35: Matter of Perception

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Chapter Thirty-Five

The day went well for the most part. My game was much better than the day before but I was distracted over everything that happened the night before. Even though he was playing against me, Cecil still gave me some pointers and tried to help me work out my strength problem. It was more like a leisurely game of golf than a skins match. I was a little surprised when my father and I won but as we were walking back to the clubhouse, I saw my dad joking around with Cecil's pro partner and that mystery went out the window. They didn't let us win but they weren't playing to their fullest abilities either.

After a little lunch, Cecil, Allie, and I spent the afternoon at the beach. His shock of seeing me in a bikini was hilarious when we first got here. At first he didn't know what I was doing as I took off my jean shorts and started to take off my shirt. He tried to tug it back over my head but he quickly gave up when I tried to tug his shirt off in response. Distracting him was easy since I knew he had an aversion to being half naked in public. Or maybe it was just around me since I'd spotted him a couple of times without a shirt during the summers we were apart. I was all observational and from a distance, obviously, but he refused to shed the "You Sunk My Battleship" tee even after Allie and I laid out on our towels. Every time we brought up him taking it off, he would tell us both he was fine. Of course he was a bit more shaper with Allie, telling her once he didn't know she was so concerned about him. As time passed, I wondered what it would take in order to get it off.

The tension between them was still there, especially when Allie decided to stop working on a tan she didn't need and started boy watching. Since I was sitting between them, the random comments such as "What do you think about him, Nat?" and "He has a really nice ass, don't you think?" made everything uncomfortable. Cecil was boiling behind his aviators on my left but he took it in stride, keeping his mouth shut. Probably only because I asked him to try and be nice to Allie before we left the clubhouse. I knew he had a retort in there somewhere. He was like Schylar in that sense.

But a few comments later I knew Cecil had reached the end of his rope and was about to snap at her if I didn't eradicate the problem. I saw this as my opportunity to get some alone time with him, possibly in the water since Allie declared earlier she wasn't going anywhere near it.

Thinking quickly, I put down the book I was supposed to be reading for my AP History class and sat up. Some distance between the two would be good for everyone so I got up off my towel and held my hand out to Cecil.

"What?" he said, looking between my face and my hand, his own school reading propped up in his lap since he was in a beach chair.

"I want to go into the water and I need you to protect me from all the sharks."

That got him smiling and Allie scowling. "There are no sharks in the water," she commented as Cecil quickly casted the books aside and got up.

If I had any doubt that he would take off his shirt to go into the water, it was gone now as he discarded his shirt onto the chair.

What I wasn't prepared for was what he would look like without it. Yeah I'd seen the picture, bare chest and abs, I'd even imagined it a couple of times. But there was a complete difference between seeing it from afar, imagining it, and then having it put on display right before you.

I stood there a little dazed, my hand still held out a little limply, and thank god I had sunglasses on my face or someone might've actually seen me oogling at my own boyfriend. I was completely shameless.

Cecil took my proffered hand and pressed two of his fingers under my chin, successfully lifting my jaw from the sand and closing my mouth. "You're not sleeping so stop drooling."

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