We had one more week before we had to begin training again. It was about time to begin preparing for the comeback after Seventeen’s debut. Our manager told us we had this one last weekend to make everything count before we got to work. So like Mingyu had suggested we were going to go to the beach.

            I was very excited that our last big break would be a full weekend at the beach just the fourteen of us. We would leave very early Friday morning in two vans, one driven by Seungcheol and one driven by Jeonghan. We already had reservations at a beach cabin, well two to fit all of us. This was going to be my first trip with all of them and I was so looking forward to my date with Joshua.

            “Everyone packed and ready to head out?” Seungcheol asked as we all gathered in the living room early Friday morning. We all nodded our heads having our bags in our hands before heading down getting into the two vans to head out to the beach.

            “Who is going to ride with who?” Dino asked as we stared at the two black vans. “Any ideas?” I looked at the two vans moving closer till I was standing as close as I could next to Joshua. He looked at me briefly before sliding his hand into mine. I felt a hand on my other side turning to see Mingyu standing really close to me with a slight frown on his face. Naturally Wonwoo was soon next to Mingyu as well not wanting to be separated from him.

            “How about we just do this,” Jeonghan said clapping his hands to get our attention. “Coups hyung stand over by that van.” Seungcheol nodded before standing in front of one of the two vans as Jeonghan stood in front of the other. “Now, one of us can take five other people and the other will take the rest. And decide.”

            “Quick,” Joshua said. Still holding hands we quickly hurried over to Jeonghan’s van followed by Mingyu and Wonwoo. “That’s five of us so we need one more.” Eventually Dino came over to our van and the rest went with Seungcheol. Once that was all decided we piled into the van Joshua and I taking the back seats. Dino took the front seat next to Jeonghan before we followed Seungcheol’s van away from Seoul.

            Jeonghan the music as we jammed out to a random mix of k-pop songs that were popular right now. I couldn’t contain my excitement for spending the weekend at the beach. I wanted to have a fire on the beach and roast marshmallows. And I wanted to eat all the seafood I could get my hands on. It was going to be a really good weekend. Too bad the car ride was going to be about five hours before we would arrive at our destination. We had time to kill.

            About an hour into the long drive I let out a yawn covering my mouth as the dull lull of the car was pulling me back into sleep. I had woken up at five with everyone else to be ready to leave by six.

            “Sleepy?” Joshua asked looking over at me. I nodded my head letting out another yawn feeling my eyes watering. “Here.” He patted his shoulder for me to lay my head on. I didn’t need to be asked twice before my head was resting comfortably with Joshua resting his head against mine. “Sleep Skyler.”

            “You too Joshua,” I said quietly before closing my eyes. Before slipping all the way to sleep I found Joshua’s hand lacing his fingers with mine. He let out a light sigh squeezing my hand before I fell asleep in a peaceful state.

            What turned out to be a couple hours nap turned out to be a full on sleep session, I didn’t wake up for the rest of the time Jeonghan drove to the beach. It wasn’t until I felt a hand shaking my shoulder.

            “Skyler wake up,” Jeonghan said as I slowly came to my senses. “We’re here.” I blinked slowly stretching. “Wake up Joshua too while you’re at it. I’m going to head over to the cabin.” I nodded as he walked off leaving me with Joshua.

            “Joshua,” I said lightly before tapping him on the shoulder. “We’re at the beach now. Wake up please.” Joshua mumbled in his sleep before his eyes opened and we were face to face with each other. He smiled looking at me as I didn’t move away from him. “Sleep well?”

            “Yes,” Joshua said quietly. “Did you?” I nodded in response feeling his thumb rubbing circles on the back of my hand. “I’m glad.” I found myself smiling back at him as he leaned forward kissing me lightly on the cheek before he unbuckled his seatbelt and we left the car to head to the cabin.

            The cabin we were going to stay in was a simple two story house, not really a cabin but right on the beach. The upper level of the house was filled with beds, but we would have to be sharing since there were only seven beds. Only one of us would be getting a bed all to themselves. I really didn’t care because I knew we weren’t going to be sleeping much anyway.

