The Last Holiday - Part 1

Part 1 - If Only

I sighed deeply, as I watched Harry Woods playing footy with his three friends near the shoreline of the beach.
His parents and mine have known each other their whole lives and despite this convenient connection between us, we've barely had a proper conversation. This of course, wouldn't have bothered me if I didn't happen to be unconditionally in love with him.

The only other thing we have in common though, besides our parents, is that we are both an only child. I couldn't imagine myself to be as infectiously confident and funny like him, not to mention gut-wrenchingly beautiful.

As I thought of this, I watched the way his wet, dark brown wavy hair seemed to gleam in the midday sunshine and as far back on the beach as I was, I could still see the way his intense bright blue eyes twinkled incredibly as he smiled and laughed his way through a tackle.

"Emily, you need to stop staring at him." I looked down, to see my friend, Michelle squinting up at me from under her sunglasses.

"Yeah, I know." I exhaled sharply, before lying back down on my towel next to her.

"Em... I hate seeing you unhealthily obsess over some guy that has barely spoken to you." She said matter-of-factly, which only made me wince involuntarily, as if she had slapped me awake.

"It's the first day of summer break... just lay off me... but you're right." I reluctantly admitted.

"Just think... this could be the summer where we both get our first boyfriends!" Michelle perked up and nudged me reassuringly.

"Oi girls!"
We sat up as Tom Matthews, one of Harry's friends, came jogging up to us. He was slightly out of breath but managed to speak, "Michelle, can you pass the towels that are under your head, please?" He looked at her from under his lashes and she laughed.

"Okay! Okay!"
I watched, as she picked up all four towels without moving much and chucked them hard at Tom. He caught them easily and winked appreciatively at her before running back down.

"He's so into you." I snorted, as I watched him good-naturedly make Harry and the others fight to get to their towel.
Michelle simply huffed in disagreement, "Those boys... especially Tom, have not changed a bit since we've started high school together," she slowly rearranged herself back onto her towel, obviously not used to having their towels as a head rest, absent.

"Well... it is the first party of the holidays tonight... what will you do if Tom finally decides to make a move on you?" I asked in a mock serious tone and she slapped my arm.

"Ow!"

"Let's just focus on turning our pale skin into a nice sun-kissed tone... okay?" This was more of a command than a question but we both laughed, as we turned over onto our stomachs for the fifth time that day.