HE STOOD A GOOD FOUR feet away from me with his head tilted to the side. I copied his actions but bent and unbent my knees constantly, preparing myself to run. My hands were balled into fists and I started bouncing on the balls of my feet. We were both soaking wet from being out in the ocean and the sight of Harry's hair drying in the wind made me feel hot and bothered. He raised one of his eyebrows and when he took a step forward, I winced. His body was covered with sand from when I accidentally knocked him over not even two minutes ago and he was ready to get his revenge. I had no idea what was going on in that head of his but I most definitely did not want to find out.
We were breathing hard and even though our chests rose and fell at a fast pace, we still managed to look playful and amused. Hair fell in front of his eyes but he allowed the strands to stick around for the show. My toes dug their way into the sand and I enjoyed the feeling of it touching my skin. My eyes widened at the sight of Harry running this thumb along his bottom lip and my hands were suddenly flat against my thighs. My heartbeat quickened and if he kept this up, I would no longer have a heart. He had no idea what he did to me.
I blinked once—maybe twice—and he was suddenly running in my direction.
My scream barely left my lips before I turned and ran.
I was screaming, laughing, and having fun. Every time I looked over my shoulder, Harry was still right there and he was laughing, too. I turned my head back around, my hair whipping around on my shoulders. I attempted to pick up speed but I figured it was no use. Harry's leg was injured and I did not want to take advantage of that. I slowed down a bit but not by much. I made my way around several people who were laying on the sand, allowing nothing but their feet to get touched by the water. When I looked at Harry, he was jumping over their legs but his eyes were still focused on me.
The wind felt good against my face and I wanted nothing more than to run around this beach with Harry by my side. Unfortunately, he was chasing me and I was running away from him. I wondered what he would do to me if he caught me. I tugged my bottom lip between my teeth at the thought and stopped running. I looked up at the sky until I heard Harry get closer...and closer...and closer. Soon enough, the footsteps stopped and I heard him panting behind me.
"Hey," he took a couple deep breaths. "You all right?"
I turned around slowly and my smile was wide enough to reach both of my ears. He was hunched over, his hands placed firmly on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. I opened my mouth to speak but he held up his index finger, catching me off guard. I waited for him to catch his breath and when he stood up, he was wearing a devilishly charming grin. I opened my arms out to him and he did not hesitate to come wrap his arms around me. I was lifted off the sand and I wrapped my legs around his waist like I had done in the water.
His voice was just above a whisper, "You don't know how much you make me feel, Doll."
"I think I have a pretty good idea," I kissed the side of his jaw.
"I want to do so many things to you," he said and he never once blinked. "You drive me insane and I...I can't imagine a world without you. It's taking everything in me not to take you right here—"
A lump formed in my throat and I tilted my head to the side, "Boy, you need holy water."
He laughed and I joined in. Our foreheads met and I closed my eyes, taking in the scent of his body wash and the saltwater from the ocean. Today was perfect and I never wanted it to end. I found myself tangling my fingers in his hair and I cried out when he readjusted me on his hips. I looked around as he carried me back to where our belongings were. I expected him to sit us both down but when he turned us towards the water, my eyes widened slightly.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"You like the ocean, yes?"
"What kind of question—"
I screamed when Harry started running. I tightened my legs around him and my arms moved to around his neck. His hair tickled the side of my head as I tried to hide my face and when I heard the sound of the crashing waves getting closer, I tried to squirm out of Harry's grip. He laughed and only tightened his arms around me. The water was suddenly up to my belly button and I looked around. The people on the beach were smaller but they did not resemble ants...yet. Harry kept moving and I thought I was going to choke him because my arms were so tight around his neck.
"I would say put me down," I sighed, giving in to whatever the hell he was doing. "But you'd only drop me in the water. Cliche move."
"What if I dropped you in there anyway?"
"Huh?"
His hand moved to my arms around his neck and the other moved to my legs around his waist. "Did I ever tell you how much my heart aches for you?"
"You son of a—"
I was dropped into the water.
Saltwater immediately filled my ears, nose, mouth, and eyes. I kept my eyes open, despite the burning, and looked around. Harry's legs were no longer close to me and I assumed he had run back to shore. I got back into standing position and gasped when the water was at my shoulders. I whipped my head around constantly, looking for Harry. I was no longer smiling and my heartbeat quickened. I did not see him and I knitted my eyebrows together. There was no way he could have drowned. He knew how to swim and I did not see him when I was underwater.