            Everyone headed up to the second story to decide the bed situation before anything else was going to happen. We still had to go to the store to buy food for later. But the beds were more important to a few of us.

            “I think the leader should get the bed to himself,” Jun said looking over at Seungcheol. “It only makes sense.” A few others nodded their heads in agreement before it was settled with Seungcheol taking the bed all to himself leaving the rest of us to pair up.         

            “Well it’s obvious Joshua and Skyler are going to be sharing a bed,” Soonyoung said looking over at the two of us. “You can’t separate those two.” Joshua blushed looking away as Jeonghan shot the two of us a questioning glance. Wonwoo smiled at me give me thumbs up that only I could see from where we were standing. On the other hand Mingyu crossed his arms huffing under his breath. What was getting him so annoyed right now?

            “One bed settled then,” Seokmin says. “Everyone just pair up and get it over with.” After he said that he headed over to Soonyoung dragging him to a bed before the rest slowly began pairing up for the beds. Joshua and I chose a bed close to the wall setting our bags down on it as Joshua sat down still looking flustered.

            “Embarrassed?” I asked sitting down next to him. Joshua nodded his head before biting his lip looking over at me with a worried expression. “Don’t worry my feelings aren’t hurt.” I squeezed his hand before getting up to head downstairs to join Jeonghan and Wonwoo to create a shopping list.

            I didn’t want to feel hurt by Joshua being embarrassed but it did kind of hurt. I wouldn’t tell him that though because he was still finding himself and discovering who he was. There was no point letting my feelings get in the way before anything serious happened. I didn’t want to scare him away if I pushed myself on too hard.

            After creating the grocery list Jeonghan, Wonwoo, and myself were the ones to head out to buy the food. I didn’t mind because I wanted to talk freely with the two of them about stuff.

            “Skyler,” Jeonghan said as we walked down the street in the direction of the market. “Are you and Joshua a thing yet?” Wonwoo turned to look at me with a hopeful expression.

            “No,” I answered. “I’m letting Joshua have some time to figure himself out. But one of these days on this trip probably tomorrow we’re going to go out on a date.” I smiled already thinking about what we were going to do.

            “That’s awesome,” Wonwoo said smiling at me. “I want you two to be happy with each other even if you’d have to date in secret. You’re like the only one to get all of Joshua’s attention like this. You’re already really special to him.”

            “You are,” Jeonghan said nodding his head patting my arm. “I can tell he has some feelings for you whether he is ready to admit them or not. One day you’ll get the answer from him. And I hope it’ll be the answer you want.”

            “I hope so,” I said as the three of us entered the market. Wonwoo grabbed a cart as we headed straight for the meat. That was the main item on our list; meat and lots of it. When you’re dealing with fourteen hungry teenagers you can’t get enough meat.

            Halfway through the shopping I felt a hand grab mine before I was pulled out of sight from Jeonghan and Wonwoo. I yelped in surprise before a pair of arms wrapped around my waist. I tried to turn around but the grasp around me held tight and secure. Somehow though I felt warm and safe in their arms, I didn’t want them to let me go after a while of the two of us standing there.

            “Joshua,” I said quietly. The other didn’t say anything only nodding his head against the back of my neck. I was right, and Joshua was hugging me right now in the store. “What are you doing here?”

            “I’m sorry for being embarrassed,” he said into my ear, his whisper sending chills down my spine. How hard had I fallen for him to have this much control over me with just the sound of his voice? I didn’t even care if Jeonghan and Wonwoo were worried about my sudden disappearance I just wanted to spend this moment with Joshua.

         “You don’t have to be,” I replied back looking down at his perfect hands clasped together. I felt myself breaking out into a smile. “I really don’t mind,” I lied. Hopefully he wouldn’t be able to tell I wasn’t telling the truth. I didn’t want to upset him. Somewhere off in the market I heard Wonwoo and Jeonghan calling my name wondering where I was.

            “Stop lying,” he said catching me red handed like a kid who’d stolen candy. He laughed against my neck causing a tingling sensation to travel across my body. “I know I hurt your feelings. Sorry.” He stopped talking as I felt a light kiss pressed against my head. Eventually his grip loosened and I slowly turned around to face him.

