Waves - Book #2 [completed]

7 ~ Undisonant

Jesus Christ!

Luckily, Riley tears her eyes away as she turns her head to take a sip of coffee only to scrunch her face. "I need milk and sugar," she states after a fake gag and snakes around me, making a beeline for the fridge.

I watch her load heaps of sugar and a big chunk of oat milk into her mug before she seems happy with the potion I refuse to call coffee any longer.

After a few sips and a content sigh, Riley cocks her head. "Thanks anyway."

Wow, did that just happen? I make a mental note that coffee seems to tame her mood in case I ever need it.

"Don't you want to change?" she asks, and I swear I see the corners of her lips quirk up the slightest bit.

I nod, turn on my heel and head to my room. After ditching my sweatpants for a pair of board shorts, I find my way back to the hallway where Riley waits with her bag slung over her shoulder already. She eyes me up and down, clearly checking me out when I come to a stop by the door. This time she doesn't hide her smirk and it's really fucking nice to see her not frown or scowl at me for once.

Maybe she doesn't hate me and can look past my dipshit behavior from the bar. Maybe we just got off on the wrong foot.

"Sunscreen?"

"Nope." I shrug at her question.

"Alright, your call," Riley says in a spirited tone and turns, walking outside.

Following her, I feel like I'm hit by a bus by the hot air outside. Even though it's still early it's already boiling hot, so we leave Baby in the cooler house.

Her truck is parked right in front of the house and three surfboards are perched on a rack on its bed. Riley opens the tailgate, rolls up to her toes and yanks a bright blue board off the rack, carefully setting it on the ground to lean against the truck. A board in a lighter blue shade follows. Then a pale pink one which is the tallest of all.

"Can you take these two?" Riley asks as she grabs one of the shorter boards. She doesn't wait for my answer, slips out of her Birkenstocks – the second ugliest shoe after Crocks in my opinion – and struts off towards the little path that leads down to the beach.

Since I don't really have a choice now, I sling one arm around each board, sandwich my body between the long planks and balance them to follow Riley who has a good lead down the track already. The path and beach are as beautiful as ever; beige sand lined with green-grey reed and the occasional driftwood, blue sky with only a few fluffy clouds and a brisk breeze creating steady waves that crash at the shore with calming roars and splashing foam. There are a few seagulls flapping and cawing about but other than that the beach is empty.

Riley shoves her board into the sand and lifts a hand to shield her eyes from the sun that's still hanging a little deeper in the east. The breeze that whips around us leaves her skin trailed with tiny goosebumps and for the first time she looks completely relaxed and happy. Her shoulders drop and she turns her face away from me, but I know she's smiling at the ocean.

I follow her example and manage to stick both boards into the sand without dropping them before positioning my body besides her. I take her in, everything about her. The tight navy blue bathing suit leaves little to the imagination and clings to her waist and smaller chest in a way that it looks painted on. Usually, I'm a tits and ass guy, but holy smokes. She's athletic, trained, and built straighter. Her legs look miles long with these little flimsy shorts that only barely cover her perky ass. There's only one visible tattoo on her thigh just above the knee that looks like coordinates, and a blue anklet on her left ankle.