Blame It On the Beach

Chapter Six

"Are you sure you don't wanna come?" I ask Quinn for the tenth time, feeling a little bad about abandoning her.

"Yes, I'm sure," she replies, pushing me towards the door. "I think I'm gonna do something with Audrey so it's fine! Now go have fun on your date."

I roll my eyes. "It's not a-"

"Yeah, yeah, it's not a date. Whatever you say," Quinn cuts me off, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "What are you guys doing again?"

"I dunno, we'll probably get lunch or something," I reply.

"Aww, ok well have fun! You look good," she says, taking in my short blue sundress and sandals.

"Thanks," I say, smiling at her and walking out the door.

My mom is watering the plants in our garden, and looks up when she sees me walking down the driveway.

"Going to meet Milo?" she asks. I nod.

"Alright, have fun," she says, with a wink, turning back to the garden. Before continuing down the driveway, I take one last look at my mom, hunched over her favorite flowers, a patch of white lilies, and I smile, wishing the summer would last forever but knowing that it will go by faster than anyone wants.

I put headphones in to distract myself and to make the walk to town go by faster. It's around 12:30; Milo said he was already in town after getting breakfast with his mom, so we decided to just meet straight there. Seeing as I'm wearing a dress, I decide to just walk, not wanting to get on a bike.

It takes me ten minutes to get to Main Street, where Milo waits, standing by the Chinese restaurant we said we would grab lunch at. I frantically wipe any small beads of sweat from my forehead-- hey, I'm human and it's extremely hot out today.

"Hey," I greet Milo, walking up to him. He looks up from his phone, his eyes a little widened until they meet mine and he smiles.

"Hey, what's up," he replies brightly, opening the door to the restaurant and ushering me in. I immediately feel relieved as the cool air of the air-conditioned room hits me. We take a booth towards the back, and start to look through our menus.

Once we've ordered and passed our menus on to the waitress, we simply look at each other, silence ensuing. Milo sits back in the booth, his stance casual.

"How 'bout a round of 20 questions?" I suggest, seeing as I will be spending the whole summer living next door to him but know next to nothing about him.

Milo nods. "Alright, good idea. I'll start," he says, running a hand through his hair. "Favorite food?"

"California rolls. You?"

"Barbecue chicken pizza," is his answer.

"That's specific," I say. "What's your brother like?"

"Copies everything I do, obsessed with playing FIFA, eats like a pig but is still a stick..." I smile at his description.

"Any pets?" He asks.

"I had a terrier named Roxy for six years but she died when I was in eighth grade. I begged for another dog, but my dad refused. He always hated Roxy anyway," I reply, fighting to keep the bitterness out of my voice. 

"Oh, well, I'm sorry," Milo says.

"Favorite Marvel superhero?" I ask, changing the subject.

"Iron Man. You?"

"Thor," I reply. He laughs at the dreamy look on my face.

"Favorite place you've ever been other than home?" I ask.