The Perfect Summer

Chapter 31: The Bonfire

There was hundreds of people at the beach, and as soon as I climbed down the stairs I could feel myself sinking into the dusty sand.

"I'm so excited," Serena screamed. I flinched at how loud she was. We kept walking until we saw the fire and sitting around it was Wesley, Leo, Lara, Connor, Lauren, Elizabeth and Noah as well as a few other people who had come into the cafe once or twice.

"Hey," I greeted everyone while Connor scooted over to make space for me. I gladly sat next to him with Leo on my other side.

"Cute dress," Elizabeth said to me.

"Thanks," I replied simply.

Serena came and sat next to Connor on the other side of the log. "Are you okay?" I asked her when I caught her staring at Wesley and Lara.

"Yep," She said a little too happily,  but I didn't ask her again.

"Hey Alison," Leo greeted, politely.

"Hey," I replied smiling at him before tuning back into the conversation.

Connor kept touching me and smiling at me, but being in so close proximity to everyone I couldn't help but feel a little unsettled.

Serena also kept glancing at Connor which made me confused. "Okay, who wants beer?" Wesley asked handing out beers to everyone, when he came near me, I shook my head.

He looked taken aback for a second, "You don't want anything to drink?" Wesley asked.

"Nope," I replied.

"Why?" He asked, cautiously.

"I don't drink," I replied again, deciding on saying the truth.

His eyes went wide, "You've never drank any alochol?" He asked in shock.

"No," I replied, simply.

Everyone seemed to be a little shocked, "Okay, well there's always a first time for everything," Connor said, while Wesley continued handing drinks out. I didn't reply, because to be honest I didn't want any alochol. My Uncle drank a lot and I would just rather stay away from that and the thought of...him.

"C'mon Ali, just drink some,"  Lauren said.

"No, I'm seriously okay," I said feeling my cheeks heat up not only from the fire that had been made from wood but because everyones attention was on me.

"Just drink some," Serena said, I glared at her. She knew exactly why I didn't drink.

"No!" I exclaimed, a little too loudly.

"Its just beer," Connor remarked.

"She doesn't want to drink it, just let it go," Leo shouted suddenly, sighing and I didn't think I would ever be thankful for him but I was. 

"Okay, we didn't know that some people don't drink any alochol, how boring is that," Connor shrugged. I raised my eyebrows at him, but he didn't notice. He was too busy talking to Serena. I scoffed.

"Thank you," I whispered to Leo. He smiled widely.

"Its okay, but on the bright side you're good under peer pressure," He remarked.

"Yeah," I said quietly, giggling.

The conversation was going steady and much to my relief the conversation was no longer on me. I laughed at a joke told by Lara, when a little boy came up to me. He was the same boy, Luke, who came to the cafe every day for ice-cream.

"Hello Luke," I said when he came up to me. He was also David's son.

"Hello," He said smiling. I grabbed him and put him on my lap.

"You okay?" I asked him.

He nodded while smiling.

"Oh! What do we have here?" I asked, seeing his bottle of bubble.

"Bubble maker," He said in a cute voice, I placed my hand on his dusty blonde hair. "Do want to try?" He asked.

"Of course," I said as he passed me the bottle. I took of the lid and blew a bubble that didn't turn out right.

"Oh whoops," I said while Luke laughed. I blew it again, and this time it was very big and flew upwards into the sky until it was no longer in sight. I blew another one that made the fire sizzle a little from the water when it popped.

"C'mon, lets go over there," I said gesturing to the sand near the water.

"Leo, can you come?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," He replied simply, ruffling his hair.

We went to the part of the sand that was next to the cold shore. I blew a lot more bubbles, making Luke jump up and down excitedly popping them. Leo picked him up so that he could reach the higher ones. I laughed loudly.

Someones football came near us, so I threw it back. "Okay, how about you blow bubbles now?" Leo asked Luke. He nodded happily.

Half way through Leo picked me up, making me laugh. In the end we were so exhausted we just sat down blowing bubbles calmly.

"Hey Leo, I had fun last night," A women in a red bikini and tan skin said to Leo. He didn't reply but instead looked at me, he opened his mouth to try and say something, but no words came out.

"Its okay, why would I care?" I asked blowing more bubbles but I did care, I guess I didn't want to believe that he was actually a player.  After a few more minutes, Luke's friends came down and he ran off with them, waving.

We went back to the group to find them all in a deep conversation over whether converse were better or Toms.

"What do you think?" Lauren asked me.

"Converse, of course," much to the delight of everyone apart from Wesley and Serena.

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We were roasting marshmallows while others were making s'mores. Elizabeth and Noah kept kissing each other and Serena was acting far too happy. I roasted my marshmallows eating it slowly while staying out of the conversation. 

The place was becoming less crowded, as all the little children had gone home and so had the adults so it was mostly the teenagers left, with a few so wasted they didn't even know where they were heading. 

We went to the water, and everyone went swimming. "Hey babe, you okay?" Connor asked.

"Yep," I said, giving him a reassuring smile.

I stood in the water while Elizabeth and Lauren went swimming. A lot was going on, the night sky was getting darker and dawn wasn't breaking yet. The places was lit with the many fires that had been made.

I yawned, tired. It must be past midnight now. When we were all sitting down on the logs yet again, I noticed that Serena had disappeared. I had been keeping an eye on her all night to see her reaction to Lara and Wesley. I knew they were trying to tone it down but were failing.

"Guys, where's Serena?" I asked, worriedly.

"I don't know, but I'm sure she's fine," Lauren replied.

"Yeah, I'm just going to look or her," I said moving past everyone to go and find Serena on the relatively big beach, looking at every ones faces and clothes trying to spot the girl in the orange dress.