The Assignment

Chapter 7: Undecided

He looked at me, waiting for me to speak. I knew that he was still too shy around me. I wished that there was a way to help him with that.

After I finally decided, I took his hand in mine. He flinched but he didn't pull away. "Thank you for being a great friend so far." I smiled, patting his hand. My response was most appropriate, I had to let him know that I wasn't quite ready for that step. And I also had to reassure him he was still doing everything right. Boys are complicated.

"You, too." He whispered, barely audible, even in the silence of our house. He gave me a half smile. Almost.

"Hey," I said, jumping up. "Let's go try the beach, it'll be fun!" I tugged on his hand. Three times. "Come on, I'm serious." I let go and walked over to the sink so I could wash my breakfast plate. I sighed, just waiting. I smiled to myself.

"What's wrong?" Chris asked, his voice hinting alarm.

I sighed again. "Oh, nothing. I just really wanted to check out the beach. That's all. But, if you don't wanna go, you don't have to. It's alright." I shrugged.

"I'll be getting ready if you change your mind." I trailed off, walking away.

When I got back to my room, I locked the door and began looking through the large dresser. As I had already figured, the top two drawers were mine.

The government allowed us to bring only a few things from our own collections, such as select clothes and personal items. Everything else we had to leave behind. So when I began looking for a swimsuit, none of them I recognized.

Most were really scanty, barely there kind of outfits. It was embarrassing to even look at them. One pieces with cutouts or holes, and really tiny bikinis. The one that I was holding up was see through mesh!

Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door. I quickly dropped the bottoms up back into the drawer and shut it firmly. "One second!" I called out, searching through the third drawer for Chris.

I unlocked the door and pinched the trunks between two fingers. "Here." I all but shoved his swim suit at him before locking the door back frantically.

Resuming my search for something more modest, I came across a strapless sea green bikini that wasn't so bad. It looked like something that I would want to wear to a beach party, and I admired the flawless fit. So, I decided on that.

Quickly changing into my outfit, I found my sunglasses and a floppy hat from the expansive closet. I grabbed a towel from the ensuite and a thin sheet from the linens closet to lay out on the sand. A bottle of sunscreen and a tote bag and I was ready to go.

I unlocked the bedroom door and he was there. He had him arms over his chest, like he was cold, or shy. Which I knew that he was.

"You ready?" I asked, leaning up against the doorway. He studies me for a moment before answering. "Yeah, I'm ready. Do you have everything? He smiles, noticing my large bag.

"Yep. Let's go." I took his hand and led him to the back of the room. The pearl white French doors glided open before us, letting in the salty beach air. I breathed in deep, remembering the last time that I visited the beach with my parents.

I stepped out onto the cool, shaded patio tiles. They felt very nice under my bare feet. I took a few more steps until the stones ended and my feet were in the hot sand. Putting on my aviators, I let the sun rays shine on me and felt myself unwind. All of the steps just went away.

The beach was almost artifically real. I saw no other beach goers, or their towels and umbrellas. As I walked across the warm sand, it was pillow soft underneath me.