〈〈 s l a y h o u s e 〉〉

━━━━ chapter four ━━━━

solita by PRETTYMUCH

" let's have some fun then "

━━━━━━━━

THE BEACH IS a beautiful place and we can see nature as it's finest without really noticing that. visiting the beach has become such a normal thing that most people don't appreciate the concept of ocean meeting city enough. it also has an incredibly calming effect on most people. it's the place you can visit to think, have fun and recover. seriously, the beach is amazing. it could calm you down while there are hundred other people because the thing your focusing on is the water. the way small waves crash against rocks or land in the sand only to eventually gently take it away from the beach and lead it to another one. it can also be the many birds lingering at the beach that let you calm down or maybe it's actually the happy people that eventually make your day.

however, you get my point. there are enough things about beaches that make you happy and for lacey it was neither the birds, the kids or the waves that made her want to go there but more the distraction. she wouldn't think about jaden hossler or any other sway boy and that was exactly what she needed. a clear mind.

since it was completely normal to visit the beach if you live that close to one, none of her friends questioned her decision and immediately got ready to spend the day at the water.

bailey had kept her promise and made sure to not let evelina and lacey sit next to each other again. while one of them was positioned in the last row with mia, the other one sat in the passenger seat and to avoid any disturbance, the girls also took away the best friends' phones.

"you are exaggerating. lacey and i aren't that annoying and she would agree with me if she wasn't zoned out right now. it's also very boring without my phone", evelina argued dramatically, put her head on mia's shoulder and sighed. she didn't understand why her friends took a quiet car drive that serious.

"we simply don't want to start our amazing day at the beach with being annoyed. you can go crazy when we're there but for gods sake, let us all live a peaceful life until then", bea argued back and turned to evelina while talking before she turned back around and nudged lacey's shoulder. "right?"

the unexpected touch made lacey startle but she tried to cover it up so that her friends wouldn't worry. she slowly turned around to face bea and hesitated before she finally answered the question with a nod and a quiet "right" even though she didn't know what was going on.

that jaden had started following her again worried lacey more than she'd ever admit. actually she didn't even know what emotion exactly she was feeling and that confused her even more. she should be aware of her feelings, right?

venus noticed lacey's off mood but decided not to question it because she knew that the girl would talk about it if she wanted to. but since she didn't even mention that anything had happened over night, venus simply hoped that it was nothing or just the fact that they moved.

although evelina was still upset about not being allowed to communicate with her best friend, she asked bailey to put some music on which the petite girl immediately did. the rest of the car ride went by quickly and peacefully. there was not much talking, only mia making sure that they hadn't forgotten anything for the hundredth time and lacey humming to the music.

the six girls arrived around ten minutes later at the beach and as soon as lacey smelled the fresh beach air, her mood changed completely. she was happy and hyper, jumping out of the car as soon as it stopped. together with evelina and bea she searched for the best place on the almost empty beach. they eventually decided to sit down in the middle of the sand, a few meters away from the water.

"so who's getting in the water with me?", evelina asked as the other three arrived and set up the blankets.

"i'm getting in with you!", bea quickly said and got out of her clothes, revealing the yellow bikini she had on. the two friends waited for the others to answer and when they seemed to be the only ones wanting to leave just yet, they did.

"are you okay, lacey? you usually always go in first", mia pointed out and sat down beside lacey who shrugged her shoulders.

"i need to tan, everything's fine, don't worry", lacey put on a convincing fake smile before also putting off her clothes and laying down, facing the sky. she stared at the bright blue sky for a few seconds until her eyes started hurting and she had to close them. it wasn't hard to ignore the noise around her and she quickly dozed off.

lacey's nap didn't last longer than forty minutes and when she woke up again, it felt like she slept for at least eight hours. she was very much extremely awake again and felt energetic. evelina and bea were still in the water but mia and bailey had joined them, leaving venus with lacey.

the brunette slowly sat up and silently watched her friends having fun in the water before she turned to venus and cleared her throat. even though the two were still friends and kinda close, it was awkward when it was just them. "do you want to record a tiktok?"

