i hate you | l.h

twenty

we arrived at the beach when the sun was blazing, casting a warmth on our skin that would gradually darken with tans and freckles.

michael grinned as he leaped out of the jeep with a small towel dangling from his neck. the other boys followed him, pouring out of the backseat of the car, laughing and talking.

molly came up running from behind me, her blonde hair flying in the wind and her eyes bright. she had an issue of vogue tucked underneath her left arm that i knew she would end up flipping through the entire time. "do you think we'll meet any cute boys here?"

"i bet. i bet they'll get real turned on after they find out we both have boyfriends." i said.

she rolled her magazine into a tube and whacked me with it. "we are not dating!" she exclaimed defensively but her high pitched voice and flushed cheeks told me otherwise. i already knew that michael and her were in a relationship but i'd never mentioned it until now. rubbing the side of my arm where she had hit me, i scowled at her but we both knew she had caused no damage.

"last one to the ocean has to buy ice cream for all of us!" michael screamed, and came zooming past us. before i could understand what was going on, somebody's hand wrapped around my wrist. "come on, babe! we are not buying shit for them." calum grinned, his dark eyes squinting from the sun and jutted his thumb to the horizon.

we both dashed to the water, laughing by the time we had reached michael. my chest rose up and down and i took in a lungful of air.

"looks like nate is the unlucky guy!" will exclaimed, patting nate's back who had arrived last due to ashton tripping him but he didn't seem to mind. nate shot everybody a grin, "eh. i ended up getting to play the part of a prince this year, might as well act like one."

-
i kicked off my flip flops and waded in, shivering in delight at the chill of the water. my feet were distorted underneath the water, making it look like i was swaying back and forth. tipping my head back, i felt the warmth of the sun on my face, my shoulders, and my back.

i took a deep lungful of air, then dove into the water. i used my arms to push away the water, shooting myself forward a couple feet before swimming back up through the surface.

to my surprise, luke was at my side, shaking his hair out of his eyes. his hair was now a dark blonde, almost brown, and his teeth were chattering. "swimming away from all your problems?" he joked, and i used one hand to wipe water from my eyes. we were far enough in that the water came up pretty deep but not enough that we weren't able to stand up.

i gave him a weak smile, knowing that he was joking but deep down, it felt as if i were actually swimming from my problems. "i guess you could say that," i replied, leaning back so that i was floating on my back, my face up towards the sky. the water was loud in my ear and there was a faint taste of salt on my lips.

i looked over at luke who said, "i know you're probably confused as hell about why i ran away earlier," his blue eyes were bright against the tan of his skin, water droplets dripping from the ends of his hair.

i had no idea how to respond, since yes, i had gone the rest of the day disoriented by what had happened between us during rehearsals. i hadn't wanted to bring it up to him, because i thought that it would have made it a bigger deal than it might've been.

"i wasn't." was all i ended up saying.

"hemmings! your phone's ringing like crazy over here!" ashton's voice came echoing from the shoreline, and i used my hand to shield the sun from my eyes to see him waving luke's phone.