You Belong With Me (Raura)

Chapter Two

Ross shut the car off, hopping out and running to my side of the car before I could even unbuckle myself. He pulled the door open and offered me his hand. I took it, grateful that he was still acting how he always did around me. So far, Jaz wasn't worried about our friendship like I thought she would be. His last girlfriend, who he dated for a total of five days, was so jealous of me that she broke up with him right after finding us watching a movie together at midnight in his bedroom. It wasn't the best place for her to find us, but we really weren't doing anything besides watching that movie. She accused him of cheating on her with me, so she broke it off right in front of his whole family who had woken up from her screams and piled outside his room to watch the drama unfold. Rocky and Ryland even popped some popcorn, much to Ross's chagrin.

Stepping out into the warm air, I grabbed my surfboard out of his trunk, and he did the same with his. Ours matched with the same design of vines climbing up the board. The rest of the board was white, so the green was very prominent against it. We both saved up our paychecks for months just to buy these two boards from Stormie and Mark. Ross and I both agreed that these surfboards were very beautiful and wanted them for ourselves, just the two of us. 

The sky was orange and pink as the sun slowly sank down below the blue water at the end of the beach. A lot of people were still here, but there weren't many people in our little secluded spot underneath the cliffs and hills where shadows usually dominated the area, scaring people from entering the little area. Not many people knew about this place, and I liked it like that. Ross and I had found it when we were almost fourteen because we wanted to somehow run away from home for some reason that I didn't even remember, and we've kept it a secret from our whole family since.

I set my bag down on the sand as Ross spread out a blanket on the grainy sand. Our surfboards were side by side, stuck in the sand, waiting for us to ride them along the waves that were slowly crashing against shore. But he plopped down on the blanket, his toes stretching out toward the blue and pink sky while his fingers stretched toward the cliffs behind us.

"What are you doing?" I asked, frowning down at him. 

"I'm tired," he whined. His hair framed his face nicely, making his hazel eyes shine against the light color of his hair. "I worked hard today."

"What'd you do? Flex too hard?" He laughed. His legs trapped mine as I tried to step toward my board, and I almost fell on top of him. Thankfully, I grabbed onto my board to help me steady myself before falling onto him. "Ross! Let go of me!"

"Never!"

I giggled as he jabbed his feet into the back of my knees. I stumbled forward at him, but his hands slipped around my waist, steadying me. When had he sat up? I wasn't really sure. He held me there for a second, his breath heavy against my stomach. Why in the world was he that close to me? I was surprised by how warm his hands were. My breath was stuck in my throat as he gazed up at me with burning eyes. I had no idea what was going on in his mind; all I knew was that I wanted more of this, whatever it was.

Before I could fall deeper into his touch, I pulled away from him and turned toward the ocean. My face burned as I realized how much I enjoyed him touching me like that. My hands gripped my surfboard, and I sprinted toward the water, not wanting to face him just yet. My heart thundered against my rib cage. Most of all, my mind told me to stay away from him because he had a girlfriend that wasn't me. I couldn't ruin that for him.

"Laura, wait!"

I paddled into the water, the sound of his voice disappearing behind me. Without him right next to me, my head grew clearer and clearer. He did bad things to me. I couldn't stay that close to him any longer. Our roles were different now, and I had to maintain that balance. I couldn't bear to ruin his relationship with Jaz because it made him very, very happy, and he deserved that.