Unholy Matrimony

Chapter Eleven

            “What?” I asked him. How could this day possibly get any worse?

            “The sub that I had lined up for tomorrow just cancelled and Mr. Harrison can’t get anybody else on such short notice. We’ll have to fly back home tonight, so that I can go to work tomorrow.” He said and my heart fell. We literally just got here last night, and I was kind of hoping that I would get a chance to do a little sightseeing, or at least swim, before we left. “We have about three hours, or so, before we have to leave the hotel and catch our flight. Lucky for us, we haven’t unpacked yet. So, what do you want to do?”

            “I want to swim.” I replied automatically. The beach was just a short walk away from our hotel and I was positively dying to get into the water. I wasn’t the best swimmer ever, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

            “Then swim we shall,” Nick replied dramatically, standing up.   He held out his hand for me to take and pulled me up as well, causing us to be a little too close for comfort, yet again. From the intense look that he was giving me, it seemed like he wanted to pick up right where we left off a few minutes ago, but I couldn’t let that happen. Not again.

           “Well, we better get going if we want to have enough time.” I said, turning away from him to get my swimming suit from my suitcase. Nick was right before, our suitcases were basically packed already. We arrived less than twenty four hours ago, there wasn’t really much time for unpacking, once you factored in how long we both slept. Twelve hours, twelve straight hours in the two, comfy twin beds the hotel provided for us. Nick’s excuse was that he hadn’t slept in an actual bed for a week and he needed to catch up. I didn’t really have an excuse, other than the fact that I was exhausted, both mentally and physically.   Nick didn’t say a word, but looked a little disappointed as he grabbed his swimming suit and walked into the other room to change. I changed as well, wondering if I had made the correct decision by not letting him kiss me again. I was almost certain before, but now I felt myself wishing that I had just given in…

                                                                              *****

            The short walk to the beach was quiet and more than a little awkward. Nick seemed to be in a mood and I, well, I was in a mood. We both stared ahead and walked to our destination quickly, with as much space in-between us as possible. It was quiet when we arrived at the beach as well, it wasn’t as packed as I expected (probably because at noon on a weekday, everyone was either at work or school.), but Nick lightened the mood a bit by making a snide comment about my cover-up.

          “This is the beach, not a convent.”   I rolled my eyes and pushed him, catching by surprise and making him stumble a bit.

      “Not everybody’s as confident as you, Hasslehoff.” I shot back, referring to the fact that he was currently shirtless. It was very distracting. He was so muscular, his freaking six pack had a six pack, for goodness sake!

        Nick’s face turned serious for a moment. “I think you’re beautiful Tess,” He almost whispered. I kind of wondered if I was even meant to hear it. “You don’t have anything to hide.”

       I blushed and used the sudden burst of confidence he gave me to get rid of my cover-up.

      “See, don’t you feel better now?” Nick asked looking at me, well not exactly at me. Ugh, he was such a guy sometimes.

       “Eyes up here, Nick.” I told him, pointing at my face and enjoying the fact that, for once, I made him blush. Needless to say, I no longer felt self-conscious.

      “Maybe we should start swimming now, we don’t have a lot of time…” He said. He was trying to change the conversation, I could tell.

      “That sounds like a grand idea Nicholas.” I told him. He winced at my use of his full name, but didn’t say a word, racing into the waves instead.

      We swam out pretty far and then we just kind of stopped, deciding to float in the clear, warm water. I couldn’t touch anymore, so I was kind of doing this weird, spazzy paddling thing to keep myself afloat. Like I said, I couldn’t swim very well.  

       Nick gave me a weird look. “What are you doing? “

       I smiled sheepishly. “I only dog paddle.” I said, quoting one of my favorite movies of all time: The Princess Bride.

     Nick looked alarmed. “You didn’t think that that would be good information to share before we started swimming?”  He asked me. “Why did you even suggest that we go swimming in the first place? Do you have a death wish Tessa?” His voice suddenly very serious

.   “Chill out Nick! I can keep myself afloat, that’s all that really matters.” I told him. I was annoyed on the surface, but deep down, deep, deep down, I was touched that he was actually worried about me. “And I suggested that we go swimming because we’re in freaking Hawaii. Just because I suck at it, doesn’t mean that I don’t like to swim. Honestly Nick, not everyone was the captain of the swim team in high school.” I rolled my eyes at him.

      Now it was Nick’s turn to look sheepish.   “I wasn’t the captain of the swim team.” He muttered.

    “Co-captain?” I asked him.   

     “It doesn’t matter.”

     “Yes it does.”

      We bickered like that for a while, until Nick convinced me to move to shallower water. He offered to give me a few swimming lessons before we had to go and I gratefully accepted.   He may not like me, but I knew that at least some part of Nick cared about me. He wouldn’t have made me move to safer water if he didn’t. A small part, probably, but a caring one nonetheless.

     I had a rough childhood, with the death of my father and having to deal with my crazy mother all by myself. And an even rougher adulthood, I dated a bunch of guys that treated me like crap and I let them. It felt good to know that, for once in my life, at least somebody cared.

      Even if that somebody was Nick Brady.

     A/N: Another one of my favorite chapters.  Something's definitely going down with Tessa and Nick, any theories? I saw This Is Us last night, it was AMAZING! Even if you aren't a directioner, you should definitely make time in your schedule to go and see it, I guarantee that your feelings about them will  change. It's impossible to not love them after seeing that fantastic movie!

     Side note, yes I did change my username. Harry Styles does indeed rock, I just felt I needed a change and a tribute to one of my favorite books The Fault in Our Stars seemed appropriate. If you haven't read it, go out and read it NOW. it is an amazing book, very touching and well written, and will surely change your life. I read it in the space of just a few hours, ending at 3 a.m. it was so good I couldn't put it down!

       Anyways, that's all for my fandom rant....for now. The next update is on Tuesday, thanks for reading!