Page 22 of The Summer of Us

They continued along the stretch of beach until the tide started to come in, and the air turned balmy beneath the sun.

“Told you it wasn’t going to rain,” Olivia said smugly.

Paige waved her off. “Sorry for doubting you, Miss Meteorologist.”

Olivia dropped into a crouch, and Paige peered down over her shoulder, shielding her gaze from the sun. “Find something?”

“I thought it was some glass, but it’s just a very shiny rock,” she answered, fishing something out of the damp sand.

“That is a very shiny rock,” Paige said. “It’s still pretty though. Why don’t you keep it?”

Olivia considered it for a moment, before slipping it into the bag. “You’re right.” She got back to her feet, dusting the sand off her hands, and shot Paige a grin. “This is fun.”

Paige looked at her, her lips parting with a soft laugh. “Yeah, it is.”

They spent another hour combing the beach for glass and shells and more shiny rocks, until the brown paper bag was almost full.

“I think Isla will be very happy with our finds,” Olivia said with an air of accomplishment. “Just make sure to pick out your favourites before we give them to her.”

Paige nodded, grumbling as she tried to scrub the dried sand off her hands, sticking to her skin in grainy clumps.

“Dip them in the sea,” Olivia suggested, so Paige walked up to the edge of the shore—careful not to get her shoes wet—and washed them in the salt water.

A towel appeared on her left, and she took it from Olivia’s hands with a grateful smile. “Thanks.” She finished towelling off her hands, then waited while Olivia did the same, before tying her hair back from her face. “I think I’m ready for the arcades now.”

“Arcades, then ice cream?” Olivia amended, and Paige flashed her an unabashed grin.

The amusements were a short walk from the seafront; a row of bright buildings characterised by their glistening neon lights and thumping speakers.

They ducked into the first arcade. It was dim inside, the air heavy with the smell of copper and dust. There weren’t too many people walking around, but the sound of coins clinking and machines pinging created a constant dissonance in the background that was already starting to get under Paige’s skin. She figured she would adjust to the noise soon enough and tried not to focus on it.

“This is one thing I did prepare for,” Paige said, digging into her backpack and retrieving a plastic bag full of two-pence pieces. “My dad always used to keep a penny pot in the cupboard, and he didn’t take it with him when he moved out, so I found these hidden in there.”

“What a star,” Olivia said, grabbing one of the plastic coin pots and holding it out so that Paige could tip out some of the copper pennies.

They did a full circuit of the first amusement, but most of the prizes were too hard to get, or geared towards children, so they went into the next one. Pirate Cove Amusements was a more nautical-themed arcade, decked out with plastic parrots and fake palms with some kind of sea shanty crackling over the speakers.

“This is fun,” Paige said, looking around. Fake vines draped over the penny pusher machines, and a morose-looking pirate complete with a gold tooth and eyepatch brooded in the corner.

“Let’s go take a picture with Blackbeard over there,” Olivia said, dragging Paige after her before she could protest.

They snapped some goofy photos with the plastic pirate, before browsing the machines for something to win.

“Look at these,” Olivia said, tapping her finger against the glass. A small metal keyring of a starfish was almost near the edge, half-buried beneath the pennies. “Do you think it’ll be easy to get?”

“Worth a try,” Paige said, already sliding a row of coins into the penny slot and releasing them rapidly with her finger. Olivia did the same on the other side, inserting the pennies one at a time.

They had almost emptied out their pot of pennies by the time the keyring dropped down into the slot with a heavy thunk, along with a dozen or so two-pence pieces.

“Bingo!” Olivia said, her lips kicking up into a smile as she retrieved the starfish and attached it to her bag. “Now we have to try and win you something.”

They exchanged a couple of pounds for more pennies, then went mooching around looking for something to win for Paige.

“Aw, these are cute.” Paige waved Olivia over to a machine toting little plushie dinosaurs.

“He looks pretty close to the end,” Olivia observed, pointing to the orange triceratops laying on its side.

“I hope he’s not too heavy,” Paige muttered, nibbling her lip as she pushed a coin into the slot.

---