Tiny Little Details (bxb)

chapter eleven

"So, everyone's in, yeah?" Paige said as the four of them made their way out of the school gates.

"Hell yeah," Sam chuckled, giving Jamie a high-five as they loaded everything into the car.

Paige turned to Milo, "Miles? What about you?"

"Yeah, Kelly, I'm in."

"Miles Thomas Hayes, stop calling me that," Paige ordered, "or I'll make you walk to the fucking beach."

"But Paigey-Waigey..." Milo gave her his best attempt at puppy eyes, "you wuve me."

She grumbled, sliding in the driver's seat, "I really don't though."

Milo rolled his eyes and crawled in the backseat alongside Jamie, not daring to make eye contact. It was the very first hot day in a while and Milo was eager to soak up the sun down at the beach. Ludgate wasn't a very isolated town, though it felt like that sometimes, it was bordering multiple towns. And just four towns over was the beach. The teens still had all their school stuff, but they didn't mind. Milo wanted as much sun as he could possibly get, his tan was severely lacking.

He was beginning to like a ghost.

Going down to the beach was a tradition that Paige, Milo and Sam had. Usually, it would fall on the first official day of summer, but it had been months since Milo's felt light prick his skin. He was eager to soak it up before it turned back into just another gloomy day.

Jamie was staring out the window as Paige pulled out of the parking lot for the forty-minute drive, while Sam was staring at his phone. Milo wasn't really doing anything, well, aside from talking to Paige. It felt so good to be on speaking terms with her again, it made him realise that he never wanted to be in a fight ever again.

They were never really in a fight to begin with, Milo was just a stubborn bitch.

"Where's the music?" Milo asked, to which Paige shoved the AUX cord in his face, "Gee, thanks."

She smiled, "You asked for it."

Milo plugged his phone in and decided to play some beach-themed music, something that would really get them in the right mindset for the beach. Milo needed that more than anyone, he was bouncing his leg up and down viciously, trying to settle his nerves about being seated next to Jamie for forty minutes. And tomorrow on that field trip. They hadn't spoken about the since, nor at all since it happened and Milo was really starting to miss his friend. He missed talking to him.

Jamie seemed very lowkey about the whole thing; almost too lowkey. Milo wondered for a moment if he'd forgotten about the kiss entirely – that was how nonchalant he was acting about the whole ordeal. It was really starting to freak Milo out. A lot of things freaked Milo out. How calm he was being, how gorgeous his eyes were, how magical that stupid kiss was.

Dammit, Milo. Pull yourself together.

"What song is this?" Sam asked from the front seat.

Milo checked his phone, "Saturday Sun by Vance Joy. He's an Australian artist, I'm pretty sure."

Sam craned his neck to look at Jamie, "You know, you kind of sound like a posher version of an Australian."

Jamie laughed at this, and Milo hid his smile by looking back down at the screen, "Well thanks, mate."

Okay. That had no right to sound that good.

"That wasn't bad," Paige echoed, "but not as good as mine, aye."

Sam chuckled and took her hand in the centre console, "That was awful, Paige."

"Shut up."

The two of them started their own conversation, leaving Milo and Jamie silent in the backseat, listening to the music and not uttering a single word. Milo let out a tired sigh and tilted his head to look out the window. They were passing a particularly boring suburb where all the houses looked the same.