Tell Me That You're Mine

"Who wants a hug and an autograph!?" James smiled and winked at me from across the crowd of girls. I turned to watch Kendall and Sydney sneak out the back door. Kendall smiled at me thankfully and waved before disappearing behind Sydney out the door. After about 15 straight minutes of me hearing nothing but, "James, over here!" "James, sign this!" "James, I love you!" "James, you're my favorite!" "OMG! James I want to have your babies!" -Hahaha no, I’m just kidding, no one actually said that last one. But anyway, after what seemed like forever of James signing things, taking pictures, and giving hugs, he said loudly, "Alright guys I gotta use the bathroom. Go get some autographs from Carlos and Logan." He pointed at the other guys and laughed before he pushed his way to the outside of the circle. Casually walking by me, he whispered, "Meet me out front in five minutes." He didn’t stop to check my reaction, or even if I agreed. Cocky. I made my way out the front door and sat down on the swinging bench in the lawn. I laid my head back on the high seat and closed my eyes.
“Oh hey pretty lady, mind if I join you?” I heard a voice above me. I opened my eyes, already knowing it was James.
“Sure, handsome fellow, right hereeee.” I laughed, patting the empty spot next to me. He sat next to me, laughing. He spread his arms along the back of the bench, so that one was behind my head.
“You know, they’re gonna find us out here soon.” He said.
I groaned. “You’re right. Let’s go somewhere.” He smiled in agreement and stood up. After we had been walking for a few minutes, James sighed. “It’s hot here.”
I laughed out loud. “Tell me about it…that’s Florida for you.”
He laughed and wiped his forehead.
“You know, there’s this really cool place me and Sydney found. It’s like one of those things out of the movies-the waterfall, the rocks, everything. And it’s not too far from here, maybe a 15 minute car ride.”
“That sounds really refreshing, but we don’t have a car.” He laughed. “ And I have nothing to swim in.” He gestured at his jeans.
“My house is like five minutes from here, we can get my car. And that’s the only good thing about me having an older brother. I can give you a pair of his basketball shorts.”
“Oh, alright.” He smiled, obviously good with the plan. We got to my house not too long after and I let James in the front door. Luckily no one was home so there would be no awkward questions from my parents. I went straight to my brother’s room easily found a pair of shorts. I ran down the stairs and gave them to James before showing him the bathroom. I went back upstairs and found my favorite bathing suit, the one that makes everything look good, and changed quickly before pulling on a loose tank top and denim short shorts. I grabbed my bag and threw in my phone, my iPod, my iHome, and my sunglasses. I went downstairs and James was sitting on the bottom step, waiting for me. I was halfway hoping he wouldn’t have put his shirt back on —no luck. He stood up when he heard me coming.
“Can you put these in your room? I don’t want to have to carry them around all day.” He laughed.
“Sure.” I took his jeans and stuck them in my top drawer. Yeah it’s my underwear drawer -- don’t judge me.
I grabbed my keys off my dresser and went back downstairs for the fiftieth time.
“Ready?” I asked him.
“Yep.” He smiled. I opened the garage door and hit the unlock button on the key. My car beeped twice and the headlights flashed simultaneously. James was still in the doorway. “This is your car?” He asked, his eyes wide and his mouth open.
“No, it’s my baby.” I smiled, running my hand over the sleek silver hood.
“A Nissan 350Z.” He said, still in awe. I nodded.
“Get in.” I said, opening my door. He got in without needing any further persuasion, smiling like a kid on Christmas. As we were driving down the road, I opened up the sunroof.
“Sun roof?” He asked, looking out the top.
“Customized.” I laughed. He shook his head and bobbed his head to the music.
It didn’t take too long to get to where the water was. There was a short walk from the car that was filled with laughter.
When the trail ended, we were in our oasis. It looked like it was out of a movie.
“How did you even find this place?” James asked me.
“Me and Sydney were wandering around one day and found the trail. We followed it and found this.” I smiled. I walked over to a nearby rock that had a flat surface and jumped onto it, crossing my legs crisscross applesauce. James sat on the rock next to me so that his legs were dangling over the edge.
“Is Sydney the one I helped sneak out with Kendall?” He said, looking at me sideways.
I laughed at the memory. “Yeah, that’s Syd.” James nodded.
“Kendall likes her. And he’s not normally the type to just like a girl right away, you know? There must be something about her.” James looked at his hands folded in his lap. I didn’t have anything to say.
