Heart of the Truth

It was a sunny day in Huntington Beach; the guys had decided a day on the beach would be a nice way to spend it; relaxing somewhere other then someone’s home. Indie, Chloe and Beckz had decided now would be the perfect opportunity to top up their tan so were laid out on separate towels a few yards from the boys who played football. It was Jimmy and Matt against Johnny and Brian. Zacky was sat at the side refereeing the game after pulling the shortest straw.

Natalie and I floated peacefully in the sea on the surfboards we had hired out for the day. The waves had seemed to have calmed down quite a bit as had the summer’s breeze. From where we were floating, we had a great view of the guy’s football game. Jimmy lunged at Johnny taking him down instantaneously. Our view was suddenly blocked by two boys, both paddling out towards us on their own surfboard. They were your usual surfer boys; sandy blonde hair down to their shoulders, bright blue eyes and tanned skins. They stopped paddling when they were close enough to talk to us, sitting with their legs either side,

“Hello, what are your names?” the one on the left asked us,

“I am Natalie and this is Hayley, who are you?” Natalie answered for me while I tried to see what was happening in the boy’s game,

“My name is Derek,” the one who spoke motioning to himself then the other boy, “and this is Oliver, I see you ladies enjoy surfing.” He continued,

“Yes we do, one moment Natalie I think your boyfriend nearly just broke his arm,” I said watching as both Jimmy and Matt tackled Johnny at a funny angle.

“Shit! What the hell? Matthew Charles Sanders! James Owen Sullivan! If he is hurt in any way, give up your dream of children,” she screamed catching their attention, “Sorry boys got to go kill a couple of idiots.” Saluting she laid down on the surfboard and began paddling away back to shore. Both boys looked upset for a moment before speaking again,

“So do you have someone special?” The one I think was introduced as Oliver asked me, I nodded, “Where is he then?” I pointed to where he stood now between Natalie, Matt and Jimmy trying to keep peace.

“Oh sorry we uh, we didn’t realise that, damn he has some muscle. We are going to go now, might try and see if there are anymore waves. Bye.” I waved and said a quick bye, following Natalie to the shore.

When I got back, everyone had seemed to have calmed down, Natalie went to where the other girls were and began to tan also. Placing down the surfboard Zacky patted the space between his legs. He wrapped his arms around my waist as soon as I was comfy on his chest. I began helping him to referee the game, screaming if someone would foul, sending whoever bribed Zacky’s chances into oblivion.

It came to the point where both teams were neck and neck, Johnny and Brian somehow managing to hold their own against Matt and Jimmy. The team to score next won the game and the other two would become the designated drivers for the night, resulting in them not being allowed to drink. Zacky was exempt from this deal after pulling the shortest straw earlier to referee the game.

Brian ran with the ball towards the goal made of their discarded tops, Matt ran at Brian with such force that he was knocked over in an instance. Jimmy seized the opportunity to grab the ball and make his way to their own goal, scoring them the points to win. Brian and Johnny cussed the others out almost dying at the fact that they couldn’t drink.

“Zacky did you see those surfer boys talking to me and Natalie when we were out at the ocean?”

“No I did not, why? What happened? Do we need to kill anybody?” his arms subconsciously tightened around my waist,

“No, no. They got scared when we said we had boyfriends, but do you know what I think?” he shook his head in my hair,

“No what?”

“I think they thought that Matt was my boyfriend. They said he had a lot of muscle.”

“Hey I have muscle!”

“Not as much as him baby.” He shrugged and pulled me back so we were lying down in the cool sand, my body instantly relaxing into his. He began threading his calloused hands through my thin hair; I let my eyes close slowly the feeling making me slightly tired.

“Ti amo bambina,” I heard Zacky say in a thick Italian accent I only heard when he spoke to his mom in Italian. I sleepily mumbled huh in response trying to manoeuvre myself into a position where I could see him properly but he pushed me back down to stay in the position I was already in. “Just lay down and sleep, you look like you need it,” I snuggled down into his chest more making myself one hundred percent comfortable. I barely made out the image of the other guys throwing their own girls into the ocean before my eyes finally closed.

- - - - - - - - - - -

I woke up a few hours later with a towel wrapped around me, it was getting darker now and there was scarcely any one left on the beach, those who were, were families with young children that they couldn’t get to leave. Wiping my eyes of any sleep I pushed myself up into the sitting position. The towel that covered me fell from my shoulders onto my lap goosebumps immediately erupted over the skin that had been exposed, the cold evening wind making me shiver.

A thick warm hoodie was wrapped round my shoulders, warming my body almost instantly. Zacky appeared in front of me holding up some sweat pants to put on my legs, I thanked him as he began to put them on me as quickly as possible making sure I was warm. He got up and continued to help Jimmy and Matt place wood on top of each other to make a small bonfire. The girls were sat in their positions from earlier forming a small circle. Pushing myself up I mad my way over and say down on Indie’s lap.

“Hello missy, nice of you to be able to join us on this fine evenin’.” Indie said wrapping her arms around my waist, “You have been out for two nearly three hours. Has Zacky been keeping you up screaming?” she as well as the other girls looked up at me,

“No I guess it is just the stress of everything,” the girls all raised an eyebrow at me, except Indie who had not quite mastered that skill yet.

“What stress hun?” Natalie asked passing me a can of monster,

“The stress of the wedding, I knew a wedding was stressful but I didn’t realise how stressful it really was, and I am trying to keep my mum away from the stress as much as possible. As for money, I mean I feel so bad that our parents our paying for it. I mean in the beginning I believed it was only right for them to pay it as it was their fault we were here but now it’s just… just… I don’t know.” I sighed slipping of Indie’s lap onto the sand next to her taking a sip of my drink,

“Hayley, you have fallen, fallen hard.” Chloe said looking me in the eye, I tilted my head to the right not understanding what she meant, “You love him. It’s not a fake ‘Oh yeah, we have to get married thing,’ anymore, you generally love him and I honestly think he loves you.” Chloe smiled at me from across the circle.

I thought over her statement, for a bit, could she be right? Have I actually fallen for him and this isn’t a game of mom’s and dads anymore. I looked over at Zacky who was laughing at Jimmy trying, and failing, to balance a bit of wood on his nose like a seal. His snakebites glinted in the light from the setting sun. It was then I realised that Johnny and Brian seemed to be missing.

“Where are Johnny and Brian?” I asked curious.

“Getting the alcohol,” Matt replied, I raised an eyebrow,

“They’re not drinking though, so why are –”

“Just a bit of a tease, so they get jealous,” Jimmy smiled

“You know they will get here and not let go of it right and you won’t get one single drop guys,”

“Shit!” both Matt and Jimmy screamed loudly, making one of the last families on the beach hurry off covering their young child’s ear.