"Very funny," I rolled my eyes. "Harry? You can come out now!"
I looked around me once more and my frown deepened when I did not see my Harry. I saw a few other people making their way out to the water but none of them were wearing boxers like he was. Water splashed my face, causing my eyes to burn even more. When I found him, and if the ocean had not killed him, I was going to kill him. I was standing on the tips of my toes and I felt as if I was suddenly going to pass out. I knew he was not back on the sand. There was no way he could have gotten back there so fast. I moved my hair away from my eyes and did another circle. I remembered the big, black and blue bruise on his leg and my eyes widened. What if he was not able to swim away because of it?
Oh, my God.
His back.
"Harry!" I screamed, diving under the water.
I ignored my burning eyes and looked around constantly, looking for those familiar hairy legs...those bony ankles I loved so much. I held my breath for as long as I could. When my chest started to ache, I ignored it and kept looking. I was beginning to panic. I swam to the surface for air and when I did, my heart nearly stopped and I felt as if I had just been hit by a truck. Harry was standing a couple feet away from me with his arms across his chest. He was not smiling. His face was neutral and he watched me with curiosity in those jade eyes of his.
I opened my mouth to scream at him, yell at him for scaring at me like that. A part of me wanted to cry because I thought he nearly drowned. But by the looks of it, he was completely fine. I blinked the excess water away from my eyelashes and stayed perfectly still. Neither one of us moved. I expected him to laugh or make fun of me but he did neither. I bet he was waiting for me to explode. I was holding it all in. Was this his revenge? Scaring me to the point to where I almost thought he died? I hated it. More water splashed my face and this seemed to knock everything back into place.
Harry took slow steps in my direction and my stare hardened the closer he got. He cupped my chin in his hands and I was tempted to bite him. One corner of his lips curled upward and I placed my hands against his chest, pushing him away slightly. He looked shocked by my actions but I did not give a rat's ass. Did he not see how scared I was? Did he not see the panic in my eyes?
"You!" I pointed a finger at him. "You...You...You..."
"What?" his smile was complete now. "What insulting word are you trying to call me?"
"Ugh!" I screamed and started making my way back to shore.
"W-Wait!" he called after me but I kept moving.
The anger within me was boiling. I wanted to turn around and slap him but I loved him too much. I had already hurt him and I did not want to cause anymore damage. He was too precious and he was mine. I did not want to break him more than I already had. It was hard for me to walk fast in the water and I kicked at it, hating it for slowing me down. Although it was beautiful, it was preventing me from getting back to shore the way I wanted.
"Hey, slow down, will you?" I heard Harry behind me.
I flicked him off.
"What's gotten into you?" he asked. "We were having fun!"
"No," I turned around to face him, nearly losing my balance due to the sand moving underneath me. "You thought that was fun? Harry, I thought you drowned! I kept calling your name and you wouldn't answer. What kind of sick entertainment was that? It was so mean!" I shoved him but not hard enough to make him fall.
He sputtered, "I thought...well...I...the ocean...you..."
I shook my head at him, "I know you heard me calling you. Why didn't you say anything to let me know you were all right?"
"I liked watching you," he frowned.
"Excuse me?"
"You were looking for me," he continued. "And I liked watching you do so. It let me know how much you actually care about me."
"So this was some kind of test?"
"No. Yes. I don't know."
His head fell and I knew he felt bad for what he had done. I placed a hand on my forehead and the other went on my hip. I felt bad for shoving him...hitting him with his baseball bat...and making him feel this way about me. I knew he still had to choose between Jillian and I but, as of right now, it was pretty obvious who he was going to choose. He would not have treated me like this...kissed me like this...only to go running back to Jillian.
"Do you want ice cream?"
I lifted my head up a bit, "What?"
"Ice cream," he repeated. "There's a shack over there that sells some."
I smiled, "Do they have cookie dough?"
"Only one way to find out," he grabbed my hand and we started making our way back to shore.
My heart felt warm and squishy as his hand tightened around mine. Even though he nearly scared me to death, I felt safe with him. He made me forget about everything that I was afraid of and he made me appreciate the little things in life...like ice cream. I could not wait until we were official. I knew he was taking his time with Jillian because they had been together for years and I understood that. I felt a pang in my chest and I looked down at our intertwined fingers. He knew her for years. Why was he leaving her for me when he had only known me for such a small amount of time? I looked up at the sky and sighed.
