Days of the Old

Twenty minutes had passed, and I was beginning to get a little anxious, still sitting on top of the island. Everyone had come upstairs about ten minutes ago in search of me, and asked what I was doing. I simply told them that Dannii was coming and smirked at Tyler.

The guys were pretty much clueless, including Tyler, but the girls smirked and giggled along with me. I was determined to get this right, so when the doorbell rang, I jumped off the counter and bolted toward the door, Jimmy hot on my trail thinking I wanted to race him for some godforsaken reason.

“Payton, no running! You’re gonna mess yourself up again!” Matt hollered, which I ignored. My ribs were almost healed, or at least they felt like it.

Honestly, I don’t know how I managed to get to the door before he did, but I whipped it open and grinned widely at Dannii, who looked more than a little scared at the sight of Jimmy and me wrestling to get in the doorway. She wore the normal beach day attire, denim shorts and her bathing suit peeked out from her oversized t-shirt. Her bang was pushed back by her sunglasses.

“Hey Dannii,” I said giddily, giving Jimmy one more huge push, and it sent him stumbling back in the opposite direction. “Come on, I want you to meet someone!”

“Geez, Min, you’re on a mission aren’t you?” Jimmy grumbled, stalking back into the living room where everyone else was.

I hauled Dannii in and led her straight to the living room, smirking. “This had better be good,” She mumbled trailing behind me almost groggily. I hadn’t forgotten I’d woke her up. I continued until I was right in front of Tyler and stepped back slightly so Dannii was in full view.

She stopped her mumbling as soon as she caught sight of him, glanced at me, and immediately smile. “Dannii, this is Tyler,” I said, introducing them with a sweep of my hand. I felt like someone modeling for a car at a game show. “Tyler, Dannii.”

"Hi," She said, giggling slightly as she nervously played with her hair. Tyler looked up at her, smirked as I had been expecting and said a 'hey' back, before gesturing for her to sit down next to him

My work there was done, at least for a little while, so I completely back up out of the way and looked around. The girls were still giggling, and the guys had thankfully finally caught on, and were now smirking too. "I'm gonna go change," I said quietly, not knowing whether anyone had heard me and slipped upstairs to my room, changing into one of the bathing suits the girls had gotten me on one of our shopping trips.

Once I've got it on, I stare back at my reflection in the mirror, more specifically at where the nasty black and blue bruise used to inhabit my torso. It had healed up faster than I had been expecting, and now only had a slight yellow hue to it, however it was still noticeable. I traced my hand under my eye to where the scratch had been, it had left a more than likely permanent scar.

But I didn't care. It was over with. Andy hadn't bugged me too much over the past few weeks, and I was more than thankful that he had seemed to cool off over the one-week suspension he too had gotten.

Quickly, I shook my head and threw on a tank top and denim shorts over my bikini and left the bathroom. After getting my beach bag ready, I slipped on some flip-flops and jogged back downstairs. All of the guys already had their swimming trunks on, and I began wondering how long I'd actually been upstairs.

The girls were ready shortly after, and we all piled into the SUV's, Tyler and Dannii riding in the middle seats with me while Matt and Val were in the front seat.

Unfortunately, Jimmy, Johnny, and Brian thought it would be a good idea to ride in the back, behind us. I knew it was a bad idea from the start, and once we got on the road and I couldn't kick them out, they began laughing and kicking the back of our seat.

For the first thirty seconds, I had considered not saying anything and to just let them be, but they persisted, and after five minutes, I groaned and laid my head back. "How old are you guys supposed to be?" I said, sighing. "Seriously! I thought we were supposed to be the kids."

"I won't grow up!" Jimmy suddenly shouted, making me jump, but I refused to look back at them.

"I won't grow up!" Johnny laughed, playing along to the classic 'Peter Pan' tune.

"I don't wanna go to school!"

"I don't wanna go to school!" I glanced back at them quizzically, about to ask how they knew the lyrics, but then thought better of it. I probably didn’t want to know.

"Just to learn to be a parrot, and recite a silly rule!"

Groaning again, I banged my head against the seat and cussed at myself for what I had started. Matt and Val laughed from the front seat, and after a few moments I did too. These guys were insane, especially when they’re put in such a tiny space together. They were bound to randomly break out into song at some point.

However, as soon as Matt stopped the car, I was out before anyone could so much as move and made a break for the beach, knowing that someone was going to be chasing me. It was almost like a given, I always expected it.

I let out a small gasp when someone picked me up in their arms—not over their shoulder, they’d stopped doing that since they found out about my ribs—and began running at full speed toward the ocean. I hadn’t even made it five meters without Zacky catching me. “Zacky—no!” I yelled, knowing what he was planning on doing.