James chuckled at my silence. “Are you gonna get in soon? It’s so hot, I’m dying here.”
I looked at him and squinted my eyes. “I’m used to this Florida weather, pretty boy.” I pushed his arm lightly. He laughed at me and did a hair flip. I’M DEAD.
“Well, I’m going in.” He walked over to where we put our stuff down and pulled off his shirt. His back was to me, so I couldn’t see much. But I could see the well-defined muscles in his back shift every time he moved. I had to look away. I grabbed the iHome and took my time to set the music up. I set it to play on shuffle, turned it up, and then stared at the screen for another few seconds. I heard a splash and knew it was okay for me to turn around. He was in the water, his head the only thing visible.
“You coming in?” He yelled up at me.
“Yeah, in a few.” I smiled down at him.
He ducked his head back underwater and I took the opportunity to pull off my shirt and shorts and jump in before he could see me.
I cannonballed into the water a few feet away from him. I surfaced after him, and he was looking at me like I was crazy.
“What?” I laughed.
“Nothing.” He shook his hair out again and looked up into the trees. ”Is that a rope swing?”
I turned to where he was looking and spotted what he was talking about. There was a long rope hanging out of one of the big trees with a huge knot tied at the bottom.
“Yes!” I smiled. I swam over to the smallest rock and climbed out of the water. I heard splashes behind me but didn’t turn. I ran across the flat rock tops and made it to the rope. I grabbed it with one hand and turned around to see where James was. I found shirtless James. I couldn’t stop myself from staring. His abs were glistening. Droplets of water were making their way through the contours of his stomach, and his pants were low enough for me to see his defined v.
"Belle...?" He asked.
"Yeah?" I snapped out of my trance and realized I’d been staring at him pretty hard. Wait, he just called me Belle. Only Sydney and my parents ever called me by my nickname. I looked at him, confused.
"Are you gonna jump in anytime soon? Cause I wanna try out that rope..." He smiled, knowing he had just caught me staring at him and I had no valid excuse to cover my humiliation. But luckily he let me off the hook. I smiled back and grabbed the rope with one hand, pulling it as far back as it would go. Once I had a good grip on the rope, I started running towards the edge. At the ledge I leapt into the air. Once I was the farthest away from the rocks that I would be, I let go, cannonballing into the water. James jumped soon after I was on, and his jump was much more skilled and precise. He splashed into the water right next to me. When he surfaced, he shook his head around, flipping his hair out of his face. He kept his eyes closed and called out, "Marco!?"
I smiled and played along, even though I was extremely bad at this game.
"Polo." I covered my mouth to stop myself from laughing when i saw him smirk and raise one eyebrow.
"Marco." He said, moving in my direction. I answered, trying to swim away. He heard me splashing and started to walk as fast as he could being underwater up to his bellybutton. He caught me easily, not having to call out Marco again.
"Your turn." He smiled once he caught me. I groaned.
"I'm never gonna catch you!" He laughed at me before demanding for me to close my eyes because it was my turn. I did, calling out, "Marco?"
"Polo." His voice came from way on the other side of the water, far from where I expected it to be. I sighed and started to move in that direction. I called out again.
"Polo." He called back, closer now. I heard a little splash.
"Marco?"
"Marco?" I said, louder.
No answer.
"James, answer me!"
"Marco?!"
"James if you don’t answer me, I’m opening my eyes."
I felt the water in front of me move slightly, not from a movement I made, and my eyes shot open. James was directly in front of me, inches away. I felt a strand of my hair fall into my face but couldn't bring myself to move my arm to fix it. James reached up and grabbed the strand and tucked it behind my ear. His hand lingered there, touching my neck. He pulled it away slowly, never breaking contact with my skin. His fingers left a trail of blazing skin where it had touched. He never moved his eyes from mine, except when they wandered to my lips and back. My eyes flicked to his lips in response. He leant his head down and his lips touched mine. My first thought was how incredibly soft his lips were. I felt his hand trailing up my side softly, and stop around my ribs. The other hand was holding the side of my face gently. I reached up and snaked my arms around his neck, standing on my tiptoes to kiss him. My whole body was hyper aware of every touch in
this moment. His knee bumping into my thigh as he tried to get closer to me. His thumb moving up and down in a soothing way on my back. His fingers moving into the baseline of my hair. He pulled away after a minute. His cheeks were red, and his smile was bright and genuine.
"I've been wanting to do that since this morning."
I could only smile back in agreement.