about our relationship than you were, but it’s totally cool. I get it now, and bottom line, I want you as my friend, Dan Smith. So, no big deal. We’ll move past it.”
I expected to see his face relax, to watch the tension recede, but if anything, the line of his jaw turned even harder and more severe.
He took a deep breath, the air leaving him in a heaving sigh and forming a breathy “Fuck” on the way out.
Moving his beautiful eyes back to mine, he asked, “You’re going to leave tomorrow?”
When I nodded in the affirmative, he questioned me further. “Will you tell me everywhere your going, call me every day, and let me help ascertain if guys fulfill the list or not?”
I considered teasing him about already having a mom, but decided against it. I wanted to keep talking to him because I was almost positive I would miss him, and the fact that he wanted me to check in with him for so many things made me feel all gooey inside.
Keeping my face serious, a rare occurrence, I looked deep into his eyes and told him, “Yeah, Danny. To all of it, yeah.”
At that, his face relaxed a little. Not completely, but a little.
Still mildly uncomfortable in the moment, my goofy side took over.
Shouting a quick, “Race you to the water,” I took off down the beach, avoiding people by jockeying left and right and trying not to kick sand in people’s faces.
From what I’d observed previously, it really pissed people off when you did that.
I beat Danny down there, which wasn’t all that shocking since I had flat out cheated, but I still celebrated the victory by doing a little dance in the knee deep water. It wasn’t at all coordinated and looked somewhat similar to Elaine’s dancing on Seinfeld , but I got down with my bad self nonetheless.
When Danny got to the water he was still at a dead run, headed right for me, and showing no signs of slowing down or stopping.
I started to cower, my hands coming up in a protective position and my body folding into itself, all the while squealing, “Please, please, please no!”
Danny burst out laughing at my freak out, slid to a stop in the water right next to me, and scooped me up into his arms with an arm around my waist and the other behind my knees.
I saw where this was headed, immediately regretted my decision to challenge him to a race, and started pleading, “No, Danny. Please no!”
He smiled big and bright, waded his way a little deeper into the water, and squeezed me even tighter against his firm body.
I was starting to get really scared at this point, so I switched my tone from pleading to demanding, hoping it would make a difference.
“Danny, seriously, put me down!” As he took another two steps toward the deeper water, I screamed again, “Don’t you dare!”
I saw a devilish twinkle come into his eyes, and I knew I was in trouble.
He took off at a full run, jumping and dunking us both unceremoniously under water when he got stomach deep.
Underneath the water, a wave battered me, my body rolling and slamming into the sandy floor, and I struggled not to choke down a full gallon of salt water.
I came up sputtering, and Danny immediately latched onto my hips, pulling me toward him through the water.
Pissed off, I shoved at his chest and kicked with my legs, yelling, “What the fuck is wrong with you?! Let go of me,” and all in all behaving just a few punches and shrieks short of the likes of a psychopath.
Danny kept a firm hold on me, paying no obvious attention to my outburst.
“If a shark attacks us, I will scratch your back until you bleed and leave you for dead, I swear to God,” I kept going.
Danny burst out laughing, but I paid no attention.
“It’s every man for themselves,” I said as I continued to try to swim back to shore.
His laughter never even faded as I told him, “You’re going to be like chum in the water!”
Danny didn’t let go, but instead pulled me flush against his body and lifted his hand to wipe the hair out
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