Bittersweet Sundown

​Ash was just coming out of the bathroom, wearing only a towel around her body when someone rushed into her room, through a closed door, frightening her with that sudden and rather loud entrance.

”I have a perfect plan for us today,” Jimmy went straight to jumping on the bed.

“And that would be?” Ash asked curiously, walking closer to him.

“Boat trip,” was all he said, lounging carelessly on that soft beige blanket.

“That’s not a good idea,” she said sadly, turning her gaze to the floor.

“I think it’s a perfect idea. You said you really like the ocean. What’s a better place to enjoy it if not on a boat?” Jimmy asked, looking at her curiously.

“I can’t swim, Jimmy. I’m terrified of water if there’s more of it than a bathtub can contain,” Ash explained, coming to sit down on the edge of the bed. She wasn’t exactly proud of not knowing how to swim.

“Don’t worry, no one is forcing you into the water, I promise. Matt has this awesome boat and I can assure you it’s not gonna sink. Once we were out with it, we got caught by a bad storm and huge waves and nothing happened. Besides, I made sure there aren’t any storms coming today. So you don’t have anything to worry,” Jimmy tried to convince her, sliding his lean form beside her and throwing his arm around her.

“Come on, it’s gonna be fun. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you,” he didn’t give up, seeing her still contemplating. She exhaled heavily and lifted her head, to look in Jimmy’s shining eyes.

“You promise that you’ll be by my side every minute?” she asked wryly.

“You can count on me honey,” Jimmy hugged her closer, beaming with happiness.

“Forget every minute, you have to be with me every second,” Ash forced a laugh, shaking her head with disbelief. She couldn’t do but wonder what had happened to that always too careful girl she used to be.

“I can do that. You’re gonna love it,” he grinned, standing up again.

“So what time do I have to be ready?” Ash asked, thinking already about what to wear.

“Matt and Val went to visit some relatives but we can go as soon as they get back. I’m guessing about two-three hours from now,” Jimmy said, crouching down to Ash’s bag and starting to pull out random clothes.

“I don’t want to spoil your fun Mister, but what the hell are you doing?” Ash demanded gently, watching uneasily as one of her bras fell down on the floor.

“I’m making sure that you have bikinis,” he said casually, continuing with his search.

“Of course I have bikinis. I can’t swim but that doesn’t mean I don’t like being out in the sun,” Ash laughed, feeling relieved when Jimmy finally found what he was looking for. He stood up with Ash’s black and silver bikinis in hand and a victorious look on his face.

“Can I now have an access to my clothes? So I could get dressed and go out for a few hours,” Ash asked, taking her bikinis from Jimmy. She wasn’t used to other ​people going through her stuff.

“Yes. See you later,” Jimmy said, kissing her cheek and disappearing into thin air. It still made Ash shudder.

She put on her bikinis, covering them up with red top and white pants. After that she grabbed her purse and went out the door.

She walked around the shops and ate some ice cream. It had been three hours when she came out but she hadn’t had any sign of Jimmy yet. Hoping she still had some time, she walked in to another shop. She found some clothes she liked but on her way to cash register, she came across a basket of rubber ducks. There was one particular duck that got her attention. It had a black cloak and a white Scary Movie mask. For some reason it reminded her Jimmy, probably because he obviously liked ducks and he was a ghost and this duck was a combination of both. Without thinking much she grabbed the duck with her.

After paying for all of her stuff, she walked out. She’d had enough shopping for one day and she decided to walk back to Jimmy's. Her mobile phone started to ring and after searching for a moment, she answered it, without looking who was calling.

“Hey Ash. Where are you?” was asked with a familiar voice.

“Somewhere in town. Why?” Ash said warily, she wasn’t sure to who she was talking with.

“Well Jimmy asked me to pick you up but I can’t do this when I don’t know where you are. So, can you tell me at least on what street you are?” guy on the other end asked again, his voice full of laughter.