"yeah, you choose the sound", venus agreed and grabbed her shirt as she got up. while she put it on, lacey chose some sounds and put on a shirt as well. the friends moved a bit so that the other girls weren't to be seen and positioned the phone on the ground, leaning against a folded towel.

they recorded for about ten minutes when lacey had to check her phone because tiktok and the sun made it get hot very quickly. right when she let herself fall into the sand, a comment interrupted venus' and her silence.

"why are you stopping just yet?", lacey recognized the voice but couldn't tell who it belonged to. her question was answered when she looked up and saw bryce hall and some other boys who she assumed were the sway boys. venus detected the blond boy behind bryce before lacey did. and instantly felt her jaw clench at the thought of what lacey had went through because of him.

"bryce hall, wanted to visit me after our amazing conversation yesterday?", lacey asked and hid her phone between clothes so that she could get up. right when venus wanted to tell her that jaden was with bryce, lacey spotted him herself. and of course the first time she saw him in person had to be direct eye contact that caused goosebumps to appear all over her body.

his light eyes looked into her dark ones the same way they had done years earlier and for a moment it felt like nothing ever happened. like they were still inseparable but they weren't. actually, they were nothing.

but one thing that hadn't changed was that lacey could read jaden's emotions through his eyes and even though she clearly saw that he was uncomfortable, that he felt pity for her, she ignored it. venus watched the two awkwardly. she didn't know what to do but what she wouldn't do was leaving lacey alone with them.

"whatever, this is awkward and i really don't want to be here right now", lacey said looking directly into jaden's eyes before taking off her clothes and running to her friends to join them in the water. bryce tried really hard not to stare and kept his gaze to the ground, eventually raising it though as he heard the water splashing after lacey walked into it. he almost forgot about venus, looking in the other girls' direction.

jaden on the other hand couldn't forget venus and had no option than to look right back into her convicting eyes. when she was sure that he had gotten her 'message', venus excused herself and joined her friends as well.

the sway boys looked so out of place standing beside stuff that didn't belong to them and since they tried really hard not to stare at the swimming girls, they looked even more out of place.

"so... what are we gonna do now?", anthony asked kicking around some sand before looking at griffin who had no idea either.

"i would suggest we leave", jaden quickly said and was ready to head back home but bryce stopped him by grabbing his wrist.

"dude, we wanted a beach day and we're getting a beach day. i'm not leaving just because of some girls", he said and pulled his friend back before looking around.

"let's put our stuff over there and mind our own business", josh said the words that were on bryce's mind and when they all agreed, they did exactly that. after the six boys undressed and anthony made sure to have the colorful ball with him, they all got into the water but were careful to stay away from the girls to avoid confrontation or any disturbance.

the ignoring worked pretty well, everyone minded their own business until kio hit lacey with the ball. the girl slowly turned around and looked at the boys, already being done with their bullshit. it was nothing personal, she simply had a problem with jaden being there with them because she didn't know how to treat him yet.

"what the fu—"

"i'm so sorry, i wanted to hit jaden but he ducked! i didn't want to hit you or anything!", kio quickly interrupted the girl as soon as he noticed how annoyed she was. when he did that, lacey immediately felt sorry for coming off as harsh and told kio that it was fine.

the conversation that could've stayed a quickly ending interaction turned into something completely different when evelina pushed herself in front lacey and started talking. "if you wanted to hit that jaden guy, you're really bad at throwing."

the comment caused exactly what evelina wanted it to, kio was irritated and wanted to prove himself.

"dude, just let it be", griffin said and tried to pull his friend away from the girl which didn't work at all.

"no! us against them, we're playing water-volleyball or whatever it's called and we're gonna win", kio said and caught the ball thrown by evelina.

