Best Friend's Boyfriend

Chapter 14

Cody picked me up the next day around sunset. We went to the beach and while there were plenty of people on the boardwalk, there was only a few people left on the beach. We stood so the water just brushed up against our feet and we started walking against the shoreline.

            “Wait, wait, wait,” he said as he started walking into the water.

            “What are you doing?”

            He picked up a gorgeous shell, a lovely coral color that swirled into a perfect tip. He looked up and smiled at me, bringing it over to me. But in an instant, his whole expression changed. Not to anger or sadness, but total fear.

            “F.uck sh.it t.its mother of ffff-” he said the first bad words that came to his head before throwing the shell down. I stood at him, laughing. “There was something crawling in it, I swear,” he said.

            “Afraid of a little crab?” I teased him.

            “No!” he tried to save himself.

            “Cody,” I tilted my head and raised my eyebrows. “You’re scared.”

            “I don’t get scared by little cra-” a wave splashed all over him, soaking his clothes. His mouth widened in shock that that just happened. This poor kid. All he wanted to do was look cool in front of me but today is just not his day.

            “Wait, it’s right there!” he picked it up again by the tip to show me the little crab legs sticking out, but I didn’t see anything.

            “There’s nothing there,” I laughed. He looked and his eyes widened, shocked the crab wasn’t there. I guess he wasn’t smart enough to guess it was hiding, so he tried to play it off cool by holding it up and saying, “ALL HAIL THE MAGIC CONCH!”

            “HA!!!” I burst out laughing. This was the side of Cody I loved. That he tried to act so cool and tough but underneath it all, he was such a dork. A six foot, hot, muscular senior quoting Spongebob? That was adorable.

            “Can I have something to eat? Can I have something to eat? Can I have something to eaaaattttt?” he kept quoting. The crab started to pop his leg out and Cody freaked and set it down again. We laughed and kept walking down the shoreline as far as it would go.

            We kept talking about life, sharing secrets and learning more about each other but it was like we’d been best friends for years. Somewhere along the way his hands grazed passed mine and he held it. I’d touched Cody before but nothing ever felt as similar as the way his hand felt when it picked up mine, and I think that’s because this actually meant something, and I couldn’t help but feel this is how I always wanted it.

            I loved getting to know this goofy side of Cody that was also sincere and caring, because around his friends, he was someone totally opposite. He let his walls come down for me so I could see the real him, and I did the same for him. And finding someone who understands you when you can barely understand yourself is rare. So when you find it, there’s something urging you to never let it go, because it’s going to be nearly impossible to find again.

            We came across a little piece of beach just passed some rocks that looked like no one knew it was there. We had this whole little beach to ourselves and it was honestly so romantic. We declared this place ours, agreeing never to tell anyone about it so it would be like our own private island. If other people knew of our beautiful beach, they’d always come here and the secrecy and beauty of it would be ruined. We layed down next to each other in the sand and he put his arm around me so I could use it as a pillow. We looked up at the stars, snuggled, kissed, and started to fall in love even deeper.

            This beach was like our love. At first, both of us were confused when we found it; it seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. But if other people knew, it would be ruined- no one could ever know. It was only between us; it was only ours.

            And we agreed to keep it that way.