From Me to You [Complete]

14

A little while later, I pop above the water for air, and decide I should try to figure out what Robert is up to. Especially if he knows something is going on with Michael and me. It would be best to talk to him before he tells Andy, or Ann, or someone else. I have no idea what they will think if they knew.

"You ready to go in?" Michael asks, coming up from behind me and slipping an arm around my waist. It tingles and I inhale sharply, trying to make myself forget how ticklish I am. I hope the water is deep enough and that we are far enough from shore so that no one sees anything amiss. At the moment, I'm not sure exactly what is happening with Michael and I, and since I've never done the whole dating thing before, I want to just savour this time while things are still kind of uncategorized.

"Are you kidding? When there's so much swimming to do?" I cry, slipping away from him to log roll in the water –at least I think that's what it's called. "Honestly, I don't swim very often, especially at beaches, and this beach is particularly beautiful." I swim back to him with just my head out of the water.

"Well....clearly I was wrong about you. I thought you'd get bored of this easily," he says sincerely. I recognize the feeling he must have had when he wrote that last letter to me. He pulls me up onto him, making our bodies touch in all sorts of tingly places, and looks me in the eyes, running his hands down my back.

"Michael..." I warn, squirming in his arms. "What if someone sees?"

"Ah, forget about them," he says, burying his face in my neck.

I nearly let him because I love the feel of him so close, but if our parents see... I don't even know what they would do. Either make fun of us or disapprove. Our parents' friendship outweighs that of myself and Michael at least thirteen years prior to my birth. "Michael, we shouldn't do this. Not here. I want to, I do, but when it's just us." I move away from him so that just our knees are touching when I sit cross-legged –up to my neck in water.

He sighs deeply and runs a hand through his curls. "Okay, but I don't know how good I'll be at sneaking around."

"Oh, you'd be surprised how good you are already," I say, grinning, hoping I can distract him so that he won't think about what I am passing off. "But I'm better!" I duck my head underwater and swim away from him along the bottom as fast as I can. I hear him laugh –murkily from underwater– and then the splash of water as he swims after me. He grabs my ankles and I kick harder until they come out of his grasp. Coming up for air when the water is deeper, I lift my feet off of the sand so that he can't get at them.

No matter how much cardio I do, I can't seem to swim for long periods of time. Something about the pressure I think. Michael, however, can hold his breath for over a minute, as witnessed earlier. I watch him swim in circles around me, seizing my ankles for a second and relax –well, as much as one can while having her ankles attacked. I wonder what will happen next.

He finally comes up for air, jumping out of the water by pushing his feet off the bottom and dramatically inhaling before dolphin diving back into the water. I laugh and fall onto my back, floating there and letting the sunshine hit me all over –tans are necessary.

"What are you up to?" Michael asks curiously, and I nearly jump hearing his voice right behind my head.

"Sunning," I say. I flip onto my side, forgetting for a second that I'm in the lake. I somewhat gracefully catch myself and stand up. Michael watches me with one eyebrow raised, his mouth twitching in a smile. "Don't show off," I tease, trying to get the attention off of me by poking his raised eyebrow –wish I could do that.

"Well, maybe during all that time you spend in front of the mirror you can practice your eyebrow raising–" He cuts off as I swat my hand at him, losing my balance –it's balance that makes me float right?– and collapse into the water yet again. I am clearly not as graceful in water as I'd like to be. I emerge again a nanosecond later and run a hand over my hair, feeling how much has fallen out of my bun. I shake my head to get the water out of my ears.

"There's a much easier cure to that you know," Michael says, watching me intently.

"Oh? Being what?"

"Lift the opposite leg of the ear the water is in and shake it."

I look at him skeptically and he laughs before flipping onto his back and floating there. I narrow my eyes at him –I don't want to look like a complete idiot– but try his idea anyway, and it works.

"I told you it would work."

"Pfft, you don't even know if it did," I say, although I'm smiling. He stands near to me, and I feel my heartbeat speed up as I look into his brown eyes. I can't believe we kissed earlier. And that he wanted to kiss me just a few minutes ago.

"What?" he asks, seeing something in my expression.

"Nothing," I say, looking down at my hands in the water.

"Mysterious Amanda," Michael says softly. I glance at him, see him looking in the direction of our group on shore.

"I still think I'm not very mysterious," I reply truthfully.

"You know. It doesn't look like anyone is really watching us right now," Michael says with a light in his eyes as he turns back to me.

"Oh really?" I ask, having an idea where this is going.

He moves a little closer to me. "Yea, I think they are very distracted by something. Definitely not glancing in our direction whatsoever." I feel a little smile coming onto my lips. He stops just in front of me, and picks up my hand in his. He stares at me for a second. "What do you say, Amanda? Feeling rebellious?"

My smile deepens. "I mean, I guess I'm probably the most rebellious one here. Considering I was the one who snuck into your room last night." His lips quirk up. I glance at the shore, not really able to make out anything particular that's happening from this distance. "They don't seem to be paying the most attention," I supply.

"Good," he says, still intently staring into my eyes. "I'm going to kiss you now."

Before I can come up with something witty to say, he pulls me toward him and plants his lips on mine. Things seem smoother and easier this time. I feel his torso against me, wet but smooth and cautiously run my hands down his back, feeling adventurous. His hands, with confidence, are on my back and holding my neck. I breathe in the smell of him, the taste, and the feel of his hands on me, the feel of my hands on him, and his lips on mine. I forget about being nervous –at least for a little while.

Sorry for the delay! Holidays and traveling made posting difficult. Let me know what you think of this chapter and if you like it, please vote! Thank you :)