Magic Shop - Paul Lahote FF

Five

"Line!" I have no time to react before Nova and Danielle are crushing me into their arms. And before long, Julian and Riley join as well.

"Holy shit! I can't believe your parents actually let you leave their sight!" Downside of being an only child. My parents worry way too much.

Julian helps me with my bags, and then we head outside where Nolan is waiting for us. The five of us squeeze into the suv, Riley hitting his head on the roof.

"So, how is Paul Lahote?" Nova all but squeals. At the moment I am regretting telling her about the boy. Well, technically I only told Jules. But he had accidentally put me on speaker so everyone else heard.

"There's nothing to tell." And that's the truth. Ever since Paul kissed me, he's been avoiding me. Truthfully, I've been avoiding him as well. The whole situation was weird. After he kissed me, he pulled away and then left. Didn't say anything. He seemed shocked, which was weird seeing as I was the one caught off guard. When Nova opens her mouth to ask more, I cut her off. "Can we not talk about him, please? I just wanna have two stress free, boy free weeks." Julian and Riley turn to me with questioning looks. "Besides you two of course."

Nova nods and begins telling me all they've done in the past weeks. Despite me having already heard this from Julian, I listen to the girl and try to act appropriately to the information. Like when she dumped this girls smoothie on her head when she insulted Dani. Or when Riley failed at surfing and they all thought he had to go to the ER, he didn't though. Or when Dani forgot the timer for dinner and they had to order Chinese because the pizza was burnt.

We arrive at the beach house, and I have to stop myself from sprinting into the water. The ocean is literally right behind the house. Ugh, it's gonna suck having to leave in two weeks.

"We can get in tomorrow." Julian says to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "It's too dark now, plus you look tired. You've got raccoon size bags under your eyes." I shove his side. He's probably right though. I was so excited last night I didn't sleep much.

I grab my suitcase and follow Dani and Nova to our shared room. The two seem to be getting along for the vacation, which I'm thankful for. But I fear it'll change back once we return home.

After dinner, Nolan retreats to his room. Us five teens stay up talking, slowly drifting off around 2 a.m.

~~~~~~

The next day is very long, but also extremely fun.

Riley woke us up around 9 by whacking us with his pillow until Dani managed to grab his leg and trip him. By then, we were all too awake to go back to sleep so we slowly got ready for the day.

It wasn't until almost 1 when we left the house and began our walk to the nearest mall. Nolan got a job at some sports shop so walking is our only mode of transportation.

It was dinner time when we returned to the beach house, each one of us carrying at least one bag of items we had purchased. Dani definitely had the most, she's an impulse buyer. I only bought a new bathing suit, but only because Nova and Dani said mine was 'old' and 'childish'. I reminded them three times they were with me when I bought it last summer and how they had picked it out. But they chose not to listen.

The five of us now sit on some beach towels around a fire pit, finishing the hot dogs we had just roasted. It's a peaceful night. I assume most nights here are peaceful though, or at least more so than other places. The sound of the waves crashing, the smell of the sea, the night sky covered in stars. It's beautiful.

Something lands on my head, removing me from my thoughts. I hear Jules chuckle and I realize it's his shirt he tossed at me. "Ready to get in?"

I stare at him blankly. "Yesterday you said it was too dark, why is now any different?"

"Because." Dani jumps in. "Now we have these." She hands me some glow bracelets. "Put them on and hurry up."

Now it makes sense why they forced me to change into my new suit before coming down here.

I remove my shorts and shirt and clasp the bracelets on. "Last on there has to eat that hot dog." Riley points to the stray hot dog I had dropped on the sand. "Go!"

We take off towards the water. We do this sort of thing quite a bit and have one rule, you can't push someone. This rule was made when Jules had pushed me when we were racing to the playground in sixth grade. He had pushed me straight into a pot hole. My foot rolled and I ended up breaking my ankle. I was in a cast throughout Christmas break. He felt horrible and made me cookies every weekend for a month and a half before I convinced him I wasn't mad at him.

Which is why I'm surprised when his arms wrap around me when our feet touch the water. He drags me further in til the water hits our knees before pulling me under with him.

I splash water his face when we come up. "You ass!" We stare at each other before bursting into laughter. "Who's the lucky duck?" I question the others as they swim to us.

Nova groans and points to herself. "I could've won but I tripped and face planted." There's no stopping us all from laughing. Nova glares at us. "Sure, laugh all you want you shitheads."

"Oh calm down, Noves." Riley tells her, Dani's arm around his shoulder. "We're here to have fun!"

I wrap my arms around Julian to help keep me afloat. I've missed this. And not just from them being gone almost all summer. With school out and us no longer being surrounded by classmates or homework, we can all hang out stress free.