Ashton walked towards one of the jet-skis that floated in its own little parking spot. A rope tied it to a post hooked on to the rim of it, keeping it from floating away with the tide. The water was a beautiful light, Caribbean blue which was miraculously different to the watter in the east coast. The color of that water was a dark, mysterious blue, sometimes looking almost black. Mini waves rolled underneath the jet-ski, bobbing it in a slow and steady pattern.
"Do you know how to ride? Or is there like an instructor to teach us?" I hoped he would say there would be an instructor because I've never actually been in the ocean, let alone the beach itself.
"These are my skis," he flashed me a kiddish grin, that only boys smile for things like this. These were clearly his babies. "Do you know how to ride?" I shook my head and that only made his smile bigger. "Well this is going to be more fun than I thought," he chuckled and reached for the hem of his tank-top. He tugged it off, pulling it over his head revealing his smooth tan chest.
For some reason I thought only his arms would be fit and toned since he was a drummer but God, could I ever be more wrong. He wasn't awkwardly skinny nor too muscular but he definitely had a visible ab-pack going on and lightly toned pecks on his chest. As he turned his back to me, I got to analyze his back as well which was beautiful as for it appeared to be as if it was sculpted and defined by God himself. To me, he was absolutely perfect so far; personality wise and visually.
"Are you all right? You look completely spaced out," he asked turning back towards me from the horizon. Shit, he caught me looking at him again.
"Yeah, yeah," I laughed semi-awkwardly, fumbling with my fingers yet again. "I'm just looking at the horizon," I said. Oh god, please buy it.
"Yeah, it's a beautiful view out here," he said, taking a look of his own. "But I'm sure that's what you were looking at." he winked, his signature smirk following it. I rolled my eyes and smiled.
He knelt down and unhooked the ski from its little dock, allowing it to slowly float out into the spacious sea. Since I had never been in a pool before, let alone an ocean, I was pretty terrified to put even just my toe in it. My parents were always so busy we never had the time to go swimming or take a day off to the beach for a little vacation.
The closest I'd ever gotten to being in water was a shower and rain so as much as this idea seemed fun, I was scared of all the possibilities that could occur. Sharks, riptides, a tsunami and knowing there's miles upon miles of water until you reach the bottom didn't help; if I did get pulled from something and no one would possibly ever find my body terrified me. I don't even know but I didn't want to mention anything because it was clear he'd put a lot of thought into it and was excited to show me his precious toy.
He reached inside a bin and pulled out a life jacket that was a bright blue with yellow on the sides and approached me with it.
"You know you're gonna have to take off your clothes for this right?" he said with a grin.
"Yeah, I know." Oh god.
"Okay, well c'mon. We're going for a ride right now. I prepped everything before I picked you up," he informed. I bit my lip as he said this. Was I supposed to just strip off my clothes here in the open in front of him? Oh god, I could feel myself blushing just at the thought but thank god it was hot and it just looked like my body was reacting to the radiating heat. "You're not shy are you?" He looked concerned at me like he did when we were at the picnic last night where I cried.
I shrugged and looked down at my feet. No one had ever seen me in a bathing suit and having him be the first one had me feeling self-conscious of what he would think.
He walked over to me and raised his hand to my chin, tilting it up so I looked him in the eyes. "You're beautiful Juliette. You don't need to be shy around me. Looks aren't what matter." His eyes looked sad as he spoke like he couldn't bare the thought of me being shy and embarrassed about my body, knowing I had such a low-self esteem overall.
I sighed. "Alright." I kicked off my flip-flops while I slowly unbuttoned my tank-top, letting it slip off my shoulders and I undid my shorts. I stepped out of them but my foot got caught. I had completely lost my balance and fell forward. I made a light squeal as I braced myself for the hard wooden planks my face was about to strike but instead, my forehead softly hit the soft skin on Ashton's chest. His arms flexed as his hands had a strong grip on my elbows, my hands resting on his shoulders. He adjusted his hands up to my shoulders putting me back on my feet, my hands sliding off his shoulders down to his lightly toned chest. I looked up at him in slight shock for everything that happened.
"Are you alright?" he asked with a chuckle. My eyes widened as I looked at my hands to realize I was still pressed against his bare chest. I immediately felt my face get hot and retracted my hands back to my sides.
"Yeah. I'm just clumsy is all. I'm sorry," I said. What was I apologizing for? I could feel my self-conscious face palming herself out of the embarrassment I was making of myself.
"For what, babe? You fell, that's not your fault," he laughed.
"Yeah, but you had to catch me and I don't know I just apologize a lot...," which was true. I apologized for the most absurd things. In some ways, it made out to be a weakness in some situations.
