Sophie tried not to think about what Zoey had said. It was hard not to considering she was sitting next to both of them in the car. Julz was driving and Sammy of course called shotgun. Julz had an average car. It was a silver Ford Taurus. The windows were slightly tinted. Zoey sat on the right side behind Sammy. Sophie sat in the middle and James sat on the left side behind Julz. Zoey kept giggling and nudging Sophie when James wasn't looking. James only parted his look from the window to talk to Julz. Sometimes he would glance at Sophie but not too often.
It was sort of awkward in the car. There was no music playing. It was even more awkward for Sophie because Sammy kept texting her about how cute Jewelian was. Sophie had a nagging feeling that Zoey and James would secretly look at her texts. Finally the silence was broken by James.
"How much longer?" he asked.
"Not too much. About another mile or two." Julz replied cooly. They finally arrived at the beach. The ocean water sparkled like Sammy's aqua eyes. Sophie thought Julz had noticed as well judging by the way he couldn't stop staring.
"Wow the ocean is so pretty. It reminds me of someone's eyes." Julz said with a wink at Sammy. Sammy practically melted at Jewelian's words.
"OMG did you hear that?! He thinks my eyes are pretty!" Sammy said excitedly. Sophie giggled a little and rolled her eyes.
"You're such a dork. Besides I don't think he rides that train if you catch my drift." she said. Sammy raised an eyebrow.
"'Catch your drift'? What are you? Some gangsta cult person?" Sammy teased.
"Sorry I've always wanted to say that." she said laughing. Julz dug around in his bag. He pulled out a flat round disk
"Who wants to play frisbee?" he asked.
"Me!" Zoey said eagerly. Everyone became interested in playing. We had a routine. Zoey passed it to James. James then passed it to Sammy. Sammy passed it Julz of course and Julz passed it Sophie. They did this rotation repeatedly. It seemed like they had been playing for days but they only played for about ten minutes or so. When they were done, Sammy had worked up a sweat. He through that frisbee hard.
"Who wants to go swimming?" he asked. Sophie definitely did. She loved to swim and so did Sammy. Julz wanted to tan and James wanted to go for a walk. It was sundown by the time everyone regrouped. They pulled out some snacks from their bags.
"Hey Sammy can I talk to you for a sec?" Julz asked. Sophie smiled at Sammy. Sammy gave her the I told you so look then left. They walked along the shore. Sammy wanted so badly to hold his hand but he knew better.
"So I've been thinking about something a lot lately." Julz said. Sammy's heart started to race. This is it. This is the moment Julz was going to confess his love for Sammy and Sammy would graciously accept.
"Are you and Sophie a thing?" he asked. Sammy's heart sank but he tried to keep a straight face.
"Me and Sophie? No definitely not. She like my sister. Plus she's um... not my type." he said sheepishly. Julz smiled that magnificent smile that made Sammy melt.
"Ok I need to ask you something." Julz said. He could hardly hold in his excitement. Sammy braced himself for the heartbreak that was about to happen.
"Go ahead." he said. He bit his lip trying his best not to be affected by whatever was about to happen.
"Do you think it would be ok if James asked her out? He really really likes her." Julz said. Sammy narrowed his brows and gave Julz the are you serious look. He sighed.
"I guess. But she might say no. She doesn't really seem interested in him. I kinda thought you liked her." Sammy said. Julz giggled a bit.
"I do like her just not like that. I mean yeah she's a very attractive girl and all but I've had my eye on someone else." he said and gently brushed his hand along Sammy's arm. Sammy shivered at Julz's touch.
"R-really? Who?" Sammy asked even though Julz's gesture clearly indicated he had been crushing on Sammy. Julz bit his lip and laced his fingers with Sammy's.
"You." he said. Sammy shivered again and smiled.
"Me?" Sammy teased. Julz giggled and nodded.
"Yes you silly. Who else? I've liked you ever since I first saw you." he said between giggles.
"Good because I feel the same wa-" Sammy couldn't finish his sentence. Julz had kissed him. It was just a peck nothing special. But it was special. At least to Sammy.
"Wow. I um... I wasn't expecting that." Sammy said. He was blushing a deep red. He noticed Julz was also blushing.
"I'm sorry. I just couldn't wait any longer. You don't know how long I've wanted to do that." Julz apologized.
"Don't be." Sammy said. They both shyly smiled at each other like two kids on the playground who like each other. They walked back to the group holding each other's hands the entire time. Sophie noticed and she was so happy for Sammy. Even though Julz was super sketch, he made Sammy happy. Sammy has done so much for her that he deserves to be happy.
"I see you finally told him huh." James laughed slightly to himself.
"Yeah and yes to the other thing too."Julz said with a wink. James's face lit up. He had a big smile on his face.
"Is there something I'm missing?" Zoey asked.
