The Brains and the Bad Boy <Editing>

Home Again

The next morning I had to pretty much drag myself downstairs, I was exhausted. Keith was still pretty pissed but not as bad as before. The cleaning lady looked totally freaked out when she saw our room so I tipped her just because I felt bad. "Tired?" Keith asked and I glared at him, I'm not a happy person when I'm tired.
"Couldn't let me sleep for five more minutes?" I whined.
"I'm sorry but I want breakfast before it's gone." He defended.
"I didn't get to sleep until 4 in the morning!"
"Neither did I."
"You suck."
"You weren't saying that last night." He sang with a smirk.
"Oh. My. God. Stop." I felt my cheeks turn red with embarrassment. He laughed and slung his arm over my shoulder. We sat down at a table by Myron, Sadie and Lauren. "Hey, how did you guys-" Lauren started.
I rested my head on the table, "ughhh."
"Someone didn't get her required 8 hours, she's a bit-"
"Shut up." I snapped by accident.
"Bitchy." He finished and I kicked him under the table.
"Couldn't tell." Sadie sassed and I shot her a glare. Ms. Salaway and Steven made it downstairs. "I still don't see why we couldn't sleep 5 more minutes. Would it kill anyone? No!" I hyperbolized a bit but it didn't feel like I was being dramatic at the time.
"We have some news to share..." Steven beamed.
"We know." We all answered in unison, Keith disappeared from my side. I sighed and went to go get him again. "Hey..." I said as I turned the corner where Keith was pacing.
"What?"
"Just checking on you. Why does this make you so upset?"
"Because I've always hated them, Lauren isn't as bad, but I hate the rest of them."
"Why? Keith, talk to me."
"Him and Zackary, something about them sets me off. Zack and Steven have this superiority complex, they think I'm some stray dog they can spit on."
"Ok, fine, Zack maybe but Steven doesn't. He's spent tons of money to get us here, he got a hotel with a beach just so you could surf when your bored. Give him another shot. You can hate Zack if you want but please, Steven makes your mom happy. And wait, who would spit on a stray dog?" I gave a soft smile and raised an eyebrow.
"How the fuck do you talk me into things all the damn time?" He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Because you loooveeee meee." I teased and hugged him.
"I hate you." He shot back playfully.
"You know you don't."
"I hate that you're always right." He mumbled and gave me a rushed kiss before heading back to the table.
"Keith, we..." His mom started gently and pityingly.
"If I hear the word married or engaged, I'm going to explode. I know what's going on, I don't need to hear it again." He rubbed his temples and leaned against his chair.
"Congrats to you both." I said with a smile and they nodded. We finished breakfast hurriedly and hit the beach again. It was our second to last day here in the hotel unfortunately. Keith was determined to drag me to the ocean again. "Why won't you just get in the water?" Lauren complained, trying to push me.
"I, um, uh..."
"She can't swim." Keith answered for me I whined.
"You can't swim?!" Lauren laughed and Kieth chuckled too.
"It's not funny!" I whined.
"You're 17 and you can't swim?" Lauren fell into the sand and I rolled my eyes.
"We're just teasing." Keith told me and clasped his hand around me from behind.
"It's not funny." I pouted.
"Yes it is. C'mon, I'll show you it's easy." Keith dragged me to the water.

It took a bit but I eventually got the hang of it. "Keithy!" Dara shouted, though it sounded more like "kitty".
"Yeah?" He answered.
"Build a snowman with me!"
"This isn't Minnesota, kiddo. We don't make snowmen here."
"What do you do?"
"Sandcastles."
"Build one for me!" She cheered and there three of us got out of the wave.
"Oh, duck." Keith told me and I was puzzled until a wave knocked me to my knees. I landed on a shell which felt amazing by the way. It even got stuck. A lifeguard gave me a bandaid to use thankfully and she pulled out the bit of shell.
It was perfect, see Architecture was a great class to take last year. "Go team!" Lauren high-fived me. We got up and wiped off the sandstone our hands. "Incoming!" Myron shouted and he crashed onto our little sandcastle. While Dara found this hilarious, I did not and neither did anyone else. "Run." Lauren glared.
"Run far." I continued.
"Run fast." Keith finished and Myron jumped up and took off. We eventually caught up to him and tackled him to the ground. I hand his arms pinned while Keith stood on his back and Dara wrapped around his legs. Lauren dug a hole and we buried him to his neck.
"This is for yesterday." Keith smirked and proceeded to kick sand in his face.
"Here's for last week." There goes some more sand.
"Here's for being being born." One more.
"And this is for my sandy castle." Dara rubbed a gob of muddy, wet sand in his face.
"Dara, lunch time!"
"Your daughter is a demon!" Myron shouted to Paula who ignored him
We didn't help Myron out until the tide came in a bit. Sadie helped us dig him out. The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. We packed up and got ready to leave. Dara wouldn't let go of Keith's leg the whole time we were getting ready. "Can I get a quick picture of you three?" Paula asked and Keith picked up Dara who climbed onto his shoulders. He put his arm around my waist and held Dara's hand. We all smiled and she took the picture, or five. "I'll send you the best one." She told us and we nodded. Keith hugged Dara goodbye and we left.
"Where's your necklace?" Keith questioned, I felt my chest for the familiar heart locket to find nothing.
"I forgot in our room!" I exclaimed, panic slowly setting in.
"We have to go back!" I exclaimed.
"It's just a necklace, you can get another." Steven told me and my jaw dropped.
"It's not just a necklace! I can't get a new one! We need to go get it!" I shouted and he continued to drive for home. I was ready to cry.
"Why is that dumb necklace so important?" He questioned.
"It's not dumb! My mom gave it to me before she died, it's all I have." I said.
"Oh... We can't turn around now."
"Steven!" Ms. Salaway scolded and he said something under his breath before making a U turn at the next turn.

I searched our room and found nothing, I was freaking out. I ran downstairs and went to the front desk. "Has a necklace been turned in?" I asked the girl.
"A few, yes. What did it look like?"
"Silver chain and a charm that looked like this." I showed my tattoo quickly and she stammered for a second.
"I-I haven't seen it."
"Wait, are you wearing my necklace?!" I exclaimed when I saw my locket on her neck.
"No, this is mine."
"Open it."
"Fine." She opened it and low and behold, my mom's face and mine were there. She hesitantly detached it and handed it over. She wouldn't read sit at first. "Can't you get a new one?"
"I'm calling your manager for stealing thing that belong to customers." I told her and left. I made it back to the car and we left the parking lot again. Keith clasped it around my neck for me and I sighed with relief as I ran my thumb over the indentations of the music note. 'Sorry mom, it won't happen again.' I thought to myself and closed my eyes and rested my head against Keith's chest.