~Saturday April 16th~

"Are you busy on Monday?" Reads Noah's text. Finally, spring break has started. I have no school for a week and minimal rehearsals, meaning for once I actually am not busy.

"I'm free all day, what are you thinking?" I text back after a few short minutes. I am currently reclined on the couch, soaking in the fact that it's Saturday afternoon after the last day of dance classes and I don't have any homework to get started on.

"The weather should be really nice and Cameron and I were thinking of going to the beach. Would you and Olivia want to come?" Noah responds immediately. I open the message and start typing.

"Sounds like fun! Do you want me to text Olivia?"

"Don't worry about it, Cameron's talking to her right now."

"Of course."

";)" Noah responds, making me laugh. Noah and I continue to talk for a few minutes about random things before he says that Melody wants him to play with her and of course I let him go.

~~~~~

~Monday April 18th~

I wake up to my alarm at eight so that I have enough time to get ready before Noah picks me up at nine. I immediately start my routine, excitement for the fun day ahead overriding sleepiness. I decide to pull my hair into a french braid to keep it out of my face and prevent too much sand getting in it - though I know I'll still be washing salt and sand out of my scalp in the shower tonight. It takes me a few minutes to decide which bathing suit to wear. This is my first time wearing one this season so I'm not sure which ones still fit me. I finally decide on a plain black bikini, the top being two triangles and the bottoms having small cutouts at the hips. I am surprised by how good my tattoo looks with them, and can't help but feel excited to show it off today.

After throwing a tie-dyed t-shirt and jean shorts over top, I head downstairs to eat some breakfast and pack up a beach bag. Just as I'm sitting down to eat, I get a text from Noah.

"Cameron and Olivia just bailed on us, and Cameron won't say why... do you still want to go?" I am surprised that they backed out at such short notice, and make a mental note to ask Olivia about this later. Anyway, I'm already dressed and ready, so I might as well still go with Noah.

"I'm down if you are. Are you still picking me up at nine?" I respond.

"Works for me. See you in a bit." Noah sends. I finish getting ready, packing a bag with a towel, sunscreen, sunglasses, a book, and some earbuds. Right at nine o'clock I hear Noah's Jeep pull into my driveway so I grab my bag and head out the door, locking it behind me.

Stepping into the fresh air I feel a weight being lifted off of my shoulders. It looks, feels, and smells like springtime - finally. The little snow we had melted weeks ago, but the air is finally getting warm enough that I can smell dirt and grass and flowers. The breeze is warm instead of chilly, and I find myself wishing I had my sunglasses on instead of in my bag.

As I approach his car Noah gets out of the driver's seat and opens up the door behind it. He meets me halfway to the car.

"Hey," he says when we're face to face.

"Hey," I respond, smiling. As I do, I feel his fingers lightly touch my shoulder as he takes my bag from me, and understand why he opened the door to the backseat.

"Come on," he says with a smirk as he turns back towards his car. As he puts my bag in the backseat and closes the door I open the passenger side door and climb in. While he gets in his own seat I take it upon myself to fiddle with the radio until I find a good general pop station, and keep the volume low so it just serves as good background noise.

The drive is only half an hour, but it feels even shorter. The feeling of the warm breeze through the open windows mixed with a casual yet humorous conversation with Noah makes me feel light. I can't stop smiling as I try my best to make sure I'll remember this moment for a long time. Who knows where I'll be after graduation, if I'll still live in Rhode Island, if I'll still be in contact with my current friends. The thought of leaving Olivia and surprisingly Noah as well makes me ache to stay here and now forever, but I try to remind myself that there are so many good things to come with the future. And who knows, maybe I'll be able to keep in contact with everyone.

Noah picks a parking spot right next to the sand and we hop out of his car. I've been able to smell the sea for a few minutes, but now that we're right at the water it's more prominent. This scent mixed with the sound of seagulls flying above us makes it feel like summertime - and it nearly is. I walk around the front of the Jeep to go get my bag and find that Noah is already closing the door, my bag over one shoulder and his over the other.

"I can take mine," I say, reaching for it.

"I've got it," he says, starting to walk away from the car and towards the sand. I humph and give up, not bothering to fight him on this little detail, and instead accepting his kindness.

I wasn't expecting many other people to be here, but I guess everyone heard the weather would be nice and decided to take advantage of it. Looking around I see mostly people our age along with some families.

"Is here good?" Noah says when we find a patch of sand that isn't claimed by anyone else. It's far enough from the water that the sand is dry and hot, but still close enough to hear the waves and practically taste the salt in the air.

"Perfect," I reply, tossing down my flip flops which I had to take off when we got to the sand. Noah puts down both of our bags and we settle in. The sun feels so warm on my arms, so I decide to take off my shirt so I can feel it on my back too. I cross my arms in front of myself and peel it upward, careful that my bikini is still on correctly. I turn the shirt back right side out and put it in my bag, thinking of what I'd like to do first. "I'm going to see how cold the water is," I say to Noah. I turn to address him and find that he's already staring at me, but try my best to ignore it. I pass the heat in my cheeks off for just being warmth from the sun as I continue, "Do you want to come with?"

