Tangled

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Tatum grabbed the ecstatic boy by the ear and dragged him away from the pretty brunette near the ice-cream shop. They had been having a pretty heated conversation about bathing suits and whatnot and Tatum knew she would have to throw herself into the equation sometime. The boy's pale face flushed with embarrassment as his friend led him away. Tatum's feet dug into the sand beneath her, filling the empty spaces between her toes. The sand was hot, as expected of. The sun was beating down heavily today; it was temperature strong enough to melt anything. As the two teenagers made their course to the sparkling water where everyone else was, Tatum stopped abruptly to stare out into the distance. She strained to see ahead, but was finding it difficult.

"Tatum, you're no fun!" The boy whined, kicking at the sand like a child. "That girl was in to me."

Tatum rolled her eyes dramatically and turned on her heels to face him. "Eli, you know she only liked you because she recognized you from the videos on Youtube."

Elliot mumbled some inaudible words but gave up the quarrel anyways. Instead, he stepped closer to stand right next to Tatum who was once again indulged in the act of skimming the shore, searching for someone.

"Who are you looking for?" He questioned, squinting his eyes. "You have to wait for Prince Charming, babe, not go looking for him."

The annoyed girl swatted his arm, making him stumble backwards in surprise.

"You know what would be absolutely lovely?" She glared at him. "If you would shut up. Parker told me to make sure Arden didn't leave my side. But since you decided to go flirt with some random girl, I had to forget about her and deal with you."

Elliot sent her a confused look. "Arden is the same age as you. Don't you reckon' she's old enough to take care of herself?"

Tatum shook her head at the boy. "No, Elliot, you don't understand. Arden's been feeling ill. Parker doesn't want me to leave her on her own. So come on," she grabbed onto his arm, "you have to help me find her."

Elliot struggled out of her grasp. "No thanks."

"But--"

Suddenly, a smirk flourished on his lips as his eyes were directed on the spot behind her. "Hiya, Niall!" He greeted the Irish boy who had come up to them.

He was wearing red swimming trunks and a wet shirt. He had clearly just come out of the water. "Hi, Elliot…Tatum." He nodded at them both, his gaze lingering on the quiet girl. "Are you two planning on coming into the water anytime soon?"

Tatum was about answer before the younger boy cut in.

"Yeah, I am." He grinned goofily. "Niall, why don’t you help Tatum find what she's lost?"

Niall nodded easily, finding it cute that the blonde haired girl wouldn't look up to meet his gaze. Elliot waved his goodbyes and ran off before Tatum could utter a single word. To say the least, she was seething with anger. Elliot was constantly running away like this and it bothered her to the core.

"So," Niall's accented voice broke the silence the two were trapped in. "What is it that you've lost? A bracelet? Phone?"

"Arden."

His eyebrows furrowed. "You lost her?"

She nodded.

Niall ran a hand through his hair. "Well, she's got to be around here somewhere. Lets look around, shall we?"

The two set off searching where Niall believed he had last seen the ecstatic girl. They walked around the ice-cream shop, took a few peeks around the toilet area, but to their disappointment, she was not hiding in any of these places. For Tatum, being around Niall was difficult. The same could be said for him. They were awkward and had very little to say. If one would ask a question, the other would answer lightning fast and the conversation would end faster than it had begun. To say the least, they did have much in common. More than normal teenagers do.