French Vanilla

We made our way to the beach, stepping out of our shoes and socks as soon as we got to the sand. We shoved the socks into our shoes and held them, walking along the beach, just where the waves crash.

"I haven't been to the beach in ages!" I spun in a circle, kicking up sand and letting my purple hair twist around in the wind.

"Yeh live in California and yeh don't go teh the beach?"

"Nope, not really. I don't really have time too, or someone to go with."

"No friends?"

"Nope."

"I knew yeh were mental. 'Aving no friends proves it." He laughed as I gently elbowed him in the ribs.

"I'm not crazy! Everyone else is!"

"Tha' doesn't make sense. Yeh would ratha believe tha' six billion people are crazy, and not juss yeh?"

I nodded my head, "yup. Makes sense to me."

He laughed again, looking up at the sky. "Yeh are mental."

I smiled at his remark and shrugged. "I don't mind being on my own. I haven't had a problem so far."

He looked at me with an inquisitive look on his face. "Yeh'd ratha' be alone? What about relationships?"

I shrugged again. "Never found them useful. You only get hurt or end up hurting somebody. Then you lose a friendship. And like I said the other day, I never found someone willing to put up with me. I don't want to change."

He shook his head. "Yeh shouldn't 'ave teh change, Skylah. Yeh obviously neva' found someone who loved yeh. No one who loved yeh would ask yeh to change, nor would they ever 'urt yeh on purpose. Don't give up 'cause yeh 'ave onleh found arses teh date yeh. Lookin' is 'alf the battle."

I looked out into the ocean, taking in his words. I knew he was right, but I don't think my huge ego would ever let me admit to that. We walked in silence, listening to the crash of the waves.

"Hey Tommy?"

"Hmm?" He asked, looking up from his feet.

"Thank you for hanging out with me today. I know I can be a pain in the butt."

He smiled, "yeh a pain that I can get used to."

His words sang through my head, making me smile too.

We looked up to the endless sky above us as we felt a water droplet on our heads. "Looks like the rain is about to come." As quickly as I said that, it started down pouring, of course. I grinned up at Tom, as he smiled down at me. We stared at each other watching as the rain changed our own features. His hair became flat and meshed against his forehead. His shirt began to cling to his body and his pants began to sag under the weight.

"Always be honest with me, Tom. I'm not good with figuring things out. I'm a natural blonde, you know. I'm not any good at codes. Just, always be honest and straight forward with me. I like it best that way."

Tom nodded and reached up and wiped his thumb under my eye. "Wha-"

"Yehr makeup was runnin'." He spoke, keeping his hand on my face. We stared at each other longer. I noticed that our bodies were closer than I remember. We both leaned in, and just like that, we both stopped before anything happened. I looked down, letting a small laugh/sigh leave my mouth. He looked up to the sky and did the same.

"Dance with me."

"Wha'?"

"Dance with me, Tommy!" I grabbed his shoes out of his hand and threw them onto the sand with mine. I grabbed his hands and ran into the waves.

"We're dancin' in the ocean?" He asked, laughing. I nodded my head, and whipped my hair around in the air.

"Na na na na na na na na na na na!" I sang spinning in circles in the waist deep water.

"Drugs! Give me drugs! Give me drugs! I don't need it!" He sang.

I grinned up to him, recognizing the My Chemical Romance song. We sang along, dancing in the waves, and flailing our arms about. "THOUGHT YOU WAS BATMAN!" I screamed my favorite part of the song as loud as I could into the sky over and over again. "'THOUGHT YOU WAS BATMAN! THOUGHT YOU WAS BATMAN!' My Chemical Romance, I AM BATMAN!" I yelled.

"Yeh're not Batman!" He spoke, laughing.

"I am so! NA NA NA NA NA NA! Come catch me, Tom!" I yelled, making my way through the waves and onto the beach. He kept up the best he could.

"Get back 'ere yeh mental bird!"

I laughed, and spotted a giant pool of mud that formed on one of the dips in the sand. "Mud sliding!" I yelled back at him.

