Emerald Summer

Chapter 18

He sighs, "It's okay baby." The kisses me and gets up. "Come on," he says, taking my hand with a reassuring smile. I stand and follow him. He takes me upstairs to the theater. "What do you want to watch?" I look through the movies. There's so many, from cheesy originals to new less cheesy ones. It's the biggest collection of horror movies I've ever seen. Wow. Of course I pick Dracula because, hey, why not? The whole time I hear a low thumping noise, but I don't think anything about it. The movie finally ended and the sound quit. Maybe it was just the old reel? "Hey," he says, "wanna go for a swim?"

"Yes!" I say enthusiastically. I haven't been in a pool in forever. I can't even remember the last time.

"Well go get your bikini on and meet me out there," he says, smiling. I get up and go to my room. I change into the skull string bikini and head out to the pool. He's not out here. I shrug. He probably got sidetracked. I slowly step into the water. It's ice cold. Even though it's August it shouldn't be this cold. It's pretty hot outside? Just suck it up. You love swimming and you haven't been all summer. I stand at the edge of the pool, debating whether I should jump in or ease in. Arms grab my waist and my feet leave the ground. I squeal. Ice cold water consumes me. I didn't even hear him walk up.

I surface quickly, gasping for air and shivering. He's laughing uncontrollably. "You asshole," I say with chattering teeth. I swim over to the edge where he's at. As he squats down to meet me I grab him by his shirt and pull him in. I smile as he resurfaces, pushing his hair out of his face.

"Well the," he laughs, pretending to be offended. He doesn't look like he's even bothered by the cold water. He moves to dunk me and I dodge him. I swim away from him to the deep end. I get out there and I realize what I've done as I hop from one foot to the other trying to keep my head above water. He laughs and walks over to me. He picks me up and I cross my arms. "What?" He asks.

"You can touch and I can't" I say mockingly.

"Well, I can put you back down if you want me to," he grins as he lowers me halfway.

"No. I'm good, you're warm," I giggle. We swim for a while. Maybe he actually just wanted to swim. I thought he was just getting me out here to have pool sex or something. At this point I really don't know what I want anymore. He's confused me. I should hate him, he hurt me, but I can't. I mean look at him. I get out of the pool and wrap a towel around me. I don't feel like swimming anymore. I sit in the lounge chair beside the pool.

This is wrong, I shouldn't be here, but he saved me. I can't leave, even if I want to. Something's wrong here. I don't know what or why. There's someth- "What's wrong?" He asks, looking genuinely concerned.

"Nothing. I'm just thinking myself into a bad mood," I answer quietly.

"No," he persists, "something is wrong. What's bothering you?" He walks over and sits beside me.

"It's just, over the past few weeks I haven't really thought that much about things because I've been preoccupied with you and myself. But, I realize now that I just don't seem to remember much about anything before you rescued me. Why did you even lock me there?" I say, avoiding eye contact.

"You loved me, we loved each other, and you came to live with me. There was this girl, Jade, that you thought was your friend. She wasn't, she was evil. She tried to take you away from me, and she convinced you to leave. She tricked you into thinking I'm the bad guy when it's really her. I was angry at you. I made sure you'd always remember that you are mine," he says as he pauses to run his fingers over my brand. He has the most helpless look on his face. "And then I locked you away," he finishes with a whisper. A chill runs up my spine. All he wanted was a happy ending and I tried to ditch him. I shouldn't hate him, he should hate me. I hurt him. That's what's wrong here, me. I'm so terrible. Why the Hell did I let that girl get to me like that?

He's still mindlessly staring at the mark my stomach. "I'm so sorry," I say lowly. He looks up at me and caresses me. I hang on and don't let go. I feel so terrible. He leans back to look at me, but doesn't let go.

"I know," he says, stroking my hair. "I'm just glad you came to your senses."

"Me too," I smile. He catches me looking him over. I blush. Why are you blushing? I look down so he can't see. He gently grabs my chin to move my face back up to his.

"I love you," he says with a sweet voice, but his face is dead serious. It kind of scares me.

"I love you," I reply softly. I pull him closer and bury my face in his neck. He loosely wraps his arms around me. Don't cry, you cry way too much. My heart is in my stomach; I feel so hollow. What have I done?

"What's the matter?" He asks.

"I feel so bad. I hurt you. I left you. I made you hurt me. I hurt you in a way I can't fix, it will always be there," I say slowly and quietly, trying to hide the tears in my voice. I'm not crying, but my voice sounds like it.

"Don't feel bad. It's okay now," he says reassuringly, "do you want to go in?" I nod and let him go. He smiles. I stand and start inside. He comes up behind me and picks me up. I giggle and smile at him. He kisses me and carries me inside. He's so warm. I'm so tired. Well of course you're tired, you haven't done anything for almost three months and then you swim for two hours. He carries me up the stairs and into my bedroom. He lays me down and crawls over me to the other side of the bed.

I laugh. "Couldn't you just have went around?" I playfully hit him.

"Yeah, but it's not annoying that way," he smiles. I smile back lazily. We kiss. "You're tired?"

"Nah," I say sleepily. He raised his eyebrow. I giggle, "Okay. Okay. Maybe I'm a little tired, swimming makes me sleepy."

"So you don't want to have sex?" He says with puppy dog eyes. I put my hand in his face and push his head away.

"Stoppp, with the eyes," I mumble. He chuckles. Wait. Did he just give me a choice? He kisses me, then moves down to my neck and chest.

"So," he stops, "yes or no?" Is this a trick question? I don't want to, I'm really tired, but he said I can't deny him. But he asked?

"Ummm..." I say carefully, "no?" He smiles.

Wrong answer. Oh no. He's gonna hu- "Okay," he says seemingly careless of my denial. Huh? He kisses my forehead and wraps me in a tight cuddle. Did he hear what I said? He has changed.

"I'll make it up tomorrow," I mumble. He does that stupid smirk when I look at him. I bury my head in his chest. He runs his fingers through my hair as I fall asleep.