At the Beach

Reed, Kami, and Ruby sat on towels watching the Sun slowly set. The others were playing volleyball a little ways down the beach. Reed had played with them for a while, but he never was very athletic, so after a while he left the game to continue reading his book. Cami was still a little shaken from the incident in the bathroom, and despite her protests that she should go have fun, Ruby insisted on sitting with her. Cami wasn’t in much of a mood to talk, instead choosing to lie face down on a towel , leaving Reed and Ruby to talk to one another.

“What are you reading?” Ruby asked out of the blue.

“It’s a mystery,” Reed responded, “Series of unsolvable murders where the killer leaves a poem at each scene and the detective has to follow the hidden messages in each one. A little basic but still interesting.”

“Sounds really interesting,” Ruby said with a smile.

Reed couldn’t help but smile back. Ruby looked really good right now. Her long brown hair was down and she was wearing a bikini that while not skimpy, did expose herself a good amount.

“Uh yeah.. you could say I’m dying to see how it ends,” Reed blurted out.

Ruby giggled at that, and brushed her hair behind her ear.

“Well you better finish, can’t have you dying on me now ,” Ruby said getting up, “I have to go to the bathroom, be right back.”

“Do you need someone to go with you?,” Reed asked, “I mean in case there’s someone else having sex?”

“Thanks, but I’m a big girl, but I’ll be sure to think of you if I need any help,” Ruby responded.

Reed watched as Ruby walked away, still a little shaken by their conversation. All things considered it could have gone a lot worse.

“Maybe I should ask her out now at the beach. The beach is kind of romantic right? Or maybe it’s a bad idea because everyone else is around,” Reed thought to himself

“Oh my god just fuck already,” Kami said in a deadpan voice, breaking Reed out of his thoughts.

“What? What are talking about?” Reed responded.

Kami propped herself up on her arms and gave Reed a dirty look.

“Oh Ruby I might just die if I don’t find out what happens in my book, but I can make the ultimate sacrifice to walk you to the bathroom if that’s what you need,” Kami said in a mocking voice.

“Shut up,” Reed muttered, turning red.

“Hey, no judgement here man, you two are made for each other, two little socially awkward butterflies spreading their wings and finding love. It’s really quite touching.”

“Okay the last two things to come out of your mouth have really felt like judgement,” Reed muttered.

“That’s just me expressing my feelings of friendship,” Kami said, flashing Reed a smile, “Now if you could find somewhere else to do your weird socially awkward flirting, that would be great, because I’m trying to fall asleep and forget a traumatic experience here.”

“You told Ruby that you were fine,and that you weren’t bothered at all” Reed said

“Yeah well I lied so that she wouldn’t worry and I don’t want other people to see me rattled.”

“You’re showing me.”

“Yeah, because I don’t give a shit about what you think,” Kami snarled.

“Alrighty then,” Reed said returning to his book, as Kano returned to suffocating herself with the towel.

It was moments like these where Reed wondered if Kami really liked anybody else. She had always been like this, standoffish and toeing the line on what was a societally acceptable amount of rudeness. Although with him it had always been a little bit different. While, with most people if Kami was being rude it was because she genuinely didn’t like you, Reed could tell that with him it was coming from a place of caring.

“You sure you’re okay?” Reed asked.

“Yes, now fuck off,” Kami said, her voice muffled.

Reed shook his head and focused on reading the words on the paper, but his thoughts kept drifting back to Ruby. He really hoped she liked him back. Kami seemed to think that she did, which was a good sign. Kami may be a jerk, but she could still read people.

Reed was pondering his next move when the group returned from volleyball.

“We’re heading back. Ellie are we stopping for dinner tonight or making it?” Chris asked.

Ellie had been in charge of planning the trip details, something she had devoted maybe too much time to Chris had told Reed.

“Stopping. I found a cute little dinner that’s only two blocks away. It’s pretty cheap. I thought we could get groceries on the walk back,” Ellie replied.

“Sounds like a plan, so let’s get this show on the road,” Lane said.