His friends had made plans to go to the beach at three, after books, backpacks and anything remotely reminiscent of school had been dropped off and forgotten at home. JB didn’t bother with stopping at his house first, opting to simply go straight to the beach and wait for his friends to get there. Their favorite beach was Surfside, which was a thirty minute drive from their side of town; JB reached the beach first and opted to sit in his car with the driver’s side door open and wait for them, looking out at the water in the distance.   His friends arrived together, though they came in separate cars; they brought sodas, snacks and a docking station with them, eager to begin their Christmas break in true Floridian fashion. As he had expected, JB fell victim to his friends’ interrogation as soon as they laid eyes on him, and it only got worse when he moved to leave them some time after five, to go get ready to meet with Aspen; he didn’t tell them where he was going, but he was sure that it wasn’t hard for them to figure out – he left them with a sigh, resigning himself to becoming the object of eternal scrutinizing whenever he met up with them again.   The ride to his house was slightly shorter than the ride to the beach had been, but it was still six o’clock by the time he made it home; he greeted his mother on the way to his bedroom and went about getting ready, taking a shower and throwing on jeans and a thin, long sleeved shirt, pushing his slightly dampened hair out of his face. His father was home by the time he got ready to leave, and JB greeted him as well. Both of his parents assumed that he was going to hang out with his friends and so they didn’t question him when he left, telling him to be careful on his way out.   He was early arriving to Aspen’s house, and when he got there he realized that he didn’t have a phone number for Aspen to tell her that he was there. He would have to go to the door; with a deep breath he left his car and made his way across the front yard and up to the front door, glancing over at the Lexus and bracing himself as he raised his fist to knock. Before his knuckles could come in contact with the wood of the door it opened to reveal Aspen, dressed drastically different from her normal school attire in light skinny jeans and a fitted black T-shirt, black Vans on her feet. There were generous curves on her body that were normally washed out by the oversized T-shirts and hoodies that she wore to school; JB did his best to keep his reflexive staring to a minimum, bringing his eyes to Aspen’s face almost immediately.   “Hey,” he greeted her. “Are you ready?” Her staring wasn’t as discreet as he made his; her wide eyes roamed over his face blatantly before she seemed to snap out of it, blinking rapidly as she averted her gaze.   “Um, yeah,” she responded with a nod. “Y-Yeah, I’m ready.”   “Alright, let’s go.” He stepped back and waited for her to lock the front door before leading her over to his car, opening her door for her again. “You have to tell me where we’re going,” JB said as he started his car, pulling away from the curb again.   “Do you know where Tropical Park is?”   “Not really…” To JB’s surprise Aspen laughed a little.   “Okay,” she