Anna twirls in the mirror in her new dress, "it's so cute" I smile at her "it suits you, honestly" she turns to me with a wide grin "thanks bub!" I wink as I slip into my white vans, I was wearing a similar dress to annas, mine was black and hers was white. We went with simple today, not wanting to stick out.
Anna wanted to spend the day on the beach, we both picked a book from Barnes n Noble to read at the beach. Anna heads down the aisle of older books, I walk towards the romance books. Through the years of friendship I've learned that Anna was an old soul, her music, her book, her style just about everything. She's rubbed off on me, i have a similar style to hers but I have my own twist just like her. i rubbed off on her, from late night talks we adaptive similar morals. similar thoughts, ideas and agendas. I don't know if it's bad or not, but its good when we need to understand each other's feelings.
"hal?" Anna pulls me from my thoughts, "you ready?" I nod and throw my bag over my shoulder, grabbing the book After By Anna Todd (I recommend this book, only to teenagers please don't read it if you're younger than 13😭) Anna looks down at my book, and glances at hers. She puts her book next to mine and we chuckle "maybe we're not so different after all" I jokingly roll my eyes, she was reading Then came you by Lisa Kleypas. I smile "we have a soft spot for romance novels" she chuckles and we reach the counter, she places her book down "put yours down, I'll pay" I shake my head "nope, you bought lunch so I'll pay for the books" she rolls her eyes playfully.
We arrive at the beach and we take a seat under some palm trees opening out books and enjoying out lunch. The beach was folded with people yet the two of us stayed concentrated on our books, we sit in silence for an hour before she breaks the air "hallie, there's cute boys approaching, 5 o'clock" I look to her left, two tall boys with brown hair were walking towards us, they had smirks on their faces and were talking to one another. I didn't find either of them cute but Anna and I sometimes have two different types. I mean I'm literally into her brother..
They stop only a few feet away, Anna was pretending to read her book. I looked up at them, the taller one who looked to be older spoke "hello ladies, my buddy and I couldn't help but walk over here. " I tilt my head "and why is that? " this time the shorter one spoke "well you're both beautiful and reading books.. most girls don't read anymore" Anna was about to speak but i jumped in, I knew she was going to say something nice "do you even read? " the short one looks down at the ground, I chuckle to myself, "I read" the tall one says proudly. I raised my eyebrow "what was the last book-" he cut me off "The Great Gatsby" instantly, Anna looked at him, she was truly an old soul. He stares at me as if we're battling, I don't look away "dude chill" the short boy whispers, Anna giggles and catches the eye of the tall boy. She automatically blushes, "hello, we haven't met yet" he sits down next to her, and outreaches his hand "I'm Caleb" she takes his hand "hi caleb, im anna" he flashes his pearly white smile. "I'm Ryan" the other boy says, directed towards me, "Hallie" I say plainly, I didn't want to show him I was interested but I also didn't want to ignore him. "are you single? I just want to know, don't want to flirt with someone else's girl" Caleb says to anna, she looks down with a frown "um yeah, i ended it with my ex recently" I frown a little comforting her with my hand on her back, "what happened?" Ryan asks sweetly, she hesitates "he's going off too college, couldn't do the long distance" the boys try to comfort the best they could but she quickly changed the subject. Her and Caleb began talking as if they were old friends, "so?" Ryan mumbles awkwardly, I sigh closing my book "I'm not tryingto come of as rude" I mumble, he nods "okay, so tell me about yourself" I squint, I really hate when people ask me this. "ummm I really hate that question" I laugh nervously, he smiles "fait enough, it's kind of a hard question to answer, especially to a stranger" I nod, "yeah, let's start off easy, how old are you? " he smiles "I'm 20, how old are you?" I bit my lip out of habit "18, you ask now" he nods thinking "are you single?" I hesitate, "um, it's complicated" Anna stops mid sentence, "hmm?" I turn to her red in the face, she was smiling but that didn't stop my