Oh, crap!
"No, no," Alli said with a grin, as her eyes glistened with mischief written evidently across her face. She aimed the water gun (with sea water filled in it) at me and took many steps towards me as I retreated in response. I chewed on my lower lip to contain a squeal as I aimed my own water gun at her, as well.
"That's not how you do it, Mer. You gotta have a target...and then you shoot." She pushed on the button at the top of the gun, and I dodged with a short yelp before I began laughing while I ran away from her.
Oh, whoa. Brad and Angie made the right decision of not coming. They'd grow deaf from all the screeches and screams from Alli and I as we chased each other along the shore.
"Hey!" She yelled behind me, letting out a über loud giggle that made me laugh harder. My pace naturally slowed down. The next thing I know, Alli was being sprayed; not by Cody, and surely not by Tom (the kid's asleep!) ― oh, somebody please hold me... Jake Thrupp was here!
J ake...
A L L I...
Get it? Wink, wink.
"Oh, yeah! Hey Jakesterrr," Alli drew on his name before wrapping her arms around his waist, while he wrapped his around her, "Good to see you again."
"Yeah, I saw what was happening, and I decided to join you guys!" Then he turned to me and flashed me a smile. His blue eyes looked as cool as they did in the photos he'd uploaded on to, on Instagram.
Oh, my, macaroni.
I'd be lying if I said Alli wasn't lucky she had a man like him, oh. He was really hot (after Cody, really). I shot him back a smile of my own before waving my hands around, I reckon, in the most retarded manner, may I add, because I was still holding the gun in my hand.
"I'm, uh, Merinda. Now, please go on catching up with Alli," I shifted my gaze onto Alli and wiggled my eyebrows two seconds before I started noticing her cheeks turning pink. She was blushing! Aww. "I need to rest." I then looked right back at Jake, and he mouthed me a 'thank you' moments before I walked away. I grinned to myself at the both of them.
They're actually really cute together. Heh.
So I found out that Alli was really enthusiastic in person and she's actually really funny! Well, funnier in person. She was a sweetheart, really. No reckon shall be heard. It is all confirmed.
I bent down to sit myself on the sand, a couple of meters away from the spot where Cody decided all of us to settle down on, and then I felt a surge of pain exploding, literally, inside of me, near my kidneys. I grimaced and gently rested my palm against the spot and drew in as many deep breaths as I could in attempt to inhale and exhale the pain away.
Or, at least try to get the excruciating pain to fade away! So far, everything I was trying to do was unsuccessful. Oh, no...
I swallowed the saliva gathering in my mouth down, hard, and squeezed my eyes shut and I rested against the tree trunk next to me. I began to whimper due to the pain eating me.
What was happening?!
Please don't tell me the cancer was starting to take effect, not now...please.
God, please pray that the pain would die off. All I want to do right now is to have fun with my friends before I go up to meet you. Please take this pain away, God please. Amen.
"Mer... Merinda! Merinda, are you okay?" Cody's concerned voice appeared right next to me. I drew in a deep breath. Now the pain was growing numb and I furrowed my eyebrows as my throat suddenly became dry and rough.
My eyes fluttered open, but it didn't stay wide for long. It felt as though there were magnets below my eyes, and my eyelids were metal materials that couldn't help being attracted to them. My eyes went back closed. It was too heavy for me to even force it up for a longer period.
Everything was blurry; the voice in my head, the thoughts on my mind, and my vision ― it felt like I was being shaken. Or at least, the world around me was spinning too fast, that including Cody.
"I am fine," I expected the words to leave my mouth steadily, loudly and clearly, but instead, it appeared to be weak, soft, as in, as soft as a whisper, and vague. I am so going to slap myself the moment I am more energetic. Geesh.
"Merinda, open your eyes and look at me," Cody solemnly said, and at that moment, something warm and smooth was rubbing against my cheek. "Merinda. Look at me."