"Sure," Noah says, his eyes snapping back to mine to answer. He takes his own shirt off and I have to force myself to look at the ocean and start walking. If catching Noah staring at me made me embarrassed, I really don't want to be caught staring at him. I'm sure he'd say something cocky that would leave me feeling mortified and flustered. After a few steps I do look back to make sure he is following just as he catches up with me.

When my toes first meet the edge of the water, I am not surprised by how icy it is. It's so early in the season, so I knew it would be cold. Noah continues walking until the water is halfway up his shins while I stay at the very edge of the smallest wave.

"Not bad," he says, looking back at me and squinting into the sun.

"It's freezing," I respond, taking two steps back so I'm not in the water at all anymore.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you're not going to swim at all."

"I will, just not yet. Let me sunbathe for a little bit to get really warm, and then it'll feel nice," I say as I continue walking backwards towards our bags. Noah rolls his eyes playfully before following me out of the water. When we get back to our stuff I pull out my towel and lay it on the sand. I pull out my book for if I get bored but decide against the earbuds for now. I also take off my jean shorts and pull out the sunscreen, mostly focusing on my shoulders and the sensitive skin on my stomach which rarely sees the sun. Once I've finished with a quick coat of sunscreen I settle down on the towel with my back up. I lay the side of my head down so that my face is towards Noah who is on my right, and bend my left arm beneath my head as a little pillow. My right arm is down by my side and my fingers absentmindedly play with the sand.

My eyes wander over Noah's figure. He's sitting up, both of his arms propping him upward from behind so that his torso looks long and lean. I already had a pretty good idea of how strong his build is, but if anything his arms and abs are more defined than I had thought.

After a few minutes my eyes shut, and I'm more aware of my sense of sound. The crashing waves soothe me until I feel like I could fall asleep, if only I were more tired. After a few minutes I become aware of a group of teenagers that must have just picked a spot near us. They sound like mostly boys, probably our age or a little younger, and definitely routy. I can't help but listen in on their conversation as it's the clearest thing I can hear at the moment.

"Hey, black bikini, over there," I hear one of them say, followed by the responses from the rest of his friends - mostly whistles and short comments. I am vaguely aware that there's a good chance they're talking about me - given that I'm wearing a black bikini - but don't really pay any mind to it. As long as none of them say anything over the line offensive or come over here, it's fine. I'm sure they'll move on from looking at me within seconds anyway, and I don't even bother to open my eyes. As predicted, I hear one of the other boys point out another girl on the beach and the attention is off of me.

However, someone else seems to have not moved on from the short moment so quickly. I force myself not to react in any way as I feel Noah's hand slip between the sand and mine, intertwining with my fingers. I allow myself to close my hand around his - I'm assuming that he thinks I've fallen asleep and don't want to change this assumption. It's best if he thinks I didn't hear those other teenagers, and that I barely even notice that he's holding my hand, and that I don't realize how possesive he's being. But what Noah might not realize is that I am entirely awake and alert.

After about ten minutes the skin on my back feels warm, and I decide it's time to get in the water. I open my eyes and wait a minute for them to adjust to the bright sun. Once they do, I can see Noah sitting next to me, his fingers of course still intertwined with mine. With his other hand, he flips through the book I had brought. It's not the type of book I would have expected him to enjoy - or myself really - but I guess it's definitely better than sitting in boredom.

I move for the first time since laying down, propping myself up with my left arm, and immediately gain Noah's full attention. He looks over at me with a sweet smile as neither of us make any kind of move to let go of each other's hand.

"Ready to swim now?" He asks. I nod my head in response and am slightly startled as Noah stands up immediately, then turning to help me to my feet by excitedly pulling my arms. I laugh as he practically drags me to the water, his hand back in mine again.

As we approach the water I am walking behind Noah, so I get a good look at his tattoo. It looks just like he had described, small black numbers on his shoulder blade - Melody's birthday and his dad's birthday. It's simple, but the way that his shoulder and back muscles move beneath it are extremely attractive.

Right when we arrive at the edge of the water I make the decision that it would be best if I go in quickly - like jumping in a swimming pool instead of standing on the stairs for ten minutes. Apparently Noah had already made this decision for me as he continues to pull my forward by my hand until the water is up to my hips.

"My legs are numb," I say when he stops and turns to me.

"It's not that bad, you just need to get used to it." Noah pulls me forward more, but not with nearly as much urgency. The water slowly starts to reach my ribcage, causing me to stand on my toes because of how cold it's making my stomach. Noah lets go of my hand and dunks under the water, submerging his whole head. He pops back up seconds later, a couple of feet away from me. "Come on TD, just go under. It feels nice," he encourages me.

