The Jacket Snatcher

Chapter 10- An Olive Branch?

We spend the next couple of hours on the beach. The boys play a few more random games while I watch and snap some pictures. I don't mean that they leave me by myself the whole time or anything, they kind of swap out sitting beside me. I prefer it that way, really, because it allows me to actually get to know them as individuals.

Michael and I end up talking about video games. Growing up with a twin brother provided me a lot of opportunities to play. In fact, for a huge portion of my childhood, if I wanted to spend any time with my brother at all, it required me either picking up a controller or kicking a soccer ball. I was never amazing, but I could hold my own on a few games. At the end of our conversation, Michael makes me promise to play with him sometime. I agree, though I can't quite figure out how I will possibly make good on that promise.

My conversation with Calum jumps around a whole lot. We talked about everything from Barbies to puppies to Russian metal bands. I end up having to wipe away tears from laughing so hard by the end of it all.

When Ashton sits beside me, it feels like a knot inside my chest loosens a little further. We talk about my family, since he's the only one who knows about my brother anyway. It feels good to talk about him too. I hadn't realized how much I miss him, even though I've only been gone a few hours. In fact, Ashton reminds me of Brett in some ways, so it's no surprise that I gravitate towards him. When Michael calls him away to poke at some washed up jellyfish, I find myself sighing.

Then a new body replaces the warmth where Ashton was sitting. Thinking that it's Calum come to finish our debate on whether or not it's possible for a puppy to be ugly, I jump a little when I see that it's Luke. We've been ignoring each other's existence since the camera incident, and frankly, I didn't expect him to wave the first white flag.

"Wow. You're jumpy," he says with a chuckle.

I stare at him.

"Look...I'm not really sure what I did..."

"You see this?" I lift up my camera from my lap, pushing it in his face. "This is my most valuable possession. Not only is it my livelihood while I'm over here. It's also just my life in general. When you treated it like crap, it was like you'd punched me in the gut."

He sits there with his mouth open for a moment before speaking. "That's a little dramatic, don't you think?"

I raise an eyebrow, but otherwise sit stone-faced.

He runs a hand through his hair and groans.

"Okay, fine. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to metaphorically punch you in the stomach." I try my hardest to resist, but I can't help but smirk a little at the wording of his apology. He notices the crack in my armor and presses on. "I promise that I never meant to hurt your camera. I just do dumb stuff sometimes."

He holds out his pinky, grinning at me. That little kid grin he does. I sigh and hook my pinky with his. His grin widens.

"Speaking of pinky promises," I start, "did you even try to stop Ashton when he blurted out the snog, marry, avoid thing?"

"Welp! Glad that's cleared up. See ya later!" With that, Luke is on his feet and jogging off toward the other boys. He throws a cheeky grin over his shoulder as he goes, and I surprise myself by letting out a real laugh.

"Look, I just didn't realize that it would get so cold at night. I mean, this afternoon was so warm..." I rub my hands up and down my arms, attempting to create some heat.

"Yeah, it's called a sun," Calum starts. "And it usually stays in the sky for a bit during the day, but then it goes down at night."

I glare at him.