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"A donde vas, chamaco?" Clarissa stood in the white marble kitchen with some tongs in one hand and a fork on the other. The door to the backyard was opened, and Gabriel could hear his father laughing and talking to one of his sisters from the kitchen. While their family didn't really celebrate the Fourth of July as many of their neighbors did, they usually took a day off work and just eat together and talk. Sometimes they invited a few friends over for a small get to together and listen to banda while they watched the fireworks. While Gabriel enjoyed spending time with his family, he was in need of a short break from them after graduation.

"I'm gonna go with Sebastian to the beach--"

"En Español, niño!" Clarissa put the tongs and fork down on the counter and made her way to fix her son's unruly hair. "Peinate el pinch pelo, pareses como que estuvieste acostado to el dia." She reached up to run her fingers through his hair in attempt to comb down the mess Gabriel called his hair.

"Ama! Estoy bien. Voy a ir con Sebastian ala playa. Te dije ayer y mi Papa dijo que estaba bien." Gabriel pushed his mother's hands away from his hair with a groan. He was not going to do this again. Gabriel had asked her a wekk in advance when Sebastian first mentioned going to the beach together and had been reminding her every day since then and now she was going to say he had never told her?

"Si si." Clarissa rolled her eyes and waved her hands at him. "Pero llegas antes de las doce o te castigo, pinche chamaquito." She huffed and turned back to grab her tongs from the kitchen counter. "Y no te vayas a tomar!" She pointed her tongs at him as a warning. "Te cuidas, mijo." She shooed him off and turned back to the tortillas on the stove.

Gabriel grinned and walked over to her to give her a peck on the cheek. "Los veo al rato." He said to her before peeking his head out the back door to wave bye to his father and sisters.

Before leaving out the door, Gabriel made sure to straighten out his blue button-up shirt in front of the mirror. He did not want to look like he had just gotten out of bed, like his mother had said, so he fixed his shirt and made sure his black jeans weren't too wrinkled. After deeming himself ready, Gabriel hurried to his car.

The drive to the beach was quick since most people were home with their families or already at the beach or a park by the time Gabriel got to the beach he had to circle around the parking lot for five minutes before he found parking a good walk away from the shore. Well, Sebastian was going to be upset that he was late and he had yet to receive any texts from him. Gabriel didn't make much of it as he hurried across the parking lot to the beach, down some wooden stairs until he was at the sand. He didn't have to look for Sebastion since he knew where his friend would be. It only took Gabriel two minutes before he found a familiar back turned towards him in the sea of people waiting for the sun to set and the fireworks to start.

Instead of approaching and announcing himself to Sebastian, Gabriel's lips moved to a mischievous grin as he walked quietly to his friend until he was right behind him. He took one step back before launching himself into Sebastian's side, tackling him into the sand. Some people around them groaned about the flying sand around them, but Gabriel ignored the complaints as he rolled on top of Sebastian with a laugh.

"Hey! Thought I wasn't going to come?" Gabriel pushed himself off Sebastian with sand covered black jeans. He shook off the sand before offering his hand to Sebastian to help the younger man up from the sand. "Sorry I'm late, got cought up with y mom for a bit."

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Gabriel laughed a bit and watched Sebastian take his seat back on top of the towel, that had been partially filled with sand. Whatever, it didn't matter much to Gabriel since he flopped down next to his friend with his legs spread out in front of his and leaning back on his arms. He did once over Sebastian's outfit before he snorted and shook his head. "Never mind what I did all the day, what god did you piss off for you to wear that?" He teased with a grin as he tugged on his friend's red, blue and white shirt. "I mean, it's not that bad." He took the baseball cap from him and put it on his own head.

"Don't get scared!" He gently bumped their shoulders together when Sebastian jumped from the first firework and looked up to the darkened sky. Everyone on the beach was illuminated just for a second when the firework exploded in the sky, eyes still on his friend. He smiled and shook his head looking up at the sky as the fireworks continued.

