One Stupid Thing

Life is Better at the Beach

"Don't you just immediately feel like life is better at the beach?" I look over my shoulder at Kie, who is tilting her chin up and breathing in the salty air.

I, myself, inhale deeply through my nose, closing my eyes to take it all in. To most, the fishy, earthy scent of the ocean isn't pleasant, but to me it smells like home. When I have the sand beneath my feet and the sound of waves roaring in the background, it feels as if nothing could go wrong. I look back up at the boy by my side and I can't help but smile. I know that with him, nothing can go wrong.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" JJ asks, staring back at me like I have three heads.

"I'm just... happy, an— and excited, so let's hurry up and help the others unpack so tha—mm." I barely took a step in the direction of the Twinkie, when JJ takes my wrist in his grasp, whips me back around and captures my lips with his. His other hand stabilizes me by reaching up to cup my cheek. I was so caught off guard by the gesture that I just stand there with my hands dangling at my sides like an idiot. He pulls away and I blink rapidly, trying to find my words. "W-what was that for?"

"What?" he leans away from me, looking deeply offended. "I can't simply kiss my girlfriend whenever I want to?"

I stare up at him and place my hands on my hips.

JJ matches my posture. "You ramble when you're nervous."

"So, what, you thought you'd calm my nerves by kissing me?

"Did it work?" He arches a brow at me.

I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth and look up to the sky as if I need to think long and hard before replying. "Maybe."

A webbed, ancient-looking, folding chair hits the sand beside us, forcibly breaking JJ and I out of the little bubble we had subconsciously put ourselves in. JJ scrambles to pick the chair up off the ground and glares at John B who had thrown it.

"Easy with her. I've had this thing since I was three." He unfolds it and promptly shakes the dust and debris off of the seat, before setting it down.

"Maybe if you weren't so busy kissing," John B pauses and grunts with effort as he put down a blue cooler. "You could've gotten it out of the van yourself." He takes the other chair hooked through his arm and sets it up beside the cooler.

Right on her boyfriend's tail, Sarah carries yet another chair under her arm and a giant umbrella in the grasp of the other. John B turns and takes the umbrella off her hands, but when he whips back around, he narrowly misses whacking JJ in the head with the thing. I quickly clasp my hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter, but as soon as I make eye contact with my already giggling sister, I can't hold it back any longer.

Sarah unfolds her chair and sets it down next to JJ's vintage one. Kie comes up and sets down two more. John B stabs the umbrella into the sand and looks around at our set up. "Oh God. Half-baked Poguelandia."

From a few feet away, Sarah places her hands on her hips and smiles proudly. "It's gonna be good," she states confidently.

"Let's get these boards off." JJ beckons me with a hand and starts towards the Twinkie. I hustle after him, anticipation sending a buzz of adrenaline through my veins like an electric shock.

"Oh boy," I hear John B mutter.

"What?" JJ asks over his shoulder. He steps up on the edge of the van and reaches for the end of the ratchet strap holding the surfboards to the roof of the Twinkie while we wait for a reply, but no one answers.

Confused, I turn to look over at the rest of our friends and follow their gazes to a train of vehicles coming down the beach towards us. A pit forms in my stomach. Kooks. And not just any Kooks— Rafe, Topper and Kelce are among them.