Palas

11. "You're just an easy scare."

“Lexie, you’re not asleep are you?”

Harry’s low voice rumbles in my ear as it is placed against his back. The vibrating waking me up slightly. I wasn’t asleep, just drifting away and Harry woke me up from my snooze.

“I’m still here,” I tell him, suppressing the yawn that rises.

“I know that, you’re choking me.” His tone is soft and comforting me. Instead of feeling weird because I am indeed hugging him a bit too tightly on a still jet ski.

“I’m sorry.” I unknot my fingers from his stomach and let my arms rest on my thighs. I really don’t feel like letting go. I missed contact like this. A simple moment with no intentions behind it. 

“Don’t be.” My head still rests against his back that is slowly rising and falling. “What was that?”

“What?” I ask shifting my body to the back of the seat to create more space behind us. It gives Harry the opportunity to look me in the eye, but he keeps looking ahead.

“You hugging me like that,” he says the words careful as if he weight them all of before saying them out loud to me.

“Nothing.” I shrug my shoulders, realizing that Harry doesn’t see it. “I was just enjoying the view. It’s breathtaking and then I slowly…”

I drift off, not sure what exactly happened and why I hugged Harry. He isn’t the warmest person on earth, but also not the coldest. It just felt right to hug him, if that is what I was doing. I didn’t do it knowingly.

“Fell asleep,” he finishes for me slowly pulling his gaze from the horizon to me. He keeps looking to me for a few moments as I blink to him.

His face is blank as he starts the engine again quickly looking back to the wheel. I let out a breath that I was holding in when he was staring to me. His eyes pierce into your soul, as if he sees things that I don’t.

The rattling engine comes back to life and the peaceful moment I had is gone by now. I’m back to my worrying self as I realize that I have to drive the Jet Ski now. It’s a powerful engine and I’m not sure if I can handle it.

“There’s no brake on a jet ski,” Harry instructs me. He seems to be back in training mode as if he wants to forget about what just happened.

“Excuse me?” I squeak.

“Well there’s one here,” he points to the left handle, “B\but it isn’t an immediate stop like with a car or bike. So you have to calculate when you are patrolling the waters. You don’t want to hit someone.”

“I rather not,” I mumble, suddenly unsure if I can do this. I’m not the best driver and when I look back to the beach I spot hundreds of heads bobbling in the water.

“It’s not that hard and like I said, you don’t have a license so the chance of you using it is very slim. Don’t be scared.”

“I am scared, Harry.”

He looks over his shoulder, shifting slightly so that he can see me when I say his name. I expect him to say something rude but he stays silent as he stares once again. When it starts to annoy me I clear my throat.

“What else do I need to know?” I ask him to brake our staring contest. I wish that I could have a peek inside his head to know what he’s thinking, but it is hard to read him.

“Right is gas, you have to pull it towards you.”

“Sounds easy,” I sigh feeling nerves kick in.

“Let’s switch places.”

He stands up from the seat making the jet hang slightly to the right as he swings his leg over it. He jumps in the water giving me the opportunity to slide forwards. I inspect the dashboard to find some clues as to what I am supposed to do. I’m so caught up in my head that I at first don’t notice Harry tugging my leg.