sweet nothings | skephalo

chapter 3 | him

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Third Person POV
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Darryl Noveschosch has lived in Surfside Beach, South Carolina for about a month and a half.

After his birthday on the second of April, his family got a call from his grandparents. They needed to pack their things and move from Darryl's hometown in Pennsylvania to a beach in South Carolina due to his grandmother's health.

Darryl was not the least bit excited about this information when he found out. He had lived in the same house in Pennsylvania all of his life.

Everything in Darryl's life had been the same. He's never had a loss in the family, has never gotten a pet, and has never moved. He's never even switched schools or any of the sort. The only places he's been to outside of Pennsylvania is Surfside, where he has family, and New York.

Although, Darryl had never really came to Surfside that much in the first place. In fact, he'd only been there a few times, and they were when he was really little.

So, no, he was not excited to pack his bags and move down the coast of the United States to a beach town in South Carolina.

It was even worse that they had moved at the end of the school year, so he didn't even have a chance to make friends before the summer.

"You'll make friends, everyone's out in the summer." Darryl's mom had said. He only sighed in response. He was not very confident he'd find friends that easily.

It's not like there's anything weird about him, he's pretty normal, but Darryl just seemed not very confident about forming new relationships.

His sister, on the other hand, is completely different. She was excited about the move. Excited?!

Darryl thought she was crazy. How could anyone be excited about a move like this? But, his sister being a huge extrovert, it does make sense that she'd be okay with it. She was always making friends everywhere—school, parks, clubs, and even in lines at amusement parks.

Yeah, crazy.

Right now he was deciding what to do. Darryl was crossed between going to the beach or staying in all day.

"Darryl?" The boy hears a woman's voice coming from the hallway. His door handle turns and his mom walks in.

"Go get some fresh air, you look so pale. We live not even ten minutes from the beach, my goodness," she shakes her head disapprovingly at her son, who just looks annoyed.

Unfortunately, his mom had decided for him. She kicked him out of the house. As his mom walks out of his room, Darryl puts on a solid colored t-shirt with swimming trunks.

Darryl walks down the oak staircase as he stares at the boxes on the floor and the bare walls beside them—the family had yet to put up any decor on the walls.

He opens up the door, not stopping to say goodbye. His mom didn't deserve it anyway, kicking him out for the day for no reason. He walks past the blue chairs on the deck and starts walking down the pavement, passing his house. As he walked further, he saw less and less of the grey house with white accents, and Darryl was honestly grateful for it.

He hoped to find someone to talk to. He hoped he looked presentable, at least. Darryl fixes his brown hair with his hand and straightens his glasses on his head.

He thinks about going by to his sister's workplace, it isn't very far. But that'd be lame. He continues walking as he sees a blimp of people hanging out across the street in a sandy beach.

Darryl reads the sign in front of the beach, literally titled Surfside Beach. He never understood why people name a city after a beach that already exists and has the name. It's like having two kids and naming them both Darryl.

He crosses the street and walks into the golden sand. It's hot, but he's used to the feeling by now.

Darryl looks around at his surroundings, and notices a group of boys.

There's three brown haired boys, the first guy has light brown hair and dark brown eyes, the second guy has dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, and the third guy has dark brown hair and blue eyes.

One of the boys moves and a fourth boy appears in front of them. He has black hair and dark brown eyes. They're all laughing as the black haired boy tells them something, and Darryl assumes it's a story.

This could be his chance at meeting some friends, although, they did look like they already had formed a strong bond. They didn't look unapproachable, they just looked close with each other. Darryl didn't want to barge into someone else's friendships.

He feels the wind strong on his face as he decides what his the best next move is. Darryl watches as the black haired boy continues to make his friends laugh effortlessly.

He's the type of guy everyone wants to be around. The type of guy girls want and guys want to be. Darryl notices his hair slicked up, he has on black Nike shorts and a white t-shirt.

Darryl can practically hear the boy's laugh from where he's standing. No, he is not going over to the group, he decides.

So he continues walking down the sand to the shore, and sits down as he feels the crystal clear blue water with the palm of his hand. He immediately flinches as his hand meets contact with the icy cold water.

The shore pulls out, starting to form a wave. Darryl steps back and sits on the dry, sandy ground.

The brown haired boy sits there for a few minutes before hearing slight footsteps behind him. He continues looking at the waves crashing obliviously, hoping whoever is walking isn't walking towards him.

Sand kicks up behind him as the person walks closer. Darryl fights his urge to turn his head around. He waits.

One of the brown haired boys from before, the one with dark brown eyes, stands in front of Darryl, looking down at him. He looks up at the boy, slightly confused.

"Hey," the boy starts. "I'm Geo." He smiles and sits down.

"I'm Darryl." Darryl says as he watches the boy sit down cautiously. The boy—Geo— looks at the waves before turning back to Darryl.

"I've never seen you here before, did you just move in?" Geo asks.

"Oh. I just moved here about a month ago. I used to live in Pennsylvania."
"Cool. I've lived here since forever."

The air falls silent as Darryl nods in response.

"Geo!" Both boys turn around at the sudden yelling, looking behind them at where the voice is coming from.

"Where'd you go? You just left us."

The black haired boy runs up to them.

Darryl notices the boy's features. His black eyebrows matching with his silky black hair. His big eyes. His pearly white teeth.

"-and this is Darryl." Geo gestures to Darryl, and the raven haired boy eyes Darryl, and cocks his head.

"Yo, I'm Zak,"

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thank you for reading !!
word count : 1202
published 1/11/24