Beauty and the Jock

Light my fire

Jason.

I sauntered to the other end of the beach, looking for her.

And there she was...walking barefooted on the sand, looking all alone and sad, but beautiful. I smiled at the sight of her. We were so different. But it felt so right. Everything about her drew me closer and closer...
It was starting to get dark and breezy as I went over to her.

"Jennifer, what are you doing here?"

She looked up, startled. I could tell that her big chocolate brown eyes weren't expecting to see me. She gave me a small smile, and my heart ached when it slipped off her face.

"Just listening to the waves. It's so soothing." She closed her eyes, inhaling the salty air. "What about you? Why aren't you partying it up with the rest of your friends?" she asked, her eyes glazed over in the evening light.

"I'm not really in the mood," I replied, running my fingers through my hair. "Um...hey, do you want to dance?" I asked hopefully.

Her face was skeptical as she let out a nervous laugh. "I can't dance for the life of me."

"Come on then, I'll show you."

She was hesitant at first. After a short pause, let out a breath and smiled. "Okay."

"You have a really great smile. You should use it more often," I told her.

Her face turned visibly pink as she took my hand warily.

Our bodies swayed in synchronization and I gently twirled her around, enjoying the feeling of her body next to me. On the spur of the moment, I inconspicuously buried my nose into her hair, inhaling its sweet fragrance. Mhmm, strawberries...

I couldn't believe that we were slow dancing on the sand, to the pulsating rhythms of trance music coming from the mega-sized speakers back at the party...

"Aren't you cold?" I asked, feeling a chilly current of air against my skin.

"Not anymore."

"How come?"

"I don't know," She answered, frowning. "You're...warm"

I couldn't take it anymore. I had to be closer to her.

Her face was inches away from mine and her lips parted a little as I leaned in.

I was just about to close the gap between us when –

"ATTENTION EVERYONE!"

She jerked away as if she'd just had an electric shock.

I looked up, annoyed, to see who had yelled. What the...It was Daniel! I was going to murder him.

He was about a hundred yards away from us, and was grinning drunkenly at everyone. "Thankkk youuu my lovely people... Now, whooo wantsss to playyy Truth anddd Dare?"
Everybody grew quiet, trying to understand his garbled words, before someone finally screamed, "I do!"
Then everyone was cheering and making a circle around the bonfire. I turned to Jennifer and held out my hand, hoping she'd take it.

But she didn't. Averting my eyes, she grabbed her slippers from the sandy ground and walked away hastily. It was as if she couldn't wait to get away from me.

What was with that about?

Jennifer.

I don't know what came over me. I don't know why I felt butterflies swirling inside my stomach when he said he liked my smile. I don't know why I let him dance with me. I don't know why I felt safe with him. I don't know why I was about to ki –