Sweet Children

You know when you have plans to get out of the house to actually do something fun with your summer, but all these unfortunate events just pile on top of each other until your plan just ends up getting thrown out the window entirely? That is exactly what happened to me.

I had decided to take Emilie to Keller's Beach which is over in Richmond to try and cheer her up from what happened the previous night, but of course my plan had to be faced with an enemy. Rain.

I sighed. Of course it just had to rain today. Not only that, but mother nature decided that it was going to storm today. And not a light storm...oh no. It had to be a severe storm. It's almost as if she knew of my plans and then thought to herself, "Well...Billie Joe decided that he would be very nice and considerate and take his best friend, Emilie to the beach to make her feel better, so I guess I'm going to have to ruin all of his plans for the day with rain!" Oh, the nerve of some people!

I sighed once more as I looked out the living room window, watching the rain slide down on the outside of the small glass window. As I sat there I began thinking about when I was a little kid and my mom would read me the book, "The Cat In The Hat" after she got home from work really late at night. I remember that I made her read that book to me every single night before I went to sleep, and if she was working a graveyard shift, I would have Alan or Marci read it to me instead. Sitting on the couch looking out the window at the rain reminded me of the brother and sister in the book, how they were sad that they couldn't go outside and play because of the rain. And I also remember that "The Cat In The Hat" was my favorite book when I was a kid.

As I continued to look outside my living room window at the scenery, or lack there of, a brilliant idea popped up in my head. If we couldn't actually go to the beach, then I'll just bring the beach inside.

I quickly, but quietly walked into my bedroom where Emilie was still fast asleep, and grabbed my navy blue jacket that hung inside my bedroom closet. I then walked out, closed the door slowly behind me, and walked into the kitchen to grab a trash bag. I then walked outside in the light rain. I was happy that it wasn't raining too heavily yet. I didn't want the dirt outside to be too muddy. I went to my backyard and went inside our shed to get a shovel and began digging into the dirt that resided in my mother's garden. She wasn't going to be too happy about this...

I began shoving as much dirt as I possibly could into the trash bag before trying to cover up the hole I had made in the garden by pushing dirt over on top of it. If somehow my mom notices....I'll blame Mike.

After filling the hole back up, I quickly put the shovel back into the shed and walked back inside and into the bathroom. I took the trash bag that was filled with the dirt and dumped it out all over the bathroom floor, before throwing the trash bag away. I then reached over and turned on the bathtub so that it would fill with water. I decided to grab a bottle of bubble bath to put in just to make things more fun and I also managed to find old beach toys that I had as a little kid in the shed; little shovels and buckets, a small colorful beach ball, goggles, and a random rubber ducky.

I felt like a little kid again, messing up the house by randomly filling the bathroom floor with dirt and creating a bubble bath. Anyone who knew me really well would find out that I'm not exactly the most mature fifteen year old in the world. I love being childish. It's just in my DNA, you know? Hell, I'd flip the television on to Sesame Street once in awhile if nothing else is on. That show is hilarious. There's some serious sexual references everywhere if you look into it enough.

"...Billie? What in the hell are you doing?"

I turned around to see Emilie's confused face peering inside the bathroom door. Her long dark wavy hair was a complete mess and the only thing she was wearing was a Chrimpshine t-shirt that I previously had stored in my closet. I couldn't help but to stare at her long silky smooth legs, her tiny waist, and her small petite frame. My heart began beating faster as I stared at her gorgeous body as it stood there impatiently at the bathroom door. I began thinking what it would be like to hold her, kiss her, love her....

"....Billie? Billie? BILLIE JOE!"

"What!?" I asked in complete shock of her sudden outburst.

"What are you doing?" She repeated a second time as she glanced at all of the dirt that was scattered on the floor.

"Well...I was thinking about taking you to Keller's Beach, but since it's storming outside, I just figured I'd bring the beach to us." I told her with an innocent child-like grin on my face. "Why don't we get into our bathing suits?"