And all of sudden, I felt tired. Really, very, very tired. It's like a wave of exhaustion had washed over me, and I was overwhelmed by weariness. All I wanted to do was to hide in my room, lay on my bed and pull the covers over my head. I let out a sigh.
With much struggle, I managed to peel open my eyelids and stared up at Cody, looking into his sea-colored eyes, feeling utterly numb and lethargic. I didn't want to move. At all. I just wanted to stay in this position and rest for what seems like forever. That'd be nice.
"How are you feeling?" He asked softly, pushing my hair away from my face and tucking those loose strands behind my ear. "What happened?"
I wasn't going to tell him. Not now, not ever, never. "I'm fine," my voice sounded insubstantial, and I was instantly aware that he wouldn't be convinced. I didn't have to hear what he'd to say. I could already see the doubt rising in his aqua eyes. I ran my tongue across my lips to moisten it before gulping.
"I'm just feeling a little tired, that's all. Thought I'd crash down for a little while before joining you and the rest. Don't worry, Codes."
"Really?" Here comes the skepticalness. He narrowed his eyes into slits at me as I fought the urge to shut my eyes. "Then why did you look like your were in severe pain?" He shifted me a little so now I was resting against his chest with his arms around me, and I was no longer on the tree's support. I didn't even know he'd sat down next to me. "You know, Mer, your lips are really pale. Are you sure you're all right? Do you wanna go back home to rest?" This felt oddly comfortable.
"Nah, it's fine," I still sounded weak. Now I'm starting to hate the cancer cells in me. "I just need some rest here. You should go join Jalli."
He shook his head as his lips curved into a small smile, "They don't need me there. At least for now. Josh is my replacement." I became a little more awake because his words had shocked me. Somehow. I was enliven by them.
"As in, Josh Winnington?"
"Yeah," his chest jerked a little as he chuckled, sending vibration and chills down my spine.
I gulped. Josh Winnington is the third hottest guy, after Jake. I don't mean to call them this, but it's actually really true. Like, it's a fact so there's no point in not saying that. "Cool."
He didn't really say anything after that, and neither did I so we were just left in this position...and I closed my eyes when I felt the cool breeze blowing towards us. Well, if this isn't the best moment ever, then I don't really know what is. I know I should probably feel nervous and excited and I-feel-like-crying because I'm leaning on Cody Simpson and I love him......way too much...but you know, I'm surprisingly calm. Sure, I'm surprised. But not shocked. Just...well, surprised.
One, I should be screaming.
Two, I'm not.
Three, I should really scream.
Four, I can't.
Five, something's wrong with me.
"Hey, Cody?"
"Yeah?"
I sighed. "You can go join the rest, you know. I'm fine. I could just rest myself. Alone. I'd join you all later."
I could feel him shaking his head. I rolled my eyes and grinned when he voiced out. "Nah, it's alright. I'd really rather stay here, anyway."
"But they're your friends! I'm just your fan. Besides, you don't get to see them often!" I protested, feeling a little hurt at the part where I had to admit that I was just a fan and nothing else. But other than that, all I had said was the truth.
He doesn't meet up with his friends often, and Jake and Josh are his best mates, and I'm really just another lucky fan who got to hang out with him, and nothing more than a fan. Plus, I just don't get why he'd rather stay with me than catching up with his friends.
I actually feel like a friend-stealer.
"Hey," he tone was no longer playful or anything else. He sounded really serious now, and I was honestly feeling a tad worried. Oh, geesh. This is what happens when I'm paranoid! Oh, no! "You're not just a fan, Merinda. You're my friend now. Plus, are you new? Because I'm pretty sure I treat all of my fans as my friends. Like, real friends. Heck, we're a big family altogether."
And if you treat me like a friend, then it's clear I'll always just be a fan to you, and nothing else, for sure.
