In Waves | ✔️

17 | night swims

Kissing Nate, I've lost all sense of time in him. All sense of surrounding, and reason, and logic. Everything. I never knew kissing could be this good. Why aren't people doing this constantly? How have I missed out on such a phenomenal thing for all these years?

Never again.

He gently nips at my lip, dipping right back to my mouth without skipping a beat.

Never, ever, ever again.

After who knows how long, we're finally forced to come up for air when water splashes over our ankles and makes us jump apart.

"Oh, shit, the tide came in," Nate says, a smile splitting his face.

We scramble to our feet and move away from the rising water. Now that we've stopped, I'm feeling the ache of my lips and stiffness in my jaw. God, even my face muscles are out of shape.

"Maybe that's a sign we should head back to the party."

"The party," I breathe out. "Right."

Being so isolated with him, I completely forgot about the party. I'm forgetting about everything. I can only see Nate and the twinkle in his eye, and I know he knows I'm flustered. That making out with him has rendered my brain into mush. I feel like that must be a common reaction he gets with girls. Rightly so.

We stroll up the beach, falling into light conversation about nothing I'm really registering. I can't stop stealing glances of his lips.

Nate comes to a stop by our sand angels. "Race you to the top?"

He runs up the dune before I can answer, giving me a taste of my own cheating medicine. I follow with burning calves. Running uphill is tough. Running uphill through sand is brutal. I'm practically wheezing when I reach the top, and I hold up my finger to stop whatever cocky thing is about to come out of his mouth.

"Okay, okay." He zips his lips, then quickly unzips. "But let the record show that I won."

He laughs when I shove him out of my way, mumbling something about me being a sore loser. Once we've gathered our shoes from the deck, we walk up the pathway to the house, coming into the warm lights around the pool.

The pounding music sounding from inside makes my chest squeeze. I would have stayed on that secluded beach with him all night. I rub at my flushed face, still steadying my breath.

"Hey, do you have the time?" he says next to me. "My phone's dead."

I absently slide my phone out my pocket, only for it to be snatched from my fingers. In one fell swoop, Nate tosses our phones on a cushioned lounger, hoists me over his shoulder, and cannonballs into the pool.

In my delayed reaction, my shrieking protest is cut short when we crash underwater. Through a haze of bubbles and shock and cold submersion, I swim up and break through the surface with a gasp.

"What the hell!" I cough, splashing Nate's grinning face. "You ass!"

He shields himself, speaking through a childish giggle. "You looked hot! If helping you cool down makes me an ass, then I'm an ass!"

I can't contain my laughter, watching him dip into the water just below his eyes like an alligator. I can feel my thrumming blood pulsing in my neck. The way he's looking at me isn't helping it calm.

He stands, wiping his face before he rakes back his hair. It instantly flops over his forehead. "How long can you hold your breath underwater for?"

I glide closer, taking in the beads clinging to his ringlets. "Not as long as you can."