Oceans Crossed and Lessons Learned

"Sammy!" Simone calls to me and the suddenly I get hit on the head with a volleyball.
"Ergh." I groan as I pick it up off the sand and bump it back to the other side of the net.

"Prend un pause." the girl known as Melinda tells me. I learned on my first day of volleyball that means take a break, and I wasn't about to forget the most precious saying in the French language. Melinda is just about a professional volleyball player and she has the ego that goes with it.

I walk up the beach to where my bag is and I take a long drink from my water bottle when my ears start ringing from the familiarity of the english language. Up the beach, on the pavement in front of the restaurants are a group of guys in swimming trunks taking turns on one skateboard. I squint and see that its Trevor and his buddies. What are the chances?

I drop my water bottle on my bag and walk up towards them.
"Hey boys." I say with a sudden unheard of surge of confidence.
"Sammy?" Trevor says slightly amazed, "What are you doing here?"
"I should ask you the same thing." I say putting a hand on my hip.

We step a bit away from the other guys so that we don't have to yell over the insanity.
"Closest beach to the city and its my day off." he says smugly.
"My uncle lives like ten minutes away, and I'm stuck here at volleyball camp." I motion to the nets behind me.
"So like you're on the team?"
"Nah, I can barely play. But volleyball is just supposed to keep me occupied this summer."
"So when do you get off volleyhell?" he asks scratching the back of his neck.
"Four." I say just as Genvieve calls for me, "Fuck."
"Cool, come find us then." Trevor says grinning, "We should be around here."
"Yep." I say turning around and heading back down the beach.

"Oi, Trevor! Who's your girly-friend and what the hell is she doing with you?!" one of Trevor's friends yells. I can't help but laugh into my hand.

"Who was that?" Genvieve and Simone chant when get back to where the nets are set up.
"This guy I met at the concert Mathieu took me to."
"Why is he here den?" Simone asks staring off to where he and his friends are.
"Coincidence." I say.
"Pardon?"
"Uhh he had the day off so he came to the beach."

Waiting for the end of volleyball, or volleyhell as Trevor calls it, is like every other day living hell. But alas clipboard guy lets us free and everyone heads down to the water to take a swim. Except me, I head up the beach to where I last saw Trevor and his friends.

I glance around, adjusting the strap of my bag on my shoulder when hear a roar of laughter coming from inside the ice cream shop. It was in fact them so I head inside.
"Trevor's girl!" someone calls to me.
"Sammy." Trevor calls right after. I make my way to their table where a chair is already pulled up for me, "Alright, let me introduce everyone, that's Cameron, Spencer, and Doug."
"Hi." I say looking them over.

"Want a sundae?" Trevor asks me. I glance around at the table covered in sundae glasses at different levels of fullness.
"Sure." I say reaching into my bag for my wallet.
"Its on me." he winks.
"Thanks." I say as he gets up and goes to the counter.

"I swear to God he shat himself!" Doug exclaims and the guys roar with laughter.
"Liar." Cameron says shaking his head.
"No, the truth, you can even ask brown Bobby." Doug defends.
"Brown Bobby is just as full of lies as you are!" Spencer exclaims.
"Fine don't believe me."

Trevor returns to the table with two sundaes and hands me one.
"Thanks."
"No problem babe." he says taking his seat, "What did I miss?"
"He's talking about how Leo shat himself after riding the roller coaster at Combie."
"No way!" Trevor shakes his head, "He only threw up, brown Bobby already told me that story."
"I knew you were lying." Cameron says smacking Doug upside the head.

"So uhh, Sammy, right?" Spencer says, I nod, "What's your business here in France?"
"Hiding from the law." I say licking my spoon clean before going in for another scoop.
"Whaddya do?" Doug asks.
"Killed my ex-boyfriend." I say staring him down.
"You're shitting me." Doug says after a moment or two as if he'd just figured it out.
"No shit man." Spencer laughs.

"So seriously?" Trevor asks cocking an eyebrow.
"My mom sent me here to keep me outta trouble."

The table roars with "oohs," "ahhs" and laughter. I can only blush.
"Naughty, naughty girl." Spencer laughs.
"Hanging out with us is ruining her plan." Cameron adds in.
"Oh yeah, 'cause you're all so bad ass." I taunt.
"You saying your Canadian friends are more bad ass than us?" Doug asks.
"I know nuns more bad ass than you!" I laugh, "I mean, except Trevor, he bought me ice cream."
"Awe thanks." Trevor coos.

