(Friday July 20 – 7:00am)
“Can someone tell me why we’re leaving so early?” Justin grumbled from the back of the
van. His eyes were closed and his head
was resting on Stacy’s shoulder.
“Because it takes at least two hours to drive there
and we want to spend as much time there as possible.” Lance said from his position in the seat in front of Justin. “Just go back to sleep.”
“I plan on it,” he grumbled and cuddled closer to
Stacy.
“JC already beat you to it.” Laurie sighed and
glanced down at the man sleeping on her shoulder.
The ride to Santa Cruz was quiet except for the
occasional comment from Chris. He
couldn’t wait to hit the beach, rent a surfboard and ride the waves.
“Chris, you can’t go surfing.” Lance said.
“Why not?”
“Your wrist,” Lance responded. “You can’t get it wet and you wouldn’t be
able to cover it properly while you were surfing.”
Chris looked down at his wrist. “Damn.”
“Ever thought about why they’re called Q-Tips?”
Hannah asked while she was rummaging through her purse.
“That was random,” Lance looked over at her. “Where did that come from?”
“I was looking in my purse for a tissue and there
was a Q-Tip at the bottom.” She replied.
She looked at it more closely.
“I guess it kind of resembles the letter Q… the swab is oval and the
stick could be the tail.”
“Q-Tip is supposed to stand for ‘Quality Tip’,”
Joey told her. “I remember reading that
somewhere. Personally, as long as they
work, I’m happy.”
“I bet you can’t say Q-Tip five times fast,” Chris
challenged Joey.
Joey tried it and tripped over his tongue. “You’re right, I can’t.” He turned around and looked at Chris. “Speaking of bets…”
Chris held up his hands. “It hasn’t happened yet.
I’m sure you’ll all find out when it does, because Michelle will
probably enlist your help.”
“Yes!” Joey rubbed his hands together gleefully.
“Hey Joey, didn’t you invite Denise to join us?”
Stacy asked.
“I called her and left a message but she hasn’t
gotten back to me yet,” he frowned. “I
hope she’s still coming to the concert on Sunday, I’m looking forward to
spending some time with her.”
“I’ll give her a call when we get back to the
hotel,” Stacy promised. “She might have
gotten tied up at work.”
“Maybe she broke another toe,” Chris snickered and
Joey glared at him.
**********
When they finally arrived, the driver circled
around several blocks before he finally found a parking space large enough for
the van to fit in. Lonnie, Dre and Tiny
exited the vehicle first, quickly followed by the others.
“I’m free!” Chris
exclaimed the moment his feet hit the pavement. He grabbed Michelle’s hand and started pulling her towards the
beach. “Come on, let’s go!”
“Hold it, Kirkpatrick.” Lonnie stopped him with one
hand. “We need a game plan. There’s only three of us and nine of
you. We need to know who’s going
where.”
“The beach,” Chris blurted out.
Once everyone had decided what they wanted to do,
Dre and Tiny went with Justin, Stacy, Lance and Hannah to cruise the boardwalk,
with Lonnie went with the others to the beach.
It was assumed that there wouldn’t be as much of a threat because most
of their time would be spent in the water.
“Remember you can’t get your cast wet,” Lance
warned.
“Yeah, yeah.” Chris rolled his eyes. “Maybe I’ll just hit the boardwalk with you
guys then.”
“Why don’t we all explore the boardwalk and then
hit the beach? I’m sure we’re going to
need cooling off later anyway.” Laurie suggested.
“Works for me,” Joey shrugged. “What do you want to do… start at one end
and work our way to the other end?”
“That would probably be best, we’d waste less time
that way.” JC said.
Justin pouted. “I want to go to Sector 7.”
“What’s that?” Hannah asked.
A grin spread across Justin’s face. “Laser Tag.”
“Oh SWEET!” Chris yelled. “Let’s do that first!”
Lance fixed his eyes upon his watch. “Well we have
all day, so let’s just do whatever catches our eye… so what if we have to
backtrack? It isn’t often we get to do
something like this.”
“And what do the rest of you plan to do?” Lonnie
folded his arms across his chest. His
patience was already beginning to wear thin and the day had just begun.
