When We Grow Up

Chapter 3 - Playing With Fire

Chapter 3 - Playing With Fire

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I squeezed my eyes shut even tighter, wondering what the faint tickling sensation on my face was. It disappeared after a few seconds and I attempted to find sleep again, to no avail. With a sigh, I brushed it off as a dream and reluctantly opened my eyes to the bright sunlight that decided to shine directly on my face. How nice.

I trudged into the bathroom to brush my teeth, making a face at the fogged up mirror that Gabriel had most definitely caused. I couldn't see a thing, but we were going to the beach to relax today; it wouldn't really matter.

After changing into a bathing suit and pulling a pink cover-up over it, I walked downstairs and sat down at the already-full dining table, ready to dig into some bacon and toast. Soon, I realized that the entire table had gone silent and slowly, I stopped chewing.

"What?" I asked, my mouth still full of toast. Gabriel surprised me with a loud, booming laugh and everyone tried to hide their snickers. I furrowed my eyebrows. "What's going on?"

"Your face!" Gabriel choked out, still wheezing on laughter.

Mack giggled. "I didn't know you were into the whole Mario mustache thing, Rosie. And that unibrow," she snapped her fingers, "dang, you are lookin' fine."

"You did not just say that."

"Oh, but I did."

My mom struggled to contain her laughter before passing her compact over to me. "Rosie...you might want to wash your face again. With lots and lots of soap."

I let out a little shriek and dropped the mirror once I caught sight of myself. I had one of those curled mustaches and a unibrow drawn on my face with black marker! I whirled around to glare at Gabriel before shooting out of my seat with a battle cry, "GABRIEL! YOU ARE SO DEAD!"

He leaped up and ran out of the back door with me on his heels. I ignored our families' peals of laughter and streaked after that asshole. He ran all the way to the shoreline and I chased him around, trying to run in the knee height water until I made a split-second decision to jump onto his back.

Well, that plan backfired completely because my weight caught him off-balance and he toppled into the water, bringing me down with him. I gasped and spluttered, coughing up the salty water when my head broke the surface again. "You complete asshole!" Oh geez, how'd we fall so far out into the ocean? Or was it the riptide?

The playful look on his face was gone. "I said I'd pay you back for stealing the bathroom. Now we're even." He glared at me with such intensity, I had to avert my eyes, otherwise, I would've started crying. 

I was struggling to stay afloat in the water. I wasn't the tallest person out there, and my dress was dragging me down. I couldn't reach the bottom, but I willed myself to keep floating. "It's just a bathroom for crying out loud! Get over it!" I exclaimed.

"You shoved me."

"Because I needed to take a shower in private." Oh, shit, my foot was going numb and there was a cramp in my other leg. Crap, crap, crap! I started paddling for the shore, but the current was dragging me deeper. 

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Please. If I were there, it would've been so much more enjoyable." He started paddling easily back to the shore and I stared at him. Was it just me who couldn't swim like that? Or was he abnormally strong, even against a riptide? "Hurry the fuck up. I'm starving as hell."

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. Since when did he get so...vulgar? I opened my mouth to make a biting remark when a wave crashed over my head.