Grace; misanthrope // Jai Brooks

Chapter 19

I sat in my room, studying. Of course, me being me, I was enjoying my alone time. I did my best to keep my rotten "friends" out of my mind. My phone rang, and inside I sort of hoped it would be Bella or Chloe calling to apologize or make peace. It was Jai. Seeing his name appear was the next best thing, so I answered my phone with a smile.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey. How would you feel about coming to FunFields tomorrow after school?"

"Umm..." I hesitated, knowing I truly did want to go, but I didn't want to seem overly eager. "I mean yeah. I'm down."

"Really? All right, sweet." He said. "Can I pick you up around 4 then?"

"Yeah, perfect." I was grinning from ear to ear.

Naturally, the school day moved really slow. My eyes glanced at the clock every 10 minutes it seemed. I was more than excited to spend the evening with Jai, even if his friends were there, too. Chloe and Bella still weren't speaking to me, and I was getting used to it, though I secretly missed them. I sat with Jai and his friends at lunch and everyone was clearly excited to go to FunFields later.

When 4 o'clock arrived I was perched at my front door, waiting for Jai to appear. When he showed up, I gave a quick farewell to my mum who was so busy celebrating that I was spending time with friends to ask any questions about who I was going with. Jai was in the driver's seat, and Luke and a girl were in the back. Jai gestured for me to sit up front with him so I climbed inside and pulled the car door shut.

I sat my beach bag between my feet and clicked my seat belt. Luke introduced me to his female friend and she and I exchanged a hello. Jai had Red Hot Chili Peppers playing and the windows were down. It was nice outside and the wind teased my curls.

When we arrived, James, Beau, and Daniel were just pulling in as well. We headed to get changed into our bathing suits and then gathered to decide which waterslide we were headed to. I was a little self conscious in my suit in front of Jai and the rest of the guys. I tried not to let my eyes wander for too long, but I couldn't help myself when I saw Jai in his swim trunks. His tan tummy was slender and lean.

We all headed for one of the slides and waited in line. Jai stood beside me, leaning on the railing that lead to the top of the slide. As he leaned on the railing his arm was behind my back, as if to hold me close. All the while we were there, he never really left my side. Later, we went to the wave pool. We had sort of separated off into groups, and Jai and I were by ourselves. Together we jumped over the waves, laughing and splashing each other.

After the waves settled for a period, Jai put his arms around me and spun me around. I let out an excited scream, laughing. When he set me down, he kissed me. He looked so good as the sunshine beat down on his tan skin. I could have lived in that moment forever. He smiled at me and then starting teasing me, trying to dunk me under water. When we both came up again, he held me close to him, our noses touching. He pecked my lips. His hands were on my waist and my stomach to his pelvis. I arched my back, pressing myself even more firmly against him.

I could feel that he was excited. His cheeks went red and he gently pulled away from me. Suddenly, I felt bad and wasn't sure what to say. He heartened me with a kiss and then pushed my wet hair away from my face.

"Wanna go get something to eat? I'm kind of hungry." I say.

"Can we wait a couple minutes? I don't think I can get out of the water like this..." he says with embarrassment, holding his shorts.

I chuckle and plant a kiss on his neck.