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Zak's POV
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The sand is cold beneath my feet as I stand under the moon.
My friends are laughing—maybe crying. We're so drunk, and my head starts to hurt. I'm used to this.
"I dare you, c'mon, let's just do it!" A girl's voice echoes in my ear, I'm not totally sure who's, but I almost don't care.
"Zak, you gonna join us?" Arran's slurred voice—I know it's his because of the slight accent that remains hidden from beneath his voice—I don't hear it much now.
"What?" I question as he was up behind me.
"Skinny dipping, the girls all wanna do it. Let's go, c'mon." Arran says. His words seem rushed, and he seems somewhat in a hurry.
I follow him, no thought in mind. No thoughts necessary. I almost want to slam my head against the arched cove that we walk through. It's a part of sheltered grey rock, and the ocean behind Stella's house continues on forth towards the edge of the sand covered mountains.
Loud voices and laughter are ahead of us, and I look around. Stella, her two friends, George, and a couple of other guys.
I smell a "skunky" strong odor. Flames from the fire of the makeshift pile of wood rise, and one of the guys comes closer towards us. Cigarette in hand, I recognize the smell as weed. He greets Arran and I, walking away as Arran follows him.
I walk towards the fire, sitting near it. The flames warm my cold face.
It's a couple minutes of silence until Stella comes up to me again. I was just with her. But I guess she doesn't care, because she sits right next to me adoringly, cigarette in her hand putting off the same gut-wrenching scent as the other guy's.
I don't know if it's the headache that's making me genuinely annoyed, or if it's something she said.
"Heyy.." Stella giggles, she doesn't make eye contact with me but I know she's speaking to me.
She moves closer and puts her arm around mine. I try to move away, but she keeps pushing her body closer to mine.
"Bro, move" I grumble. This is the last thing I want to do right now.
"Zak, c'mon," Stella's too-sweet voice "bangs" against my ears.
I get up quickly before she can say anything else and walk over to where I came in from. More people are here now, and it's a little overwhelming.
I steer clear of the crowd and look around to see if I see anyone I know.
Darryl.
Darryl is talking with one of Stella's friends. They're standing somewhat close to me, and I can hardly put together what conversation they might be having. I don't know how they even started getting to talking— Darryl's kind of a nerd, if I'm being honest. Stella's friends are like, way out of his league.
I'm not trying to be mean, I swear, but c'mon, it's kind of true.
I wander over to them and when Stella's friend, Leah, notices me, she smiles and waves.
I wave back, and walk closer to them. Darryl looks at me, pupils dilated just a tad bit more than they normally are.
Something's off with him, and I'm somewhat drawn to it. I haven't seen him in a bit, a few hours so to speak. I want to know what he's been doing.
Leah greets her friends that walk by, and she joins them, leaving Darryl and I together.
It's making me upset. I don't get how he managed to just "weasel" his way into our group. No summer has ever started out like this.
"Why do you look so pissed off?" Darryl's voice brings me back to the present.
"What? I'm not," I scoff.
"Yeah, you are, what hap-"
"Dude, shut up. Stop getting in my business." I cut him off. His voice is too much. It messes with my head too much. I can't stand it.
Darryl backs up, eyes wide. It's almost too generic of him. It almost makes me laugh.
I start walking towards the side of the shore, the cove almost ending. I look behind me and notice that Darryl is close behind, but at this point, I don't care. I'm too upset.
We get to the other side of it, and I kind of just stand there. I glance back at him, and seconds feel like minutes.
The realization of how I've already connected with Darryl more than my entire friend group combined hits me. I've had actual fun with him, and—
"Zak?"
He's closer to me than before. I don't remember either of us moving. Darryl looks at me more intensely, different than the way he usually does.
"Yeah?" I ask. He said my name a while ago now. I don't even know why I answered. I should be embarrassed, but the initial anger that was built up for him feels almost as if it had gone away. Almost as if something else was replacing it. I can't be totally sure what did replace it. Indifference? Confusion? Nonchalance?
"You're acting weird as hell bro, how high are you? Geez." Darryl says, laughing.
"Do you ever shut the fuck up?" I spit back. His body language somewhat seems to change.
I don't know why I say that. I'm not upset at him, he isn't even annoying me in the slightest. I just want a reaction out of him. Something I can think about when this night is over.
"If you're gonna act like that, I'm gonna go. I don't know what your problem is." Darryl crosses his arms. I guess I kind of feel bad.
"No, wait, stop, I didn't even say anything—" I shoot back.
"Zak?"
Darryl's tone is the last thing I hear, my lack of awareness finally caught up to me. The last thing I see is the dark blue waves.
What the hell happened?
—
thank you for reading!
published 6/11/24
word count : 1077
thank you so much for 500 views oh my gosh?!! im so grateful that you guys like this story!
tell me if you're still liking this story, i feel like i kinda hate it but idrk. it's kind of messy imo, but i think i'll still finish it :)
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im so sorry for the lack of writing! writers block has a huge grip on me, but im gonna try and post as often as i can!
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