"i'm not in the mood for that, sorry kio", jaden said and quickly left the water to lay down on his towel before anyone could hold him back.

"actually, me neither. nothing personal, kio, i just don't like to be in contact with competition and eve at the same time", bailey said and backed up, venus following her quickly.

"it's not equal anymore. i'm gonna go to jaden", griffin said and left the water. when everyone positioned but lacey didn't, evelina looked at her best friend impatiently.

"don't kill me, eve but i really don't feel like playing some weird game right now", lacey said and literally ran out of the water as she saw evelina's eyes darken. "i love you, sorry!"

the girl joined her friends on the blanket and let the warm sun dry her skin while keeping her brown eyes closed. right now, ignoring jaden went pretty well and lacey almost forgot that he was even there until a young girl and an older woman, presumably her mother, walked up to the young adults.

"i'm so sorry to disturb you but my daughter is a big fan of you and would love to take some pictures with you", the woman's soft voice made lacey smile a bit while she got up. she was the first one to agree and quickly grabbed a shirt, not wanting to take the picture without one. bailey, venus, griffin and jaden also got up.

even when taking pictures, lacey was still able to have fun and ignore her former best friend because she managed to be away from him as far as possible.

"are you friends?", the petite fan suddenly asked and turned to venus who immediately shook her head.

"it's just a coincidence that we're here together, your lucky day i guess", lacey answered and smiled at her friendly.

"can i take another picture with jaden and you? you're my favourite creators but it's okay if you don't want to, if you're not even friends", the girl quietly asked lacey. the question made her sigh since she really didn't feel comfortable with being that close to jaden just yet but at the same time she didn't want to disappoint a fan.

"yeah, you can ask him if he wants to and tell him i said yes", lacey accepted and already got in position when she realized that the girl asked jaden from where she was standing. after a short moment of thinking about the offer, or more if lacey would be okay with him accepting it, jaden said yes and got on the fan's left side.

since the mother didn't want to steal too much of the creators' time, she didn't take many pictures. "okay, that's it. thank you so so much, hope you're having a great day. c'mon lilah!"

the girl hugged lacey and jaden for one last time before she followed her mother. bailey, venus and griffin had sat down already and started a conversation while the two former best friends stayed where they were when the fan left.

both of them wanted to fix the situation so badly but none of them knew how. it was awkward to talk to each other or to even be with each other but in all the uncomfortableness, standing next to jaden after such a long time made lacey feel good. she felt comforted and safe but everytime she looked up from the sand and saw jaden, she felt betrayed all over again. looking at him hurt but being with him felt too damn good.

it felt good until jaden actually considered talking in hopes that lacey would answer him. instead of saying anything, she laid back down and closed her eyes so that she could ignore him again.

lacey really wanted to fix their friendship but she knew that is wasn't her fault. she shouldn't be the one to start the subject and while she wanted him to begin, she also didn't feel ready for the confrontation yet. it was way too sudden for her

venus and bailey on the other hand didn't have any issues with griffin, who seemed to be extremely friendly, and started talking with him.

her friends laughing beside her, the rest playing in the water and the soft waves crashing into the wave breakers calmed lacey until she kind of zoned out again. lacey didn't like sleeping at the beach but the sun exhausted her and if she wasn't active, she eventually fell asleep.

bryce, who was still in the water, noticed that lacey had laid down and excused himself before jogging out of the water. for whatever reason he really liked the idea of annoying the living shit out of lacey, so that's exactly what he did.

showing the others that they should keep doing what they were currently doing, he position himself at her head, leaned over and started squeezing the water out of his hair.

lacey's mouth left a loud scream as she sat up to let the water drip down her body. "what the fuck, bryce?!"

the boy looked down at her and tried not to laugh which didn't work. his loud laugh even made griffin, jaden, venus and bailey giggle after they tried really hard not to.