He caught up to my side, and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Gotcha! Now mud slidin'? Yeh wouldn't! I dare yeh!"

I grinned, "dare accepted!" He let go of my waist and I made a running start, diving and sliding into the mud pool. "Wooh!" I yelled.

"I told yeh that yeh were mental!"

"Come on, Tom!" I yelled, getting up and trudging over to him.

"Oh no no no!" He put up his hands defensively. "Yeh a muddy fuck, Skylah! Don't come near me!"

"Mud isn't like Chlamydia, Tom! Yeh are gettin' yehr arse in there!" I yelled, mocking his English accent.

"Make me!"

"Bad choice of words."

"Wha-" I tackled him, making him lose his sense of balance and falling into the mud pile. "Ah!" He yelled, laughing.

I sat on top of him triumphantly. "Don't dare me to do things, and this wouldn't happen. "

He laughed again, laying in the mud and sand concoction. "Yeh are propa righ' about tha'." There we were again, just staring at each other. He gingerly reached up and caressed my cheek. "Yeh propa loveleh, yeh know tha'?"

I looked down at myself. I was covered in mud, and from the strands of hair that I could see, my hair was no better. I could only imagine how my face looked. "You're blind then, Tommy." I smiled and wiped the hair off of his forehead.

"No, I 'ave pretteh good site actualleh. And wiff my perfect eyes I can see that yeh are propa gorgeous." I looked down, allowing the purple strands to fall into my face. I felt his hand reach up and tuck them behind my ear. "I mean it, yeh know. Yeh realleh are beautiful. Yeh are an amazin' person as well."

My face flushed to a deeper red."Why are you saying these things to me?"

"Because yeh asked meh to be 'onest wiff yeh earlier, and I am."

I smiled, looking down. I was sitting on his hips, and it took me this long to realize it. "Uh..." I trailed off, trying to think of a not awkward way to get out of this situation. "NA NA NA NA NA NA NA!" I yelled, jumping off him, and splashing around in the puddle.

He stood up laughing, "yeh ain't batman!"

"Am too! Am too!" I yelled, putting my hands on my hips.

He chuckled again. "Alrigh' Batman. Let's get somefin teh eat." As soon as he turned around, I ran up and jumped onto his back.

"NA NA NA NA NA NA NA!"

He laughed, starting to run. "Yeh flyin', Skylah! Yeh flyin'!"

I reached my hands out towards the sky and closed my eyes. "I feel like I'm on top of the world!"

"Yeh're close. Yeh're on top of me." I laughed and climbed down from his back as we got to where are shoes were thrown before. We picked them up and headed to the car.

By the time we got to the diner, the rain died down a bit. When we walked in, all the waiters and waitresses looked at us weirdly. "Uh... can I help you guys?" A young man asked.

Tom grinned, "table fo' two, please."

He nodded and brought us to a table next to a window. "Sharon will be your server, and she'll be right over." He spoke, quickly walking away.

"Again, I wanted to say-"

"OH MY GOD! TOM SYKES?" I looked up to see a waitress running over to her table. "I just love you!" I heard him sigh as she gushed over him. "Why are you guys all muddy and gross? You look way better all prettied up, doll." She spoke, facing Tom, completely ignoring me. I shot her glares through her thick black hair. "I'm Sharon, by the way. Can I get you anything?"

"Water and a bacon cheeseburgah."

"Alright, anything else?"

"I'll have the same?" I questioned, chiming in.

She nodded, and walked away.

"As I was saying, I just really wanted to-"

"Here you go, Tommy dear." Sharon spoke, putting the drinks on the table. "How are you by the way?" She leaned her elbow on the table, resting her chin in her hand. It gave Tom a clear view of her cleavage. Tom shifted in his seat, and I caught his eyes there, just for a moment, before he looked out the window.

"I'm good, and yeh?" He mumbled.

"I'm fantastic! Thanks for asking, doll. I love your accent! It's absolutely sexy. What're your plans for tonight?"

