"Are you here yet? Are you here yet? Are you here yet?"
"Trust me, you'll know when I get there"

The whole morning I'm shaking with excitement. They got onto a plane at five am their time, which means four am my time so they could be here any minute since it's now ten o' three.
I glance back down at my phone and open the group chat instead of just my private messages with Zack.

Me: yall close?
Ash: define close?
Jake: define lost.
Me: dang it

I quickly open Google maps and send a screenshot of my house on the map.

Me: do you see your current location anywhere on that map?

Ash: funny story; we're 25 minutes away
Me: Thank God
Me: I'm so excitedddd
Me: I made sure the guest rooms are all nice and pretty, as per Zacks request lol
Zack: Genevieve is excited to stay in the twin's room
Jake: and James is less than thrilled to be sharing a room with Zack and I
Me: LMAO
Ash: he's kind of a brat actually
Ash: he's like- pissed that your family is too poor for a six bedroom house
Me: wtf
Me: bro hit him
Me: please
Me: god
Ash: LMAO

I don't get any messages for a moment and I wonder if they're here trying to surprise me. I rush to the front door and glance outside to see- no new cars.

Zack: I got yelled at 😅
Ash: his mom is almost as terrifying as yours
Me: ikr like holy sh-
Jake: lol

~•~•~•~•~

"You're here!" I cry as I run out of my house and into the driveway.
Ash, partway through climbing out if the mini-van Zacks parents had rented for the trip, stumbles as they rush to hug me.
"Lana!" Ash cries.
I open my arms and welcome the hug as she thrusts me backwards. We stumble for a moment, but we regain our balance and continue hugging and laughing. Never let go again. Don't leave me.
We hug for a moment longer before I move onto Zack who's staring at me expectantly with a mischievous smile.
I fling my arms out and rush to throw them over his shoulders. I feel him squeezing my waist tightly and he slightly lifts me off the ground again, which I don't fight this time. I just burrow my face into his neck and let the hug go on. I need more of these hugs, ugh. I stop myself from making any sound, though I desperately want to. Mmmmm, I love this.
I can feel my whole body shaking and my eyes burn as I let go and start to aim towards Jake.
Just before I reach Jake, I feel someone clinging to my side. Zack-?
"Lana!" A small voice exclaims.
"Genevieve!" I glance to Jake apologetically before turning my attention to Genevieve, wrapping her in a proper hug.
"Hey little one," I laugh.
"I missed you so much!" Genevieve squeezes my waist as tight as she can, snuggling her head against me before she lets go.
"I missed you too," I smile and stroke her hair.
Once she's completely detached I I my attention to Jake and give him a big hug.
"Hey," I laugh.
Jake laughs, "long time no see."
I nod, laughing as I pull away and glance over to Zack and Ash to my left. I can feel my eyes burning and the small collection of tears just below them. I take a moment to wave briefly at Zacks parents and minimally acknowledge James, who seems mostly unenthused being here.
I take a deep breath and spin around and grab Zacks wrist, avoiding his hand as to not draw suspicion, and lead him towards the front door to the house.
"C'mon!" I laugh, dragging him along.

"We all know what cars were taking?" My father double checks as he leads the way to the front door.
Everyone nods.
I grab my keys from their hook as we walk past it and shove forward to be beside my father, "Ash, Zack, Jake, and Clyde with me, Mom, the twins, and Chloe with you, and Zacks parents, James, Genevieve, and Clarrisa with Madison."
My father nods, "let's go."
Once he opens the door I wait a second until he's through it then rush ahead to my car to unlock it.
Our area doesn't have much crime, though Francine, the neighbor's nephew is visiting and he has quite the record, or at least that's what Maddison told me last week during movie night.
"Everyone in," I wave once my car is unlocked.
"I call shotgun!" Zack calls.
I giggle, "You'll have to fight Clyde for it, that's basically his spot."
Please let him sit there, ple-
Clyde laughs sheepishly from the sidewalk where he appeared beside me, "he can have it, I'll sit in back."
"Coolio," I smile thankfully, "He says you can have shotgun!" I call.
Zack opens the passenger door just as I swing myself into the drivers seat, "good, I was taking it anyways," he smirks.
I can feel my face beginning to turn red but I shake it away.
As Zack readjusts himself in the seat, his hand brushes against mine that's sitting on the center console after putting my phone away and I glance up at him with a deep blush starting on my cheeks.
"Sorry," Zack smiles.
"We all in?" Clyde asks, snapping me out of my imminent daydream.
"Yep," Ash says from the middle seat beside him.
I glance back at them, my eyes carefully avoiding Zack, "looks like it."

The whole car ride Ash and Clyde chatter excitedly, glad to finally meet each other in person.
Clyde had occasionally been allowed to pop in on our video calls and so the two had spoken on several occasions.
"So you guys are all seniors too starting in the fall, right?" Clyde asks.
I glance in my rear view mirror and can see he's looking directly at Zack so I change my glance to him.
"Yeah," Zack responds cooly, "we've known each other since elementary school."
I can tell he glances at me, though I'm focused on the road now.
"At least Lana and I have," Zack shrugs, "I didn't really know Ash until middle school."
I look back at the rear view mirror in time to see Clyde nodding slowly.
"I'm so excited! We're almost there, right!?" Ash squeals.
"Almost there-" I break off, noticing Clyde and I said it at the same time, "Jinx!" I laugh.
Clyde laughs, "I don't have any sodas with me."
I laugh, this is going to be a good day.

