My best friend's brother and my brother's best friend (2016)

A spontaneous summer

We leave the pulsing music behind as me and Eli stumble onto the pavement.
"Hmm," I moan, closing my eyes and breathing in the fresh summer air. Cars race past, their headlights illuminating the street, and across the road a girl struggles to help her drunk friend into a taxi.

"That helping?" I feel Eli come up behind me and wind his arms around my waist whilst kissing me on the top of my head. I smile, biting my lip whilst my stomach performs the biggest somersaults of its life.
"Definitely. We gonna call a cab then?" I force myself to say before my knees buckle completely.
"No way!" He grins "I told you, I know a great route home and it's a beautiful night. Come on," he pulls my hand and leads the way down the street and outside town. Suddenly I realise where he's going.

It takes us about half an hour, in our half-drunken state, to get to the beach. Taking off our shoes, we start walking across the smooth sand. Thank God. I'm not great in heels and those were starting to paralyse my feet. Through the dark I can just make out the waves gently hitting the shore and the smell of sea air relaxes me instantly. Feeling like a child I stretch my arms out and start spinning around facing the sky. I shut my right eye and point up, making out the Big Dipper shining down on us.

"Having fun there squirt?" I stop, facing Eli who's stopped with his hands in his pockets and a huge smile on his face.
"What? You're right, it's a beautiful night! The kind of night we need to make the most of." I say standing on my tiptoes and wrapping my arms around his neck. Ok, maybe I have drunk more than I originally thought.

His strong hands rest on my lower back and his deep, beautiful eyes don't leave mine. I giggle nervously and grabbing his hand I raise it above my head and twirl lightly underneath his arm. Surprisingly, he joins in taking a quick bow and lifting me up so one arm is under my back and the other under my knees. His hand lightly brushes me under my thigh, sending goosebumps all over my body, and he spins me around. I bite my lip, gently leaning my head against his, before suddenly getting an idea.

Jumping down quickly from his grasp, I pull my hair out of it's bun and somehow manage to undo the zip on my dress.
"Dani? What're you doing?" The look on Eli's face is priceless.
"Oh calm down precious," I giggle snorting slightly, oh for God's sake!
"I want to go for a swim!" I giggle and start running towards the ocean, I turn around to see Eli laughing and throwing his jacket and shirt to the floor before chasing me across the beach. I let out a whoop as I slip out of my dress and run kicking into the ocean splashing water everywhere. Thank God I'm wearing my good black underwear the tiny, slightly sober part of me says. I run until the water comes up to just below my chest and lie back, soaking my hair in the fresh sea water.

I hear splashing and stand up, soaked to the bone, to see Eli stood in his boxers. I can't help myself when my jaw drops at his beautiful body, I scrape my wet hair back with my hand and suddenly become very aware that I'm stood alone with Eli, half submerged in the ocean, soaking wet and in nothing but my black lacy underwear. I glance up shyly to his face and he's wearing that look again, the one I couldn't quite place in the kitchen. It's deep rooted in his eyes that are locked right on mine and when I look back down at his chest, I realise he's panting. Is his heart beating as fast as mine is?

Suddenly, with one swift motion, he swipes his arm across the sea surface sending a tidal wave in my direction.
"You arse!" I scream, spitting salt water out of my mouth as Eli nearly collapses with laughter. Thank God for waterproof mascara!
"I am going to kill you for that!" I grin before splashing him as hard as I can and jumping on his back. He laughs, running through the sea, giving me a piggy-back ride just like he did seven years ago.

I swing around so that we are chest to chest and my arms are wrapped around his neck, leaving my feet slightly elevated. Our eyes lock again, faces inches apart. I can feel his warm breath on my cheek and his heart hammering against mine. Is it his or is it mine about to explode? Slowly, his head moves closer to mine.

Oh my God!

I can feel my breathing quicken to an almost unbearable pace. My heart thunders, about to jump from my chest.

All too soon; he pulls away.
"We should be getting back." Eli smiles softly at me, slowly putting me down, leaving me breathless. "Come on, we have some towels in the beach hut." In silence we walk out of the sea and grab our clothes, I can still feel the scarlet colour in my face. Eli turns to me and holds out his hand which I hesitantly take and let him lead me to the Carver's beach hut.

It's a bit of a walk but once there we unlock the wooden blue door and go into the little hut. The inside is covered floor to ceiling in oak, at the far end is a little kitchen, the right a soft quilted couch and a small TV and on my left side is a wardrobe stretching across most of the wall. It's a handy place to have when we're on the beach most days.

"Here you go!" Eli throws a big soft towel at me and I wrap it around my body whilst beginning to towel dry my hair with another. Eli does the same and laughs watching me.
"Feeling spontaneous were we?" He says drying his hair, his torso is still dripping and he looks glorious.
"Maybe," I grin cheekily "a few more drinks though and I think I would have been full on skinny dipping."

Once I'm reasonably dry I climb back into my dress.
"Will you zip me up?" I ask Eli letting my hair fall down.
"Sure," he replies doing the last button on his shirt. He approaches me from behind and gently traces his hands down my back making my skin tingle. Then he slowly zips up my dress before running his hands back down and holding my waist.
"You look beautiful tonight by the way," he gently whispers in my ear pulling my damp hair away from my face. Then he's gone, hanging our towels on the hook and putting his jacket on.

I dutifully follow him out of the hut and we walk in silence up the familiar beach that eventually leads to home. Every so often, I dare a glance up at Eli taking in how his damp hair shapes the curves on his face so perfectly. I look out to the ocean thoughtfully enjoying the sound of the crashing waves on this gorgeous walk home. Eventually we trail up the grassy hills and approach the house.
"I wonder if they're back yet," I say, gripping on to my shoes wearily. It must be nearing four in the morning and I'm shattered.
"Probably," he replies "you know my sister, she'll want to be up at the crack of dawn as usual." I laugh in response.

We make it to the front door and Eli fumbles around for his keys before opening the big wooden door and letting us in. We walk through the house and I start padding up the stairs as quietly as I can.
"Dani?" I turn to see him stood at the bottom of the stairs, gazing up at me. Our eyes lock and I feel the electricity once again come live between us. It feels like we're stood in that position for an eternity before he quickly looks away and throws his keys on the side table.
"Nothing ... it doesn't matter. Goodnight," he smiles up at me before walking to the kitchen and leaving me in no man's land.

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