I held back a sigh and forced a smile out instead, nodding my head to show him that I completely understood what he meant. However, I had to point out. He'd offended me! "Just so you know, I'm not a new fan. How dare you say that of me, Cody Robert Simpson?"
He let out a laugh and rested his head on mine, "I was just saying! Or, kidding. Looks like someone can't take a joke." His playfulness made me irritated, positively. It was funny. The way he said it; I just felt like laughing.
"Nuh-uh," I disagreed, at the same time glad that I sounded like how I did about half an hour ago before this whole incident happened, "you did not just say that." I pulled myself up and turned around to face him with a serious face. I glared at him playfully, "I'm giving you ten seconds to rephrase that. So what did you just say?"
He slowly got onto his feet and faked fear, "I heard Momma say that girls can be scary when they're mad..." Then he poked his tongue out at me, before straightening his legs and taking multiple steps back away from me as I started to stand up, too. "Well, I shall repeat myself. I said... Looks like someone can't take a joke!" Then he took off running.
I laughed at how big of a chicken he was before running after him to chase him. "Looks like someone's scared of me no―ow! Cody, help! Ow!" Well...let's just say I'm not really in pain, and I'm faking it? I bent down and wrapped my arms tightly around my stomach because the pain was killing me.
Then the crispy sounds of the crunchy leaves being stepped on was heard behind me, and then a figure quickly knelt down next to me, "I'm sorry! Are you all right?" Yup, so Cody. Only you could trust him to be so gullible. It's really obvious it's Cody.
I pounced on him.
Literally. I let out a laugh and pounced on him, resulting in him letting out a soft "Oomf".
"Yup, Simpson, this is what you get for offending me," a corner of my lips twitched and curved upwards, forming a smirk on my face. I slowly ran my fingers along the sides of his stomach, and I felt them contracting instinctively as he squirmed and tried to get out.
"Okay, I give up," he laughed out loud, trying to push me off but to no avail. I laughed evilly. I grabbed onto his sides and wiggled my fingers for like five seconds? And then I was on the ground next to him, dying of laughter. When he laughed hard, it's seriously the most adorable thing in the world, you know. It's like, a cute teddy bear with a cute laugh, rolling on the ground laughing. It's just so cute; it's indescribable.
"Okay! You're beast. You win, okay; you win. Yay."
I ignored his unenthusiastic commentary at the back of his statement and popped my imaginary collar, "I know, you needn't say."
"Well, I still have to say though, you can't take a joke," he teasingly said, before rolling over, like, a meter away from me, "I'm just saying. No tickling is needed, please, monster."
I stuck my tongue out at him before standing up, and going over to where I'd rested previously to take the gun and keep it. Well, time to join the rest.
"So, what do you wanna have for tea hour?" Cody asked as he ran his fingers through those golden wavy curls on the top of his head. I'd actually kill to touch them. Well, surely I wouldn't feel disgusted because he'd always hated using hair products. Well...he's smart. What can we do? Sniffle, sniffle. He's growing up. And he liked going natural, oh.
Wait, what was his question again? I opened my mouth to ask him, but then he cut me off by repeating himself right after a long chuckle as he noticed I'd been drooling over his perfection of a hair.
"I asked, what do you wanna have for tea?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know." Then I felt bad for answering him like that, so I opened my mouth again, "Drink tea? Ice lemon tea?" I suggested, flashing him a toothy grin. Well, at least I earned back yet another chuckle that caused the goosebumps on my arms to rise. "Ah, and have cheesecake. That'd be the perfect dishes for tea, to me. What are you having? And the others?"
"Well, I'm thinking of having chocolate fudge cake with a bottle of cola," he nodded, "Alli wants her usual tea, coned vanilla ice-cream with chocolate sprinklers all over it and a strawberry milkshake. Jake wants banana pie and Milo. Josh wants...well, in this case, he's called Squidhead. He's having the Japanese Takoyaki thing. You know, the one Campbell had when he's in Japan ― did he even tweet a picture of it?" He shrugged his shoulders and went on speaking. "Anyway, he wants that with...well, milk..." He trailed off, squinting his eyes at he gagged to himself.
