Behind the Sea

The next day I had shot out of my bed and ran out of the house armed with my beach bag, flip flops and sunglasses.

I was determined to be the first.

However I had spent a sleepless night in my own head. Thoughts upon thoughts were running around my head chasing each other in mad, frenzied circles, preventing me form being able to shut my eyes and sleep.

Alex would not leave my head, and neither would the things that he said. They had embedded themselves into my sun-fried brain and kicked some life back into it. However it was not the kind of distraction I was looking for, boys like Alex proving more disaster than cure.

I legged it onto the beach, despite the immense build up of late morning heat, in search of my usual spot and praying to god that I was the first person there. But even from the distance I was at I could see a form occupying my usual space near the great grey rocks.

"Alex," I muttered angrily under my breath and sauntered towards my space, sand flying up behind me as I tried to walk in my worn black flip-flops.

The cheery smile of no one else but Alex Gaskarth greeted me whilst I was still a couple of feet away form him.

Everything about his presence, down from his silly fancy hair to the just as silly flip-flops made my heart beat faster and the red in my cheeks flush higher.

"You're late," He stated simply.

"I wasn't aware we had a date," I said with a grunt as I spread my towel out on the baking sand next to him, and proceeded to yank my sundress over my head so I could fall onto my white and blue towel in my bikini.

I felt Alex's eyes on me and glared at him through my sunglasses when I saw his appreciative gaze on me.

"Stop sight raping me," I hissed as I tried to make myself comfortable on the ground.

"I'll try my best," I heard Alex's cheery voice somewhere high above me, and before I knew it I heard the sounds of a guitar being strummed.

My eyes, which had momentarily dropped shut due to the lack of sleep form the night before, snapped open and I turned my head to the direction of the noise and saw Alex sat cross legged with an ancient and battered acoustic guitar in his lap.

Despite my foul mood I smiled, Alex saw this and took this to be an encouraging sign as he opened his mouth and started to sing softly.

"Get me out of this place before I cause more damage, a small price to pay for building houses out of matchsticks, when things get too hot, you've got me to blame, for every fire that breaks out in every lover's name…"

I think it was then that I realized something I had been trying to push out of my mind from the very first fatal day at the beach. I realized why I could not get the grinning boy with the fancy hair and nice voice out of my head and why he gave me sleepless nights.

I was falling head over heels for a boy whom I had met on the first day of the great heat wave and was more trouble than good cause, who would give me the head and heart ache to go along with the verses in the songs that he would at some point sing about me.

I wanted romance, and got every love song's clique