Look for Me in Rainbows

Thats what she had been hiding. Maggie was hiding her genetic and life threatening disease. Maggie had seemed very unyielding in her hockey playing, almost as if she wouldn’t let herself stop playing. Now he realized that it was her way of coping. Her only way to escape. It had to have been that way for years. Patrick rubbed her shoulders. He didn’t know what to say.

“I’m okay for now though.” Said Maggie. She knew he didn’t know what to say. He made it really obvious. He nodded in response. “All I do is cough a lot.”

“Wanna go somewhere?” Patrick asked.

“Where?”

“The beach” He said.

“Why the beach?”
“Because its a fun place to go when you need to think and get away from reality for a couple of hours.” Maggie found a scrap of paper and a pen and wrote down her address.

“I’ll be ready in a half an hour.” She smiled. With that, the climbed out of the car and walked to her own. She drove herself home and changed into a hot pink bikini for under her jean shorts and navy blue tank top. She grabbed a bag and threw in a water bottle, sun screen, and a Blackhawks baseball cap her father had sent her. Then she fell onto her bed and screamed into her pillow. She stood up and caught her breath. She walked into the bathroom. She never really wore a ton of makeup, but she found some waterproof mascara and put that on. She looked over herself in the mirror and curled some stray pieces of hair that had come loose from her braids behind her ears. There was a knock on the door.

Maggie slipped on her flip flops as she left her bedroom and went to get the door. As expected, it was Patrick. “You ready?” He asked.

“Yeah.” She grinned.
...............................................................

They got to the beach and Patrick pulled out a blanket for them. “Where do you want to set up?” He asked. The beach wasn’t super crowded, but there were some people. Maggie looked around.

“There.” She pointed to a hole in the people.

“Alrighty.” They walked over and put out the blanket. Maggie took off her clothes. Patrick couldn’t help but stare. She had the perfect body. Very muscular, but not grossly so. She noticed his starring.

“What?” She asked. He snapped out of his trance.

“I was just wondering if you were one of those girls that doesn’t swim. He motioned with his head to a super tan girl who was dipping her toes in while her boyfriend tried to convince her to come all the way in. All she did was shake her head.

“Do I look like a girl who’s afraid of a little water?” She asked in reply. He took off his shirt, revealing his equally perfect body. Maggie couldn’t help looking, but she was a bit more discreet in doing so.

“No.” He gave her a grin, then stood up and ran towards the water.

“Hey!” Maggie shouted as she followed him into the water. They both ran until the water was too high and it made them trip. She and Patrick came up from under the water laughing.

“So you do like the water.” Patrick said.

“How’d you know?” She asked. Patrick moved closer to her and put his hand onto her waist. He leaned in. Both their hearts beat faster. He kissed her. She wrapped her arms around her neck. Neither wanted it to end, but all things had to.

She smiled at him and he ran his hand through his wet hair then ducked under water. “I guess you like the water too.” Maggie said.

“How’d you know?”