In Between

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟑

【No proof one touch but you felt enough - You are in love by Taylor Swift】

Marlon left my house at exactly 11:13 p.m. and all we did for the over 6 hours that he was over at my house was watch gilmore girls, and some rom-coms that I somehow convinced him to watch. I didn't get much sleep that night, and I was still going long boarding this morning. I pretty much went to bed at 3 a.m. because I couldn't stop overthinking about how much fun I actually had with Marlon, which was completely unexpected. So now I'm packing my bag for surfing running on 4 hours of sleep. "Midnight Rain" by Taylor Swift was playing, I got the idea for a playlist last night when we were watching gilmore girls, since lets be honest, Lorelai is midnight rain and Luke is sunshine and it couldn't be more perfect. Poppy had texted a couple times in the last days, and I promised myself I would tell her everything that had happened while she was gone when she came back, which wasn't too far away, she should be back tomorrow. 

When I was done packing, I put my bag over my shoulder and headed downstairs and straight into the kitchen. I stood on my tiptoes to reach for the bread to make toast, grabbed a knife, and the almost empty jar of Nutella that was in my pantry. When I finished making my breakfast, I scrolled on my phone for a few minutes, since I made sure I was ready on time, so I wouldn't have Marlon teasing about me taking hours upon hours to get ready. And half an hour later I finally got a text from Marlon telling to bring my ass out of the house to go to the beach. I sprinted upstairs to brush my teeth, and sprinted once again, out of my house. I grabbed my pink longboard and made my way to his driveway, where he was, not very patiently, waiting for me. 

"Guess who decided to show up." Marlon said, opening the car door and snatching my board, to put it in the trunk. 

"Just so you know I've been ready for 30 minutes." I said as he rolled his eyes lightly.

"Yep, because I believe you." He closed the trunk, and walked to the drivers side and got inside the car, I simply followed what he was doing. 

"What, I did!" I said, closing my door and fastening my seat belt. 

"Sure, whatever you say" He fastened his seat belt, and started the car.

For the most part we drove in silence, Marlon focused on the road, and I was halfway focused on his presence and halfway on the pretty blue colour of the ocean at the distance. Every now and then he would turn the music up or down, depending if he liked the song or not. When he parked where he always does, I unfastened my seatbelt and put my hair into a low bun since it was sticking to my neck because of how hot it was. I opened my door and got out of the car. Marlon was already getting both out boards, and nodded his head towards the beach so I would follow him. 

He put our boards down on the sand and took off his shirt, and not gonna lie, why did that kind of do something to me. We both grabbed our boards, I put mine over my head since it was somewhat heavy. 

"Are you ready?" He said looking my way.

"What do you think?" I said smiling. 

"I don't know, Celery. Now that I think about it, I've never seen you longboard before, I'll make sure you don't embarrass yourself too bad, don't worry."

"Oh, please, you're like grey sprinkle in a rainbow cupcake." That was probably the worst insult that has ever come out of my mouth. 

"That was the worst "insult" you've ever told me." He said trying to hold back a laugh. 

"Oh, but you love it." I said smiling and running towards the water, being extra careful not to trip and fall on my face, because of course I've done it before when running with a heavy board balanced on my head. 

The water was touching my thighs at this point and I could feel the sun burning my face already, I dropped on top of my board, and Marlon did the same at my side, we both started paddling in. 

"Do you want to race?" He said a few minutes in.

"Oh but you'll win, besides, it's not even fair." I fake a pout.

"Ugh, fine, be boring whate-" He stopped mid word because I started giggling and paddling in like Taylor Swift was drowning in the middle of the ocean. "You suck!" I heard him yell not too far away from me and I started laughing harder. 

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

We had been surfing for what I'd say was 30 minutes, however, my sense of time is not the best. I was surprised about how fun it was, you know, being with Marlon, when he isn't being a total jerk and acting like a kid, he's actually really funny. I could just hear the opening lyrics of "August" by Taylor Swift repeating in my head, because if a song was about to start playing it would be that one, obviously without the cheating trope and the summer love part because that wasn't what was happening right now, because first of all, I don't have a boyfriend, second of all, Baxter is perfect, and third, Marlon is just a friend. 

At this point I was just messing around every time I caught a wave, and I've been having the most fun I've had surfing in a while. I paddled towards where Marlon was sitting on his board shaking his head, and a frown on his face. 

"That was something, huh?" He said when I reached where he was, he didn't wear a frown anymore, he had a small smirk. "You know, I think those twirls were something, very artistic."

"Awww, thank you, Marlon. That's the sweetest thing you've ever said." I said very sarcastically, looking away from him and into the ocean. There was a bigger wave forming. "Come on, we're doing this one together" 

"Okay." He nodded, clearly surprised, but turned his board at the same time I did anyway. We started paddling to catch the wave, we both popped up at the same time, and without thinking I jumped onto his board and held onto his shoulders, I stumbled lightly. 

"Shit." He cursed quietly as he noticed I was throwing both of us off balance, and grabbed my arm to keep me steady, later sliding his grip onto my waist. I wrapped my arm around his shoulders, so I wouldn't fall over. If you hadn't known we had a sort-of-like/hate relationship you would think we were into each other, the simple thought made me uncomfortable.

We didn't say a word after the wave was done, we simply paddled back in silence. Once we were fully in, we both sat on our boards and stayed quiet, and it wasn't the nice kind of silence, it was somewhat uncomfortable not too much, though. I was thinking too much about the silence that was filling us, to notice his hand slipping under my board and turning me over. All I managed to do before I was fully submerged in the water was scream. Once I came out of the water, I realized he had jumped in too. I held onto my board, and when he came out he did the same. 

"What the hell was that, Marlon Sousa" I said louder than I intended to, not a single emotion crossing my face, I did that on purpose. 

"Oh please, shut up you spoiled princess, it wasn't that bad." He smiled and rolled his eyes. It seemed as if all he did these days was smile at me. And he had a pretty smile, it was one of those smiles that made you smile too, it made you feel every emotion. I couldn't help smiling, that's how contagious his smile is. We just looked at each other for what seemed like minutes, occasionally giggling because of the waves hitting us. And I don't know what I was thinking, or what was going through my head, and i'd say clearly not a lot, because I leaned in and kissed him. And he kissed me back.