heart from racing "complicated huh?" she turns away with a goofy grin, she knew she was low-key embarrassing me. But it was all jokes, Ryan nods, "same here" I laugh it off, "we're in the same boat, ironic" he nods, "you're turn" I think for a few seconds "what do you do in your freetime?" he hesitates for a few seconds "uh, i like to surf, what about you?" I pick up my book "read, draw, & take photos" he nods "can i see some of your work?" I smile, no one has ever asked me to see my 'work'. I pull out my phone "uh yeah" he scoots himself besides me, I flip through some of my drawing and even a few paintings "wow, you're talented as fuck" I smile "thanks, I've been doing it for years" he smiles "no problem" he scoots away, i hear a familiar laugh in the distance and my heart races. I was too scared to look towards him, Anna didn't seem to notice "your turn" Ryan says, "I, uh" Anna turns towards me "Hal, do you want to go get ice cream?" I shrug my shoulders to afraid to speak up, "I don't know I feel weird" I gesture for her to move closer, I whisper in her ear "i feel like I'm cheating but I'm not" she pulls away and laugh "you're weird- you're not even dating him-" she gets cut off "Hallie? Anna?" we both turn to see Daniel with the rest of the boys a few feet away Daniel looked at Ryan up and down. I already knew what he was thinking "oh hey guys!" Anna stands to her feet and everyone else follows, "what are you guys doing?" Jonah smiles, Anna speaks, I was still to nervous, and Ryan and cade, I mean Caleb seemed like they felt outnumbered which was true "Hallie and I were reading and there's two started talkin with us" Jonah nods stepping toward them "I'm jonah" his bare chest was enough to make the two of them red flags, "Caleb and Ryan" the boys nod, they knew they were intimidating. I wanted to laugh but Daniel looked as though he was semi hurt. Ryan quickly put his arms up "okay listen whoever Hallie has a complicated relationship with, which I'm assuming is one of you, I wasn't trying to get with her, just being a great wing man" a few gasps slip from the boys lips, Jonah turns to look at Daniel and so did the rest of the boys, then to me. I let out a nervous squeal, I could feel my face and body heat up, i start to panic "thanks for letting us know rider" Ryan squints his eyes "ryan" Jonah nods not caring. Daniel moves finally putting himself between Caleb and Anna. he threw his arms around them, Caleb wanted to seem tough "listen here buddy " Anna quickly shook her head "shut up caleb" I chuckle "oh boy" Zach laughs, "you fucked up bro" Jack murmurs, "uh oh, hear we go" corbyn rolls his eyes, he hates drama.
"well buddy" Daniel pokes him in his chest "Anna's my baby sister" Caleb face turns red, Ryan shakes his head "dumbass". I laugh but quickly cover my mouth "I'm sorry" he whispers, I shake my head bending down to pick up my book and bag, Anna does the same with a sigh knowing what will happen next. Anna quickly writes something down on a piece of paper, "anna, hallie let's go" Jonah booms, the boys follow him out and Anna quickly slips the piece of paper to Caleb. She waves to him before running to my side, we walk a few feet behind the group as they all talk about what just happend, "ryan ratted you and Daniel out just now" Anna whispers, I sigh "I guess you could say that, it's not like it was a secret secret but I wish didn't happen that way. I almost fainted from not only anxiety but the heat was too much" she shrugs "you're okay now, and atleast it won't be awkward between you and Daniel now that everyone knows" I hesitate looking infront of us, I watched daniel. he was smiling as Jonah talked, he laughs and my heart melts ew no stop!
"maybe" Anna swings her arm over my shoulder and I keep my eyes on him, the sun lit up his face and each smile glowed, his bare back was even attractive to me. I feel so weird all of sudden, looking at him, seeing the way he acted when he seen me with another boy, even though we aren't together and even thought I wasn't interested in the boy and vise versa. I never had a boy get jealous and it made me feel wanted in an odd way. He glanced at me and I knew he wanted to talk but it would have to wait until we were in private. I began to get nervous, I didn't want him to be hurt and didn't want him to just give up on whatever there is between us because I don't want to.
🌻
uh oh, could this be the end between them?
