Above Water ✔️

21 - sea legs

If you had asked me about three hours ago if I thought I would be splashing around in the ocean with the hottest man on earth, I would say no. Absolutely not. Fuck you.

But there I was. After I faced my biggest fear of swimming neck deep in the Atlantic, Dallas convinced me to stay in with him while the sun set over us. We stayed where our feet could reach and I did, eventually, let go of him.

"I kinda like it when the wave is big enough to lift us up," I admitted. "But any bigger, I will die."

Dallas hadn't stopped smiling since we got out here. I felt like I was in some sort of fever dream. He fell back into the water and resurfaced with a splash. I pushed my hair back and reveled in the sight of him.

His tanned skin looked darker in the dimming light overhead, the whites of his teeth and eyes standing out even more. As if his eyes could stand to gleam any brighter with the stunning blue that always took my breath away.

"Sorry for, uh, being a spider monkey out there," I said sheepishly. I could feel a blush forming.

He waded towards me. "I didn't mind," he said, making me blush even harder. I could tell he noticed, too, because he smiled impossibly wider.

I insisted we go lay in the sand for the actual sunset. I wanted to be able to look up at the sky without checking my surroundings for sharks every two seconds. Dallas followed me to the spot we were at before and I laid back. Sand clung to our wet bodies immediately but I was too hyped up on adrenaline to care.

Going in the ocean was a huge step for me. I felt like I could do anything! And I had Dallas to thank for it. He made me feel so safe and secure and like nothing bad could possibly happen. My stomach was full of butterflies running rampant and I wasn't even mad about it.

"Can I ask you something?"

I tucked my hands under my head and looked over at Dallas. He didn't seem like he was looking at the sky. His body was turned towards me, leaning on one elbow. "Yeah."

"Am I imagining things or are you just oblivious?"

Woah. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. That was the last thing I expected him to ask. I opened my mouth to speak, but had no idea what to say. He stared at me, as if searching for the answer on my face somewhere in the absence of a response. The butterflies returned.

"What do you–"

"I saw you with Frasier this morning," he said, cutting me off from trying to get a grasp on what the hell he was talking about.

If I was speechless before, I was mute now. The sky above us was a gorgeous salmon-peach color over us, creating such a romantic feeling. I was grateful for the pinkish tint because maybe then he wouldn't see my cheeks flush.

"What did you see?" I asked.

He scowled a bit. "He was, like, touching your face and–y'know, I don't want to assume anything. But it looked kinda intimate?"

I sighed and sat up, turning my body towards him. "I had bacon grease on my face and he was wiping it off," I lied, not wanting to admit the real topic of the stupid ass conversation earlier. His lips parted in realization. "Now what were you saying? What are you imagining?"

Dallas sat up, too. He brushed the sand off of his hands and glanced out at the ocean for a second. I watched him closely, the way his wet hair was starting to dry in light waves across his forehead, the way his lips sort of pouted while he thought about what to say.

"I'm really into you, Thomas, and it's getting harder and harder to control myself without knowing if you feel the same way."

I felt my soul leave my body.