Love On The Beach

Chapter 10

Aria

Two months of school has passed by, and so far, it’s been better. My black eye is gone too!
Today is Saturday, September 20th. I sit in the sun at Pebble Beach as I read my book with the waves crashing in the background. My brother asked if I wanted to come to the beach with him today while he does his job as a lifeguard, and I said I would.
I put down my book and just lay down on my warm towel for a few minutes when someone runs up to me and dumps a small bucket of water on me, making me cough.
“What the-” I say, coughing and spitting out water. I open my eyes and see who it is.
I look at his face, and of course…
It’s Zayn…
Then I notice…
OH…
MY…
LORD!
He’s…
Shirtless…
And oh my goodness… he looks so handsome…
“Don’t tell me you’re drooling for me now!” he laughs.
I look at his face again… trying to avoid looking at his chest…
“No! Of course not!” I say.
“Haha, sure!” he laughs. “You look really good in that.” He points to my swimsuit.
I look down at what I’m wearing, and I’m wearing a purple bikini with little red roses on it.
My face starts to turn a shade of pink. “Thanks…”
He laughs as he notices I blush. “You’re cute when you blush.”
I give a tiny smile.
“Wanna go surfing with me?” he asks.
“Um, I don't know… I haven’t gone surfing in forever. I’m afraid I’ll fall off and drown!” I meant that as a joke, but when I see his expression change, I think I’m the biggest idiot on the planet.
“I… I’m so sorry… I shouldn’t have said that… I’m so stupid… I’ll just go…” I start to get up and grab my stuff, but he stops me.
“No, please don’t go. It’s okay. You didn’t mean to. But if you don’t want to, that's fine,” he says.
I give him a sad smile. “I’ll be right back.”
I run over to where Kai is at, and I grab my purple and red surfboard.
“Where are you off to?” Kai asks.
“I’m gonna go surfing with Zayn.”
“Ooh! Okayyyy! Have fun!” He winks at me.
I grin and run back to where Zayn is.
“That's a sick surfboard!” he exclaims as I come back.
“Thanks, my dad got it custom made for me for my birthday last year,” I say with another sad smile.
He smiles back. “You ready?
I laugh. “I’m ready.”
“But first…” He gives me a mischievous smile and picks me up, dropping our surfboards.
“Wha- HEY!!! PUT ME DOWN!!!” I yell, laughing.
He laughs. “NOPE!”
He tosses me on his back and runs over to the ocean.
I must weigh as much as a feather for him.
When we get closer to the water, I realize what he is going to do.
“OH NO!!! DON'T YOU DARE!!!” I scream.
“HA!!! TOO LATE!!!”
Before I know it, he tosses me in the water, and I scream before I go in. I come back up a few seconds later, and I see him laughing his head off.
“Oh, I’ll show you…” I say, giving an evil laugh.
I run up to him, and he stops laughing, tilts his head up, and I push him into the water, with me falling on top of him.
We both come back up, and I start laughing, too. He smiles and picks me up again, and tosses me into the water. We start fighting in the water, acting like little kids, but we don’t care. We keep pushing, tossing, and splashing each other, which was very fun, doing that with him.
I get a good look at him for a second, and I think…
Perfect…
Just perfect.
His hair…
Smile…
Personality…
His eyes…
Just him…
We both decide to get out of the water and chill out on the sand.
“That was fun,” he says, laughing but a little out of breath.
“It really was. And we didn’t even surf!” He laughs. I grab my towel and put it beneath me so I have something to lay on. Zayn goes over to where all of his things are, grabs his too, and lays it right next to mine. He lays down next to me.
“So, what’s new in your life, beautiful?”
I smile at the name.
I love it when he calls me that…
“Nothing much, Cross Country has been awesome. The meets are so fun with Aaron and Cass, and I’ve gotten a few medals. I’ve been practicing my violin and the songs that we are learning. And my brother has taken me driving a lot lately since I need to work on it.”
“Wow, that’s nice. Ready for our first orchestra test next week?” he asks.
“Oh yea, we got this.” I give him a fistbump.
He laughs.
“So…” he starts.
“So… so what?”
He laughs again.
His laugh is… legendary…
“So when we first met, you said you have a crush. You wanna tell me who the lucky person is?” he says.
I stay silent.
The lucky person is…
You…
But I can’t tell him that…
I can’t…
“I can’t tell you…” I say.
“Aw…” he gives me a pleading look. “Why not…?”
“Just… because…”
“Is it because it's meeee???”
“NO!!!”
His expression changes.
“No, totally not… we are friends.”
His face looks so sad when I say that.
“Yea… friends,” he finally says.