“I have no idea what street I am but I just passed Bella Terra. How did you get my number?” she asked, suspecting that it was Zack she was talking with.

“From Val. I’ll be there in ten minutes, don’t go far, okay?” he said.

“Okay,” Ash ended the call and after saving Zack’s number, slipped her phone back to her purse. Sighing, she scanned the street, searching for a place to wait, where she wouldn’t be in the way of people rushing around.

“Ash!” was soon called from a car on her left and Ash turned to look.

“Hi Zack,” she said. Not wanting to cause a problem, she quickly got in to the car. She threw her bags to the back seat.

“Jimmy said something about a boat trip,” Zack said, smiling friendly at the girl beside him.

“Oh, right,” Ash mumbled, feeling suddenly nervousness coming over.

“You don’t sound particularly happy about it,” he laughed, glancing at her.

“Well, I’m a bit terrified,” she told, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She came here to have fun and that’s what she planned to do. Knowing she could trust Jimmy, she decided to ignore her fears and concentrate on the fun side of the day.

“You’ll be fine. We won’t let anything happen to you,” Zack soothed, keeping his eyes on the road. Looking out of the window, Ash could see they were heading out of the town. There were no more buildings around them, only the road ahead. And there was water on both side of the road. She was just about to ask Zack where he’s taking them, when streets and buildings came in to view again. Soon they reached some big parking lot and Zack found an empty spot for his car.

“Let’s go princess,” he smiled at Ash, making her blush a little. Ash followed him out of the car.

Zack waited for her to get to his side of the car and then guided her down the dock. Watching around, Ash saw hundreds of boats and yachts in every size. At last they stopped in front of a quite big fancy looking black and white yacht.

“There you are. Welcome aboard,” Matt came to greet them, smiling happily.

“Princesses first,” Zack motioned Ash to step in first.

She eyed the gap between the boat and the dock, feeling a bit afraid to step over it. Matt stepped on the edge of his boat and held out his hand for her. Ash thankfully grabbed it and Matt practically lifted her to the boat, seemingly having no effort at all.

“Thank you,” Ash thanked, curiously looking around. “It’s so beautiful,” she admitted, peeking inside.

“Go on, have a look around. Val’s somewhere down there,” Matt encouraged her, pointing her at the right direction.

Taking his advice, Ash carefully walked inside the boat. She passed a seating area with a huge leather couch and a TV and found stairs going down.

“Come on down girl,” Val called, seeing her carefully climbing down the stairs. “Why do you have still clothes on?”

“Cause I just got here?” Ash said, half questioningly, hugging Val for hello.

“Well, get out of them. You need some sun honey,” she bossed, turning back to arranging chips and snacks into different bowls.

“I don’t have a sun screen with me, I totally forgot about that,” Ash frowned, she didn’t want to burn herself, especially now when her skin wasn’t used to Californian sun yet.

“Go back there. You can leave your clothes on the bed and you’ll find a few bottles of sun screen in the bathroom,” Val instructed and Ash curiously walked further inside. She was just setting sun lotion bottle back on shelf when she heard loud voices above.

“We’re baaaaack,” Jimmy ran down, yelling loud.

“We heard already, stop screaming,” Val scolded, grabbing a few bowls and heading up.

“Come on , let’s go up,” he came to Ash and grabbed her hand.

“Wait Jims, I got something for you,” she stopped him and ran back to her purse.

“I’m sure you have already hundreds of these but I couldn’t resist. It reminded me you for some weird reason,” she laughed, handing him the ducky. Jimmy took it and just stared at it for a minute.

“You don’t have to take it if you don’t like it,” she muttered, she hadn’t expected this kind of reaction.

“Are you kidding, it’s perfect. I love it. Thank you,” he smiled finally, happy as a child. “This is awesome. I’m definitely taking a bath today,” Jimmy laughed.

