date Friday." Rebecca beamed.
"You guys need a chaperon?" Barry asked slyly. Kathy slapped him one the arm as the little girls giggled.
"I bet you two are going to a movie and make out in the back room." Sherry said.
"Sherry." Claire gasped.
Chris pulled the toppings off his hoagie. "You sure trained her good."
Claire glared at Chris. "I think you better shut up if you don't want to be eating food through a tube."
"Name the time and the place." Chris said.
"Hey, where's Ark?" Lott asked. "I haven't seen him in a while."
Rebecca looked around the group. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen him either."
"Last time I saw him he was talking to that hot chi…" Leon saw the look Claire was giving him and changed his words. "That woman."
Jill patted Claire on the back. "You sure have him trained well."
Claire smiled. "Maybe on day I'll teach you how to train Chris."
Chris shook his head and looked back to where Ark and Tiffany had been. He then scanned the beach until he spotted them walking towards the group. "Here he comes, and it looks like he's bringing company."
Leon rubbed his hands together. "We're going to have fun with her."
"Now don't go scaring the poor girl." Barry said. "I don't want to look like a freak."
Ark and Tiffany reached the group and sat down. "Hey guys, this is the girl I met."
"My name's Tiffany Sears." Tiffany said. "Ark's told me all about you."
"I hope it wasn't anything bad." Carlos said.
Tiffany shook her head. "No, he just warned me about your sense of humor. I saw what you did to Chris earlier."
"Thanks for reminding me." Chris said, giving Leon an evil grin. "I'll have to pay you back for that."
"I'm sorry that we don't have anything for you to eat." Kathy said. "I wasn't expecting anyone else."
"That's OK." Tiffany said. "Ark and I bought something from one of the vendors. Then we went for a walk and talked."
"You spent all this time talking?" Carlos asked.
"That's usually how people get to know each." Ark replied.
"Well I thought you would go for a swim." Carlos said.
Tiffany giggled. "I guess we did get a little sidetracked. But Ark's story was so interesting. I never thought I'd meet the people who took down Umbrella."
Leon raised his arms. "Well here we are."
"Why don't you tell us about yourself." Jill said.
"OK." Tiffany said. The group continued to eat lunch as they each introduced themselves to Tiffany.
By the time the group had finished eating and cleaning up the sky had gotten dark. More people had left, making the beach almost empty. Leon, Claire, Carlos, Rebecca, Ark, and Barry were playing catch with the frisbee. Kathy and Tiffany were playing with the children. Chris and Jill were busy packing everything up. They had jumped at the chance to be alone. As Jill stuffed her things into the duffel bag she looked up at the sky. "Looks like it's going to rain soon."
"At least we had some fun." Chris said. "Plus Carlos finally asked Becky out and Ark has a new girlfriend."
"Don't jump to conclusions." Jill said. "We've all learned that many times."
Chris chuckled. "Well at least she was nice. And she gets along with the kids well." Chris pointed to the water where Tiffany was playing tag with Lily, Margaret, and Polly.
Jill smiled. "I would like to have children someday."
"After we get hitched we will." Chris said.
"And when will that be?" Jill asked.
"I thought we decided on September or October?" Chris replied.
"Yeah, we did, didn't we? Well, now I have something to look forward to." Jill said.
"So what movie are you two going to see?" Leon asked, tossing the frisbee at Carlos.
"Some sort of action movie." Carlos replied, catching the disk.
Barry let out a gruff laugh. "I bet Becky will drag you to a chick flick."
Rebecca shook her head. "No, I want to see an action movie."
Claire caught the frisbee and shook her head. "No, no, no. When out on a date you need to see a romantic movie."
"We don't." Leon said.
Claire whipped the frisbee at Leon's head. "Shut up."
Leon dodged the frisbee. "Boy, aren't we moody today?"
"If you don't want to be sleeping on the couch you shut your mouth." Claire said.
Leon saluted. "Sir, yes Sir."
Ark laughed. "You two sound like you're married."
"Speaking of which, when are you going to ask her?" Carlos asked Leon.
"Someday." Leon replied.
"It better be soon." Claire said. "I'm not going to wait around forever." Suddenly a light rain began to fall. "Great, there goes our day."
The sound of thunder in the distance caused the lifeguards to start closing the beach. The group quickly gathered their things and ran to their cars. They all gathered around Barry's station wagon.
"Well, I guess today just got ruined." Claire said.
Barry thought for a moment. He soon came up with an idea. "Tell you what, I say that we all go home and get changed. Then we'll all meet at the mall and spend the rest of the day there. How does that sound?"
"Good idea." Chris said. "However, only on three conditions. One, no fooling around in the fountain. Two, no making out in the changing rooms. And three, no touching the mannequins. Got it?"
The group nodded in agreement. "Hey, you guys mind if I join you?"
"Not at all." Kathy said. "We're going to the Summers Mall."
Tiffany leaned over to Ark. "By the way, what was Chris talking about?"
"Long story." Ark said. "I'll tell you later."
Tiffany waved good-bye and ran to her car. The others ran to their vehicles and left the rain-soaked beach behind.
Authors Comments: Another nice, short story. First I wrote a romance story, then a humorous story, and now I managed to combine them into one. Somebody stop me. Anyway, it seems that these guys had a lot of fun. Carlos and Rebecca hooked up and Ark met Tiffany. And to that the fact that Chris and Jill are engaged makes thing very interesting. As you have probably noticed this story kind of built on events from Mall Madness. Chances are that I'll have more of my short stories build off each other like a chain. I already have two such stories in waiting. I hope you all enjoyed this story. I have another romance type story in the works, as well as the beginning stories of two series. Until next time, see you later. Striker.