There was a lot of talking, joking, and laughing the whole time we sat with each other. My dad was pretty quiet the whole time, only speaking when someone said something to him, or frequently smiling when he thought something was funny.
When we finished eating the four of us teens got up to walk around. My father didn't seem to want to go now that he and Angela had a great conversation finally going.
"So Lynnee, how long are you staying for?" Dannie asked me as she was sticking a green barrette through her bangs to keep them at the side so they wouldn't blow around in the wind.
"Just for the rest of the summer." I replied.
"Aww, I wish you could stay longer." Dannie replied with a small frown. "It'd be really nice to go to the same school."
"Yeah, it would." I replied, picking up a star fish and tossing it back in the water.
"What's your mom like?" She asked me, trying to keep up with conversation since the boys were now way ahead of us, climbing some rocks.
"She's got eyes like mine. But her hair is brown, like yours kind of." I replied. "She's really funny and nice. She's actually kind of like a teenager with the way she acts sometimes."
"I wish my mom was like that." Dannie said. "Ever since my dad died all she does is work and complain and all that other crap."
"I'm sorry." I said sympathetically.
"Don't be. I'm sure she'll come around when she begins to realize why we never talk anymore." Dannie said. "I don't even ask her if I can leave the house anymore; I just go. I do whatever I want, and yeah she complains about it but can you blame me? It's not like she's gonna do anything else about it anyway."
I tried to listen to Dannie's rant about her mom the best I could while we walked. Mostly she talked about the things her mom flipped out about the most. Like when she got her eyebrow pierced, her mom starting yelling and freaking out, so Dannie just left and didn't come back home for about two days. Or when she got a tattoo her mom wouldn't let it go for about a month, but all she ever did was complain about it. So Dannie told her if she didn't shut up she'd leave again. That got her mom to let it go, even though she was still pretty angry about it.
"It's so stupid..." Dannie continued.
"Maybe you should just sit down with her and talk." I said. "I know things like that don't always work, but it's worth a try."
Dannie shrugged.
****
We climbed up the rocks the boys were just at and met them at the top.
"Took you long enough." Hale said with a smile.
"We were talking." Dannie said.
"By we I'm sure you mean you mostly, am I right?" Hale joked and Dannie, now mad, punched his arm.
"Ow! Did you take your meds this morning?" Hale asked. But when it looked like Dannie was about to punch him again, he held up his hands in surrender and apologized while trying hard not to smile.
"Kids!" Angela was calling us down from the bottom of the rocks. "It's time to get going, it's about to rain!"
"Good." Dannie said to herself. "I love rain."
"Not when we're trying to have fun at the beach." Hale replied. We climbed down and were greeted by Angela and my dad. And sure enough, the rain began to pour.
"Yes!" Dannie jumped up a couple times, cheering mentally to herself.
"No!" Hale argued. Dannie stuck out her tongue and laughed at him.
