See You Again

chapter eight

"I've got the sunscreen here, mom" I hear Phil say while my mom searches for the tube. We are about to go out for a ride on the boat we've rented for the day. My parents think we're not here often enough to own our own.

"Oh good. Put it in the tote bag. Now help me find my sunglasses. They aren't in my purse."

"Honey, they're on your head," my dad laughs.

I'm sitting next to Chelsea on the couch when Niall walks through the front door with a small bag in hand. It's been two days since our date and everyone feels comfortable with him showing up whenever he pleases.

"Hey," he says before plopping down next to Chelsea. She instantly starts rambling to him about some horror movie she watched. He seemed to be genuinely interested, or at least faked it well.

"I think we're ready. Let's go, kiddos." And with that we're headed to the main dock a few blocks away. Once we're there and situated on the boat, we turn up music and dress down until we are only in our swimsuits.

My dad drives of course with Phil helping out occasionally while Chelsea and I usually admire the scenery as we pass it. Now that Niall is here, he's all I seem to care to look at.

"Chelsea, take a picture of us would ya?" Niall asks my sister. She complies and I smile towards the camera on Niall's cell phone.

"This is a nice photo. I think I'll make it my wallpaper," he says once he sees it. I peek over his shoulder and take a look at it. He's right; it is nice.

Eventually I feel the urge to sunbathe with my mom, so I ask Niall to apply sunscreen on my shoulders and back. The simple gesture only made my affection for him grow. I thank him with a kiss which my sister seems to groan at.

"Join us if you'd like. Let me know if you'd like me to return the favor." He smiles at and says he'll be around in a bit. First he plans to learn how to operate the boat with Phil by his side. My dad is already beginning to prepare a late lunch.

"Holy shit," I hear minutes later. "Jennifer! Look! I'm doing this!" Niall seems so excited to be steering the boat. I snap a photo of him before walking over behind him and wrapping my arms around his neck. I place a proud peck on his temple before he pulls me onto his lap.

"If no one were around, I don't think you'd have that on much longer," he says pointing at my bathing suit. I laugh and compliment how he looks driving the boat. I even joke about photoshopping a sailor hat onto the photo of him.

"Hey now, you two be careful. Niall is supposed to be steering the boat, not you." My dads comment makes me hop off his lap and walk over to him. I take a sandwich to which causes my dad to furrow his eyebrow at me. It's chicken salad; my favorite. He complains that he wasn't finished preparing them and that it wasn't fair that I ate before anyone else could. Once he's finished, he makes me hand them out to everyone. My dad takes over the boat again while the rest of us finish our lunch.

"Come here, you can see the fish." We walk towards the edge of the boat where Chelsea stands pointing at the fish swimming through the water. I notice Niall pointing out the difference in each one of them and smile.

"You really like this stuff don't you?"

Niall looks at me and nods an eager nod.

"Oh yeah. Greg and I used to fish together at a pond near our old house. He kind of taught me what to look for in a fish and all that."

"It's as if we are polar opposites. It's cute though. We can try each other's hobbies."

"Oh yeah? What hobby of yours could I try?"

"Uh, binge watching Netflix?" Niall let's put an airy laugh and pulls me into a hug. I hug back, putting my hands against his bare back.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow blares through the speakers now. It's one of my dads favorites.

"Dance with me, aye?"

With that, Niall and I are twirling together. The boat isn't small but it's not huge either. We laugh as we run into things and people including Phil who looks kind of annoyed. We continue to dance anyways. Spinning, twisting, dunking. We do it all. After the song has ended we laugh about each other's dance moves and promise not to try dancing on a boat again.

Afterwards we end up sitting and watching the clouds pass by. I've got my legs on Niall's lap and my head against Phil's shoulder.

"Can we get in the water now?" I ask, bored of staring at the sun.

"Go ahead but don't forget life jackets. I'll tell your dad to cut the ignition for a while."

We pull the orange vests on and help each other adjust them. I'm about to get in slowly when I'm picked up and thrown into the water somewhat aggressively.

Once I gain breath in my lungs again, I stare at a smirking Phil who seems to be the one who threw me in.

"What the hell Phil? You can't do that to me! What if I hadn't of had my vest on all the way!" I yell.

"Shut up, you're fine." I scoff and wait for Niall to get in with me.

When he does, we find ourselves gravitating towards the side of the boat where we can't be seen. We kiss for a while and as time goes by, it deepens. I realize yet again that I need to cherish the next few days with him. I've only got four with him. After that, I go back to school and no Niall.

"Get a room," Phil says while swimming past us. What is with him? He seems to be in such a bad mood today. I just ignore him and continue the kiss. Eventually Niall picks me up and kisses me once more before tossing me back in the water.

"Oh so he can drop you in the water but I can't?" Phil grumbles.

"What? I let him do it because I was expecting it, plus it wasn't even a two foot drop," I reply getting annoyed with him as well.

"Whatever," he says before climbing to latter back onto the boat. I decide I need to follow him to see what's up.

"Excuse me but what right do you have to be giving me attitude for no reason?"

"I'm your brother, I can act how I want."

"Oh right, because that is totally a good reason." I roll my eyes. "Just tell me why you're pissed."

He hesitates before saying, "You two act like you've been dating for months. And pretty fucking soon you won't see him again so why get so invested in him?"

That hurts. He knows it. His face softens when he sees the look on my face.

"I'm sorry, I'm just worried about you. I don't want you to get hurt." Okay, so he's just being an overprotective brother. Typical of him.

"Please don't worry about me. I've got this all figured out. I plan to visit, you know."

"Fine. But if something happens, don't come crying to me." He smiles at me, ensuring that he wasn't exactly serious about his last statement.

From then on, I felt a little different. Phil was actually sorta right. Pretty soon, I won't get to see this boy everyday. He won't be next door to be able to walk in whenever he wants. This is a warning, I decide. I need to tone it down a little so I'm not as sad when it comes time to leave.

so I just had another idea for this story, yay! keep reading to find out! btw this is turning out to seem like it'll be pretty long but I don't want it to be extremely long so I'm have to adjust a few things. thanks for reading!