No Strings Attached ; j.g

t w e n t y - t w o

"Come up here," I said as I climbed up onto the top of the van. Sam was soon up at the top sitting next to me. I dangled my feet as I looked at the small-looking hippies. Far out.

"When did you get back?" Sam finally spoke.

"Today, actually," I said, still staring out.

"I'm just gonna go ahead and assume you didn't choose between Jack and I," he laughed and I playfully pushed him.

"No, Sam, I think I'm just gonna go with the flow. I really messed things up with Jack, and he didn't forgive me when I went to see him earlier-"

"You went and saw him?" he asked with wide eyes.

"Mhm," I looked at him confused.

"You know he's got a girlfriend," he said calmly.

"I saw a girl walk out of his house," I said, I had assumed.

"If ya ask me, I don't think he likes her that much, I think he was just trying to get over you," he said reassuringly.

"I'm not sure I should care," I shrug. "I was pretty upset about it earlier, but me and my brain came to an agreement."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I just wanna live life. I don't wanna make commitments, only to friends. I wanna travel and have fun, I'm guessing relationships aren't for me," I shrugged it off.

"Maybe they are, you just haven't found someone you genuinely like, that's compatible," he started talking with his hands. "Someone that will travel with you, and be right by your side."

"I don't know, maybe," I thought about it. "I mean I still really love Jack, how could I not? I just moved on, with myself and the hippies."

Sam hopped down and grabbed my hands. I jumped down and let go of his hands. Together, we walked down to the hippies.

"Hey guys, it's Marley," I smiled.

"Heyyyy," Koi said looking up from his weird guitar that oddly had the neck of a giraffe. "It's Marley," he pointed and laughed. "Long time no see, where ya been?" He smiled goofily.

"Hey Koi," Sam sighed with a laugh.

"Koi, that's the guy you saw up at the bus," Misty said, trying to refresh his memory.

"Unt uh, that guys name was Sam!" he said defensively.

"This is Sam, we call him Marley," Misty says through her laughter. Everyone at camp was laughing except Koi.

"What? Hey dudes, I think you're all a little crazy," he shook his head. "You can't have two names," he laughed. "That's Marley," he cocked his eyebrow as he looked at Sam. "Ohhhh."

We all laughed at him, he was just so clueless sometimes. It's like all the pot stays in his system for a week.

"So, what've you been up to Marley?" Ziggy asks.

"Oh, just chillin. I was hoping I'd see you guys again, but I had no clue you'd be here!"

"How'd you manage to find us?" I asked out of curiosity.

"I come down here a lot, almost every night. I recognized the van and when I saw Koi, I knew you'd be here," he smiled. "I just couldn't believe it at first."

"Well I'm glad you showed up, I missed ya," I messed up his white hair and pulled him into a one-armed hug.

"Missed you too, Breezy," he chuckled.

"Why do you come down here a lot?" I asked, I was just curious, still.

"I dunno- usually I come down with Jack, but I don't think he's coming down tonight. He loves this place, I don't really know why, he just enjoys being here, he really likes that tree," he said pointing to the coconut tree.

I felt my cheeks heat up. This was the beach Jack and I came to, the beach where I made him drink coconut milk. The beach where he took a ton of pictures of me. This was our beach.

"Can I see your phone?" I asked Sam. He quickly pulled out his phone and handed it to me.

I opened Jack's contact and texted him.

((A/N: underlined italics will just be text messages, there won't be many in this story))

Come down to the beach, got somethin to show you xx

I handed his phone back and waited. Soon enough, I heard Jack's voice. "Sam?"