“Hey! You ready?” I asked Claire. I had come to pick her up.
“Well yeah,” She said. “I am so excited!”
“That Jake will be with me!” I finished her unspoken sentence, using the same level of excitement she used.
“Shut up!” She said, looking away. I saw a hint of red on her cheeks and smirked.
“Oh my God! You’re blushing! Seriously, what did Jake do?” I wondered out loud.
She didn’t reply but instead turned into a tomato. I shook my head at her.
We drove to Darren’s place. We were all going to meet up there. Everyone was coming with us. Claire, Brian, Jake, Sam, Darren, Josh, Tyler and I. There were eight of us. Quite a party.
We pulled up at Darren’s and got out. I knocked on the door.
A few seconds later, Darren opened the door.
“Hi,” I and Claire said in unison.
“Hi,” Darren said, hugging both of us.
“Has everyone made it here?” I asked.
“No. Some of the boys are still remaining, Brian and Sam,” Darren replied as we entered the living room and saw Tyler, Josh and Jake, all sprawled on the sofa, eating pancakes.
“Oh hello, dearies. Come, sit and have some pancakes. I made them for you.” Maria, Darren’s grandma said, a tray full of delicious and mouthwatering pancakes in her hands.
“Thank you,” Claire said, grabbing one. She took a bite of the pancake and I could tell she was holding back a moan.
“These are great,” she said and Maria thanked her.
I looked up at the clock. It was already 9:42.
“When are they going to reach?”
“I called them. They are on their way. They’ll be here in like, ten or fifteen minutes. You know, Brian lives a bit far away,” Darren answered.
I nodded.
“Sit down Brooke, and eat some pancakes,” Maria smiled pleasantly at me.
“I’d love to. But I already ate before coming here so I’m pretty full now. But thanks,” I politely declined, smiling back at her with equal warmth.
She nodded and told me to have it if I wanted to which I thanked her again.
All of us were sitting in the living room watching a show when we heard a car pull up in the driveway thirty minutes later than what Darren said.
Soon enough, Brian and Sam walked in.
“Sorry we are late,” Brian said.
“Why were you late? We waited for about an hour for you two,” I asked him sternly. No way did I want him to be a damper for today.
“I wouldn’t have been late if you hadn’t asked me to visit you at night,” he whispered in my ear.
“I. Didn’t. Ask. You. To. Come!” I said, glaring at him.
“It’s okay, man,” Josh said. Thank God nobody heard what he said. Josh turned to us. “Let’s go then?”
Everyone responded with okays and yeahs. I got up too.
“Hey, whose cars are we taking?” I asked.
“I and Brian’s. Don’t worry. You can leave your car here. It will be safe,” Darren said.
“Okay. Who is sitting in which car?” I asked.
After that all started debating on who will sit with whom and in whose car. Claire wanted to sit with Jake, obviously.
“How about this. I, Brooke, Jake and Claire in my car and the rest in yours?” Brian asked Darren.
“Maybe I, Josh, Tyler and Brooke should be in my car,” Darren replied.
“You could take Josh, Tyler, Claire and Jake.”
“But I want Brooke, Josh and Tyler,” Darren countered.
“Okay. Josh, Tyler and Sam in your car.” Brian suggested.
“I said I want Brooke, Josh and Tyler!” Darren whined like a kid.
“Yeah okay. So you are getting Josh, Tyler and Sam.”
“I don’t want Sam. I want Brooke!”
“Hey! I don’t bite!” Sam fake glared at Darren.
“Um… so both of you basically want Brooke,” Josh stated, looking at the both of them. Did they?
Darren cleared his throat. “Um… yeah. Brooke is fine. I want her.”
“Why don’t you let her decide?” Josh asked.
Brian and Darren turned at me.
“Come with me, Brooke,” Darren said.
“You know, Claire is with us,” Brian said.
“Um… I’ll come with Josh, Tyler and Darren,” I told them.
Darren smiled. “Come on. We’ve got a beach as beautiful as you to see.”
He was being so cheesy today. I smiled back at him. Darren went in his house to get something.
“You hurt me,” Brian said to me and clutched his heart, faking pain.
“That was the plan,” I said.
“Evil,” He muttered.
I shook my head at him and sat in Darren’s car. Why would he want me in his car? He hates me.
The beach was not that far. Almost a two hour ride. We were going to be there for the whole day.
I loved beaches. My dad loved beaches. He said it gave him an amazing environment to think.
And now I missed him. I sighed. Beach trips are supposed to be fun. I wouldn’t let my past dampen my spirits. It had been a long time. I should learn to get over it.
“What happened?” Brian’s voice broke my train of thought. I looked up at him.
“What?” I asked.
“You seemed to be in deep thought.”
“Oh. It was nothing.” I waved it off.
“Brian! You are in our car. We need a driver,” Sam yelled at him. He was sitting in Brian’s car, eating something. He was always so hungry. I wondered how he was so fit. I mean he literally devoured a meal fit for five people everyday.
“Yeah. I’m coming,” Brian said and turned back to me.
“Happy journey with the douche.”
“Do you have a problem with him.” I asked. I had noticed that since he got here, he and Darren weren’t exactly pleasant to each other.
“Um… no,” he said, knowing that I was talking about Darren.
“Then why don’t you like him?” I asked, raising a brow at him.
