Senior Year Box Set

I heard a sharp intake of breath and a squeak. I’d forgotten the damned bike shorts hid nothing. At least my t-shirt hung down far enough to cover my shorts so as not to be obscene. Camilla saved the day.

“Put your shirt back on before Alex really does switch teams. Besides, it’s hot. I need to get you boys back home and into the shower.”

Alex and I just glanced at each other before getting into the car, as if to ask if she meant that literally.

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After showering and changing, I walked over to Alex and Nat’s and knocked on their door. Alex let me into their condo. I loved the décor. In the living room, the end wall had two bookcases bracketing a seventy-inch TV that hung in the center. Behind it, they’d used reclaimed wood from shipping pallets to mimic wood flooring. The wood was sun-bleached, giving it an aged appearance. At a ninety-degree angle were two loveseats with a twelve-foot couch facing the TV to form a seating area. I needed to find where they sold a sofa that big. The whole family could sit on the couch and enjoy the TV.

Around the room hung large colorful prints of vintage posters from Colombia. They ranged in subject matter from coffee to a street scene of colorful houses that reminded me of my time in Cuba.

“Where are the girls?” I asked as Alex joined me in the living room.

He handed me a beer.

“Changing.”

“Do you think Camilla meant what she implied?” I asked to voice our unspoken question from before.

“I have to keep reminding myself that she and my dad are getting married,” he admitted.

“Where is your dad, by the way?”

“He flew to Athens to talk to the university that’s sponsoring him. They found some stuff in one of the rooms,” Alex shared.

“The Holy Grail?” I asked with a smirk.

“No. It looked like trade goods that had been taken from a merchant ship. Most of it was deteriorated and of no value. They did find a leather bag of stones. Some of them looked to be Greek. One had a small duck carved into it, and another had what looked like a hoplite phalanx engraved into it. Hoplites were those soldiers that only used spears. Dad took that with him to Athens. They plan to authenticate his find and date the stones.”

“He must be excited.”

“That’s why we came. I expect he’ll be there for a few days, so Nat and I are free to play tourist with you tomorrow,” Alex said.

“The people who came with me don’t seem to want to do anything with me. I would enjoy spending time with you and your sister,” I admitted.

He gave me a curious look.

“Why don’t they want to do anything with you?”

“You’d have to ask them. I think part of it is that they’re all a few years older than I am. Back in the states, I can’t really get into clubs. Plus, my mom put the word out that I wasn’t allowed to go clubbing, which seems to be something they want to do. Go figure,” I said with a shrug.

“We could go clubbing,” Alex suggested. “Unless you’re scared your mom will find out.”

“I have no doubt she would find out. It totally sucks sometimes, being an actor. People take pictures of you, and then, the next thing you know, it’s trending on social media. My mom is just tech-savvy enough to find them. I’ve given up on sneaking around,” I admitted.

“Sucks to be you.”

“Oh, please. I’ve seen the pictures of you on yachts and such. It’s not like you’re a stranger to all this.”

“Back home, it’s not so bad. When I go to LA …” Alex left the rest unsaid.

“I know what you mean. For the most part, it’s the same for me.”

“What’s the same for you?” Camilla asked as she and Nat joined us on the couch.

“I was telling David we could go to one of the clubs tomorrow night. His mom said he can’t go because the drinking age back home is 21. He said that people would take pictures, and she would see the photos on social media,” Alex said to catch them up.

“That was how Alex got caught using Dad’s boat earlier this year,” Nat said with a big grin.

“Shut it, Squeak,” Alex warned. “You don’t want me telling David stories about you, now do you?”

“Nope,” she said and winked at me.

I would bet she had more stories to tell me later.

“We found an interesting movie in town,” Camilla said as she got up and put the DVD in the player to stop the twins from arguing. “I heard it won some awards.”

I inwardly groaned. Somehow, I had a sneaking suspicion she’d found my movie, The Royal Palm.

When it started, Camilla pointed for me to scoot down so she could sit between Alex and me. Nat was on my other side. I wondered if Camilla had set this up so Nat and I would be sitting together.

Sure enough, they’d found my movie. I wondered where they got the DVD because it hadn’t been released to disk yet. Pirating of intellectual property wasn’t a joke. I’d seen a website where you could watch movies that were currently in theaters. Someone had gone in with a video camera and copied mine, apparently.

I admit that I’d watched a few films on the site. It was like going to the theater because you would see people walk in front of the camera every now and then.

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