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A summer breeze hit Tommy’s face as they drove down the windy roads. All the windows were rolled down as music blared from the radio. Tommy played with the air outside the car window making little waves while singing along to the song with everyone. All smiles and laughs as Phil purposefully sang bad while driving. Techno sat in the passenger seat reading his book despite any motion sickness. Wilbur sat in the back using Tommy as a make-shift pillow in spite of his many complaints.
“Phiilllll” Tommy yelled, drawing out Phil’s name over the music.
“Yeah?” Phil replied looking in the rear view mirror at Tommy.
“Are we theeerrre yet?” Tommy said, looking back at Phil.
“Alright I’m killing the child” Wilbur said but didn’t make any effort to move off of Tommy. They all just laughed leaving Tommy sputtering about how he’s not a child.
After a long while the beach slowly came into view. Tommy sat up, pushing Wilbur off in excitement. As soon as they parked Tommy flung the door open ready to take off for the beach.
“Woah there mate” catching Tommy before he could go anywhere “First we need to take our stuff down to the beach and then get set up before you go. Not to mention you need sunscreen” Phil said, making Tommy pout in annoyance.
“Fiiinne” Tommy said heading towards the boot of the car to get their stuff. With hands loaded with bags, they made their way down the beach choosing a spot Wilbur picked out. They laid out the beach towels, getting everything situated. Tommy quickly took off his shoes enjoying the way the sand went between his toes. He then started to take off towards the ocean.
“Sunscreen!” Phil shouted before Tommy could get far. Tommy made his way back and they all started to put on sunscreen sharing the bottle. Phil did everyones back making sure they were decently covered.
“Now wait fifteen minutes before getting in the water so the sunscreen can dry” Phil said looking at Tommy, who promptly groaned.
“Fine but I demand a sandcastle competition. Me and Wilbur versus you and Techno” Tommy said giving a mischievous smile.
“Oh it’s on” Phil replied, getting out the sandcastle toys they brought. They soon got to work building their castles. Tommy would run to the ocean with a bucket to get the wet sand that was better for building. Tommy argued back and forth while Techno and Phil quietly worked together. It was probably a good twenty minutes when they finished.
“Clearly ours is way better plus you didn’t even build a castle.” Tommy said, sticking his tongue out at them.
“I think our sea turtle is way better than any castle.” Techno replied, rolling his eyes.
“Oh yeah? Well we named our city, it’s called L’manburg. I bet you didn’t even name your turtle.”
“Yes we did his name is Carl and he’s the best sea turtle around”
“Well now that our competition is over and me and Wilbur clearly won, can we go into the ocean?”
“Sure, you can blow up the raft if you want to take it out there with you.” Phil said getting out the raft and handing it to Tommy who proceeded to take a century to blow up the raft. Blowing up a raft by mouth was not easy, okay?
“Okay let’s go” Tommy said looking toward Wilbur and Techno.
“I think I’ll just stay here and read my book” Techno said, not even looking up from his book.
“No, you have to come. How can you go to the ocean and not go in the ocean?” Tommy whined and grabbed Techno’s trying to drag him. Which did absolutely nothing but Techno got up anyways.
“Fine but only for a little bit” Techno replied putting his hair in a bun, in hopes it wouldn’t get wet.
“Yes! Come on let's go” Tommy said with the raft in hand, running down the beach.
“Oi wait up child!” Wilbur called out fastly walking to Tommy.
“I’m not a child dickhead! I’m almost eleven years old!” Tommy said as Wilbur finally caught up to him with Techno still walking at normal speed towards them.
“Do you want to hop on the raft after we get past some of the little waves and I can drag you out the rest of the way?” Wilbur asked Tommy, ignoring his comment of being almost eleven years old.
“No, I'm a big man. I can get out there on my own” Tommy huffed and started walking out into the ocean. Once they got past some of the little waves he found it harder and harder to go past any of the big ones. He got hit by wave after wave struggling to go any further. Without saying anything Wilbur grabbed the raft he was holding but was basically on top of and started pulling him out. They went towards a sand bank that allowed them to glide over the big waves without getting hit by any of them. It was honestly a lot of fun fighting in the water and splashing each other ruining Techno’s once dry hair. It was also calming just hopping over the waves holding onto the raft for support. Wilbur and Tommy bickered back and forth making fun of each other as Techno just laughed, joining in occasionally. They stayed out there for a long time just enjoying the ocean until they realized the current had drifted them far down the beach away from Phil and their stuff. Phil waved his hands calling them back in because they had gone too far out. Tommy tried to head back with Wilbur but he realized the current was too strong pulling him out further into the ocean and he wasn’t going anywhere. He started to panic but Techno looked back and saw his fear.
