"That's gross," I stated, staring at the crusty snorkel gear in Alec's hand. He had just grabbed some gear from the garage and was assessing them before we put them into the car."It's not gross; it's just sand in there... I think..." Alec said, holding up one of the snorkels in better light."And that's supposed to go in your mouth? It literally looks moldy," I argued. There was no way I was about to use that particular snorkel. "Let's just take the flippers and go buy new goggles and snorkels? I doubt you want to put that in your mouth either."He gave it one more once over, turning it over in his hands before tossing it into the trunk. "Fine... we can stop and get more, but I'm bringing these for the goggles just incase it's cheaper to just buy a mouthpiece.""Okay, thanks!" I said before making my way to the passenger side door. I gave it a tug just to realize it was locked.I waited patiently while Alec got into the driver's side, taking his sweet time to settle in before finally
I hesitated, allowing my feet to adjust to the temperature. "Fuck, it's cold! The other beach was warmer," I complained."Don't be a wimp; let's go," Alec persuaded."I just need to go slow to adjust," I informed, taking another few steps and stopping.I watched as Alec rolled his eyes, taking a few quick steps back in my direction."What are you doing?" I questioned. I had a bad feeling as I took in the expression on his face.He didn't answer me, instead, he grabbed me around the waist and lifted my feet off the ground as he walked us both deep into the water. My body was pressed tightly to him, keeping my front kind of warm as my back was assaulted by the cool water."Fuck—fine! You win; I'm in! Put me down," I squealed.He chuckled. "Put your goggles on first. The sand dropped off and you won't be able to touch here."He released his tight grip on me enough so that I could move my goggles from the top of my head to cover my eyes."Put your snorkel in your mouth, and test both of t
I stood there awkwardly as Alec dressed himself, getting ready to leave the beach.I knew it wouldn't be long before he realized I literally have nothing but my suit to walk the long distance back to the car. It wouldn't have been a big deal if we were parked right off the beach, but we had to walk through the town too. Plus, yet again, I kind of looked like an idiot. He told me to hide my stuff, I didn't listen, and now I had to suffer the consequences. I was just nervous about how Alec would react to my stupidity.I was lost in my thoughts and didn't even notice Alec staring at me when he finally spoke. "Aren't you going to get dressed?""Um... so here's the thing about that," I started, "remember when you told me to hide my stuff in the rocks?"He sighed, probably knowing already where this was going. "Yeah. You forgot didn't you..."I nodded, giving him an innocent smile. "Correct you are Alec. So, since my stuff was stolen... I suppose I'm ready!"He sighed again, shaking his hea
The place he took me to was really quite cute. There were options to sit both inside and outside, but due to the rain, we had to sit inside. It wasn't an overly large place, but there also were not very many customers. Aside from the two of us, there were only two other occupied tables. The inside was dimly lit, and it looked more like a dive bar with cute beachy decorations and funny bar signs all over. We were seated across from each other in a corner booth, and were currently scanning the extensive menu.The air conditioner was blasting in here, and I was glad to have decided on the sweatshirt. I pulled it tighter around my body."Cold?" Alec asked.I nodded."Want to trade sides? You're sitting right under the air vent," he offered.I nodded again, "If you don't mind, that would be great."He stood up and I scurried passed him to sit on the other side of the booth. I could still feel the air conditioner, but it was a little better. "This is better, thank you," I said. It looked l
Alec didn’t seem deterred as I continued to shove my face with pickles. “The other night in the hot tub, you said that people always leave. What did that mean?" Alec asked out of nowhere.I swallowed the pickle I was chewing before answering. "That's kind of a heavy topic for lunch.""Well," Alec said, looking at the time on his Apple Watch, "it's a late lunch; it's basically a dinner.""It's a linner," I said, chuckling at my own joke."A what?""A lunch and dinner mixed together- linner," I explained, surprised he didn't get it the first time.He smiled, "You're kind of a dork."I smirked, "So I've been told."Before he could press further, Scott arrived with the rest of our food and another round of beers, even though we hadn't finished our first ones. "Jeez, is Scott trying to get us drunk?" I chuckled."Probably. He usually does. Now, are you going to tell me what you meant?"I took another big drink of my beer before I began. "Well, long story short, I didn't really have a fat
“Ouch!" I complained dramatically as I dipped my foot into the hot tub. I pulled it back out immediately, repeating the process until the water was tolerable. "I swear this is even hotter than last time."Ryan just watched me in amusement. I never understood how people could just walk right into the tub without any adjustment stage. He and Alec both could, and I just didn't get it."Any day now, Jay," Ryan teased."I'll get there," I responded. "Speaking of days... how was yours? Everything okay with your job?"Ryan leaned his head back, closing his eyes before responding. "Yeah. There was just a glitch with some of the finances. It's all resolved now though."I lowered myself in so that I was now squatting on the seat with the water up to my bellybutton. "Well, that's good then. Does this mean you're off the hook for a while so that we can hang out?""I think so! Fingers crossed," Ryan said with a smile. "How was your day? I see you convinced Alec to take you out?"I smiled, finally
"Alec?" I asked, blow dryer in hand just incase it wasn't him.He jumped, turning to face me. "Jayna? What the hell!""Sorry, sorry... I didn't mean to scare you," I said, lowering my weapon. Now that I was standing in the bathroom with him, I noticed he had a slightly busted lip and a bruise on his cheek bone, like he had been punched in the face. I also noticed he had a cut on his hand that looked kind of deep. He was holding it to his chest and digging for something with his other hand."What the hell happened to you? Are you okay?!" I asked, placing the blow dryer on the counter top.He sighed, "None of your business." He finally stopped to look at me, pulling out the Neosporin. "Are you not wearing pants?"I could tell that he was drunk. One, because he was ever so slightly slurring his words, and he was usually so articulate. And two, I could smell it on him; he literally smelled like a distillery."Of course I'm wearing pants. I have shorts on under this; but don't change the
Waking up this morning, I felt strange. I kept replaying my interaction with Alec last night over and over in my head. I didn't think what I felt for him was one sided... but after what he said last night, I couldn't help but wonder if it was. Had I been the one to lean in? Was every spark, jealousy driven moment, and ounce of attraction just a figment of my imagination?Just as I felt my head was going to explode, my phone lit up with an incoming phone call from Maddie. I answered, holding my phone at the most unflattering angle I could capture as her face appeared on my screen."Morning, bitch!" She screeched.I groaned. "You are way to chipper for this early in the morning."She rolled her eyes. "It's 9:00— why are you even still in bed? Don't you and Ryan have some amazing adventure planned?"I laughed, "Not really; I think we may go to breakfast somewhere, but other than that we were just going to have a pool day. Apparently there's some huge beach party tonight that Ryan wants