            “I’m fine now,” I said truthfully. Just that simple apology was enough for me to let everything go. I couldn’t stay hurt when he was acting like this. It was physically impossible for me to do such a thing. “I accept your apology, the fact that you came all the way to the market is enough to make me happy.” A small smile spread across his face as he nuzzled his nose against mine.

            Our short moment of happiness was over when a cart screeched to a halt followed by Jeonghan and Wonwoo. Jeonghan crossed his arms shaking his head while Wonwoo grinned like a madman.

            “Joshua,” Wonwoo said finally breaking the silence. “I am glad you could join us in the shopping. But we’re all done now so let’s go pay.” Joshua nodded his head before the four of us headed to the cashier to buy the groceries.

********

            After grocery shopping Wonwoo and Jeonghan left Joshua and I to head back to the cabin as we decided to walk around a little. We would meet everyone later in the evening for the bbq but for now we wanted time to ourselves.

            “I’ll text you when it’s about time to eat,” Jeonghan said. I nodded my head before we said goodbye to them as we headed inside a convenience store to get some ice cream. The weather was perfect for ice cream without being overly hot to make someone miserable.

            Ice cream in hand we wandered our way down the street before sitting down on the sand looking out at the beach. We were seated away from the majority of the people at the beach so we had privacy.

            “The water looks so pretty,” I said my ice cream. Joshua nodded his head as he bit into his dessert. “So tomorrow after spending the day at the beach with everyone, are we going on that date?”

            “Yeah,” Joshua answered. “In the evening, we’ll find somewhere to go for dinner and eat by ourselves. Then maybe walk on the beach?” I smiled remembering the interview I had seen ages ago of Joshua saying his ideal date was to go to the beach. I quickly finished my ice cream wiping my hands off before placing them in the sand next to him.

            “How cool,” I said out of the blue laughing. Joshua looked over to me scrunching his eyebrows. “You’re first date with me is going to be partly on the beach. Like you’ve always wanted to do with the one you liked.”

            “That’s right,” Joshua said laughing along with me. “We’ll be going to the beach. I always find it romantic when couples go to the beach when the sun sets. By the way Skyler, what is your idea of the perfect date?” I paused thinking tapping on my chin. I’d already had my ideal date way back in high school with Moon Bin, what was something special I wanted to do with just Joshua.

            “I guess it would be going to the amusement park,” I answered. “I want to go on all the rides and eat junk food with the one I like. And try to win them a huge stuffed animal at those carnival games. Sounds perfect to me. And of course kiss them on top of the Ferris wheel.”

            “That sounds really fun,” Joshua said. He took a deep breath scooting closer to me till our hands were touching. “I would like to go on that date with you sometime.” I smiled patting his hand placing mine on top of his.

            “I would like that too,” I said. Joshua leaned over resting his head on my shoulder as we continued to stare out at the beach enjoying each other’s company. I wanted to do so much with Joshua I could fill entire book with ideas.

            Around five Jeonghan texted and we made it back to the cabin to help with the preparations of the meat. Along with the BBQ we were having rice, and an assortment of side dishes. Just seeing all the food made my mouth water. All that was left was cooking the meat on the grill outside which Seokmin and Woozi went to take care of as the rest of us set up the table outside.

            Once the meat was finished we piled in at the table going for the food and talking loudly, making jokes and laughing. After dinner we had fireworks we were going to light on the beach once it got dark enough.

            “We should tell a scary story,” Seungkwan said laughing evilly. “That will surely put us in a vacation mood. What’s a trip without a little terror?” Woozi rolled his eyes shoving rice into the younger’s mouth.

            “I like the idea of that,” Soonyoung said grinning. “A scary story we can tell around the fire tonight. Everyone think of something bone chillingly terrifying.”

            “You guys are stupid,” Mingyu said shaking his head. “Scary stories are for when you go camping cause it’s scarier in the woods all by yourself. Not on the beach.”