He lifted Ash up and ran upstairs with her, making her giggle in the process. When he put her down on the deck, she could see that they were speeding over the waves already. She could also see that their company had grown by Johnny, Leana, Michelle and Brian.

“Hey everyone,” Ash smiled friendly and carefully sat down. She was still afraid of that endless water around them.

“Hey Matt, could we take a swimming break sometime soon? It’s so damn hot today,” Zack shouted half an hour later, not bothering to even get up.

Ash heard Matt laugh from the front and a second later they were heading closer to the beach. Slowly she walked to the railing and watched that moving line between water and sand. It was beautiful and exciting to see the beach from this side. Soon enough Matt slowed down relatively close to the beach and then eventually stopped the ​boat.

“Everybody into the water,” Johnny yelled, running around. Val and Leana jumped up, ready to go swimming.

“Wait, I need my Mr. Quack,” Jimmy screamed, running inside the boat.

Suddenly Johnny was beside Ash, grabbing her in his arms.

“Johnny no, I can’t…” Ash managed to yell before she was over board and under the water.

Brian was standing close by, drinking his beer. He saw Ash’s terrified face and dropping his bottle, jumped right after her.

Ash was surrounded by water and frozen with fear. Looking frantically around her she tried to move her hands and legs but it didn’t do anything good. She was steadily sinking farther from that lighter side of the water, where she knew the surface was.

She was ready to give up when Brian appeared in front of her, grabbing both of her hands and motioning for her to hold on to him. Understanding, Ash nodded her head and held her hands around his neck, making sure to not suffocate him. He was her only hope to be saved and she was totally out of air.

Having both of his hands free, Brian quickly got them back to the surface and Ash started to cough immediately. Brian held one of his arms around her, supporting her and keeping her head out of the water.

“You okay?” he asked, looking at her worriedly.

“Please don’t let go of me,” Ash managed to choke out, afraid to slip under again.

“I’m not letting go, don’t worry,” Brian smirked, casting a look towards the boat. They had somehow moved farther away from it.

“Is she okay?” Zack yelled, leaning slightly over the railing.

“Yeah, we’re fine here,” Brian shouted back, suddenly laughing about something.

“Look,” he said to Ash, pointing back to the boat. Turning her head slightly, she saw how Jimmy was trying to choke Johnny, yelling at him at the same time. Ash snorted a laugh, followed by a rough coughing again. She had swallowed some water and couldn’t get it out of her throat.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here,” Brian said, trying to think a way how he could get the girl back to the boat. Ash froze up again, she was relatively calm til now, being held like this. She didn’t dare to think about moving around.

“You can trust me, I won’t let you drown,” he tried to soothe her, seeing fear on her face again. Ash took a deep breath and nodded her head once.

“Okay, I’ll tell Matt to get the yacht closer but it’ll cause some waves. Just hold on to me, okay?” Brian asked, waiting til Ash nodded her head. After five minutes full of fear, she was back on the boat. Jimmy was still busy with kicking Johnny’s ass. Ash ran between them, fighting the urge to cough again.

“Jimmy, stop, you’ve hit him enough already,” she squished herself between them, facing Jimmy.

“No I haven’t,” Jimmy said, pushing her aside and hitting Johnny again. Johnny didn’t even try to protect himself.

“That’s enough. He didn’t know I can’t swim, it’s not his fault,” Ash didn’t give up. She resolutely stepped in front of Johnny again.

“But because of him I broke my promise to you,” Jimmy whined, now looking sad.

​“I’m not mad Jim. Brian got me out and everything ended well. It’s okay, I’m okay,” she tried to soothe him, entwining her arms around him.

“But I am mad. He shouldn’t just run around and throw people in the water,” Jimmy growled, looking straight at Johnny.

“Jimmy stop, really. I got scared enough, I don’t wanna be scared for Johnny too. Please don’t be mad at him,” Ash begged, hugging him even tighter.

“But...” Jimmy started.

