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What started as a stressful beach day was turning back into a relaxing one.
After drinking some water and cooling down in the shade, Leon was feeling a whole lot better. He turned the page of his book, the cool breeze and the salty air gentle reminders of where he was. Sora came by every once in a while to see if he wanted to come into the water, but he'd decline.
He took a look at his wristwatch, noting that she should be coming by again.
"Hi Leon!" Sora chirruped as she snagged a towel to dry off.
He kept his eyes on his book, but nodded just the same. Unlike the other times she came by, this time she laid down on a mat next to him, curiously looking at his book.
"You sure do read a lot," she noted, but not unkindly.
"Yes."
Reading helped him focus and not constantly staring at a certain someone when she was close by. It was also a habit he picked up from his earlier circus days. He noticed that people tended to not talk to those who had a book for fear of disturbing them. There were exceptions to this rule, of course.
One of them was next to him.
She laid her head down on her folded arms as she let the sun finish drying her. "Do you have any favorite authors?"
"Why do you ask?"
She smiled. "Maybe I'll want to get you a gift sometime."
He looked away from his book to see her fingers idly swirling around in the sand near her beach mat.
"You don't need to."
"But I want to."
There wasn't a holiday coming up and he was fairly certain she didn't know his birthday - it was still several months away, in any case. She wants to get me a gift just because? His heart thumped a little louder at the idea. He placed his bookmark in between the pages and closed his novel.
He laid on his back so they were at eye level. "I read the classics."
"I had a feeling you do," she giggled, the sound tickling him, "but what else?"
He looked up at the poles of the beach umbrella. "Generally," he started thoughtfully, "I like to look around and pick a book that seems to be intriguing, no matter the genre."
She propped her head up a little, taking a look a his face. "Even romance novels?" she teased.
He cleared his throat, suddenly feeling warm. "Not intentionally," he slowly started, "though I unfortunately picked one up based on a recommendation from a clerk."
She tilted her head as she spotted some red along his cheeks. "Which book was that?"
"...I'd rather not say," he embarrassedly murmured.
He had been misled, seeing as it was under the category of best sellers within the last couple of years. When he read the back of it, he immediately put it back down and stiffly walked out of the bookstore. Even someone like him, where romantic relationships were new and foreign to him, understood the gist of the book. It was because of that book cover that he stopped wearing ties...
Mercifully she did not press the issue, having never seen his face so red before.
"Do you want to build a sand castle with me?"
He nodded, eager to change the subject.
MIS
Ken had been playing some volleyball when they decided to stop for a short break.
Most of the girls were watching, except for a few who were playing as well. Ken took a quick look and deflated a little when he noted that Sora wasn't around. Usually she came to watch with her friends to cheer, but this time she wasn't. The change unsettled him and he kicked at the sand a little as he walked to the cooler to grab a soda.
"Where's Sora?" he asked Anna as she came to the cooler.
The tall teen snapped her soda can open. "I think I saw her and Leon over there," she gestured with her thumb.
Following her finger, Ken looked over towards the ocean and he did indeed see Sora and Leon sitting on the sand. He frowned at how close they were to each other.
It upset him.
More than anything else that has ever occurred.
A guy yelled out and a Frisbee flew by, nearing clipping Ken's ear. He ducked a second later, yelping at the near hit.
"Sorry dude!" the owner of the Frisbee yelled out. "Could you throw it back this way?"
Ken sighed. I'm always the one helping people. It was a thankless duty, being a nice guy. That's why he liked the old dating book; it taught him how to be the ideal guy and receive some gratitude for the work in the form of dates. He walked over to the Frisbee as Anna waved bye to him.
"See you in a bit!"
"Yeah," Ken replied, bending over to the bright orange disc. As he straightened up to find the Frisbee owner, Ken saw that the guy was a little ways behind Leon and the sand castle and in that moment Sora was walking to the water with her bucket, leaving the silver haired performer alone.
Ken thought about how it was Leon's fault Sora hadn't been watching the volleyball game. It was Leon that ruined the double date where he was supposed to show Sora how nice he could be to a girl. And then it was Leon that won those stupid little goldfish at the carnival, probably having bribed the person at the booth for them.
All of his problems centered around Leon.
He clenched the Frisbee and then threw it as hard as he could.
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AN: I feel like we're getting close to the end. I'm not sure how many chapters yet, but I thought I should let you know.
Can anyone guess which book Leon almost grabbed? Or was it too vague? :P