“You’re fine, just hold onto the raft again and I’ll pull you in” He said calmly grabbing the raft and swimming. Once they got closer to shore they raced each other to see who could get to shore first by body surfing. Techno won despite Wilburs head start. Tommy claimed it was unfair though because he was stuck holding the raft. They made their way down the beach back to their stuff with Tommy talking Phil’s ear off about how cool it was.
Once they dried off with the extra towels, Phil made them put on more sunscreen. Which Tommy thought was a bit excessive but Phil claimed that he was not going to let them get burnt. They then sat on their respective beach towels, obviously color coordinated, and enjoyed the sun. Phil and Techno read their books while Wilbur played on his phone.
“Phiiillll” Tommy whined.
“Yeah?” Phil said, looking towards Tommy still holding his book.
“I’m boorrreedd”
“Why don’t you try and fly the kites we brought”
“Yeah! Wilbur, come help me!” Tommy said excitedly, taking the kite out of its package.
“If I have to” Wilbur said, annoyed but didn’t actually look it. Wilbur held the handle with all the string as Tommy raced down the beach trying to catch the wind. After many attempts leaving Tommy out of breath they finally got the kite to take off. Wilbur played with the kite a little bit, pulling the string in different directions causing the kite to dip back in forth. Then handed it to Tommy who did the same. He let the kite go further out, high in the sky as the wind blew. He played with it for a good while as Wilbur went back to his towel playing on his phone. Then Wilbur had the bright idea of taking pictures. He took pictures of Tommy flying the kite and some of Techno and Phil reading. They then got some good family pictures with everyone smiling. This will definitely going to be a good memory for everyone.
Tommy eventually reeled the kite back in and put it away in it’s package after being convinced to
Play frisbee with everyone. They threw the frisbee back and forth, everyone being bad at throwing it or catching it. Except for Techno he was scarily good at it. It was fun till the Frisbee broke after hitting the ground too hard. They kept playing despite the piece broken off till Wilbur cut his hand on the frisbee. Although it wasn’t too bad, nothing a bandaid couldn’t fix.
They then all decided to go look for seashells together. It was fun fighting over who saw a seashell first despite putting all of them in the same bucket or running down the beach racing. They even found a sand dollar which was pretty cool. Then they saw a group of seagulls, Phil grabbed some of the bread they were going to use for the hotdogs later and started feeding the seagulls. Tommy joined in throwing bread in the air and one of them would catch it. It was pretty cool but they all hoped none of the seagulls would poop on them. That would not be poggers.
After a long while the sun began to set so they made their way back to their stuff. They laid out on their towels watching the sunset over the ocean. It was really a pretty sight to behold. That’s when they saw some dolphins off in the distance.
“Look dolphins!” Tommy shouted pointing out a ways away as they jumped out of the water. It was cool to see the sunset but the sunset and dolphins were twice as cool. Today has been a really lucky day for them. They stared out into the water for a long time watching the dolphins go and the sun slowly go down.
After it got dark they packed up their stuff but instead of leaving they headed to one of the campfire sites. They surrounded the campfire as Phil carefully lighted the fire. Everyone talked for a while, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. Tommy played with the fire with one of the sticks poking it and setting his stick on fire. Soon Phil took it away after he waved it in the air while it was on fire. They made smores and ate some of the snacks Phil brought being hungry from the exhausting but fun day. Wilbur then pulled out his guitar from its case and started to tune it. After a while of tuning he slowly started playing a tune. He then began to sing a sea shanty.
“-And I would know the waters
And the waters would know me
And I would cut across the waves
And be as happy as can be
I'd be landless, I'd be loveless
I'd be flight and fancy free
And I would know the waters
And the waters would know me”
He began to sing other songs everyone knew and they all began to sing along. Sometimes even playing his own songs he came up with himself.
“Phil come dance with me” Tommy said, grabbing Phil’s arm pulling him up. Tommy grabbed Phil’s hands and they waved them back and forth laughing. Phil occasionally twirling Tommy around as Wilbur softly sings playing his guitar. It was really a lovely afternoon, one they’ll never forget.
After a while of singing and dancing Tommy convinced them to go crab hunting in the dark while Phil stayed by the fire. They grabbed the flashlights they brought and took off down the beach. They walked across the ocean line distracted by who can get the closest to the ocean then backing up to not get hit by the water. Once they stopped and started searching they actually saw a couple little crabs. They actually got to see one big one which Tommy thought was the coolest thing ever. Soon they made their way back to Phil with Tommy telling him all about the huge crab he saw.
They then began packing everything up and started walking towards the car. They put everything in the boot and hopped into the car with Wilbur taking the front seat this time. Tommy grew tired and leaned against Techno’s shoulder using him as a pillow. He soon fell asleep as an arm wrapped around him with soft music playing in the background. Overall today had been one of the best day’s they’ve had together in a long time.