Sorry, Not Sorry

- 45

It's sort of raining on our walk lengthy down to the beach, but I chose to ignore it for now. We've been waiting all day for this, a little bit of rain isn't going to stop us. As we make it to the boardwalk, I notice that we're some of the only people here. Which is weird, because the waves look perfect for surfing, further out. We both drop our shirts down in the sand, beginning the trek out to the water. We're halfway to the waves as the rain pours down harder. I sort of expect Max to turn back, but he doesn't. He keeps on pushing forwards, grabbing my arm to keep me from turning back. I let him drag me along, but I stop just as he steps foot into the water. "Max, it's raining." I say, pulling my hand out of his grasp.

"It's been raining this whole time." He says, turning to face me, holding his arms out to his sides to catch the wind. "A little rain never hurt anybody." He calls, spinning in a circle, water splashing out around him.

"Uh, I think it has." I fold my arms over my bare chest, shivering slightly. I try to ignore his bare chest, damn, he has abs. "It definitely has."

"It's warmer in here." Max says, extending a hand. I know that's probably a lie, but I also know it might be warmer just because he's there, and I try to push that thought away. I also happen to know know that if I take his hand he'll throw me into the water, a cold-blooded act of friendship, I guess. "And, okay, maybe water has hurt somebody, but it won't hurt us, won't hurt you." He clenches a fist, punching his other palm. "Not with me here."

I roll my eyes and hold back a smile, carefully stepping slightly closer to him, my wet hair sticking to my face. "I don't want to have a cold on the drive home. And I know you don't want one, either. Also there's no way in hell I'm driving." The waves just lap at the ends of my toes.

He shrugs, "First of all, I'd never let you drive my car, and second I wouldn't mind sickness. Fun now is worth a bit of regret and sniffles later." He steps closer to me again, basically out of the water now.

"Sharks will come out." I say, running out of excuses.

"They have nets, besides, I'll be able to scare it away from you." He winks, and I narrow my eyes sceptically. Does he think he's scary? yeah, right. "I'm joking! It's not that late anyway, it's just dark because of the clouds." He smirks for a second, and -thinking I didn't notice the look on his face, like he's planning something- he loops around to behind me. "Whatever, if you're not going to get in there's no real point in being here, right?" He stands there nonchalantly, before jumping forwards at the perfect moment to push me into the water. It's not entirely perfect, and my peripheral vision is better than he'd though, so I jump out of the way, causing him to fall onto his knees in the sand, a manic grin on his face as I run away. He climbs back up and ignores the sand on his knees, chasing after me. I don't know if you've ever tried to run in sand before, but it isn't exactly easy, plus we're wet from the rain so sand is sticking everywhere.

Eventually I stop, too puffed to keep running. I turn towards him, standing two metres away like we're in a cowboy shootout. I wiggle my fingers, ready for whatever move he makes. "What's it gonna be, Xay?" Max shouts, "The easy way..." He poises himself to run, "Or the hard way!" Just as he runs forwards I jump to the left, closer to the water. It clearly catches him off guard, as he falls face-first into the sand on my right. His black hair is fanned out like a sharp crown around his head. "Thought I'd go right, didn't you." I taunt with a smirk.

I take a curious, tentative step closer, poking him with my toe. "Did you actually just trip." I laugh down at him, crouching down. He stays lying there, his face in the sand, "That can't be comf-" In a flash, his hand shoots out from beneath him and wraps around my ankle, pulling me down to the sand next to him. "Oi!" I yell, scrambling to get away, but he has his hold on me, picking me up bridal-style and carrying me to the water, unbothered by the sand covering his nose and cheeks.