slowly drifting ★ circa waves

IV.

"c'mon, get up. like, now," joe calls, pulling everyone out of bed. "everybody up!"

"ugh, why? wait—i'm starving. can we go get breakfast?" colin murmurs.

"fine. anyone else want food?"

"i want sleep."

"suit yourself," joe and colin quickly get changed and shut the door.

-

"can we visit the aquarium?"

"no."

"can we go to the zoo?"

"no."

"the museum?"

"aw hell to the no."

"the pet shop?"

"colin, will you please close your mouth for two seconds, please," joe rubs his forehead in frustration.

"sorry, sir. i mean, joe. i'm sorry. joe."

they're both in awe at the enormous variety of shops and restaurants lining the small paved roads.

"you know what? i'm hungry."

colin's face lit up. "oooooooh so am i. should we get some food? maybe some KFC?"

"colin," joe stops out of nowhere in the middle of the tired pavement. "shut up."

colin looks down in disappointment and then begins to start walking again.

"hey, wait."

colin's head turns back around expectantly. "what?"

"i was thinking maybe ice cream."

-

emma and eleanor didn't hide out in the back room anymore. no, how could they? what if those guys came back? the next morning, they showed up to work on time, for the very first time. even dave was suspicious; the early hours had consisted of an interesting conversation:

dave: you're early.

emma: and i'm dad.

eleanor: actually, sir, we're on time.

dave: on time is early for you two.

emma: i can't help but think that's offensive *scoffs disapprovingly*

eleanor: we're your star employees.

dave: you're my only employees.

emma: and you know it !!

eleanor was now slumped on a wheely chair, spinning in circles while scrolling through tumblr. although, every so often, emma would look over and find her friend collapsed on the counter—sound asleep. emma was jamming out to music from her headphones and planning her quinceañera.

"mint green or pale pink? for my dress? not hot pink, but like candy floss pink. which one?"

unfortunately, this was one of the times (more common than not) when eleanor was sleeping. emma sighed before flipping another page of her magazine. she began reading an article about circa waves, and sam had told some rubbish joke about ripening corn, but for some reason emma couldn't stop from laughing to herself.

ring-a-ling-ding. Oh.

emma slammed shut her magazine and her laughter was long gone when colin and joe waltzed through the doors of the ice cream parlour. their squeaky clean leather shoes scuffed the old fashioned-style tile flooring.

"hey," joe shrugs back on his leather jacket, which he only wore because he caught emma sniffing it yesterday.

emma shoves the magazine onto a shelf beneath the counter. "hi," she breathes out, offering a small wave. "what can i help you with?"

"uh, is eleanor ok?" colin points a finger at the snoozing ginger and furrows his eyebrows.

"just tired, i think."

"can i have a smoothie. or something. i don't care what i have, i only came to say hi. so, hi."

"one, 'idontcarewhatihaveionlycametosayhi' smoothie coming right up," emma chuckles at her own joke. no one laughs. there's a loud cough, coming from eleanor's direction.

"emma, did you just tell a bad joke? they ruin my sleep. i think an apology is in order."

emma rolls her eyes, walking out from behind the counter, dragging eleanor along with her, both of them plonking down at the nearest booth. immediately, they're joined by colin and joe.

"what are you guys doing today? maybe we could, like, go somewhere," joe suggests.

"yeah, that'd be cool. well, cool-cool-coolerthanu, anyways," emma replies.

"eleanor?" joe raises an eyebrow at her.

"what? oh, yeah that's cool cool."

"no," he says shaking his head, "what're you doing?"

eleanor had been drawing and writing numbers and words onto her hand and down her arm with a sharpie.

"today? nothing. but there's a new aquarium. i heard they have hammer heads, so i'd be down for that."

joe and emma shake their heads, and colin is just staring at a photo of a butterfly on the wall.

"i like your hair," eleanor compliments colin.

"what? oh, thanks," he smiles back.

eleanor leans across the table with her sharpie and starts inking numbers.

"what the fug?"

"it's my number, jerkwad."

"oh, uh, thanks."

"so the aquarium?" emma asks openly to the group.

"definitely," joe agrees straight away.

"hey, i asked earlier if we could go and you said-"

"colin, is that a hipster instagram opportunity?" joe interrupts.

"where?" colin cries, looking around.

"nowhere."

"well, let's go, gang," joe calls.

eleanor winces, "gang? we're not punks. we're a squad, ok? like a dodgeball squad or something."

colin winces this time, "no, we're not sporty enough to pull that off. how about herd?"

"fine, let's go with herd," emma finalises.

"ok, come on herd."

-

[edit: holy moly this is so bad]