Snippet #1690861

Tor tried to put on a smile as she was led across the hot sand to the place where her parents would be greeting people. By the time she had a next free moment, she realized that she was standing on her own in the hot sand. Her little brother, Orion was already off and occupied with her father gathering things to fuel the bonfire, and her mother was somewhere fretting about the arrangements of food and such. She rolled her eyes and scoffed. Her mother had not spoken a word to her since their earlier exchange and though she didn't mind the silence at all, she knew that things would get awkward when it came time to meet this person her mother wanted to force her to meet.

She looked around the beach. There were a few people already there, mostly some family members whom she had already talked to and whom she would see later in the night, so she wasn't concerned about going over to them. As she looked on some more, she could see that there were a group of people, guys by the looks of it, who wer sort of hanging a ways from where her family was set up. They looked as if they would be part of the party, but she wasn't sure. So, she decided to go ask. As she grew closer to their group, she could see that they were all around her age, maybe a year or so older. They looked as if they were having a good time on their own, too.

"Hello," she said pleasantly, holding on to her hat as a breeze picked up. "Are you here for the party? We're all over there if you want to come over." There were three of them, they all had drinks in their hands, which she was not unused to (her parents allowed her to drink, under the conditions that she did it in moderation). They seemed pleasant enough though. She couldn't help but feel like she knew them from somewhere, but because the sun had set and there were only a few lights on this part of the beach she couldn't see very well.

"I'm T-" she started, but was interrupted by a voice calling her back from the other side the beach.

"Hey Graceful, come over here and say hi! There's someone here to meet you!" It was Eli, her older cousin, calling her to come over to him. He was standing with her mother and another person, so she knew that it was time for the big bomb to drop. She turned back to the guys in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I must go," she apologized, smiling sheepishly. "Maybe I'll see you later?" Without waiting for a response, she took off down the beach, her feet sinking into the sand with every step. She had long ago taken off her shoes and was holding them in one hand as she ran, the other hand holding on to her hat to keep it from flying away.

It was in no time that she made it to where her cousin, mother and the new comer were waiting for her. She came to a stop before them, slightly winded from her sprint across the sand. She adjusted her hat and tugged at the hem of her dress, taking a big breath before finally speaking.

"Hi Eli," she said, flashing him a big smile. "You said you had someone to introduce me to?" She turned her attention to the guest, who stood in between her cousin and mother.

"Ah yeah," Eli said, smiling nervously. She could tell that her mother had put him up to this, for she knew that he knew how he felt about her mothers match-making schemes. "This is Jacob Doyle. Jacob, this is my cousin and Sarabeth and Michael's daughter, Torrey." Tor stuck out her hand for him to shake.

"You can just call me Tor," she said, trying to smile despite her discomfort. "Nice to meet you Jacob."

"And a pleasure to meet you, too, Tor," he said, flashing her a smile a accepting her handshake. "You look very nice tonight." Tor had to keep herself from snorting in disbelief. This was not the first time she'd had one of these encounters, and so she knew that there was almost a script like manner in which they seemed to take place. But in order to please her mother, she always took it in stride.

"Thank you," she replied, again flashing a not so sincere smile. "I trust that you didn't have a hard time finding your way here? Or did you come along with Eli?" She was trying to make small talk, but it was strange to be standing there with her mother and doting elder cousin hovering over them. She wished instead that she could have finished her conversation with the guys from before; at least they would probably have a better chance of not caring who her parents were.