Lightweight

Chapter Four

Niall and Annie got to the beach, it was just as beautiful as it was this morning, a few more people than before but that didn't bother Annie, it was a big beach. The sand was soft and dry from the sun shining down on it all morning and the seagulls that flew overhead provided the background music for the day. A specific trio of birds that flew overhead resembled the tattoo on Annie's shoulder blade, making her smile to herself as she watched them fly by. What she wouldn't give sometimes to just be able to take off and fly away. But not right now. Not when she was with Niall.

Niall ran into the water almost immediately. "Come on, Annie!" he shouted for her to join him. Annie watched as the waves splashed across his back and how they exploded behind him from the collision, wishing she had as much freedom to touch him as they did. The water on his chest made him shine and she could feel the blood rush to her cheeks, hopefully Niall was far away enough that he wouldn't be able to see it. Annie slipped off her shorts and then her shirt as quickly as she could and held her arms in front of her stomach as she made her way to the water. Niall let out a whistle and she kindly flicked him off, very lady-like and jumped into the water and splashed him. "Oh, no you didn't," he said lowly, eyeing her and biting down on his bottom lip. She saw the splash he was trying to build up and ducked under the water before he could get her. Annie felt Niall's strong arms grab her from under the water and haul her up to the surface.

"Thought you could get away from me that easily, eh?" Annie heard Niall laugh but her vision was cut off by the blockade of hair that had been created over her face when Niall brought her up.

Annie brought her hands to her face to rid herself of the curtain of dark hair that covered her face but she felt one of Niall's hands stop her while the other snaked around her waist and held her close to him. Her heart raced and she began to panic from the intimacy of Niall's unmistakable touch. Just when she was at her breaking point and was contemplating fleeing, Niall's hand came to her face and brushed the wet hair from her face, even though the blockade was gone all she could see were his eyes. Those deep blue eyes made the ocean around them look like a puddle of mud and she felt whole again and her heart began racing for a good reason.

"That's much better," Niall said and smiled, his face closer to hers than any other human being's had ever been before. She could feel his breath hit on her lips and she wanted to close the small distance between them so badly but something stopped her, probably all of those years of torment brought on by boys half as good looking as Niall. What did he want with her? Annie grabbed the wrist of the arm that held her waist and pulled it away from her. She could help but notice how Niall's face fell in disappointment from her actions but he quickly tried to recover.

"The water looks really pretty," he commented.

"You know what looks even better?" Annie asked with her world famous smirk.

"What?" Niall asked confusion on his face.

"You covered in it," she said and splashed Niall right in the face again. He spat out the sea water that had made its way into his mouth and then splashed her back. The sound of Niall's booming laugh from the water fight made a small group of birds that were looking for food on the beach fly away in fright and Annie couldn't help but reciprocate the laugher back. Niall picked Annie up and threw her over his shoulder as if she didn't weigh anything, the thought of that made her smile, and she pounded against his back playfully until he threw her back into the water. She sprung at him and pushed down on his broad shoulders, shoving him under the water. Niall bounced right back up and on his way up grabbed Annie around the waist and held her in his arms bridal style. Niall obviously didn't have the same personal space issues that Annie had and he didn't seem to sense hers like Liam had done earlier in the morning.