"Don't be like that, Sebby!" Gabriela threw an arm around his shoulders and leaned against him, grin still in place. "I'm not gonna get in trouble any time soon, kay? No promises though." He kept his arm around Sebastian's shoulders and flipped the baseball cap backward on his head to watch the fireworks.

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"Look, black jeans are in fashion all year round." Gabriel replied with a "matter of fact" tone right before another firework went off in the sky. This time everyone was illuminated red followed by another and another. While Gabriel didn't really celebrate the Fourth of July, his favorite part of this certain holiday were the fireworks and the good food people grilled. Nothing would beat his mom's carne asada though, not even the hotdogs.

When Sebastian told him to promise to stay out of trouble for the rest of the summer, Gabriel just rolled his eyes half-heartedly and nodded his head before turning his head to look at his friend. "Yes, I promise to stay out of trouble for the whoooooole summer, Sebby." While his tone was lazy his easy-going smile was still in place. He leaned in gently buttheaded him. "Stop worrying so much about me, dude. I'll be okay." He pulled back with another laugh and looked up at the sky just as a few more fireworks went off in the distance, this time blue and white.

Gabriel was happy that he would be able to spend most of his days with Sebastian until university started. They hadn't really talked about that part, presumably because both of the boys were afraid they would be attending different universities despite applying to the same ones. Gabriel had gotten his acceptance latter a while ago but he had yet mentioned that to Sebastian, afraid that it hadn't been the same or if he had gotten accepted but decided to attend a different one. The thought of just not been able to see him scared Gabriel a bit. Summer could be their last time together in a while and Gabriel didn't want to ruin that by ending up a night in jail. No way!

"Wanna go to Hollywood tomorrow and hang out? Walk around, maybe go with me to get another tat?" Gabriel looked back at Sebastian with a wide grin. "We can go watch a movie or eat after." His sisters were going to be home and he did not want to be there with them and their loud music they always liked to play. Besides, they had all the time in the world to waste now that they were finish with high school.

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"You getting a tat?" Gabriel had to laugh a bit at that. The last time Sebastian had attempted to get a tattoo he had almost fainted while watching Gabriel get one. If he couldn't even handle watching someone getting tatted how would he handle it if he was the one under the needle? "I'll be there to hold your hand, Sebby." He teased the younger man and gently bumped back against him. He had never minded Sebastian's affection, and in fact liked that he was not afraid to be affectionate with him. It made Gabriel feel like he wan't just another rich friend to Sebastian. "If you are gonna get one, you gotta start small, dude. Nothing big or fancy... Maybe like skull or something cool."

Gabriel kept his eyes on the fireworks through most of their conversation, only glancing back to Sebastian when he felt the other man turn his head from his shoulder. Since they were planning to go out tomorrow he would have to do some persuading to his mom since she had had some trouble with today. He'd have to kiss ass to his dad too in order to get permission. Maybe do some favor for one of his sisters. Or Gabriel could just sneak out while his mom thought he was just playing games in his room. That would work too. He'd have to think about it more later on and see what would be better, besides, he didn't think they would be gone for the whole day.

"What time? We can go around 3, I got my appointment at 4 at this one place. I can pick you up if you want." Gabriel didn't mind picking him up. His car was on those new Tesla cars but he didn't mind leaving it. Besides, Hollywood was filled with a bunch of people so he wasn't too worried about getting it stolen. Most of the people who stole high end cars and brought them to dealers had some ties with his father so it would be fairly easy to find a stolen car like his. "You'll meet me outside, right? Don't want to go in your house or your dad will probably kick my ass."

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Gabriel stood up with Sebastian's help and dusted off his jeans before he began to follow his friend back to the parking lot. He trailed a few steps behind to glance back at the beach for a bit. He had wanted to stay there and just enjoy a summer night under the moon. The air was still hot from the unforgiving Californian summer day, but it wasn't a heat that would make someone want to stay in a room with AC. It would have been perfect to just lay on the sand and talk until they got sleepy or one of their parents called them to get back home.

