I Do Until I Don't

Chapter 13

  Believe me when I say that it's not swimming with someone I barely know that will stop me from saying hello to any fish that comes around. There aren't as many as I'd hope, but those who come near me are this gorgeous shade of metallic silver. I try to touch one with my foot, but it swims away before I get the chance.

"Do you do that every time a fish comes near?" Fannar asks, staring me.

"Yeah."

He laughs and ducks his head underwater after taking in a deep breath. He comes back immediately, shaking his head, sending droplets of water on me.

"Jeez! It's so cold!" I say.

"That didn't seem to stop you before," Fannar points out, smiling.

"There's a difference between swimming and getting wet by someone else."

Fannar blinks. "I won't answer back to that."

It takes me a second to understand what he meant by that. I cover my mouth with my hands, my tongue tasting like salt, and shake my head. "You don't seem like the kind of guy that would have thought of that."

Fannar shrugs. "I've got Alex as a friend."

Does Alex think about sex a lot? Does he think about the other alternative when I say that I'm wet? Would he laugh if I ate a banana in front of him? No, he's mature. He wouldn't...

"Oh please," Fannar continues. "You look shocked. Every guy thinks like that."

"That's not true..." I hesitate. "Do you think like that?"

"If by think like that you mean think dirty, then yeah. Sometimes."

I'm about to say that I didn't picture him as a guy that thought of sex a lot when Fannar starts laughing. "Please, girls think like that too."

One, zero for Fannar.

"Anyway..." I say to change the subject. "If we have to pretend to be a couple, maybe we should act like one. Don't you think so?"

"Okay." He looks around the ocean before he continues. "What do you mean by that exactly? Like flirting?"

"Well, I suck at flirting, but yeah."

"How can you suck at flirting?"

"How can you get used to the Northern lights?"

One, one.

I never was good at flirting. I always thought that I would charm a guy by being myself not by the hole Twirling-My-Hair-And-Stuff" thingamajig. Julia is a pro at flirting, but she's never been in a long term relationship. I haven't either, but that's because I don't want to be in one with someone other than Alex.

"I could teach you," Fannar proposes. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not a master at it. Alex is the pro. He could walk up to a girl and she'd hand out her Snapchat before he even gets to talk." I grin. Fannar is saying the truth: Alex is simply naturally charming. "But I got some moves."

"Like what?"

A wave comes towards us before he gets to answer, covering us before I even have the time to inhale. I swallow what I think is half the ocean, my mouth burning with salt, my nose blocked by water and my eyes burning. I cough like crazy, Fannar coming closer to me, patting my back and asking me if I'm okay.

"I will be."

I need a towel or something.

"Blink really fast. It will─Wave coming."