thin white lines | l. hemmings

21

The boys had immediately agreed to go to the beach when asked, and as Luke and Delaney had predicted, Ashton was ecstatic at the idea of exploring some unique shops in Toronto. As was Quinn, but Ashton a little more so.

"It's gonna be so chilly, won't it?" Michael whined, glancing outside through the window at the rather sunny day.

"It's May, and like 18 degrees celsius," she responded with a confused expression, not considering that to be chilly at all. 

"Yeah," Michael agreed, sticking with his original concerns. Calum shouted that he was a baby from across the room and the conversation ended there. He left to go change and Delaney went down the hall to grab Quinn from her room.

She emerged in the hallway wearing an elegant white coverup dress with her bathing suit underneath and a sun hat to match the sandals she wore and the bag she had slung over her shoulder. "You look great, Quinn. But also like every white mom I've ever seen at the beach."

"I know! And I'm literally Asian!" She said excitedly, like that was her vision when she put together the outfit.

"Really? I didn't even notice," Delaney joked, stepping out into the hallway so Quinn could pass her and lead the way down the hall. 

The four boys were waiting out in the hall, Michael and Luke were wearing jeans but Ashton and Calum were already dressed in their swim shorts with a cooler sitting idly between them.

She looked down at the dainty peach dress she wore, avoiding eye contact with the others. The bunch of them felt quite ridiculous other than Quinn. For taking a quick trip to the beach after what all had happened in the previous days. But they were happy to go have drinks in a different place than usual with the sun warming their skin. That is if the wind doesn't pick up and ruin the day. 

Together they walked through the busy streets, working to stay close in the group while pushing past and dodging strangers. Delaney had at some point made a habit of admiring detailed buildings and houses, which distracted her from leading them to a row of stores that she figured could keep most of them entertained while she looked for something to wear, but she did end up getting them there. 

As soon as Michael darted into a store filled with knickknacks and toys with Calum not far behind, her suspicions were confirmed. She laughed at their excitement and started into a small shop with summertime clothes with enough clothes in a wide enough variety that they could all find something to look at.

Delaney and Quinn both started looking together to find something to suit her until Quinn got distracted by the other clothes. Delaney didn't mind looking through the material on her own, though. She seemed to find more when she wasn't talking at the same time.

When she had a few pieces picked out she turned around to where Luke was browsing, tapping him on the shoulder to grab his attention. "I'm just going to try these on," she said simply, knowing that he still had to know where she was.

"Yeah, of course," he said with a shrug.

She made her way to the small room that sufficed as a place to try on the suits. There were only three that she felt suited her at all, but they were cute. She didn't mind the first two she tried, they were alright but she felt the need to rush so for now alright was perfect. 

The last one was a plain black one-piece that tied around her neck, leaving a low cut backline. She used one hand to keep the top over her chest since she couldn't seem to tie it on her own. Right when she gave up, she heard the shuffling of untied black converse just outside the door.

With a smirk, she opened the door just a crack to see Luke leaning against the wall, scrolling through Twitter on his phone. His attention shifted to her instead as soon as he noticed the door had opened. "Are you done?" She asked him, noticing the shopping bag at his feet, he just nodded. "Did you try it on?"