The English Billionaire

Chapter 40

Forest's POV

It was hot. Very hot.

We had been working along our section of the beach for a few hours. I had been able to get to talk with the other volunteers as we were working. Even though we were all sweating so much there was an obvious difference in the sand behind us and the sand in front of us.

Now it was time for lunch, we had all trooped away from the water to find some shade in the trees that lined the back end of the beach. I hesitated for a second, not sure what to do so I scanned the group of people who were all sprawling out in the shade, drinking and eating together.

A grin was flashed in my direction and I made eye contact with Alison, one of my winners. A little to her left was another grin, Gerald. My feet kicked up some sand as I moved towards the two, opening a water bottle as I picked my way around the other volunteers. I gave them a smile as well, steeling myself for another conversation.

"Hey, mister boss man," Gerald said cocking his head to the side. Alison rolled her eyes and opened her lunch.

I chuckled, "eh, not sure I like that name." I sat down, forming a loose circle with one of them on either side of me.

"He's been waiting to use that for a while," Alison said and Gerald's head jumped up a look of mock shock on his face.

"How dare you spill my dirty little secrets?" he held a hand on his chest, continuing the exaggerated shock. Alison ignored this show of acting, eating her sandwich and nodding her head solemnly.

It was nice, I decided, to have them acting like this around me—like I belonged. I knew that I hadn't spent much time with the group since they had come to England. If I had to be honest I was scared, scared that I wouldn't fit in, that I would be too different from them. Chris had told me I was being unrealistic, that I would have to first try to be their friend before I would ever know if those feelings were validated or not. That was one of the reasons why I had readily agreed to Milton and Landon coming along with us for this trip. They were far more socially inclined than me, always had been and probably would always be.

"I wonder what all the other groups' beaches have been like." Gerald was musing, munching on an apple.

Alison shrugged, "Probably the same, I miss Emma though."

Gerald chuckled, "It's literally been a few hours, you've only known her for a few weeks." Alison shoved him and he fell into the sand laughing, "I surrender!"

I grinned, "Only a few hours more," I said and Alison turned to me and made a pouty face.

"Too long." She said simply. Gerald righted himself and mouthed to me something that looked like 'girls, man.'

"I guess you'll just have to deal with me until we're done," I said, still smiling. "I'm sure I'm not as cool, but it's just luck of the draw."

"She's got Harper and Landon, Alison," Gerald added, "chocolate and smirking, what more could you ask for?" I raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"Me."

"Fair." Gerald nodded.

"Also you have sand in your hair."

His hand shot up to his hair and he sighed as he ran his hand through his hair knocking the sand back onto the ground.

"Glad to know that Landon is classified as 'smirking'," I said, half curious as to why that was how they had decided to refer to him.

"Harper has always offers us chocolate, Landon has always had something to smirk about," Alison said, then smirked herself. "Emma and him had a bit of a run in this morning."

Gerald and I both had similar facial expressions, a raised eyebrow and a questioning stance. "Oh?" Gerald was the one who spoke.

Alison nodded, "mhmm, doors are heavy and Landon has fast reflexes." She shrugged, opening up a new water bottle and taking a sip.

Gerald chuckled. I blinked, "are we supposed to understand what that means?"

Gerald patted my arm in a consoling manner, "Alison likes to keep an air of mystery."

Alison flashed us both a grin and replaced the lid on her water bottle. "She fell, but didn't," she seemed to think that was a good enough explanation, and I assumed she only gave that much more information because I was there. Gerald shook his head.

"Oh, Emma," he responded. I didn't know how to respond to the conversation so I gave a slight smile.

"Anyway," Alison said, tugging on one of her braids, "what are we doing tonight?"

"Oh, uh," the quick change of subject caught me off guard. "We're going out to a restaurant and then I think Chris picked out a old movie to watch as a group if people aren't too tired."

"Oooo," Alison's eyes lit up, "that's fun!"

Gerald nodded in agreement then changed the subject again. I smiled at the two of them, I think I could get used to this.

—
AN

OPEEEEEE do I sense some tension?? Idk—oh wait yes I do *insert cackle here*

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