Chapter 6

Jeff jogged up to the table while his family was just sitting down at for dinner. He and Shawna had showered before leaving the room, so at least he didn’t smell like sex. They had parted ways at the bar by the pool where her mother, Nessa, had greeted her daughter with a hug and Jeff with a knowing smirk. He briefly returned Nessa’s greeting then gave Shawna one last kiss on the cheek before escaping with his face burning like he was sunburnt. It was just too weird that Shawna’s mother knew that they had hooked up.

“We were starting to wonder where that Irish lass dragged you off to,” Mom said, which sparked some laughter from the rest.

“We were swimming in one of the other pools,” Jeff answered. “I’m gonna grab something to eat and be right back.”

He noticed Amy giving him an amused smile, but Shelly didn’t look happy at all. There was nothing he could do about it at the moment, so he went to get some pizza and a sports drink before swiping his wristband to pay for his meal. When he arrived back at the table, the only available seat was between Amy and Shelly.

He sat and ate while everyone else discussed the theme park they would be visiting the next day. Each of them had a favorite ride or attraction they wanted to see, but getting a list they could all agree on seemed impossible. When Jeff finished his pizza, he made a suggestion.

“Why don’t we split up for part of the day? I can take Amy, Shelly, and Lori to ride our favorites in the morning, then we can meet up at lunch. That way you guys can do hit the ones we don’t really care about and then we can finish up with the ones we all like in the afternoon.”

“You don’t mind, do you?” Aunt Jackie asked with a hesitant expression.

“No,” Jeff laughed. “These three have grown on me the last couple of days.” He shot a smile at them all and nudged Shelly when she wouldn’t meet his eyes. She reluctantly looked over and scanned his face, eventually giving him a weak smile.

“Good,” Mom said with a satisfied nod. “That’s the plan.”

Shelly’s attention slipped over his shoulder and she frowned again. Jeff turned to see Shawna and Nessa approaching the table. He couldn’t stop the grin and stood to greet them.

“Hey,” he said to greet Shawna then turned to his table. “This is Shawna Sweeney and her mother, Nessa. We met them this morning while we were shopping.”

Mom stood and reached for Nessa’s hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Allen, Jeff’s mother. This is my husband Will, my sister, Jackie, her husband, Bob, and their kids Amy, Shelly, and Lori. Won’t you join us?”

“Thanks,” Nessa said and pulled a chair over next to Mom. Jeff gave Shawna his seat and pulled up another for himself to sit near her.

“So you’re Jeff’s girlfriend,” Shelly said with a squint like she was irritated by the idea.

“Naw, we’re just mates,” Shawna said with a warm smile. “Mum and I are here on holiday, like you lot.”

Jeff watched in awe as Shawna smoothly disarmed Shelly with a series of questions about her school and gymnastics. Her warm, open nature soon won over all three girls as they discovered a common love of fashion, movies, and music. Jeff added a few comments here and there, but it was Shawna who guided their conversation.

Eventually, the girls began to pepper her with a thousand questions about daily life in Ireland. Jeff was as fascinated as his cousins by Shawna’s description of how their schools and colleges differed. He envied her ability to legally drink beer in a pub and the more open social life she enjoyed living with her mother.

At the other end of the table, Nessa was doing the same thing with the adults. After a great deal of laughter, the parents announced they were retiring to the pool bar before bed. Jeff said he’d had enough of the pool for the day and wanted to hit the game room. Shawna and his cousins agreed that sounded like fun, so the group split up after agreeing on a curfew.

Shawna paced Jeff as they all walked through the lobby toward the loud room full of arcade games.

“That Shelly has it bad for you,” she whispered with amusement.

“She’s my cousin,” Jeff protested weakly.

“It don’t matter. At her age, she’s just looking for someone safe to test drive. It’s harmless, really. I was the same. I snogged my cousin, Aedan, at a family reunion the summer after my second year to see what it was like.”

“Snogged?”

“Kissing and stuff.” She glanced at Jeff with hunger in her eyes. “Like I’ve been wishing I could do to you again.”

Jeff shot her a matching look of his own. “Yeah, me too.”

She bumped shoulders. “Come on, let’s kill some zombies.”

