Paint My Skies Black, I Never Wanna See The Sun Again

“We found him!” Jack squealed triumphantly as he, Rian, Flyzik, and Zack walked towards us. Alex and I had just, finished what we were...doing and were now sitting on the hood of the car.

“Thanks, I didn't realize that.” Alex said sarcastically, but that didn’t damper Jack’s mood. And apparently it didn’t’ affect Zack’s either. He was grinning like a madman.

“What’s up with you, Merrick?” I questioned. He blushed so red that it reached his shirtless torso, “Nothing.”

“Nothing, my ass.” Rian laughed, “Do you know where he’s been?”

“I’m taking a stab in the dark and guessing surfing?” I replied gesturing to the fact that he was still wet.

“Well, yeah.”

“But do you know why we took so long to find him?” Matt butted in.

I replied, “I don’t know, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell me either way,” at the same time Alex replied, “It didn’t seem like you guys took a long time.”

They all shot us weird looks.

“We’ve been gone for at least an hour.” Zack piped up.

“What have you two been doing?” Jack slyly put in.

"Nothing," we immediately answered in unison.

“We’ll talk about this later. Now, back to Zack.” Rian said.

“Oh get those sticks outta your asses, guys. She’s just some girl.” Zack got frustrated from all the jabs.

“Oh, a girl is it?” I smiled. No wonder the guys were giving him such a hard time. Zack seemed more reserved and quiet – and when you put him next to Jack, pretty much silent. Putting a girl into the picture made it so much more interesting.

“Yeah,” Rian paused for dramatics, “but it was a flop.” he added emphasis by making a farting sound with his mouth, and doing a thumbs down.

I slapped his hand down.

“Aw, shut up Rian.” I said.

Alex just laughed, “What happened bro?”

“Well, I was surfing, and when I got out of the water, there was this girl there.”

“She got a name?” I asked.

“Yeah, Miranda.” He sighed her name almost poetically. I noted how much fun it was to see guys fall all over themselves for a girl.

“So anyways,” he said snapping back into reality, “she was all, ‘Your form is weird.’ And I was like, ‘Don’t go telling me about my form. I’ve been surfing since as long as I can remember.’ Then she said, ‘Yeah, but you’ve been doing it wrong.’ So I said, ‘Then show me how you do it.’ And she said, ‘I don’t know how to surf. Can you teach me?’”

He laughed “So I taught her.”

“Aw! That’s precious!” I cooed. Even Alex cracked a smile as he wound his arm around my waist. Rian eyed it, speculating.

“Where is she then?” Alex asked.

Zack’s face fell and he gritted his teeth, “Well, I was on my way to getting her number, but then these guys came!”

We turned to the three stooges who all had guilty looks on their faces.

Matt was the first to break the act, “Don’t blame us!”

Zack’s shoulders slumped, “They showed up and started mocking us from a distance at first, then they came right up to us and this one,” he shoved a finger towards Jack, “started making some inappropriate and rude comments and gestures to my female friend and I got all nervous and awkward.”

“I hate you.” He grumbled at Jack and pouted like a child.

“Why would you do that, Jack?” I whined.

“It was you who put beers in the cooler.” He shot back.

That silenced me for a while.

“So you never got her number or anything?” Alex asked.

“No, after it got really weird, she said she had to go meet a friend somewhere and I forgot to.” He had his head down. “And then we came here. Fun.”

“C’mon man, don’t be like that, “Jack patted his buddy on the shoulder, “We’ll go to the mall; find you some other skirts.”

He gave him a weird look.

“Not to wear. Cripes, I said that wrong didn’t I?”

“Nah, I don’t want to. Sunny, can we just go back? I’m exhausted, and frankly, I’ve got sand where I’m not supposed to have it.”

I scrunched my nose, “Get in the car, boys.”

Alex rode shotgun and the other four piled in the back. I looked at the rear view mirror and wondered how they all fit. I doubted that it was the slightest bit comfortable.

Zack was looking out the window. Before the engine roared to life, I swear I heard him say under his breath, “She was so pretty,”