A California Summer

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SkyFall

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A California Summer
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This summer was sure to be the best summer ever for James Belle and his best friend Alice. Since their parents decided to go on a cruise together, James and Alice got granted the chance to go to California-- of all places-- and stay in a beach condo house. Sure, James was a little nervous for various reasons. One, the house they would be living in was right on the beach. All they had to do was step off their pack patio and they would be in the warm, beach sand. That was a great thing, but that meant that he had to keep an extra eye on his best friend. He knew her better than anyone and knew that she could be pretty clumsy sometimes. Another reason was that for the next three months, it was as just the two of them. Sure, they would get away from their families and get a break from life, but as long as James could remember, he had sort of had a small crush on Alice. It was impossible for him not to. All of the nights they spend talking, the days they spend laughing, and the times when she was the only thing that pulled him through his mother's death and his father's second marriage. She meant every thing to him.

As James pulled into the driveway of the huge beach house, he smiled and turned the engine off, looking over at his best friend. They were finally in California, after several days of driving, and now had the entire summer ahead of them. The first thing James wanted to do was lay back and relax from the long drive, but if he knew his best friend, she would want to head straight to the beach. Which of course he wouldn't mind that. All the summer ladies in their cute bikinis swimming around, literally just a few feet away from his summer house. He smiled st the thought before jumping out of the car and grabbing both of their suitcases. They walked inside and looked around in awe as they saw the amazing art pieces, and fresh, new furniture. James carried their bags to their rooms, right down the hall from each other, and then plopped down on his own bed while they each gave the other fifteen minutes to relax and then they would decide what to do with their first day in California.
 
Alice Hemmings could not believe it. She was in California in a beach house. No parents, no rules--just whatever she and her best friend wanted to do. He was like a brother to her--an awesome one, at that. They had known each other since the beginning of time it seemed. From the first day she met him, she knew they were destined for being the best of friends. Of course, in kindergarten, that came about in quite hilarious ways.

"Hey you!" Alice yelled, running up to the boy with brown hair. "You are now my best friend. You will do as I say when I say it." James jumped and ran away instantly.

She laughed at the memory. It had taken the majority of the year to convince James that they were to be the best of friends. And here they were now...still doing everything and anything together. Sighing, Alice walked to the window, opening it and taking in the salty-fresh air.

"BEACH DAY!" she screamed, making sure James could hear it very well. With a squeal of delight, Alice changed into a bikini but also put a t-shirt and jean shorts over it. Running bare foot to her friend's door, she banged several times.

"No relaxation for you yet! We're in California!!"
 
James heard his best friend yell at the top of her lungs, lungs and he laughed as he heard her bang in his door. He jumped back up from his position on the soft and comfortable bed, and changed into a pair of blue and gray swimming trucks with a white t-shirt over it. He looked in the mirror really fast before rolling his eyes at his best friends banging."Alright! Alright! I'm coming woman! Calm down!"he says with a laugh as he walked out of his door, shutting it behind him. He looked at her with an eyebrow raised and chuckled."So the beach it is I'm guessing? Did you want to grab something to eat first or are you good?"he asked as he grabbed them both a couple beach towels.

Soon enough they were both down at the beach and he smiled as he tossed his beach towel on the sand and looked around. He saw plenty of girls that he figured he would eventually talk to before the end of the summer, but then his eyes drifted back at Alice for a second before he took his shirt off and tossed it to the sand. "Read to go?"he asked draping an arm over her shoulder."I'll race ya,"he said with a wink before taking off towards the water.
 
"No fair!" Alice yelled, flinging off her t-shirt and not even bothering with the jean shorts. She was a track runner, believe it or not, but James had gotten too good of a head start. He hit the water just a second before her, and she pouted by crossing her arms.

"Cheater!" she said, narrowing her eyes playfully. Before he could react, she tackled him, sending them both into the cool water. Good thing they were in southern California or the water would be absolutely freezing. She popped back up, flinging her hair back in a less-than-graceful fashion and laughing.

"You better not be looking at other girls, mister!" she scolded when he popped back up as well. "You're all mine!" She was joking, of course. This was their summer, and they could do anything they wanted (within legal boundaries of course...maybe).
 
James laughed as he got tackled into the water and rolled his eyes at her next comment."Oh I'm sure of that. If I can't look at all these other girls, then why did we come to such a beautiful place filled with beautiful girls?"he asked jokingly. He chuckled and splashed her with a little water before dipping his head under again.

Swimming a little ways out,he beckoned her to come with him and chuckled."So I say after this, we go down to that cafe we passed earlier and eat, get some icecream, and then come back and take a walk on the beach. Then we need to get plenty of rest for whatever you have planned for tomorrow,"he said laughing as he adjusted her top so that it wasn't so revealing to the other guys. He had noticed a few looking at her, but he quickly gave them a scowl and made sure none tried to take advantage of her.
 
