Paper Rings - (J.F.)

Chapter 07

╔══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══╗

Chapter 7

╚══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══╝

Jeremiah had mentioned the following day, in the middle of the afternoon, that he wanted the five of them to go to the beach for a while. With the exception of Steven, who expressed that he wanted to spend some time with his girlfriend, no one else objected. However, when everyone practically shouted at him, reminding him that he had the rest of the summer to do exactly that - he reluctantly agreed.

Conrad was scrolling through his phone while Jeremiah and Isabel enjoyed soda on the seashore. No one in the group knew what had happened to the eldest Fisher brother in the period since they last met face to face. He'd transformed into a completely different person, and it wasn't a good kind of different.

Delilah had been gone for quite some time, explaining that she wanted to do her own thing and that she'd be back soon. Delilah reappeared with a cheeky grin about an hour into their trip. Her bare legs and hands, as well as a portion of her face, were plastered with sand.

"What? Did you just come back from kissing sandman?" Jeremiah made a scathing comment, which made the other boys chuckle as well. Delilah merely rolled her eyes as she grabbed onto the boy's hand and hauled him to his feet. "Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see."

However, he came to a halt in his footsteps, and she almost stumbled when she realized he wasn't following her any longer. This made it abundantly clear that he was willingly being dragged along because she couldn't possibly bear all that weight on her own. "What?"

"You've got a little . . ." He trailed off, rubbing at the corner of her cheekbones and motioning to his palm, which was coated in sand. Before taking off again, he brushed it on his shorts.

Delilah brought Jeremiah to the other side of the circle, somewhere further away. They came to a halt, and his eyes widened slightly in amazement at the sight of the meticulously constructed sand castle. A combination of water and hard labour produced multiple layers upon layers of molten sand. To say the least, Jeremiah was very impressed. He figured it must've taken a long time because this is what she'd been up to when she disappeared an hour ago.

He knelt in front of the sandcastle, admiring it from a distance. "So this is where you've been for the last hour."

Delilah smiled. "You know I've always been interested in architecture."

She was actually thinking about majoring in architecture in college. For as long as she could remember, she had enjoyed constructing things. It began with Lego blocks, followed by miniature bridges made entirely of toothpicks and glue. Now it was time for sandcastles.

"So, what do you think?"

Jeremiah finally tore his gaze off of the piece. "Truly a work of art."

She, too, sat crisscross on the sand. "You should feel grateful for being the first person in my life to witness the creation of one of my very first architectural pieces."

He gave her a sidelong glance. "As I said . . . Truly a work of art."

The two sat in silence for a moment, allowing the heat of the sun to warm their skin. Then, an idea popped up in Delilah's mind as she quickly stood up with her polaroid camera which was already laying on the ground. "Move 'outta the way. I wanna take a picture."

Jeremiah looked slightly offended. "Without me in it?"

Delilah sighed, gesturing for him to move closer to it. "Sit beside it."