Everything I Never Asked For

Chapter 23

NIALL'S POV

"THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!!!!" Jade screams as she holds on tightly around my waist, pressing her damp chest against my bare back. I hear the whistle of the wind in my ears and the splashing of the waves as we cut through the lake at god knows how many miles per hour. When we ride the waves, it's just like how it felt on the boat except even more reckless.

"Where do you want to go?" I yell so loud that the whole world could probably hear me.

"That way! Look let's go over there!" She's pointing to the right and when I look over theres a bank and a hill that has an American flag perched on top of it. "I want to go up to the flag!"

I slow down as we approach the brown mud. I stop the engine and when Jade plops into the water she shrieks, running to the shore like a moonman.

"Oh my gosh! Niall the ground feels so squishy!" Her grin reveals her beautifully straight teeth. She tucks back the baby hairs that escaped her pony tail. I jump off of the jet ski and my feet automatically sink into the mud, tilting me off balance.

"Aw gosh that's kind of sick!" I wiggle my toes in the heavy cold mud as it engulfs my feet up to my ankles. When it begins to feel too slimy I walk out of the water to Jade, experiencing how difficult it is to move. "I think we can go up those rocks to the flag."

I start walking first and she follows carefully, the dirt and rocks sticking under our feet.

"So do you think Zayn will ever forgive me?"

"Well he joined the game so he has to deal with the consequences." I shrug. Sweat drizzles down my face even though we aren't even doing rigorous work. The rest of the way we don't talk because we are both dying under the heat. Jade is beside me, chugging her bottle of water and I catch myself analyzing her body again. I keep getting urges to touch her that i'm not used to. She's so pretty. She links eyes with me from her peripheral view and I quickly turn forward, reminding myself not to look again. The rocks get steeper but when the flag comes into view Jade takes off in a run.

"Look we're almost there! Come on SLOW POKE." she turns around and winks at me and I almost lose it. I jog up behind her and she's already leaning against the pole checking an imaginary watch on her wrist. "Tisk tisk, I think you oughta take another lap." I ignore the fact that she sounds almost exactly like my father, minus the Irish accent.

I look up and I'm directly below the waving stripes of America that stand about seven feet above me.

"This place just gets better and better." Jade holds her hands to her mouth as she gazes off at the view of the whole lake with boats planted on it like toy figurines. I sit on the edge of the hill on a rock and try to find a spot where the blue lake and blue sky meet, but it's impossible because the grey moutains or hills prevent them from touching.

"What's wrong?" Jade sits on the rock in front of me and stares into my eyes, wresting her chin on her hands adorably.

"What do you mean?" I mock her with the same position shes in.

"You haven't been smiling the way you usually do." She ignites a spark inside me and I try to pull a convincing smile on my face. "Ew no, not like that. You're faking it, I can tell."

"Well your smiles aren't very convincing either." We begin kicking a rock back and forth between eachother.

"Yeah well, I know I have a reason for that. Now what's yours?" I take this as a good moment to tell her.

"I can't talk to you anymore." I look away as I say this and I struggle to get the words out. When I look at her again she looks confused. My heart begins to feel heavier and heavier as I think about how to explain things to her.