“He’s just… stubborn I guess.” He shrugged.
Darren, Josh and Tyler got into the car.
“Maybe you should get your hands off of the car. Don’t want Tyler to run over your pretty face, huh?” Darren asked, leaning in to glance at Brian from beside me.
“Of course,” Brian said and smirked, letting go of the car window he had his hands on.
He walked back towards his car and we backed out of the driveway.
I was sitting in the backseat of the car with Darren. Tyler was driving and Josh was in the passenger seat.
The boys were so enthusiastic about the trip. They just wouldn’t shut up. The music was blaring at full volume and I just had my palms pressed to my ears all the time.
To make it worse, Darren shouted the song lyrics in my ears, bursting my ear drums.
Seriously though, hadn’t they gone to the beach ever?
To get me to sing along, Darren started tickling me. And let me tell you, I was very ticklish. He started tickling me on my stomach and Josh was filming us. I pushed Darren back but he was there, towering over me and tickling the hell out of me.
“Darren! Stop!” I said in between giggles.
“Or what?”
“I’ll kill you.” I said lamely.
He laughed and tickled me harder.
“I’ll put your birthday video on the internet in which you literally peed in your pants!” I managed to get out the words as his fingers did their horrible work on my sides.
He stared at me with horror in his eyes. Then he gave me an evil smile.
“Remember the bathroom incident? I have it’s video too.”
Oh no! What the-
“You have it’s video? I told you to delete it!” Darren and Tyler had changed the signs of the men’s and women’s washroom and I went into the men’s restroom and what I saw there was… Ugh… I don’t even want to think about it.
“Now would you still show that video to everyone?” He raised an eyebrow, challenging me. I gulped.
“I guess not.”
“That’s it then,” He started tickling me again.
“Remind me to go with Brian when we will be returning today.” I groaned, already regretting entering Darren’s car.
“What? You’ll be going with him?” Darren demanded, having a slightly angered expression on his face. Thankfully, he had stopped tickling me now.
“Yes!”
“No.”
“Then stop this and lower the volume of the music.”
“Man! You are boring.”
“I’m not boring. I’m being ‘not acting like a five year old’.” I retorted.
“We are not five year olds!” Tyler said.
“I’m not being like a five year old. Which you clearly are.” Josh drawled.
“Ugh! You are no fun.” Darren rolled his eyes.
“I should have gone with Brian,” I muttered.
The rest of the ride was quite. I was thankful for that. It was good to not to have the kids shouting in my ears and not bursting the hell out of my ear drums.
After an hour or so we finally reached our destination. Brian, Claire, Jake and Sam were already there. Claire and Jake were still in the car, chatting. Sam was not there.
Brian looked… okay, I hate to say this, but he looked hot.
He was there, leaning against his car, checking his phone. He had worn a light blue and white striped t-shirt and dark blue jeans. Even in that simple clothing, with sunglasses on, he looked pretty good.
“I thought you were going to take forever. You drive so slow,” Brian deadpanned, raising his head to look at Darren.
“I drive fast. Tyler was driving. Not me,” Darren answered shortly, seemingly offended at a comment on his driving skills.
“Um… yeah. I’m a bit of a slow driver,” Tyler said, smiling sheepishly.
“Where’s Sam?” I asked, trying to change the topic.
“Restroom,” Brian said. “He had all those drinks before coming here. He just couldn’t control.”
“Shut up.” Sam said, approaching him from behind.
“It’s true,” Brian shrugged.
“I’m hungry,” Sam said, eyeing the range of cafes and restaurants lined in front of us.
“How about lunch and then we’ll got
to the beach?” Jake asked from inside the car. He was probably hungry too.
“Yeah,” We all agreed.
There was this restaurant called Beach Side Bomb which served some delicious seafood. Seeing the hungry boys, I knew we were going to be here for a while.
***
After an hour, we were at the beach. It was past three in the afternoon.
The sand was very warm and the sea that stretched out before me was calm with waves crashing against the rocks. The air was hot. Thank God I was wearing only a cotton shirt and shorts. It was very hot.
Jake, Josh and Tyler had brought their surfing boards and were already in the water. Darren and Sam were ‘exploring the area’. Really a stupid excuse. I knew what they actually were up to. They were most probably checking out some hot bikini clad women who would be willing to show them their bare chests.
Claire was also playing in the water.
I was sitting on one of the benches which had a tree shading it from the hot sun. I would go into the water in the evening, when the sun would not be upon us and the water would be cool.
Brian was… God knows where.
I was thinking about my dad. Beaches held a special place in his heart. It was in a beach that he grew up beside, a beach where he first met my mom, a beach where they had their first date and a beach where they got married. And even for a honeymoon in Australia they made a plan to visit the Bondi beach.
I wish he was there.
With me.
I just sat there for a little bit, staring at the ocean. The warm sand burned my feet but it was bearable.
It was so peaceful here. A perfect place to think. Just like my dad.
After a while, I felt someone take a seat beside me.
“What are you doing here, princess?” He asked me, handing me a coconut with a straw sticking out of it.
“Nothing.”
“I know that a girl’s ‘nothing’ means something.” He answered cheekily.
I smiled at him and took a sip of the coconut water. It was sweet and relieved me of my dry throat.
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
I held up the coconut.
“Oh. No problem.”