Disclaimer: You know as well as I do, I own nothing.
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That Endless Summer
Chapter Two: You know boredom kills, right?
"I'm bored"
-I'm Bored, Ignite.
"I'm bored" Cassie complained loudly from next to me, rolling onto her stomach and looking towards the surf where Luke and Ric still sat on their boards waiting for a wave. Their options weren't looking very good though, as most of the surf was flat.
Cassie's sudden comment had snapped me out of my flashbacks, as I took one headphone out of my ear, offering it to her so she too could listen.
She shook her head before letting out a loud, over emphasized sigh, obviously reiterating her pervious comment about boredom.
"I'm bored too." I said, giving up trying to listen to my music and turning to face her. "But what can I do about it? I'm out of idea's here Cass. There is nothing to do. We've gone to every possible party. To every club, every week. We've exhausted all options the Summer Bay has to offer in nightlife and end of school drunken activity. We've shopped in every available shopping mall. We've played almost every video game the boys have in their entire collection. We even went to that poker night which became completely awkward when we found out it was strip poker and Ric and Luke kept loosing…" I trailed off, as Cassie and I cast our minds back to the not so greatest hour in the lives of our boyfriends.
"I never could figure out why those boys who invited us kept begging us not to bring the boys. But after they all became almost naked, while we were fully dressed, it all became quite clear." Cassie reflected, as we fell into a silence, watching the boys, who had been scarred for life that night.
After a while, Cassie spoke again.
"I never thought I'd live to see the day where I said this… but there is only so much sun baking I can handle." She said, as she mumbled all the final words together, as if ashamed of what she'd just admitted.
I mock gasped at this revelation, as Cassie glared at me for mucking around with her.
"I'm serious Maddie!" Cassie cried, shoving me. "I'm so bored doing nothing. All day, every damn day."
"Like I said before," I began "I'm out of ideas. I've got nothing. Nada. Get it?" I finished, slightly mocking Cassie's dramatic outburst once again.
"Sometimes, you can be the most infuriating girl in the entire world Matilda Hunter." Cassie said, turning to lie down once again.
"And yet I'm still the person you choose to hang out with most. Some may even call us 'best friends', a novel term I once thought. So what does that say about your own personality, and how infuriating you can be?" I asked, poking her sides.
"That my standards in friendships have slipped sorely." Cassie deadpanned, before laughing loudly at my extremely shocked facial expression, and then pulling me into what one could describe as a bone-crushing hug.
"You know I'm kidding Mads'. You know I wouldn't trade you for the world." She said, as I said with what little voice I could muster "Need to breathe."
She let go and I gulped down a few deep breaths of air before saying to her "Much better", as I spied Luke and Ric finally emerging from the water, boards under their arms, walking towards us.
"Bored too?" I yelled out to them as they approached us, before adding quickly, "No hugs or kisses either. I'm quite content and DRY here. I would hate for you to be castrated and never be able to reproduce because you ruined that Lucas." I finished, smiling sweetly at him as came closer.
"Some goes for you mister." Cassie warned, as Ric looked to be coming in extremely close range of her towel, and her.
"Woman, sometimes I wonder if you truly are the devil reincarnate." He replied, sitting down a safe foot away from me.
"Well I do aim to please." I replied, smiling even more sweetly at him.
"What did you mean before. When you said 'bored too'?" Ric asked, not daring to sit any closer to Cassie than Luke had to me.
Lord how whipped these boys were.
"Oh, nothing" Cassie quickly stammered, avoiding eye contact at all costs.
"Wait a second" Ric said, "You couldn't possibly… I never imagined… never thought I'd live to see the day…. This is all too crazy for words."
"In full sentences please." Luke added. I smiled sympathetically in his direction. Sometimes, he's just not so quick when obvious facts are stated.
"You two are actually sick and tired of ruining your body by continuously lying in the sun." Ric finally finished, a sense of amazement in his voice.
"We didn't say… we're not… well… maybe, possibly…" Cassie trailed off, looking away from the scrutiny of Ric's shocked expression.
"I so knew it. Wow. You're actually sick of sun baking. That's what's being admitted to here. That's what you're saying. That you actually want to do something other than lie on the beach soaking up the rays of sunlight. That it holds no more interest…" Ric began.
"Shut up." Cassie cut him off, glaring at him.
"We may be looking for alternative entertainment for a little while." I said, in the hopes of stopping an angry looking Cassie from using her boxing powers and decking Ric for taunting her.
"Yeah, what Maddie said." Cassie said, after she had cooled down.
"So, any ideas?" I asked, happy that any potential tension between the two was now gone.
"We could teach you to surf again?" Luke suggested.
"And get me on one of those things?" I said, nodding my head towards Luke's surfboard. "You're kidding, right? Seriously joking, yes? Do you remember when I only tried to stand up on the sand on one of those things, and I fell off? Never again, not ever. You must be kidding." I finished, staring Luke down, looking for him to buckle under the pressure.
"She was pretty bad, wasn't she?" Cassie said, laughing, before I shot an evil look in her direction, shutting her up.
