The next couple of days go by in a blur.
I saw Aaron yesterday at training. We didn't really talk much as we both tried to avoid each other. Although if we were stuck in a group situation, we'd try and get our banter as normal as possible so that no one would notice.
I didn't mean to, but I guess the alcohol did get the better of me, and it's not the first time it's happened either.
I know I shouldn't blame the alcohol, but it fucks with my mind. So therefore I am going to blame the alcohol. I know, I'm contradicting myself...
Another thing is that no one suspects a thing. Which is good, but why would they when they know Aaron and I are just really good mates?
Sometimes I think people can read me like a book, but clearly they can't otherwise Em and Marcus would've picked up that something had happened between Naughts and I on the day.
I roll out of bed to get ready for the big day James has planned for us.
I chuck on some bathers, with a crop top and denim shorts. James sent me a text last night, recommending for me to wear some bathers, which means he's taking me to some type of beach. Unless he has something else planned and then we're going to the beach.
I could sit here and continue to guess what he has planned, but I won't know until we start driving.
Once I'm ready, I head downstairs where I find Marcus and Em making some breakfast.
"Good morning." I say walking over to the bench and taking a seat, a stack of pancakes on a plate in front of me.
"Morning, thought I'd make you your favourite, pancakes."
"That's very kind, but James could be here any minute."
"So eat." Marcus says and I sigh, grabbing a pancake and smothering it with strawberry jam before shoving it into my mouth. The sweet flavour this early in the morning is like a shock to the system, but it tastes so damn good.
I stuff myself with pancakes before the doorbell rings and I get up.
"See you guys later." I say grabbing my things and heading towards the front door.
"Or not." Em says with a teasing tone, and I roll my eyes as I open the front door and walk to James' car.
"Good morning." I say as I see James leaning on the passenger side of the car.
"Morning, looking gorgeous as usual." He says, pushing himself off the car and walking towards me.
"Stop it." I say and he smiles.
"Never." He says, opening the car door for me and I smile as I get in, before shaking my head.
"You're such a gentleman."
"Only to you." He says and I turn to face him, a confused look on my face.
"Are you feeling okay?" I ask, placing my hand on his forehead like a mother would do to check if their child has a fever.
"Totally fine." He says with a chuckle, and I sigh, as he backs out of the driveway and starts the journey to god knows where.
"So where exactly are we going?"
"The whole point of a surprise, is that it's a surprise."
"Yeah yeah, whatever." I say and he chuckles.
"Why do you hate surprises?"
"I just like knowing everything, having a plan, I need to know."
"No, you don't need to know." He says and I look at him, with a raised eyebrow.
"I will go insane if I don't know things, and plan ahead."
"Well, you're gonna have to get use to surprises Bontempelli." James says with a smirk and I roll my eyes.
We drive for about an hour and a half before I know where we are.
"Sorrento back beach... nice." I say and he chuckles as we both get out of the car.
"Well, I remember you saying you haven't been here before, so I thought I'd bring you here."
"How thoughtful." I say as I follow James to the boot of the car, which he opens and pulls out our stuff, before we start the short walk to the beach.
"This is gorgeous." I say and he chuckles as we walk down the wooden steps that lead to the sand, and the main beach. "And not many people here too."
"It's perfect for people like us." He says and I nod as I follow him. We walk for a couple of minutes, the sand burning my feet, so I chuck my slides back on knowing that I wouldn't be able to walk any further if I'm bare foot.
"I never knew there were rock pools here." I say and he chuckles. "They're gorgeous."
"Well, you learn something new every day." He says as he places his beach towel down on the sand, near the Rockpool before jumping in, head first which makes me shake my head.
"Do you even have sunscreen on?" I ask and he shakes his head.
"No."
"Seriously James, you're gonna burn."
"Stop being my mother and get in, neither of us will burn."
"I burn very easily."
"Figured." He says and I roll my eyes at him. "Come on Tahls, it's pretty shady here anyway."
"Alright fine, but if I burn I'm blaming you."
"If you burn it's an excuse for me to spend more time with you." He says as I take my top and shorts off, as well as my slides, and walk over to the pool.
"How so?" I ask as I take a seat on the edge, slowly dipping my legs in. The water cools me down instantly.
James swims over to where I am sitting and holds out his hands.
"I'd have to massage you with aloe vera." He says with a smirk and I roll my eyes, putting my hands on his and intertwining them.
"Well, hopefully I don't burn."
"Don't bullshit, you'd love for me to do that." He smirks and I shrug, not wanting to give it away.
"How deep is it?"
"It's up to my shoulders, so probably too deep for you." He smirks and I splash him with some water.
"You know I can swim yeah?"
"I know, I'm only messing with you bubs. Besides, I'll hold you if I have to."
"Any excuse to touch me." I say as he carefully guides me into the water, making my heart melt at the gesture.
"You know me too well."
"I'd be kind of concerned if I didn't." He says as I let go of his hands and try to touch the bottom, to see how deep it is.
"You're the biggest liar." I say when I can touch the bottom, flat-footed.
"You're on your tiptoes aren't ya?"
"No, I'm actually flat on my feet." I say. "The water is up to my shoulders, not yours."
"I hate you." I add as James laughs his head off.
"Sorry, I just find it so cute how short you are."
"Sorry that the tall genes all went to my brother."
"They did didn't they?"
"Yep." I say sighing, as James swims over to me and picks me up, my legs wrapping around his waist as he carries me over to the other side of the pool, where it's out of view of the public eye.
"See, I was right about it getting deeper." He says as I look into his gorgeous hazel eyes and smile.
"Yes, you were." I say. "But I still think it's an excuse to touch me."
