Chapter 8
“Royal Flush!” I hooted as I showed my cards to Jeff. We were at his hotel room. It was the following day and, having nothing to do for the rest of the afternoon, he invited me over and I was more than happy to come. Matt was out. We were playing poker on his neatly made bed.
He shuffled the cards. “I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve been defeated—by a girl,” he said, shaking his head. I threw a pillow at him.
“You’ve probably been defeated many times before by guys,” I snickered. He laughed with an easy nature.
“Listen, it’s still early, how about we go out and get some fresh air?” he suggested.
“Sure, I am kinda bored, and it’s still a long way till my bedtime,” I replied.
He gave me a mocking older-brother look. “You should be in bed by ten p.m.,” he scolded in his best big brother voice.
“In your dreams,” I said sweetly, cocking an eyebrow.
“How about we go out of town? There’s a beach not far from here,” he suggested. I nodded.
We drove there. We walked down on the soft, white sand and gazed out at the large mass of blue ahead of us. It was already late in the afternoon and most of the people were packing up to go home. We walked side by side along the shore barefoot. Jeff was wearing his hat so that he couldn’t be recognized just in case. I could feel the water swash beneath my toes. Jeff and I walked in companionable silence for a few minutes.
A light breeze blew past by, ruffling my loose hair. “I can’t remember when was the last time I’ve taken a relaxing walk down the beach,” I spoke up.
“Neither can I. It’s good to get away from it all once in a while,” he countered. I stopped and stooped down to pick up a shell. It was coiled-shape, light pink on the inside and pearly-white on the out.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered, examining it.
“Yeah, just like this,” Jeff said, turning me around in time to see the sunset. I hadn’t noticed time zoom by that it was already sunset and the beach was practically deserted. We just stared at the incredible sight unfolding in front of us. As the sun sank beneath the horizon, beautiful colors spread out in the sky almost like a pastel painting. I couldn’t believe that such an incredible moment could happen so fast.
Soon, the moon was shining, casting shadows over most of the place. Jeff and I decided to sit down up the shore.
“That was incredible, wasn’t it?” he asked.
“Yeah, it was a good thing you turned me around just in time to see it,” I replied. All of a sudden, I felt awkward with him. I didn’t know why, but the atmosphere around us changed in the blink of an eye. What could it be? I wondered. I ignored it and turned around to say something—anything—to him. At the same time, he turned to face me. As a result, our faces met within a few inches of each other. My throat suddenly felt dry as I met his gaze.
He couldn’t speak either for a second. “You wanted to say something?” both of us said in unison. We burst into laughter.
“You go first,” Jeff insisted. I shook my head.
“No, you first,” I said firmly. The funny thing was, we didn’t pull back from the obviously awkward position that we were in.
He smiled nervously. “OK,” he said. He didn’t say anything after that. He just stared at me in a way he’d never done before. I was mesmerized by his green eyes, something in their depths waiting to be unleashed. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t move—I just froze right there. The next thing I knew, he reached out and touched the side of my face gently. I wanted to tell him to stop, that it was nonsense, since we’re only friends. And friends shouldn’t do things like that.
But somehow, I couldn’t make the words come out of my mouth. Jeff was so close that I could smell his earthy aftershave—I found myself paying more attention to the delicious way that he smelled more than I wanted to. He didn’t come to his senses like he was supposed to. He didn’t stop there.
Chapter 9
Chapter 7