Just Keep Breathing
Chapter 24
The air at the beach was becoming increasingly cold as the water began to rise with the high tide. Still off in the distance was the party. People were now heading home, stumbling around drunk, or off hooking up with each other as the bonfire continued to burn.
Oliver and I were still in the sand, laying on our backs and holding hands while looking up into the sky. It was dark enough tonight that most of the stars were visible. Oli’s free hand reached up and pointed into the sky as he spotted the milky way.
All the awkwardness from what happened before was now gone, and for once, Oli and I were communicating in ways other than just psychical. He was talking to me about his home town in England called Sheffield and all the ways it was different from California.
He was telling me that it was a rather large city and that all the houses were close together and similar and no one had pools. That sounded crazy to me. He also told me there was a lot more green and scenery there and not as many huge buildings and cement.
“Everyone in England wants to come to America, and everyone in America wants to go to England. We should all just switch places,” Oli commented, “Until ya all realize that in England ya can’t own a gun and ya don’t get all the freedoms. It’s a drag really.”
“Because owning a gun is really the deciding factor.” I commented with a smile. “Personally, I’d rather go just because you said it’s usually cold there. I love the cold.”
“Well you can go live with my mum then. I quite enjoy it ‘ere in sunny California, even if it’s not so sunny right now.” He replied with a chuckle and tugged on my arm, rolling me over next to him. I kissed him quickly and sat up.
He sat up also and started to pat down parts of the sand and began drawing little shapes with his fingers. Joining him, I drew a big smiley face over his little doodles of stick figures. He nudged me with his should, “Aye I was drawin’ right there. Get your own spot.”
“Why should I get my own spot?” I asked childishly and continued to draw little smiley faces and stars around his stick people, “If I can just have yours?”
“You can be so odd sometimes.” He stated and stood up, taking me with him. As I brushed the sand off my back and legs he continued to talk, “So what do ya say about gettin’ out of ‘ere and goin’ to dinner?”
&&
Inside the 50s style diner, Oli and I sat across from each other in a small booth munching on typical French fries and chocolate shakes while we cutely played footsies.
“So what was wrong earlier?” I asked him, changing the subject we had been on and took a bite of a fry. “You looked really off earlier, and it seemed strange.”
“Oh yeah that.” He said. He didn’t seem to happy when I brought it up. I started to add that he didn’t have to tell me but he cut me off. “It’s just that the guys an’ I are recordin’ our album and are disagreeing with the producer. He wants us to redo almost the whole thing. Problem is that will take too long and we already have a tour planned.”
I’m not quite sure why I took that as a shock. I knew Oli was in a band and I remember James telling me something about them making a record, but I didn’t really put all the pieces together that would add up to them going on a tour. Something inside me also didn’t want him to go.
“Oh well that’s not good. Hopefully you guys can pull it off though.” I said, faking a type of happiness. I decided to try and sneak in my other question, “So when exactly is your tour planned?”
“We were aimin’ for two months from now.” Oli replied as he ate a whole fry in one bite. “We were hopin’ to put out the album an’ then go on tour. Might not work out that way now. Bummer really.”
Sometimes two months seems like a long time. But when its two months before you know someone will be gone, it doesn’t seem long at all. Of course, Oli was the main person I would miss, but I had also grown to love the other guys too.
Oli some how noticed the fact I was lost in my thoughts because his foot nudged mine gently and he took my hand in his on the table top. His thumb rubbed my skin and he smiled at me. “What are we doin’ just sittin’ here? Let’s go cause some havoc.”
He started to leave, and against my protests, and set down a twenty dollar bill on the table before grabbing my hand and tugging me out of the restaurant with him. We had taken Curtis’s car since I couldn’t find Tessa to get her keys, and we were still near the beach. After deciding we didn’t want to go back to the beach, It was a forty-five minute drive home.
This is when I realized what he meant by causing havoc. The whole way home he had loud music playing, he was at least 20 miles over the speed limit, and ran nearly every stop sign we came across. I’m not sure if I like riding with him or not. I did like the fact that the forty-five minute drive was turned into a thirty minute one.