"Sounds good to me," Alice replied, blushing fiercely when she realized how far down her top had gone. "Damn, thanks, James." She was still blushing a little when she swam under and around for a little bit before popping back up again, laughing and floating on her back. The sun was high and hot, and it felt amazing in contrast with the cool California water.

"Alright, I'm done," she said after a couple minutes, standing up and throwing her arms around James and jumping on his back. "To the cafe!"
 
James swam around for a when until Alice made the call that she was ready to go. He chuckled as she jumped on his back and he carried her over to their clothes. He set her down carefully and tried off, tossing his shirt over his shoulder and waiting for Alice to catch up to him. He smiled down at the small, short girl and wrapped an arm over her shoulder as they walked down the sidewalk towards the cafe. Luckily, since it was on the beach, they didn't make you wear a shirt if you were a guy.

James walked in, still top less and they sat at a table, waiting for their food to be brought towards them. James tool a sip of his sweet tea and looked across the table at his best friend."So what's in the agenda for tomorrow? I'm sure you already have the first two weeks, at least, planned out,"he laughed, messing with her s
foot under the table with his. The waitress brought the two best friends their food as they talked and tossed James a wink as she walked away, making James smirk a little.
 
"Beach time, more beach time," Alice giggled. "Oh! We should definitely go see a movie, and we need to shopping for groceries at some point. We don't have enough money to eat out every day." She tapped her chin in thought.

As she was talking, Alice almost missed the wink the waitress sent at James. She frowned only slightly, not quite sure why she was bothered by the fact. Shaking off the feeling, she resumed her delighted expression as she talked about learning how to surf, going para-sailing, and relaxing.

"Well, anything in particular you want to do?" she asked as she ate and sipped her Dr. Pepper. She wasn't one for tea.
 
James was the complete opposite of Alice at that point. She didn't usually drink tea, but that's mainly all he drank. He wasn't a soda guy, but he would take the good sweet tea any day. He started to eat his fries and listened intently as Alice talked away about everything they had to do before the summer was over. He thought about out her question for a moment before answering.

"Well there's some kind of fair or carnival next week we should go to. Apparently big city fairs are so much better than the ones back at home,"he chuckled."Surfing, swimming with the dolphins, amusement parks, everything we can find we will do. Our parents gave us plenty of money to spend and said to have fun. Maybe we can even crash a couple parties here and there before we have to go home in August,"James said smiling.
 
"There's a carnival?" Alice exclaimed, bouncing with excitement. "Freak yes!" That was Alice for you. Always getting a little overly excited and impatient at the same time. "I've actually never been to one, remember?" She grinned, already imagining the taste of cotton candy and various ridiculously fried foods.

"Anyways, shopping is a must. I don't care if you're a guy--we're in Cali. We have to go shopping; it's part of the experience." She thought about the idea of crashing a party. Naive as she was, Alice thought he was talking about some birthday party.

"Why on earth would we do that? We can't just go around crashing people's birthday parties." Her face said she was completely and utterly serious. Alice wasn't always naive like that, but she was too wrapped up in the joy of being in California to put two and two together.
 
James smiled at his naïve little friend and chuckled where she couldn't hear. He decided to just go along with it, knowing she would eventually catch on, even if it wasn't today."Because silly girl, if we crash the party then we can get the best cake! We never know what kind it is so it'll be a surprise, which is always the best!"he said laughing."Yeah, we can go to the fair a couple time next week and let you try all the food."

They finished up their food a little bit later and James paid for their food, put his shirt back on, and walked down the sidewalk towards an icecream parlor with Alice beside him. He stayed quite while they walked and ate their icecream, and thought about all the different and amazing things they could do here in California for three weeks. He smiled and finished up his icecream cone, waiting for Alice so they could go on a walk.
 
It hit her hard and fast, and she was suddenly blushing furiously. "Oh, THAT kind of party," she said, giggling as she realized how stupid she was to think he was talking about flipping birthday parties. Rolling her eyes, she couldn't help but smile at the thought of crashing a Cali-party with her best friend. It'd be awesome.

The ice cream was delicious, especially in the hot sun. Putting an arm around James, she breathed a happy sigh. "This is gonna be amazing," she whispered before dropping her arm and skipping away happily. The beach house was in sight, and she couldn't believe three hours had already passed.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," she said when they walked in. "Salt water is HORRIBLE for the hair!"
 
James laughed as his best friend and agreed with her. He walked to his own room and stripped down and walked into his own shower, thankfully both their rooms had personal showers they could use. He smiled as he stepped into the steering hot shower. All of his tense muscles relaxed after about ten minutes of being under the hot, steering water, and Jame's hair now smelled like warm coconuts. He sighed as he stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his lower waist and turned the water off. He stood in front of the bathroom mirror and wiped at the glass, seeing hsi reflection. He noticed the steel rolling off of his tan skin and he took a deep breath, relaxing a little.

