Between Us

Chapter 34

By the time we got to a beach where the sand squished under our feet, the sun was a little lower on the horizon, casting us in an orange glow.

Once we got out, I was able to stretch my legs and muscles that were folded permanently into one crooked position.

Leo stood beside me, stretching out his arms and letting the wind blow through his clothes and hair.

"Feels good, doesn't it?"

"So good," I said. I watched as Trixie and Paris stripped down to nothing but their bras and undies, whilst Sai and Leilani took off their top to reveal their actual bikinis.

At least they were prepared.

Caden only needed to take off his jeans to reveal the black boxer shorts that he was wearing. Did neither of them care that they were going to be wet for the rest of the ride?

"You're not going, are you?" Leo asked, gesturing toward the others.

I shook my head. "I'm gonna go sit on the rocks and watch. Probably write a little."

"You write?"

"Oh, no nothing like that. I mean journalling."

His brows went up. "No way. What do you journal about?"

"Things in my life, mainly. I'm not an artist by any means."

"There's an artist hiding in every one of us."

We slowly walked side by side toward the rocks. We were near a little alcove that was so dark, I was afraid of going inside in fear of something lurking inside of it. We walked past it and sat on the rock that jutted right across, like a sharp chin. I checked for any small snails or something stuck there, and after my inspection, sat down.

"Written anything about me, yet?" he asked.

"You wish."

"Oh come on! Not even a little? Like, 'I met the cutest guy at the mall today and got his number but I'm so dumb cos I never texted him back'."

I tilted my head back and let out a wholehearted laugh that made my sides hurt. "Maybe you're just not cute enough to make it in my journal. You have to be really special for that."

Hearing the loud laughs and screams ringing out a few metres down the strip of the beach, near the water, I turned my head. Leilani was on Caden's shoulders, the water up to his waist at this point. Sai was on Trixie's shoulders and they were all playing chicken. Paris was floating backwards, chilling by herself.

I wanted to talk to her, but it didn't seem like the right time. She didn't seem too happy, either. Maybe space was what she needed. From what I learnt after Sai ignored me, I realised that not everything was about me. Just because they ignored me, it didn't mean they were mad at me.

"You want to take a little dip?" asked Leo from beside me. I nearly forgot I wasn't alone.

Startled I said, "No way. I've just never seen that before." I shivered on behalf of Leilani who ended up being shoved by Sai so hard, she fell back with a loud splash that I could hear from here. "Aren't you the one that said I shouldn't go crazy?"

"I don't think dipping your feet into the water can be labelled crazy."

He caught me there. "Fine," I gritted. I rolled the ankles of my jeans up and let him drag me. The cold seeped through my toes and up my exposed legs, despite the sun that beat down on us. "It's so cold!"

"Dude, your feet are so tiny," said Leo in awe as he placed his foot beside mine. The frothy waves brushed over our feet but when they cleared up, we could see that it really was small compared to his.