Amongst The Water-Fresh Waters

Chapter 7: Finally 16! Part 4

Originally Published: 2013-2014. Updated July 2017; November 2019; July 3, 2020; September 25, 2021; August 7, 2023; August 26, 2023. 

      Kylie picks up the gauze in the sand, puts it back in the first aid kit, and silently cleans and wraps Finn's foot. She closes the Kit up and sits next to Finn. Finn looks down at her. He shakes his head and lowers his foot and bends forward, starts to get up but falls back in the seat.

      Kylie stares at him. "What are you trying to do?" She laughs. The heaviness around them lightens and he smiles at her. 

      "I'm trying to move this so you can sit on it. You've done so much for me today and all I've done was be a big baby." He rolls his eyes.

      Kylie gets up and stands in front of him. She pokes his foot. "Ooow." He says. "Yeah, you are a big baby." Kylie chuckles. "Especially since nothing was even in your foot anyway. And those floozies numbers are what probably made your foot itch."

      Finn stares at her confused. She smiles at him. "Floozies is slang for....well sluts or tramps.....or....." She trails off, and then Finn finishes for her. "I get it." "Americans have so many colorful words for loose women."

      Kylie nods. "I agree. " Finn smiles at Kylie. "Grab the cooler and sit next to me. We've been in the sun long enough, you don't need to get burnt. And I want to hear about how the numbers disappeared. And hear more about how there wasn't anything in my foot." Finn says inquisitively.

      "You seemed to make a big deal about stepping on the shell; so I was wanting to play a trick on you and tell you that you had a piece of glass stuck in your foot. I was going to tell you everything when I got back with the first aid kit, but everything else happened." She sighs.

        Finn laughs. "That was so not funny." Kylie smirks at him. "Then why are you laughing?" Finn shakes his head.  "Fine, it was a good joke." His laughter stops and he looks longingly at her. "And what about the numbers?" He leans toward her.

       "What numbers." She says as she sits on the cooler next to him. 

      "The numbers the group of 'floozies' gave me." He smirks at her.

       "They wrapped it with the gauze. It wasn't legible, besides like 3 numbers." Kylie shrugs off. 

      Finn nudges her playfully. "That means I could have tried to figure the rest out!" He says desperately.

      Kylie smirks at him. "Not at all. And even if you could have; you wouldn't know a name and it may not have been right." Finn starts to say something, but Kylie holds her hand up. "And it's disgusting."

      Finn smiles at her. "You ARE jealous." He pokes her. She looks away. "No, I am not. It's disgusting because there were 4 numbers practically sealing your foot and barely any gauze around it. I mean what were they thinking when they put the numbers in your foot!" She looks at him and his face is red. She can feel her face heat up. "It's just not safe or sanitary and it's not the way to flirt with someone." She says quietly as she looks at the ocean.

       Finn nods his head agreeing. "You should start out as friends and take surfing lessons and study together and understand each other first." He says without knowing it. Kylie's chest tightens as her palms start sweating.

        He stares at his feet holding his breath. "I don't know if I can do this anymore." Kylie looks at him confused. She looks up at his chiseled face.

       "Do what?" She asks as Finn sighs and stares at Kylie's beautiful brown eyes. 

      "I don't think I can be around you without telling you how I feel." Finn sighs, his face slackening.