After James slid on a pair of blue and white checkered shorts and a white Polo shirt, Bryce put a pair of white socks on and walked downstairs. He poured himself a glass of milk and took a drink, leaving a milk mustache he wiped off with his free hand. As he plopped down on the couch, he noticed that it was starting to get late and the sun was soon to be setting, he figured in about thirty minutes. James flipped the channels and finally decided on a random movie while he waited for Alice to come back out of her room.
 
Alice decided to take her sweet time, enjoying the hot water immensely. She hadn't even realized she'd been in there for thirty minutes by the time she turned the faucet off. In a series of stumbles and loss-of-balances, she finally made it out of the bathroom with a brush stuck in her hair. "James, I need help!" she yelled as she put on a bra, t-shirt, and a pair of Nike shorts.

She went downstairs, scowling as she pointed at the blue hairbrush stuck in her wavy hair. "Help, please," she said pleadingly, her eyes daring him to laugh. "I swear if you rip out a single hair from my head, you will wish you'd never been born." She was only half-joking.
 
From the moment James heard Alice yelling for help, he was up and almost to Alice door when she came out with a hair brush in her hair. He sighed in relief that she wasn't actually hurt, and sighed. He led her into the living room and sat her down in between his legs as he slowly and carefully worked the brush out of her hair. He sighed and chuckled a little as he used the brush to get the knots out of her long hair. He eventually got her hair all brushed out and smiled, handing her the brush."See? That wasn't so hard. Is that all? Ready for our walk?"he asked raising an eyebrow.
 
Alice stuck her tongue out before smiling and nodding. "Sure," she said standing up and marching her way out the back door. The air was only slightly cooler, and she stood in awe at the beauty of the sunset.

"Wow," Alice breathed, a grin breaking out on her face. "Where's my camera?!" She ran back inside, grabbing her overly-large purse and pulling out her Nikon D3x. She'd spent five years saving money for this baby, and she would never let anyone (not even James) touch it. Never, ever, ever.

When she'd taken some awesome shots of the sunset, she returned the camera to its case, careful to make sure it was perfectly safe. "Alright, let's actually go for a walk now," she said with a smile, taking James's arm and leading him down the deck and onto the sand.
 
James chuckled and waited until Alice had her camera up before he let her pull him down towards the sand. He smiled at the feel of the warm sand on his bare feet and noticed that nearly everyone had left the beach, so it was mainly just them and a few others. James wrapped his arm closests to Alice wrap around her waist and used the other to grab her hand and play with her fingers. He smiled a little and decided they would walk around until she got tired and then he would take her back to the beach house. He allowed her to lean her head against his shoulder and he kissed the top of her head just as he had always before."So how was the first day?"he asked.
 
"Amazing, thanks to you," Alice replied in a whisper. She didn't even know what she really meant by that. Here, alone...she felt something odd. Was it attraction? No, that couldn't be it. She'd always seen him as a brother and nothing more. Not even a little bit more. Was it just the heat getting to her? Surely that was it.

Though, it really wasn't that hot and being directly by the sea helped keep the temperatures a little cooler. Deciding to not think about it, she enjoyed being in the company of her best friend. Closing her eyes, she walked slowly. This was wonderful. Nothing could ruin this moment.

Well, except the very loud clap of thunder coming from a storm a few miles away. Her eyes popped open as she looked at the ominous clouds that had appeared out of nowhere. "Looks like a storm's coming," she remarked, vaguely remembering the weather report saying that a thunderstorm would be coming shortly after sunset. It wasn't supposed to be too bad, but it certainly looked like it would be.

"We better head back," she said, frowning as the wind picked up. She loved the rain, but not so much with lightning and thunder.
 
With the loud clap of thunder and wind howling around them, James helped Alice back towards the beach house. He shut and locked all the doors and windows when they got back here and then flipped the lights off as he walked back towards the living room with Alice."Are you ready for bed or do you want to watch a movie? Are you going to be able to sleep tonight anyway?"he asked, raising an eyebrow.

James led her near the couch, then walked to a closet and pulled out sheets and blankets. He tossed them on the couch and then grabbed some popcorn and movies."We can make a fort and watch movies and eat popcorn until you fall asleep,"he said chuckling a little as he ruffled her hair.
 
"Making a fort? Isn't that a bit childish?" she inquired, laughing as she gave in and picked out a couple choices. "Hm, chick flick or action?" She held up two choices: Mean Girls and The Avengers. "It's false dichotomy: you must choose!"

She giggled as she chose for him. "Mean Girls, it is!" She popped it into the player and jumped onto the couch, bundling into the blankets and waiting expectantly for the popcorn to be made. "Hurry up, servant!" Her evil smile was almost believable. Almost.
 
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