Catch Me

||August 6th||

As silent as I crept down the stairs and out the back doors. I skipped down to the shed and pulled out a small 1'x1' canvas and the new acrylics. I went back up the pavilion and waited for you. You said you'd be over around 9 and it was 8:52. A few boats went past giving me false hope but then there you were. Moving slowly towards the dock. The sun was shining down on you and it gave me a chance to stare at you. Your chocolate brown hair was tousled and even from here I knew your glasses were slipping down your nose. You lifted your hand and waved as you approached the dock. I set down the canvas and happily trotted down the hill to help you.

"Morning," I greeted.

"Good morning, Lil," He replied. Without thinking I reached forward and pushed up your glasses. Not realizing I had put us into an awkward predicament due to my annoyance with your slippery glasses I continued. Your eyes widened and resembled a baby deer in headlights while I slowly moved them up your nose. Which was actually quite cute, if I say so myself. Naturally, one thing led to another and we both leaned forward into each other. Before we move on, let me tell you it is nothing like the movies. The two people just close their eyes and know which way to turn their head or who's lip goes where but in real life it's unexplainable. Especially since it's been six days and neither of us have really established dominance. It was obvious you hand never kissed a girl and if you did it was probably one of those awkward junior high kisses that's were sloppy and gross. The 2-syllable kind of gross. Going out on a whim I closed my eyes and listened to your rapid breath. Slowly moving my head to the side and cleared all of my thoughts - which is extremely hard to do by the way. Unfortunately we didn't get to the point of fumbling our lips together in a somehow romantic way because the boat and the dock were not secured. Then the next thing I knew I was blindly falling face first into cold water. Not fun. Especially when your eyes open last second and you feel the the sting of the water envelope your eyeballs. My brain acted as though it had never swam before and commanded my body to flail helplessly until I was able to regain control and push myself back to the top. I came up gasping for air and swung my head around wildly. I whipped the water off my fingers and groped my face, making sure I wiped all the excess water off my eyes. I heard a low chuckle and looked up. Oh shit. You were still there? Oh shit, you saw that mess. You had an amused look in your eyes and you were scratching the back of your neck nervously. Your lips were pressed thinly together with such a force they were white. Most likely they held back extreme laughter. I grabbed a post with one slippery, dripping wet hand and grabbed a plastic board with the other. I pulled myself onto the dock. I laid back onto the warm boards and caught my breath. As I caught my breath I became aware of my jean shorts and loose, white top sticking uncomfortably to my also soaking underclothing which wasn't exactly sensible for a swim. I wriggled around uncomfortably while you hooked the boat up to the dock and stopped once I heard you step onto it. The boards creaked as you came closer to me. I rubbed my eyes and pushed myslef up to a sitting position. When I stopped I noticed my fingers were covered in tiny clumps of mascara. I internally sighed and wiped them on my shorts. You went to sit next to me but the giant puddle that lay besided me wasn't necssarily appealing. So, you changed direction and plopped down on the other side. I noticed the color of your cheeks suggested you had thought about what had almost happened and I cringed. You avoided my eyes and I couldn't decide whether you were embarrassed or ashamed. Either way I wanted to say something. Anything to make you not feel like it was a mistake obviously I wanted to kiss you... Unless you didn't want to kiss me... Oh Lord. We met like six days and now I wanted to kiss you? Oh God. I cringed again at the fact that it was me who pursued the kiss. You never would've and you probably regret anything of the sort. The certain feeling he was giving off began to affect me and my head pounded with... with... anger? What was happening to me? First, I want to kiss you - this shy, quiet guy - and now your making me angry because you're acting like you're not attractive to anyone. Or why would anyone want to kiss you. Um, hello? Yeah, right here! God, someone needed to give you an ounce of confidence. I got up and stormed up to the house leaving you to wallow in silence on the dock. I stalked past my sisters who are sprawled on the couch -tissues in hand - watching Dear John in their matching track pants and sports bras. Indicating the time of the month they were both suffering through. I throw on the cutest bikini I have and strut down the stairs. Finally pleased of the fact mom made us conform to the ways of all rich people. As in the 5 star, healthy cooking, yoga every morning and night, pilates on Tuesdays, and cardio on Fridays. That meant a nice and fit body and soul. Did I say soul? Yeah, don't forget Jesus every Sunday morning. That was a requirement, - even when we weren't loaded - if you wanted to keep a good profile up for all those lovely church-going trophy wives with there plastic, genius children who love to gossip about anything and everything. Who could and would make up any story about a random devilish quality you exerted if you didn't go. There were a few gems in the middle-class crowd, but once mom found out about her account that was available and spilling over with money there was no more middle-class crowd... Leah gave me an odd look as I marched in a determinded manner past her and I ruffle her hair. Not letting the sad look from Aspen waver my adrenaline rush. Continuing my confident strut, I grabbed two life jackets out of the cabinet and practically flew down the hill.

"Let's go, Drew," I called and you picked your jaw up from the ground and scrambled over to me. I tossed the life jacket to you and you fumbled with it; finally you got it on and I grabbed your arm. I tugged you towards the jet ski and climbed on it. You stood on the smaller dock and stared as I rocked the jet ski back and forth into the water. "Hop on." I patted the seat behind me and a flash of fear was evident in your eyes yet you sat - fell -down. The jet ski shook back and forth and I put the key in. It hummed with life that mirrored my excitement. We slowly moved backwards and then jerked forwards. It took you a while but once I kicked the speed up to 60 your long arms quickly tightened around my waist and I couldn't help but grin. I could feel the tension that rippled through your muscles. I closed my eyes and let out a big whoop. I could feel your smile grow and the stiffness eased up. You pressed your cheek into my shoulder and I bit my lip to contain from that strange, tingling sensation that happens head to toe. I, to this day, don't know how to explain it adequately enough to explain what happens in that moment when you just feel like the whole world has just stopped and nothing feels better than having someone's arms wrapped around you.

A/N:

Sorry, it's a short chapter but it's been awhile and with schoolwork kicking in it's hard to keep up esp. when all you can think about is how to write 5 paragraph essays and the Pythagorean Theorem rather than where you want to take your characters and their relationships. Love you!