1634 words
About a week later I woke up and fed my chickens and watered my crops. It was a harvest day today so I was going to make more money than usual from the peppers I collected.
Once I was done I remembered Sam's birthday at the beach was that night at 5pm.
Shit, I needed to get him a gift. What would he even want though?
Just then I remembered the tigerseye gem that I found in the mines with Audrey and Sebastian a while ago. It seemed perfect, from the moment I saw it it made me think of Sam.
I ended up spending a few hours going to Pierre's and getting some new seeds for the next harvest and planting them and before I knew it it was almost 5pm.
I quickly changed into my favorite bathing suit and grabbed a towel and some sunscreen before heading toward the beach. On the way I ran into Audrey and Sebastian walking down from the mountains.
Audrey was wearing a black bikini with a pair of black shorts and flip flops on. She also had on a pair of somewhat large mom style sunglasses and carried a tote bag that had a couple pins on it. I could see a towel sticking out of it.
Sebastian on the other hand was wearing black swim trunks and a white tshirt with an old pair of Vans. He didn't look too happy. I don't think it was the beach he minded, more the sun. I occasionally saw him on rainy days standing at the end of the beach dock with an umbrella enjoying the ocean. Sometimes Audrey was with him too which I thought was sweet.
So pretty much what I imagined they'd wear to a beach day.
Sebastian gave me a small wave while Audrey said, "Hey Alana! Cute bathing suit. Sam's gonna like it I can already tell," while winking an obnoxious amount and bumping my shoulder.
I blushed a bit before rolling my eyes and brushing it off while we continued towards the beach.
When we got there, about half the town was there. Sam might be a bit of a troublemaker with his skateboard around town but he sure is popular.
I eventually spotted him. What I saw first was his striking blonde hair. It looked slightly damp, he must have gone in the water earlier. Then I noticed his smile, he was talking with Abigail about something, and both of them were laughing at whatever it was. Then my eyes trailed down to his bare chest. He was tan, but not dark, and was moderately toned.
In other words- he was hot.
He also sported a pair of blue swim trunks. I almost passed out right then and there.
Audrey noticed my staring and nudged me while doing her signature eyebrow wiggle and then dragging me and a slightly uncomfortable Sebastian towards Sam.
We all said hello to him while I did everything in my power not to look at him because I might have started drooling.
"Here you go! It's not much but I knew it's something you needed and I couldn't think of anything to get you so," Audrey said while handing Sam a small gift bag.
He set it on the table and took the tissue paper out of it to pull out some weird clamp looking thing.
"Hey a new guitar capo! Thanks! I'll use this all the time since mine broke I've been meaning to order a new one so this is great!"
Audrey smiled at that and Sebastian handed him his gift. It was some new video game that I'd never heard of before.
He seemed super happy with their gifts and I started to feel insecure about mine.
What if he doesn't like it? It's literally a rock they got him such cool stuff what if he thinks it's dumb?
Audrey must have noticed my minor panic and in an attempt to either make me feel better or play matchmaker I couldn't tell which one, she grabbed Sebastian's arm and practically dragged him away while saying something about an umbrella.
Wow Audrey, weak attempt for whatever you were trying to do.
It must have worked though because suddenly I felt a rush of confidence and reached into my backpack and grabbed the small gem.
"What's that?" Sam asked curiously.
I fiddled with it for a moment before quickly blurting out, "I know it's not a lot but I found it in the mines one day and I thought it'd seem like something you might like. It was a kind of last minute gift because I couldn't think of what to get you if you don't like it it's fine I-"
"It's beautiful..." he said while gently taking the stone from my hands. "Is it a tigerseye gem?"
I paused for a moment, shocked that he knew exactly what it was before I responded with a quick, "Yeah."
"That's my favorite! Thank you so much! This will look so cool in my room and it's such a vibrant orange too wow," he said excitedly.
I immediately felt a wave of relief wash over me and I let out a breath I didn't even realize I was holding in.
"I'm so glad you like it."
"Thanks so much for thinking of me. Anyways, want some ice cream? Then we can all go swimming!"
I agreed with a smile and a tint of pink on my cheeks and we went to get some dessert before we walked over to where Audrey was helping Sebastian put sunscreen on his face to make sure it rubbed in. His face was bright red.
I couldn't help but feel a small pang of jealousy. Not over the two of them together but over the fact that I wasn't helping Sam with his sunscreen.
"Hey you got some ice cream on your nose here-" Sam said and suddenly he reached up with a napkin and wiped my nose off real quick before checking to make sure he got it all.
I immediately went red but the heat in my face only got worse when I realized how close our faces were. We were only inches apart and he seemed to notice it too because his cheeks dusted with pink and he cleared his throat while muttering a quick 'sorry' and going back to paying attention to whatever Sebastian was talking about.
After eating, we talked for a bit about random stuff until we decided to go swimming. There were a few other people at the party in the water but the were on the other side of the dock so we weren't gonna bother them.
Sam and Audrey had a race to the water and Sam won which Audrey was pissed about.
When Sebastian and I joined them, they were already having a splashing fight which I quickly joined in on.
When that finally died down we floated around for a while when suddenly I felt something touch my foot.
"Careful, there are a lot of weird fish in this ocean. I've seen a few of 'em they're pretty cool," Audrey said. The conformation of weird creatures in the water around us only made me more paranoid and when I felt something pull at my foot again I let out a yelp.
Suddenly I heard a quick 'BOO' and was grabbed from behind by Sam who I almost punched in the face from my reflexes.
"JESUS WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND JUMPSCARING PEOPLE," I yelled at him from the shock.
They all thought it was hilarious though and Audrey almost tripped and fell underwater because she was laughing so hard.
"DUDE YOUR FACE YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT," she yell-laughed at me.
"Yeah haha guys it wasn't that funny," I said even though I knew that if it was someone else who got scared I'd be laughing my ass off too.
Eventually the laughter died down and we had another quick splash fight and then decided to go throw around a football on the sand.
The jock of the town named Alex joined me and Sam while Audrey and Sebastian went to dry off and grab a drink.
The three of us had fun for a bit but since it was getting dark a lot of people kept coming up to Sam to wish him happy birthday and say goodnight. This included Alex so it was just me and Sam throwing the football back and forth for a while.
I couldn't keep myself from glancing at his arms when he threw the ball- damn. I was down bad.
Sam caught the ball and pointed to something behind me and when I turned I saw our emos sitting at the end of the dock together looking at the moon.
"I can't get over it. They're not even together yet and they're already so adorable," I said while shooting a small smile at Sam when he threw the football back to me.
He agreed and a few minutes later it was 9:30pm so everyone had cleared out of the beach and went home other than the four of us.
We decided to pack up for the night and me, Audrey, and Sebastian helped a bit to clean up before going home.
Since it was so late we all walked Sam home and helped him carry things and after we said goodnight, I swear I saw him wink at me when he closed the door, but I think I was just being delusional like normal.
Audrey and Sebastian walked me home and took the shortcut to the mountains again.
When I got inside I showered and couldn't stop thinking about how Sam looked all day.
God he was so fine.