Beach Party

It is a few hours into the party. The sun has set and young people can be seen all over the large beach. Music is blaring from an area where some mediocre band had set up. Bottles of various varieties litter the sand.

Candy walked onto the beach, arms folded across her chest. It was a loud, drunken mess, just as she'd expected it to be. She had no intention of drinking here tonight, but she was still looking to have a good time. She could laugh at the stupidity of others (meet a few new faces... If they weren't wasted), and hopefully, meet up with a friend or two. Candy was uncertain if those she had spoken to actually chose to come or not. She carefully stepped over bottles people had left strewn and made her way farther along the beach.
---
Ced was watching Wally make a fool of himself from a distance. He hadn't even wanted to attend this party, but he wouldn't let his best friend come alone... Not when the guy was so freaking accident prone! So far, so good however... Maybe this night wouldn't end at the hospital... Hopefully?

Anthony leaned back on the hood of Nick's car, a large smile on his face. God, he loved beach parties. The music, the fires, the beer, the smell of sea water, the grilling, the bikini-clad girls, everything. He glanced over at his best friend and raised a brow in amusement. It had to be Nick's 3rd beer already unless he was mistaken. The guy could hold his liquor, he'd give him that. At realizing that he'd obviously have to be their designated driver by the end of the night, Annie chuckled and handed Nick what was left of his beer. His friend grinned, more than happy to take off his hands. They hadn't socialized much all night, save for a few friends who had stopped to talk at recognizing them (and the annoyingly loud Kansas songs they often played on the car's CD player). Anthony patted Nick's knee and pushed off the car. "Well, it's about time I scope out the place, see who else came. You coming?" Nick gave Anthony a look that the boy could only shrug in reply to. "Suit yourself." And with that, he headed towards the main area across the beach along the water (Nick had a habit of parking a bit too near the ocean, and no cops had seemed to bother him about it yet).

May grinned, taking in the atmosphere of the party. It was all fantastic, from the air, to the sound, to the people. And the beach was always a good idea. Always.

But now all she had to do was find some familiar faces in this mass of people. Well, she could always start talking to strangers and all, but most people advise against that with good reason.

Luckily, she did seem to spot someone familiar, at least from the back. She carefully tiptoed behind Cedric, or she hoped he was Cedric, but she preferred not to think about that, and stretched her hands, attempting to cover his eyes with her palms.

"Guess who?" she called in a sing-song voice, and had to keep herself from laughing.

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Victoria scowled. This had been a bad idea. A really, really, bad idea. She didn't like parties, not really, so why had she shown up? Also, she knew exactly one person in this whole crowd, and she was nowhere to be found.

But it would've seemed very rude to say no, especially since Candy was basically the only bearable person to be around at their workplace, and that's something she was thankful for.

Sighing, she started walking, looking around in hopes to spot at least someone who vaguely resembled anyone familiar.

Murphy, sitting in the back seat of Nick's car was half asleep, her oversized book sitting on her lap, and her loyal companion Booga rested nicely on the pages.
Being at the beach made Murphy very sleepy, and some how very bored. There wasn't much to do there, and she wasn't exactly the one to go swimming (thanks to a very awkward body she had developed over the years). She much rather prefered to be alone with Nickie or in the car reading. The only reason she even decided to come along was because there was literally nothing to do at home.
After a little while, she opened her eyes, and looked at Nick through the rearview mirror. "...what's happening? Where's Annie going?.."

Helen and her gang arrived, apparently one of the few groups NOT sporting skimpy swim suits-although they might as well have. Manda and Helen scrambled out of the truck the second Drusilla parked. God, the woman drove like Cruella Deville!

Manda, once she had her bearing straight, was immediately texting all the various people who had asked her to come. She had come prepared in short shorts and a tube top-leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination, as she'd also opted not to wear a bra. "Hey, Helen? Antone said he'd be here-you remember Antone, right? The guy I wanted you to go out with?"