I laughed at his cuteness. "Hey, it's not that bad, right?" I just realized he'd been talking to himself instead of talking to me. Dang, I'm silly.
He turned to me and then faced forward before doing a double-take at me, "Huh? What? I mean, yeah? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
I grinned. Who knew he could be so cute in person? I never even thought about how it could actually be a possibility that he'd be so much cuter, real life. "It's okay, go on calculating. Haha, oh, you."
He mirrored my grin and shot one back at me before shaking his head while we went on walking.
"Hey, you's!" Alli's voice sounded distant. Like she was far away. Which, she probably was because I was far away...and right now, Cody, too. "Where were you? We thought you were playing hide and seek with us; we were worried sick!" And now her voice was distinct and she was running towards us with a relieved face.
"Well, I was looking for Merinda, and then I found her here," Cody sounded as though he was about to continue speaking but he ended off there and let out a long, loud breath, "well, yeah. That's about it."
I nodded and shot Alli, who was staring at Cody and me with a disbelieving face, a smile. Not even gonna lie, but deep down I was pondering so hard about why Cody didn't tell Alli about what he'd witnessed. I have one in mind, which was that he didn't want Alli worried. But that didn't seem to be it.
"...okay," oops, I didn't pay attention to what Alli had said. "So let's go back there! Codes, I'm starved."
"Yes, pig, I'm gonna order soon," Cody feigned innocence when the playfulness was so obvious in his tone. Well, clearly that earned him a slap upside the head from Alli who was frowning at him. I laughed. It must be hard to admit that they love each other face-to-face. I'm sure they do, though; love each other. It's just really, really, really, really, really......really deep down. So deep that...well, I don't know, deeper than the depth you've to dig the soil for gold. Mhmm.
That's why I always tell myself it's easier to say 'I love you' on the Internet than saying it facing each other.
"First of all, Thrupp," Josh's loud voice boomed from under the tree. Jake was sitting on the picnic mat staring up at Josh, and Josh was staring right down at Jake. Oh, my goodness. What was going on there? "You. Are. A. Douche!"
"Thought you didn't know," Jake wiggled his eyebrows in response, causing both Alli and Cody to burst out laughing, yet me in a confused position.
"Oh, sorry," Alli faced me with a grin, "there's this bromance thing going on with Jake and Josh. Since just now. It's...well, an act to scare passer-bys." And that actually explained all the strangers-slash-people in the beach to stare at the boys with weird expressions on their faces. It's not really a wonder, now that I know ― Josh's always been melodramatic and Jake's always been the cool one, and Cody's always been the, well, calm one.
"It's, um, cute," I suggested, as we neared the boys.
"Hello, pretty lady," Josh twirled around me and circled an arm around my waist, "how you doin' today?"
"Dude, hands off," Cody warned with his phone a few centimeters away from his ear. "Winnington." Why did he sound so mad? I must be going insane. Of course he didn't sound mad. He couldn't and he shouldn't, anyway, too.
Josh dropped his hands to his side and stared at Cody with what looked like the WTF face, so I laughed, and it wasn't long before Alli joined in with me. Jake didn't though, instead, he spoke up. "So you're cheating on me, Josh?"
"Oh, no, baby, no," Josh pouted, walking over to Jake and bending over so he was towering over the blond guy sitting on the ground. "I was just playing."
A group of old ladies walked past all of us, and shot the boys a disgusted look as they shook their head in disapproval at their behavior. Then they kissed their teeth and continued walking. Alli grasped onto my arm with the biggest grin on her face, that looked like her cheeks were going to fall off some time soon, and I clasped my hand over my mouth to contain a smile. Unsuccessfully.
Well, this should be fun.
Within a minute, Cody joined in our small circle and said, "So who's up for a swim in the sea?"