Life Of Bayla

|22|

I slept all through the ride to wherever it was Cullen planned to take me.

He woke me up and helped me out of the car.

First thing that came to my mind was that Cullen would take me to an Ice Cream Parlor just like the last time but he absolutely shocked me this time.

Never would I have guessed he would actually take me to the beach.

"Cull-" He cut me off, placing his index finger against my lips, shushing me.

My eyes flicked from his hazel eyes to his index finger and my cheeks burned.

"Listen, Bay", he said. "You need to relax and just let me treat you right. I know I may not understand what you're going through right now but the least I can do is help". He smiled as he looked at the sparkling body of water ahead. He turned to me, "And that's what I'm gonna do".

I smiled, "What exactly are you gonna do?"

He rubbed his chin and sported an amused grin, pretending to brainstorm. Just then, his eyes widened as his gaze was fixed on something behind me. He gasped dramatically, "Is that Ryan Gosling?"

I whipped my head sharply, so swiftly I was afraid it would actually snap off. "Ryan Gosling? Where?"

Suddenly, Cullen lifted me off the sand and threw me over his back.

"Cullen!!!" He was running towards the water. I still had my shoes on. There was no way I was going to get in the water and have my shoes wet.

"Put me down right this instant Cullen Peterson Parks", I ordered.

In as much as I wanted to be placed on my feet, I had to admit I enjoyed the lovely view of Cullen's firm butt.

He laughed and I could feel the vibration from his body. Fuck, it was a beautiful sound!

"First of all I'm not gonna drop you, at least not until we reach the sea", he chuckled lightly then continued. "And who the hell told you my middle name's Peterson?"

Cullen paused in his steps. I assume we'd already gotten close to the water.

"So it is Peterson", I said. "It was just a wild guess, though".

He put me down. Finally.

I smiled up at him and he returned it with just as much gusto.

"Nah", he waved his hand. "It's actually Peter".

I took exactly three seconds to process it before I started laughing. He cracked up too and just like that, we were both on the sand, clutching our stomachs and laughing.

"There isn't even a difference", I said, wiping tears from the corners of my eyes.

"Of course there is", he retorted.

"Why are we laughing this much though?"

"I know right. It's not even that funny".

Our laughter thinned down to smiles. We were revelling in our content silence as we watched the waves crash against each other and listened to the risible around us.

I closed my eyes and smiled as the light breeze toyed with my hair, tossing it around my face.

I was happy. I was happy here with Cullen. I was happy because just for these few minutes or hours I was to share with Cullen, I knew it would be worthwhile. I was happy because being here meant I was far away from my life, from reality. And what made me happy the most was the fact that I got to be with Cullen at this time.

Sure, this blissful time won't last long but at least it was going to be enough to let me unwind from everything I'm going through right now.

I let out a content sigh and caught Cullen looking at me.

His cheeks were tinted a light pink shade. Either that or I was seeing things.

"Your hair is pretty", he said.

I unconsciously twirled a strand. No one has ever told me my hair was pretty so I just never actually felt it was pretty. I mean, I personally have never liked the shade of brown my hair is. It's got colour of a mouse and it's always shaggy no matter how much I try to comb out the knots.

"Why though? I hate it".

"What's not to like?" He played with a strand. "It's soft, and long. Really long".

He brought both of his hands and dug them in to the wavy mass, running his hands through them, leaving goosebumps pricking my skin.

God, the feeling was amazing!

I looked up at Cullen. Our bodies were lightly pressed against each other now. I could make out the Cupid's bow of his upper lip and I could spot the specks of brown mixing with the green hue of his eyes.

He looked even better upclose.

Cullen was looking at me now. Longer than he should.

Then he blinked rapidly and pulled out of our embrace. I inched away from him too and stared straight ahead just like he did.

My whole body went hot.

What the hell just happened?

We were dragged into our thoughts once again but this time, we were both stuck, waiting for the other to make the first move to break the incredibly awkward silence.

The cold water darted to my legs and I squirmed in my spot.

Cullen turned to look at me, shifting his gaze from me to the water, perking up his brows questioningly.

I got the message and we both began to take our shoes off. Once he discarded his shirt on the sand, I couldn't have agreed more with him taking it off. He sported a complete six-pack and my eyes were completely glued.

"Earth to Bayla", he snapped his fingers playfully at me.

My eyes fell to the sand and I got all hot and bothered.

I think I've broken my blush record!

We walked slowly to the water, carefully digging our feet into the wet ground, letting the pressure pull us in a little.

I sighed contently for the second time today at how refreshing it was. Cullen sighed as well and we both let the water drag us further. I began to lose balance and just as I felt myself falling, Cullen caught me and steadied me in place. Then we smiled at each other.

We splashed water at each other, drenching up the other's hair and kicking at each other. Then we danced. Yes, we danced. Not to toot my horn or whatever but I've got some moves and I really kicked Cullen's ass as we danced to the music playing in both of our heads.

When we got tired, we decided to just sit on the sand and star-gaze.

It was already late but I wasn't ready to leave just yet. I wanted to spend the next few hours with Cullen before I would face the real world once again.

"That one looks like a mustache", he said, pointing at a perfectly shaped star.

I raised my brow a fraction, "You do know that we're not cloud watching, right?"

He grinned, "I was just kidding".

My lips curved upwards. "Right".

And so we spent the evening basking in the beauty of the twinkling stars.

I snuck a glance at Cullen. The moonlight bathed his upper torso, making it look more appealing than it already was. Cullen was still shirtless and in as much as I wanted to tell him to put it back on since it was already cold, I couldn't because of how much eye candy I was getting.

He turned to face me and I froze, hoping he didn't catch me staring.

He just passed me a smile and went back to staring at the sky.

Phew! That was a close one, I thought.

My phone buzzed in my pants.

I pulled it out and read the message.

It was from Ian and it read: Aaron just woke up.