Bound

Chapter 7: Beach Break-Part 1

Emily

The ride to the beach takes about an hour. Which is longer than I thought I would want to be on the back of a motorcycle for the first time. At this point, I'm just glad we made it here safely. That's encouragement enough to do it again-as I'll have to if I want to get back home.

Being on the back of Blakes' motorcycle is one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done. I secretly hope he actually doesn't have any other means of transportation.

"Welcome to Batemans," he says, taking his helmet off.

"I'm not dressed for this," I complain and take Blakes' hand to hop off his motorcycle. My legs tingle when they meet the ground and I face my palms down to balance myself. I hope the dazed feeling is only from having been on the bike and not because I'm standing in the one place that I said I'd never come back to. He raises that perfect eyebrow at me, judging me, I can only imagine.

"Don't worry," he says, but doesn't offer me an explanation as to why I shouldn't.

"What happened to painting your barn?" I question as he puts his hand on the small of my back and starts walking me towards a bridge that connects the grass to the sand.

"Well, physical labor of that kind isn't suited for a first date, is it?"

'Of that kind'? So, it is a date.
Butterflies in my stomach flutter at the insinuation and I push my hair down, trying to fix it back to how it was before the trip here. I tuck some of it behind my ear again.

"Oh, a date? Sorry, I'm only interested in the ladies. You must have misread," I joke.
His jaw drops. He's clearly thrown off by my words.

"I'm just playing," I say after a long beat of silence, "Next time, fill me in on where we're going so I can dress appropriately," I tease. But really, I wish he would have filled me in so I could have prepared myself to come here.

I stare past the ocean at the horizon in the distance.

"Oh..." he exhales, then laughs nervously, "Not that I have anything wrong with that but, you know, because, yeah..." he trails off.

I almost feel bad for teasing, but he really should have told me where we were going.
We stand silently as the waves whoosh in and out, back and forth, dampening and darkening the light-colored sand.

"You've got five seconds to get in here, Em!" My moms' playful voice calls to me from where my toes dig into the wet sand. "Unless you'd rather go home?"
"No! Mom, just wait!" I screech nervously as she lifts her hands.
"One!" she screams and her palms slap an incoming wave that pushes her closer to the shore, closer to me.
"Mom!" I beg, knowing that by time she gets to five, the waves will have pushed her close enough to reach me, and she'll drag me in against my will.
"Two!" she continues, inching even closer this time.
"Wait! You're sure there's no sharks?" I slap a foot against the wet sand.
"None in these waters. Three!"
"What about jellyfish, mom? My friend got stung once and she said it really hurts!" That's not true, but I'll say anything right now to buy myself another second to think this through. I hate the unknown.
Clearly, my mother thrives in it. "Fouuur," she drags out.
"But mom!" I inch a little closer, readying myself.
"No jellyfish here. They've all gone fishin'." Her smirk is wild as the final wave appears. "And five!" She slaps the water and rides it all the way to where I'm standing up to my knees in the momentarily deeper tide. Her arms engulf me and she pulls me further into the water, riding the wave back into the unknown.
I burst into a fit of laughter as the current carry's us and salty water crashes around us from all sides.