This Heart, It Beats, Beats for Only You

Joe stared after her, smirking slightly as she swam around his pool. She smirked at him as she stopped. “Are you really not going to come in?” she asked.

He laughed. “You seem to be having fun by yourself.”

She rolled her eyes. “Funny.”

He laughed again and stripped down to his boxers. He jumped in too, shivering slightly.

“Damn, now I can’t make fun of you for being a little bitch,” she smirked.

He splashed water at her. “But now I can make fun of you.”

She laughed, splashing him back. “Cause that makes you cool, right?”

He just shrugged, not saying anything as he smirked. He dove under the water. Casey watched him in confusion. What was he doing? This so did not make him cool. She sighed. What was she doing? She was in Joe’s pool in her underwear. This didn’t make her cool either. She started moving towards the side of the pool. She knew she had to get home before someone saw her and this ended up on Makeascene. That was just what she needed, a scandal to end up on the site for everyone to see, especially before school started. All of a sudden, Joe grabbed her legs, pulling her under. She yelped as she went under. She opened her eyes and saw Joe silently laughing under water, his cheeks puffed with air. She glared at him and broke the surface, coughing. He followed her, laughing as he came out. “Asshole,” she scoffed.

He laughed. “Come on, that was funny. Like a shark.”

“Right, you were exactly like a shark,” she splashed him, rolling her eyes.

“Hey,” he said, splashing her back.

They both started laughing then. Casey started swimming. Maybe a little longer. A few more minutes wouldn’t kill her. She hadn’t had this much fun in a while. She swam to a more shallow part of the pool where there was a platform. She climbed on top of it, still half in the water. Joe followed her, climbing up next to her.

“No more rebel?” he asked, smirking.

She splashed him lightly. “I’m always a rebel.”

“Right,” he laughed. “I bet this is the most fun you’ve had in a while.”

Her cheeks flushed slightly. Casey was glad it was night time, and he couldn’t see. Why did he know her so well? And why the hell wasn’t she just telling him off already? “I have fun,” she said.

“Of course you do,” he said. “Otherwise, there would be nothing to write on makeascene. What would the rest of the world do?”

She rolled her eyes. Back to the site, was it? “They’d survive.”

“Oh but your followers,” he gasped. “What would they do if they heard that?”

“Shut up,” she rolled her eyes. “You don’t know me.”

He shrugged. “Not much to know,” he said.

“Oh really?” she said, offended now. Why was he being such a jerk? Oh yeah, he was Joe. “Reading up on some site doesn’t mean that’s all there is to me.”

“I’m sure,” he smirked. She scoffed, and started getting up. Like hell she had to put up with this. He laughed, and grabbed her arm, pulling her down. “I’m just kidding Casey.”

“You’re a jerk,” she told him.

“I’ve been told,” he shrugged. “Okay fine, why don’t you fill me in? Tell me all about Casey Cartwright.”

“I’ll pass,” she said. “You’ll probably just make fun of me anyway.”

“Tell me,” he begged. “Please? I promise, no laughing.” He pretended to seal his lips with a key.

She sighed, smiling slightly. “Fine, what do you want to know?”

He shrugged. “Everything. What’s your favorite color? Who’s your favorite singer? What is your favorite thing to do when it’s raining? Your childhood? Tell me anything.”

She sighed again. “Okay. My favorite color is green. My favorite singer is Roger Daltrey of The Who. When it rains, I like to sit on my steps under the back porch and listen to it. I also like the feel of it on my skin and the smell right after it rains. My childhood was normal, I guess. I met Marisa when I was 4. Our moms were best friends. It’s one of those classic best friends daughters become best friends stories. Zoey is my cousin. Her dad is my mom’s brother. Sam is – well she’s different now. She’s always been kind of weak, you know? And this new boyfriend of her controls her every move. I can’t believe she choice him over her best friends. I mean, who does that?” She was rambling, she knew that. She was saying things she didn’t tell anyone else. She didn’t even tell Marisa about how she really felt about Sam’s betrayal. But there was something about Joe, something about how he was staring at her with such interest and concern that kept her talking. “I guess I always figured the four of us had that unspoken rule of chicks over dicks, and she broke that. But I guess we do have too many rules. Like breaking up with a guy if anyone doesn’t like him in three months. She broke that too, by the way. And that’s why I had to break up with Graham. Zoey hates him. She always has. But still, above all other rules, the best friends rule is like the rule, you know? And she’s breaking it. And then there’s always the makeascene site. Everything I do is put on that site. It’s flattering I guess. But still, I want to have a life, you know? A life that’s just mine.”

Joe nodded. “So why don’t you just stop caring?”

“What?” she asked, taken back. What the hell did that mean?

“You care so much what everyone thinks. You don’t want to lose Sam as a friend by just telling her all of this. You don’t want all your so called friends to stop loving you. You don’t want to disappoint Marisa and Zoey.”

“I never said—“

He cut her off. “Every single thing you do is so precise and thought out. You don’t just live. I mean, don’t you ever just sit there and think about what would happen if you died tomorrow? Do you really want them to remember you as the girl on the site? Don’t you want them to know the actual you?”

She couldn’t say anything. Of course she wanted them to remember the real her. But the real her was the girl on the site. She told him that.

“No it’s not,” he said.

“You don’t know me,” she reminded him. “A few facts about me don’t mean you know me.”

“You’re Casey Cartwright, 17 years old, about to start senior year. You like the rain, and you like to read on your back steps because no one sees you there. You love music that you dance around your room in your underwear singing into your hairbrush. You think life is living to everyone else’s credentials. You don’t want anyone to know you have a box of barbies under your bed, or your power rangers action figures under the big clothes chest by the foot of your bed. Am I getting close?”

“How did you—“ she started. How did he know all of that?

“You should keep your diary in such an easy place to find,” he shrugged. “The nightstand though, really?”

“You stole my diary?” she asked, astonished. Who the hell did he think he was?

“It was right there,” he smiled slyly.

“It was under my nightstand,” she exclaimed.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

She wasn’t sure if it was genuine. But she sighed. There was no point in getting mad. That would just prove his point. She cared too much. “What’s so wrong with caring anyway?” she asked instead. “So what if I don’t want to disappoint my friends?”

“Nothing,” he shrugged. “If you’re living to your own standards at the same time.”

“You seem to know a lot about life,” she commented.

“It’s not that hard,” he shrugged.

“So enlighten me,” she smirked.

“Life isn’t about just living. It’s about being happy. It’s about doing what you love, and being whoever you want to be,” he said. “It’s not perfect. But it’s the only one we get, so you shouldn’t waste it.”

“Wow,” she laughed. “Are you always so cliché?”

“Pretty much,” he shrugged, smirking.

They both started laughing. Casey looked at him as he leaned back on his hands, staring out ahead of him. He really was pretty hot. She could see why so many fans got so obsessed. Talking with him maybe helped too. He had something about him, something that drew you in. He looked at her and smiled, a genuine smile. She felt her heart flutter. Flutter? What the hell? Casey’s heart did not flutter over some guy. She sighed. Whatever it was, she didn’t mind right this moment. She leaned in slowly, her eyes locked on his. And slowly, their lips met in a soft, sweet kiss. Too bad he ruined the moment by pulling back too quickly.