step into the sun || c.m

chapter fifteen

They had found a booth with a bunch of towels, and they cost five dollars each. But no one was there, so they stole the towels and put them down on the sand. It was hot as all hell, so Connor took his shirt off so he was left only in his joggers. Cierra was still wearing her tank top and shorts, her hair piled on her head, and she still complained of being hot.

"We should go get our swimsuits." She suggested, placing her hands behind her back and pushing most of her weight back on her palms. The sand was the hottest part, so Connor kept his legs pulled up in a crossed style so they didn't burn. There were tons of people surrounding him and Cierra, some families just getting here for Spring Break, some college students who cannot keep their eyes off of Cierra, whether it be because of the pink and white marks cascading her body or the beauty she radiates he may never know.

Either way, a shitton of people were looking in their direction, and some were even looking at Connor. And it wasn't because of his hot bod. He was some random teenage without a shirt on who was wearing black joggers for fucks sake, you'd look too. It's fucking strange. Cierra had even pulled out her polaroid and taken a picture of Connor looking like that, and also gotten some random stranger to take a photo of them sitting together on the beach, his arm around her waist, her arm slung around his neck. It was a nice picture, weird, but nice nonetheless.

"We really should." He agreed, noticing a group of girls that were staring in Connor's direction and one of them even pointed at him. He knew they were making fun of him, talking about that emo looking kid most likely. He usually would care, he usually would have gotten pissed off and yelled. But he was pretty content, and who cared if a couple of girls who looked like they had come straight from cheerleading camp or whatever sport it is those skinny girls who fuck every guy on the football team do were making fun of him. He just turned the other way, sitting in blissful silence taking in the sun until he felt Cierra's sweaty arm nudge him.

"Hey look." He looked over at her, the intense light instantly forcing its way to his eyes, physically hurting him. Though he didn't say a word. Cierra nodded towards the group of girls, Connor now looking back to get a good look at them. They were wearing those swimsuits all the girls were wearing, all of them varying in color and shape, all of them showing off as much skin as they possibly could without being seen as completely naked. Out of the four of them, three of them had long flowing hair that wasn't one color, and it was obvious they had payed a good amount of money to have it that way. There was one who had jet black hair, cut down to her shoulders though, her swimsuit was a one piece too, of course you could see the sides of her breasts so it was just about the same as her other friends. By society's standards, all of those girls were pretty, but not by Connor's.

"Yeah, what about them?" He looked back at Cierra and shrugged. "Lots of people laugh at me, it's not new." He turned his attention back to the glittering water, filled with people that were swimming around or boogie boarding, or jumping around with their kids. It was beautiful, but he didn't get to enjoy it for much longer because he felt her elbow connect with his ribcage this time.

"Jesus fuck what do you want." He grumbled at her, holding onto his side. She had one hell of a bony elbow.

"They are not laughing at you Connor! They are checking you out!" She whisper yelled the last part, just low enough to where they couldn't hear her. He looked back, and maybe she was right. The one who had hair that literally went down to her waist winked at him, and it made him really uncomfortable. He shrugged again and looked back at Cierra.

"Okay, so?" He sighed, hoping she would catch on that he really didn't care if those girls were checking him out and let it go, let them enjoy the rest of their day in peace.

"So, you've never done a single thing with a girl. Come on, the girl with the black hair is cute. Go talk to her!" She nudged him yet again, but this time lightly their shoulders simply bumping together. "Go hook up with her or something, I don't know, just go talk to her for all I care." She turned her attention to the water again. It ate him up, really. It totally destroyed him that she genuinely didn't care if he went and hooked up with some random girl at the beach. Some gorgeous girl at that. By society's view, and society's view alone, that girl over there was much more attractive than Cierra. Of course, Connor would take Cierra over that girl who literally only had black on.(yes, literally only black she had think black eyeliner, a black swimsuit, and her hair was dyed jet black and she's at the beach it was really fucking weird but then again Connor was at the beach with god damn joggers on)

"Well okay then." Connor stated and stood up. Cierra didn't even flinch. He straightened his spine and walked over to the group of girls. He looked pretty ridiculous, the joggers the man bun and the flip flops. Really stupid. As he strode over, he saw one of the girls who had very unnaturally dirty blonde hair that was braided down to her torso bit her lip, he could tell she was trying to push her breasts out, as if he couldn't see them well enough in that swimsuit that was literally just a coral piece of fabric. He walked right past them and went straight to the girl in all black. "I'm Connor." Was all he managed to get out. You wouldn't know it, but Connor was horrified.

"Veronica." She stated simply, crossing her arms over her chest. He sucked in some air, her demeanor scaring him half to death.

"Wanna go somewhere?" He asked her, barely capable of breathing. She put a thin smile on her face, far from genuine.

"Yeah, we could go get some drinks. Want the girls to come or...?" Her voice was silky, intoxicating almost. Nothing Connor couldn't handle. He could walk away and right back to Cierra and he'd be fine. But he didn't. He knew he couldn't.

"No, maybe not." He took a step closer, completely ignoring the fact that he heard the whispers and gasps of all of her friends.

"Sounds good. Let's go, shall we?" She looked at his lips, and he could tell all of her intentions were not pure. He forced himself not to care. Her hand, cold and clammy, wrapped around Connor's, but not the way Cierra did. Not the way he liked. She started leading him towards the cabana, stating that they rented a private cabana and the girls wouldn't mind if they used it for a while. He looked back momentarily, and saw Cierra smile a genuine smile and give him two thumbs up.

It broke his heart.

author's note// i just finished school and my depressed bitch ass went straight the fuck home to write fanfiction and watch riverdale can i GET more emo??? also riverdale has taken over my life i may write a fuckin jughead jones fanfiction i fucking hat emyself this was a fucking filler chapter i hate this book so much