slowly drifting ★ circa waves

V.

-

"i could get away if i wanted to,
but my hands are tied,
tied to you."

-

"is this it?" colin questions from the backseat.

"are we there yet?" eleanor chimes with a giggle. (n/a giggle.)

"ugh shut up, will you?" joe shakes his head from behind the wheel.

"wILL YOU?" emma turns around and yells. after approximately two seconds of silence, eleanor erupts with laughter and puts her head down on colin's shoulder trying to contain herself. colin looks quite uncomfortable. eleanor quickly notices this and sits back again. emma, feeling slightly awkward watching this, turns back in her seat to face the road ahead, and the huge blue building coming into view.

"is that it?" joe asks. "wow, it's right on the ocean, too. sick."

"ew," emma scrunches her nose, "don't say that."

joe has a hurt look on his face with a smile, "what? it's sick. so rad. wicked—"

"stop." eleanor says in a dead serious tone. everyone looks at her expectantly, thinking she'll start laughing it off jokingly. she doesn't.

this time emma lets out a small laugh and shakes her head, getting out of the car and closing the door after joe parked the car. eleanor practically falls out of the car, followed by colin tripping up behind her. emma stops and pointedly laughs at them.

bbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrriinnnnggggg.

joe's phone starts ringing, the contact name 'Kieran ❤️😘' popping up on his phone. emma walks back up to the car and taps on his window. he rolls it down and then points to his phone, to which she nods and catches up with colin and eleanor. joe quickly looks down at the phone to answer, only to find that it had already stopped ringing. so he texts kieran instead, who replies instantly.

Joe: Hello?
Kieran ❤️😘: Dude, where are you?
Joe: ...
Kieran ❤️😘: ?
Joe: The aquarium?
Kieran ❤️😘: ...
Joe: ...
Kieran ❤️😘: May i ask why?
Joe: Well, I'm with Colin and Eleanor and Emma. we kind of needed to get away from everything I guess. Look, I'm just as upset about Sian as you are. Though, maybe not in the same way.
Kieran ❤️😘: What? What are you talking about?
Joe: Talk later x

he hangs up the phone, gets out of the car and locks it before sprinting to catch up with emma and the rest.

-

"is that a turtle? or a really big fish?"

joe and emma can hear colin and eleanor screaming from the other side of the aquarium. they've stopped in the café for a drink and a snack, whilst the other two had stopped at mcinedible and raced away.

"so," joe initiated conversation. emma ignored him and kept eating her muffin until he actually had something to say.

joe's face hardens and he leans forward across the table. "can you at least try? like, i'm trying to talk to you, trying to get to know you, trying to be your friend—or maybe more—but you don't even care to try as well."

emma looks up in shock, and turns around to see if there was anyone else this could be directed at. "me?"

he nods his head in response.

"oh, sorry. i guess i literally didn't notice. but i like your leather jacket."

he leans back in his chair and smiles smugly.

-

"um, what're you doing?" eleanor looks at colin, confused.

"looking for the hammer head sharks," he replies, his face smushed against the curved glass of the shark tunnel. eleanor's face lights up.

"those are my favourite," she says, running over to join him. he laughs and walks away from the glass, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards him. well, that's what was supposed to happen. he ended up grabbing her wrist, before trying to slide it down to her hand, and it was more of a yank than a pull. nevertheless, she still seemed flattered and shyly followed him.

"hello," colin says nervously.

"hi?" eleanor says, but it comes out as more of a question. colin's holding both of her hands and they're standing in the centre of the empty shark tunnel. she feels like she's standing too close to him so she takes a step back. he immediately drops her hands in disappointment. she offers an apologetic smile that's supposed to be like 'i'm sorry i'm just too shy and awkward it's not about you' but looks more like 'i can see a hammer head shark and i'm v excited'.

"should we meet up with the others?" colin asks, ignoring her.

she shrugs and they start walking. near the end of the tunnel, eleanor grabs onto colin's hand and they walk out together. with a hammer head shark swimming above their heads.

-

a sneaky little update bc i've been procrastinating too much. i'm sorry. pls forgive.

(song is get away by circa waves)