"Uh... Yeah, I guess so?" Honestly, Helen didn't want to be here. She had several tests to study for, and she was not doing well thus far with her college classes... Not that Drusilla or Manda would care. Neither one of them were even taking college classes. Manda was dancing through life throwing her dad's money around and trying to get bit parts in movies while Drusilla opted to take cosmetology classes. Helen frowned and adjusted her shoulder bag-full to bursting with textbooks and journals-then squinted to see across the beach. "So, how long is this gonna go on..?"

Manda shrugged, "I dunno, until we leave, I guess." She was more interested in her phone than anything else.

Drusilla, with her freshly-dyed mop of Raggity Anne red curls, finally had locked up her truck, and was ready to hit the beach. She grabbed one of Helen's hands, and started leading her away. "Oh, c'mon, then! Ain't no use waitin' 'round 'ere if we's only gonna be 'ere 'till 'Ellie wants ta go 'ome. I 'spect we'll have maybe an 'our or so!"

"Oh, no, don't worry, Silla. She's staying at least until dark~" Manda smirked and followed the two of them down towards the beach, smirking all the while and finally putting her phone away.

"Guys, I really have to take care of some things... Like, a lot of things actually. Plus I told Eddie I'd call..."

"Helen, he's got a girlfriend."

"I know he does! He's just my guy friend-you can have guy friends that you don't sleep with, Manda!"

Manda just chuckled in response to her obvious jab at Annie. "Yeah, but where's the fun in that?"

Ced blinked in alarm for a moment and then smirked "I don't know... Someone trying to take my eye out?" he turned around to face May. "You know I need these to make sure Wally doesn't drown or something."
---
Candy had continued walking, and now was standing at the water's edge. She obviously wouldn't be going in considering it was the middle of the night... And she couldn't swim for the life of her. She'd yet to find Vivi, but really, she'd only just gotten here. That was a valid excuse, right? Candy looked up the beach and raised a brow. Had someone seriously parked their car there? She caught site of a guy walking away from it. She really didn't have anything better to do until she located Vivi. She approached Annie, arms folded "Are you looking to hide a body or something?"
---
Holly had seemingly wandered into the party and it was very apparent. She clearly stuck out like a sore thumb. Her grandmother's house was only up the road from this lively social gathering. There weren't usually a lot of people in her area, let alone younger people, so it had sparked a bit of excitement for Holly. She was smiling from ear to ear and just taking everything in.

Tom was seated by one of the various fire pits people had set up along the beach. It was pretty damn hot sitting there, but Tom legitimately didn't mind... At least he had a cold beer (Well, he'd had a few cold beers any), and good company.

Hiro took a swing off his beer and sighed. He liked the feel right now, sitting next to Thomas, the warm fire hitting his face...it felt almost perfect. "Man it feels nice outside, huh, Ahmadi?" The eldest Abe cousin reached over to stroke the youngest one's hair. She had fallen asleep a long while ago, tired and worn out after a day at the beach.

Annie's brows raised just a bit, looking Candy over as he came to a slow stop and crossed his own arms (... well in a manlier way, yes). A small smirk barely touched his lips. "And what if I was~?" He nodded his head towards the main party with an amused look. "I could say the same to you. Why aren't you over there? Did it not meet up to your standards, love~??" He finished in a bit of mocking dramatic tone.
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Nick looked back into the car at Murphy and smiled a bit. "Nah, he went over to where most of the hype is. You know what a little social butterfly the idiot he is. Probably went to find a girl." he said with a roll of his eyes before taking another sip of his beer. "Come on out here, it's not cold or anything. Want a beer?"

"probably out finding some Caaaandy~" Murphy sat up a little and smiled. She placed her book carefully next to her and stumbled out the car. "...Not cold? I'm freezing my ass off out here." She frowned and wrapped her arms around herself as she made her way to her friend's side. "A beer sounds nice though."

She raised a brow. "I was actually referring to the car... What are you trying to do? Hope it floats away when the tide comes in? As for me? I dispose of bodies the proper way... As in not at a rowdy beach party." She sighed, withholding a smirk as she kicked at the sand. "I'm looking for someone actually"
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"Meh... It's a little hot for my liking, but that's probably because we're sitting in front of some giant as pyre." Now that was an exaggeration... The fire was fairly small. It was giving off too much heat for Tom's liking however. "I need to go for a walk or something... geez"

He rolled his eyes, and looked into the fire. "Chill, man. The fire's barely big, you'll be fine."

