Two Weeks With Chelsea

Chapter 30

With two rented bikes and a picnic lunch packed in the paniers, they set out on a ride to the beach at Portiragnes Plage. They rode at a leisurely pace along the tree lined path that followed the Canal De Midi out of Béziers towards the Mediterranean.

Chelsea stopped to take a photo of a cargo boat that had been converted to a floating home on the canal. After snapping the photo, she looked upstream and noticed a view she had to capture in a photograph. She moved down the bank and steadied herself with her foot just inches away from the canal water on her right. The branches of plane trees on either side of the canal arched across to form a canopy over the water, their reflection softly distorted by gentle ripples on the surface. Centered in the shot was an old stone bridge with its arched form mirroring that of the trees.

She stepped away from the bank and turned the lens away from the canal to snap a photo of Trevor with the vineyard on the opposite side of the path in the background. He changed his pose and leaned on his bike as if he were to appear on the cover of GQ. His attempt to look sophisticated came to an end as the bike fell over and sent him stumbling forward. Chelsea held the shutter button down to grab a series of photos as Trevor's foot snagged in the bike frame and he headed towards the ground.

"This one has to go on your Stone Wall project," she giggled as she showed him the last photo of the set while he lay motionless on the ground. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I usually need a few beers in me to look that drunk," he said with a laugh. "I will definitely have to post that one. Suppose I should get back on that. Shouldn't I? I haven't posted anything for a couple days. Would you mind getting my foot untangled?"

"Post some of the ones before it, too. The series captures the moment so well," she said as she freed his foot from the bike.

They arrived at Portiragnes Plage an hour later, locked the bikes to a bike rack and walked to a spot a short distance down the beach. Chelsea removed a new towel from one of the paniers and spread it out on the beach while Trevor opened another and started removing items.

"I'm glad I bought a hat," Chelsea said as she finished flattening the large beach towel. "Do you like my new beach towel?"

Trevor nodded as he dropped the sunblock and his hat in the middle of the towel then slipped off his shirt and laid it over the paniers. Chelsea bit her lower lip as her eyes scanned his body while he removed his shorts. She averted her eyes when he looked at her.

"Well?" Trevor said. "Let's see it. I wanna see this new bathing suit you've kept hidden."

"Okay... Okay..." Chelsea replied softly. "Well, don't look."

"Or should I say, mostly hidden. I'm guessing it's bright orange."

"Yeah, it's bright and I wasn't thinking when I got dressed. You can really see it through the shirt," she said as she looked down at her chest. "Come on, don't look."

Chelsea waited until Trevor had turned his head and wasn't watching her. She looked around and felt self-conscious and embarrassed to be removing her clothing on the public beach. She wore the new bikini under her clothing, but it still seemed as if she were stripping naked in front of a non-existent crowd of on lookers. Trevor snuck a peek as she wiggled her hips while removing her shorts.

"Well? Can I look, or what?" Trevor asked.

"Yes, okay," she replied softly.

She stood with her right forearm across her stomach, her left hand fidgeted with her hair over her right shoulder as the arm attempted to cover her chest.

"Come on, put your arms down. Let me see," Trevor pleaded.

Reluctantly Chelsea lowered her arms to her sides and nervously looked away from Trevor; her eyes scanned the sand to her right. The bikini top was a bright, nearly florescent, orange hourglass shaped bandeau with black along the lower edge that thinned in the center of each cup. The bottoms were a black hipster style with a rounded scoop of the same bright florescent orange on the front panel.