A/N: Hey there! I'm back with another story! Huzzah! It's been a while since I last wrote/published anything. I've been really busy with One-Act, band, school, and just life in general. I'm really glad to be back in the writing groove though, and I hope you enjoy this story!
Some notes:
-The gang is about 17
-it's the summer before their senior year
-They are 17, and they will swear. It's not that much, but I'm warning you now.
Anyways, on to the story!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kickin' It. Sigh.
"It's so HOT," Milton said while sitting in front of the closed dojo.
"We know." Jerry, Eddie and Jack chorused, their backs up against the previously cool glass of the Bobby Wasabi dojo.
"It's 98 degrees out!" Milton whined.
"Trust us, Milton, we can tell," Jack said, peeved.
"AND it's only 10:30!" Milton exclaimed.
"We heard you the first ten times, Milton." Eddie said, the heat eating away at his patience.
"I just can't believe Rudy would leave us here with no dojo to hang out in while he goes off to some stupid spa retreat." Jerry complained, sweat trickling down his brow.
"It's not stupid to him. And you really think he'd let us have free reign of the dojo?" Jack asked.
"He did once before..." Jerry pointed out.
"Yeah but that was before he found you in the wall. He knows better than to leave some teenagers in charge of the dojo from now on." Jack explained, "Not that I blame him, I mean, we had a rockin party but things definitely got out of hand."
"I know but it's just so HOT, I don't see why we can't just hang out somewhere air-conditioned..." Eddie asked.
"Well," Kim said, walking up to the boys, "I finally got my car," she swung the keys around her finger, "And who wants to go to some random air-conditioned building when we can road trip to the beach?" A smile played at her lips. She stood with her arms crossed, her swimsuit peeking out from her shirt and sunglasses perched on her head. It was plain to see that she was going to the beach with or without her rag-tag group of friends.
The boys scrambled up from their positions on the ground, running for the parking lot at full speed. Jerry screamed "Shotgun!" as he raced out of the mall, the rest of the guys groaning as they walked to the car ahead of Kim.
Kim chuckled as she swung the keys around her finger, making her way to the car she could finally call hers, her flip flops clapping on each step.
At the car, it seemed that Milton had unfortunately lost the game of rock paper scissors and now had claim to the middle-seat. "Alright, let's get you guys your swimsuits and then we'll head to the beach!" Kim smiled and unlocked the car.
Before the car even started, Jerry had his hands on the auxiliary cable, reaching for his iPod and making a playlist for the near-hour long drive.
Kim started the car and as a wave of cool air left the vents, a sigh was heard from the male passengers. The blonde chuckled and pushed her sunglasses over her eyes as she left the mall's parking lot.
"Alright," Kim commanded half an hour later from the drivers seat, "Everyone got their swimsuit?" The boys nodded. "Towels?" Another unison nod.
"I've got the sunscreen!" Milton volunteered from the hump seat.
"Ok, good. Now, I need to get gas and snacks. To the Shell Station!"
Jerry let out a loud, "WHOOO!" as the car pulled away from the curb, hitting play on his iPod, the music he picked resonating from the speakers.
Twenty minutes, one full tank of gas, two jumbo bags of skittles, a twelve-pack of cokes, a six-pack of water, 5 assorted Arizona teas, one bag of beef jerky, 4 bags of chips and a pack of gum later, the gang was on the road to the beach. Kim managed to (by some miracle) keep focused on driving while the three teenage boys in the backseat haggled over how to divvy up the food, which was repeatedly referred to as "the rations" and while Jerry managed to choreograph entire dance routines while still in the confines of the passenger seat. All in all, it was an eventful ride to the "promise land" as Milton adamantly called it.
Once the car rolled to a stop and Kim put it in park, Jerry, Eddie and Milton leaped out of the car, shedding their shirts and making a mad dash to the cool blue water. Kim chuckled to herself for a moment at the scene, then, after she realized she, by default, would be the pack mule, groaned. Her head hit the headrest behind her and her hands fell from the steering wheel to her lap.
"Hey!" Came a call from the back of her car, "Can you pop the trunk?"
"Yeah!" Called Kim, smiling as she realized she wouldn't be alone in her pack mule duties.
Slipping out of the driver's seat, Kim made her way to the back of the car, keys in one hand, the other pulling the sunglasses to the bridge of her nose to cover her eyes. Jack was bent over, grabbing for the cooler with the drinks, the bag of snacks, and his own towel, shades already covering his eyes. "I got this stuff," he said, "Can you get the bag with your's and the guys' towels and the umbrella?"
Kim nodded, "Yeah, and I'll grab the speakers too."
"You sure? That's a lot of stuff for a girl like you to carry..." Jack asked, realizing his mistake far too late.
"A girl like me? A girl like me?" Kim asked incredulously. "Do I need to remind you that a girl like me whoops your butt at karate weekly?"
Jack blanched, "Nonononono, that's not what I meant-"
"Uh-huh." Kim said as she grabbed the umbrella, towels, and portable speakers from the trunk, slamming the trunk door down and marching off to find a suitable spot on the beach.
Jack groaned, his head tilted back and frustration in his veins, slowly making his way to follow Kim to their spot.
Perfect spot acquired, Kim stabbed the umbrella into the ground and ripped it open, her anger clear in her body language and her actions.
"Hey, you might want to take it easy with that! I don't know what the umbrella said to offend you, but you're never gonna get an apology out of it if you keep abusing it like that!" Kim turned around, looking for the source of the voice that had interrupted her violent actions. A tanned, blonde, cute teenager greeted her, a smile playing on his lips.
"I'm Tyler," he offered his hand, "I'll be happy to give that umbrella of yours a stern talking to if you really feel like it's in need of a reprimanding."
