Gentle waves crashed against the shore, cool white foam tickling Tessa's bare feet and toes. Stars dotted the sky, twinkling white against the inky backdrop. A slight breeze was about, causing small goosebumps to rise along the length of her arms, the thin t-shirt she was clad in doing nothing to keep her warm.
To her right sat Sakura, her knees drawn up to her chest and the sleeves of her sweater pulled down to cover her fingers and offer some sort of warmth. Her emerald eyes were startling against the dark of the night, and her lips were pulled back in a small smile. Ino was stretched out to Tessa's left, watching Naruto and Sasuke as they bickered while playing with a few strands of her platinum blonde hair, lazily working them into a braid. Her usual flamboyance had simmered to a manageable level; she seemed almost mellow, which was a strange thing for her.
Tessa adopted a similar pose to Sakura, a small smile playing on her lips. The beach was beautiful at night unlike during the day, when it was overrun with noisy tourists and littered with children's playthings. Now, just feeling the tranquil coolness of the water against her feet and watching the star spangled sky enveloped her with a strange feeling of gratification.
She heard the sound of voices as Naruto and Sasuke made their way over to them, a slight scowl marring the Uchiha's features while Naruto sported a bright, cheeky grin. There was scuffling as Sakura rose, throwing both the boys towels and chastising about how they'd get sick if they didn't dry themselves properly.
Ino smirked at this. "Honestly Sakura, you act like their mom," she stood up and stretched, enjoying how Sakura blushed a furious shade of red that greatly clashed with her hair. Swatting at the blonde, she continued her concerned bitching.
Once Sasuke and Naruto had dried themselves as best as the could and had thrown on dry t-shirts, they plopped down next to the girls, slight shivers running through their bodies as the cold finally started getting to them.
"We should do this more often," Naruto stared, quiet for once in his life as he traced abstract patterns on the pristine sand. Tessa agreed wholeheartedly in her head. She couldn't explain what it was but there was something peaceful about being here with her friends; something liberating and relieving about not having to be at home.
Ino hummed lightly in response to Naruto's statement, her cornflower blue eyes thoughtful. "I like it here too, there's something really nice about this place." Tessa glanced at each of her friends, a trickle of happiness running through her veins when she understood that they felt the same as her.
A comfortable silence descended amongst the five teens until Sasuke decided to speak, his tone laced with barely noticeable hesitation, but it was still detectable. "I think it's about time we head back, mom wanted you all for dinner." He glanced at the watch strapped onto his wrist, the luminous hands reading 8:30.
There was a scramble as everyone pulled themselves up off the sand and stood up, dusting their clothes. Tessa sighed, her eyes glued to the dark expanse of sea that stretched endlessly before them. It was a hard task to even stand up, it was like every muscle in her body was protesting against leaving. When she finally managed to upright herself, she cast one last look towards the water and joined her friends in walking towards Sasuke's car.
Sakura fell into step beside her as she trudged through the cool sand, flip-flops in hand. The cherry haired girl flashed her an appraising look, lips pursing knowingly. "You really don't want to leave, do you?"
Tessa bit her lip, her chocolate eyes not meeting Sakura's. "I just like it here, is all. It doesn't really matter because I won't be heading home today anyway." She fixed her gaze on Ino's retreating back as she and the boys walked ahead.
Sakura sighed softly, a pang of sadness ripping through her chest at her friend's downcast expression. After a few seconds of silence between them, she spoke tentatively. "If you want, you can stay at my house until your Dad gets better?" She knew all about Tessa's father and his... problem. Tessa shook her head immediately, fashioning a grateful smile onto her face."Thanks, but I'll be fine. Tomorrow is Monday, so I'll be spending most of my time at school anyway, so it doesn't really matter." She grabbed Sakura's arm and dragged her off to where the others were waiting beside Sasuke's car, effectively cutting off Sakura's response.
