Aubrey Garcia's Journey home.

Chapter Thirty Three.

 The next day, Aubrey woke up feeling exhausted. She hadn't gotten very much sleep last night. As she climbed out of bed, she quickly noted the date and remembered her promise to head to the beach clean up today. Aubrey resisted the urge to dive back into her bed and burrow under the soft blankets. She sighed and opened her bedroom door, immediately hitting Leon in the face.
"Oh god, are you okay?" 

Leon snarled at her and spat, "What do you think? I just got hit in the face with a door."

"So you're good?" Aubrey said with a sheepish grin. She was met with growl, fair enough she thought with a sigh. She was doing a lot of sighing this morning.

Leon very purposely stepped on her foot, making her wince in pain. She decided not to respond. She walked downstairs, wincing as she went. It was going to be one of those mornings.

"Good morning!" Her mom called, holding a pan of cinnamon rolls. Aubrey smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Thanks mum." She muttered, rubbing her eyes.

"Long night?" She shrugged and put her hands in her pockets, sitting down at the dining table. Her mom put a plate with two cinnamon rolls in front of her and went to go get Leon and Carter downstairs. Her phone buzzed with an email.

Lexi: Hey, are you guys still up for the Beach clean up?

Aubrey took a moment to think about that. It was a hard night, sure, but that wouldn't be an excuse for canceling her plans. She might even enjoy it.

Aubrey: Im still up for it

James: same

Lexi: Nice! Thank you guys so much!

Aubrey: No problem

James: no prob

Aubrey switched off her phone and ate her breakfast. She yelped as a stream of orange juice suddenly spilled on her food, trickling down the table and into her lap.
"Whoops." Came Leon's teasing voice. She looked up, a murderous glare etched on her face.

"Leon, give Aubrey your rolls." Their mom said, shooting Leon a disapproving look. He glared at her, then handed her his rolls. He then grabbed a Gameboy with a little rainbow sticker out of his pocket and sat down, seething with annoyance.

"Good. Now Carter, do you want your cinnamon rolls?"

"Sure." He said, sitting down next to her.

"Is that eyeshadow?" Carte asked, looking at her. Aubrey frowned and rubbed at the area under her eyes.

"Oh nevermind. You might want something to cover up the bags under your eyes though." Carter said, going back to watching The Powerpuff Girls. Aubrey resisted the urge to strangle him.

James: i can pick u guys up in 10

Lexi: Okay. See you then!

Aubrey: Alright

Aubrey grabbed a small bag, a water bottle, a book, and an extra sweatshirt for the road.

"What are you doing?" Leon asked, his lip curling in disgust.

"Getting ready for some volunteering with Lexi and James", She said, a tired look on her face.

"Oh, nothing worthwhile then." He said, before walking upstairs.

"Sorry about him." Carter said, an apologetic smile on his face. Aubrey just shook her head, and continued packing whatever needed for the cleanup. Soon, she heard another buzz from her phone saying that James and Lexi were waiting outside.

"Hey." She said, plastering on a smile. James was in the driver's seat, gesturing that she come sit in the passenger's seat.
"Hi." Lexi said from the backseat, her eyes shifting nervously around the car.

"What's up?" James asked, a grin on his face.

"The sky." She said, forcing a grin.

James gave her a concerned look, and she sighed knowing he could see through whatever smiles or grins she managed to plaster on.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he started up the car. She shrugged and echoed, "Long night." He nodded and made a joke about how cold it was. During the car ride, James did his best to cheer Aubrey up, putting on music, making jokes, and arguing with her about trivial things. By the time they had arrived at the beach, she felt a hundred times better.

Lexi looked at the time before saying, "We still have about thirty minutes, want to head and get some snacks?" Aubrey nodded and James added "We should get some ice cream." Ten minutes later they were all holding ice cream cones. Aubrey licked her chocolate ice cream. It had little peanuts sprinkled on top. Lexi made a shocked yelping sound, and Aubrey looked over at her questioningly.

"James just bit his ice cream!" Aubrey looked over at him.

"Is this true?" She asked dramatically, putting her hand on her heart and taking a shocked step back.

"Allas, it is true."

"Walk at a distance." Aubrey said, grabbing Lexi's arm and speed walking away from him.

"We don't know him!" Lexi shouted to the small crowd, making James laugh. The crowd didn't look all that concerned, though a few people who had been listening to their antics smiled a little.

"We should get going. We don't want to be late." Lexi said with a small frown. Aubrey nodded, and followed her off to the beach.

----

Two hours later, they were all walking along the beach with reusable bags, picking up pieces of plastic and trash.

"Let's get to work!" Amna, a woman with kind eyes and a hijab shouted to the rest of the volunteers. Aubrey and James were both working in the same group, picking up stuff on the eastern side. When they had gotten there, Lexi had waved hello and talked with Amna and other older volunteers for a while, seeming familiar with everyone. James and Aubrey agreed, it was a little strange seeing Lexi talking so freely with so many people. It was a nice change of pace though, as she seemed so anxious most of the time.

"Break in thirty minutes!" Lexi shouted, an easy smile on her face.

"Hey. Your friends with Lexi right?" Amna said, walking over to them. They nodded, and Amna smiled at them. "She's a good kid. Her parents are trying to convince her to stop coming though." Amna looked over at Lexi, who was happily picking up soda cans that were embedded in the sand.

"Well, I don't think her parents are going to budge her." Amna said, still smiling. "James and Aubrey, right?" They nodded and Amna absentmindedly fiddled with her hijab.

"I was wondering when I'd get to meet y'all." Aubrey smiled.

"Nice to meet you as well." Aubrey said to her, disregarding the fact that Lexi had never mentioned an Amna. She looked at her watch and shouted "BREAK!" before giving them one last wave and walking off towards the other volunteers.

Two more hours later, James and Aubrey sat on one of the beach chairs that had been set out on the sand for all the volunteers who stayed all four hours. The sun was setting over the beach, and Aubrey had her sketchbook and some pencils out, trying to capture the sky's magnificent beauty to be used as a painting reference later. The sky was streaked with reds, purples, pinks, and blues and the golden sun slid down the horizon like a drop of liquid gold. All while being perfectly reflected on the sea's calm waves, which crashed forward and wet the sand around Aubrey's toes. Aubrey took James' hand in hers and watched the sun slowly set on the horizon. The smell of the sea's breeze wafted towards her, filling her lungs with fresh air. She focused on James' hand in hers, the sky, the way the wind brushed against her like silk, and she felt okay.

"Want to get dinner?" James asked, tilting his head towards Lexi, who was sitting by the car. "Sure." She said with a small smile that grew wider by the second. So, hand in hand, they walked towards the car.