Gabriel fell back next to Sebastian as they walked further away from the shore and to the sea of cars and people. "Ya know I wouldn't even consider in your house because of your old man. You're lucky my mom likes you." Gabriela threw his arm around Sebastian's shoulders as they continued down to the parking lot. "She keeps asking me when you're gonna go visit her and my sisters." While his mother and sisters liked Sebastian, there was something that his dad didn't like about him. The first few times Sebastian had been over to his house his dad had been pretty nice around Sebastian until he mentioned his full name. After that, it became a whole other story. Gabriel didn't know why and his mom wouldn't tell him.

"Ah, about that." Gabriel pulled back his arm from Sebastian's shoulders and shoved both of his hands into his pockets. "I've gotten back some letters. Got accepted to a few colleges but haven't heard for the uni I wanted." It was a half-truth, so he wasn't really lying. Was he? Whatever, it was a small white lie for them to ignore that matter and just enjoy their summer without any worry in the world. "I'll probably get a letter in by this week or something. What about you, dude?"

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Gabe rolled his eyes when he mentioned stopping by at his house. Sure, his mom and sisters liked him, but they probably liked him in the baby sort of way. Sebastian was a year younger than him, and when he used to frequent the house, his mom would often feed him until he was stuffed or his sisters would try to take him from Gabriel to dress him up. That had been when they were younger, though, now the rare times Sebastian visited his home it was just his mother and sisters teasing his friend until Gabriel had to step in or they would eat poor Sebby alive. "They only like you because you can't say no to them," He laughed and patted Sebastian's back when they hugged.

"I'll pick you up at three then." Gabriel nodded towards his direction, completely dropping the college conversation. He didn't want to talk about it right now. It was all stressing him out and the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to pull out his hair. The two of them still had all summer, and he was not going to let that subject distract them from the now. Gabriel knew that even if they went to different universities or colleges, they would still be in touch, though he was not sure it would last very long. He knew many people did not tend to stay in touch after graduation and he didn't want that for them. They still had time.

"See you tomorrow," Gabriel called out before Sebastian climbed into his car and made his way to his own car. Now all he had to do was convince his parents to let him go out tomorrow. His mom should be happy that he wasn't going to spend the whole day in his room playing games or wasting his time on the internet.

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Gabriel had woken up late the very next day. His sisters had insisted he play with them Smash for the rest of the night. While he enjoyed the game and was pretty decent on it, his sisters were on a whole other level. Two hours in and Gabriel was tired of losing to them. Luz won most of the time but Lupe and Gabriel had been determined to decrown her. It was already 1 am in the morning when their mother came into Lupe's room and told them to turn off their 'xBox' and go to sleep. Gabriel was more than happy to leave Lupe and Luz arguing to about the game as he headed to his own room.

The next day was a lot crazier than he had wanted it to be. His mother came into his room at 11 in the morning screaming at him to wake up and help her with breakfast while his two sisters were arguing over what to make. His father was nowhere to be seen but he somehow showed up when breakfast was being served. Gabriel and his father spent the rest of the day talking about soccer other sports while cleaning up the backyard. Gabriel often wondered why they even cleaned the backyard when a gardener came every other day to care for the back and front yards, but he didn't mind the work. He spent it with his father, so it was all good. By the time 3 o'clock rolled around Gabriel was hurrying around his room trying to get ready.

He ended up slipping on a pair of ripped black jeans, converse, and a band shirt under a red flannel. The traffic to Sebastian's house was heavy. While it usually took him ten minutes to get to his house this time he got there in double the time. By the time he was around the corner, he heard his phone ring. Gabriel parked in front of Sebastian's house and honked the horn to get his attention. "Two minutes before 4, I am on time!" He shouted over to him after rolling the window down.