Finding Love

(7) The Beach

||AZACIA'S POV ||

"Bye mom, bye dad," I say, hugging each of them and grabbing my blue beach bag off the counter.

"Take care of her, Lively," Dad warns, patting him hard on the shoulder. I see Grayson visibly wince. I try hard not to laugh.
"I'll make sure she's safe, sir," he says and dad smiles. "Get going then," he says. As we leave, he screams, "Use protection!" I mentally face palm. "Sorry about him," I laugh, feeling the heat in my cheeks. Grayson laughs too. "I understand dads can be overprotective of their daughters. Your dad is pretty cool, though,"
I nod my head. We walk over to his Porsche. I put my bag in the trunk and walk over to the passenger side.
I have my iPod in my hand, and I'm about to insert my earphones, when Grayson hands me the aux cable. "Take it," he says.
"I thought aux cables were sacred to guys,"
"I trust your taste in music," he smiles. I grab the aux from his hands and plug it into my iPod. "Is trap okay?" He shrugs. "Yeah,"
Going with the safe option I decide to play Sucker for Pain. When he realizes it, he turns it up and I realize his Porsche is a convertible.  

We both begin singing along. Very off tune, I might add. By the time the song is finished we're both out of breathe and laughing. "How long till we get to the beach?" I ask, once I've sobered up. "Not long," he says. I grab my iPod and change the song to Murda by Snavs & Fabian Mazur. I turn the volume up more. I start tapping my feet to the build up and lose it when the beat drops. I start dancing and my hair flies everywhere while the wind blows. It feels so exhilarating. As the song fades out, I'm out of breathe again and full of adrenaline. I feel so hyped. I look over to Grayson who's smiling at me. "What?" I ask, beginning to feel self-conscious. "You looked like you were enjoying yourself," he says. "I was," I smile. "I love trap."
"I realized,"
It's quiet then. But soon,we pull into the parking lot of the beach. "We've arrived," Grayson says, parking the car. "Yay" I get out and grab my bags.
"Looks like Hannah and them are already here," I say, running onto the sand. I'm wearing my faded denim jeans with a white tank top and a faded green floral jersey that's loose fitting and open. Hannah and Josie forced me to wear a bikini. So I went with a simple black one.

I lay my towel down onto the sand and sit down. Grayson lays his towel next to mine.
I pull out a book I brought from home and start to read.
"So babe," Grayson says, leaning closer to me. I look at him and deadpan. He chuckles at my facial expression. "What do you wanna do?" He asks. "Can't you see that I'm tanning?" I say.
"You're so boring," he pouts. Without looking up, I give him the finger. When he doesn't reply, I stand up and take off my t-shirt and shorts. As I'm about to sit down again, Grayson picks me up over his shoulders. I squeal as he lifts me up. "Grayson, I swear if you do this again, I'm gonna throat punch you," I warn.
"Live a little, princess," he says. "Grayson!" I smack his ass. This gets me a chuckle from him. Now, we're deeper in the water and Grayson swiftly, turns me around and dips me underwater. Cold radiates throughout my entire body as I go under. It feels good. When I resurface, I manage to smile at Grayson. He smiles too. "I'm so gonna get you back for this, Lively,"
"Looking forward to it, Ariel," he winks.
This guy just doesn't know when to quit! 
"Paybacks a bitch, Grayson," I say.
"Please, I know how to handle those," he waves it off.
"Of course you do," I shake my head. I go back underwater and begin to swim away from Grayson and towards my friends.
"Boo," I whisper in Rose's ear. She spins around and looks worried but it fades when she sees it's me. "Az," she hugs me. I hug her back. Hannah cups water in her hands and splashes it in my eyes. "Oh, it's on," I say, and splash her back. It's a war.

==

"Truth or dare, Azacia," Darren says. We've just come out of the water and decided to play truth or dare. "Dare," I answer as Grayson comes back and hands me my ice cream. "Thanks," I tell him.