“Laurie and I are going to the Haunted House.” JC
told him.
Joey snickered.
“You just want to make out with her in the dark.”
“I can do that anytime.” JC grinned.
“I think that’s where Hannah and I are going,”
Lance added. “We can keep an eye on the
lovebirds and make sure they behave themselves.”
“Beach.” Stacy and Michelle said in unison and
laughed.
“Fine,” Lonnie said gruffly. “Check in with us in an hour at the end of
the boardwalk by the Tsunami.”
“Great, see ya!” Justin laughed excitedly and took
off with Chris and Joey close behind him.
**********
“Is this supposed to be scary?” Laurie asked as the
cart jolted forward and they descended into darkness.
JC wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled
her closer. She snuggled into his warm
body and tucked her head under his chin.
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from any ghosts or
goblins that might jump out and attack you.” He teased.
“Promise?” She smiled up at him.
“Absolutely.” He kissed her gently then
sighed. “This is probably as close as
I’ll get to touching you in public for a while.”
Laurie let her hand rest on his thigh and she gave
it a light squeeze. “It’s just for a
few more days… and then we can be together.”
**********
It was more than two hours later when Joey, Justin
and Chris meekly approached the group waiting at the end of the boardwalk. JC looked like he was about to fall asleep
on Tiny’s shoulder, while Lonnie and Dre looked furious.
“We were just about to come looking for you.” Dre
growled. “What part of ‘Check in with
us in an hour at the end of the boardwalk by the Tsunami’ didn’t you
understand?”
“The ‘hour’ part,” Lance snickered under his
breath. Justin glared at him.
“We just lost track of time,” he huffed. “Besides, it’s not like we have anything
planned for today, what’s with the time constraints?”
“You know what happens when JC gets bored.” Lance
nudged his friend with his foot. “Look
at him, he’s practically falling asleep.”
“Oh, THERE’S a big surprise,” Chris elbowed Joey
and they shared a grin. He suddenly
realized the group of people wasn’t as big as it was when they had
arrived. “Where are the girls?”
“They got bored waiting for you three idiots to
finally show up and left to check out a few of the little shops.” JC yawned
from his position and adjusted his body so he was more comfortable.
“It’s alive!” Chris shrieked and jumped behind
Justin for protection.
Joey at least had the decency to look guilty, even
if he didn’t feel that way. “Well… um…
shouldn’t we go find them?”
“Nah,” Justin flopped down beside Lance and closed
his eyes as he tilted his head up towards the warmth of the sun. “They know where we are, it’s better if we
just stay in one spot.”
“The kid’s got a point,” Chris said and started
poking JC so he could have something to do.
JC put up with it for a minute before he started slapping Chris’ hand
away. “Sorry C, was that annoying you?”
JC cast an arrant look at him and moved so he was
as far away from Chris as he could get.
“I really don’t know how Michelle has managed to put up with him for so
long.” He mumbled to no one in particular.
“I hope we don’t have to wait too long for them to
come back,” Joey mused. “I don’t want
to wait here forever.”
Lance gaped at him. “But it’s ok for us to wait here for you?”
“Yeah, so
I’ll shut up now.” Joey smiled sheepishly and sat down.
**********
“We’ve been gone for half an hour, do you think we
should head back?” Hannah asked. She was getting bored with shopping.
“Why? Do
you miss Laaaaance?” Michelle teased.
“Shut up,” Hannah ducked her head to hide the blush
that spread across her cheeks.
“So what’s going on with you two anyway?” Stacy
asked. “I don’t mean to pry, I’m just
curious.” She held up a hat for them to
see. “Do you think Justin would like
this?”
“Wrong color,” Michelle shook her head.
“You’re not prying,” Hannah’s face was still
flushed. “I’d like something to be
going between Lance and myself, but I’m not sure how he feels. When you’ve been friends for as long as we
have…”
“It makes it that much better when you finally get
together.” Laurie smiled. “Trust me.”
“Is that how it was with you and JC?”
