2: Lets Go to the Beach

We had told Jason that we would meet him at the beach. We had taken ages deciding what bikini Liz should wear, as she had way too many to choose from, and, she was hoping to impress a certain someone.

She was deciding whether she should go for something daring, like her plunging one-piece swimsuit which showed off enough cleavage, or just go for something simple, like her red polka dot bikini. In the end, she opted for the safer option, the polka dot bikini, saying that it would 'show off her abs'.

We then had to go over to my house, which was conveniently five minutes away, where I spent much less time than Liz picking out my outfit. I decided to go for my plain blue bikini and put my t-shirt on top paired with my shorts. We were finally ready to hit the beach.

Liz drove, both our sunglasses on, ready to enjoy the summer weather. We were lucky that our closest beach was only twenty minutes away.

The scorching heat greeted us as we got out of the car. "I haven't had a nice relaxing day like this in ages" I said as a smile broke out on my face, "I don't think I remember the last time I went to the beach"

"I think it might have been a couple of summers ago when we all got together with the girls in our class after our exam was over"

"Oh yeah" I smiled, as the memory came back to me. "That was fun"

"Yeah, I'm really going to miss those college days" Liz sighed.

"Me too. Although, I won't miss all the stress of the exams. I'm glad that part of my life is over".

Liz chuckled "Me too. I won't have to try and calm you down every time you panicked over your exams"

"Hey, I wasn't that bad. I may have stressed just a little" I said with my head high.

"Yeah, sure" Liz rolled her eyes with a smile on her face.

"Anyway, I'm going to enjoy today. No worrying about the future. I'm going to focus on the now" I said with conviction.

"Finally, that's what I've been trying to tell you all this time. You need to relax more. Doesn't it feel great?" Liz grinned as she linked her arm with mine as we made our way down to the beach. "Let's get ready to have some fun".

We had taken our sandals off once we had reached the actual beach, my feet warming up against the sand. Not that they needed warming up on this particularly hot day. With our sandals in our hands, we had finally spotted Jason and his friends sitting up on their beach towels. I gave a little wave as we approached them.

Ian, who was sitting beside Jason, had leaned forward and waved back, a smile as warm as the sun glowed on his face. Liz stumbled and halted in her tracks. I, for some reason, wasn't looking where I was going, and bumped straight into Liz's back. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground with sand in my mouth, with both Liz and I having made a spectacle of ourselves.

I got up of the ground with a groan and wiped the sand off my face. "Liz!" I growled, spitting the sand out of my mouth. The sound of raucous laughter rung in my ears. Jason had his hand on his stomach, laughing, what looked like, his ass off.

Ian had gotten up from his seating position and ran over to where we were. "Hey, you guys okay?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Yeah, thanks Ian" I breathed out. But his attention was on Liz, his hand on her shoulder. Liz was looking at him, wide eyed, as if she had never seen him before.

"Liz" he prompted when she didn't respond, his voice growing more worried.

"Huh" she blinked and was soon brought back to this world "Oh yeah, I'm fine" she responded as Ian held her hand to help her get back up.

"Would be nice to have someone help me up too" I mumbled, but no one had heard me.

Jason and the rest of the guys were too busy laughing and Ian was too occupied being concerned over Liz. I sighed as I got up off the ground, dusting the sand of my legs. "No problem guys, I'll just save myself then, will I?" I grumbled to no one in particular.

I reluctantly made my way over to where the rest of the guys were and slumped down on the sand, not caring to put down a towel seeing as I was already half covered in sand.

Jason's laughter was slowing starting to subside. "You've just made my day"

"That was the funniest thing I've seen" Ethan chimed in, who was sat beside Jason.

I rolled my eyes "I'm glad you losers enjoyed the show" I growled with my arms folded.

"Awww, don't be like that Rosie" Jason smirked.

I raised my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I took a deep breath and felt myself let go. This was not how I had imagined the day going.

"But on a more serious note, are you okay?" he asked, the smirk now gone from his face.

I smiled as I stared out at the flowing waves. "Yeah, I'm okay. No physical damage but I may have hurt my ego"

"Ouch, that's the worst kind of pain" he joked, making me laugh.