“Are you okay?”
His face changes again, with a smile, but a small smile. “Yep. I’m fine.” Then his smile looks sad.
“Oh, okay.” I feel like it’s getting a little awkward.
“So…” He changes the subject. “You know homecoming is soon?”
Oh…….crap…….
“Really?” I say, panicking inside.
“Yea. Next week, actually. You’ve been talking about it all week!”
“Oh! I…I was?”
He laughs. “Yes, Aria, you were.”
“Oh… um…” I stutter.
“You’re stuttering. Are you okay?”
“Mhm.”
“Well, I don’t think you’re gonna be when I ask you this…”
“What…?”
He turns over to look at me. “Will you be my date for homecoming?”
I
Stay
Silent.
I look at him with shock. “M-me?”
“Yes, you. I feel like you would be an amazing date for homecoming,” he says.
“But… I am awful at dancing. You wouldn’t wanna take me…”
“Then I’ll teach you. I will. But… will you…?”
I stay quiet for a little bit.
This is your chance, Aria.
Don’t blow it.
“Yes, Zayn... I would love to be your date for homecoming,” I finally say, finding the words to say it.
His face lights up with happiness and relief. He gives me a big smile and sits up. I sit up too, and once I do, he gives me a big hug.
“Thank you soooooooo much, Aria. You don’t know how much this means to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he says.
I hug him tightly. “No, thank you, Zayn. Thank you so much.”
He lets go of me and smiles. “You won’t regret it. I promise.”
I just smile. I don’t really know what to say.
He looks at the time on his phone. “Well, I gotta go. I can text you later, okay? I’ll see you at school.”
“Oh, okay. Sounds good,” I tell him.
He hugs me again. “Again… Thank you.” With that, he grabs his stuff and runs off, waving at me, before he’s gone.
Oh
My
Goodness
Gracious…
No freaking way…
Zayn…
Asked me…
To homecoming…
I just sit there in silence, freaking out. Kai walks over to me because he is done with his job for the day.
He notices me in shock. “Are… you okay???”
I just nod my head slightly.
“You… sure? You look like the best thing in your life just happened.”
“Well…”
His eyes get big. “Wait…”
“What?”
“Did he… ask you?”
“Ask me what?”
“To be his girlfriend.”
“NO!!!” I yell and cover my face and whisper, “I wish…”
He laughs. “What did he ask you then?”
“Well… he asked me to homecoming…”
“ACTUALLY?!?!?!?!?!” He starts freaking out, in a good way. “NO WAY!!! AHHHHHHH ARIAAAAAAAA!!!”
I laugh. “KAI, CALM DOWN!!!”
“NUH UH!!! MY LIL’ SIS JUST GOT ASKED TO HOMECOMING!!!” He picks me up and swings me around.
I laugh even more. “This is Homecoming! Not Prom!!!”
“It’s still a dance with your crush! That's a win-win right there!”
We both hug each other. “We gotta tell mom about this… don’t we…?” I say.
“Most likely, she’ll want to know.”
I groan. “Kai, I’m so scared…”
He looks at me. “It’ll be okay. Mom and I will be there to help you out. I’ll even drive you to the dance if you want in my cool Mustang!”
“Oooo, that would be awesome!” I start imagining what that would be like, driving to the dance in my dress or something, arriving at the car, seeing Zayn in a suit…
Oooo…
Zayn in a suit…
I like the sound of that…
ARIA FOCUS!!!
Anyways… then dancing with him… in slow motion…
Dancing with Zayn…
With one of the most handsome guys ever…
To a love song…
In slow motion…
Ahhh…
I’m going crazy.
Calm down, Aria.
“You good?” Kai asks, laughing.
I come into reality. “Yup. Just thinking.”
“You excited?” he asks.
“I guess… I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ve never been to an actual dance yet!”
“Well, then, we can help you out. I can help you out. You will be alright.”
I smile at him. I love Kai so much. Most of the time, I see him as the best brother ever, but sometimes I see him as an amazing friend who is always there for me, helping me out, making sure I’m okay. He’ll sometimes act like a girl best friend to me when I spill all the drama. It’s hilarious.
“We should probably be heading back home,” Kai says.
“Most likely. Mom will want to know EVERYTHING!!!”
He laughs. “You know Mom. She definitely will.”
I laugh. We grab our things and race back to the car and start driving home.
And like we said, once we told mom about Zayn and how he asked me to homecoming, she wanted to know EVERYTHING about him and what happened. My sister got grossed out. She doesn’t understand love yet, I guess.
“We will definitely get you a dress for this. It’ll be awesome!” Mom says.
“Mooooooom, it’s homecoming, not prom!” I say.
“Still! We gotta get that man to love you!”
I laugh at that and start to get embarrassed.
Once we finished our chat, I go upstairs to chill for a little bit. I get a text from Zayn a little after that.