“Kind of.” It was Laurie’s turn to blush. “We didn’t know each other for that long
before we became intimate… a few weeks.
But I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.”
“You should talk to him,” Stacy added. She was now digging through a display of
towels. “You guys would be great
together.”
“Well,” Hannah said shyly. “We’ll see.”
“We should start thinking about heading back
though. JC is probably ready for a
nap.”
“And you need to keep him awake, right?” Michelle
winked. Laurie just smiled.
“Ok, let’s pay for what we’ve accumulated and then
we can leave.” Hannah said and took her
new hat and sunglasses up to the counter.
Several minutes later, the four of them left the
shop with their new items in hand. As
they got closer to the Tsunami, they noticed that Joey, Justin and Chris had returned
and sure enough, it looked like JC was half-asleep.
“Took you long enough,” Chris grumbled once the
girls were in earshot.
Michelle raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” She walked closer to him and
poked his chest. “And just how long
were YOU gone for?”
“Now we know where Chris learned to poke people,”
Lance snickered into JC’s ear.
“No, I think he probably learned that on his own
just to annoy me.” JC replied and looked over at Laurie. He winked slowly and ran his tongue
teasingly over his lips.
Laurie glanced around to see if anyone was watching
and then nonchalantly walked over to JC and sat down beside him. “Are you behaving yourself?” She asked
quietly.
“Do you want me to?” He challenged.
“Not always,” she grinned. Her attention was reluctantly drawn away
from him when she realized that the conversation between Chris and Michelle had
escalated.
“Fine Chris, then you don’t get any funnel
cake!”
Laurie looked at JC and then back at Chris and
Michelle. “What’s funnel cake?”
Eight pairs of eyes turned to look at Laurie with
shocked expressions.
“You don’t know what funnel cake is?” Stacy asked
incredulously.
“No…” Laurie hesitated. She was beginning to think she shouldn’t have said anything.
“It is SO yummy,” Hannah grinned. “Come on, now you have to try some.”
“I guess that’s what we’re doing next.” Lance
laughed as Hannah tugged him to his feet.
Lonnie, Dre and Tiny picked up the bags that the
girls had put down moments earlier and followed the eager group to little stand
they had passed after buying their ride tickets when they had first
arrived. Hannah was still telling
Laurie about the wonderful qualities of funnel cake.
“Yeah and if you order it right, it contains almost
all the food groups.” Joey added.
Laurie stared at him doubtfully. He put an arm around her shoulders and began
to explain.
“Think about it.
The cake part can be part of the bread group. The ice cream is dairy and the fruit is… well… fruit.”
“Don’t forget the powdered sugar!” Chris piped up.
“Don’t forget you don’t deserve any.” Michelle
reminded him.
“Aww come on,” he laid his head on her shoulder and
stared at her with doleful eyes.
“Funnel cakes are meant to share with someone you love.”
Michelle grinned sneakily and looked over at Joey
who still had his arm around Laurie.
“Hey Joey, want to share one with me?”
“Forget it, I can eat one of those babies on my
own.” He shouted.
Michelle looked back at Chris who had started to
pout. She wrapped her arms around his
waist and kissed his nose. “All right,
I suppose we can share one.”
They placed their orders and Laurie watched as
everyone else received their sweet treat.
“They do look good,” Laurie admitted.
JC nudged her.
“Want to share one with me?”
“I don’t know,” she teased. “Lonnie looks kind of hungry, maybe I’ll see
if he wants to share one.”
“Oh come on, if Joey can eat one by himself, don’t
you think Lonnie could?”
“Fine, if you’re going to be picky about it.” She
tried to hide her smile. “Strawberry
topping ok with you?”
“You can pick whatever topping you want, since
you’re the funnel cake virgin.” He temporarily forgot where he was and leaned
in to kiss her. Lance noticed and
cleared his throat loudly. “Oops.”
“Umm yeah, that would have been a big ‘oops’.” Lance scolded. “Just watch yourselves.”
“It’s a good thing he wasn’t in the same cart with
us when we were in the Haunted House.” Laurie giggled quietly. She followed JC over to one of the benches
and watched as he took a big bite. “I
thought we were going to share?”
