A LIE AT THE BEACH

Chapter 18: Sidney.

"I think I know a perfect place to take her." I say to Jake. "Where?" "Remember where we went together sometime in freshman year..."

"We went to many places in freshman year man."
"The waterfalls...?" "Ohhh yes I remember, man we had a hell of a good time." I hum in response.

"So that's where you wanna take your girl?" I tense a little because I think Jake now knows I really like Athens or even love...I dunno man. I like the feeling I get when he refers to Athens as my girl. I guess he noticed my tense muscles because the next thing he says confirms my earlier suspicion. "I know you like her, dude...looks like your whoring days are over my man." He chuckles while clapping me on the back and I shake his arm off.

"Yeah yeah but she shouldn't find out about that..." I say to Jake seriously.

"About what? Your whoring times?"

"Stop calling it that....it was just a phase..." That I really regret. "Anyways, yeah I'm taking Athens to those waterfalls we went to with Jill and Delilah in first year."

"Alright. Have fun and I hope you don't intend to make babies like you did the las.....oufff." I throw a cushion at his head. "Hey." He glares while pushing the cushion away then smirks. "But I'm not lying." He shrugs and walks out of the sitting room. I really hope she never finds out...this is why I've been holding back from asking her out. I don't want to let her in when I have all these secrets. I can't fess up because I don't like talking about my hideous past. God, I was a douchebag.

It's coming to 3 pm so I take a quick shower and change to button down white shirt with yellow flowers plus yellow shorts and canvas shoes. It's a hot summer day so why not? I drive to Athen's place and call her phone. She doesn't pick though I guess she gets the memo. As soon as I reach, in record time of course, I knock at her door when I reach there and it opens to reveal the most beautiful girl that always manages to steal my breath away. I might be exaggerating a little but fuck me she looks incredible in her yellow flowery dress and short wedge heels. Her makeup...wow. I could kiss those lips right now.

We stare at each other...I guess at a loss for words until Jill butts in spoiling our moment. "You guys matched!" with her weird high-pitch voice. I don't mind her though...I'm all about this curly haired beauty in a yellow dress and we indeed matched. We smile at each other and I hold her hand to leave after both of us saying bye to Jill. "Bye. Be back by niiine." Jill says in a sing-song way which causes Athens to chuckle.

I open the door for Athens to get into the passenger seat which has now become a routine and I like it. I jog over to the driver's side and also get in. "Soo where are we going?" Athens asks and I immediately shush her. It's cute when she gets annoyed. "It better be worth it." Oh it will be, baby. I playfully pinch her cheek and she swats my hand away. I chuckle and rest my hand on her thigh near the knee while I drive with the other. She tenses a bit then relaxes after.

We drive in a peaceful silence until Athens keeps asking whether we are there yet or not. "Babe, it's kind of irritating the way you keep asking whether we're there or not. Please just relax we're almost there." I say to her truthfully. She nods slowly and turns to look outside the window. I also relax since her questioning was making me a little nervous.

We arrive at the big green gate...damn this place hasn't changed a fucking bit. Looks renovated though. Nice. I hand over an envelope to the guy at the gate. He inspects it and smirks and lets us drive in. I know Athens wants to know what the contents of the envelope are but she won't ask so I tell her anyways. "Just paid the entry fee. It's time to have some fun, babe." She gets a look of understanding on her face and she whoops loudly. We reach the reception and the lady beams at us. "You're most welcome, beautiful people." I nod. "Thank you ma'am." Athens replies with a smile.

The place still has the grassthatched roof with wooden furniture and it's open with no walls...beautiful ancient rocks around. You can even hear the waterfalls from here. Athens can't stop smiling and that actually makes me happy that I made that happen. I give myself a mental pat on my shoulder and I don't notice the receptionist is secretly smiling at us. I raise an eyebrow in question and she says "Y'all are just cute." I smile a little in response and receive the wrist bands she gives me. They're like passes to move anywhere we want in this place.

"Athens, let's go." I call her as she's still walking around. "Oh...thank you ma'am." She says to the receptionist as we go. Oh, they also gave us a map for this whole place so we don't get lost in this humongous place. "Wow Sid look at that." Athens says while pointing at the waterfalls and I hum in response.

"That's the main thing I wanted you to see....the waterfalls." I say as I put my arm over her small shoulders and tug her to my side.

We walk the path peacefully as we look around until we get to the waterfalls where there are a few other people taking pictures. Athens gets out her camera and I raise an eyebrow silently asking how she never forgot to move out with it. She just shrugs.

"Pose." she says to me with a broad smile that involuntarily makes me smile too and she clicks the picture. "Gimme more." Oh God, this girl. I laugh and she takes that too. "Hey, I wasn't ready." I'm not a fan of pictures but I'm doing this because it's with her. Anything involving her...yes please! She keeps clicking random pictures of me as she laughs until I grab the small Canon camera.

"Pose." I say with a smirk and she doesn't hesitate. She is one photogenic girl...I click as many as possible even with my phone. She looks so happy without a care in the world. That makes me happy. Man, I think I'm falling for this beauty...fast!