lauren

~~~~~~~

i look up from my car window. the palm trees outside are having their own party, swaying in the wind all in time. i look to my right. johnny is blasting kenzie's new song. i smile.

"john, surely listening to Kenzie's song 100 times is enough?" i say.

"definitely not, it's amazing," he replies with a smile.

"i know it is," i begin. "but you seem to have a crazy obsession with it."

he blushes.

"or should i say you have a crazy obsession for her?"

john smacks my arm. "shut up laur!"

"if you say so," i reply with a smirk on my face.

when we arrive at our destination, Venice beach, i hop out of the car. john slowly follows after me. we grab our beach gear out of the trunk and make our way down to the beach.

i check the time on my phone. 2:28. john and I are early. i take my time in laying out my towel on the hot sand, and i quickly strip my clothes off. underneath is my bikini, consisting of ruffles on black fabric. i quickly tie my hair up in a messy bun and look at john for approval of my outfit.

"why should i care how you look?" john asks.

i poke my tongue out at him. "because you're my brother dumbo, you have to approve everything."

"or am i just approving something for someone special?" johnny says with a guilty smirk planted on his face.

i punch him on the arm. "shut up johnny!" i say.

he begins to mock me. "oh carson, i just need you so much. i love you and i miss you. please hug me and never leave."

"i have never looked like or said anything like that," i reply.

"maybe not out loud," johnny says, picking up his towel and placing it down on the sand next to mine. "but you probably say it in your mind a hell load of time."

annoyed at his mockery, i scoop up a scoopful of the gritty sand and pour it all over johnny.

he looks stunned but annoyed. in the distance, i can see kenzie, maisy, annie, lexi, saryna, nia and jayden all running down to where johnny and I are fighting.

all of a sudden, kenzie screams that she wants to join, so she tackles johnny in the water. they start having their own water fight. us girls just burst into giggles.

i turn my head slightly to the left and i see a sight i never believed i would ever see. carson. and his friends including hayden and bryce. they all run down and chuck their beach bags to the ground. carson immediately runs to johnny and splashes him with buckets full of water. bryce and hayden however, they take a detour to go pick up nia and annie. bryce picks nia up bridal style and throws her into the water. hayden picks up annie and annie wraps her legs around him, like they did when they first met.

jayden, maisy, lexi and saryna all go running into the water and scream at each other, with little laughs breaking up their screeching cries.

while everyone is involved in their water fight, i sit down on my towel and pick up my book. i end up having about 1 minute of peace when Carson picks me up and throws me over his shoulders.

"have you ever heard of personal space stranger?!" i yell out at him as he carries me towards the beach.

"hi laur, im a guy called carson, nice to meet you," carson begins to say. "hey! now we aren't strangers anymore."

SPLASH

carson throws me into the ocean and quickly comes diving after me. when we subside to the surface, we both burst into laughter.

"it's pretty cool to finally meet you lauren," carson says and looks downwards swiftly afterwards.

"it's pretty cool to meet you too."

~~~

during the hours afterwards, all carson and i would do was swim in the ocean (splashing each other and play fighting), and having deep chats on the shore. having 3 hours to get to know someone was plenty, i knew carson inside and out.

we left the beach at around 6pm. we walked up into Santa Monica and stopped at a crepe cafe for dinner. unfortunately, they had no big tables, so my table consisted of carson, johnny, kenzie and me.

johnny insisted that he was to sit next to me, probably so i stayed away from carson. during our time there however, all carson and i could hear was kenzie and johns 'low-key' flirting. it was hilarious.

currently, we are walking around LA finding places to take photos for our social media.

carson pulls me over to somewhere private. "hey lauren?" he asks.

"yes carson?" i reply.

"i thought this was really fun."

"so did i, i especially enjoyed smashing an ice cream in your face!"

he smiles. "and i did too. which is why i was wondering if you wanted to do this again sometime?"

"i would love to!" i say, and i give him a hug.

"great," he says, and looks into my eyes.