Memories Be Out All Night

I prayed like hell that Violet would pull up right now. I needed her. Now. But it seems like God was not listening to me today or maybe he was just ignoring me.

“How bout we all go in?” Korri suggested.
“Yeah, come on,” Johnny chimed in, “Brian and I have to beat you in chicken!”

“You won’t win short shit,” Korri snorted.
“Yes I will!” He challenged, stripping of his shirt and shoes, running straight in to the water. Korri looked at Matt and shrugged. He took off his shirt and grabbed her hand, walking in to the water with her. Brian soon followed after and the four of them began their epic battle of chicken with Johnny and Korri duking it out.

This left Zacky and I to stay up on shore for a little while.

Part of me wanted to tackle him and kiss him, but the other part said that he probably had a girlfriend or at least something of that nature. So I did my best and tried to just be a friend and nothing more.

I sat back down on the blanket and patted the spot next to me. Zacky sat down next to me and we watched the four of them fall into the water with Korri clearly kicking Johnny’s ass.

“So,” Zacky spoke up trying to break the obvious tension between us, “How’s your head?”

“What?” I asked, snapping back into reality.
“How’s your head?” He repeated.

“Oh, it’s uhm, fine now.”
“That’s good,” He nodded.
“How’s yours?”
“Getting better,” He replied, “It’s just a day by day thing.”

“Yeah,” I sighed, “I know how that is.”

And just like that, things got quiet again. Not that we didn’t have anything to say, because trust me, we had a lot to say to each other. How bout we start at ‘Oh hey, I’m sort of really fucking in to you’ or ‘You make my head spin in circles’ or ‘I thought of nothing but you since we left’ or just ‘I think I might love you’.

Told you we had a lot to say. Just neither one of us wanted to say it.

So instead of speaking, I looked straight out in to the water at everyone else. Shitty move, I know. Don’t get all up on my case about it. He seemed to be doing the same thing too.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“What?”
“Are you romantically or sexually involved with someone?” He asked with a serious face, but he broke his concentration and smiled.

I laughed, “No.”

He let out an overdramatic sigh of relief as well as pressing the back of his hand to his forhead for added effect.

I playfully slapped his shoulder, “Zacky!” He looked at me like her did nothing wrong. I huffed and continued to ask him the question anyway, “What about you? Any relationships blossoming?

“I met a girl,” He said bluntly and I’ll admit, my heart kinda broke a bit. Then a half smile broke out on his face, “But she wasn’t nearly anything compared to you.”

I smiled and ducked my head around, trying to hide the blush that was present on my cheeks due to his gentleman like compliment.

Zacky shifted around on the blanket and turned his body so that he was half facing me, half facing the water. I could tell something was on his mind, but he didn’t know how to say it.

“Zacky?”
“Yeah?”

I froze. I couldn’t think of anything to say. I was kinda hoping I would catch him off guard and he would just blurt something out. Isn’t that how it worked in the movies anyway?

Obviously it wasn’t the same in real life.

“Do you wanna go for a swim?” I choked out.

He looked at me a little confused before he smiled a warm smile, “Sure.”

With that being said, he tugged the shirt he was wearing up over his head and put it next to my clothes, kicking off his shoes and tossing them to the side as well.

Oh sweet lord.

Sure he didn’t have a six pack, but damn, he still looked gorgeous. I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander around on his colorful tattoos that adorned his skin. I felt the need to trace the lines on his arms, but I held myself back.

Hayden, you are not going to be a creeper.

“Hays?”

I shook my head and looked back up at him.
There were those damn snakebites and a nose ring.

Mama, forgive me for anything I may or may not do with this man.

“We still going in?” He asked.
“Oh, uh, yeah,” I stuttered, taking off my sunglasses and putting them next to his shirt.

He helped me up and we walked down to the water with just a bit of distance between us. It wasn’t until we got to the water’s edge that I felt him brush his hand against mine and intertwine our fingers together as we walked in.

ZACKY’S POV

So maybe I rushed things a little, but I needed to have that same contact with her like we did before, even if it was just us holding hands. She let go though to swim under water and a bit farther out away from everyone else. I followed her out.

She stopped and came back up, breaking the surface of the water. She held her breath as a small wave came and crashed over her head. I chuckled and stopped where I was, waiting for her to come back closer.

But she didn’t.

Instead, she swam out further, so I chased her.

“Hayden, what the fuck are you doing?” I shouted in between breaths. She didn’t answer and just kept swimming. (Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!) Once another wave hit her, she decided to turn back. I stayed put and waited for her to reach me and when she did, I caught her around the waist, dragging her up to the surface.

“Zacky, what the fuck are you doing?” She asked, looking at me with confusion in her eyes.

“Making sure you don’t do anything stupid.”
“I was just swimming!”

“Just stay here for a little bit, please?” I asked, sticking out my lower lip a little bit, hoping that would do the trick.

Truth was; I just wanted to be with her away from everybody for a little bit.

She sighed, “Okay.”

He body relaxed and I moved her around so that I was cradling her in my arms. The waves were hitting us, but I was strong enough to keep my balance. Then they settled into a soothing rhythm and I relaxed too.

“I missed you,” She blurted out loud in a quiet voice. I don’t think she meant to say that.

But a slight smile still broke out on my face, “I missed you too.”

Then it got quiet between us…

“I tried to call,” I admitted, “But I just couldn’t do it.”
She twisted around and looked up at me, “Why not?”

“I didn’t have the balls to do it. I didn’t wanna screw it up.”

A faint ‘awh’ escaped past her lips causing a rosy tint to spread on my cheeks. I tightened my grip around her as another wave crashed into our bodies.