“Oh sorry,” he apologized and spooned some of the
cake onto the fork along with the fruit topping and ice cream. “Here.”
Laurie opened her mouth and let JC fed her the
sweet mixture. She savored the taste of
it and immediately wanted more.
“That’s really good,” she said and grabbed the
plate from him.
“Hey!” He protested.
“Sorry, did you still want some?” She grinned.
“Umm yeah.” He said sarcastically and leaned over
to whisper, “It’s too bad we can’t take this back to the hotel with us… I’d
love to be able to do more than just feed it to you. I’d want to eat it off of you.”
“Do you two need to get a room?” Justin asked
casually.
“We have one,” JC replied. “We just can’t use it right now.”
“I think we need to separate you two.” Lance
said. “You’re not being very careful.”
“Who died and made you boss?” JC asked. “If it was up to me, I’d announce to
everyone that I love Laurie.”
“Fine,” Lance huffed and stood up. “You do whatever you want C. I don’t care anymore.”
Having said that, Lance grabbed his things and
walked away. Hannah cast a worried look
at the others and followed the direction Lance took.
“Maybe my coming along today was a bad idea.”
Laurie folded her hands in her lap and looked down at them.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” JC told her. “I want you here… Lance is just in a mood.”
“Lance is just concerned.”
Justin corrected. “And he’s right, you
and Laurie aren’t being very careful today.”
“What the hell does it matter?” JC exclaimed. “I don’t care if Alexandria finds out that
I’m cheating on her.”
“Ok, time out.” Joey made a ‘T’ with his
hands. “This isn’t the place to have
this conversation.”
“Joey’s right,” Michelle said. Chris was finishing off the last of their
funnel cake. “Let’s just all chill out
and hit some rides.”
(Several hours later)
“I’m exhausted.” Michelle leaned back against the
railing that separated the beach from the boardwalk. “What time is it?”
“Almost eight o’clock,” Laurie looked at her
watch. “We’re supposed to leave soon.”
“Do we have time for one more ride?” Chris asked.
“Why? What
one do you want to go on… AGAIN?” JC laughed.
“You’ve been on all of them at least twice.”
“That’s not true, I haven’t been on the Ferris
Wheel or the log ride.” He defended himself.
“Well I know it’s not the Ferris Wheel,” Michelle
laughed. “There’s a small line for the
log ride… are we going to go in one log?”
“Might as well, it will save time.” She walked over and stood behind the last
person in line. “Besides, if I’m in
between two of you, I won’t get as wet.”
“I could change that,” JC whispered in her ear,
making her blush. Michelle just shook
her head.
The four of them chatted casually as they waited
for their turn, which came ten minutes later.
Michelle climbed into the front of the log, followed by Chris, JC and
Laurie. The log began to ascend and
when Michelle felt Chris putting his hands up her shirt, she tried to turn
around to look at him.
“What are you doing?”
“I don’t want to get my cast wet.” He explained.
“I don’t think your hands need to be that high up my shirt in order for your
cast to stay dry.”
“Are you complaining?” His breath nuzzled her neck.
“Not anymore.” She grinned and faced the front
again.
“Someone has the right idea,” JC whispered and
kissed Laurie’s earlobe.
“At least no one can see us up here,” she smiled
and let her body relax back into his.
Until the log rounded the bend and she could see the bottom. She hid her face in Chris’ back.
“What are you doing?” JC chuckled and tried to pull
her back toward him. She resisted. “Come on, it’s not that bad.”
“I don’t want to get wet.”
“You should of thought about that before you agreed
to come on this ride.” Chris yelled back.
Laurie just groaned and lowered her head even
more. They hit the bottom with a thump
and the water below washed over them.
“So much for not getting wet,” Laurie sighed with
dismay as she looked down at her shirt.
“Wet t-shirt contest?” Chris suggested. JC shook his head.
“We’ve got to get to the van before they send a
search party out for us.” JC said right before he turned around and ran into
Lonnie’s solid chest.
“Oops.”
“Let’s go, we’re all waiting for you.” Lonnie
commanded and led them to the parking lot.