Laughing, he shook his head, but then Matt began yelling at us from where he was getting all of the stuff down from the rack of the SUV. “Vengeance! Don’t toss her too far, her ribs are still healing!”

Gee, thanks Matt. I was expecting him to hopefully rescue me from the impending doom of the still-cold water, but no, he didn’t care as long as Zacky threw me to the sharks ‘carefully’.

At hearing that, Zacky slowed down a little and he began wading into the water, inching closer to be, now up to Zacky’s waist. I gasped when it touched my feet and cling to Zacky’s neck. “No, it’s way too cold Zacky!”

“Hold your breath,” He said, smirking as he adjusted me in his arms and got ready to pitch me. I didn’t even get to do that, though, because without any further warning, he had me thrown about five feet away from him, but not too far or hard enough to hurt my ribs in any way.

My feet couldn’t reach the bottom, and I began to panic a little and quickly kicked up, surprised by how deep the water had gotten in just a few feet. I came up laughing though, but as soon as I hit the surface Jimmy had practically come out of nowhere and dunked me back down.

This time, I came up sputtering and glaring at him. “That wasn’t really necessary, Jimbo.”

He looked at me as if to say ‘No you didn’t!’ and snapped his fingers, easily being able to stand in the water. “Everything I do is necessary!”

Later, I was just floating, drifting around on my back as I looked up at the almost cloudless sky, remembering I hadn’t put on any sun block. But my attention was quickly drawn to the beach, just off to the side Tyler and Dannii were sharing a towel, sitting closely together, talking and laughing.

They looked like they were getting along a little better than well, and I was proud of myself for what I’d accomplished. I could just picture them together; I knew they’d be one a cute couple.

I noticed something else, too. Even from where I was, floating about thirty feet away from them, I could tell Tyler was pale, paler than his usual. And as much as I hated checking out my best friend because it just felt so wrong, there was no denying that he looked a little skinnier than what I had remembered him as. The muscles he had worked so hard to achieve weren’t as prominent as they used to be.

He probably hadn’t had as much time to work out as he used to. Before I’d left, he’d only spent time with his other friends at parties and whatnot, but I was willing to bet he was hanging out with them all the time these days.

A few moments passed, and Dannii got up and began heading off in the opposite direction, toward the bathrooms and whatnot, and I saw this as my chance to talk to him for a minute, realizing that this would be the first time we'd be alone since he got here.

I rung my hair out as I approached him, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around myself before sitting down next to him. He smiled at me, and I gladly returned it. "I missed you so much, Ty." I said sincerely, looking up to meet his yes. "But you're gonna have to bulk up, man," I laughed and poked at his ribs. "Next thing you know you're gonna be as scrawny as Jimmy."

From just a few feet behind me, I heard a melodramatic gasp and I sighed, knowing what was coming next. Jimmy had me swooped up in his arms in a split second, and he grinned mischievously down at me. "Looks like someone needs another visit with the fishies!" He yelled, and began running for the water again.

"Be careful, Jimmy!" Matt yelled from somewhere behind us, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes even as the water was coming closer and closer toward me. Even though he didn't really show it, Matt worried way too much. He was almost worse than my mother in that way.

Without giving me any warning at all, he threw me into one of the biggest waves I'd seen all day, and it was harder than I'd been expecting to get back up to the surface. I came back out a few moments later, soaking wet yet again. I ignored Jimmy's loud laughter across the beach where the guys were messing around and went straight back to Tyler, plopping down next to him.

"I was serious, Ty," I said, looking up to meet his eyes and poking his ribs again.

Frowning, he looked down at me and did the same, to me, lightly brushing his fingers over the bruise on my ribs. I looked down then, knowing he felt bad for not being there to back me up in the fight with Andy. "Fuckin' punk ass," He mumbled, still staring down at the bruise. "I swear Patey, if I ever see him—"

"Tyler," I sighed, frustrated. "It's done. Over with. I just want to forget about it okay? And stop changing the subject. I'm gonna fatten you up while you're here."

The anger that had been building up in his eyes disappeared, and he smiled his cute dimpled smile and leaned back slightly. "Alright—I’ll let you fatten me up if you promise to eat with me, too."

Matt must have been talking to him again. But I couldn't say I exactly minded, Matt's worries must have come up at some point when they were setting Tyler up to come down here and surprise me, so I couldn’t be mad because the awesome thing they did made up for anything shitty they could have said behind my back. "Alright, deal." I said, once again grinning back at him.

"Hey guys!" Dannii said, planting herself on the other side of me.

“Welcome back,” I said, mimicking Tyler and leaning back so I could soak some sun in and Dannii quickly did the same. If Tyler started visiting more often, then I might actually love being in California. I looked over at the girls who were sunbathing, then at the guys who were making what looked like a crudely shaped sandcastle. After all, I had a family here now, too.