Waterline

Impressive Mentality

The rest of the day went by fine. Allen, Nelson, and Conor knew not to pressure Mae into talking more about Clare. They spent the rest of the day visiting shops on the boardwalk then seeing a movie. The setting of the movie was on the beach. Everyone brought towels and blankets to sit on. Once the sun went down, the night started to get chilly. It didn't take long for all of them to find a blanket to snuggle in.

"Does the weather always gets cold at this month?" Mae asked Conor.
"Not usually, it's still summer and we are in the southern part of Italy so the weather should mostly be warm," Conor explained.
"I also found the weather behaving strangely," Allen joined the conversation.
"Maybe it will get better soon?" Nelson suggests. Allen nod as he didn't like the cold weather too much. It felt too gloomy for him.

"Also, are you coming to see my band play tomorrow?" Conor asked Mae.
"Why wouldn't I?" Mae questioned him with a small sense of teasing him.
"I guess it was silly of me to ask that," Conor lightly blushed. It wasn't noticeable due to the night sky. The group shared a big mat to lay on, brought along some pillows.

Nelson was intrigued by the previews. It was showing a short cartoon with some colorful pictures. "I feel like I've seen this before," Nelson said as he continued to watch the cartoon.
"You might've watched it as a kid," Allen suggested.
"Yeah, it feels familiar but still doesn't remember much of it," Nelson explained.
"It might be a side effect of turning human," Mae said but her voice stayed low to avoid eavesdroppers.
Nelson nods before saying, "I wish I have my memories back."
"So do I," Allen responds.

Not another word was exchanged when loud music started playing. Signaling that the movie was about to start. Mae laid next to Conor as they both enjoyed the movie. The movie was a typical hero story but it was still fun to watch. Especially when they were all together the interactions between Mae and Conor were minimal but there love for each other was strong. Both dedicated so much for each other. It helped them forget about the heartbreaks.

Darrel knocked on Libby's door. He was disappointed with himself for not changing out of his work clothes. There was not enough time for him to go home and change since he had to stay longer to clean out the freezer. It had a few ice cream smudges on it but Darrel hoped that it was invisible to Libby. The door opened to see a smiling brow haired girl at the other side. "I'm glad you came back! I was excited to work on this with you," Libby told Darrel as she ushered him inside.

The table was mostly empty but the picture frames were stacked at one end. "Did you have something to eat? Cause I have some leftover pizza in the microwave," Libby led him back to the kitchen. It lingered with the smell of pizza. That made Darrel realize that he was hungry. He usually doesn't have a big lunch and also didn't have time to get dinner. "I could go for a slice of pizza," Darrel spoke, he tried to have a cool demeanor but it was a sorta fail.

Libby opened the microwave to expose four slices of pizza. She set the plate on the table. "Would you like a drink too? I have fruit punch," Libby asked.
"Sure," Darrel answered. Libby opened her cabinet and grabbed two cheap plastic cups. Then went into the fridge to get a pitcher of the fruit punch. She prepared the two cups and gave one to Darrel and herself. Darrel has already started eating pizza.

Libby sat down in her seat then grabbed a slice of pizza. "So the craziest thing happened last night when you left," Libby started talking. Darrel looked up slightly shocked, he hoped it was nothing bad about him. "What happened?" He asked her.
"So when you left I was sleeping on the table. Then all of a sudden I was on the couch with my favorite blanket. I must be sleepwalking, what do you think?" Libby asked him. Darrel's eyes slightly widened by what she said, but Libby didn't notice them. He hated making her look utterly clueless but he had to. It was too humiliating to say that he was the one that did it. There was also a chance that Libby would think he was messing with her.

"You might've did that yourself but forgot about it," Darrel suggested.
"I think you are right because I don't remember cleaning the table either," Libby said.
"That must be it," Darrel said. He was ashamed of himself for acting so dumb. Darrel was smarter than this but his IQ level keeps decreasing. Why can't he figure anything out?

"Let's continue with our project," Libby spoke up as she rubbed her greasy fingers on her old shirt. She then grabbed a piece of paper that was on top of all the picture frames. "So I made some designs for each frame but I bet you have your own ideas," Libby said as she laid the picture frame in front of him. "I don't really have any ideas," Darrel admitted. Like before, he wasn't an artist ice person or had a creative brain. He looked at each of the designs and found them to all look nice and to fit the interest of a certain friend.

There were a lot of designs to choose from and not all of them can be used. "We can go down the line and design as we pick. Then cross out which one we used," Darrel explained. Libby nods as she listened to him.
"I like that idea, I'm tired with all the organizing stuff and want to do the fun stuff," Libby smiled. That pleased Darrel, he was glad to suggest something that Libby would like. That means he was getting somewhere.

Darrel took a sip of his drink as Libby grabbed the first picture frame. "I got Penelope!" Libby smiled as she looked at her designs. The ones that were colorful would mostly be suitable for Penelope. Libby came to the conclusion of picking a design with cute monsters around the edges. It showed a bit of Penelope's personality. She was quirky and childish which everyone loved about her. The monsters also fit that type of clothes that Penelope wears.

Darrel grabbed a picture frame and saw that it was for Nelson. It would be easy to make something that he would like since Nelson doesn't really know himself yet. Still, Darrel wanted to choose something that showed who Nelson was as a person. "Oh! Use the ones with historical quotes," Libby pointed to one that had quotes around it. The background of it had an old paper texture. Nelson was the type of person to appreciate words and enjoy history. It made him different from most people because not a lot of people are interested in history.

"Thanks," Darrel said as he crossed the design out. Libby was good at figuring out what people like. Too bad that Darrel can't do that. He looked up at Libby to see that she was already sketching out the design. Darrel got started with his frame. He wanted to it to look good like how Libby drew it. He wanted to at least impress her. Darrel worked hard to try and do everything right. His dedication should be enough to give to his friends.