Like Yesterday

One. Two. Three.

I counted my steps as I tried to get back to my lifeguard chair without talking any further to Jace. He was the last person I wanted to start a conversation with. And the greater the distance between us, the better chances I had to living a decent life this summer. The fatso I wished Jace to be instead, in order to make him less alluring, disappeared to nowhere as I caught a glimpse of his perfect body a moment ago. And the charisma he had before was still with him - shining and radiant.

Oh great.

It was a fact that everyone loved him. If we were not in bad terms, I might end up being one of those girls who were drooling over him. He was cute, nice, smart, and funny. He was close to being perfect, with those luscious sapphire eyes that defined the calmness of his soul, his dark brown medium length hair that was grown a little over the tips of the ears, and his angular face that was formed with impeccable flawlessness. What was there not to love?

I successfully made thirteen steps away from him, but then suddenly, a voice that was all too familiar had caught my attention. It had been years since I heard his voice. But it wasn't like I would ever forget it. With that same charming and pretending to be innocent tone, he asked, “Is my lifesaver not going to ask how I’m feeling?”

I inhaled a mouthful of air.

At this moment, I wished that I could just ignore him. And then after briefly thinking about it, I had decided to do so. It wasn’t as if he would care if I’d ignore him or not. And so I took another step away from him without even glancing back... or speaking.

“Still not talking to me?” he asked again.

Isn't it obvious? I thought to myself.

He was back here not only to perform in the upcoming mid-summer concert. I was certain that he had other plans in mind, and that might include getting his revenge on me, obviously. Well, for one, it had already started. The drowning was just a brief introduction. He almost killed me with all the tension and he was just starting. So what was next? Maybe it might include getting the rest of the female population to go against me. One snap of his fingers and all the girls would obey him without falter.

Just thinking about it made me feel weak all of a sudden. I found myself trembling while walking towards my chair. Crossing my fingers, I hoped that it didn't show though. The last thing on earth that I wanted him to know was me being shaken by him. And to think that I hadn't heard him move from where he was standing, I bet he was definitely looking at me, carefully watching my every move.

“Not even one word? I wonder what's going on in your mind now that I'm back,” he said to me using a frisky tone, putting enough emphasis on the last two words. And with that, his message was well understood.

There was no escaping this. The idea of turning mute in front of him all summer did sound good to my ears. But it would be weird if I would do that. And it was not as if I could just ignore him. He had a way of making me talk. He had always known what to say, what to do, and how to get me irritated. And being that way, he would surely gain some kind of reaction on my part.

I tried turning my head, but it was as stiff as a rock. It was as if it was cooperating well enough with my desire to never see him again, that it did a fair amount of effort in keeping itself in place. So I calmed my nerves, and tried once more, I managed to turn my head little by little. My inner self was screaming for me to run away.

Hide.

The moment his eyes locked on mine, I choked. His smile was still in place. The water dripping from his wet hair made the matter worse. He was as handsome as he could possibly be, and it was distracting. Definitely. It was hard hating a guy who looked this comely. But nonetheless, I was obliged to.

And somehow, maybe it was due to my outstanding attempt to get my voice out, I found the words and told him, “Do I need to talk to you?”

“Well, I think you should. We're neighbors and our families are well acquainted with each other. So I believe that we should at least say some greetings to one another,” he spoke.