Surf's Up

Chapter 9

Alright, just get through today, I tell myself over and over again in my head on the short walk down to the Surf Shack. I figure if I'm pleasant to him, he has no other choice than to do the same. At least that's the theory.

"Good Morning Noah." I chirps sauntering in exactly on time. A vague grunt is all I get for a reply. "How are you this fine morning?"

"Fine." Oh my god could he make this any harder. I still haven't managed to work out quite where he is, but the noise is coming from behind the till. I skip over and poke my head over, to see Noah crouched down sorting the cabinet under the till.

"Whatcha doin..." He stands up with so much force, head-butting me on his way up. Jesus Christ. I grab my lip and stumble backwards.

"Jesus Emilie, what the hell were you doing?" He frowns at me rubbing the top of his head.

I take my hand away from my lip and storm off, a burning pain in my lip beginning to muster.

"Oh don't be like that." He follows closely behind, seeing as five of my steps equal about one of his. "I'm not going to apologise because it's evidently your fault." At this is spin round on my heel, and Jerk-Face only just manages to stop before colliding with me. I feel like I can barely breathe with him so close to me, his chest inches from my face. I can hear him breathing calmly as if the proximity doesn't faze him whatsoever, of course it doesn't, I don't know why it's effecting me so much. Every inhale I get swarmed by his musky aftershave washing my senses. It feels like an eternity before he slowly steps away.

I look up to him to begin ranting at him about how it was in no way my fault, but instead his face begins to wrinkle in laughter. Feeling very self conscious and slightly confused I turn and start walking away again, more angrily this time.

"Wait, wait I'm sorry." He manages to stutter out still laughing. "I think you should find a mirror." His comment makes him laugh more and me even more self conscious so I hurry to the staff bathroom, slamming it behind me and running to the mirror.

Oh my god, no, no, no this isn't remotely funny. I run my hand over the swollen lip beginning to form to ensure it's real before I decide on which way I plan on killing Noah. I storm back out and almost collide (again) with Noah standing no more than a foot outside the bathroom.

"You ass!" I shriek, pointing at my lip. He conceals a smirk (not particularly well).

"Hey, I'm sorry. Let me help." I push away his hand reaching for my arm and shoulder barge past him, not managing to even make him stumble. I hear the tap running behind me as I stride onto the shop floor to finish sorting before opening time. The shop is a mess, clothes racks are out of order, the floor needs a hoover and I haven't even counted the till yet. This morning is going to be busy, and I have to put up with a serious pain, and my head mouth too. Noah strolls out with wet, folded paper towels in his hand. I turn my head away from him to confirm my anger, put his hand reaches for my chin and I don't exactly put up a fight as he pushes my chin up to look at him.

"I am really sorry Emilie, please forgive me." He pushes his bottom lip out to a pouty face to exaggerate how sincere his apology is, but it just seems he's mocking me. He holds up the paper towels as if they were a peace offering and gently presses them on my lip.

"I don't forgive you." I manage to get out to tease him. The towel is icy against my warm lips and I can't get over how tense the air is right now. His eyes are fixated on my lips whether it's through concern or not and mine are fixated on his, definitely not through concern. I know he's always a jerk to me, but he has a face sculpted by the gods themselves. The shadows cast on his face from looking down at me highlight his dramatic jaw line and make his eyes look dark and passionate. His eyes flicker up and catch mine only for a second before the whole situation turned extremely awkward.

"I should, um, start cleaning..." He mutters.

"Yeah I can probably handle this." My hand briefly catches his as I take the paper towel, and I'm shocked by how cold it is, and a small gasp escapes my lips.

"Do I still have that effect on you?" He smirks and I hit his arm as hard as I can from the close proximity. He seems so sincere and caring, but only managed to maintain it for short bursts before returning to the former ass reputation he likes to uphold. I roll my eyes and get back to counting the money in the till.

The day passes pretty quickly and is generally quite boring. It was busy, but that means less time that's just me and jerk-face which is a plus, I think... I caught him blatantly staring at me a couple times, he didn't try and hide it and when I caught him he continued to stare and occasionally winked, which was mortifying to say the least. By the time closing time arrived I was exhausted and ready to collapse but caught Noah in the hallway as I went to collect my things.

"Hey." Hey what? I look up at him, looking extremely sheepish with one hand on the back of his neck and staring down at me.

"I was wondering what you're doing this evening?"

"Sleeping." He laughs at my response but I fail to find anything comical about it.

"I was wondering if you wanted to do something?" Is jerk-face asking me out... A little stunned to say the least I scan his face to calculate if there is any hint of humour due to a cruel joke being planed on none other than me.

"You wonder a lot of things." I retort to test my theories.

"Just answer." His blank face doesn't falter as his eyes bore into mine.

No.

"Yeah I'd like that." Wrong answer. I'm so tired I don't want to hang out with him, I want to go to bed.

His face lights up as a boyish grin takes over his face.

"Great, I'll grab your bag for you." He turns on his heels and I stand a little stunned at what just occurred for a moment. I make my way to the till to get the keys to lock up, my mind fogged by the look on his face when I said yes. Is this a date? No. Surely not? It's friendly... Right?

"So what were you thinking?" I ask as I lock the door behind us, and my concern of what we'll have to talk about clogs my mind.

"Well I was just thinking hot dogs from the pier and then maybe just chill on the beach?" As much as it pains me to admit that sounds utterly fantastic.