I was sitting on the sandy ground beneath a palm tree in what you wouldn’t expect to be normal beach attire. My friends had dragged me out here by force and I was relishing the feel of shadows beneath the tree rather than the heat and burn of the sun. The palm bark was rough against my back, the coarse grains slightly scratching the sensitive skin. Wearing a tank top and shorts was as far as I would go, but my Converse shoes were still strapped around my feet. I wasn’t having them put me in flip flops or force me to sun bathe.
Honestly I had wanted to stay home and rest. My studies were taking a toll on me and I had just wanted to relax at home…but no, my friends were too rowdy for that so they had thrown some clothes of mine into a suitcase before tossing me into their van. Yeah the guys from Attack Attack liked to do shit like that to me.
So I was sulking in the shade.
“Sydney!” called a familiar voice from over by the water. He was in a black t-shirt that hugged his body and a pair of board shorts that hung loosely on his hips. I stared up at him from behind my sunglasses.
“What do you want Caleb?” I replied lackadaisically, but inside I was welling with emotion as he came closer. I had to hide how much I liked him.
He came and sat next to me in the sand, bare feet squishing into the soft textured earth. His blue eyes twinkled, grinning as he played with his lip ring and raised a brow at me. I giggled and rolled my eyes, pushing on him humorously while he pretended to fall as though I had pushed him too hard. I laughed aloud while he sat back up.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, sending me into that trance that only he could achieve. I blushed.
“Just thinking of how far behind I’m going to be. I’m trying to get my Criminal Justice stuff in order so I can get through it and beyond it, start working you know?” I explained hastily, trying to hide that I was also thinking about him and wondering what was going through his mind. He grinned.
“Don’t worry you workaholic, you’ll be fine,” he teased rolling his eyes.
“You don’t know that-”
“You’re smart, I don’t know what you’re worried about,” he replied, making me blush. I shook off the comment for a moment and regained my composure as best I could.
“Thank you,” I said, trying to hide that he was flustering me. He smiled.
“You’re welcome,” he whispered, suddenly coming closer to me. I blushed, but didn’t move from where I sat.
“Hey! If you’re going to make out, get a room and do the real shit!” one of the Andrews called from across the way, “We need to get back to the beach house anyway so get a move on it love birds!”
When he finished his statement, I was cherry red.
I had known these boys for a long time, before they were in a band, before they were a bunch of good looking men that had a menagerie of screaming teenage girls after them. I knew them when they were normal guys, boys with weird things on their minds and not their next tour date. Granted, they were still thinking of weird things, but that was just how the male sex was. They thought about bizarre ideas and that was probably how I had ended up on this expedition to the beach. Sometimes being best friends with all of them could be a hassle.
But as I looked to Caleb, my heart melted and I knew I was glad to be here.
We walked in silence to the beach house the boys had rented for the weekend, awkwardly walking next to each other and taking short glances at one another. Maybe Andrew was right, maybe Caleb did like me more than I realized.