Heyyy beautiful.
7:36 p.m.

Heyyy Zayn.
7:36 p.m

How are youu???
7:37 p.m.

I’m going crazy… but I don’t put that.

I’m doing good! How are youu?
7:38 p.m.

I’m doing good, too. I’m
happy.
7:38 p.m.

Why are you happy?
7:38 p.m.

Well, because you said yes, duh!
7:38 p.m.

Haha, lol. Of course I did!
7:39 p.m.

No one can resist me!
7:39 p.m.

Haha I’m really excited about the dance.
7:40 p.m.

I’m 10 times more excited since I
get to go with you.
7:40 p.m.

Awww, me too. I was gonna just go alone.
7:40 p.m.

Well, not anymore, because I am!
7:41 p.m.

Haha, yupp. And I’m really glad I am.
7:41 p.m.

I am, too. There is no one else I would
want to go with. Just you
7:42 p.m.

I smile so big at that text. I get butterflies in my stomach. I can feel my face get hot. It’s just so cute, and I love this guy so much!

Thank you, Zayn. That’s very sweet of you
7:43 p.m.

You’re welcome. And I mean that.
7:43 p.m.

I smile again.

Well, I must get ready for bed.
I’m exhausted from today.
7:44 p.m.

Me too, to be honest. It was
very nice being able to see you today!
7:44 p.m.

It was! I had such an amazing
time with you.
7:44 p.m.

As did I. Good night, beautiful
I will text you tomorrow. Sleep well
7:45 p.m.

Good night, Zayn. Thank you,
And you sleep well, too.
7:45 p.m.

Thank you, Darling.
7:46 p.m.

I put my phone down in shock.
D…d…darling…???
Zayn…
Called me…
DARLING?!?!
DID HE REALLY JUST CALL ME DARLING?!?!
I read the text again just to make sure I am not going crazy.
But that’s what it says…
Zayn called me darling…
No one ever calls me that…
My dad used to call me that all the time.
And now Zayn did…
I start going crazy as I grab my pillow and squeal into it.
I calm down a little and decide it’s probably best to go to bed now. So I change into my purple pajamas and tell my family good night.
I crawl into my bed and just read over me and Zayn’s texts again.
I start getting butterflies in my stomach again as I read his last text, over and over and over again…

Thank you, Darling…