Later in the day, Darryl and Karl still hadn't arrived at the beach house. Sapnap already started pouring drinks, of course, while the two other boys finished unpacking all of their luggage.

"Nick!" George shouted from his and Dreams room.

"What?!" He screamed back from the large kitchen.

"Karl texted, him and Darryl are driving along the shops path right now!"

Dream and George stood in their bedroom waiting for Sapnaps answer.

"What?!" He screamed back after a long pause.

Angrily, George stepped out of the room and into the kitchen. Multiple cans of beer were sitting on the counter, freshly pulled from the cooler.

"You better not get drunk before our friends get here," he scolded.

"I'm not George, I'm simply prepared. Worry about yourself. You're not my dad."

"I'm not worried Sap, I just don't want to be embarrassed."

Sapnap scoffed, patting his own mouth and yawning.

"What's there to be embarrassed about? Karl won't give a fuck and Bad might, although he doesn't speak his mind too often."

"He does if Skeppy is around!" Dream hollered from the bedroom.

Both Sapnap and George started laughing as Dream appeared down the hall, walking towards the boys with a large grin on his face.

———

Minutes later, the three stood outside as they watched from afar, Karl's car slowly pulling up to the side on the path.

Excitedly, the front care door swung open, revealing Karl. He had his casual messy brown hair, crew neck with a collared shirt underneath.

"Holy crap it's actually you guys!" He cheered ecstatically, jumping into George's arms for a long hug.

Dream noticed a little bit of movement through the tinted windows, then Darryl stepping outside with a wide smile, walking to hug Sapnap first, since he was closest to him.

Karl moved his big hug from George to Dream, yet again another embarrassing height difference.

"No way, Dream." He mumbled into his sweatshirt. He pulled away patting his shoulder.

"Nice to see you too, Karl."

Karl smiled and laughed, hurrying to hug Sapnap. Darryl hugged both George and Dream mushed together.

"It's so nice to see you guys! How are you liking Florida, George."

"It's.. really nice. Too bad I have to leave at some point."

"Ah, don't worry about that, my friend. We have lots of fun ahead."

With that and some more chatter, everyone helped out with carrying luggage inside to Karl's room which he shared with Sapnap, then Darryls room which he got for himself.

"Make yourself at home, you guys. We have plenty of food and drinks and space." Dream called, as Karl stumbled into his room.

"This is so nice.." he heard Darryls faded voice say to George as he helped him in.

Dream slowly walked over to the front windows which faced the breezy beach, faded voices talking in the background.

Maybe this trip won't be so awkward after all.

"Clay?" George's voice echoed from behind him. Dream snapped his head back at George, who stood a fair distance apart from him. He had a concerned look on his face.

"Are you okay, Clay?"

"Uh, yeah. Are you?"

"Yeah."

They stared at each other for a minute.

Slowly, George walked over to stand beside Dream, facing the window. "Sapnap said he wants you to take a picture of all of us to post on Twitter and Instagram. I told him it's a bad idea since everyone will think it's edited but-"

Dream started chuckling, shaking his head, facing the beach once again.

"He's so obsessed with that."

"Obsessed with what?"

"This whole 'teasing the fans' thing."

George bit his lip, glancing at Dream from the view.

"He really does love getting on their nerves."

Silence fell upon them once again, but neither of them really minded. They just liked feeling the presence of each other.

Dream slowly glanced at George's hand which rested on the windowsill, his body leaned towards the window. Just watching the slow, small waves.

Nervously, Dream bit the inside of his cheek, reaching his hand out and carefully placing it onto George's.

As soon as George felt the touch, he flinched and pulled his eyes away from the window view.

Dream wasn't thinking straight. Something told him George would pull away.

"Clay," he whispered, his fingers lightly twitching.

Dream stopped looking at George to focus on their hands. His eyes were watering, burning.

He quickly pulled his hand away.

"I'm sorry," he whispered back, George's hand falling to his side.

"It's.. okay." George eyed him one last time before turning away back into their bedroom.

Dream dragged his hand down his face, stuttering to himself as he tapped his foot. He felt like he was drenched in sweat, although it was cold and breezy in the house.

Why the hell did I just do that?

———

George lightly closed the door behind him, collapsing on the bed on the far left side by the closet. He stared at his hand in disbelief.

He rotated his hand so his palm faced him, his lips trembling.

We had slept in the same bed, and I'm freaking out over this? He probably thinks I'm fucking mad at him now. Great.

George had no idea what was right to think about in the moment, a tiny thought lingering in the back of his mind he wanted so badly to deny.

I liked it.

He folded his hands together, hugging his knees to his chest while staring out the large window on the other side.

Why did I like it?

"George?!" Karl shouted from the living room.

George jumped up, swinging open the door and just praying he'd forget about the whole awkward situation that had just occurred with him and his best friend.

"Yeah?" He asked, walking into the living room where Karl stood on a small stool, fairy lights hanging above him.

"Get up here, help me with this."

"Why don't you just ask Clay?"

"He's outside 'taking a breath' or whatever. Now hurry up."

George shrugged as Karl hopped down from the stool.