Life's a Beach

Intro

I take a deep breath, feeling the salty air in my lungs. The sand between my fingers and toes, I pause and think. I have spent my entire life by the beach. It would feel wrong to leave it.
I take another deep breath, treasuring it before I plop back down into  the sand, unsettling it. I turn to the sunset one last time and I want to freeze the picture and stay there forever.
"Felicity Maori Skye, you have to answer!" I snap back into reality and groan, regretting my decision.
"Technically, I could just choose not to play anymore." I say matter-of-factly.
"Oh, come on. Don't be such a chicken City. It's a harmless kiss." Carmen says.
"A harmless kiss, with my best friend, who is also my ex, who wouldn't even know it was a dare! Oh, yeah. Real Harmless." I say with sarcasm.
"All the more fun." DJ tells me, a dark look on his face. "Oh, you've got to be joking. DJ! He's your best friend!" I tell him, pointing accusingly.
"So? My best friend needs a little excitement in life. Besides, what he doesn't know won't hurt him." DJ answers with a cocky voice. Oh, he just thinks he knows everything.
"Fine, y'all win. Just so you know, if things go south, I'm blaming y'all for the rest of my life." I say, giving up the fight I knew I was going to lose anyway. "DJ, truth or dare?"
"Better not make me regret this, but dare." he replies while drawing pictures in the sand. I had the best dare in mind.
"I dare you to tell you know who that you like her and you want to take her out to dinner some night." I say, with a winning smile on my face. "Well, that's karma. I will make you regret this dare, City." DJ tells me, while I roll my eyes at his threats. No dare has ever gotten to me. Well, no. There's one.
"Carmen, truth or dare?" as he speaks, DJ turns to face his new target.
"Um, truth." Carmen says shifting her position.
"Ok, let's see," DJ thinks to himself, "what's your type?"
"Uhm, let's see. City, what do you think?" Carmen says curiously.
"Brown hair and blue eyes, easy." I answer.
"Ok, City, truth or dare?" Carmen asks.
I breathe in, I had to choose carefully, unless I wanted a repeat of the last round.
"Truth." I answer after a pause. I am praying I didn't regret my decision.
"Hmm, ok. Do you ever see yourself in a serious relationship with Greyson." Carmen asks over me. "He's my best friend. I wouldn't put it in jeopardy again." I say. DJ and Carmen give me this, 'mhm, sure' look. I look down, realizing I answered way too fast. I ball my hands in the uneven floor, and gently toss it at their legs. Tan specks go flying as it sticks to their legs as they quickly try to prevent themselves from being hit.
"Jesus, City what was that for?" Carmen says, standing up and brushing off her legs. I shrug. When I look at DJ he has his 'let's make mischief face' on. I quickly get up as I see the same tan specks flying in my direction. What on earth have I started?
As we head back into the house, right when we pass through the glass doors and we're confronted with smells of lemon and cinnamon. Farther into the room its scents of pineapple and other assortments of fruit fill the room. I walk briskly into my room to change, Carmen following close behind. I take a look in the mirror and I grab my brush. As I brush through the knots, I see specks catch light and fall to the floor. I suppose that's my fault for starting a sand war. I walk over to my vanity and set the brush down. My hair fell in front of my face which I wasn't a big fan of. Throwing it into a half up, I walk to my dresser. I throw a beach dress on over my bikini and I walk over to Carmen and snag her phone.
"You have way more to give, than to settle with this ass." I point to my door, indicating the person just beyond it. I tell her this as she stares at me and throws on a sky blue cover up and twists her hair into a braid.
"Tell me that when you get a boyfriend."
DJ had helped himself to a dessert square from the oven and settled onto the couch when me and Carmen emerged from my room. Just as I'm about to settle into my corner seat on the couch, the doorbell goes off. "Ah, that must be the pizza!" I say, hungry.
"Go get it, then we'll start the movie." Carmen says from her couch spot, clearly not giving much thought. I set down my raspberry dessert and went to open the door.
As I open the door, I am immediately engulfed in warmth. The scent was distinct, which let me fall into the arms now embracing me.
"You're here!" I say, a smile on my face.
"Surprise! I've got pizza!" the unexpected guest says, not letting go.
"I can't believe it!" I tell him. After a long moment, I loosen the hug and he lets go. We laugh, and follow the sound of the starting movie to the family room.
"No fricking way! Dude, you're not supposed to be here for another week!" DJ says getting up to greet the guest. Greyson sets the pizza down, and hugs DJ. "I thought I would come and surprise y'all. Carmen told me y'all were hanging out together tonight."
"Carmen! I can't believe you kept this from us all week!" I scold her.
"Technically it was a month." she responds, smiling. I flash a big smile at her. Despite her not telling us, I missed my best friend. I turn to look at the other two in the room, standing to the side. We all grew up on the beach, very close to each other. So when Greyson decided to leave for the summer and go to Italy, it was like missing a vital organ. The summer just wasn't the same. Dylan and Carmen still came over every day, and we swam, or surfed, or just did nothing, but it felt weird.
"Well, what're we doing to do first?" Dylan asks, scoping my fridge.
"We watch the movie we picked out, obviously." Carmen says, laughing. DJ and Carmen move to the couch, but as Greyson walks past to follow them, I grab his arm and shove him into the kitchen.
"We'll be there in a second!" I shout while walking out. "Yes?" he asks me. Without a word, I wrap my arms around him. He instinctively hugs me back.
"Never leave for that long again." I say to him.
"Ok, I won't." he answers.
"Promise?" I ask, needing some sort of reassurance.
"I promise."
I release him from the hug, but he doesn't let go. I sigh and he lets go. We catch eye contact.
"A summer without my best friend was torture. You left me with these two crackheads, you buthead." I say, elbowing him.
"Well, then you should've treated me better." he says, smiling. I scoff.
"Ass." I say walking out. He pulls my hair, and drags me back into the kitchen.
"Movie is starting!" Carmen screams from the room next door.
"Does it kill you to use an inside voice?" Dylan says, his voice trailing hers.
"It's not like anybody else can hear us." Carmen answers defensively. Greyson looks at me with this, 'how much have I missed?' look, and I laughed. He missed quite a lot.
"Come on, before we have to break up a wrestling session." I say, putting distance between us.
As the movie plays, I go into deep thought. Me and Greyson? We would be insane to even think of it again. I hadn't thought of it seriously until now. This dumb dare could absolutely change everything.