            “Either is fine,” Seokmin said as the three dorks all nodded their heads in agreement. “You can tell a scary story anywhere anytime no matter what. That’s the fun of scary stories.” After a heated debate it was decided later in the night there would be a scary story telling to scare our pants off.

            Once dinner was over and it was dark out we headed down to the beach. Seungcheol and Mingyu began to work on the fire and soon we had a bright fire in our fire pit lighting up the dark night.

            “Marshmallows,” Dino said waving around two bags of marshmallows. We all got a stick as we began roasting the marshmallows to eat before the fireworks or scary stories began.

            “It’s so good,” Vernon sighed getting marshmallow all over his face. Woozi shook his head at the mess Vernon was making as he placed his marshmallow on a graham cracker eating it slowly.

            “Ghost story time!” Seokmin yelled startling have of us with his loud outburst. Jeonghan groaned rolling his eyes as Seokmin, Soonyoung, and Seungkwan got everyone in the mood for the telling of scary stories. I swear these three would be the only three to want to do something so silly as this.

            “The real question is who goes first?” Soonyoung asked wiggling his fingers in front of his. “Who wants to try and scare the pants off of everyone?” He looked around the fire at our faces, when no one made any attempt to tell a story first he crossed his arms. “Fine I’ll start, but because of your party pooper attitudes this story is going to be extremely scary.”

            Joshua sighed looking slightly uncomfortable eating his marshmallow at a snail’s pace. I looked over at him with slight worry on my face. Slowly scooting closer to him I wrapped my arm around his shoulder. There was nothing to be scared of because these stories were probably all going to be made up anyways.

            He looked over at me smiling lightly as he snuggled into my embrace as Soonyoung was preparing his story. I was slightly interested in just how scary his story would be. Knowing him he’d probably try his best to make it the scariest story ever. Perks of being one of the sneaky, slightly evil, troll S members along with Seungkwan and Seokmin.

            “Alright!” Soonyoung exclaimed clapping his hands together. “The perfect creepy story is ready to be laid upon your waiting ears.” I heard Mingyu laugh somewhere around the fire. “Attention please.”

            “Hurry up already hyung!” Dino yelled shivering. “It’s getting cold out here.” He scooted a little closer to the fire rubbing his hands together.

            “Cold or are you already scared little one?” Seokmin asked laughing next to the maknae. “Anyways.”

            “If there are no more interruptions,” Soonyoung says. “This story is all the way one hundred percent true. And I’m not just saying that for the sake of the story. So there were two guys in London that went to explore an abandoned building that they heard had weird stuff happening around there. Granted it wasn’t in the most safest place in London, theft happened there and it wasn’t smart to go there at night.

            “Well that’s exactly what time these two guys went to go explore this abandoned building, in the dead of night. They decided to bring video cameras to document their exploration. It took a bit of debating but eventually they began to walk around the building’s area. There was a hollowed glass-less window on one side of the building. The best place to start looking. Only inside there were strange satanic types of graffiti painted all over the walls. Stuff like six six six and pentagrams, that sort of thing.”

            I shivered feeling the air around us on the beach suddenly dropping from the creepy ambiance of the story. The way Soonyoung was telling the story was seriously scary. What were these idiot guys thinking going there at night?

            “Anyways,” Soonyoung continued. “The guys eventually mustered up the courage to get closer to the window. There was really nothing inside of the room, except for old furniture with dust. But in the corner from the light of their camera they spotted something shiny. On closer look from one of them they turned out to be a pair of keys. These were clearly modern looking keys, maybe to a car or something.

            “Just as they were getting a look around the dimly lit room some more, from somewhere else in the building they heard a door opening and slamming. Nervous they moved their cameras and ducked down just below the window. Someone was in the abandoned building. The door to the room they were looking in opened and footsteps could be heard.

            “Both of the two guys were frozen in their spot as the person continued to move around in the room. They should have left but one of them decided to be brave and raise himself back up to try and get a look. There was no way this mysterious figure would be by the window. Turning off the flash and switching on night vision, he slowly lifted the video camera up to the window.

            “The sound of the keys jingling sounded in the frighteningly quiet London night. After the camera was up in view of whoever was in the room the man too decided to take a peak inside of the room. Everything in the room became quiet again like the strange figure in the room had left. The keys in the corner on the table were gone.”