I looked to my side to see Ian was still consoling Liz, checking her arms and legs, making sure she was okay. Ian had studied sports therapy, so he knew how to cure all sorts of injuries. I had to laugh at how much Liz was lapping up Ian's attention. She was looking at him all googley eyed while he was looking at her like she was a fragile china doll.

"How long have you guys been here?" I asked, feeling a slight breeze blow through my hair.

"A while. Ethan already chatted up two girls by the time you got here" Jason chuckled.

"Only two, Ethan?" I raised my eyebrow at him "Usually, you've got through a whole crowd of girls in that time"

Ethan was a definite lady's man and it was no wonder. With those piercing green eyes, and soft dark hair which shined in the sunlight, and those tattoo sleeves, the girls went crazy for him.

"What can I say" he shrugged, "I was a little off my game today. I'm going to blame it on this glorious sunshine. People are too busy enjoying this weather, and I might just join them in that" he said giving a satisfied groan as he laid down on his towel, his abs and tattoos on display for everyone to see.

I rolled my eyes "Sure, that's what it is"

I looked around to see swarms of people at the beach. Families, friends and all sorts of people all wanting to take advantage of the nice weather. Some were sunbathing, lying on their towels and kids ran around having fun. Laughter could be heard from a group of teenagers who were splashing about in the water.

"It's strange how the weather can change people's moods" I commented, mostly to myself, as I took in the cheerful people around me.

Jason, who was sat beside me, nodded in agreement. "Yeah, so you think if it was sunny all the time people would constantly be happy?" he questioned.

I frowned as I thought about it and shook my head "No, I don't think so"

"Why?"

"Think about it. There would probably be a drought if there was too much sun. People wouldn't be happy then, would they?" I concluded.

Jason chuckled, his eyebrows rose, looking impressed. "I suppose so. I always knew you were smart"

I scoffed "Yeah, right. If I was smart, I would have had a job by now"

"Rosie" Jason sighed "You'll get something. Can't you go one day without thinking about that" he said as he laid a hand on my shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Like you said, it's a nice day. Your supposed to be happy and enjoying it"

"I know" I groaned. "OK, I'll try not to think about it" That brought out a smile on Jason's face. "But only for today" I pointed at him sternly.

Jason chuckled, "Okay, you have my permission to have a stress-free day today"

Before I could respond, we heard a slight snore and a shuffle from beside us. We both turned our heads at the same time to see Ethan had made himself comfortable on his towel, sleeping on his side, laying one hand underneath his head.

Jason and I burst into laughter, which didn't seem to faze Ethan in the slightest.

"Awwww, he looks so peaceful sleeping there" I chuckled.

"Poor boy. He must have been exhausted from all that flirting"

"I suppose it does take a lot of energy out of you"

"We should totally prank him" Jason suggested, his eyes lighting up.

"What are you thinking of doing?"

He shrugged "I don't know yet, but we have to do something epic" he grinned, looking like a little boy who had finally got to pick his favourite sweetie at the shop.

"I'm sure you'll think of something" I chuckled.

"Where's Ian and Liz?" Jason asked, finally noticing their disappearance. They must have gone on a walk or something, but it was best to keep that little fact from Jason right now.

I shrugged "I don't know"

Jason wrinkled his forehead as he still looked around him, but then decided to give up. "So, what took you guys so long today?" he asked, glad for the change in topic.

I groaned, rolling my eyes "Your sister. She took ages deciding what to wear"

Jason chuckled "Of course. I wouldn't have thought otherwise"

"Hey" I cried out, as an idea formed in my head out of the blue. Anything to distract Jason from thinking about Liz. "I have an idea for a prank for Ethan" I said excitedly, looking to Ethan who had produced another cute snore.

"Like what?" Jason raised his eyebrow, looking as if I was a little crazy .

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I wrote this chapter out, it ended up being 12 pages long on a word document. Some of the chapter, I already included in chapter 1, and then I had to split this chapter further, so there will be a continuation of the beach in chapter 3, just in case you guys were wondering why this chapter ends in a really weird way.