Between the Lies

26| Cozy

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Cozy

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Chapter 26: Cozy (Aaron's POV)

"Put sunscreen on," Vanessa demanded as we reached the beach. 

"I just did before we left the waterfalls," I replied, turning to her in my seat. 

"No, you didn't. You put it on when we reached the waterfalls. That was a long time ago." 

"Have you even put sunscreen on? At all?" 

She blinked at me. "Just put it on," she huffed. She poured some into my hand and then her own, applying it mainly to her face. "Everyone else is here, right?" 

"Hmm," I nodded, getting out of the car. Once she was by my side, I locked the car. 

As it beeped, Vanessa grabbed my jaw, turning my head to look at her. She used her fingers, wiping my cheek. "You still have sunscreen there," she mumbled, going up on her toes. I stared at her while her tongue poked out from the corner of her mouth. She looked too focused on sunscreen. "There. Come on." 

I trailed a step behind her as we reached the others. Wood was already piled up in the middle of a circle of foldable and smaller sunloungers. Everybody was already seated. There was an icebox a few steps away from the circle too. When we finally reached the circle, we exchanged a few hellos with the others. 

Lyla told us, "Those two seats are Daisy and Julian's, they went to get something from their car." 

Vanessa remained standing beside me as she said, "There's only one free seat then." 

"No, there's two," Lyla replied. 

"Where's the other one?" I asked. 

Lyla looked over, counting the chairs under her breath. She turned to Zach who was sitting beside her. "Didn't we bring exactly twenty-two chairs?" 

"Lyla, Zach," Davidson called out, "weren't you both responsible for bringing in the chairs?" 

"Yeah," Zach nodded, "but I could swear we bought twenty-two. We counted them." 

Judith turned to glare at her husband who sighed and then shook his head, mumbling something to her. Knowing her, she's probably accusing him of getting rid of one chair so Vanessa and I would have to share a seat. 

Before Lyla and Zach could be scolded, Vanessa cut in, "It's okay. It doesn't matter, it's just a chair. I can sit on the sand, it's not such a big deal." 

"No, you should take the chair," I replied, turning her to look at me, holding her arm gently. "I'll sit on the sand." 

"It's not such a big deal," she chuckled. "Take the chair, Aaron." 

"You should take the chair, Vanessa. I'll sit on the sand." 

"No, just take the chair," she laughed, pushing me towards it.