Chapter 21: Chapter 20
Flashback Continued
“Nat, where the hell are we going?”
“Patience, birthday boy,” I tell him giggling.
When we reach our destination, I uncover his eyes. I watch him as he takes in the playground and the swing set sitting at the edge of it. The swing set where we met and became friends ten years ago. He slowly turns back around to face me, shock and amazement written all over his face. His eyes are glassed over with unshed tears as he grabs my face in his hands and brings his lips to mine, infusing every bit of emotion coursing through him into the kiss. When he breaks away, his chest is heaving. His hands still rest on my cheeks as he presses a kiss on my forehead. He drops his hands from my face and grabs my hand, leading me to the swings. We sit down in the seats we sat in 10 years ago and lazily rock back in forth.
We sit for a while, taking walks down memory lane until we see that it’s after lunchtime. We get into his car and head to our beach. We spend the first hour laying out, enjoying the sun, pointing out shapes in the rare clouds here and there, and playing in the sand. Then we walk by the shore, sometimes kicking the water that washes up at each other. I look over at him to find him already watching me with a mischievous glint in his eyes. I shake my head at him and start to run away from him laughing. He quickly takes his shirt off, tosses it to the side, and starts taking off after me.
“Where are you going, Nat?” he asks as he wraps his arms around my waist, catching me up and lifting me off the ground.
I start kicking at the air, wiggling and laughing, trying to escape him. “No, Colton! Don’t you dare!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he jokes in a sarcastic tone, but I could hear the smile and laughter in his voice. He starts taking us towards the water while I still fight to get out of his arms, my laughing only making my fight more futile.
“I’m still wearing my clothes! Don’t!” I continue screaming at him, pleading my case.
I’ve barely gotten my words out before he’s thrown us both into the ocean. I break the surface of the water and immediately pounce on him and attempt to push him back under but he wraps his arms around my waist and makes it impossible. He laughs at me and I playfully shove at him. His arms tighten around me and he laughs even harder, making me join him. When our laughter dies, his grip around me loosens enough for me to take off my soaked clothes and toss them to the beach so that they’re not feeling like they’re weighing me down anymore.
He watches me while I do this, his eyes slowly roaming over me, seeming like he’s almost greedily taking me in. He smirks at me and pulls me back to him. I wrap my arms around his neck and let him keep me afloat. He’s still touching the sand a lot easier than I would be anyway. He starts moving his face closer to mine and closes his eyes. I let my arms fall from around him and wade them in the water, gently. Just as his lips are about to touch mine, I splash water into his face, finally dishing out my sweet payback, and laugh. He blinks the water from his eyes and then shakes out his hair, flinging the water from it at me.
I dip under the water and start swimming away from him and toward our cave. Within a few seconds, I look beside me and see him swimming under the water with me. There are two ways to go into the cave. We could either go towards the shore from where we are and climb the flew rocks up to the entrance or we can take the underwater scenic view that will take us through an entrance and would bring us into the small circular pool that’s inside of the cave. Since we’re already underwater, we choose the scenic route. Once we’ve reached the small pool, we break the surface and climb up onto the cave's floor.
We go to the entrance of the cave and sit down. He puts an arm around me and I lay my head into his chest. We watch the sun set in comfortable silence. As the breeze from the ocean picks up and becomes chillier, I feel goosebumps start to raise on my skin and shiver.
“You’re freezing. Come on, let’s get our clothes and towels and go,” Colton tells me, standing up and offering me his hand.
I take it and let him help me up and lead me out of the cave. He grabs a towel and wraps me up in it so that I can attempt to warm up a little. We gather our clothes and shoes, shake the sand out of all of it, then go to his car. I notice that he’s driving in the direction of my house and frown at him.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
He returns my frown, confused. “I’m taking you home.”
“Your birthday isn’t over yet.”
“Then where do you want to go?”
“Well, since my clothes are still soaked and unwearable because of someone, let’s just go to your house.”
He laughs and smiles at me while changing direction slightly enough to bypass my house completely and go straight to his. When we get there, he unlocks the door and lets me in then follows. He takes my soaked shirt and shorts from me and tosses them into the dryer. I follow him to his room and watch as he digs through his drawers.
“I’m trying to find something that won’t completely swallow you so we can take showers and get you warmed up,” he informs me.
He ends up tossing me a grey t-shirt before going to his moms' room and rummaging through some boxes of clothes she kept from when she was younger and finds a pair of shorts for me.
“You can take my bathroom. I’ll just use my mom’s,” he tells me.
“Are you sure? All of your stuff is in yours. I can just use your moms.”
He scrunches his face at me. “I’d rather you not smell like my mom. Besides, she keeps extras of my stuff in her bathroom cabinets, so I’ll still get to smell like me.”
I nod and head to the bathroom that’s in his room while he heads off to his mom’s. When I step under the hot water, I moan from how good it feels running over my salty, slightly tanned skin. I quickly wash my hair and body and then lean against the wall, soaking up the warm water and let it relax me for just a few more minutes. When the water starts turning lukewarm, I get out, dry off, throw Colton’s soft cotton t-shirt followed by my bikini bottoms and his mom’s shorts, which pretty much look nonexistent with Colton’s shirt reaching down so long that they’re covered entirely. My clothes getting soaked hadn’t been a part of my plan for today so I hadn’t thought to bring a bra or underwear and it just seems too weird to wear his mom's shorts without them.
I brush through my tangled hair then run my fingers through it, fluffing it up the best that I can since Colton doesn’t have a blow dryer. Then I grab his spare toothbrush and brush my teeth while I text my mom to tell her that I’m staying at one of my girlfriend’s house tonight due to her being upset over her breakup. I don’t know if she believes me, especially since she knows it’s Colton’s birthday, but she doesn’t question me and just gives me the go-ahead. I dig through my beach bag and pull out my deodorant and my Bath and Bodyworks Hello Sunshine lotion. Once I’m done with that, I quickly freshen up my black eyeliner to make my blue eyes pop even more. I wrap my bikini top in my beach towel and throw it in the bag after I’m done with everything I need in there.
Nerves are coursing through my body, something I’m not used to feeling with Colton. He’s probably going to look at me like I’m crazy or stupid for putting even this much effort into my appearance just to be at his house. When I finally come out of the bathroom Colton is standing next to his bed in just his boxers, his towel around his neck, and the ends of his hair still letting drops of water fall here and there. My eyes travel from his feet to his stomach, where abs are starting to form, to his arms, where the muscles are starting to grow, and finally rests on his face, where I find that his jaw is slightly dropped as his eyes are doing the same to me. I stand there, my heart pounding, waiting for him to say something.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone