out of my eyes, I looked up with my angriest expression. The one my father called the “ I’m gonna eat u alive and spit out the pieces and make you wish you had never been born” face. Apparently, I had mastered it from the tender age of three. I turned it on full blast and looked straight at Daniel.
He towered over me, amusement crinkling his eyes, a half smile on his face as he surveyed my dishevelled state. He wore only a ripped pair of shorts that sat precariously low on his hips. Moonlight played on the tattoo snaking its way over his left shoulder as he put his hands on his hips and shook his head.
“And so this weapon of yours? Just where exactly would you be concealing that?” His eyes speculatively surveyed the length of my wet body clothed only in its skimpy black cotton underwear and bra top.
Furious and horribly self-conscious, I grabbed my towel from the rocks and hastily covered myself before turning to confront this arrogant idiot with the full measure of my rage.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Creeping around in the dark, sneaking up on people like that and then scaring them? And how dare you put your hands on me! You – you – horrible creep.”
His smile was quickly replaced with a cold hard look as he folded his arms, “Excuse me? Oh I get it, we’re going for a three count – racist, sexist and now I’m a potential rapist. Great. Is there nothing you won’t accuse me of? Last time I checked, this pool didn’t belong to you. And when a clumsy female falls over in the water and looks like she’s drowning in only two feet of water – it’s considered gentlemanly behavior to pull her out. In fact, most girls would then say, thank you for helping them.” His voice was low but full of venom as he spoke, slowly emphasizing each word.
I withered slightly at his response. “Oh.” I scrambled for defense. “Well, you shouldn’t have scared me like that. THAT wasn’t polite. I mean, it’s the middle of the night out here in the middle of nowhere for goodness sake so of course I was gonna think you were attacking me … or something.”
He arched one eyebrow questioningly. “I don’t know what you were thinking being out here alone. Are you crazy? Yes, this is Samoa and we don’t have the same amount of psycho killers running around like you do back in the States but still, it’s just stupid for a girl to be out swimming in her underwear by herself. What were you thinking?” His tone was derisive.
From outraged offensive, I found myself struggling in defensive mode. “I know, I mean – I really didn’t think anybody would be out here so late. And I’ve come here a few times now and never seen anyone around. I didn’t think I was trespassing, so I didn’t know it would cause any trouble, and back home you wouldn’t catch me out by myself in a forest in a million years, but this place is different and it’s just so hot and I can’t sleep and nobody cares what happens to me anyways, oh why am I telling you anything?” I came to an abrupt halt as tears pricked my eyes and threatened to spill over in my voice. I felt an awful hollowness in my chest as I realized the truth of my words. Nobody did care. I could get abducted by aliens, hacked to pieces by an axe murderer and my aunt and uncle would probably be relieved to be rid of my pestering presence. My grandmother would pay for the funeral, and shower my grave with lots of ridiculous flowers. But tears and actual loss? I doubted it. And there was definitely something wrong with me and it was getting worse every day and I didn’t know how much longer I could handle it by myself. I was sick. Frightened. And tired. In that moment, a wave of self-pity threatened to drown me. I turned my back on him and took a deep breath to steady myself, steeling for further attack.
There was a heavy pause, then his words in the dusty velvet night surprised me. “Hey, look, I’m sorry, okay? I come here a lot and I was kinda
He towered over me, amusement crinkling his eyes, a half smile on his face as he surveyed my dishevelled state. He wore only a ripped pair of shorts that sat precariously low on his hips. Moonlight played on the tattoo snaking its way over his left shoulder as he put his hands on his hips and shook his head.
“And so this weapon of yours? Just where exactly would you be concealing that?” His eyes speculatively surveyed the length of my wet body clothed only in its skimpy black cotton underwear and bra top.
Furious and horribly self-conscious, I grabbed my towel from the rocks and hastily covered myself before turning to confront this arrogant idiot with the full measure of my rage.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Creeping around in the dark, sneaking up on people like that and then scaring them? And how dare you put your hands on me! You – you – horrible creep.”
His smile was quickly replaced with a cold hard look as he folded his arms, “Excuse me? Oh I get it, we’re going for a three count – racist, sexist and now I’m a potential rapist. Great. Is there nothing you won’t accuse me of? Last time I checked, this pool didn’t belong to you. And when a clumsy female falls over in the water and looks like she’s drowning in only two feet of water – it’s considered gentlemanly behavior to pull her out. In fact, most girls would then say, thank you for helping them.” His voice was low but full of venom as he spoke, slowly emphasizing each word.
I withered slightly at his response. “Oh.” I scrambled for defense. “Well, you shouldn’t have scared me like that. THAT wasn’t polite. I mean, it’s the middle of the night out here in the middle of nowhere for goodness sake so of course I was gonna think you were attacking me … or something.”
He arched one eyebrow questioningly. “I don’t know what you were thinking being out here alone. Are you crazy? Yes, this is Samoa and we don’t have the same amount of psycho killers running around like you do back in the States but still, it’s just stupid for a girl to be out swimming in her underwear by herself. What were you thinking?” His tone was derisive.
From outraged offensive, I found myself struggling in defensive mode. “I know, I mean – I really didn’t think anybody would be out here so late. And I’ve come here a few times now and never seen anyone around. I didn’t think I was trespassing, so I didn’t know it would cause any trouble, and back home you wouldn’t catch me out by myself in a forest in a million years, but this place is different and it’s just so hot and I can’t sleep and nobody cares what happens to me anyways, oh why am I telling you anything?” I came to an abrupt halt as tears pricked my eyes and threatened to spill over in my voice. I felt an awful hollowness in my chest as I realized the truth of my words. Nobody did care. I could get abducted by aliens, hacked to pieces by an axe murderer and my aunt and uncle would probably be relieved to be rid of my pestering presence. My grandmother would pay for the funeral, and shower my grave with lots of ridiculous flowers. But tears and actual loss? I doubted it. And there was definitely something wrong with me and it was getting worse every day and I didn’t know how much longer I could handle it by myself. I was sick. Frightened. And tired. In that moment, a wave of self-pity threatened to drown me. I turned my back on him and took a deep breath to steady myself, steeling for further attack.
There was a heavy pause, then his words in the dusty velvet night surprised me. “Hey, look, I’m sorry, okay? I come here a lot and I was kinda
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