Feel That Fire

The sun felt warm and delicious on her skin. The breeze from the ocean felt cool and amazing. Breathing in a deep breath, Emmalyn tried to ignore the two men playing Frisbee with the dogs a few feet from her. It wasn’t time for her to turn over onto her stomach. She glanced to her left to see if Jasmine was awake so they could talk, but no such luck.

“Watch out!” she heard Brian shout right as the Frisbee landed on her stomach. She sat up quickly as Brian ran over to her.

“Are you ok, Em?” he asked with concern in his voice and eyes. Oh boy, those chocolate eyes were going to be the death of her one day.

“Em? You ok?” he asked again. At this point, Matt had joined Brian in kneeling next to her.

“Emmy? Sweetie, are you hurt?” the deep voice asked startling Jasmine awake. This seemed to snap her out of her daze.

“Y-y-yeah. I’m fine,” she stammered.

“Are you sure?” Brian questioned while rubbing the place on her stomach where the Frisbee had landed. Tingles ran up and down her body at the feel of his hand on her skin. She knew that she needed to clear her head fast before she made a fool out of herself.

At the moment, though, she was saved by none other than Jimmy.

“Holla! Look at the hotties already on the beach, baby!” he shouted to his girlfriend, Dani. Emmalyn was grateful to see her friend and quickly stood up to walk over to the new arrivals. Dani wrapped Emmalyn in a warm embrace.

“Hey, chica! You ok?” Dani asked pushing her dark rimmed glasses further up her nose. Her shoulder length dark brown hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and her brown eyes twinkled while looking at Emmalyn’s shocked face.

“I’m ok, I think. I just had a close encounter,” she whispered. Dani nodded her head understanding what this meant. All of the girls knew about Emmalyn’s long-lasting crush on Brian, but none of them had been able to do anything about it previously because Brian was taken.

Before Dani could say anything else, two more girls were added to their embrace. Blair with her one blue eye and one green eye placed her arm around Emmalyn’s waist and planted a big kiss on her cheek. Liz stood beside Dani and smiled affectionately at the group. Liz’s dark brown eyes met Emmalyn’s hazel ones and she offered a smile of sympathy.

“Baby!” Zacky shouted as he struggled to set up Blair’s beach chair.
“Yes, love?” she answered.

“Did you pack the cooler?”

Blair just laughed and headed towards Zacky. Liz moved closer to Emmalyn and put her milk chocolate colored hand on Emmalyn’s shoulder.

“It will be ok, sweetie. He’s free now,” she said while glancing at the guys who were now wrestling in the sand. She couldn’t help but giggle at her boyfriend, Johnny, who was being carried through the air by Matt and Jimmy. “I better go rescue my man,” she said as she walked off.

“So, are you going to make a move?” Dani asked as she and Emmalyn walked towards the group. Emmalyn just made a disgusted sound in her throat. “Come on, girl! You’ve been in love with him since you were a kid. He’s free now and he has grown up considerably over the last few years. He’s a man now not some stupid hormone driven teenage boy. You need to step up or you will lose him. It won’t be long before someone snatches him up.”

“I know that, Dani. I also know Brian too. He wouldn’t even consider dating me because that would break the sacred man-bond thing he has with Matt. Besides he doesn’t see me as a potential girlfriend. I’m just his ‘friend’. Those words came from his mouth by the way,” Emmalyn replied as she sat down on her towel.

“We’ll see about th—” Dani started to say. She was cut off by Jimmy who threw a box of Crackerjack’s at Emmalyn’s feet.

“For you, my lady.”

“You remembered! Thanks, Jimmy!” she said excitedly.

“No problem, princess. I just hope there’s a good one in there for you,” he shouted as he ran off to join in the guys in the water. Emmalyn eagerly opened the box and began digging for the toy. She and Jimmy had always shared a love for Crackerjacks and he had always given her the toy. Making a sound of triumph, she pulled out the plastic bag the toy was in. Handing the box to Jasmine, she tore into the bag to reveal a multicolored bracelet. Laughing, she put it on her wrist.

“Oh lord, that reminds of the bracelet that Nathan gave Haley at the beginning of One Tree Hill,” Jasmine said. All the girls laughed and turned their attention to the five men fighting in the water.

“Oh ladies! How about we show these pansies how you really fight?” Blair asked with a smirk on her face. Four faces lit up and soon the five women were walking side-by-side towards the water.

A few hours later

Emmalyn pulled her freshly dried hair up into a ponytail before heading down to the kitchen to help Jasmine with dinner. Johnny and Liz had to go to her parents’ house for dinner. Jimmy and Dani were having “date night”, and Zacky and Blair had to babysit Zacky’s niece. So, it was just going to be Matt, Jasmine, Brian, and herself for dinner. Just thinking about being close to Brian again made her hands shake.

“Hey!” someone said as two strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist. Emmalyn froze. She knew the arms around her belonged to Brian. His breath was warm against the side of her face. He had to be leaning down, considering she was only 5’4”.

“Where are you going?” he whispered while rubbing his hands across her stomach.

“Kitchen,” she whispered back afraid to say it louder. His hands seemed to have a mind of their own. They danced down her hips and back up to her stomach before moving up her sides and to her shoulders.

“Can we talk later?” he asked against her ear. All Emmalyn could do was nod her head. Just like that, he was gone.

Oh crap.