"What do you mean you don't like Calipso's?" Quigley exclaimed, wearing a mask of pure horror on his face, "They're a summer staple."

"It's juice in a cardboard tube," Violet argued, "If I wanted a juice box, I would just have a juice box."

"I can't believe this blasphemy." Quigley got dramatic when it came to ice lollies- something that Duncan and I figured out when we were about eight and spending a couple weeks with our parents at a holiday resort.

It had been our first family holiday. Our first big one, at least. We had been on weekend trips or road trips to visit our extended family, but this was the first time we were going somewhere that my brothers and I were actually excited about. We would be staying at a fancy hotel with all the amenities, including its own indoor water park, and we spoke about it for months before we went.
It was an amazing trip, however we all remembered it mostly for one thing in particular: Quigley's first fight.

He had always been passionate about ice cream, as most kids are, but we never realised how deep that went until he got into an argument with another kid at the poolside café and, instead of getting in a strop and maybe sulking off, he just threw his ice cream at him. Then he threw some punches. Our parents were so shocked that they were frozen for a few moments as they watched their usually calm son get into a full out brawl over differing ice cream preferences. But then they split it up, apologised to the boy's parents and then led a disgraced Quigley back to the hotel room, Duncan and I following reluctantly in tow.

To my knowledge, Quigley hadn't been in a fight since, but the memory still came flooding back anytime he had a disagreement about summer snacks. There was no doubt in my mind that Quigley wouldn't fight someone over something so small ever again, but it was still a funny thing to remember and I shared a look with Duncan that proved he was thinking about the same thing.

"Look," Violet said, bringing me back to the present. She was standing now, hands on her hips in a defensive stance. "You just have to accept that Magnums are the best."

Quigley stared her down for a moment before just sighing, choosing not to argue anymore.

"Anyway," Violet spoke up again, looking around at all of us, "It's my treat, so what ice creams do you guys want?"

I realised she had been trying to ask us that the whole time, but one mention of ice cream and Quigley had been on the defensive, ready to argue his preferences to the death. I took note that he eventually backed down for Violet- something he would never do for Duncan and I. Although, that could just be because we're siblings, or maybe because Duncan and I wound him up on purpose. We were nice like that.

After mentally taking our order, Violet went off, Quigley trailing after her to help her carry them back. That left Klaus and I sat together on our towels, looking out over the sea (or, at least, what we could see of it through the heads of all the other people enjoying the beach) and at Duncan, who was a couple of paces away and was doing tricks with a beach ball, simply just to entertain himself. I wasn't sure where he had got it but, since I didn't see any crying children or angry parents on the way to get their kids' ball back, I assumed he must've snuck off and bought it somewhere along the boardwalk, or had it hidden amongst our belongings.

When his trick when awry and the ball came bouncing over to our towels, I decided that now was the opportune time to kick start Klaus and I's newest plan. Hanging out as a group was good fun and all, but what we really thought might push Violet and Quigley together was time alone. There was nothing like forced proximity to bring a couple together. But even though Klaus and I had it in our heads to leave the pair to it and abandon whatever house they decided to meet at to exchange golf prizes, that left Duncan unaccounted for.

What we needed was to guarantee that he would come with Klaus and I if the soon-to-be couple chose to meet at our house instead of the Baudelaires'. Otherwise, it would be just be a case of Duncan third wheeling without even realising it.

"Duncan," I called out, instantly getting his attention. He scooped up the beach ball and came over, settling on the edge of the towels. "What're you up to later?"

And where I was expecting him to shrug or say that he was planning on just chilling at the house, he said something completely different and I could barely keep the surprise off of my face.

"Oh," he said, "I'm meeting Liam."

"Liam?" Klaus exclaimed, clearly not expecting that answer either.

Duncan shrugged. "Yeah, we got on well yesterday."

Klaus and I shared a conspiratorial glance as Duncan went back to kicking the ball around, sending clouds of sand in every direction as he did so.

"Well I didn't expect that," Klaus murmured.

"Me neither."

I spied Violet and Quigley coming back towards us, dodging people as best they could, and I fought an internal battle between going over and helping them with the ice creams or leaving them to it in case they were talking about anything in particular and I ruined the moment. But when I saw my brother almost drop one on a sunbather's head, I knew it was time to step in. 

When all of the ice creams were safely back to our collection of towels, we could all relax and enjoy them. By that time, people were starting to disperse, and every beach goer that left cleared our visibility of the ocean more and more, until we had an uninterrupted view of the crashing waves. It wasn't late per say, but the time was definitely getting on and the tide was getting higher. Some of the patrons that were left had started to get barbeques flaming, ready for dinner, and had moved up onto the rockier portion of the beach so they could stay there undisturbed as the sea made it's journey up the sand.

We passed around napkins when we were finished- which Duncan desperately needed, as he had decided to try and inhale his ice cream as quickly as possible, getting it absolutely everywhere- and then chatted about this, that and the other, just enjoying our time. And then, as we were starting to get our things together to head home, a very excited Sunny came out of nowhere.

Violet immediately swooped her up and then waved to someone behind us. I turned around even though I could predict who was walking towards us.

Mr and Mrs Baudelaire greeted all of us, baskets and bags in their hands. And even though we had all been ready to leave only a moment before, we all silently agreed to stay, spreading out our towels again and chatting with the two of them. Sunny immediately tried to bite the beach ball, but then Mrs Baudelaire quickly passed her a raw carrot to chew away on instead, leaving Duncan's prized possession unmarked.

In the end, we stayed until the sun began to set, just watching the mixture of oranges and reds swirl in the sky before we packed up our things again. The Baudelaires offered to give us a lift home, despite it not being that far from our houses, and we all piled into the back of their car, covered in sand and smelling of the salty brine of the sea air.

A/N:

Um hey. Sorry it's been so long!! I never intended on taking a hiatus but it just sort of happened. Like I said in the last chapter, I started a new job and it basically made my anxiety like 28 times worse to the point where I wasn't eating or sleeping, so as you can imagine I got really ill! I had to quit but luckily I got my old job back and then went to counselling for my anxiety and tried to get back on track.

Then it was November and I decided to attempt NaNoWriMo even though I've never made it past a couple of days before, and so this whole account basically just got put on the back burner as I tried to focus on my other projects.

So I'm really sorry for just disappearing and leaving this story completely unfinished! But I'm back now and I'm going to try and see this story through to the end.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter ❤ and I will see you all soon for the next one!!