He sighed heavily, before making eye contact with me. He smirked a little before looking up into her eyes. "Well I was planning on having lunch with my girlfren' here," he said, gesturing to me. "Then I planned on takin' 'er to the movies and to a romantic diner . Before tha', we'll probableh 'ave teh go back teh 'er house teh shower to get this mud cleaned up off of us. Then back teh 'er apahtment to fall asleep togetha, my arms wrapped snuggly around 'er small frame. I'd wake up to the smell of her purple 'air, which always smells like strawberries. We'd finish gettin' packed, and then we'd go to the airport and fly teh England, where we'd fall even more in love."

I muffled a laugh at Sharon's contorted face. It twisted more in disgust every time Tom added more details to the story. "Oh, well I'm very happy for you." She mumbled.

"Yea, I am too. Juss a silly waitress throwin' 'er ches' in meh face is keepin' my plans delayed. Don't yeh 'ate when tha' 'appens?" He asked her, batting his pretty eye lashes.

She blushed a deep red and excused herself. As soon as she walked away, Tom and I started cracking up. "Haha! Her face!" I laughed, clutching my stomach.

"It was fawkin' priceless! Wha' a slag she was!"

I nodded, "yeah I know! And guess what?"

"What?"

"That was the second time I saved your ass by you saying that I was your girlfriend. I think you owe me now."

He nodded, smiling. "Well I don't mind sayin' it. Yeh propa beautiful, like I said befo'. Yeh make all the slags and models jealous. I guess next time we're in public and a guy is hasslin' yeh, yeh can say yeh're wiff meh. Then we'd be even, yea?"

I nodded as Sharon dropped off our plates and walked away without saying anything. "Aw, Tommy, I think you hurt her feelings."

"Oh well, she can try and shag anothah person."

We finished our lunches and headed outside. "The rain stopped." We both looked up to the sky. "Oh, Tom! Look! A rainbow!"

He smiled up at the colors in the sky. "Yeh so simple teh make smile."

I shrugged, getting into his very dirty rent-a-car. "I'm a simple person."

He looked down at his phone and groaned. "I 'ave teh 'ead 'ome soon. Olleh is textin' meh like mental bird." I looked at the time and noticed it was four-thirty.

"Oh yea, you have to catch a plane."

He sighed and I looked out the window as we began to drive back to my apartment. "I 'ad a lot of fun today, Skylah. Fanks so much for agreein' teh come out wiff meh."

I smiled up at him, "yeah, I guess. It wasn't terrible."

He laughed. "Glad teh know yeh 'ad as much of a good time as I did." We pulled into the parking lot, and I was surprised to see him step out of the car to walk me to the door. No other man I knew in my life was that chivalrous.

"I had a really great time, actually." I admitted, biting my lower lip.

He smiled down at me as we waited in front of the door. "Well I 'ope so. I don't go trudging through the mud and pouring rain fo' too many people."

I put my hand over my heart and laughed, "oh why thank you, Thomas. I feel honored."

"Don't fo'get about wha' I said teh yeh yesterday."

I nodded, remembering the modeling career he offered me. I still couldn't wrap my mind around the whole thing. "I know. I still need to think about that. It's a lot you're asking me to do."

"I'm askin' yeh to follow yehr dreams, Skylah. I don't fink that's too much." I looked down at my shoes, knowing he was right. I felt his finger under my chin, forcing me to look up at him. "Keep yeh 'ead 'eld 'igh, gorgeous."

My face flushed a light pink. "Thank you, Tom. For everything."

"May I ask somefin of yeh?" I nodded my head. He leaned down, really close to my face. "May I 'ave a 'ug from the loveleh batman lady?" I giggled, wrapping my arms around his waist. I buried my face into his chest as I felt his arms wrap around my waist. "If yeh don't take tha' job, this could potentialleh be the las' time I eva' see yeh," he muffled into my hair, sighing deeply.

I sighed, gripping him tighter. The way he said it certainly tugged at my heart strings. I'd miss him, lots. I already knew that. We pulled apart a few moments later, and looked into each other's eyes. "Bye Tom-Tom."

He took a step away, "farewell, Batman."