"Would you like me to stop carrying you?" He asks as we're halfway to the other side and I shake my head.
"You'd have to do mouth to mouth cause I'm not a very strong swimmer, although I do know how to swim." I say and he smirks. "But you wouldn't mind doing mouth to mouth so maybe you should let me go." I add and picks me up and throws me to the other side, and I scream, before I close my mouth and hold my breath, as I go underwater.
I kick my legs and swim up.
"You're lucky I lied about not being a strong swimmer." I say as I tread water and wait for James to swim over to me and he chuckles.
"That was my way of seeing whether you were lying or not." He says. "But I'm still willing to do mouth to mouth if you are." He flirts and I roll my eyes, before splashing him with water which makes him laugh.
When he reaches me he picks me up again, so that I can wrap my legs around his waist, before he continues to carry me to the other side.
Once there, he places me on a rock, and I smile as we're now eye level.
"You just about know all the tricks in the book, don't you Worpel."
"I sure do, Bontempelli." He says then he smirks. "And there's plenty more I'd love to show you if you'd let me."
"Maybe in the future." I say and he smiles.
"So sorry to bring up a serious topic, but have you spoken to Naughts."
"No, not since the other day, when he came over." I say sighing and James nods, grabbing my hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"He told me what happened. Look, I know you were drunk and so was he, but."
"I know, it was stupid. I don't know what I was thinking." I say looking down. "God I'm an idiot." I say with tears in my eyes.
James lifts my head up, forcing me to look at him.
"Hey. You're not an idiot. But there's no excuse for what you did. You know he likes you, why use it to your advantage?"
"I know there's no excuses for what I did, and I promise I will pay the price for it. I just hope it doesn't fuck up my friendship with him."
"I'm sure it won't. Naughts is a very understanding person so he should get over it soon."
"Is that what he said?"
"Yes, he said he loves you too much to not have you in his life." He says and I nod.
"Well that's a relief." I say and James nods. Silence falling between the two of us, not the awkward kind, just the kind where you need to think about what to say next.
"Anyways, enough about him, did you enjoy your birthday?"
"I sure did." He says wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into a hug and I smile. "You're full of surprises Bontempelli."
"Well, I thought it's time to finally focus on you for a day. You're always helping me with my problems, it's the least I could do."
"You're too kind."
"And so are you."
"You know, that was the best birthday I've had in a while."
"Really?"
"Really." He says and I smile.
"Well I'm glad." I say wrapping my arms around his neck and leaning in closer, our lips inches apart.
"You have no idea what you're doing to me." He whispers and I smile, shaking my head.
"What am I doing to you James Worpel?"
"Tahlia Bontempelli, you're making me go crazy " He says and I smile.
"In a good way?"
"Definitely in a good way." He says. "Way to ruin the moment."
"Sorry, just making sure you're okay."
"I'm okay when I'm with you."
"What happened to the flirty, cocky James Worpel? Where is he and what have you done with him?" I ask and he laughs.
"You see Tahls, I am also full of surprises."
"You definitely are." I say and then I smile. "But I'm also okay when I'm with you too."
"I've been waiting a long time to do this." He says and I frown.
"Do what?" I ask and he smiles, before pressing a soft kiss to my lips which sends fireworks through my body.
It's like I've been teleported back to Noosa, where we kissed at the club. Everything I've been feeling for James has risen to the surface and there's no hiding it now as I kiss him back. Everything I had worked so hard to hide, had just been shattered into pieces. It only took his lips on mine for me to show him how I really feel.
The truth is, I've liked James for ages. Everyone knows that, it's just I have struggled to admit it to myself because of what I've been through.
I had no idea that James was slowly picking through the wall I had built up, piece by piece, brick by brick he took it down and made me fall ten times harder.
It's like he deliberately took me out to get my mind of everything, off all the judgement, responsibilities, and most of all, the trauma I had been through, so that he could break down my barrier, and get me to open up to him. It worked. He was able to get me to open up, even though I didn't even realise it.
I was so blinded by our friendship, that I didn't even take a moment to think about how he is making me feel. I knew what I felt towards James was different, way different to the way I felt with Aaron. That's a fact, and deep down, I knew that I never really liked Aaron in that way, and that it's always been James.
I kiss him harder, no longer scared at the fact that he knows exactly how I am feeling. I feel him smile against my lips because I just gave him the exact answer he was looking for.
When we finally pull away, we both smile at each other.
"I didn't want to say this but wow." He says and I laugh.
"I unfortunately gotta agree." I say and he smiles, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear, before placing a kiss on my nose.
"Damn right you agree."
"And what if I didn't?"
"Then I would've had to make you agree."
"Right.." I say and he smiles.
"I don't think you understand how you make me feel Tahlia."
"I think I understand now." I say and he smiles.
"Good." He says and I smile. "I think it's time we get you back home, before your brother thinks I've kidnapped you."
"You're probably right. How long have we even been here for?" I ask as I get out of the Rockpool and walk around to where our stuff are, wrapping the towel around me and patting myself dry.
"A couple of hours, it has to be." He says picking his phone up and seeing that it has definitely been a couple of hours. "You hungry bubs?"
"Yeah, I am actually."
"Alright, there's this amazing restaurant in Dromana, how about we go there?"
"As long as there's pizza, I'll be fine."
"You're in luck, the pizza there is to die for." James says, picking up his towel and throwing it over his shoulders, which makes me drool.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go." I say and he smiles, grabbing my hand as we walk to the car together, jumping in and making the short drive to Dromana...
***
AHHH FINALLY A TORPEDO KISS!!
It's been a long time coming but I couldn't wait any longer hahaha
Will this be the start of something? Or will it create even more drama?
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Next update out soon!!