Crooks & Nooks

Turn Up

Chapter 39

"I'm gonna miss this," Liz said again. 

Since school was out, we had graduated, we were all sitting around feeling pretty nostalgic, not really knowing what to do with ourselves. We were supposed to be young adults, we had been in school for thirteen years, yet the second we got out, we didn't know what to do next. 

"Yeah, me too," Matt said, trying hard not to look over at Chris. 

The last couple days were good, we were trying not to talk about college, since it was such a bittersweet topic. We were all shooting for bigger things, trying to be successful, but none of us wanted to leave each other, I knew that. We were comfortable with each other, and while college was a new adventure, we were all a little intimidated by it. 

We would all make new friends and we'd be okay, but it would feel weird, us not being together. I had only been friends with them since freshman year, they all had been friends with each other since elementary school, so they would miss each other's presence more than I could imagine. 

"Are you guys good now?" Mase asked, looking over at Matt and Chris.

They looked at each other before nodding, "Yeah. We're good now."

I was glad that they had patched things up. Mase and Liz were both good now too, and I was happy. We had all made it this far, we could get through the next four years too. 

"Stop moping. We're gonna go to college, yeah. We may not see each other ever again after this summer, sure. But we have this summer, so let's actually do something with it," Will said.

We all nodded. He was right, we should do something. 

"Okay, what should we do?" Chris asked, standing up and stretching. 

We had been in Matt and Mase's basement, laying around on the floor, basically just being lazy.

"There's a party at the beach," Liz said, looking up from her phone, where she was probably scrolling through Twitter.

"Sounds good," Chris said and we all nodded our heads in agreement.

We got ready and headed out. When we got to the party, it was a little bit before eleven. I got myself a Diet Coke and sat down in the sand. I wasn't really in a partying mood yet, but I knew that I would be up and dancing in an hour or less. 

As I stared at the dark water, Liz came over and sat down next to me. 

"I don't really wanna dance right now either," she said and took a sip of her drink.

"I don't know what to do with Will. I mean. I don't want to break up and I trust Will, but I don't know if I can handle a long distance relationship," I explained. 

"You'll do the right thing," Liz said.

"What's on your mind?" I asked.

"Nothing, really. I don't know how to feel about leaving Cali," Liz said. 

"We'll be okay," I assured myself.

"I think I do need to dance. You coming?" Liz asked and stood up, brushing sand off her legs. 

I nodded, "Yeah."

Liz pulled me up and we walked over to the large group of people having fun and dancing. I found Will, and started to dance next to him. 

~

"What are we gonna do?" I asked, looking up from the sketch I was working on. 

"For what?" Will asked, his gaze turning on me. 

"About us," I said. 

We were seated on his couch, watching a basketball game that wasn't catching my attention. 

"What do you want to do?" Will asked, wanting to hear my opinions before he shared his own.

"I want us to stay together. I really do. I'm just not sure that it's the right decision," I said, looking down.

"Do you have feelings for me?" Will asked softly.

I nodded, knowing that I was making Will say the same thing over and over, but I just wasn't sure about this and I wanted it all to be perfect. 

"Do you want us to stay together?" he asked and I nodded again. "Then I think this problem's been solved."

"But what do you think we should do?" I asked, wanting to know his thoughts. 

"I want us to stay together. I think we should stay together, but only if you agree," Will stated.

"Okay, then we'll stay together," I told him, meeting his eyes. 

He smiled and kissed me. After we cuddled for a while longer, we decided to go down to the beach for a while before Jackson arrived.

The beach was littered with plenty of red solo cups and various cans and cups. We sat down on the soft sand, watching the waves crash against the sand. It was cloudy outside, not too much sun, which went perfectly with my mood. 

I sighed and leaned into Will's shoulder. I was determined to have a good summer before we parted, but I couldn't bring myself to smile. 

"Okay, you get two more minutes to mope, then we're gonna do something," Will said and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

Suddenly, I felt like crying. Such a simple act made me want to cry. I closed my eyes and took in a couple deep breaths. 

Then I stood up and walked closer to the water. I felt Will come up to me and I leaned into his touch. 

Will shoved me forward and I fell into the water. I gasped, but relished in the way the water felt on my legs. I laughed and stood before running after Will.

After twenty minutes of running, I finally pushed him into the water and collapsed on top of him. 

"That was fun," I said, looking up at the cloudy sky. 

Will nodded and we laid in the water for a while longer before deciding to leave.

~

"Jack!" Will said as he swung open the door. 

"Hey Will!" Jackson said and wrapped Will in a hug. "Hey, Ray," he said after releasing Will.

I lift my hand in a slight wave, "Hi Jack."

I quickly hugged Jack and then retreated into the apartment, following Will. 

Jackson started interrogating Will about his nightmares and made sure that he was okay. Even though they texted each other at least once every day and called once a week, Jack still checked up on him whenever he came here. 

We chilled on the couch and caught up with each other, and I felt like the summer hadn't gotten off to such a bad start. 

As I ate a slice of pizza and focused on the episode of The Flash that we were watching, I made sure that I wasn't going to waste any more of my summer moping. I would hang out with my friends and family before I left. 

When I finally decided to leave, it was already almost midnight.

But as I walked towards the door, I heard Jackson say quietly, "Don't break his heart." 

I turned around to face Jackson, but he had already turned and was walking back into the room. I looked over at Will who was fast asleep on the couch, and I was wondering as I left:

What was that supposed to mean?

~

A/N: Literally two chappies left for me to publish and then I'll have finished my first real novel. That's so unbelievable.