Ain't That a Kick in the Head (Camren)

Chapter 13

Camila managed two hours at the booth Friday morning before breaking into song. The surfers and spectators crowding the beach seemed to love the giveaways she and Ally would enthusiastically fling at them as they strolled by, and Camila decided to step up her game. Give the people what they want. Her new goal was to draw the largest crowd on the beach. Jupiter Surf would destroy all of the other vendors.

Of course, Camila was about four shades darker than usual, disguised by her curled hair and sunglasses, so she had to accomplish this goal without being recognized.

She connected her iPod to the speakers Niall had set up, danced around the small, tented space to limber up, and then blasted "Surfin' USA," just loud enough to overpower "California Love" coming from a rival shop set up about thirty yards away.

"Let's go, girl!" Camila exclaimed, gesturing to Ally as she bounced out of the booth, because how could she be expected to properly let loose in such a tiny space?

Ally held up a hand, amused. Mildly embarrassed. "I'm good, thanks."

"Suit yourself!" Camila tossed over her shoulder.

She smiled widely at the beachgoers passing by and joined the song right at "a bushy, bushy blonde hairdo," totally in her element. It was difficult to dance in the sand with lanyards and t-shirts draped over her arms, but she managed to shuffle around, bouncing with the tune and handing out goodies to the people who paused.

Some of them smiled, some danced, some approached Ally for information. Everybody knew the song.

"We're waxin' down our surfboards, we can't wait for June." Camila was pleased with the slight SoCal accent she was pulling off. No trace of vibrato at all.

The crowd was clapping by the time the song reached its instrumental portion. Camila spied several children dancing, flailing, around near their parents, and she grinned and hopped over to them.

"Good morning! Feel free to grab some donuts!" She greeted the adults before crouching in front of the children. The ends of the lanyards dropped into the sand. "Would you guys like some stickers?"

Camila pulled the roll of turtle stickers out of her shorts pocket when she received several shy nods.

"These are sea turtles." She informed brightly, carefully peeling each sticker off.

One boy perked up. He held his hand out eagerly. "Like Crush!"

Camila smiled at him and pressed the sticker to the back of his hand. "Yeah, just like Crush!" She stood back up and passed out a few lanyards to the children's parents, and then leaned over again to address the kids.

"If you guys ever want to learn to surf, that sticker will tell you where to go, okay?" Camila pointed to the sea turtle logo. She started backing away when she registered that the song had changed. "I promise it's loads of fun!"

And then she turned on her heel and bounded around to the rest of the crowd, waiting for the lyrics of "Fun, fun, fun" to come back to her.

Lauren decided that having Camila Cabello run her booth on the beach was one of the greatest decisions she'd ever made. She'd just finished the surfboard giveaway on the pier when a growing group gathered around the blue Jupiter Surf tent fifty yards down the beach caught her eye.

She squinted from behind her sunglasses and laughed abruptly when she recognized the small brunette bounding about with familiar exuberance.

"She's good." Louis mused, materializing next to Lauren.

Lauren jumped at his sudden appearance. She shook her head and shoved his shoulder. "Make some noise, man."

Louis's eyes danced between Lauren's enthralled gaze and Camila down on the beach. He chuckled to himself. "All the noise in the world, Lauren. I don't think that would've mattered."