Jeff was dragged from game to game for over an hour, spending his hard-earned vacation money to entertain them all. Shawna kicked his ass shooting zombies with shotguns. Lori made him slice up virtual fruit with her on a huge screen but kept pushing and tickling him if he got too many points ahead. Amy raced him on motorcycles, rocking left and right around the curves and laughing when she won.

In the end, he played the most with Shelly. Her games were physical rather than virtual, like the basketball hoops, golf driver, and skeeball. By their curfew, Shelly was back to her old, happy self and Jeff let out a sigh of relief.

They all walked Shawna back to her room, laughing and playing around the paths on the way there. Jeff loved the way Shawna seemed to fit right in, giving him a hard time right along with his cousins. They explored the area around the pool shaped like a bowling pin when they passed. Shawna grabbed him when his cousins weren’t looking and pulled him behind a palm tree for some snogging that revved Jeff up again despite his busy day.

“I wish we could spend the night together,” Shawna breathed into his neck. “But I’d be too sore to walk the park tomorrow.”

Jeff chuckled as he traced his fingers around her bare shoulders. “Might be worth it anyway.”

“True,” she said and looked up to caress his cheek in the moonlight. “Best take your charges back to your room before our parents sober up and come looking for us.”

Jeff placed another deep kiss on her lips before pushing off the tree at his back and walking her to her door. “Sweet dreams.”

“With the way my sheets smell of you? I’ll be soggy without any dreams at all.”

One last kiss and she slipped through the door. Jeff sighed and turned back to the pool area. “Come on,” he called out to his cousins. “Let’s head back before we’re late.”

Lori ran ahead on the path back to their building, singing something from that winter princess movie. Amy took his right hand which had Shelly taking his left as soon as she noticed.

“Shawna’s nice,” Amy said and looked over at Jeff.

“Yeah, she’s a lot of fun.”

“More fun than Christina?” Amy asked with a laugh in her tone.

“No, just different,” Jeff said with a sad smile. “I still miss Christina. It’s like we had an instant connection. I don’t really feel that with Shawna. Don’t get me wrong, I think she’s awesome, but with her it’s...” He paused in thought for a moment. “Lighter, maybe? I don’t know. I’m gonna stay in touch with Christina, but I can’t really see Shawna being interested in doing that from across the ocean.”

Shelly squeezed Jeff’s hand and he turned to her. “This is complicated stuff, huh?”

“Yeah,” Shelly sighed. “I always thought if you liked someone, you just liked them. I can see what you mean, though. You can like different people in different ways at the same time.”

“Exactly,” Jeff said. “I remember my first girlfriend. I thought she was so perfect. I had all these crazy fantasies about how we’d get married someday. I think we were eight or something.” Jeff laughed at his own naivety. “A week later she was hanging all over this other guy on the soccer team. It felt like someone punched me in the guts.”

Shelly nodded to herself.

Amy gave him an odd look and then glanced past him to Shelly. “When you like someone it can feel overwhelming. I loved when Mario paid attention to me, but he really wasn’t very nice. I should have thought about it more before I did things with him.”

“I still can’t believe you jerked him off,” Shelly muttered, then shot a worried glance at Jeff.

“Don’t worry, Jeff knows,” Amy said and squeezed Jeff’s hand.

They arrived at the elevator where Lori was punching the call button over and over in time with the song she was singing. Jeff let go of their hands and put his arms around their shoulders. Then he pulled both girls into his sides for a group hug and kissed them on the tops of their heads.

“Thanks for explaining things,” Shelly said to both of them.

“Anytime,” Jeff said as he released them both. Amy gave him a knowing smile and nodded at him.

When they got back to the room, Jeff stripped down to his boxers and an undershirt before stuffing his dirty clothes in a bag in the closet. Then he grabbed his phone and dropped into bed.

Shelly got some nightclothes and went to shower. Lori grabbed the remote and was flipping through the channels at light speed. When Amy settled next to him onto his bed, he smiled at her.

“You doin’ okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said with a smile in return. “A little sore, but very satisfied.”

Jeff smirked. “Good.”

“So you finally noticed how bad Shelly was crushing on you?”

“Yeah,” he said while pushing away the guilt he felt. “Thanks for helping explain things to her.”

“She wants to sleep with you again tonight,” Amy said and raised her eyebrows as if asking what he thought of the idea.

“Fine with me,” he said, but he immediately recalled how her warm body had curled into his. He hated the idea of making things more confusing for her, but she still fascinated him.