Ocean Blue | gxg ✓

chapter twenty-four

alyssa

I recognise the section of beach where Elliot and I met, right as this section of raised cliffs lowers and reveals dunes in its stead.

"Oh my gosh, the origin of my all-original cheesecake flavor!" I tell her, and Elliot smiles over at me. She bites her lip a lot when she smiles; her teeth drag along her bottom lip for just a second, such a small, small second that I missed it about a thousand times before I even realised any lip-biting really occurs. But, it does. Every time. And it is ridiculously, ridiculously cute.

"We can go over if you want," she says to me, and I find stretching out my legs. Which, somehow, haven't ached at all over the past few hours.

I smile. "Sounds perfect."

-

The two of us end up racing through the surf, running along an empty portion of the beach, away from a few people with boards or on towels with books. My new flip-flops lay abandoned next to the pair Elliot lent me, and the sand is scorching on my feet whenever I step out of the tide.

I splash Elliot. In the sand-packed surf, I can't control where my feet go as I run away. The wind tears through my lungs. Salty air hits the back of my throat. I'm screaming, and I feel absolutely unstoppable.

Elliot catches up to me with ease though, and when she pulls me into her arms, tight against her chest, I can feel us both laughing and trying to catch our breath all at once. I'm aware of her hands on my waist and stomach, of her warm breath against the back of my sea-sprayed neck, of my feet dangling useless above the water.

"Sorry," she breathes, but doesn't move to put me down.

Crap, I really can't catch my breath. Still, I'm smiling. "It's fine," I manage between my own panting. Air has abandoned my body entirely. My heart is beating too fast. My whole body is on fire. Air. I need air.

"You good?" Elliot asks, finally setting me down softly.

My feet sink into the cool, wet sand. My legs are unsteady beneath me, and she grabs my waist again. It steadies me, and I manage to look back at her with some tiny ounce of confidence. "Fine," I say. "I'm super fine."

By the time we're back at the Camry, my feet are covered in sand, and my clothes and hair are damp. The heat of the day beats down on the back of my neck. I lift my hair away from the back of my face and groan.

"I'm way too hot," I complain.

"That's the name of your sex tape," Elliot retorts, sliding into the front seat, starting the engine, and immediately rolling down the windows. She flops her head back against the headrest, and I watch her chest heave. "Why does my AC suck so bad? Whyyyy?"

I laugh with breath I don't have. "You know where has AC? My house."

Elliot returns the breathy laugh. "Ugh gimme a second. I need to be not-dead-inside."

We sit there for a second, breathing in tandem. After a few minutes, Elliot rubs her eyes tiredly. "Fuck, why am I so tired?"

"I mean," I say, fiddling with the air port thingie, "we were up kinda late. A little late."

She laughs. "I know. I got home, and my parents decided we should watch Kill Bill."

"You watch a movie with them every night?"

"Yeah, most nights. Usually I enjoy it, but my parents keep rewatching the same stuff recently, and I don't even get a say in it. It's fine." She rolls her shoulders back. "I just have been super tired, that's all."