Using the door to catapult themselves over into the seats -instead of just opening the door like sane people would- the five teens loaded themselves into Sasuke's car, a midnight blue Cadillac.
After a minor disagreement on who should drive between the boys, Sasuke started the engine, the car purring smoothly down the darkened steers, a pouting Naruto in the front seat while the girls sat in the back. Tessa popped her head through the space between the two front seats and tapped Sasuke on the arm, eliciting a grunt from the Uchiha.
"Mind if I put on some music?" She stared longingly at the radio. Music was something that was extremely important to her; it could be said that it was the only thing she truly believed in.
Sasuke shrugged, making sure to keep his eyes on the road, which she took as a yes. Leaning over, she switched on the radio, flinching when feedback cut through, making everyone in the car groan. Quickly, she set the device to one of her favorite stations and leant back in her seat, smiling a little when Closing Time by Semisonic came on.
"I haven't heard of this before," Naruto stated, seemingly forgetting the fact that he was supposed to be sulking. Tessa made a disapproving sound in the back of her throat. "You, my love, are extremely unenlightened. But don't worry as I will soon teach you what good music is."
"That's not true, I'm plenty enlightened," Naruto frowned, lips twisting back in his earlier pout. Sasule quietly listened from his spot in the driver's seat, his dark eyes lit up with amusement.
"Oh yeah? About what?" Ino challenged, a platinum eyebrow raised, trying not to laugh at how Naruto's expression changed to that of slow panic.
"Uh... Um.. I'm enlightened on how amazing Ramen is," he offered sheepishly, eliciting a head shake from Tessa.
"You have a lot to learn, child."
Naruto's comeback died on his lips as they drove past Tessa's house, and the grin on the girl's face dropped slightly. The lights were off, which meant either that one of her parents weren't at home, or they had gone to sleep, which was an unlikely occurrence when her Dad was in the middle of one of episodes.
Noticing the concerned expressions on her friends faces, she forced the thought of home out of her head. She could worry about that later. Right now, she would just focus on having fun and not try to ruin dinner at Sasuke's house by being a depressing little shit and ruining her appetite.
The awkward silence that had started to plagued the car was effectively wiped away when the radio station abruptly switched to a Carly Rae Jepsen song and Tessa clamped her hands over her ears, her expression morphing into disgust.
"Turn it off, the horror! My ears will bleed if I hear this one more time," she whined as Carly's saccharine voice drifted out the speakers, ensnaring everyone within its horrifying charm.
"Why? I think she's an okay singer," Sakura blocked Tessa from reaching out towards the radio to change the channel, backed up by Ino. Naruto simply grinned at the betrayed look on Tessa's face and even Sasuke let out a chuckle.
Tessa groaned, sitting back in her seat. "Unenlightened heathens, the lot of you," she murmured, while her friends just laughed at her discomfort.
Conversation of this sort ensued until Sasuke pulled up into the driveway of a relatively large house, painted a calming shade of the lightest blue and complete with a garden adorned with flowers of almost every kind, which were invisible in the dark of the night.
In a flurry of hands and feet, they trooped out of the car, and onto the porch. Sasuke's house was their usual hangout spot, considering that it was larger than the others houses, and Mikoto -his mother, A.K.A, the world's best cook as she was dubbed by Naruto - frequently invited them over for dinner.
Shorts dripping water onto the porch -he'd have to get his car cleaned later- Sasuke opened the door, the others following as he scurried inside, only to find out that the den was already occupied.
The bunch of males stretched across the black leather couches craned their necks away from the TV to catch sight of Tessa and the rest. Neither group looked looked too surprised to see the other and one of the boys, one with aristocratic features much like Sasuke sent a small smile their way. Tessa knew him to be Sasuke's older brother Itachi, and the other males to be part of a school gang called Akatsuki. They dropped by here for just about the same reason that she and the others did -to hang out.