"Easy for you to say dude... I'm like seriously melting here! I almost want to strip down and go for a swim"

Hiro felt his face heat up before rolling his eyes. "You're over exaggerating. But swimming doesn't seem too bad."

"-But who doesn't want a fancy beach funeral?" he said with a subtle grin on his face as he unfolded his arms and held them out, putting emphasis on the nice beach. He frowned a bit for a split second at what she said next. "Looking for someone?" he repeated. The small smirk returned to his face as he tilted his head slightly. "Tall, dark and handsome maybe?" he teased.
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Nick smiled and let out a laugh. "Oh yeah that Asian girl he said was crazy hot." He grabbed a beer from the ice chest and held it out to her. "You know chances are you're just gonna be colder if you drink this. Sit on the hood or something." He shrugged. "Engine should still be kind of warm."
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Silas rolled his eyes at a nearby couple dancing to the load music and brought his bottle up to his lips. Honestly, he didn't even get why he came to these things anymore. Any fun he used to have at parties was long gone, but Chevonne had invited him and he of course had nothing better to do. His "friend", however, had the nerve to not even show her face. He scanned the room with a lazy and apathetic gaze, wanting to roll his eyes until they hurt at all the stupid behavior. His eyes stopped at a familiar face, brows raising a bit. He honestly hadn't taken Victoria for one to attend these types of... things.

May rolled her eyes, laughing. "Y'know, you seriously got to give him more credit," she looked over at Wally with a thoughtful expression. "I mean, he'd know better than to," she closed her mouth, cringing. "I'm sure he's..."

She sighed. "Well, I guess at least he has us here to worry."

May felt really bad for not being able to come into Wally's defence-- but, really, she could already imagine him trying to pull some stunt and nearly drowning from it, as bad as that sounded. She tried to casually shift the subject.

"Well, other than Wally-watching, what'd you have in mind for tonight?"

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She continued to scan the party crowd. Where was Candy? She swore to God that if she invited her then decided not to come herself, this wouldn't end up pretty.

She stopped when she noticed another familiar figure. A small part of her hoped she was wrong and willed her to continue searching for Candy, but she had to admit she was feeling really uncomfortable with so many strangers around, and the music was crap, and just everything about this night screamed disaster unless she found something to do. That, and he really wasn't all that bad.

She awkwardly approached Silas, a scowl firmly set on her face. "Hey. Is it too much to hope you're just as miserable as I feel tonight and won't mind if I stay here and sulk?"

She cringed in the direction of some couple that was getting pretty... physical while dancing. God, did all shame fly out the window when it came to the beach?

"Come and sit with me? It's better than just standing there." She grabbed the beer from her friend's hand, and went to hop up on the hood. "And I don't wanna be all lonely up there."

"Then let's go swim! Man, I feel like an idiot now, not bringing my bathing suits to a beach party!" He stood, dropping his beer.
---
Ced shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. "Not much to be honest... These kind of parties aren't really my scene..."
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She raised a brow. "That depends... Do you consider Vivi tall?... I don't know how she'd feel about being addressed as handsome either. You're welcome to try it though"

"But what about Nabi?" He looked down at the sleeping girl. "What if some creep comes and takes her?!"

Tom sat back down, shoulders slumping. "You're right." he said with a sigh.

"..Well, we can always put her in the car." He offered. "It's way better than sleeping on the sand."

He grinned and stood up again, nearly losing his footing this time. Tom was clearly more than a little buzzed by this point "Okay, let's do this!"

Hiro, carefully picking up Nabi to make sure she didn't wake up, got up, and shook his head. "You're buzzed and I'm a little worried." But he smiled, and made his way to the car. "C'mon!"

May looked around. "Yeah, mine neither really, but it's still fun, right?" she giggled at some guy doing a version of the Chicken Dance.

"I mean, the atmosphere's great. And if I wasn't afraid I'd poke someone's eye out, I'd actually go out there and dance, y'know?"