Astrophile

a disturbance in the force

Cleaning the beach was a monthly occurrence for Sarah's group of friends during the summer. They had signed up with an environmental group to do it, mostly it was their parents pressuring them, but Sarah at least, cared about having the beaches clean. She was going with Topper, Kelce, and her siblings Wheezie and Rafe, plus a few other friends of theirs who she didn't know that well.

Sarah was excited, they had agreed to sneak alcohol in their beverages to not only make it funnier, but also because they would have to do group activities occasionally. These included dancing and praying in circles that recalled Sarah of the movie Midsommar. It would be a better experience drunk, or at least tipsy.

A knock on the door brought her back from her thoughts. "Can I?"

"Of course!" Sarah smiled, walking towards her boyfriend to give him a kiss. "You look handsome." Topper chuckled, turning his attention to examine Sarah, he looked at her for a few seconds before she spoke again.

"Isn't it so cute?" Sarah smiled, twirling around so he could take a better look. Topper frowned, catching her by surprise. "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, nothing. You know you always look amazing, babe."

"It doesn't sound like I look amazing."

Sarah looked down, trying to reevaluate what she was wearing. It's true that maybe wearing just a bikini top with shorts wouldn't be the best look for this specific environmental group, but they were cleaning a beach and besides, most of the girls would likely be dressed similarly. The Outer Banks in the summer was extremely hot, if she chose any of her other clothes, she would become uncomfortable and sweaty way too easily.

"We're cleaning a beach, Top. I thought- never mind I'll change."

"No, you look great, really. You're right, it's summer, you'll overheat in anything else."

Sarah wasn't too convinced, but between the need to hurry up and his fingers caressing her cheek she ended up ignoring the whole ordeal, following Topper out of the room, towards the car they would be taking. On the way out she did, however, grab a t-shirt and stuffed it in her bag, just in case it ended up being needed. Once they reached the front door, Kelce, Rafe and Wheezie were all waiting for them outside.

Sarah sat in the back seat of the car, Wheezie next to her in the middle and Rafe on her other side. "What took you so long? I thought you were almost ready." Her younger sister complains as the car starts moving.

"Yeah, I had an outfit crisis. Sorry."

"You look great Sarah." Rafe complimented, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

Wheezie rolls her eyes, not understanding what was wrong with the clothing Sarah had chosen. To her it was simple, if you like something, you wear it. Although she hadn't seen whatever had gone on in her sister's room, Wheezie was almost positive Topper had something to do with it. It's not that Wheezie didn't like Topper... she just didn't love him, she thought he was not a match with Sarah, but that was obviously a sensitive topic around her sister, so these thoughts were kept to herself.

Once they arrived at the beach, large red trash bags were handed to them along with gloves so they could start their work. It was just past lunch time, the sun was above their heads when they scattered around the beach starting to collect trash. Their group made small talk, mostly about how boring of a job it was and a few plans for later that day, whenever they finished the activity.

Topper was in the middle of grabbing a few beer cans and stuffing them into the trash bag when he turned to Sarah. "How was dinner last night?"

"It was fine, filled with the usual questions. 'How's school? Are you adapting well? English literature? That's nice.' Oh, and let's not forget the overwhelming talk about future projects between Matthew and my dad."