"Let's go? Everyone else is downstairs already." He nodded, and they both headed downstairs. Chris was playing a game on the Gameboy he had brought along, while Joey was reading another installment in the Superman comic book series. Justin and Jessica were both trying to listen to his CD player with only one headphone, both bobbing their heads to the music and laughing. Gabrielle was putting in some French francs into the soda machine in the corner, and banged on it angrily when the she didn't get her soda, and smiled when it released one. Marielle looked like she was half asleep, sitting on one of the armchairs, watching Gabi get her soda.
"Soda this early?" Lance asked, amused.
"You bet. Soda's not bad in the morning, it's a lie!" She said, grinning, then took a gulp of her soda.
Chris looked up from his Gameboy. "Finally!" He exclaimed when he saw JC.
"What are we doing today?" JC asked.
"I don’t know," Joey answered with a shrug, "what do you all want to do?"
"We can't stay long today," Gabi said with a sigh, "we're heading to this little place by the coast. My brother said it's gorgeous, it's called St. Malo. If you want to, you guys can come? I'm sure there's a couple of hotel rooms left still."
"That'd be awesome!" Justin exclaimed. "Are there a lot of people?"
"Not really," Marielle answered, "it's pretty small. And the hotel's inside of this huge wall that used to be the borders of this castle. The inside's pretty secluded and there's a nice beach nearby too."
"Let's go!" Lance answered quickly, glancing at the rest of the guys. "instead of you renting a car, we could just use the van we have while we're here."
"Good idea," Jessica said, liking the idea of having more friends with her.
"I don’t know-" JC said after a minute, still thinking about Dani. He felt guilty, he wanted to go with the guys, but he didn't want to leave Dani and hurt her.
"Aww, you can call Dani up first and ask her?" Justin suggested. "She's too busy anyways!"
"Or you can invite her up?" Chris added.
JC contemplated these ideas for a moment, then shrugged. "What the heck, let's go." He said with a grin.
"Are we there yet?" Joey grunted, staring out at the window. Marielle smacked him on the back of the head from where she was sitting.
"Enjoy the view, Joe!" She said, rolling her eyes and turning back to the window to gaze at the acres and acres of sunflowers, their yellow heads pointing up towards the sun, creating a sea of yellow across the farmland.
She was stuck in the back of the van, with Justin and Chris, while JC, Jessica, and Joey took the middle seats. Gabi and Lance took the front, because Lance was driving and Gabi was navigating. Justin and Chris' heads were both tilted over the top of the seat, snoring. JC's head was leaned against the window, and from the way it was tilted Marielle could tell he was asleep. He looked adorable, Marielle thought, and she violently pushed the thought out of her mind. The guy was taken for goodness' sake! She shook her head to clear her thoughts, deciding that maybe she should pay more attention to the scenery outside.
"We're here!" Gabi said happily as Lance pulled to a stop in the hotel's parking lot. The hotel had a clean and classic theme to it, with wide balconies overlooking the ocean and the small streets of shops within the 'castle' walls.
"Yes!" Marielle answered, jumping out. "Let's go to the beach, Jess!"
"Right on!" Jess answered, both of them reaching into the back of the van to pull out their bags and dashing inside of the hotel, not bothering to wait for the rest of the group.
"Eager to swim aren't they?" Lance asked, raising an eyebrow at Marielle's and Jessica's quickly retreating backs. He stood near the baggage in the back, then sighed when Gabi grabbed her bags and ran to catch up with the other two girls.
"Where'd everyone go?" Justin asked sleepily, getting out of the van.
"Swimming."
"Alright!" Justin exclaimed, "let's go! We're gonna swim in a beach!" He grinned, and Lance, shrugging, got his bags and followed the rest of the group in.
"Where's this beach?" Lance asked Gabi, following them. JC was going to catch up later, he said, he wanted to unpack a little bit.
"It's right on the side of the walls," Gabi answered, "it's pretty small but you can still swim." She took a turn at the corner of the street, and they were at the entrance to the beach. There were some people swimming and lying on the sand, but not as many as other beaches you would see. The water looked pleasant and inviting, and they all set their sandals on a selected piece of the beach.
"Who's going to watch our stuff?" Justin asked.
"There's JC, he'll do it." Chris answered, pointing at JC, who was heading towards them. He was wearing a pair of board shorts and a towel over his shoulder, and Marielle could feel her pulse quicken as she saw him. His eyes were hidden by his dark sunglasses, and he was grinning to whoever he was talking to on the phone.
"Hey, JC! Watch our stuff okay?" Justin yelled at him then, without waiting for an answer, he ran into the water. Everyone else followed suit.
"Hello, may I speak to Dani?" JC asked, then grinned to himself as he realized how proper he sounded. He was heading towards the group, but they had left him to care for their stuff as they ran into the water. That was fine with him, he didn't really feel like swimming.
"Who's calling?" The woman's voice was curt and short.
"Um, could you tell her it's JC?" The woman left the line, and he could hear what sounded like Dani's voice but was muffled, and responded shortly afterwards.
"I'm sorry Ms. Sparrow isn't in right now?" The woman said curtly, "call again at a more, convenient time please? Goodbye." She hung up the phone. JC stared at it as if it had just spouted teeth. What a rude woman! He fumed to himself. Oh well, he thought with a shrug, it's over between Dani and me anyway. It's just not working out, we're too different, too busy for each other, he thought, gazing at the blue water. His gaze turned to Marielle and he grinned as he saw her paddle around in the water. His grin turned to a frown of irritation as two young men ran past him, yelling "Baywatch! Baywatch!" As they ran into the water near Marielle.
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