Distance / Gilinsky

Chapter 8

It was six A.M and the beach was empty. I was in my bathing suit, and I had tried to wake up Levi to come swimming with me. Of course, he shook me off and sleepily told me to go away. Cameron had left when I woke up, saying that his family came in town and they were all early risers so he had to go. We hugged and for a second I could've sworn I was ten again having a petty crush on a boy, but then I remembered that his days were numbered and it was bad enough having a crush on Jack.

Now I was sitting here, watching the sun rise and beginning to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. Something about being by myself on the beach made me happy and giddy, like I was a kid running around with sand stuck to my legs and wet hair sprawled around my head. It was a feeling that I wanted to share with someone, but Levi was asleep. Also, he had experienced the same things as me, considering we grew up here. The thought of Jack jumped around my mind for about a half an hour, and I hated feeling like this. I hated feeling indecisive, like I had to protect myself. Trust me, more than anything I wanted to let myself fall in "love" with Jack, but that type of thinking wasn't realistic.

After about two hours of the sun nearly singing my skin, I let myself go back to the house and rest on the couch for a while. I hadn't done anything all day, but I wanted to rest anyway. I put a cold water bottle to my newly-burnt skin and watched a show on animal planet about apes and how they were one of the smartest animals. It was boring, but eventually, Levi came down in his boxers, looking confused.

"What day is it?" He asked sleepily, sitting on the love seat across the couch.

"Thursday." I said blatantly.

"Shit, I told Matt I would meet him at 9:00."

"Yeah," I said, "it's ten."

"Cameron left?"

"Yeah. Family stuff."

He nodded and sat there for a minute until he said, "you hanging with jack today?"

"I wasn't thinking of it." I replied. But we're just friends. And that's what friends do. Hangout.

I picked up my phone that was resting next to me and went on the back porch to call him. It rang twice, and then he picked up.

"Hey, Lexi." He said almost breathlessly.

"Hey, jack."

"What's up?"

"Do you want to hang out... Today?"

"Just me and you?"

"Yeaaaahhh?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong with that, I just thought-"

"We're friends Jack," I laughed. "We can hang out."

"Yeah," he laughed back. "Be here at four." And then he hung up.

-

"Shut the fuck up!" He laughed so hard he couldn't breathe.

"No-no I-" I couldn't breathe either.

I was in the midst of telling him about a dream I had previously had, about how I had met Ryan Gosling and he said I had nice tits.

"I- I can't believe- HAHAAHAHAHAHA!"

"Shut up!" I regretted telling him the first place.

After we had calmed down enough to talk properly, he handed me a soda out of the mini fridge beside his bed in the hotel he was staying at. JJ was resting on the bed opposite of us FaceTime-ing his girlfriend, who constantly repeated, "I miss you!" In a nasally voice.

My face, I imagined, was super red, but Jack didn't seem to mind my embarrassment. We talked for a little while longer, until JJ left to go meet up with some friends.

We turned on the tv and nothing was on, so he flipped it back off and flopped onto the bed behind him. Several minutes later, it began to storm.

"I love storms." I said, walking to the large window, several stories high, and looking out at the vast beach town beneath me.

"Me too." He said.

It was awkwardly quiet for several minutes until he said, "wanna take a nap?"

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Because I'm tired."

"Oh." I said.

I walked over to JJ's bed and flopped down. Jack laid on his bed and covered himself up. I flipped on my side, my back facing him, and as soon as I closed my eyes, he said, "Im cold."

"Here," I took off my extra blanket that laid at the foot of the bed.

"No, like I need warmth. From another body."

"Jack-"

"What? I'm fucking cold. Warm me up?" He opened his blanket, inviting me in.

"Jack," I said again. "I thought we-"

"Fine, let me freeze to death. What a friend you are."

I laid there for several minutes, and finally heaved myself up with a heavy sigh.

"Fine."

He giddily sat up like a child being told it's Christmas morning, and I got myself out of bed and shuffled to his. He scooted to the side, and I gently laid down, my burnt skin stinging as it rubbed against the sheets.

"Sorry," he said quietly as if it was his fault my skin was burnt to a crisp. When I finally got situated, he draped a heavy arm over my torso, and we didn't say anything. I held my breathe, afraid if I took a breath he would get up and this fragile moment would be shattered. In this moment, I didn't care about what would happen when the school year started, I only cared about how I felt as we laid here together, his breath ticking my neck.

"Lexi," he said after several minutes of silence.

"Yeah," I breathed.

"About the, 'just friends thing'-"

"I know." He was quiet and we listened to the fat rain drops smack against the window.

"No, I mean, I can't do this. I can't be just friends with someone like you."

I wanted to ask what it meant, 'someone like me', but I stayed silent.

"We met such a short time ago, and I know this is so fucking cliche, but I feel like I've know you for my whole life. If I could, I would just lay with you, here, forever. Just like this."

"I wouldn't. My skin burns like hell. I don't think I could have a sunburn forever."

He chuckled, and his lips moved to my neck. I froze, and my heart was like a hammer in my chest, and I swear he could hear it.

"I really, really like you, lex. I can't be just friends. Because I want to kiss you whenever I want. To be able to hug and you and lay in bed with you and share things with you. I want to be with you. And yeah, maybe it will only be for the summer, but that's a chance I'm willing to take. We can decided what happens once summer begins to end, but for now... I want to be with you."

I didn't say anything. I couldn't say anything.

His lips silently moved to my jaw, and then his hands crawled from under the covers and began to draw small circles on my stomach. I shivered, noticeably, and he planted a soft, warm kiss to the nape of my neck.

I couldn't help myself. I turned to face him, and our lips slowly met. His lips were so warm and big, and it felt like mine belonged on his. He grabbed my waist and pushed me towards him, and I pulled away for a breath.

"Me too," I said breathlessly.

He looked at me, confused.

"I want to be with you, too."

-

HOLY SHIT GUYS IM SO SORRY FOR THE FUCKING LATE UPDATE I LOGGED OUT OF MY ACCOUNT AND FORGOT THE PASSWORD AND JUST FOUND THE NOTE I HAD WRITTEN MYSELF WITH THE ACCOUNT INFO IM SO SORRY BUT I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE IT OKAY ILY