Beach Babe | The Outsiders | Johnny Cade

| Confusion | 12 |

      I didn't get much sleep last night. I mean how could I? I was told that my best friend was in love with me.  I thought about that all night, and I still don't know if I like him or not!

What the hell am I going to do?

I closed my car door and started walking to the hotel lobby, I told Marshall and Hannah I would eat breakfast with them and then we could go do something. When I got inside I looked around and saw them at a table in the back corner, as I got closer I could hear them talking.

"¿Por qué dijiste que le gustaba a su amiga? Creo que solo estás proyectando porque te gusta." Hannah said in her first language. Their family was from Spain, their grandparents had moved to the states with their mom when WWII started. They were both raised bilingual.

"¡Ella no me gusta! Solo pensé que le gustaba, quiero decir, ¿lo viste mirándola?" Marsh said. I cleared my throat and they both turned to look at me "Oh hey Lace!" Marshall said

I sat in the chair across from Hannah "So what was that about?"

"Nothing!" She says quickly, a little too quickly, what's she hiding?

I stare at her "No seriously what was it about?"

She answers quickly again "Marsh was snoring and I was telling him to shut up." It's like she had that prepared

I narrow my eyes at her for a couple seconds then I look away "So what do you guys want to do today?"

"Can we go see that Steve guy again?" Hannah says smiling

"I mean yeah but don't forget you still have a boyfriend." I started organizing the sugar packets in the container in the middle of the table.

"Look I can end that right now with one phone call," She stands up and throws her plate away and then sits back down "And for him, I would"

Marshall glares at her "You've known him for a day!"

"And? Hes sooo cute, plus he's really funny and nice to me." She plays with her hair. Marshall gets up and throws his food away, then sits back down too.

"I'm pretty sure he's working today but we can go by there and see him and Soda."

"Where does he work?" Hannah asks leaning her head on her hands

"He works at this gas station that's also an auto shop thing, Steve usually works with the cars while Soda runs the store."

"He works with cars?" I nod "that's hot."

Marshall chokes on his drink when he hears that which sends him into a coughing fit, making me laugh "Hannah! Ew! I'm right here! Never say that word again!" He cleans the drink off of his face and shirt.

"What? it is! I mean he's bent over cars in the blistering heat gettin' all sweaty, plus he's got good muscles, and he looks like he would 'know his way around' if you know what I mean" did she really just say that? Sweet little innocent Hannah just made a sex joke. Nasty.

Marshall makes a fake gagging noise and leaves to go get another plate from the buffet. "So you really like him huh?"

"Yup," it's crazy how she fell for him so quickly "is he single?" I nod and she does a little happy dance in her chair "I think I'm gonna ask him out today!"

"You literally met him yesterday."

"Yeah, but I really felt a connection there. Im just drawn to him like a moth to a flame. I don't understand it, two days ago I wouldn't even think about leaving Issac but now, I can't imagine staying with him!" She sighs

"I doubt he'll even like me back but it's worth a shot right?" I shrug "if it doesn't go well then I'll never see him again and that's the end of that, but if it does go well then I only have a year and a half till I can buy my own plane tickets and come see him."

I smile at her "I think you should go for it. You and him would make a cute couple." She turns red and keeps playing with her hair. Even though she met him yesterday she's already so head over heels for him, it's adorable. I don't really think it's a good idea to do a long distance relationship but who am I to stand in the way of teenage romance?

     Marshall comes back with two plates in his hands, he sets one down in front of me and he sits down with the other one "They had blueberry pancakes so I got you some." I blush He remembered? These are my favorite I look down at the plate, it has three pancakes, two pieces of bacon, and a small bowl of fresh fruit. My mouth starts watering as soon as I look at it

I pour syrup all over it and immediately start devouring it. "After you finish can we go?" Hannah asks, I give her a thumbs up and continue eating, this shit is so good, god I love fruit.

      I filled up a disposable bowl with chunks of watermelon, blueberries, strawberries, and cantaloupe before we left. It's a 30 minute drive to do the DX and Hannah and Marshall keep yelling at each other about some nonsense in Spanish, I just nodded along pretending to understand. They had tried to teach me Spanish multiple times but it never worked.

I pulled into the parking lot "Okay this is it." Hannah jumps out of the car in excitement, she looks so happy. We walked inside and Sodapop was cleaning the counter "Hey! How's it going?" I said walking up to him

"Better now that your here" he winks at me

"Your charms don't work on me Mr. Curtis," he chuckled "Wheres Steve at?" I noticed Hannah looking around

"He's in the garage, some idiot roasted their engine."

"Alright," Hannah looked at me "Go for it." I whispered to her. She started walking towards the door "Use protection!" I shouted just as she closed the door

Marshall did not appreciate that. When I turned to face him he was glaring at me, "What's going on?" Soda asks

"Hannah has a major crush on Steve,"

"Really?" He runs his fingers through his hair

"Yeah she's probably asking him out right now."

Marshall rolls his eyes "Lace, can we talk about something else?" He whines

"Lace?" Soda says

"Oh yeah when Hannah was a baby she couldn't say Stacy so she called her Lacy and it stuck." He nods "Plus I think Lacy sounds cuter" pardon?

"Sorry what-" I'm cut off by Hannah running in "He said yes!!" She jumps up and down repeatedly, she is so red she might as well be glowing

If happy was a person it would be her, shes just so positive and joyous all the time. What's it like in her mind? "We're going out for dinner tonight!"

"I knew he liked her!" We all look at Soda "he wouldn't shut up about you after y'all left" Hannah blushes even more and fidgets with her hands.

I hug her and after a moment she pulls away alarmed "I gotta go make that call!" How did she just completely forget about her boyfriend??

I can't imagine being that blinded by love, maybe I'll get that one day.

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Cute little filler chapter! Just wanted to release this one early because nothing much happens so I didn't think you should have to wait 3 days for it.
Thanks for reading!!

Word count : 1233