Kim giggled, taking off her sunglasses to look directly in Tyler's eyes, "I'm Kim, and I don't think that's necessary, I'm pretty sure this umbrella's learned its lesson!"
Tyler's smile widened and his straight teeth gleamed, "Well, Kim," he said, placing emphasis on her name, "I was wonderin-"
"There you are!" Jack exclaimed, stomping up to Kim, "You stormed off and I couldn't find you. If you give me the keys I can go lock-" Noticing Tyler, the brown haired boy dropped the cooler and the bag he was carrying by the rest of the things and crossed his arms. "Who's this?" He asked, his tone somewhere between inquisitive and threatening.
"Oh, sorry man, I didn't know she was your girlfriend-" Tyler began, his hands up in a defensive position.
"He's not my boyfriend," Kim said, glaring at Jack, though it was hard to tell how affected he was by her patented Kim Crawford Death Ray Vision as he kept his shades on. "I am perfectly single." She said with a sweet smile.
"Awesome," Tyler said with a grin, "Well, my friends are having a bonfire at sunset on the beach, you and your friend here are welcome to come."
"That sounds awesome!" Kim smiled up at Tyler. "I'll definitely be there."
"Awesome!" Jack mocked under his breath.
"Yeah, we'll have s'mores, I've got an acoustic guitar, it's gonna be a blast!" Tyler seemed physically incapable of not smiling.
"That sounds great!" Kim smiled and Jack rolled his eyes behind his tinted lenses.
"Yeah, great." Jack said, "Kim can you help me set up the rest of our stuff? Now?"
"Sure, Jack," Kim rolled her eyes at Jack, "I'll see you later!" She smiled sweetly at Tyler, who made his graceful retreat.
Jack wasted no time before making his opinion known, "That guy's a scumbag."
"Are you kidding me?" Kim asked, exasperated, "What on earth makes you think that, huh? Just because you're mad at yourself for being sexist doesn't mean you should take it out on me or the cute guy that just so happened to ask me to join him at a bonfire his friends are throwing." Kim glared at the brunet, "It's not like he's asking for me to get married and bear his children, alright?" She crossed her arms and huffed.
Jack glared back, "What about neon frat tank, 'I've got an acoustic guitar' and overall sleazy attitude screams 'attractive' to you? Really, I'd like to know."
"Oh my GOD, Jack! Just because I'm your friend and you've got this over-protective hero complex doesn't mean you get to veto each and every guy that even looks my way!" Kim yelled, aggravated.
"You know what-" Jack began, not yelling but not exactly in the calmest of manners.
"WHAT?" Kim glared at her friend, blood boiling.
Jack clenched his jaw, his fists balled at his side, then turned on his heel and stalked off, before he said anything he'd regret later.
Kim angrily blew a strand of hair out of her face, convinced Jack was just on his man-period, he'd get over it and they'd make up. Not right now, though, they both needed some time alone to cool off. She jammed the sunglasses back on her face and began to unpack the supplies when, dripping wet, Jerry, Eddie and Milton clamored up to her, begging for their 'share of the rations.'
After the boys had successfully upped Kim's blood pressure and satisfied their hunger, Milton managed to ask, through a mouthful of chips, "Where's Jack?" Though it sounded more like "Air's Ack?"
Kim felt her anger building again, so she took a deep breath and let it out slowly while she counted backwards from ten in her head.
"Uh-oh..." Milton said after swallowing the chips, "What'd he do?"
The blonde looked at Milton, thankful he understood just how much Jack could get under her skin, "He had the nerve to assume that this really cute guy who asked me to join him at his friend's bonfire was some sort of," she air-quoted, "'scumbag'."
Milton rolled his eyes and shared a knowing look with Eddie, "I wouldn't worry about it, Kim."
"Yeah," Eddie chimed in, "This guy's probably not a scumbag, you know Jack can get really je-"
"Overprotective." Milton interjected. "You know how protective and loyal Jack can be."
Kim looked quizzically at Milton, then tried to make eye contact with Eddie across the large picnic blanket she had laid atop of the sand. Eddie was staring intently at a bag of skittles, cramming them into his mouth. After a full minute of unsuccessful attempts at eye-contact with the skittle-obsessed teen, Kim was fed up.
"Don't swim for thirty minutes after eating!" She ordered, shedding her sunglasses and cover-up and heading for the waves.
Jerry looked up from simultaneously stuffing his face with beef jerky and setting up the speakers with his iPod attached, his eyes full of confusion, "Did I miss something?"
Milton shook his head, "Just Jack being jealous and Kim not getting the picture."
Eddie nodded his assent and Jerry asked, "Why won't those two just forget their pride for two seconds and admit they're meant to be together?"
"Because they're Jack and Kim." Milton shrugged. "They just won't. I don't even know if they've admitted it to themselves." He watched Kim splash into the water and spotted Jack down the beach by himself in an angry staring contest with the waves.
Milton sighed. Those two were meant for each other. Hell, if Jerry of all people could see it, why couldn't they?
A/N: I know, I know, it's a bit of an abrupt ending, but it was the first place I could cut it before it started getting really long... So, anyways, what do you think? Where I live, it's getting really hot right now, and I just went on my band trip to the coast, so I was playing around with this idea and WHAM! Here it is! I'm almost done writing it, I just need to find some time to work out the kinks.
Anyways, if you're interested in my musical inspiration for this whole thing, I was basically listening to Sofa, U.N.I., Miss You, Gold Rush, Firefly, Kiss Me, and Give Me Love all by Ed Sheeran on repeat. Such good, mellow songs.
Okay, so that's about it. Expect a new chapter soon and please review!
Best wishes!
x Em