Paper Boats // xiaodery

six

Summer is always great, mainly because there's no school to attend. But sometimes being at home and doing nothing all day gets boring.

Hendery groaned, checking his phone for the time - 12:19pm. He threw his arm over his eyes, rolling over in his bed.

He was bored beyond hell; he was sick of sitting on his phone and mindlessly scrolling through social media and re reading his comic books. The boy sat up, turning his head to look out his window.

The view wasn't all that grand, just a street and more houses. But there was a pick up truck passing by, and the things sitting in the back of it caught his eyes - surfboards.

Hendery was instantly reminded that right next to the harbor was the beach. He got off his bed, deciding he would go there to cure his boredom, but not before he brought someone first.

He got ready and slipped on his shoes and headed out the door, pacing down the sidewalk. God bless his good memory, because he found the specific house he was looking for in a mere two minutes. Walking up to the gray home, he pressed on the doorbell, patiently waiting for someone to answer.

"Hendery?" Xiao Jun tilted his head to the side.

"Do you wanna go to the beach with me?" Hendery asked, flashing a smile at the other boy.

"Um, sure?" he responded. "Are you planning to go in water?"

"Of course."

"Okay. I'll go get changed then." Xiao Jun stepped to the side, letting the other boy into the house.

Hendery's eyes roamed around the living room, it was plain, yet pretty. He followed Xiao Jun down the hallway and eventually into his bedroom (Hendery realized it was a one story house).

It seemed like Xiao Jun was home alone, considering the rest of the house was silent and no one else came to greet him.

The blue walls surrounded Hendery as he stood in the other boy's room.

"Wait here. I'll be in the bathroom." Xiao Jun informed the other, grabbing his cloths and slipping into the bathroom, which was the next door over.

Hendery looked around more, his eye catching one specific thing on Xiao Jun's desk. It was a picture frame, and he stepped closer to take a better look at it.

It was an image of three people, (Xiao Jun's family he assumed), and they were all smiling widely. Hendery's lips unconsciously formed into a gentle smile while he stared at the photo.

"Ready to go?"

Hendery turned his head, seeing Xiao Jun ruffling his hair, a beach towel in his hand.

"Yeah." he replied, and the boys went out of the room.

—

"Are you afraid of crabs?" Hendery teased, holding the tiny creature in his hands.

"Stop, get that away from me." Xiao Jun flailed his arms around.

The other laughed, watching the tiny crab crawl across his palms.

"You're no fun." he let the animal crawl off his fingers and watched it get swept away by the shoreline. "How about we build a sand castle?"

"Are you like five or something?" Xiao Jun chuckled.

"Shut up old man." Hendery started to gather chucks of wet sand.

Xiao Jun complied anyway, helping his friend form a sand mountain. The two put more effort into the sand castle than previously anticipated, both of them concentrating and focusing on detail.

But it was worth it, because in the end, they had a glorious sand castle in front of them.

"Wow." Hendery snapped a picture of the creation with his phone. "This is the best sand castle I've ever made."

"I'm proud." Xiao Jun looked at the sand. "It was fun."

Hendery's lips curled into a smile. "Really fun." he added on, lightly patting the sand castle.

That was a few seconds before their happiness was destroyed by a huge wave that came crashing in, dissolving the masterpiece.