Love was weird.
"What's bothering you?" Harry suddenly asked when our feet met the dry sand. We reached our stuff and he grabbed his wallet out of the pocket of his abandoned bottoms.
"What do you mean?"
He sighed just like I had done, "I think I know you well enough to know when something is bothering you. See?" He poked my face and I tried to lick his finger. "Your facial expressions tell it all."
"It runs in the family," I shrugged.
"So spill."
"You'll think it's silly."
"I like silly. Make me laugh, Doll."
"Only if you stop naming me after an inanimate object."
"No can do, Doll."
"Huh," I squeezed his hand. "I just feel a little bit selfish."
"Why is that?"
I refused to meet his gaze, "I feel as if I'm stealing you away from her. You've been with her for years, I've heard, and you've only known me for a few months."
"Three now. Going on four," I imagined him nodding his head.
"Are you willing to throw away all of those years?"
"I'd throw anything away if it meant I could spend the rest of my life with you."
"But—"
"I may be throwing away my relationship with her but I'll still have the memories. Nothing bad about that."
"I see."
There was a pause.
"I'm thinking of having a beach wedding."
I choked on air, "What—"
"Not now, of course, but when the time is right, we should have it on this beach." My eyes were wide and he knew exactly what he was doing to me. Was he being serious or was he trying to distract me from our previous topic? There was no way he was serious about marrying me. I almost wanted to laugh. Last time I was supposed to get married, the groom never lived to make it to the wedding day. I took an unsteady breath which caused Harry to laugh. I looked at him and his dimples were digging their own graves deep into his cheeks. "Cat got your tongue?"
If he wanted to play games, I could play along and make this fun. I shook my head and smiled, "As long as we have nine kids, I'm good."
It was his turn to freak out, "N-Nine? Doll, you can't possibly push out that many—"
"And now we're even."
"Ooh, you're evil," he smirked, leading me towards a white and yellow shack.
I stood by Harry while he got both of us our ice cream in two waffle cones. I was excited because there was cookie dough ice cream. Harry told the woman to put extra ice cream in my cone and I felt like a child in a candy store. She eyed us suspiciously and muttered something about people going to the beach in anything nowadays. She was not wrong, though. We were in our underwear, after all. I was going to be filled with sugar and that meant I was going to crash at some point later on. Harry paid and we were handed our cones. Mine was taller than Harry's but I did not care. I started licking the ice cream and Harry just bit into his chocolate deliciousness.
We were still holding hands as we walked back to our belongings and we swung them back and forth. By the time we reached our stuff, I had officially devoured one scoop and had managed to get ice cream all over my hand. I was tempted to lick it but cookie dough ice cream mixed with saltwater did not sound very appetizing. Harry sat down and patted on his lap. I raised my eyebrows and shook my head. He was only in his boxers and I did not want to sit on him like that. Instead, I sat down beside him and laid my head down on his shoulder.
"I find it very strange how you still manage to smell so good." Harry pointed out.
"Deodorant," I said it like it was nothing.
"Interesting response," he said.
I looked at him, "So, you know how you know one of my secrets?"
"Are we discussing how you're afraid of guns?"
"Mhm," I licked my ice cream. "I think it's only fair if you share one of your fears with me."
He never once looked my way. His gaze was locked with the ocean and he looked deep in thought. I was not going to let this drop, though. I was too curious. I continued to lick my ice cream and I watched him with my head tilted to the side. I had a feeling he was afraid of a lot of things. We all were. Some of us were just too damn stubborn to admit it. I bet he was deciding on which fear he wanted to share with me. I knew as time went by, we would find out more and more about each other. But until then, we were taking things slow.
Baby steps.
Like a little baby learning how to walk.
It just took a little while.
Melted ice cream dropped onto his tanned skin and I grabbed my shirt from the sand, wiping it off for him. I then used it to wipe the ice cream off my own hand and I still waited for his answer. The silence was killing me and it almost made me afraid. Was he even afraid of anything? He had to be. The look on his face made him look like he had been locked in a room with his darkest fear. His eyes were slightly wide and my lips parted. I placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and when he looked at me, he was smiling a little.
"Time," he finally spoke, running his thumb along the tip of my nose. "I'm afraid of time."