She gave me a small smile. "Alright."

After getting into our bathing suits, we headed back into the bathroom where our "beach" was waiting for us.

"Billie.." Emilie began. "There are no bubbles at the beach." She said, commenting on all of the bubble bath that was in the tub.

"Well, this is a bubbly beach then!" I told her as we got into the warm water.

"Oh, how creative! You even added the san...I mean...dirt...to the bathroom floor that, might I add, your mother just cleaned." She said.

"Yeah! And here's the best part! I didn't even have to buy the dirt! I got it from the backyard!"

She smiled at me. "Way to be a cheapskate, Armstrong. Dirt from your mother's garden?"

"Yup!" I answered.

Suddenly Emilie began splashing bubbly water on me.

"Hey! What the hell?" I asked with a grin on my face. I began splashing the water onto her until it became a full out bubble splashing war. Water began escaping from the tub and onto the floor, mixing with the dirt, making it all muddy. Well, there goes trying to keep the dirt all dry.

I then took a handful of bubbles and began placing it on my chin until I had a long "Santa beard".

"Hey! Look at me! I'm Santa! Now tell me, Emilie. Have you been naughty, or nice this year?"

She just laughed and playfully slapped me in the face.

"Ow!" I cried. "I guess I'll take that as a naughty! No presents for you!"

She pouted and placed her arms around my neck. "Aw, please give me presents Santa! I promise I'll be nice from now on!"

"Oh, I don't know...I suppose." I answered with a smile on my face.

This is when I noticed how close she was to me. Her body was almost pressed up against mine. You know, it's not every day that you get to be in a bathtub with a beautiful girl that happens to conveniently be your life time best friend, so I wasn't going to complain.

She smiled up at me and I just stared at her captivating blue eyes. I slowly placed a hand on her cheek as her smile faded into a curious stare.

I wanted to kiss her so bad. I just had this undying need to love her and care for her, to make sure no one would ever hurt her again. Ever since we were little kids I had this urge to protect her from everything.

I remember how she'd get taunted and picked on during recess at school, and this one time in particular, we were in the third grade and this boy, his name was Slate Sulentic, and he was picking on Emilie for trying to play football with his friends, which he called a "boy's game".

I ended up punching him in the face and I got suspended for a week and Alan had to drive me home. I remember thinking while in the car just how much I hated that boy for what he did, and how stupid a name like "Slate" was. Seriously, who names their kid that?

I began getting closer and closer to Emilie's lips until eventually, they collapsed together to form a kiss. A million thoughts began running through my mind as I placed my hand on her back of her head. My heart began beating out of time and my face was getting boiling hot. All I was thinking was, Holy shit! I'm kissing Emilie! And I was thinking about how it just felt so right. That's when I finally realized; I was in love with Emilie.

All of the sudden a loud knock came from the bathroom door and our lips quickly separated.

"DUDE! IF SOMEONE'S IN THERE I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU GET YOUR ASS OUT! I GOTTA TAKE A SHIT!"

It was Mike. He began pounding on the door again. "I KNOW SOMEONE'S IN THERE! SERIOUSLY, GET OUT. NOW. I TOOK LAXATIVES ON ACCIDENT INSTEAD OF VALIUM AND NOW I REALLY HAVE TO SHIT!"

Emilie and I burst out into laughter.

"I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! I HEAR THE LAUGHTER AND IT'S NOT FUCKING FUNNY!"

"I'm sorry, but we're not home right now..." I began.

"...leave a message after the beep." Emilie said.

"BEEP!" We both shouted.

"SERIOUSLY, GUYS! STOP WITH THE CHILDISH GAMES! NOW LET ME IN BEFORE I LET MYSELF IN!"

"Oooohhhh!" We both cried, pretending like we were scared of his threat.

"YOU GUYS ARE TOTAL ASSHOLES, YOU KNOW THAT?"

"And you have one." I responded.

