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Dragging myself out of the water, I collapse on the sand. I lean back on my hands, tilting my head back and soak up the sun. I take in a deep breath; my heart feels full as I bask in the morning spent in and out of the water: laughing and sharing memories. With the ever impending senior year, the thought of having to decide on what I actually want to do with my future has been weighing down on my shoulders like lead weights. I am the only one in my friend group that hasn’t got some kind of plan in mind. Grace is off to university to become a teacher. Benny, Josh and Mike all have apprenticeships at the local mechanics. Daniel is off to university to become a doctor and Noah is headed down to Brisbane after being accepted into the Brumbies reserves. That mother fucker better not forget me when he becomes a famous NRL star.
When it comes to me, nothing feels right. During our work placements, I tried a couple of different options, and nothing seemed to fit. Thankfully, I have a job at the café on the waterfront for now until I work out what I want to do. Mum has been really good about not putting pressure on me to decide. To her, my happiness comes first and if that means I stay at the café, she is content in allowing me to wait until my ‘true calling comes knocking on the door’, whatever that means.
I turn to the guys and see them in similar states of relaxation, and I smile. While they are distracted and my gaze can go relatively unnoticed, I take in my fill of them.
Sonny looks the most at home at the beach. His skin is soaking in the sun and I’m instantly envious. His hair sits curly now that it's wet. There is a tattoo of a candy girl on his upper arm. The colours are so vibrant it could almost be three dimensional. A traditional style panther takes up his entire midsection. Two wolves who are facing off against each other, sit on his pecks. A rose tattoo expands his throat. I’d hate to think just how painful that tattoo would’ve been.
Dawson’s tattoos are like stickers all over his body. I notice a cherub angel with a gun in its hands, a scorpion and a dagger that looks like it was recently done. There are so many little tattoos, it would take forever to actually count them all. I can’t help but ogle him a little longer. He looks like a typical fuck boy. The hair, the tattoos, that attitude of couldn’t care less permanently in place. But right now, seeing how relaxed he is, I can almost see the golden retriever hidden underneath that rottweiler exterior. And I’m one thousand percent a dog girl.
Pike is probably the most clean skinned of all the guys. A realistic bald eagle takes up his entire chest. The detail the artist was able to get in the tattoo is impressive. A few tattoos cover each of his legs and arms. He is currently laid back, resting on one elbow looking like the cover of GQ or Men’s Health. He sure as shit puts all of us mere mortals to shame. Normally, the kinds of guys that have been blessed in the looks department like Pike has, can be down right pricks. But slowly getting to know him has shown me he is just down to earth.
Nicky’s tattoos are similar to Dawson’s in the way of looking like a sticker book, just on a much larger size scale. One of his arms is completely blacked out. As I look closer I see delicate white flowers trail down his entire arm. I’ve never seen anything like it. It's stunning. A small smile sits on his face, looking completely at peace. It's clear that the guys were in desperate need of a holiday. I watch as the exhaustion slowly leaves their bodies the longer I watch them.
This place tends to make you feel that way. That’s why I love it so much. If life didn’t call me back home, I’d move here and be a beach rat for life.
Dacre sits close to my side, so I have to really turn my head to look at him. His back is turned slightly towards me, so I am able to take in the details of his back tattoo. An oval picture frame takes up his entire back. Inside the frame is a scene of two young kids holding hands and looking up at the moon. Stars scatter the entire night sky but one is brighter than the rest. A strange ping goes through my chest at the sight of it. I rub the spot on my chest.
“That tattoo on your back is beautiful Dacre.” I say quietly, not wanting to startle him.
He slowly turns his head towards me, a sad smile on his face.
“Ah yeah…” He looks down as if to look at the tattoo. He tries to smile but it's more of a grimace. The tattoo is obviously a tribute to someone. Realising he most likely doesn’t want to go into any more detail, I take the pressure off him. I stand up out of the water.
“Follow me guys, there is something I want to show you.”
The creek never gets any deeper than waist height but unfortunately, it's extremely narrow, so the guys have to all follow behind me single file. We’ve only been walking for five minutes before Sunny speaks up.
“Ah Scar… Look you are hot and all babe but if this is the part where you take us somewhere remote and murder us, I’m going to have to pass.”
“Fuck, there goes my plans then.” I say, faking the disappointment in my voice. “Pack it up guys. This one isn’t interested!” I yell out to absolutely no one, but Sonny doesn’t need to know that.
“Guys…” Sonny pauses and begins frantically looking around. I can’t contain my laughter. Way too fucking gullible.
The way the other guys join in on my laughter, it's obvious the only one that was naïve to fall for my terrible joke was in fact Sonny. He made it way too easy.
“Bunch of assholes.” Sonny grumbles under his breath.
“Bro, that was way too easy. You even set it up yourself.” Dawson laughs, patting Sonny on his back.
“Come on, it's just up here.” I pick up the pace, ignoring the bickering behind me. The place is completely overgrown from years of not being used, but it's still beautiful. I push my way through the hanging vines that cover the area from years of abandonment. The old campsite sits almost like an island from where the creek curves up the side, eventually travelling back into the hills. The trees and vines have formed a canopy over the entire area making it so much cooler here than outside.
“Wow.”
“This is insane.”
“What is this place?” Pike asks.
“It's called the Honeymoon suite. Back in the early 2000s, this whole area used to be full of campers. Freshwater creek was the entrance. But people used and abused the area. Left their rubbish behind and destroyed turtle nests so they closed it off. Unfortunately, the area was closed off before I ever came up here but Benny’s Mum and Dad told us stories and eventually showed us this place.”
“It sucks that they were forced to close it off.” Nicky replies. I nod, agreeing with him completely.
“They closed off a heap of other places down the beach around the same time too. There's this massive sand bowl called Orange Bowl. Super soft sand but an incredible look out once you get to the top. You used to be able to drive in there but it's all been shut off. You can still walk up there though. Want to see?”
“Fuck yes!”
“Lead the way.” Dacre smiles at me.
We make our way back to the bikes. I quickly dry off with the towel I brought, passing it to the guys so they can dry off as much as they can. Forward thinking me brought two towels, so I hand the other off to Sonny.