            Joshua wrapped his arm around my stomach laying his head down shaking slightly clearly freaked out from the story. Soonyoung paused looking around seeing he had everyone’s attention now. There was no denying we all were freaked out by this story. Even the bravest of us was looking at Soonyoung with a sense of dread, but we all wanted him to continue going.

            “Just when the man thought that figure had left the room the head of the mysterious figure popped up right at the window, his scary face being illuminated by the green of the night vision. The figure was going to say something but the two guys quickly made a mad dash from the window running all the way from the entrance on the side of the building till they were back on the main street.

            “Eventually the two of them had decided to call the cops to report that someone was hanging out inside of the abandoned building. Since then they don’t know what happened to that man they saw inside, or why he was in there. To this day it remains a mystery forever documented on camera for the world to see with their own eyes. The end.”

            Soonyoung smiled his face being lit up by the dim light of the fire casting eerie shadows on his face. He looked around the campfire before his smile slowly slid off his face.

            “Someone’s missing,” he said quickly. We all turned our heads around trying to figure out who was missing. “Seokmin?” He asked calling out into the night air. “Where are you buddy?”

            A heavy gust of wind blew across the ocean before our fire was extinguished. Okay that was it I was leaving. We all yelled in fright as we ran away from the beach up the little path back to the house. When we reached the house all the lights were turned off.

            “I don’t like the look of this,” Wonwoo said shivering as we stood on the porch waiting for Seungcheol to open the door. “Hyung.”

            “I can’t find my key in the dark,” Seungcheol said patting his pockets. As soon as he found it we heard something from upstairs slam causing some of us to jump. “Something’s up there.”

            “We know,” Jun squeaked holding onto Soonyoung tightly. “What’s going on?” Another slam from downstairs sounded. I jumped tightly holding onto Joshua’s hand as we looked at each other with fear in our eyes.

            “Soonyoung is this some kind of joke?” Jeonghan asked shivering. Soonyoung shook his head looking just as surprised and scared as the rest of us.

            “Found the key!” Seungcheol exclaimed. He put in the key in the lock and was about to turn it when the window right next to the front door sounded with a strange tapping noise.

            “What is that?” Mingyu asked cowering next to Wonwoo. The strange tapping noises hit the windowpane again as Woozi took out his phone to turn on the flash. “Be careful hyung.”

            Woozi nodded his head as we all watched him get closer to the window until his face was right next to the glass. A loud slam against the front door occurred and a face popped up in front of the window.

            “!” I yelled as we all screamed out in terror. Soon the lights in the house were and the laughter of Soonyoung, Seungkwan, and Seokmin could be heard as Seokmin opened the door holding a mask he had worn when he popped up in the window.

            “We got you good guys!” Seokmin yelled high fiving the other two. It took me a few moments to calm myself down as the three explained they had thought all of this out. Seungkwan had been the one to dump water on the fire, he had just been waiting for the right moment of wind to come gushing. We hadn’t noticed because we were all looking around to see who the missing member was.

            Seokmin had left the campfire early while all our attention was on Soonyoung’s story, that gave him enough time to put on the mask, turn off all the lights in the house and wait for us to return. All in all it was pretty elaborate but well thought out prank that got all of us shook.

            “The pants scared off you all?” Seungkwan asked once we were inside the house in the living room.

            “More like soiled,” Vernon grumbled. “That was seriously really scary guys.” Jeonghan scooted away from him at the remark of soiled pants. “I wasn’t serious about soiling my pants hyung, that was an exaggeration.”

            With that the night of scary story telling was over, and thus ended our first day of our beach weekend trip.

I hope you enjoyed the new chapter. I will have the next chapter be the long awaited beach date between Joshua and Skyler. The story Hoshi told at the beach is based off on an actual youtube video I watched recently that scared the crap out of me, I did edit the story a little bit. DON'T WATCH IT AT NIGHT IF YOU'RE EASILY SCARED SERIOUSLY... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DACmFvPJ6WQ 

Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will see you soon.

alsk20