Chapter 3

"It's been years since we've been here."  Bradleigh tells the guys, as they sit there watching the waves crash upon the shore.  "We used to come here all the time when we'd visit during the summer."

"Where you guys from?"  David asks, handing Danny a beer after popping the top off.  "I thought Jon said you were from Rhode Island or something like that?"  

Danny takes a sip, "Yeah, we just moved here from Rhode Island.  But we're from here, originally."

"Oh yeah, where?"  Richie chimes in.  "I'm from Woodbridge."

Bradleigh isn't sure how she feels about giving too many details about her personal life, they all had met just the day before.  "We have family in up in Perth Amboy."  she confesses, feeling like a tag along.  There she was with a bunch of guys and she's the only girl.  Not only the only girl, but the youngest of the group.

"I was born in Perth Amboy."  David says.  

"Me too."  adds Jon.  Feeling a sense of pride about being where he was from.  

The gang hangs out for the day and most of the night.  They played a few games of volleyball, kicked around a hackyscak and when the day turned into night, they built a fire, just off the waters edge and enjoyed the evening.  The new kids on the block and the unknown band.

"

The next day, Bradleigh decides that rather than unpack and give her life some type of balance, she'd rather lay in the sun.  She puts her bikini on, grabs her boom box and takes a spot in the back yard.  In her lounge chair, she lays there and starts to enjoy the day that she planned for herself.  Her dad was over at Rutgers, learning the ins and outs of his new place of employment, both brothers were still sound asleep.  She was loving the idea of doing nothing for the better part of her day. 

"Hey!" she hears over her shoulder.  Then she hears the pool gate latch clank.  Quickly she sits up, unaware that they were expecting guests and having no idea who it could be.  When she sees that it's the guy from across the street, she feels slightly relieved.  "Morning." he mumbles to her, with a mug of coffee in his hand.

Good Morning." she flatly responds, "Do you make it a habit of always dropping by?"  she quickly asks, coyly covering herself with her towel.

"I'm sorry - do you want me to go?"  he sips the hot beverage he holds in his hand. 

"No, you're fine.  I'm just surprised at how friendly you are."

"I'm from New Jersey." he chuckles. "We're always nice."

"What brings you by at this hour?  I'd think you'd still be sleeping." she states, feeling super sleepy herself having stayed out late last night.  She and her brothers left the guys at the beach last night.  The band had planned to stay and watch the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean.

"Just got home." he tells her, "Haven't even been to bed yet."

Bradleigh laughs, "Then what are you doing over here, you should be in bed."

"I seen your front door open so I thought I'd see if you were up."

"For?" she questions his intent, not because she's scared, she's just curious.

"Being neighborly."  Jon takes a seat on the lounge chair next to her, "What are you doing today?"

"You're looking at it."  she smiles at him as she watches him sip his coffee.  She can see that it's still too hot to drink as the steam rolls off the top.  "What are you doing today?"

"I'm hopefully doing it."

"What?  Drinking coffee?" she naively asks him, not sure what the look on his face should be telling her.

"Hanging out with you." he simply states.  "Do you mind?"

Bradleigh is completely caught off guard by his reply.  "Why would you want to hang out here?"  She cocks an eyebrow looking over at him.  She's still a little shy, keeping herself covered.  

Jon's eyes catch hers and he can admit to her, "I'd like to get  to know my neighbors."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

Bradleigh sits up straighter on her lounge chair, keeping her top covered with her towel, "Why's that?"

"Isn't it important to be neighborly?" he asks her, not sure why she's being so stand offish.  "I can go if yo want me too."

Bradleigh shakes her head, "No, no - I'm sorry, I'm just a little apprehensive.  I mean we just moved here and we've made friends already.  To me that's kind of weird."  

"Why?"

"Because we've gone no where and haven't done anything to meet people and we've already been to the beach.  It's awesome, just weird."  

"Stick with us and you'll make several more."

She smiles at just the thought.  The summer on the beach with a group of great guys - what more could a girl want?  A summer on the New Jersey shore with her brothers, her best friends and the new guys from down the block.

Bradleigh and Jon hung out next to her pool for a majority of the day, until they were disturbed by her brothers.  "What's going on out here?"  Danny boasts cracking open a Faygo Cola, standing in the back door.  

"Yeah, what are you two doing?:  Scotty chimes in, opening the door and stepping out onto the top deck.  "A pool party?"

"Is this a private event?"  Danny questions, "Cause we didn't get an invite."

"Knock it off!"  Bradleigh tells her brothers.  "Quit being assholes."  Bradleigh sighs, pulls on her sundress and stands up.   

"Hey!"  Jon looks up at them, giving them a hello nod.

"Hey Jon."  Danny replies.

For several days Bradleigh and her brothers spent a good amount of time with Jon and his band.  She was even beginning to like Jon and thought that he may have liked her too.  

It was a Friday afternoon when the phone rang.  Bradleigh was showering, home alone and was startled by the loud ring.  She whips open the curtain, grabs a towel and rushes to pick up the reciever from her bedside table.

"Hello!" she whispers.

"What are you doing?"  the voice on the other end asks her but doesn't wait for her to respond.  "Get ready, were heading to the shore for rehearsal."

"Jon?" she replies, "Rehearsal where?"

"Asbury."

"I have no desire to go down there." she tells him, point blank.  "I'm not into the whole band scene."

"Come on, I want you to go."

Bradleigh plops down on her bed and heavily sighs.  She really didn't want to go.  She doesn't like crowds, or attention for that matter.  Her long curly blonde hair, slim figure and striking smile draw more attention than she would like.  She doesn't want to be noticed.