A Truelove of Turtle Doves

Chpt 20 - My Heart Is Yours

His laughter flowed from behind me, merging with mine in a symphony of bliss that sang to me. The lull of the waves and the whisper of the breeze played along with us, the song produced being the most beautiful I had ever heard. I wished that I could bottle it and keep it forever as a memoir of this day.

I charged straight into the sea, the salty water crashing against my legs. Daring to glance back, I saw Francis grinning as he followed right behind me, hastily removing his boots and rolling his trousers up, and I narrowly missed having sea water kicked at me.

In response, I splashed him, throwing water all up his side as he shouted out in French, probably something to do with the temperature of the water.

"Mon chéri, when I get hold of you I'm going to-"

"You're going to what?" I teased, sticking my tongue out at him.

Unfortunately, this action distracted me, and I received a face full of sea water. I shrieked and Francis cackled in response.

Kicking my legs around, I squinted at him as I attempted to simultaneously wipe my eyes and avoid his grasp.

Yelling and laughing echoed around the small beach as we splashed each other with water and taunted one another. We soaked our clothes and our hair to the point where I didn't think there was an inch of us dry. Sometimes we 'accidentally' picked up sand with our handfuls of water, and then we'd scream at the other person for throwing sand at us. I got it in his hair and Francis got it down my back. It was gritty and uncomfortable, but it didn't matter. I didn't care, and I don't think he did either. We tackled each other and squirmed away from the other's grasp, pushed and pulled until we fell into the sea, and then we jumped back up and did it all again.

Eventually, gasping for breath from the running and the laughing, I ran out of the sea and back onto the beach. His footsteps were close behind mine.

"Where do you think you are going, mon chéri?"

"To sit down and recover."

As I slowed down however, I realised that Francis was still heading towards me rather quickly.

"Ah, ah, ah," he tutted, "I said I would get you, and I'm not stopping until I do!"

He lunged towards me and I sprinted away.

"Francis!" I yelled.

Despite this, I was laughing as I ran away from him, moving further down the beach as he followed me.

I was panting heavily, my lungs burned, my legs ached, and my heart was thumping so hard in my chest that I thought it was going to explode. But it was the best feeling I'd ever had.

Looking back at him, I stuck my tongue out again.

"You are running out of beach, mon chéri," he sang.

Returning my gaze to the front, I saw that I was, indeed, running out of beach, and I definitely did not fancy running up those uneven steps.

Guess I have a change of plan then.

"Nope!"

With that, I did a u-turn, this time sprinting towards Francis as he gaped at me incredulously before smirking.

I returned the look.

He attempted to snatch me around the waist, but I quickly darted to the side, his hands only skimming my waist, grabbing at my shirt instead. I stumbled, crying out as I tried to shove him off of me. This of course caused Francis to trip over his own feet, and after several awkwardly large paces forward, the two of us lurched towards the ground, hitting the sand beneath us as we hurt our sides laughing.