Pretty Eyes & Bow Ties

The Beach

"Ya'll ready for spring break?" Marcus asked, tossing an apple between his hands.
"Hell. Yes." Rye mumbled, his forehead pressed to the lunch table.
Eri chuckled softly and shook his head at the silver haired boy. The corners of his mostly healed lips pulled up into an amused smile, pink and wrinkled scar stretching with it.

"We should go to the beach over the vacay." Eden suggested, watching amusedly as her girlfriend proceeded to shovel macaroni into her mouth.
"Yes!" Rye shouted, suddenly sitting up and slamming his palms against the table, making everyones lunches jump and inch or two off the table.
"I can ask if my bro can take us." Karma said after swallowing her mouthful.
"Its perfect!" Rye grinned.

Throughout the week everyone tittered on about details, like when and what to bring. We decided to do it on Sunday to kick off the vacation, Karma's brother available to give us a ride in his van. We'd all meet up in front of the school around ten thirty, stay at the beach all day, then get back at around nine or ten.

In no time, the week passed like a breeze and I got to sleep in for the first time in forever. When I did wake, I rolled out of bed and shuffled downstairs to the kitchen, following my nose to find Dad making lunch.
"Afternoon kiddo." Pops smiled from across the table. I grunted in reply and rubbed my eyes. Dad kissed the top of my head and slid a plate of food in front of me.
"You're going the beach with your friends tomorrow, no?" Dad questioned softly, slipping into the seat to Pop's left.
"Yeah." I mumbled, cutting into my food.
Dad chewed on his lip as he did whenever he was thinking hard about something.
"You got a swimsuit?"
That made my fork stop halfway to my mouth. "No."
Both my dads smiled and shared a look.
"We'll take you shopping." Dad grinned.

After lunch, we got dressed, hopped in the car and sped off towards the nearest mall. It took all day and the pillaging of every little shop in the mall until we found the perfect one.

After a dinner of some street tacos we had picked up on the way home, I jogged back up to my room and tossed my new swimsuit onto my chair, looking it over.
It was a white one piece that we paired with some mint green swim shorts. I smiled at it and moved to my closet, grabbing my white beach bag. I walked around and collected some things that I'd need. Sunscreen, a beach towel, sunglasses, snacks, plain white baseball cap, et cetra.

As I settled in for the night, my phone began to blow up with everyones nightly chatter on our group chat. Sighing, I scrolled through the chat to see if there was anything important. When I came up empty I simply muted the chat, plugged my phone in to charge, and fell asleep early, the soft sound of my dads' TV bleeding into my room.

"Haven, you ready?" Pops called.
"Yeah!"
Skipping down the stairs, I slung my bag over my shoulder and fixed my cap.
Dad stood by the door with Pops, his hands fidgeting at his sides.

We drove to the school in verbal silence, the only noise being that of the radio spouting out the current chart topper, an unintelligible rap song sang by a man who swore like a sailor.
After the twelfth f-bomb, Dad smacked the off button.

"You're going to be smart, right?" Pops asked after a moment of silence.
"Yes." I responded exasperatedly. He gives me the same talk every time I go out with my friends. Be smart. Don't drink or smoke, no matter how 'cool' people make it sound, so on and so forth.

"And-" Dad cut in. "Be careful...please."
I smiled at him and nodded, unbuckling my seatbelt as we pulled to a stop.
Marcus, Benny, and Rye already stood at the front, Rye waving like crazy as we pulled up.