"Nii-san," Sasuke called quietly, nodding his head in acknowledgment. Itachi nodded back and the rest of the males grunted before redirecting their attention towards the football game that was showing on TV.
As they made their way past the den, Ino elbowed Tessa gently. "They're here again. I swear I've never seen such a gathering of sexy anywhere else in my life," the blonde whispered, causing a small giggle to burst past Tessa's lips as she silently agreed with her.
Mikoto greeted them in the dining room, her teeth displayed in a thousand watt smile. The table was already set and Tessa felt her mouth start to water as she eyed the food on the table, ranging from chicken to lamb to greens. Naruto looked even more enthusiastic than her, his lips pulling into a large grin when he noticed the enormous bowl of ramen set on the center.
But before could even entertain the thought of eating it, Mikoto pointed to his and Sasuke's wet clothes and then to the staircase that led upstairs to the bedrooms. "Shower first," although her smile was still on place, her tone left no room for complaints. Faces downcast, the boys disappeared upstairs, leaving the girls with Mikoto's enormous spread. She woman smiled at them kindly, gesturing to the food. "Help yourselves."
Wide smiles adorning their faces, the girls began to tuck in, engaging in light conversation with each other. Tessa could hear the Akatsuki chatting about the game and the occasional curse when something went wrong, and the sound of Mikoto humming lightly as she bustled around the house. The sounds were strangely comforting to her ears, it made her feel safe. And sad, to a certain extent. Sad that her family wasn't like this most of the time. Sure, when her dad wasn't drinking, life at home was normal like this but there was still this lingering expectation that he would snap and start diving into alcoholism anytime. Her stomach tightened as she realized she wanted this; a place where she could be safe, and happy without having to wonder when the illusion that she had a happy family would snap.
Her train of thought came to a halt when Sasuke and Naruto barreled into the room, their hair damp from a shower and clad in crisp clothing. Almost immediately, and not to mention predictably, Naruto grabbed the ramen all to himself, forking over spoonfuls of noodles onto his bowl. Reminding herself that today was about having fun, Tessa took a big bite of her chicken, enjoying the delicious taste of the crispy skin as she swallowed, and watched Naruto in amusement as he chugged down the remnants of the ramen.
The rest of dinner passed by relatively silently, each of them too preoccupied with stuffing themselves to be bothered to make conversation. After finishing up, which much compliments to the chef, they shuffled over to the den, where the Akatsuki seemed to be leaving. Tessa eyed one guy with distinctive fuchsia eyes and slicked back silver hair as he gesticulated wildly, an assortment of extremely colorful words enthusing his point. Apparently, the team he supported had lost the game.
Tessa had to stifle a smile at the ticked off expression on his face as he launched into a tirade about how he'd 'wasted half his fucking time watching those shitheads play.' She knew him by sight, he was one of the troublemakers in the school, always getting into fights.
Before she had a chance to further her observations, Sakura nudged her, a suggestive grin on place on her lips. "Stop gawking the Akatsuki eye-candy and get over here," she chuckled, pulling her over to the couch. Tessa pouted as she flopped down on the bouncy leather surface. "I was not gawking."
Sakura smiled an overly sweet smile. "Keep telling yourself that. I'll go get the DVD, I left it in the car," with that, she took the keys from Sasuke and skipped outside, squeezing through the Akatsuki, who were blocking the door.
Contradicting her earlier statement, Tessa let her eyes drift back over to the Akatsuki, surveying them lazily as they said goodbye to Itachi and left, while wondering what movie Sakura had brought this time.
The cherry haired teen returned to the den a few seconds later, a DVD held between her index and forefinger. The smile that danced across her lips was sinister as she held up the DVD.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are watching The Titanic," she announced proudly, smirking at the looks of horror on her friends faces.
And then, the torture commenced.
Hope you enjoyed it, it was kinda rushed . Sorry if there are any mistakes, I'm posting this from my phone. Please review and tell me what you think! Oh and no offense meant if any of you guys like Carly Rae:3