You Take My Breath Away - Brian May

19. Seaside Rendezvous

"What are you doing?" Chip asked, watching as Lettie blew up a beach ball while sitting on the sofa in the living room.

"I'm inflating this beach ball."

Chip rolled his eyes.  "What for?" 

"We're going to the beach Friday."

"Who's 'we'?"

"Tina, Priya, Mary, Freddie, Brian, Roger, Tim and me."

"Oh nice." He paused before asking,  "Can I come?"

"Chip, these are your sister's friends," Valerie reminded him, calling from the kitchen. 

"Yeah, but I know them all."

"Call Benny and arrange a beach day with him and the boys," Lettie suggested. 

Chip just mumbled to this. "Why are you blowing it up now?" he then asked. "Why not just wait until you're at the beach?"

"Cause, it saves time. And it's more fun this way-" Lettie smacked the now inflated ball at him, he swatting it back.

"Oi, not inside please, you two," called their mother.  "I can just see it go smashing into my framed photographs."

"The family ones - that's okay, I hate the way I look in those photos," said Chip.

"No beach ball in the house!"

When Friday arrived, Roger's big ugly old van pulled up in front of the Evans' house to collect Lettie, Tina, and Priya. "To the beach we go!" he called as the ladies climbed into the back of the van with their beach bags, and everyone cheered.  "Oi - Brian, put your stupidly huge textbook away! This is supposed to be a fun day - no school work allowed!"

Brian looked up from said 'stupidly huge' book.  "But I have a test coming up."

"You're not going to study once we get to the beach, are you?"

"Are you kidding? I'm not getting this thing close to the water! That's just a disaster waiting to happen!"

"You're like the smartest person I know, you can afford not to study for one day. Besides, all our friends are here - including your special lady friend." Roger winked.  "So put the damn book away!"

Brian complied and they were on their way. 

Having picked a weekday for their beach adventure, the beach wasn't overly crowded.  They got themselves a spot on the sand, setting up their towels and umbrellas and coolers filled with drinks. 

The ladies lay on the towels, beneath an umbrella, chatting while the boys ran around, kicking two different beach balls. 

Tina slid her sunglasses down her nose, checking out the shirtless boys in their swim shorts.

"Real subtle Teen, as always," said Lettie, sipping her iced tea. 

"Well I'm being much more subtle than them looking at us in our swimsuits!" Tina countered.  
"Look at the lot of them, 'sneaking' glances over our way."

Lettie turned to see that the boys indeed were looking over at the ladies. She waved; Brian waved back, before a gust of wind blew his long curls into his face, making her laugh. 

"You two are adorable - I just don't know why you didn't kiss." Tina still couldn't fathom Brian and Lettie's lack of public affection.

"Teen, stop nagging her!"

"Thank you, Priya! Yeah, just because you and Tim are snogging in front of everyone all the time, doesn't mean that everyone else is. We're taking things slow."