"Okay, that's not a big deal at all. If anything you should be saying 'Oh thank you, Ashton. you're my hero!'" He said in a girly voice.
"That isn't what I sound like!" I laughed and smiled up at him. He shrugged with a smirk and picked up the life jacket he had pulled out which he had dropped to catch me. As he got it, I picked up my shorts along with my shirt placing it on top of his tank-top by the post.
"One arm out to the side," he instructed. I stretched my left arm out as he slid the left arm entrance on to my shoulder, his knuckles grazing over my skin giving me goosebumps. He held the right side up and put my hand through the hole, his hand grasping mine and pulling it through. He didn't let go of it as he clicked the straps together, making sure to keep his eyes off my almost exposed boobs and then walked towards the jet-ski.
"You don't need a jacket?"
"Nah, I'm a pro at riding this," he grinned.
I watched him kick his flip-flops off before stepping on the machine. The step from the dock to the jet-ski was enormous. I would have broken my neck if I ever tried it but Ashton did it so gracefully; he looked as if he just floated down. I stood there admiring him until I realized it was my turn.
"What if I miss?" I asked.
"Then I'll catch you again. Here, just jump into my arms okay?" He held his arms out and watched me intensely. Probably hoping he would make the catch. I squeezed my eyes shut and drew out a deep breath. When I reopened them, I stepped off and let myself fall off the dock. His large hands gripped hard on to my waist, pulling me to his chest. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he placed me on the passenger seat and sat in front of me allowing me to have the perfect view of his back muscles.
"Alright, now as soon as I start the engine you're gonna have to hold on, okay?" He said, turning his head back to look me in the eyes. I could tell he wasn't joking, so I nodded in understanding.
"What do I hold on to?" I asked looking at the sides for handles or something. He smiled, bringing his hands behind him to grab on to mine and wrap them around his bare waist.
"Don't have too much fun with this, babe," he laughed and turned his head back to check everything and turn the engine on. "Hold on!" and he raced out.
The ocean breeze hit against my face, blowing my bun behind me frantically, loosening it the faster we went.
It was hard to keep my eyes open since the wind dried them out but from the glances I did see, it was beautiful.
With each turn he took, I tightened my arms around his waist because I always had the feeling I was going to fly off. We passed by some yacht parties with numerous amounts of big boobed girls in bikinis and irregularly muscular guys who were clearly on drugs. One party raised their beers to us and cheered as we passed by. I heard Ashton's laugh over the crashing waves as he shook his head at them.
A good hour went by of just riding around in the water and we kept going farther and farther out but the more time we spent, the more comfortable I started to feel. Not only in the water though, but with him. He would turn his head back and smile at me every so often, his hair whipping around and his eyes sparkling with the water.
I rested my cheek on his back watching the sun slowly making its way to the horizon. Because of this, I was too mesmerized by the outlook of everything to hear him yell, "Hold on!" as he took a sharp whip of a turn away from the large wave coming towards us. Since we were going so slow I hadn't been holding on and within one second, all I could feel was the strong pull of water surrounding me, swallowing me deeper into its depths.
The wave was strong enough to rip my life-jacket off so I was helpless. I kicked and flailed my arms around, unsure if I was doing anything right since I've never swam a day in my life before this. I tried to open my eyes but the water only burned them shut. I suddenly felt the urge to gasp for air. I fought to keep this from happening but before I knew it, I felt the saltiness enter my mouth trying to make its way to my lungs.
I eventually just gave up with the aimless kicking and flailing letting the water take me in as another one of its victims knowing it wasn't going to get me anywhere. This is actually the end. I'm going to drown in Sydney while on a date with only guy I've ever been on a date and shown any interest with. He probably doesn't even know I'm gone yet, he's going so fast trying to escape the wave that sucked me in. I couldn't even make it to my seventeenth birthday. No learning how to swim so this situation would never happen again. No college. No "I'm finally twenty-one!" celebration. No husband, no kids. Mom and dad will probably grieve for a day until they have to go back to business-mode.
As I thought this, I felt my body go more and more lifeless and unconscious within each passing second.
*A/N: Hellooooo everyone :) Okay, so I today I was looking around at some Ashton fanfics and i clicked on one called Unpredictable. If any of you are reading it, you'll see that both of our first chapters are semi-alike with the annoying alarm clocks and going to Australia. I did NOT get the idea from her, I literally just clicked on her page like an hour ago. This story is completely coming from my head and my Ashton obsessed mind! D: but yeahh...that's all. I dont want anyone to think I'm taking her idea and running with it. xx It also means a lot you guys are reading Australia! If it sucks, it's because I work on it at 2 am every night....but yeah. Please vote and I love reading comments! :) -Louisa xx