...James and I walk down to the beach hand in hand. When I get there, I scan the sand to see if Emma is here yet. I see Emma sitting on a beach towel staring out into the crystal clear blue ocean. I let go of James hand and jog over to her. I sit down next to her with a smile.
"Hey Em!" I say happily
She turns to me and I wrap my arms around her. I release her and James grabs her by her shoulders and drags her into the water. She lets out a shriek of laughter and runs back over to James and I. But instead, I look over at James and nod my head. James and I stand up and run towards Emma. She stops with a jokingly worried look across her face. As James and I run past her, James picks her up and throws her over his shoulder. We run in the water and James throws Emma into an oncoming wave. I dive under the wave and when I surface the water, I feel Emma's hand on my ankle.
As she pulls me under water, I tilt my head to take a gasp of air. She pulls me under and then releases me. As I come up, James grabs me and throws me up in the air and then does the same to Emma. I feel a slight stab of jealousy run through me, he's treating Emma better than he treats me, I think to myself. But I try not to worry about it. I diver under water and grab James's ankles. I pull him underwater and release him. When he resurfaces in front of me, he jumps towards me and pushes my underwater. I quickly breathe in air and then fall underwater under his force. I wait for him to release me and then I stretch my arms out and pull myself to the surface of the water.
I turn around to see a wave approaching me, but I don't duck dive under it, I just watch as it falls over my head. I stay standing under the pressure of the wave and feel as it pulls my hair behind me in its force. My head eventually appears out of the water and I wipe the salt water off my face. As I open my eyes I see James throwing Emma around and pushing her into waves. Another stab of jealousy rushes through me. I swallow hard and try to ignore it. I swim over to them and try to act as happy as possible, but it's so hard.
"You ok?" Emma asks concerned.
"Yeah," I mumble quietly.
They continue to muck around, I try to join it, but they almost ignore me.
"I'm going to go back up to the towels and stuff for a little," I say softly.
"Ok, we'll join you soon," James says proudly.
Why is he so proud? What is he proud of? The fact that he managed to get rid of me, so he could spend some "special time" with Emma? Gee thanks James, I think to myself. I walk up and out of the water; the cool water drips out of my hair and off my body. The breeze sends chills down my body. When I get to our things, I turn my head to see James grab Emma around her waist and throw her over his shoulder. He then grabs her and throws her back into the water. I try to fight off tears, so I put my sunglasses over my eyes in case I start crying. I pull out my towel and wrap it around my body.
I see James run out of the water and towards me with a goofy smile across his face. When he reaches me, he wraps his arms around my waist and he looks down at me.
"Are you sure you're ok?" James asks softly.
I nod softly.
"You're not, I know you're not, what's wrong?" He demands quietly.
"I just... I guess I'm jealous that you're having such a good time with Emma and throwing her around and stuff and you're just ignoring me," I exclaim quietly.
"Now that's just silly!" He exclaims with a soft smile, "Emma and I are just friends! But I love you Katharine, you and only you, ok?"
I nod and look up at him. He kisses me gently. His lips taste of salty water but I like it. I wrap my arms around his rips and pull him closer to me. He puts one of his hands on my cheek and the other in my hair. Emma runs up and grabs her towel and wacks us with it.
"Get a room!" She yells jokingly.
I run towards her and tickle her. Emma and I roll around on the sand and then chase each other into the water. Hours go past, and eventually it comes around to late afternoon. Emma is asleep on her towel and James and I are sunbaking hand in hand.
"Wanna go for a swim and cool off?" James asks quietly.
"What about Emma?" I ask with a soft smile.
"What about her?" James says.
He stands up and picks me up by my waist and throws me over his shoulder again. We run into the water shrieking with laughter. When we get to waist deep water he puts me down and puts his arms around my waist and pulls me towards him.
"I cannot tell you how much I love you," I say to him softly.
"Neither can I," James says looking down at me.
He leans closer to me and kisses me again, one hand in my hair, the other on my cheek. I melt into his body and kiss him back. We stand there together and eventually pull away. I bob down until the water is up to my shoulders and so does he. We look at each other with soft smiles on our faces, this is how I want it to be, always. Our hands touch underwater and he grabs mine and pulls it above the surface of the water and plants a soft kiss on it. I giggle quietly. He's such a gentleman, I think to myself...