"my shirt is wet, how much water was in your hair, dude?", lacey asked as she stood up and held her shirt away from her body to avoid the uncomfortable feeling.

"do you want my shirt?", bailey asked but before she could grab said item, lacey shook her head.

"you need it, it's okay", she sent a little smile her friend's way before she turned around to face bryce. "but dude, this is your fault. give me a shirt or something before i get sick because of you!"

bryce couldn't help but roll his eyes at her argument. "if you want to wear my shirt you can just say it—"

"shut up and give her your shirt", griffin interrupted his friend and nodded his head in the direction where their blanket laid. bryce huffed but actually walked away to get the shirt.

"you know... you could just stay in your bikini. it's not even that cold", bailey quietly said and watched an evil little grin appear on lacey's face.

"i don't care, he's just so full of himself and it annoys me", lacey started biting her lip as she transferred her attention from bailey to the shirtless bryce. "so why wouldn't i let him pay for that?"

"she's got a point", griffin threw in and smiled at lacey supportively before he got back to his conversation with bailey and jaden. venus, who obviously still sat with them, was on her phone and enjoyed the time for herself.

bryce noticed that lacey was kind of zoned out and decided to throw the shirt in her face but surprisingly she caught it before it could actually hit her.

"thanks, dumbass", she said before putting it on and sitting back down. lacey was really not interested in starting a conversation with bryce since he had literally pissed her off with everything he had done so far but the feeling of jaden's eyes in her back annoyed her so much that she didn't feel like she could do anything else.

"so what exactly made you famous?", lacey hated not many things in the world more than smalltalk but she felt like there was nothing else to talk about with bryce than himself.

"youtube and stuff... the shit teens did back in 2016, you know?", he answered and sat down beside her before he quickly changed his position so that he was laying down. "what about you?"

"i'm on youtube too but i think my singing made me... famous whatever", hearing that bryce wasn't just some guy from tiktok made her way more interested in him even though she'd still prefer being only with her girls.

"you sing?", the question left jaden's mouth quicker than he could control or even realize. lacey was surprised to hear him asking her something in such a direct way.

"yeah, i've been singing for some time now and people that kept up with what i'm doing actually know that but how would you, right? you probably don't even know me."

"lacey, c'mon", venus whispered so that not everyone would really hear her which lead to lacey not even realizing what she was saying until she noticed jaden staring at her friend.

"what, venus?", she huffed. lacey didn't want to come for venus, she knew that she wanted to take care of her friend but she just couldn't hold herself back.

before the situation could escalate however, evelina and the others, who had spent the last hour in the water, joined them on the blanket. for the split of a second lacey even forgot that they weren't friends and practically didn't really know each other.

"kio wants to fight me on mario kart. so do y'all wanna come over? you could stay over night and we could have some fun, you know?", evelina suggested and looked around until her eyes met lacey's and she realized how weird her last sentence sounded. "oh god."

"we're definitely coming over, i need to show you that you have no chance to win against me!", kio yelled and carefully hit evelina with the towel as she stared at him.

"are you okay with that girls?", evelina looked around, waiting for confirmation which she quickly good from everyone of her friends since they didn't care.

lacey on the other hand didn't answer immediately. normally she wouldn't mind having the boys over but the chance to have a possible confrontation with jaden scared her.

"babe, what about you?", lacey jumped a little when evelina put an arm around her shoulder since it came so unexpected but still agreed to the new made plans.

"let's have some fun then."

mona speaks
did i have this 80% done
a week ago? maybe. was
my only motivation to
post this because right
now is the only time i'm
free until tuesday? sadly
yeah. the story is like...
starting now. we've got
some slaysway action
going and i don't like
how i wrote it so far
but hey, let's stay
positive, right?

also, lacey's slightly toxic
mindset about everything
that has to do with jaden
is the only thing going the
way that i want it to lmao

i hope y'all are doing
well and staying safe.
if you ever need to
talk hit me up <3