Below the Surface

Chapter Nine: Kissing Strangers

Dedicated to EmSlough because she ships olicity more than anything. #olicityforever

Chapter Nine: Kissing Strangers  

The sound of waves crashing in the distance brings my attention from reading The Fault in Our Stars, I close my book and I rest my chin on my folded hands. As I watch surfers wading in the water for another wave, I scan the ocean to see for a wave coming in. There it is.

One...

Two...

Three...

A wave begins to form and the surfers race to catch it. A smile plays on my face and I sit back on my feet and check the time on my phone. It's five in the afternoon. I fold up my towel and stuff it in my beach tote bag and put it around my shoulder. I grab my book and my yellow tank top and make my way across the busy beach when my eyes are suddenly on Liam who is descending down his life guard chair. He hasn't noticed me yet. I think about running, but then Bella's damn wise words echo in my head about resolving our issues. So, instead of being a chicken, I take the high road. I take a deep breath and take a step in his direction and try to think of something to say. Until I see a tall, skinny blonde appear by his side. Abort. Abort. Abort. Liam is about to turn his head in my direction and I whip around to crash into a someone. I look up and see a cute, dark haired guy with piercing blue eyes. I automatically think - and hope that he is a tourist and grab him by the shoulders, I turn him around so I can hide behind him and pull him down so our lips lock. At first he is still as stone, but then he wraps his arms around my waist and kisses me back, to which I eagerly respond to, until he pulls away. Confused that he pulled away first, I open my eyes to see that he is cuter than I thought. He has a faint smile on his olive skin face. 

"Was he looking?" he whispers with a british accent - definitely a tourist - and I'm taken aback by his question.

"What?" 

"Was it your ex or something?" 

I'm still confused, "What?" 

He sighs, rolling his eyes and straightens his back, "No one kisses a stranger like that." Oh. Oh...I look down at my toes almost in shame that I had desperately done that after seeing Liam. "So, was he looking or not?" 

I quirk my eyebrow, "What makes you so sure he's a he. I could be gay." 

"Then you would have kissed some other random girl on the beach." He says with an amused smile on his face. Right. Today is not my day. 

"Fine. I - I don't know if he was looking. I just needed to hide." I admit rubbing my arm. If Liam did see me, I'd be digging myself deeper into the hole I'm already in. 

"Interesting."

"Yeah...well, thanks for going along with it." I step back giving him an awkward goodbye. 

"Anything to move a relationship forward." He says with an enthusiastic motion of his arm. 

I step forward to clarify things, "We're not in a relationship." I turn on my toes to walk away.

"Yet." I sigh and shift back on my toes to face him. 

"And here I thought you were pretty cute. Now you're cute and annoying." 

"Well, I just want to know if my kiss was put to good use." He grins and I sigh heavily. 

"It wasn't. Now goodbye."