Chapter 63
"Dude there's no way in hell," Jessica yelled to Kade as Kade broke into a full blown sprint, heading towards the parking lot. Apparently he had heard the ice cream truck, and now he was trying to chase it down the street.
"Run forest!" Madison yelled up from her chair. I let out a chuckle.
"Damn he's fast," I said, tired just looking at him run. Kade ran out of sight and we all turned back to face each other.
"I'm faster," Jessica said, taking a sip of his beer.
"True," Asmodeus added. "But I'm faster than you, so that doesn't really matter." Jessica stood up and pointed down at Asmodeus.
"You. Me. Right now. Let's go," he said and began to walk down to the sand bar in order to race, I presume. Asmodeus let out a smug laugh and got up with him.
"You're the one getting embarrassed here," he jogged to catch up to him. Well this will be interesting.
They drew a starting line in the sand, and Josie went about 50 yards away from them, holding her hands out as the finish line. The two lined up on the line, and Josie counted down from 5.
In a flash, Asmodeus and Jessica bursted forward. Jessica had taken the lead for a second, before Asmodeus powered forward. About halfway through, Asmodeus was about 3 feet in front of Jessica, and when Asmodeus finished he was about 7 feet in front of him. I chuckled and looked over at Madison, who rolled her eyes amusedly.
When they got back to the chairs, they were both a little out of breath, but Josie was the most out of breath. I held in a chuckle at Jessica's disappointed face.
"We'll pretend we didn't see that. Don't worry," Josie said and Jessica playfully glared at her, she chuckled.
"I warned you," Asmodeus said as he plopped back down in his chair.
"Shut up," Jessica hissed half jokingly as he sat down in his chair as well.
"I'm hot as hell, let's go in the water," Josie said and got up.
"Hot is an understatement," Jessica said and winked. Josie shoved him as they began to walk down to the water, leaving Asmodeus and I.
"I don't know about you but I'm far too lazy for that," I said and relaxed deeper into my chair. There was a pause.
"C'mon, let's go," he said and held his hand out for me to take. I looked up at him blankly.
"Did you not just hear me?"
"We're not going swimming, don't get your bikini bottoms in a twist," he said and I hesitantly took his hand and stood up.
"Then where are we going?" I asked as we began to walk.
"Nowhere," he said simply. "We're just walking."
"Why?" I asked, and he shrugged.
"I don't know," he replied. We walked along the beach for about 5 minutes, before I broke the comfortable silence.
"So um, we should probably talk," I looked up to meet his gaze. His eyes resembled the ocean next to us. He nodded, and looked back ahead of us. I noticed a couple of girls eyeing him, and I glared at them. Not that they noticed- they were too distracted. I mean, I didn't blame them, since he was shirtless and all.
"Why did you kiss me?" I asked bluntly. He looked a little taken aback, but his expression quickly morphed into guilt.
"Did you not want me to?" He asked. I quickly responded.
"No- no! I just, I was just wondering, ya know, why me??" I said 'me' like it was an unknown disease. It seemed to bother him for some reason.
"Why do you do that? Hate on yourself so much I mean," he asked with sad eyes. I felt my face flush a little bit, not quite sure how to answer.
"I guess I just don't see why you wouldn't chose someone better, you know? I'm not exactly prime-girlfriend material.. I'm emotionally high-maintenance and my only personality trait is that I had a rough past," I rambled. He stopped us in our tracks and turned to look at me.
"I wish you could see yourself the way I see you," he said, sadness in his eyes. My breath hitched. He sighed. "When I'm around you," he paused, obviously having a hard time letting his vulnerability out. "I don't feel like I have to hide who I am. I haven't felt that way since my mom-" he cut himself off, breaking eye contact with me for a second to regain his composure.
"Since my mom died." He finished. "And I know I sound like a cheesy pile of shit and it's pretty hard for me to admit all of this, but I really, really like you. And no other girls even come close to you so that's ridiculous of you to think," he said. There was a pause.
"Damnit, why do you have to say stuff like that?" I asked, and he looked slightly confused. "All it does is make me fall even harder for you, and I'm already falling at an unhealthy pace."
Suddenly, a grin spread across his face, and he intertwined our fingers on both hands.
"That makes two of us," Asmodeus smirked and I physically melted. I could tell that I was blushing out of control.
"But I mean you're pretty annoying," he began. I shoved him in the shoulder and laughed.
"Shut up," I said.
There was a pause, and we refocused into each others eyes. He took another step closer to me, and his bare chest was almost touching me. He leaned in slowly, and I leaned in as well.
As soon as our lips connected, everything went away. Fireworks went off in my stomach, and I accidentally broke the kiss from smiling too hard. He kept our foreheads touching as he looked down into my eyes.