𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒚𝒑𝒔𝒐 ( 𝑬𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑻𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒐)

⋆⭒IX.⭒⋆

The days drag on.

Calypso avoids Ethan at all costs, especially at night when her emotions run wild causing her head to spin.

Everyone is sick of staying at home all day, so when someone suggests a trip to the beach everyone is quickly packing their bags.

Vic is teasing Calypso for bringing two different books in her beach bag, Ethan can't find his sunglasses and ends up stealing a pair of Damiano's. Thomas is in charge of ordering a cab, everyone plans on drinking at the local beach club, famous for their cocktails, so taking a cab is the safest option.

Squeezed between Damiano and Vic, Calypso hums along to the songs playing on the radio not daring to sing louder with actual musicians in the car, her ability to hit any note is close to zero.

Of course the beach is crowded on a hot day so they spend quite a long time to find a spot that is secluded enough for them to drop their things in the hot sand.

Helping each other apply sunscreen to avoid burns and then starting their drinking with a bottle of, now warm, white wine from home.

Calypso knows that going into the water while being tipsy is one of the most dumbest things you can do, but she is hot.

It feels like she is burning on the beach so she joins her friends in the water, waves crash around them and she is having a hard time to find her footing on the soft sand.

"Let's swim out to the stones over there"

With Damiano's proposal, their race out to the boulders begins.

Calypso has never been a good swimmer, always fine in her friends pool's but in the ocean she clearly struggles to keep up with her friends.

"Stupid fucking idea", she curses but instantly regrets opening up her mouth when a gush of salty, ocean air enters her mouth and she spits it out coughing loudly.

Damiano and Vic have already reached the boulders, cheering and hugging each other, Thomas is close and Ethan is not in Calypso's field of vision.

A second after realising that she can't see Ethan, he appears next to Calypso startling her and causing her to swallow even more salt water in the process.

"You wanna scare me to death?", she coughs and feels her strength dwindling with each swim stroke she makes.

"I planned on saving you actually, but guess I'll leave you to yourself", he shoots back and takes a long swim stroke away from her and closer to the boulders that just look even further away to Calypso than they were before.

"Maybe I do, perhaps need a little help", Calypso admits, not liking how her heart starts to speed up a the thought that he is making sure she's okay, even though he has to be just as tipsy as Calypso.

"Hold on to me", he instructs and when the brunette girl hesitates he gently places her hands on his shoulders and waits for her to hold on, then he takes a few strong swim strokes and both of them arrive at the boulders, without drowning before.

"You suck at swimming", Thomas states the obvious after helping both Ethan and Calypso to climb up on the boulder they are all sunbathing on.

"No shit Sherlock", Calypso murmurs drily, too exhausted to think of any better remarks.

"You do realise we have to go all the way back eventually", Vic teases her friend and the other girl threatens to throw her back into the water, again too exhausted to deal with even the thought of swimming back.

With the help of her friends, Calypso has made it back to the shore and dramatically falls down on the sand.

"I need a stronger drink than just wine", she whines when Damiano pulls her up and her friends agree, time to drink again.

There is just something about getting very drunk with your friends, drinking seems like the best idea ever but once you wake up the next day you instantly regret it.

But right now, none of the five lose a single thought to the next day.

Once the sun starts to set and they get progressively more drunk by the hour, Ethan mentions that it is probably the best idea to head back home now.

He was right, everyone else on the beach seemed to have the same idea to leave as soon as the sun went down.

Taxi cabs with more than four seats are rare to come by, any cab is hard to get ahold of on this beautiful summer evening.

Vic complains about starving to death, Damiano fell asleep on Calypso's shoulder and Thomas, despite using sunscreen got a nasty burn on his back that needs some cooling aloe vera to soothe the burn.

So when they eventually manage to hunt down a taxi cab, Calypso offers to stay back on the beach and just wait for the next cab to arrive.

"I'll wait with you", Ethan says while helping a super sleepy Damiano into the car, making sure he doesn't hit his pretty head.

For a second she contemplates to just take back her offer and jump into the car with the other three, anything to not be alone with Ethan.

But of course she doesn't, instead she waves until the cab takes a turn behind a building and she can't see it anymore.

"Thank you for saving me out there", Calypso breaks the awkward silence between the two and sits down next to Ethan on the curb, pointing towards the sea where the moon is slowly rising.

Damn the magical glow of the moonlight.

"It's no big deal Caly", he shrugs it off and smiles at her.

Caly. Why does her nickname sound so much better from his lips than from anyone else?

With the sun gone, it is chilly and Calypso shivers, scooting closer to Ethan to use some of his body warmth to warm herself.

Their sides are now touching and with her exhaustion of the day getting the best of her, she gently rests her head on his shoulder.

Her heart beats so fast again, his body so close to hers and she feels like this moment is straight out of a cheesy romance book.

In books, the characters always know what to do next. Calypso doesn't know what to do, she knows that telling Ethan how she feels about him is not an option, threatning their friendship is just too much of a risk to her.

Better keep her mouth shut and her friendship alive.