"I'm good," I respond, my arms bent and raised to my shoulders in order to keep them from going under the water. Only the tip of my braid is wet.

"Do you need help?" He says with an evil smile growing.

"No! No, no, no," I respond immediately, trying to walk backwards though it's difficult in the water. Noah walks towards me at a faster pace, and I decide that turning around and walking in a forward direction is my best option. However, just as I turn he catches up. I know I'm screwed when I feel his arms wrap around my stomach, one arm easily able to capture my entire torso by itself.

"Hold your breath," is the last thing I hear. I take the reminder and suck in a breath just before he pulls me under. Once I'm fully submerged he lets me go, and I pull myself back up to the surface. I waste no time with retaliation.

"Jerk!" I yell as I splash him right in the face, him getting a mouthful of water. I laugh as he spits it out and wipes the water from his eyes. Noah suddenly lunges at me, but my reflexes are quick. I try to swim away, but he pulls me back to him by one of my ankles. He then grabs a hold on my hips and turns me around until I'm facing him. Now we are standing, and I instinctively put my hands on his shoulders to steady myself - though he doesn't move his hands from my hips.

"Are you going to apologize?" Noah says, arching one eyebrow and trying his best to look angry. But it doesn't work on me, I end up laughing at his face which causes his expression to break.

"You're the one who needs to apologize, you started this!" I respond.

"If you weren't such a scaredy-cat and had just gotten in the water I wouldn't have had to do that. It's not so bad once you get used to it, right?" Noah starts talking to me but I immediately become distracted. His hair is soaking wet which has caused it to fall all over his forehead. I can't help myself from pushing it up and off his forehead, but find that as I push his hair upward it stays right where I put it. I decide to have a little more fun and begin shaping his hair into a mohawk, pushing the locks straight upward and together. Noah stopped talking when he realized that I wasn't paying any attention to what he was saying.

"What are you doing?" He asks, his eyes glued to my face as I continue to perfect my masterpiece.

"Making a mohawk," I say, laughing at how ridiculous he looks along with how childish my actions sound out loud.

"Why," he asks, starting to laugh as well.

"It's funny," I respond, shrugging my shoulders. I finish with my hair artwork and let my hands return to rest on his shoulders again. "Done. You look great," I say without being able to keep from bursting out in a fit of laughter. Noah suddenly drops his head a little and begins to shake it back and forth like a dog, spraying water at me and ruining my creation. I bring my hands in front of my face to stop some of the droplets as I laugh again.

Noah and I talk and swim for another half an hour before I decide that I can't take it anymore, my legs are going numb. We trudge out of the water and to our towels to dry off a little. By the time we get there the sun has warmed me to the point that I'm no longer cold, but my bathing suit still drips with ocean water. I wrap my towel around my shoulders and sit down in the sand, bending my knees to dig my toes into the sand. Noah wraps his towel around his shoulder as well and sits down right next to me so that our arms are against each other.

I work my feet through the sand, pointing and flexing my ankles and feeling my whole body being warmed by a combination of the heat of the sand and Noah's body next to mine. After a few minutes of calm silence, Noah speaks.

"I brought badminton rackets and a birdy, you want to play?"

"Sure," I say right away. Though I've never been good at any type of team sport, badminton is one thing that I can sort of do. Noah and I stand and I ditch my towel while he gets the rackets. Even though I'm not completely dried off yet, the black fabric is attracting the heat of the sun so I'm sure I will be soon. "You better watch out Thompson, I'm pretty good at badminton," I say once he's handed me a racket and is getting ready to serve the birdy.

"Oh really," he asks, and I nod my head. "I won't go easy on you then." Noah tosses the birdy in the air and serves it overhand with an unnecessary amount of force. I don't even bother to lift up my racket as I watch it fly far over my head, landing yards past me.

"I'm not that good," I say with a laugh before turning and jogging to get the birdy.

"So you do want me to go easy on you then," he says when I am back at my original position.

"If it means I get to win, then yes," I respond with a cheeky smile. I gently serve the birdy underhand and am pleased with the nice arc it makes towards Noah. He hits it back with ease, this time actually towards me. We're pretty good, and can consistently get twenty or so passes back and forth until someone misses. Noah makes a big show of diving for the birdy when I make a bad pass, flinging himself at the sand with his racket extended and making me laugh hysterically at his desperation.

~~~~~

Written 2/5/19, Published 2/10/19

Hello again!
Wow, this is the longest chapter I've ever written, it's 3,300 words!! It's also a very cute chapter, one of my favorites.
Good news! This past week I stayed up really late 2 nights in a row to write this chapter... and the next one! So I can guarantee an update next Sunday!
Also, since the last update we've hit 16k reads! Thank you so much for that!!

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Thank you for reading! :)