—
Third Person POV
—
"Yo, I'm Zak." The black haired boy says as he looks down at Darryl.
Maybe it's just his eyes, or maybe it's the fact that this is their first interaction, but Darryl swears that the staring lasts for a few seconds. Longer than usual.
Either way, Geo swallows loudly to break the silence. Zak and Darryl quickly snap away from each other's gaze, looking to Geo.
Things become awkward as no one says anything. Darryl doesn't know how long it was before he finally spoke up. "Hey, I'm Darryl." He says to Zak.
Zak nods, runs a hand through his hair and sits down next to Geo. "Dude, what's the plan for today?" Zak looks to Geo.
"We could go jet skiing?"
"Yeah, let's do it. I'm finally able to drive my own." Zak scoffs and the dark brown eyed boy laughs.
Zak turns his head to Darryl. "What about you? Do you have any plans for today?"
"Not really" Darryl says.
Zak thinks out loud. "You can come with us. Do you know how to jet ski?"
Darryl shifts uncomfortably on the sand. "No."
He feels embarrassed, he literally lives in a beach town, he should know how to jet ski. He should know how to do practically every water sport now.
Zak shrugs. "That's okay, you can ride with one of us, and we can teach you."
Darryl smiles in return. "That sounds fun. What time should we go?" He looks to Geo and back to Zak.
"Can we go now?" The black haired boy turns to Geo. Darryl assumes that Geo's the one who owns the jet skis. Geo agrees and the group gets up off the sand.
Arran and Finn run over to them. "Dude where were you guys? We've been looking everywhere." Arran says, crossing his arms.
"My bad. I met this guy, his name is Darryl." Geo points towards Darryl and he waves awkwardly, cringing at the current situation.
Arran and Finn shift their gazes towards Darryl. "Okay, but what are we doing today?" Arran asks, still slightly annoyed that the other two had left Finn and him.
Geo explains the jet ski plan, and they head off to Geo's house. Darryl trails behind the other boys, not knowing what to say. He becomes nervous thinking about the jet skiing. He's never even ridden on one before.
He could fall off, make himself look like a complete idiot, and they could all laugh at him. He shudders at the thought.
As Darryl's beginning to rethink this whole plan, the group approaches a brown, minimalistic, one-story bungalow. It's the last home on the street, and it has a huge wrap around porch with a few white chairs sitting near the door. Zak, Geo, Arran, and Finn talk as Darryl runs to catch up with them.
There's a small staircase behind the house that drops off in sand. The water is pretty close, and there's a mid sized deck that leads up to it. At the end stands five jet skis and a grey boat. Darryl joins the conversation with the boys. Geo and Arran start lowering the jet skis down into the water, and Darryl, Zak, and Finn walk over to the dock closet nearby, picking up life jackets.
"What size do you think Geo and Arran need?" Zak asks Finn.
"Are you dumb?" Finn asks jokingly, picking two medium sized jackets from the closet. Zak kicks the other. As Darryl steps up, the boys stop fighting and turn to him.
"You probably need a medium too, here." Finn hands Darryl an orange life jacket. Zak grabs one and they close the closet, snapping the buckles on the jackets.
"How long have you jet skied for?" Darryl asks the boys next to him, starting a new conversation.
"Since forever. Geo especially, since he owns them. His parents had them even before he was born." Finn says.
"I'm still better than him, though." Zak adds. Finn laughs.
"Yeah, whatever you say. Prove it then." Finn smirks at Zak, and Darryl watches as the black haired boy's expression changes. He seems pretty competitive.
The trio walk over to join Geo and Arran, who have successfully, (and surprisingly) gotten four jet skis lowered into the water below them.
"Since you don't know how to drive one, you can ride with one of us and we'll teach you. It's pretty easy." Geo turns to Darryl.
"He's old enough to drive his own, right? How old are you?" Arran asks Darryl.
"I just turned seventeen a couple months ago." Darryl answers the boy. The others decide who Darryl will ride with.
"Zak, let him ride with you," Geo stares at the raven haired boy.
"Is it because you're finally admitting I'm better than you? Dude, finally." Zak laughs and pats Geo's back. "It's okay, we all come to our senses at one point."
Geo slaps his hand. "No. It's because you usually ride the one that seats two people anyway. I would never say something as stupid as that." Zak looks offended as Arran and Finn laugh. They snatch the keys for the jet skis off of the deck and slowly board them.
Arran pushes Geo, and he almost falls into the water. "Get the fuck away from me, bro" Geo warns.
Arran pushes him again, this time with slight force, and Geo pushes him back. Arran falls half on the jet ski and half into the water. Everyone laughs as Geo forms a proud expression on his face.
They get in and slowly drive the jet skis towards the open part of the ocean, leaving Zak and Darryl behind, letting them get into their jet ski by themselves.
Zak steps in first, sitting towards the front and holding the black handles. The older boy puts a leg in cautiously. He sits down on the seat behind Zak, and the brown haired boy can practically feel the black hair sticking up in front of him on Zak's head. Darryl's breath quickens, his heart beating faster than normal.
The older thinks it's because he's in an unfamiliar situation, on the back of a jet ski, sitting beside a random person's dock, and not to mention riding with a person he's said not even ten sentences to. Whatever it is, is not calming Darryl's already quickening anxiety.
Zak turns his head around, looking at the boy sitting behind him. Darryl looks like he's about to throw up. "Are you okay?" Zak asks.
"Yeah, just nervous. I'm not really sure what to expect." Darryl mumbles out, a flush of embarrassment clouding his cheeks.
Zak offers the other a slight reassuring smile. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing, you'll be okay." This calms Darryl's nerves.
Darryl takes a breath out. "Thanks."
"I'll tell you if you need to be worried." The younger snaps his head around fast as he starts the engine up.
"Wait—what!" Darryl can barely get out before the jet ski cruises ahead at a fast speed.
"ZAK!" Loud giggles come from the boy in front of Darryl.
The brown haired boy feels like he's about to fly off the vehicle—he leans forward and puts his arm around Zak's shoulder, holding onto him.
Water splashes at their feet from the ocean, Zak is going so fast that Darryl feels like he's flying. Black hair is flowing in the wind, and Darryl holds on tightly to the orange nylon of the boy's life jacket in front of him.
Darryl says a silent prayer, hoping nothing will go wrong. If he's being honest, he does not trust this situation. What if they fly off? Who knows what could be under the cold, dark blue water?
But somehow the sound of the younger's laughs in front of him calms him. Maybe Zak does know what he's doing.
Darryl hopes more than anything that he does.
—
thank you for reading!
word count : 1328
published 1/14/24
YOU ARE READING
sweet nothings | skephalo
Fanfiction"..just for the summer?" his cold voice hit me harder than the salty July air that was only smelled down by the marina. Nothing could've prepared me for what else Zak could've said. I look up at his dark eyes. They're filled with complete want and d...
