Self Love • Christopher Velez •

chapter 14; beach day

Chapter 14 - Beach Day

"Buenos dias Andy," I said to Andrea as I walked out of my room. She was already sitting on the couch drinking her coffee and watching Netflix. 

"Buenos dias," she smiled at me. I walked to the kitchen and started making my tea before joining her on the couch. We both sat in silence, watching the TV and drinking our hot drinks.

"Have you accepted their follow request?" Oh my god, I forgot about it. I quickly grabbed my phone from my room and walked out. I hesitated. I wasn't sure if I wanted them to follow me. I did not have a lot of followers as most of them were people I knew from primary, post secondary school and university. And all I posted about were sceneries. There was no picture of myself, unlike Andrea's and the boys' instagram.

"What's wrong?" She asked me with a frown. 

"Nothing, it's fine," I told her, smiling. She nodded and my phone beeped, indicating a message. 

From Christopher:
Hola Nila, I had a lot of fun yesterday :D

From me:
Me too :)

From Christopher:
Do you want to go out?
With the boys and Andrea?

I turned to look at Andrea. She gave me a smirk before replying, "okay."

From me:
yeah, sure! 

From Christopher:
It will just be me, Richard and Zabdiel, Joel and Erick have school 

From me:
okay, see you soon?

From Christopher:
We'll come in an hour. We're going to the beach if that's ok with you 

"Beach day with Christopher, Richard and Zabdiel?" I asked her. She nodded and I texted Christopher 'okay'. 

***
"Can I be honest with you?" Christopher asked me as the two of us sat under the umbrella as Andrea, Zabdiel and Richard went into the water. 

Oh my god he's probably going to say that he wants me to leave him alone or something. 

Without looking at him, I nodded and looked at the ocean, spotting Andrea immediately because of her bright pink hair.

"Te extraño tanto. Especially during la banda. I couldn't call you as often and you were busy with school, I didn't want to distract you," he admitted. 

Oh my god. What do I say to this. I mean, I feel the same way but I don't know how to say it and I don't want to make it weird or anything because I firmly believe that if you get close to me you will eventually leave and I don't want that to happen because it might be the worst possible thing that can happen to me.

Instead of saying that, I turned to smile at him before looking at the view of the water.  

"Nila?" I turned to look at him. "I'm glad you're in Miami. I missed you," he said with a smile. 

"I'm glad I'm in Miami too," I said, smiling at him as I stood up. 

"Can you pull me up," he asked and gave me both his hands. I rolled my eyes at him and pulled him up, but all I was doing was dragging him towards me. I sighed before asking him, "maybe you could help me?"

He grinned at me and pushed himself up, finally standing up but not letting go of my hand. We stood side by side and watched as Zabdiel floated on the water peacefully and Andrea and Richard jumping in the water beside him, splashing water at Zabdiel and ruining his peace. 

"Can I have a hug?" Christopher asked me out of nowhere. Why would he want a hug from me? Despite this, I nodded slightly and he wrapped his arms around me. 

When we parted, I saw Andrea and Richard looking at us and I was sure that if we were closer to them, I would have heard Andrea cheering, maybe even Richard but I knew that my best friend would have.

"You want to go to the water?" I asked Christopher and he nodded. As I walked towards the water, he grabbed my hand and smiled at me. Oh my god he's holding my hand. Calm down. He said that he missed you so that means that you are definitely friends.

I saw Andrea nudge Richard, causing him to look up at us. They whispered something to each other before nodding and fistbumping. 

"What do you think they're talking about?" Christopher asked me, I shrugged and told him, "I think I know what Andrea would be saying. What do you think Richard is talking about?" 

"I think he's talking to Andrea about this," he said as he lifted up our hands. I sighed and nodded, "I think that's what they're talking about too." 

"I don't think Andrea will let me hear the end of this," I groaned and he laughed, swinging our hands. 

"I think I've swallowed half of the ocean," Andrea said to me once we reached near her, Zabdiel and Richard. 

"You were the one that splashed water at me," Zabdiel told her.

"Richard splashed you too," she muttered and Zabdiel rolled his eyes at her, causing Richard and Christopher to burst out laughing.

"Did you just rolled your eyes at me?" she asked him with her hands on her hips. Zabdiel nodded at her and she stuck her tongue out, causing Richard to splash water at her. She pointedly turned away from them to face me.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Erick and Joel said that they will be joining us after we leave the beach for dinner," Christopher told us with a sheepish smile on his face. 

"You forgot?" Richard asked him. "You left your phones at their apartment. I assume they told you before that."

"He got distracted," Andrea said and she and Richard sniggered then fistbumped. 

I knew she would somehow mention the hug. 

Translations:
Te extraño tanto - I miss you so much

The bad guy cover killed me. I was not expecting Zabdiel's and Erick's Spanish parts.