As I step out of my car I take a deep breath in and look around as the wind whips my hair into my face. I hold in a giggle and let my eyes rest on the water. The beach. I smile.
"Come on!" Ash grabs my hand and tugs me towards the water.
"Just a seco-" I change my mind mid-thought, check and make sure everyone's out of my car, and hit the lock button. Screw it.
I let Ash drag me towards the water, giggling the whole time. I glance back to see if Zack is watching and I see that he and Clyde are both staring in this direction. They're standing beside each other with their hands in their pockets, smiling. They each have a different smile as they look this way.
"Let's swim!" I suggest, motioning to the water, scattered with other various people.
Ash nods rapidly, "let's go back to the bathroom to ch-"
They break off, I'm already halfway through taking off my t-shirt and my flannel is already on the ground. I've got my bikini underneath my clothes so I take off my t-shirt and slip of the top pair of shorts. I have a pair of swim shorts over my bikini under the Jean shorts.
"That works too, but I'm going to-" Ash points towards the public restroom and begins to shuffle away.
While I stand there, looking at the ocean, I set my clothes in a neat pile on the sand and start running towards the water. I don't stop running until the water is up to my chest when the waves hit. Despite a general fear of sharks, the water feels so nice and it's only for a few moments.
I glance behind me in time to see Zack throw his shirt off and start running towards me.
"Cannonball!" He jumps up and throws himself into the water- definitely not an actual cannonball.
I giggle and wait for him to resurface.
When Zack resurfaces, he's behind me and he briefly wraps his arms around my waist, glancing around before letting go. I just giggle looking up at him over my shoulder.
"Come on," I grab his hand directly this time and pull him to the shallower water, "I don't want to get eaten by a shark or something."
"You're not gonna get eaten by a shark," Zack laughs.
I scoff, laughing, "you don't know that!"
"I'm coming in!" Ash calls from the edge of the water.
They're more hesitant as they walk to just above knee deep where Zack and I meet her.
I glance towards the edge of the water to where Jake is standing hesitantly. I look up and I can see Clyde and the others still making their way down to the water and I notice Clyde glancing between me and the ground every couple of seconds.

~•~•~•~•~

"I think it's about time to head out," My father says as he holds his hand up to shield his eyes from the bright orange sun, "only an hour and a half until the sun sets."
Madison nods, "load up everybody."
I head over to my clothes pile on the ground, I could get away with just putting my flannel on... it's still pretty warm, it's kinda perfect right now- plus, it's a big flannel, kinda looks like it came from a guy- I laugh inwardly and I grab my flannel to begin putting it on, taking my keys from the left pocket.
Once I've got my flannel on, I shake my keys to readjust my Keychains while I bend down to grab my clothes.
"I call shotgun this time," Clyde says, grabbing my keys and jogging ahead.
"Hey!" I squeal, standing straight up quickly and abandoning my t-shirt and shorts.
I chase after him, throwing my arms over his shoulders in an attempt to stop him but he just drags my along.
"Piggy back ride?" Clyde laughs.
"Wait can I?" I ask, eyes wide.
"Go for it," Clyde laughs, standing still for me to hop onto his back.
"Wooohooo!" I laugh, "giddy up!"
Clyde takes a few steps forward then let's go of my legs abruptly, dropping me to the ground, "k, I'm done. See you there," and he takes off running.
"You little-" I laugh, gasping for air as I run after him to my car.
He unlocks it from the passenger side, letting himself in and tosses the keys to the drivers side seat.
I scrunch up my nose at him as I look at him through the drivers side window for a moment before I open the door, "Jerk," I laugh.
After a moment the other catch up. Jake and Ash are laughing but Zack doesn't look nearly as amused as they are. I take a second glance at them and notice Ash is holding my clothes along with theirs. Aw, that's cool, thanks dude- I was totally gonna forget those- I think to myself, slightly embarrassed, those are like- my favorite shorts.

~•~•~•~•~•~

"Whoa," Ash breathes.
I nod, sitting beside them. Our fingers slightly overlap as we prop ourselves up on the trampoline in Clyde's backyard, staring at the sky.
"Californian sunsets are almost more beautiful than the ones in Wisconsin," I say.
I don't let my eyes wander from the sky but I can feel the trampoline shifting as someone moves. I can feel Zack getting closer to me as the trampoline starts to dip further down.
"It is pretty," Jake agrees.
"Like someone I know," I can hear Zack barely breathe the words as he leans close to my ear.
My face gets hot and I take in a deep breath, still not taking my eyes off the setting sun.
"I could watch these sunsets forever," Clyde says.
"Me too," Ash nods, slightly shaking the trampoline.

~•~•~•~•~

"Ok, wait, so Rider is rich and his dad owns the company your mom works for, yeah?" Ash confirms.
The two of us are laying on the floor of my bedroom and it's nearly one am.
I nod, holding back laughter.
"And he enjoys acting like a royal brat?" Ash snorts.
I nod, "he likes to use a fake brittish accent sometimes even," I cackle.
Ash and I both burst out laughing, gasping for breath, only getting louder when the boys knock on the wall between our rooms loudly.
"Shi-" I draw out the i for a moment and glance to Ash.
Ash giggles, "wait, wait, show me the picture of you guys at Homecoming."
I open my phone and go to find it and we continue giggling throughout the night as we look at different pictures of my friends from here and their friends from home with various filters on then or stories behind them.