"....What?" Mike asked.

"You do have one...don't you?" Emilie asked.

"Have...what?" Mike questioned.

"An asshole." I said, trying not to laugh.

"An asshole?" Mike repeated.

"No! You have a vagina!" I replied sarcastically. "Just-go away!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT GUYS? FUCK YOU!" I then heard him stomp away angrily and Emilie and I began laughing hysterically.

We then looked at each other and I bent down and grabbed some mud on the floor and flung it at her. "MUD FIGHT!"

We then got out of the tub and began flinging mud at each other until we were covered from head to toe in it. I took some of mud, put it on my fingers, and smeared it on my cheeks like you would do in the army. Emilie laughed. "Don't you think we should start cleaning up? Your mom is probably going to be home from work pretty soon..."

"..Yeah, you're right." I answered, looking around the messy bathroom. Mud and bubbly water was everywhere. On the mirror, on the floor, even on the ceiling. "Um...how are we supposed to clean the floor...?"

"Good question." Emilie said. "Got a lot of towels..?"

I nodded and walked over to the cupboard that was in the bathroom that had all the towels inside. We began cleaning up and it ended up taking us only thirty minutes. We then looked at each other and noticed how muddy we both were and Emilie sighed. "How are we supposed to get clean without dragging mud everywhere where we just cleaned...?"

"Well...we can just dry off with towels.." I suggested.

"Yeah, that would be helpful, that is if we actually had more towels. We used them all to clean up."

"...I guess we can take a shower together?"

She looked at me like I was insane. "Us? Take a shower together? Like...nude?"

"Well.." I began awkwardly. "We are just friends, right? So...it would be okay....right?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Yeah...I guess you're right. Since we are...just friends. I mean, friends take showers together, right?"

"I think so..." I said, not exactly sure.

"Okay, well. I have an idea. How about we both turn around and take our bathing suits off. Then you can go in first and I'll follow?" She said.

"O-Okay." I hesitated as I turned around to take my trunks off. I then stepped into the shower and turned it on. I then heard Emilie walk in and as wussy as this sounds, I started to blush. I wanted to look at her, and yet, I didn't. I was scared. I mean, here we were, both naked taking a shower together. If that's not awkward, what is?

She moved up a little bit to grab the shampoo and I caught a glimpse of her wet naked body. I quickly looked away. I wondered if this was as awkward for her as it was for me, or if I was just being a wuss. My body began to get hotter. I looked down and noticed something. Aw...shit. I have a hard on....

No...not now! Oh god...stop. Go away!

I turned until I was in the corner of the shower.

"Billie? What are you doing?" Emilie asked with a laugh.

Shit....Say something Billie!

"I'm uh....I'm cleaning the walls of the shower..They're getting kind of dirty and so I just thought..you know?" I responded as I began rubbing the walls with a sponge.

Oh! Nice one, Billie! Nice. I thought to myself sarcastically.

She laughed. "Billie...you have a hard on, don't you?"

"Phsst! No!" I responded too quickly.

She laughed again. "Aw, you got a hard on because of me! I'm flattered, Billie!"

My face turned a brilliant shade of red. I was shocked at her statement. What in the hell kind of response is that?

She then walked in front of me and I got a full view of her naked body.

Oh god....

I thought about closing my eyes, but I couldn't. I couldn't stop...staring. I never felt this way before with Emilie...ever, and I was scared.

That's when she kissed me back, and that kiss threw me over the edge. I wasn't thinking straight and I ended up pushing her back against the wall. My hand that was once on her cheek slowly made it's way down to her breast. Once it got there, she pushed me back.

"Billie! Stop!" she cried glaring at me.

I just looked at her. She never glared at me like that before. What was once an innocent kiss, was turned into a hormonal spasm. I then realized that what I had done was too much.

"I'm sorry, Emilie.." I managed to mutter.

She didn't respond. She just turned around and continued to wash her hair, and the shower ended in complete silence.