359Authors note: Hi guys, firstly, I am SO sorry about how long it has taken me to write this. I've been revising hard for my exams, it's slipped my mind, and yes, sometimes I decided to relax instead of writing, which I'm sorry for.
You may or may not have seen that I received a few 'reviews' from one person, which weren't the friendliest, to say the least. In fact they were downright rude and unnecessary. That did get me down for a while, but in the end I got over it. I mean, 100 amazing reviews from you absolutely awesome people shouldn't be outweighed by a few bad ones, so I've carried on and have some interesting plot points to work on over the next few chapters!
Thank you all for being so lovely and amazing, I wish I could marry you all. Hugs and butterfly kisses, -C x
Chapter 20: Calm before the storm.
Darren, Meredith and Joey all started to walk back to where the group had left their things. Meredith and Joey kept shooting each other awkward glances, looking away quickly when they saw Darren watching out of the corner of his eye. Once, Joey accidentally brushed Merediths hand and mumbled what sounded like an apology.
Darren was trying not to laugh, he already knew! Why were they so awkward now? It didn't even cross his mind that they were awkward because of him…
The trio reached the sunbeds, are were greeted by an interesting site. There were about 8 extra people sitting with the StarKids, they had all pulled their beds round into a large circle and were playing cards. 'Erm…' Darren said, stepping towards the group, all thoughts of Meredith and Joey vanished from his mind. 'Hi, what's going on?'
'Oh hey!' Lauren said, jumping up from the bed she was sharing with a small, blonde, curly haired girl who Darren didn't know. 'These are some guys we met in the giant rubber ring ride!' Lauren explained, hopping back to her perch on the edge of her bed and placing the seven of diamonds down onto the girls card.
'Oh MAN!' she said, glaring at Lauren. Joey and Meredith squeezed in next to a slightly taller girl with dirty blonde hair, who blushed furiously.
Darren looked around at the new people. They were all girls of varying ages, between about 13 and 19. Three blondes, the remaining five were brunette, all spaced evenly between the StarKids. He shrugged and joined them. It turned out that the girls were all friends and had decided to force their families to go on holiday at the same time. They were all StarKids, and meeting their idols had been pure chance.
Four rounds of snap, two games of Poker and a lot of friendly arguments later, the groups split off again. 'I love meeting people who know who we are, it's kind of surreal!' Jaime Lyn said, laughing.
'I know, and they weren't even from around here!' Julia said, putting more sun-cream on. 'Where were you three though?' She said turning to Joey, Meredith and Darren in turn. Joey and Meredith stiffened, and half glanced at Darren who's eyes glinted evilly.
'Oh, they were having fun-' Darren said as Meredith stepped hard on his foot.
'-We were just in the wave pool for most of the time.' She finished, glaring daggers at Darren who was having trouble controlling his laughter.
'Yeah, the waves are like, six foot high man! It's crazy!' Joey said, enthusiastically. This was too much for Darren to take, and he almost ran off, spluttering something unintelligible about finding Tyler. Julia looked at Meredith. The girls were close, and Julia knew that something was up from Meredith avoiding her gaze.
'Mer, can I have a chat with you for a sec?' She asked, taking her arm and steering her towards one of the pools.
'Yes?' Meredith said, innocently, trying to avoid staring at Julia's face.
'Meredith. What is going on?' Julia said, taking her friends face between her hands and forcing her to look at her.
'Nothing!' Meredith tried to say, but from the way her cheeks were squished together it sounded more like: 'Noofthen.' She pulled away and stepped back. 'Nothing.' She said again, looking at her feet which were immersed in the turquoise water. She looked up and saw Julia watching her, a small smile on her face. 'Okay FINE. It's Joey. Darren came over and saw us and now he's being an asshat about it!'
'Oh my GOD! Something happened between you two?' Julia clapped her hands over her mouth, looking ecstatic and shocked at the same time.
'It's nothing really…' Meredith said, looking back at her foot which she was rubbing in circles under the water. 'We just kissed-' Her sentence was interrupted with Julia's squeal.
'Oh that is so CUTE!' She said, hugging Meredith tightly. 'How many people know?'
'Only you and Dar, and I want to keep it that was please! For the moment anyhow…'
'Okay, okay, okay!' Julia said, jumping up and down and grabbing Meredith by the hands. They both danced around for a bit, Meredith finally allowing herself to think of a relationship with Joey, one where they weren't constantly looking over their shoulders at people who were watching them.
'Okay, we should go back.' Meredith said, glancing over to the sun-beds where the group of StarKids had reassembled. Lauren was on Brian's shoulders, and Joe Walker had got hold of a lifeguards whistle somehow, and was blowing it over anyone who tried to talk.
The two girls shook their heads and made their way back over to their crazy friends. Meredith slotted in between Joey and Joe Moses, across the circle Darren was waggling his eyebrows suggestively. She surreptitiously made an obscene gesture at him, at which he grinned and blew her a kiss. She felt Joey watching her as he laid a hand gently on her back. She turned to him and smiled. He grinned crookedly back and squeezed her lightly around the middle.
Julia watched the pair from her place between Darren and Tyler. Now that she knew, it was so obvious there was something between the two of them. She turned to Darren and said under her breath: 'Don't be too harsh on them Daz, let them tell everyone in their own time.'
'You know?' Darren said, surprised.
'Yeah, she just told me.' Jules smiled. 'It's adorable!'
Darren grinned at her. 'I know, I won't say anything, but I like letting them think I will.'
The pair looked up to see Joey and Meredith staring at them suspiciously. They laughed and winked simultaneously at the couple who looked more scared than ever. The rest of the group had started to take notice, and Tyler broke the tension nicely by exclaiming: 'Woah, Look at that storm cloud!'
The group turned just in time to see the first drops of rain fall. They all ran to shelter under the wicker umbrellas. They pulled the sun-beds together, wrapped towels around them and snuggled up.
Lauren was sitting on the same bed as Brian. She was leaning against him sleepily and he had his arms protectively around her. The two Joes were imitating them, but taking it a step further when they pretended to kiss: 'Mmm Lauren, I love you so much!' In a falsetto which earned him a bottle of suntan lotion to the head when Brian had had enough.
The rest of the group spread out. Julia and Darren were playing snap against Tyler and Jaime. The rest put on some music on Joe Moses' portable speakers and settled down to wait out the storm.