"Thank you for the vote of confidence, oh best friend. But I seem to recall you weren't much better!" I exclaimed, pushing her playfully as she poked her tongue out at me. "Plus, you know," I continued, "Us and water… not really a good combination."
"So strike surfing, and any other potential water activities from the imaginary list." Ric said, looking between Cassie and I. "They are right man, mixing them with water could prove to be disastrous." He finished.
"I think its best if we strike anything sporty from the list, considering Maddie's history, and her lack of willing participation in school sport from year seven to year ten… at least, that's what Beth continues to tell me." Luke added, looking at Ric who nodded in complete understanding.
"So I'm not the most athletic girl in the world. Big deal. I'm also sitting right here, so could we keep the 'Maddie is crap at sport' mocking to a minimum. There has got to be more things we can do in this place that don't involve me running, walking, hitting or kicking anything, right?" I finished, looking at everyone, waiting for a response.
Ric, Cassie and Luke all pondered this thought for some time. Each time they looked close to having come up with an idea, the opened their mouths, beginning to make a sound, but then it came out all strangled and were knocked back into a silence, as if realizing some hidden sporting aspect. Or acknowledging the fact that we'd possibly already done that before. With or without the consent of the rent's.
After five whole minutes of this vicious cycle that had begun to form, I sighed loudly before saying to them, "Summer Bay is officially the most boring place in the world. Maybe even the universe. We've exhausted every plausible, possible option or activity. We're going to grow old and boring before our youth is spent. Cassie and I are going to become like Colleen, old and bored, with nothing better to do with her life than to spread the town gossip like wild fire. There isn't a hope left in the world for…."
"There's a new movie showing at Yabbie Creek tonight. We could make a start by seeing that?" Luke suggested, not so subtly cutting off my melodramatic speech. "But we won't be stopping for coffee after. No more caffeine for you darlin', not for a very long time." He said, as I pinched him for even daring to think about taking away my coffee.
"Well… I guess that's something for tonight at least." Cassie said, sounding as if she was trying to convince herself, rather than any one else.
"Yeah, something for tonight at least" Ric mocked, "But first," he said, looking quickly at Luke, an evil gleam appearing in his eyes, "I think the two of you need to have a go in the water".
Then suddenly, before I'd had any opportunity to being processing Ric's quick words, Luke (the slime) had thrown me over his shoulder quickly and carried me, wriggling and screaming, down to the waters edge. I felt my body being dumped into the cool, crisp water, and I shivered as I reached up to the surface, gasping for air.
Standing up fully as the wave subsided, I saw Ric and Luke doubled over in laughter, taunting us, willing us to go and attack them for what they'd done to us.
Boy, were they going to pay, I thought evilly as I glared at them, then caught sight of the anger in Cassie's eyes.
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"Well…" I said as we exited the movie theatre. "The movie was …. Well…"
"A complete waste of two hours and ten bucks." Ric finished for me, as he began to limp his way along the sidewalk.
"I was going to say interesting, but yours was better." I said, laughing as he continued to limp next to Cassie, who had smirked as she too saw the limp.
"It's not funny." Ric said, glaring at the both of is. "I'm injured and in pain and your laughing at me."
"We told you," I said to him, "We warned you that if you didn't leave us dry you'd be castrated. My thinking is that you both got off fairly lightly." I taunted, poking my tongue out at him.
"How come he got out of it so lightly then?" Ric said nodding his head towards Luke, whose hand had been attached to mine from the minute we left the theatre.
"Because his punishment will be even more severe. And because I can't kick like Cassie over here can." I said, motioning to Cassie. We all know how powerful those legs were. Mine were weak in comparison, and would hardly hurt Luke at all.
"Harsh man." Ric said sympathetically to Luke.
We continued to walk along the rows of shops, heading towards the car that Ric had parked a fair way away. The four of us were content in our own silence. We'd got to that stage, when we were comfortable with nothing to say.
"So," Luke began as we reached the car, breaking the tranquil silence that had formed. "What now?"
Groaning in unison, Cassie and I looked at one another before bursting into laughter as Luke muttered "women" under his breath before looking to Ric for backup.
Ric shrugged his shoulders, as if to say 'what can I do about them?' which set Cassie and I off once again. Sometimes, I think it's better that males don't understand females.
As I opened to door to the car I told them "We're back at square one. Right where we left off this afternoon. With a while summer of freedom ahead of us, and not a thing to occupy our time with. This should be our immortal summer. That one endless summer that you know you'll never forget. Instead, we're on our way to having a completely boring summer that's spent lying on the beach or surfing, like we've done every one before it." I finished ranting, looking between everyone for a response.
"We really need to get you off your caffeine addiction before you spontaneously implode." Cassie said solemnly, before smirking and laughing at me.
"Harty ha ha." I said shot back at her, as I began to smirk too.
Luke turned from the front speak to look between Cassie and I before saying, "How about tomorrow we all get together at our house, and brainstorm for ideas. Then we'll plan out the summer, and there will be no more rants from Maddie."
Always the practical one Luke was. Always the planner too.