"Nothin'. Just an inside joke." James said with another slight laugh. Only he knew what he was laughing at. Sophie didn't think anything was that funny about the situation. She did however, wonder what he was laughing at and what the "inside joke" was. Sophie started to get cold. The sun had gone down hours ago. The fire they had built was just embers now and of course the wind had to pick up at the precise moment all of this happened. She looked down at her hands. Once again you could see the little veins in her hands. Julz instantly noticed. James also noticed. James nudged Julz's arm and discretely pointed at her hands.
"Is she a Night Child?" he whispered into Julz's ear. He shrugged.
"I'm not sure. If she is, she is very talented and experienced. I can tell she doesn't use people either. She is not the cause of the latest animal attacks." Julz whispered back. James got an idea.
"What if we bring up the latest animal attack and see how she reacts? Maybe we can find out without directly asking. If she is as good as you think, she could easily lie about it and give no sign she is lying." James whispered and Julz nodded.
"I like that idea. Be careful though. We don't want to spook her." Julz said. Sophie saw the boys conversing and wondered what they were talking about. They kept side glancing at her so she had a pretty good feeling that they were talking about her. She bit her lip out of nervousness.
"Are you cold?" Zoey asked jerking Sophie from her thoughts.
"A little bit it's ok." she answered. Zoey giggled.
"I always come prepared. You can take mine." she said and held out her stylish jacket. James chuckled to himself. For some reason Sophie couldn't stand it. It irritated her that he constantly laughed at God knows what. It was infuriating to her and she didn't know why! It was beginning to bug her that she was bothered by this as well. It seems that literally every single thing this boy did somehow upset her.
"Why don't you just tell her already?" he finally spoke.
"Tell me what?" she said confused.
"Zoey is bi and she has a thing for you even though you are clearly not into females." he laughed again. She shyly looked at Zoey. She wasn't creeped out by it at all. In fact she was slightly flattered. She didn't think someone as hot as Zoey would even think of finding her the slightest bit attractive. Zoey was practically a goddess and Sophie looked like a hobo half the time. She laughed a little at her thoughts.
"K first off, you don't know my sexual preference so you shouldn't say anything. Is it true though?" she looked at Zoey with curiosity and empathy.
"Kind of... I mean you are so pretty. I low key hoped you would be bi like me. I guess I should have known better." she said. Despite being sad she still seemed cheery.
"I'm sorry for hurting your feelings. I hope we can still be friends. You seem like an uber cools chick." Sophie said. They both giggled.
"Of course we can still be friends. I don't mind. We all have that friend we secretly have crushes on. You can be my not so secret friend crush ok?" They both giggled again.
"Ok now that we have that cleared up, maybe we should go. It's getting pretty late." Sammy said. Sophie wondered if it was weird for him to see her being all flirty with a girl instead of a boy.
"Um it's summer though. It's not like we have school tomorrow Sammy." Sophie said. He gave a shy laugh of embarrassment.
"Right. I totally knew that." Everyone in the group laughed.
"It's ok sweetie. We all have brain farts from time to time." Julz said. He leaned in and kissed Sammy. Sammy obviously kissed back. They broke the kiss when the others were teasing them about the kiss by making "ooo" sounds.
"Sorry guys." Sammy shyly said.
"Don't be. We can handle two dudes making out. We are all adults here." Sophie teased and giggled a little. James gently rubbed her shoulder.
"Hey can I talk to you for a sec?" he said. Sophie felt really awkward.
"Uh... yeah sure." she said. She stood up and dusted the sand off her butt. They went for a walk. Once they were far enough from the group, James stopped.
"Can I tell you something and you not freak out?" he asked. Sophie became nervous. She bit her lip and became slightly annoyed.
"I can try but no promises." she said. She crossed her arms.
"I kind of had a dream about you before we actually met. " he said. For the first time, he looked embarrassed. He didn't seem like the cocky James she had seen all day and in her dream. It was weird that he had a dream about her too. Maybe they were connected in a way. She shivered at the thought. What if this was a bad thing? What if she was going to be the next victim of an "animal attack"? What if her theory was right? What if the "animal attacks" were what she originally thought? Vampires. James could totally be one. He met all the criteria for a vamp. This could be a trap. No. He wouldn't do this right now with her best friend there. He's smarter than that. She bit her lip again. She debated if she should tell him that she had a dream too. James looked at her. He waited for her speak. She took a deep breath.
"I kind of did too." she said shyly.
"What? That's crazy! But in mine, we kinda sorta kissed." He didn't even hesitate. Sophie was a little surprised. She wondered if they had the same dream.
"We kissed in mine too." she said. She sounded rather confident. She didn't seem as shy as she usually is.
"What...? Was yours on a beach?" he asked. She nodded.
"Did we have the same dream?" she asked.
"I think we did." he said. He rubbed his jaw. He was clearly deep in thought.
"What do you think it means?" she asked. He looked up at her. He stared into her crazy eyes but he didn't find them to be as strange as others did. He actually liked them.
"I know exactly what it means." he said.