“My house or yours?” He asked once we were back in the familiar location of our town. He reached a hand out and turned down the music, repeating it again so I could hear him.
“Yours.” I replied without a second thought.
Oliver and I were still in the sand, laying on our backs and holding hands while looking up into the sky. It was dark enough tonight that most of the stars were visible. Oli’s free hand reached up and pointed into the sky as he spotted the milky way.
All the awkwardness from what happened before was now gone, and for once, Oli and I were communicating in ways other than just psychical. He was talking to me about his home town in England called Sheffield and all the ways it was different from California.
He was telling me that it was a rather large city and that all the houses were close together and similar and no one had pools. That sounded crazy to me. He also told me there was a lot more green and scenery there and not as many huge buildings and cement.
“Everyone in England wants to come to America, and everyone in America wants to go to England. We should all just switch places,” Oli commented, “Until ya all realize that in England ya can’t own a gun and ya don’t get all the freedoms. It’s a drag really.”
“Because owning a gun is really the deciding factor.” I commented with a smile. “Personally, I’d rather go just because you said it’s usually cold there. I love the cold.”
“Well you can go live with my mum then. I quite enjoy it ‘ere in sunny California, even if it’s not so sunny right now.” He replied with a chuckle and tugged on my arm, rolling me over next to him. I kissed him quickly and sat up.
He sat up also and started to pat down parts of the sand and began drawing little shapes with his fingers. Joining him, I drew a big smiley face over his little doodles of stick figures. He nudged me with his should, “Aye I was drawin’ right there. Get your own spot.”
“Why should I get my own spot?” I asked childishly and continued to draw little smiley faces and stars around his stick people, “If I can just have yours?”
“You can be so odd sometimes.” He stated and stood up, taking me with him. As I brushed the sand off my back and legs he continued to talk, “So what do ya say about gettin’ out of ‘ere and goin’ to dinner?”
&&
Inside the 50s style diner, Oli and I sat across from each other in a small booth munching on typical French fries and chocolate shakes while we cutely played footsies.
“So what was wrong earlier?” I asked him, changing the subject we had been on and took a bite of a fry. “You looked really off earlier, and it seemed strange.”
“Oh yeah that.” He said. He didn’t seem to happy when I brought it up. I started to add that he didn’t have to tell me but he cut me off. “It’s just that the guys an’ I are recordin’ our album and are disagreeing with the producer. He wants us to redo almost the whole thing. Problem is that will take too long and we already have a tour planned.”
I’m not quite sure why I took that as a shock. I knew Oli was in a band and I remember James telling me something about them making a record, but I didn’t really put all the pieces together that would add up to them going on a tour. Something inside me also didn’t want him to go.
“Oh well that’s not good. Hopefully you guys can pull it off though.” I said, faking a type of happiness. I decided to try and sneak in my other question, “So when exactly is your tour planned?”
“We were aimin’ for two months from now.” Oli replied as he ate a whole fry in one bite. “We were hopin’ to put out the album an’ then go on tour. Might not work out that way now. Bummer really.”
Sometimes two months seems like a long time. But when its two months before you know someone will be gone, it doesn’t seem long at all. Of course, Oli was the main person I would miss, but I had also grown to love the other guys too.
Oli some how noticed the fact I was lost in my thoughts because his foot nudged mine gently and he took my hand in his on the table top. His thumb rubbed my skin and he smiled at me. “What are we doin’ just sittin’ here? Let’s go cause some havoc.”
He started to leave, and against my protests, and set down a twenty dollar bill on the table before grabbing my hand and tugging me out of the restaurant with him. We had taken Curtis’s car since I couldn’t find Tessa to get her keys, and we were still near the beach. After deciding we didn’t want to go back to the beach, It was a forty-five minute drive home.
This is when I realized what he meant by causing havoc. The whole way home he had loud music playing, he was at least 20 miles over the speed limit, and ran nearly every stop sign we came across. I’m not sure if I like riding with him or not. I did like the fact that the forty-five minute drive was turned into a thirty minute one.
“My house or yours?” He asked once we were back in the familiar location of our town. He reached a hand out and turned down the music, repeating it again so I could hear him.
“Yours.” I replied without a second thought.