“No buts, promise me you won’t terrorize Johnny anymore,” she strictly cut him off. Jimmy crossed his arms on his chest and walked away, muttering to himself.

“Ash, I am so sorry,” Johnny started, his face sad with regret.

“Don’t worry Johnny, I’m okay. You didn’t know,” Ash hugged him. She wasn’t mad, just a bit shaken.

“Are you sure?” he asked, hugging her back. His neck was a bit sore and he could feel his lip starting to swell up. Jimmy hadn’t hit him with full force but his blows were hard enough to cause pain.

“Yes, just don’t ever do that again,” she whispered, suddenly feeling weak and tired.

“Okay, that’s enough. Come on honey, I think you should sit down for a moment,” Val said, wrapping a fluffy and soft towel around Ash’s shoulders. Without a protest, Ash went to sit down.

“Matt, we should go back. This trip is over for today,” Val told her husband while sitting down next to Ash.

“Oh, no. We don’t have to go back because of me. I’m perfectly fine as long as you keep me away from that bottomless water. You can go swimming or do whatever you want,” Ash objected. She didn’t wanna be the one ruining others evening.

“Don’t worry, no one is against going back, right guys?” Val asked, addressing last part of her sentence to everyone standing around them.

“But we don’t have to. Really, I’m okay. I don’t wanna go back,” Ash stated firmly. She was shaken up but refused to show it. She had always been good on hiding her feelings when she really wanted to.

“Are you sure?” Michelle asked after handing her a glass of cold juice.

“Yes, I am. And thank you all for worrying but you can stop now. I’ll survive,” Ash tried to smile. All this attention made her feel uncomfortable. Val was the first to understand this.

“Okay, everybody swimming, hop-hop,” she jumped up, shooing everyone away. She made sure that no one stayed to annoy Ash and then turned to looked at her husband.

“I’ll stay,” Matt said, deciding to be the one who stays on board. Val nodded and then jumped in to the water, joining others who were already splashing around and having fun.

“Why didn’t you tell us that you can’t swim?” Matt asked after sitting down, next to Ash.

“I told Jimmy. He promised to keep me safe. And now he’s disappeared again,” Ash glanced around with a tiny smile on her lips.

​“This could have been avoided if we’d all known,” Matt said, obviously not happy about that little incident.

“I know. I’m sorry,” Ash muttered, turning her eyes down in shame.

“I’m just glad Brian found you in time,” he hugged her with one arm.

“Yeah, me too. Oh my god, I owe him my life,” Ash realized at last, the seriousness of the situation coming clear at last. She had been so close to dying.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go back?” Matt asked worriedly, feeling her shiver.

“Yes. I’m fine. I will be fine, just give me a minute,” Ash said quietly while resting her head against his shoulder.

May 9, 2010

I almost died today. Yep, you heard right. I almost drowned, ALMOST. Thank heavens for Brian because he’s the reason I’m still here.

We went for a boat trip with Matt and all the other guys. Zack wanted to swim and before I could say anything to anyone, Johnny threw me over board. I am so clad that Brian saw the terror on my face and jumped right after me.

So much for trusting my life to Jimmy, he promised to take care of me but obviously failed. I’m not mad at him tho'. I’m not mad at Johnny either, it’s not his fault that he didn’t know. I should have just said to everyone that I can’t swim. Stupid me.

Anyway, when I got over the first shock, I hugged Brian and kissed him to his cheek, to show him how thankful I am and guess what, he smiled at me. I mean REALLY smiled. There was not a smallest trace of that usual hatred and coldness in his eyes. And that plain friendliness took my breath away. It felt like something clicked inside me at that moment. He’ll always be in my heart now, no matter how mean and hateful he will be.

Love is a funny thing, if you learn to love someone, it doesn’t matter how he treats you, you only see that best side of him. And I’m in love. God, how good it feels, to say it after such a long time.

I’m in love :)