𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 ➳ 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞

Chapter 15

The Wednesday after the meeting, the Partridge's suggested spending the day at Venice Beach since it was on Issie's bucket list. I declined going knowing what that place was, but Issie and Millie forced me upon my will. So there I was driving the family to Venice Beach. The drive was only about an hour including L.A. traffic so that was enough time for me to panic. I felt sick to my stomach the entire car ride, I almost pulled over in the middle of the freeway to throw up. The Partridge's said we should turn back, but I felt bad knowing I would ruin their day by doing so.

When we pulled into the parking lot, it wasn't as busy as I expected considering it was a Wednesday afternoon in the beginning of July. We decided to go swimming for a couple hours then spend some time biking around till dinner. I was reluctant to go into the freezing cold water, but Issie grabbed my legs while Louis grabbed my arms and Millie grabbing the rest of my body and carried me into the water. They then threw me in.

"OH YOU GUYS SUCK!" I screamed once I resurfaced. They all began to laugh till I started swimming towards them. Though they weren't fast enough. I first dunked Issie underwater, once she came back up coughing, I moved onto Millie. She was swimming away from me so I grabbed her feet, making her laugh. The hardest was Louis, he was unexpectedly the fast swimmer out of the three. I grabbed ahold of his body, trying to push him under, but he was a lot stronger than me so we ended up just wrestling in the water.

We spent the rest of the time boogie boarding and making castles. Mrs. Partridge took so many pictures of us, it reminded me of my mom who used to take pictures of me and the twins. While we were in the water, Louis would try to dunk me under, but I always managed to get away. It felt weird being back in the water again. The last time I went here or even back in the ocean was when I was still with Dylan. This was our spot. And it hurt so much to be back here, though I tried to hide it for the sake of the family.

After we were done with the beach, we went back to the car to dry off and change, while Mr. Partridge went to go rent bikes. Louis and I didn't need it as we brought our skateboards. The family and I went around the boardwalk, going in and out of stores and such. The family stopped at a particular gift shop. One I recognized as the first shop Dylan and I went to on our first date. Flashbacks came flooding back when I walked into the store. Distant laughter came from the sunglasses holder, where Dylan and I tried on silly glasses and taking pictures of each other. It was too much.

Flashback starts

"You look so cute!" I said to the boy as he turned to me with some mom glasses on his face. I snapped a picture.

"You'd look better in it than me." He put the glasses on me. I smiled at him as he took a picture.

We moved onto the souvenirs section where we both grabbed hats and trying it on. Laughing as we explored the rest of the store we found a little photo booth. We both looked at each other and climbed in. Dylan offered to pay for the pictures and we sat down panicking on which poses to do.

"How about we just smile for this one?" Dylan asked putting his shoulder around me. I looked at him and nodded.

"3...2...1" snap.

He turned to me "Okay kiss my cheek." I looked at him and put my hand under his chin and kissed his cheek while he smiled happily at the camera.

I turned towards the camera, "Okay okay my turn!"

When our excitement over the pictures calmed down, we decided to split off and buy each other gifts. I looked around the store wondering what Dylan would like. I was looking at a couple of shirts when I heard laughter coming from the entrance behind a curtain. I went behind it and saw Dylan with another girl. I came up to them and when he noticed me, he smiled and quickly said,