"Sammy!" I whip around to see my cousin standing at the doorway, "C'mon, we're leaving now."
"Umm, I think I'll walk home, kay?" I say hopefully.
"Okay, I will go to Dominic's house," she says flipping her hair casually as she spoke, "You 'ave to be home before supper."
"Alright." I say as she turns and leaves the ice cream parlor.

"I like supper." Doug says pondering to himself.
"As do I." I say nodding and trying not to laugh.

"I need to get home now." I say little while later.
"Awe." Spencer fake sighs.
"Bye!" Doug and Cameron chant.

I pick my bag up off the floor as Trevor stands up.
"I'll walk you." he offers. I ignore the cat calls from the guys that follow his offer.
"Its a fifteen minute walk." I warn as I sling my bag over my shoulder.
"Yeah well, I ate two sundaes and I've gotta keep my girlish figure." he says as we head for the door, "Later guys!"
"Bye you guys." I say just as we step out the door.
"Bye Trevor's lady friend!" one of them calls.

"Sorry about my friends, they're uhh special." Trevor says with a grin.
"Awe no, they seem pretty cool." I laugh.

"So what are you lot doing here in France anyway?" I ask as we start up the road towards my uncle's house.
"My cousin has a flat here and he's off in America doing god-knows-what so he's letting the four of us sub-let it for the summer."
"That's pretty awesome." I nod, "So you work here too then?"
"Uhh yeah, Cameron and I wash dishes at some ritzy hotel, Spencer is a valet for the same hotel and well Doug works at a Mc Donalds."
"Nice." I half-laugh.

"So why exactly are you in France, and don't say you killed your ex-boyfriend." Trevor says with a smile I just can't lie to.
"Ahh well, I came home drunk a couple of times and I just sorta maybe have some issues with self-inflicted injuries." I say over-casually.
"What so you go all emo and cut yourself?" he laughs.
"Uhh yeah."
"Oh sorry." he says immediately.
"No man, s'okay." I say shaking my head, "I'm just another stupid kid looking for attention, right?"
"Aren't we all." he says kicking a pebble, "D'you still cut yourself?"
"Hmm? No, no." I hold out my arms for him to see, "I'm so tired after volleyball I can barely move, no less take a pair of scissors to my arms."
"What? Scissors?" he fake gasps, "You're not a real emo! Real emos use razor blades."
"Damn, you caught me." I say rolling my eyes, "I guess its for the best, I'm not all to crazy about that emo fringe hair anyway."
"Yeah, nor am I." he laughs, he then falls silent, "Its okay, I never cut myself but I would punch brick walls till my knuckles bled."

I take my water bottle out of my bag.
"Here's to not hurting ourselves." I say taking a swig then offering him the bottle.
"Cheers." he says drinking as well, "So I guess since your arms are clean, your parents' plan is working."
"Guess so." I say as he passes back my water bottle.

"So Sammy," Trevor clears his throat, "Are ya busy on Saturday?"
"I don't know, why?"
"Well I have the day off and I wondering if you'd like to hang out or something." he rambles, "I mean either I could come here and we could bum around the beach all day or like you could come to the city and we could catch a movie or something."
"That sounds like fun." I say smiling, "I'll give you my email because uhh in all honesty I have no idea what the phone number is at my uncle's house." Trevor just laughs at me.
"Alright, sounds great." he says as I rummage through my bag for a paper and pen, not an easy task when you're walking up hill in sandals.

I scribble down my email address just as we approach the front gates of my uncle's house.
"This is your uncle's place?" Trevor asks in awe.
"Yeah."
"Rich bitch."
"Shut up, just my uncle, back home I live in a normal sized house." I say rolling my eyes.
"Why doesn't your uncle share the wealth man? No one needs a house that big." he rambles.
"Whatever." I says shaking my head, "I'll see ya Saturday?"
"Yeah." he grins.

I stand on my tip-toes and kiss his cheek before heading through the gates. I add a sort of sexy strut to my walk as I head to the door, not looking back once but knowing all too well his eyes are fixed on me. Hey, everyone's entitled to being a tease every now and again.