Imperfect Life: Arc 5

Chapter 3

The first official morning of the vacation, Brandon slowly woke up in the large, quite comfy, bed in his room. He vaguely could recall getting in from the car last night, but it was still a bit fuzzy. He laid there in bed for several minutes before finally deciding to get up. He used the bathroom, then he went to his suitcase and got dressed in his usual attire. After that, he quickly put away all his suitcase stuff before heading downstairs. It was already about nine thirty in the morning. Crys was already up, sitting in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal. She was sporting a t-shirt and shorts instead of her usual hoodie and sweatpants combo.

"Morning." Crys said with a smile once she noticed Brandon.

"Morning." Brandon replied in kind.

Crys looked at Brandon and rolled her eyes. "Long sleeves and pants?" She said, half teasingly.

"Yeah, and?" Brandon replied with a sneer.

"Brandon, we're at the beach!" Crys said. "C'mon, loosen up a bit." She smiled.

Brandon could tell Crys was just being a bit playful. "Look, the only short sleeve anything I brought with me was my bathing suit." He said.

"Well then, it's a good thing we're going swimming, isn't it?" Crys teased.

"Huh?" Brandon asked, still a bit too tired to understand what Crys meant.

"I was thinking we could go swimming a bit later." Crys explained.

"Oh, alright." Brandon said. He felt a bit dumb for not immediately understanding what Crys had meant. He paused for a second. "So is today our beach day, then?" He asked.

Crys nodded. "Yep." She said. "Might as well hang around here and just go swimming and mess around on the beach for today. We can go and see the town tomorrow."

"Sounds fun!" Brandon said with a grin. He had been making himself his own bowl of cereal while he had been talking with Crys, and now he was finally starting to eat it.

Later on after breakfast, Crys and Brandon headed upstairs to change into their bathing suits. Crys got done first and headed outside to sit on the back porch while Brandon finished up. She sat down on one of the chairs out there, sitting on her hands and fidgeting with her flip-flops. After just a minute or two, she heard the sliding door open. She looked up to see Brandon walk out in his swim trunks and shirt.

"Well, hello." Crys said with a smile.

Brandon shut the sliding door behind him. "Why're you sitting here?" He asked.

"I was waiting for you." Crys replied.

"You didn't have to." Brandon continued.

"Yeah, but I wanted to." Crys said. She got up. "Come on, let's go." She added on.

Brandon shrugged. "Alright." He said. He followed Crys as she walked down to the beach.

"So," Crys said in a teasing tone as she was walking down to the shore, "how do you like my new outfit?" She turned around briefly so Brandon could see her from the front.

"You look good." Brandon said, just giving Crys a glance long enough to see what she looked like before looking away again. She was in a black wetsuit with light blue highlights on the sides and around the neck, kind of like what a surfer or diver would wear.

Crys rolled her eyes. "You can look at me, you know." She said with a half chuckle.

"I know, I just-" Brandon started to explain himself.

"Yeah, yeah." Crys interrupted. "Look, thank you for trying not to stare, I do appreciate it, but I've already told you I don't mind."

Brandon stayed quiet for a moment.