the bet → brad simpson | ✓

22

He takes my hand, not saying anything as he walks backwards, taking me with him. He sits down on Nat's bed again and I sit on the double bed and it's quiet, silent.

"That kiss didn't count, by the way," Brad says. "Towards the bet, I mean. I'm not letting you finish the bet."

"Fine but. . . on one condition, yeah?" I ask and he nods. "If I talk to my parents. . . I'll move back in with them."

He sighs, "I'm not gonna ever, ever stop you from having a relationship with your parents, that would be totally wrong. But if you want to move back in with them, I can't stop you, you're right."

"Okay," I nod. "So we're just gonna start over?"

"Completely?" He asks and I smile.

"Yeah, I guess," I reach out my hand for him to take. "Hello, I'm Tasmin, I like to watch Netflix and hate exercise."

"Hello, Tasmin," he replies, taking my hand. "I'm Bradley and I love you and hate arguing with people." My cheeks flush red and I turn away. "I'm kidding, I love sleep."

"So you don't love me?" I gasp.

"I have only known you for a few minutes," he smirks and I laugh, standing up. "Where are you going now?"

"To get some food, since someone dragged me away," I roll my eyes at him and he follows me out.

"Who could do such a thing?" He asks jokingly. We go down the stairs and we watch as one of the staff close the breakfast hall doors and Anne, Derek and Nat are all in the hallway talking as they wait for us. Were we really that long?

I follow Brad over to them and they smile at us both. "Glad you finally decided to join us," Anne smiles. "We're going to the beach now, are you doing anything for breakfast?"

"We'll grab something on the way there," Brad replies. "I'm not hungry but Tas is so."

"Okay," Anne smiles. "You've got your swimming costumes, right?"

"Of course," Brad rolls his eyes at his mum and I nod at her with a smile. "Can we go?"

"Yes, yes," Anne grabs her bag from the chair and starts walking between Derek and Nat, me and Brad trailing behind.

"I left my purse in our room so I'll pay you back when we come back later," I tell Brad but he rolls his eyes at me.

"Don't be silly—I dragged you away from the breakfast hall so it's the least I can do. I can't take your money from you anyway." He gives me a genuine smile and puts his arm over my shoulder.

Thankfully, our hotel is near the beach so we don't have to walk super far, and Brad and I find a small shop along the beach shore.

"What would you like?" He asks, and I look at the options on the small, limited menu.

"I'll just have a sausage sandwich," I smile and he gets out his wallet and pays. He hands me the sandwich and we also buy a blown up beach ball to play with later.

I finish my sandwich on the way to the beach and throw the rubbish in the bin.

"Throw the ball to me," I say as I'm a few meters away from Brad and he throws it to me, and I catch it, throwing it back. The ball is thrown back and forth between us both and eventually we're with Anne, Derek and Nat.

Brad has the ball tucked under his arm as Anne hands us both some sun cream and I apply it on my arms leg and front.

"Would you mind?" I ask Brad as I point to my back and he nods, putting the ball down and taking the sun cream off of me.