Under the Palm Trees

December 19, Tuesday

Hey, you! How you doin'? Good? Okay, then get cozy, cause I'm about to tell you my new AWESOME (literally) day!! (Did you like this new beginning, diary? Cause I like it pretty well, compared to the other greetings...)

I would be so happy to tell you that I dreamt about Ethan and me kissing in the sunset, but sadly (really!) that didn't happen. I was so tired after our one-day tour to the monument, that right after dinner I fall into my bed and I woke up in the same position! Even my clothes from yesterday were on! (I know, it doesn't sound romantic, but sadly, that's the truth!). 

So right after I got up, I took a hot shower (yes, in 30 Celsius degrees and yes, with my new coconut shower gel). Then I dressed up (I went with another dress, a white one, with a pair of black sneakers and a summer hat), brushed my hair and I put some minimal makeup on(I know!!). Afterwards, I went to my neighbor to say good morning (and maybe steal some papayas...sss!). I knocked on the door:

"Hello? Pizza delivery is here! Did you order a pepperoni pizza?" I said, changing my voice to a lower tune, pretending that I am a pizza delivery guy. 

"Yeah, just one minute!" said Ethan through the door. I think I heard some rustling, which made me think that he was getting ready for our breakfast. 

"You know, man, I cannot wait that long, I have to go to other rooms too with hundreds of pizzas!" I said and I almost started to laugh! I am soooo good at acting really (okay, that is actually not true, don't believe me...)!

"Ok, coming!" said Ethan "Ok, where is my pizza? There is no money if there is no pizza!" he said, as he opened the door, with a huge smile on his sun-kissed face. 

"No money?" I whispered as he pulled me to him and kissed me with a soft kiss. I loved his lips on mine, his hands on my waist...It.Was.Just.So. PERFECT!!!

"Hmm... you know what? you can keep the money..." I whispered into his smiling lips. Then I pulled away, and put my hand into his soft, warm palm. 

"So, princess, where do you want to go today?" he said as we started to walk down the endless corridors towards our favorite cafe (at least mine is!!). 

"Hmm...why don't we go snorkeling? I heard that the fishes and the corals are beautiful down there at the beach!" I said. Yeah, I know...my family is riding camels today (I know...in Thailand??), which I also hate due to the poor camels...

"Okay...but, do you suck at that too?" he said and started laughing, touching his belly as he laughed, and pointing at me with one of his long fingers. 

"No? Why would you think that?" I said, laughing along with him. "But seriously, I am not THAT bad at snorkeling...just once, I hit my brother on his face with my fins so hard that he had a broken nose!" I said, thinking about how lame I am...and about my poor brother and his broken nose...

"Well, okay, then, we could TRY it, but if you hit me with your fins, I'll never do snorkeling with you again!" he said, starting to laugh again (i love his laugh so much!)

"Okay...wait, do you have a snorkeling set, or do we have to borrow one from the diving store?" I said as it occurred to me that I didn't have a snorkeling set either. 

"No, I don't have one...Do you?" he asked as he caressed my bare shoulder. Goosebumps started to appear on my arms after his touch and my butterflies woke up again...

"No..."I said, looking into his sapphire blue eyes under his long eyelashes. I couldn't hold myself back, so I stepped closer to him, caressed his face softly. There was only one centimeter between our lips, but after a moment, that seemed to disappear forever. He pulled me closer, put his hands on my waist and kissed me. I ran my fingers through his hair and face, then my hands walked down his neck and chest as if it was a street of pedestrians.

...

After we ate breakfast at our favorite cafe (I tried an omelette which was amazing!!), we went to the diving store to borrow 2 sets of snorkeling equipment. I got neon green fins and yellow snorkels (you know when the fishes will come, they'll say "Omg a rainbow unicorn under water!!"...hahahahaha...I'm in such a funny mood), and Ethan got the same pair, just with a bigger size. 

"Okay, so let's go snorkeling!" said Ethan to me, while grabbing my hand. He seemed a little afraid and uncomfortable.

"I have never gone snorkeling or diving before..."He said, worry written all over his face and body posture. 

"Really?" I asked, touching his face gently, wanting him to look at me in the eye. 

"Hanna, I'm afraid... I don't know if I can do it..." he said, looking at his hand, which was holding the neon green fins. 

"Look, even if I am bad at sports, I am pretty good at snorkeling. If you want to come out of the water, we will. I just want to you try it, because it is an experience that you won't want to miss..." I said, caressing his face, and putting his curly chocolate brown hair away from his face. 

"Okay, I'll try..." he said with a lot more confidence than before. I looked at his face, and smiled with a smile that said that "You can do it! Just believe in yourself!"

We went to put our bags and towels down into the sand and took our clothes off. When I took off my dress, Ethan just glazed at me for a long, long time...it was pretty awkward, to be honest...I even started to wonder if I shaved my legs and armpits properly. But then as he saw that I was staring at him too, he swiftly looked away from me, towards the ocean.  

"Okay, are you ready, ladies and gentlemen? Because Ethan Montgomery and Hanna Brown are going snorkeliiiing!" I said, taking Ethan's hand as we started running down the beach towards the blue ocean. 

When we were both done at putting on our snorkels and fins, I took his hand and we went into the water hand in hand (how romantic!). When we were underwater, I think I heard him gasp of the beautifulness of the ocean under water. 

There were fishes all around, even where the people were swimming. There were hundreds of fishes, each different color; one was grey with yellow stripes, the other one was blue, the third one orange. They were coming into our direction, and one of them even touched me! The touch of the fish was soft and calming. There were also shells on the ground and on the corals, some blue, some grey. If you went really close to them, you could see the shells as they breathed. The corals looked so beautiful with their purple and white branches, that I thought they weren't real; they looked so perfect that I thought they were a mock-up of the original ones. 

As we went deeper into the ocean, we saw a grey ray with blue dots, as he was eating a fish in the sand, deep under us. Then, we saw a turtle couple swimming together with some fishes, as they probably were thinking about what all of these people are doing above them. It was so entrancing and calming watching them. 

After a half an hour in the water, we went out from the water due to us being cold. We put our stuff down and went to eat lunch at a restaurant nearby. We sat down, hands around the menu when Ethan's voice broke the silence:

"Hey, thanks for all of this...it was so amazing. You were totally right!" he said, reaching his hand out to mine and squeezing it. 

"No problem," I said, smiling as I looked into his sparkling eyes. He looked happy.  

After we finished eating, we went back to our rooms. We kissed goodbye in front of his room. As I walked away, I thought about how much I am going to miss him after the holiday is over. Maybe we won't see each other ever again...

I found my parents in their room, and we discussed the tour they took with the camels.  I talked about my day, too (just leaving Ethan out of it. I don't want to tell them about us yet.) Then I went to my room and was surprised to see a bouquet of fire red roses. There was a paper hidden between the roses that said "Only yours, Ethan. ". I smiled into the roses as I raised them towards my nose, to smell their beautiful rose-like smell.  I went to my bed, took one rose with me and fall asleep with the thought of the fishes and Ethan in the blue, turquoise ocean.