"Gosh, you make it sound so boring." I mocked, before grinning. "But I like the idea. This way everything will be sorted, and the best summer ever will be planned." I said happily, clapping my hands together in excitement.
"We really need to get you off that coffee." Ric mocked from the front seat. "No one should be that perky because they are planning out their summer."
I hit him playfully, but the smile stayed glued to my face, all the worries about having a crappy summer gone from my mind. We were going to plan now. In a whole day, we'd have to be able to come up with something, anything. Even in Summer Bay there had got to be unexplored territory that we'd yet to find.
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Luke and I said our goodbyes through the window and watched Ric and Cassie drive off before heading into the house. We entered loudly; laughing about some lame part in the movie we'd just wasted our time watching. Plonking myself down onto the couch, I reached to undo my shoes, throwing them into a corner where I didn't have to think about them any more.
Luke sat down at the other end of the couch, and I immediately placed my feet up on his legs. It was just natural like that between us. Everything had become second nature. Mum and Tony would often joke about how we acted like an old married couple more than they did.
I resented the fact that they called me old.
But I knew from my past mistakes last summer that even though we got into little ruts sometimes, even though we became annoyed with one another, and sometimes needed time alone, I wouldn't give up Luke for anything in the world. Guys before him had treated me like crap. Those relationships, or flings, had made me wise beyond my years. And I knew that this was the real deal. Last summer I'd realised. And things had been good ever since.
Luke reached down, tugging on my hand, snapping me back into reality.
"Hey," he murmured, rubbing the palm of my hand gently "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah Luke, everything is perfect. Well, almost perfect. After tomorrow, we'll have planned the perfect summer, and then everything will just fall into place. I can feel it." I said, smiling at him.
He smiled back, just as Mum and Tony entered the room from the back porch.
"How was the movie, guys?" Tony asked curiously.
"Absolute crap." I replied brightly.
"Well that's good to know." Mum laughed.
"Hey, is it alright is Ric and Cassie come over tomorrow. Maddie's got us planning our entire summer so it can be that one 'memorable' summer we're supposed to have." Luke asked, looking up to the olds.
"Yeah that's fine. We'll be out with Martha and Jack shopping for Bella so you'll have the house to yourself." Tony replied, sitting down on the lounge opposite next to Mum.
"Oh no fair. How come I wasn't told about this shopping trip?" I exclaimed, upset at the idea of not getting to spend as much time with Bella as everyone else.
"Well because you weren't home all day darling." Mum said in a slightly satirical tone.
I replied with a short 'hmph' before pouting on the couch, which caused Mum and Tony to laugh again.
"So mature, these kids of ours are." Tony said to Mum. "You'd never mistake them for young adults would you?"
I poked my tongue out at him good for that one.
"So you're planning things to do over summer. Have you considered employment?" Tony asked Luke and myself.
"And give up living off your income? I don't think so." I replied.
"That's what I thought. But you've got to think about it sometime." Tony replied, sounding a whole lot like Luke, which kind of freaked me out.
"I'd prefer to think about it after this summer. Because this summer is going to be all time." I said happily, swearing to myself that nothing would bring me down from my high.
Mum and Tony shared an odd, quick look at one another before they announced that they were off to bed.
"Don't stay up too late," Mum said, warning Luke and I "You'll need your energy for all that planning!"
"Goodnight." I said firmly, blowing kisses to the both of them.
I waited until I was sure the coast was clear before turning to Luke, asking him quietly "Did you see that look? They are scheming. I know it."
"Okay Nancy Drew, enough with the coffee. I think it's time you went to bed, you've obviously completely exhausted, and somewhat delusional." Luke mocked, before standing up and holding out his hands ready to pull me up.
"I am not." I said as I reached out and grasped onto his hands. "There was a look. I swear."
"Yeah okay. Bed time for you." Luke mocked again.
"What's with all the coffee jokes anyway? Why are you all picking on me about coffee, you drink the stuff like I do?" I asked, curious about them.
Luke shrugged before saying, "Gilmore Girls. We're always watching it because of YOU, and they remind me a bit of you. The lack of sporting talent, the stomach of an ox, and the addiction to coffee. So really, it's your fault, for making me watch it." He finished, as he wrapped his arms around me and dragged me towards his room.
"Yeah right. You totally love the show too. I know you want to see how it all turns out as much as I do." I said, poking him in the belly with an accusing finger.
"Heh, if that's what you want to believe." Luke said, but I saw the truth.
He was a closet Gilmore Girls fan.
"Come on Nancy, let's go to bed." Luke said finally, dragging me into his room and throwing a shirt at me.
Yep, pretty soon life was going to be perfect.
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AN: Well, I struggled a bit in the middle, and then I just kinda rambled. Yes, it's setting up the story for future episodes. Sorry for any errors, it was all kinda rushed. I really do need someone to spell check these things.
And yes, I've watched the first two seasons of the Gilmore Girls, that's why coffee is on my mind, and why I kept throwing coffee addict jokes in there. Liked it or hated it? Tell me. Be honest, be brutal. I can take flames. Review please, it makes me write faster.