Same Time Next Year

Chapter 18 - Year 4

Elle

Noah and I were back outside after cleaning up from supper. We were sitting in the lounge chairs next to the pool drinking wine and listening to the ocean waves. It was dark now so we couldn't see much of the view but I still loved to sit here with the lull of the waves in the background. Once I brought up the wedding, we spent a little more time talking about our discussion that night.  Of course we didn't get too much into the details of what had led up to our fight since I don't think either one of us wanted to ruin the mood of the night. We did admit how bad things got between us and that we don't want to go back to that. I hoped that would mean we had a chance of coming out of this weekend as friends and it would be possible to see each other throughout the next year.

We had debated about opening a second bottle of wine but I think we smartly decided to stop at one. I don't know about Noah but I planned to keep my mind clear the rest of the weekend. I felt contented sitting next to Noah, joking around about summers from when we were little. I didn't even mind the fact that Noah was making fun of me for the time he helped Lee build his sandcastle instead of me and I cried about how much bigger theirs was than mine.  "You were such a drama Queen, acting like it was the end of the world," Noah laughed good heartedly at my expense.

Noah rarely took Lee's side over me and even when I was young I hated losing any type of competition. "I was like 6, Noah.  I'm sure I felt like it was."  I rolled my eyes, but still smiled back at him.  This was what I missed about most of all this last year.  Moments like this, just hanging out together and joking around with each other.  Things had been so weird between us, there was little time spent having fun like this. We were either at each other's throats or in each other's beds. Nothing in between for us.

This was my first trip to the beach house this summer, work had kept me too busy to even realize that it was summer. Maybe it was all the talk of the summers of our youth or maybe it was just listening to the waves for the past couple hours but suddenly I couldn't wait any longer. "Let's go swimming."  It was too dark to swim in the ocean right now but we were right here next to the pool.

"Right now?"

"Yeah, when's the last time you've been swimming?"

"I don't even remember."

"Me either. We practically lived in the water during the summer when we were kids. Remember how magical our summers used to be? The summer is almost over now and I bet you haven't even done anything to enjoy it yet. I know I haven't."

When I saw Noah's smirk, I realized all of our talk of last summers had the same affect on him and he was as ready as I was.  "I'll race you to get your suit on and back out here."  Noah said as he was already standing and starting to run towards the house.

I was up in a second and right behind him, even as I yelled, "That isn't fair, you know how much faster it is for you to throw on a pair of swim trunks than it is to put a swimsuit on."  This was not a new argument.  Noah, Lee and I had countless races to get ready for the pool since I was little and I complained every time how unfair the competition was.  Not that it ever stopped me from racing them.

By the time I tied on my new bikini and was running back outside, I heard Noah's splash as he jumped in the pool.  I followed and jumped in as soon as I reached the pool.  "I told you it wasn't fair."  I yelled as soon as my head popped out of the water.

"Now, now Shelly.  I think I've told you before, if you didn't worry about the top half of your suit and just wore the bottoms, you'd be much faster getting into the pool."

I giggled, much like I had the first time Noah told me that.  I remember it was the summer before my Sophomore year in high school.  I was much more embarrassed about Noah's comment back then, although at that point I was craving any kind of attention from him, especially when he said something where he seemed interested in me that way.  I wasn't nearly as embarrassed now, this time splashing Noah in the face as I laughed.