From Beginning to End

Chapter 6

When we finally got to the beach around one, there were already hundreds of people lining the strip as far as my eyes could see. The sand felt warm under my feet and I wiggled my toes as we made our way down the beach to find a good spot to settle down. My cover up fluttered against me as a breeze came through, ruffling umbrellas and the free-flying corners of multicolored blankets. Jake was walking in front of me, weaving craftily around groups of people lying out to soak up as much sun as possible. That had been my plan too, but when we finally found a spot where the sun blazed just right and I arranged a blanket over the mounds of sand, Jake shook his head at me.

"Oh no," he said, tsking. "You aren't about to sit out here and be boring."

I plopped down on the blanket defiantly. He frowned again and I could almost see the disapproving look behind his sunglasses. I sighed, "Jake, what more do you want from me?"

"Come hang out with me."

"I'm here!" I indicated the beach with a sweeping hand gesture, "I am hanging out with you!"

He didn't say anything for a long moment, but his gaze never left mine. Even though I couldn't actually see his eyes I squirmed under his scrutiny, unsure of what craziness he was planning. "This is your last chance to come into the water with me of your own accord," he finally said.

I could already feel the beads of sweat forming at my hairline. In my opinion, it was too hot for a lot of movement. I stared at him, daring him to touch me with an upraised eyebrow.

He took my dare. In a movement that barely registered to my eyes, he swooped me up and threw me over his shoulder. Before I could grasp what was happening, I was being carried, screaming, down the beach towards the water.

"Put me down!" I demanded jerkily as my stomach bounced against his hard shoulder. The words were broken and nearly incomprehensible, but I knew beyond a doubt that he could damn well hear me. He didn't care. In fact, I was almost positive that he wasn't even listening. I huffed with indignation. Even though I was kicking and screaming, fighting him with everything that I had, he had absolutely no difficulties carrying me. "All right, fine! I'll go into the water with you."

Jake paused for just an instant, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

I gritted my teeth and repeated myself. "Just let me take off my cover up. I don't want to get it wet." We were standing amongst twenty or so people and I could see them blatantly staring at us. I dug my fingers into the back of his shirt, silently reiterating my demand. Finally, he sighed and released me, letting me slide to my feet in a graceless heap of girl and aggravation. I glared at him for an extra minute, mustering all the anger I possessed into the squint of my eyes and the furrow of my brow. He just laughed, as carefree as always.

Without a backwards glance, I trudged back to our blanket, now covered in the sand he had disturbed by picking me up so fast. I was not a girl to be rushed under any circumstances. As slow as humanly possible, I pulled off the white dress and then painstakingly tucked it into my bag after folding it at least ten times. Smiling smugly at the impatient sigh I heard behind me, I continued to take my time brushing the sand off of my bag grain by grain. When I finally stood back up, Jake had his arms crossed over his newly bare chest and his sunglasses were off so I could see all of the annoyance in his eyes. I stood before him in my simple black bikini and mimicked him, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Come on," I said, gesturing with an impatient flap of the hand for him to walk. Without another word, he turned and began heading to the beach.

"See how much easier this is?" he asked in a sweet voice, carefully maneuvering around towels and half-finished sand castles. I glared at his back, remaining stubbornly silent. His amused chuckle made me glare even harder. I followed him obediently for about ten feet, waiting for a chance to escape. Just as his foot touched the line of wet sand, I turned and took off. Before I got very far, I heard a half finished shout of my name and then a deep chuckle, and I knew he was chasing me.