Stay (Completed)

Chapter 9- Sandcastles, Ice Cream and Confessions

Chapter 9:

Mariah’s POV:

“Oh! Hey! Stop!! Evan!!” I screamed as I tried to run away from Evan who was carrying a bucket of water. I was running through the tide that washed over my ankles. For the past three hours we had worked diligently on our sand castle and I do have to admit; it was pretty fantastic. But after all of that hard work, Evan apparently thought it was time to joke around, i.e. get me as wet as possible with the water in the bucket that was getting dangerously closer to me. It’s not like I didn’t want to get wet. I loved the water. I just didn’t want to get my hair wet.

“Maria! Come on! Stop running! You know I am going to catch you!” Evan yelled out from behind me. I decided my best bet was going farther out into the ocean so he wouldn’t have as much control of his weapon. I changed my course and ran straight out toward the setting sun.

“Oh no you don’t!” Evan scolded me as he followed me out. I swam out more, keeping my head above water. It was only three or four feet deep so I was basically walking. I should have probably turned around because then I would have realized Evan had abandoned the bucket and was just coming for me. Right when I reach the sandbar about 100 yards out I felt two muscular arms wrap around my waist and pull me under. I had just enough time to hold my breath before I was yanked under and flipped over held with my back against the sandbar. I could feel Evan’s muscular form, which I had been secretly admiring the whole afternoon, over me. I pushed against his chest and he lifted me up and we stood up as our feet sunk into the sand.

“Told ya I would get ya!” Evan told me as he held me by my elbows as my hands rested on his biceps. Sheesh he was muscular. I could practically feel his muscles bulging out of his skin. I looked up at him to see him smiling down at me like he had just won first prize at the county fair.

“Yes, you did. But I didn’t believe the game involved you yanking me under water! I could have drowned!” I told him, faking outrage.

“Well you changed the rules when you tried to escape into the ocean!” Evan told me chuckling. He let go of my arms and slid his hands up to my shoulders, “And I would never let you get hurt.” He told me as he looked into my eyes. I felt like he meant a lot more than just me drowning. I felt like he would never let me get hurt ever. And ya know what, I believed it.

“Thanks.” I told him as I stepped back awkwardly and turned back to shore. I didn’t know what to say to him. I knew I liked him and I loved spending time with him and I felt like he liked me too. I mean who else spends all day hanging out with you and then asks to see you the next day and then spends that whole day with you as well. I truly hoped he liked me because if not then I don’t know what I would do.

“We made a pretty awesome sand castle huh?” Evan asked me as he looked back to shore too. Even from here you could see the detail and hard work we put into the castle. Tommy and Jack were still working on it. Hard to believe they had the patience to do so.

“Yeah,” I said as I looked over at Evan, “We did didn’t we.” I smiled at him and he smiled back. It was almost as if we could do anything together and it would work.

As we made the sand castle I was amazed at the relationship he had with his brothers. The twins would listen to him like he was their idol. They did what he told them to do and never argued or asked why. You could see they trusted him so much and it was a sight to see. Most teenage guys could care less about their younger siblings. They would ignore them to go hang out with their friends or girls. But that wasn’t what Evan was like. You could tell he loved spending time with them and he truly enjoyed it as well. Everything about Evan was just astonishing. He was a really great guy and I was glad I met him. I was also glad I would be spending time at the Y with him. Which reminds me, I still haven’t told him more about that yet.