Please

Part 14

"Ready to go?" Josh asked brightly, holding onto your hand as he practically drags you off the bus and into the hot summer sun. You nod your head, inhaling deeply the scent of salt; you had missed the beach.

And you weren't even a beach person.

You just like the way it smells.

"How long does it take to get there?" you ask, flushing when you see two girls staring at the two of you, Joshs hand confidently holding yours; he didn't even look at them as hed swept by, despite they were clad in bikinis and their skin practically glowed a nice summer brown.

You feel cold just looking at them, especially as pale as you are.

"About twenty minutes if we hurry. Ricky left about ten ago, so we have a couple hours to ourselves before he starts getting bored," Josh sounds so sure.

It's all you can do not to sigh.

You hope this isn't going to be a disaster.

You'd reluctantly drug your bathing suit out of your bags, not even sure if you could wear it anymore it had been so long, and the red strings are peeking out of the back of your pale white shirt, bright red with white dots. You have your long hair in a twist on the back of your head, and you can't wait for there to be time when you can cut all of it short again.

The two of you had just eaten, so you weren't expecting a picnic with romantic candles or anything, and it was much too early for you to watch the sunset. You have your bag on your side, your phone and sunscreen tossed in there since your shorts don't contain pockets.

Seriously, why no pockets? Your side doesn't feel right without your phone, and your hand keeps brushing your thigh to look for it reflexively.

Why did guy shorts always have pockets?

It should never be assumed a girl always had a bag at her side.

In your opinion anyway.

"What are we going to do?"

"Hang out," Josh says it like it should be obvious. "Just... Relax. That's what we're going to do. We're not going to stress, we don't even have to talk if you don't want too. We're gonna chill."

Right.

Now he sounds like Ryan.

Who you can see frolicking on the beach, attacking Chris and Vinny with water guns and all of them cackling like little kids.

Men never grew up.

They were always still young on the inside.

You trot along with Josh for the most part, his fingers tangled in yours as you make your way off the boardwalk and onto the actual sand.

You want everything to go smoothly.

You're praying for that.

~~~~~

"It's so pretty."

"Right?" Josh grins, tugging on your hand as he helps you up the incline.

It was only as high as your waist from the water, just big enough for a bench beneath some trees; the sand and the grass mixed almost, and you can see tiny pebbles everywhere just waiting for their next barefoot victim.

It actually was pretty though.

You could sit and stare at the water forever.

"How did you find this place?" you ask, sitting down on the bench.

"We had to stay in town for a few days last year, so I explored. None of the guys ever wanted to come with me, so - only I know avout the place." he shrugs ax he sits down next to you, stretching his arms along the back of the bench. "Nice, right?"