I'm Fine

Chapter 24

Damian and I waded into the water after lunch, shivering from the immediate cold. It was actually amusing to see his teeth chattering and body shaking while we both got soaked in the sea. After standing in the water for a bit, it no longer felt as cold and a cheeky smile had made its way onto Damian's face.

He scooped up a handful of water and splashed it on my face. I squealed and cursed at him, returning the favour by spinning around and letting the water skim under my arms, splashing back at Damian.

"That's not fair!" he shouts, trying to move away from me.

"You shot first!" I counted, scooping up water to launch.

Suddenly, he dips under the water, and I spin around, trying to locate him from under the murky depths. Well, not really, but you get the idea. I feel something brush my leg and yell as Damian emerges from the water, hair dripping, I fall backwards and in slow-motion, get submerged under the icy death grave.

I surface above the water to take a deep breath and scowl at Damian, who still has a famous grin on. He hoists me up on my two feet, and I shake my head, combing the seawater out of my hair. It's still noon, so we have three hours to do what we want, and we did.

Splashing, kicking and laughing until we really were chattering, despite being in the water for nearly two hours. I decide to dry off in the still hot sun, and Damian joins me moments later. We stare up at the sky, clear and blue and I turn my head to look at his smile. He doesn't notice, and I don't look away.

Today has been a fantastic day, I couldn't have asked for a better one. And with everything happening, I wasn't fretting over Lee. Even though that awful dream reared its ugly head, I had Damian there to comfort me, which wasn't as bad as suffering through it alone.

I couldn't possibly have survived staying cooped up in those classrooms all day.

"Hey, Imogen," says Damian, still looking straight up.

"Yeah?" I ask, sketching in the sand.

"Do you wanna do something tonight?" he replies, a hint of worry lacing his words fearing that I might say no.

"What sort of thing?" I sit up straight on the mat and start combing out my hair.

"Well, it's a surprise. But I really think you'll like it." He sits up too and looks me right in the eyes. I smile softly, waiting for the words to form in my head.

"I'd love to Damian." He smiles at my words, and suddenly, I'm taken all the way back.

The sun was warm, and Shay, Oliver and Josie were nowhere to be seen. Damian was right there beside me as we walked the pathways, looking for our friends. I called Shay's number for the third time, but no one picked up.

"Since we can't find them, do you want to do something with me?" asks Damian shyly, scratching the back of his neck. I shrug, impartial to his implications.

"Sure, where do you want to go?" I ask, giving up on the call and putting my phone back in my pocket.

"Well, I've got twenty dollars from that bet I made with Riley Anderson. We could go to the park and look at all the rides and stuff."

"Sure, Damian. That sounds fun," I said, perking up a little. I've always wanted to go to those things, except Shay and Oliver are deadly afraid of heights, and Josie, well, she likes all the extreme stuff and hates the little carnival rides.

Together we walk for almost ten minutes to the park where all the food stalls and rides are. We play rock paper scissors for who chooses what to buy, and Damian wins. I shrug it off, although I'm really craving the ice-cream sundae bar just around the corner of where we're standing. He sees me looking there and pulls me by the wrist to the stall.

"One medium-large vanilla and strawberry, chocolate sauced, rainbow sprinkled ice-cream sundae please," he says to the man at the counter. I'm shocked that he still remembered what my favourite sundae flavours are, but then again, they're not that hard to remember. The man hands him a really generous cup, positively way too big for me to eat on my own.

"I can't finish this on my own, Damian!" I cry, laughing.

"Well, I could help." He grins, and we find a spot on the grass to sit and eat the massive sundae. After stuffing ourselves with the deliciousness that is ice-cream, we wait around for ten minutes. I suggest the Ferris wheel whose line doesn't look too long. We stumble over there, still full and spot one of our school friends at nearly the front of the line.

"Hey, Hamilton! Come 'ere," says Henry. He invites him over and then tells me to come too. Henry's with Juliet and that means that Damian and I will still be together. I don't know what to think of that, I mean, I've been with him most of the day today anyway, which is very rare actually. Even if Oliver and Josie are busy, Shay never is and always joins us. It's been ages since it's been just the two of us.

"Hey, Imogen. It's us now," he says, grabbing my hand and pulling me onto the metal contraption. I slowly feel the ride clanking into gear, and we start to move. The view from up here, even though we're barely off the ground, is still spectacular. I grin as the wind lightly blows the seat and laugh at Damian who looks really uncomfortable.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of heights too!" I say, wiping a tear from my eye.

"No," he replies shakily. I search for his hand and grip it tight, unaware of how clammy his hands are.

"Woohoo!" I cry into the wind and Damian can't help but laugh. He whispers something I don't catch, and I look at his brown eyes, twinkling brightly in the sunshine. For a second, I can almost see him let his guard down, which doesn't happen very often.

Despite being really friendly, Damian isn't always the most open about his feelings, so for him to drop his walls for even a split second, makes a knot in my stomach. Because what I see in his eyes isn't exhilaration or excitement...it's love.