Keep your friends close and your enemies, closer

“Oh hey guys.” Summer greeted us with a smile as soon as we had reached them. Kent and I waved back and sat down on the sand next to Harvey.

“Holding hands eh?” Melissa whistled. I blushed and released his hand instantly. I had forgotten our hands were still together.

“I’m going to go play in the water. Anybody else interested?” I asked casually, standing up and started stripping down to my two-piece.

Kent’s eyes followed my every small moment. When I looked back at him, he stared deeply into my eyes. I immediately found it hard to breathe. His eyes were hypnotizing me again.

“I’ll go.” He stood up, stripped down and walked over to me. This time, I couldn’t breathe at all. Kent looked breathtakingly hot wearing nothing except his swimsuit, which was a pair of shorts- that, thankfully, was not too short or anything. His lean body showed his muscles, which were now not only obvious, but also well defined.

He placed two fingers under my chin and lifted my face up to meet his eyes. I reluctantly tore my eyes away from his body to look back at him. “My eyes are here, sweetie.” He smirked.

I blushed and pushed away from him. “Hey, we want to go too.” The rest started stripping down to their swimsuits and ran past us, to the sea. They seemed oblivious to the ‘intense’ moment I had earlier.

“Ready?” He extended his hand. I placed my hand in his large ones and dragged him into the water. It was hard, considering he was heavier than I was. Once we reached the water, I lost my balance and fell facedown.

I shrieked and dragged Kent along with me, because of the fact that we were still holding hands. He squeaked- in a manly voice, of course- and fell to my side. It was a good thing the water was only up to our ankles. I pushed myself back up and started laughing. I pulled him up and he joined in my laughter.

“You’re so weird.” He ruffled my hair.

“Hey!” I ripped my hand away from his and jumped on his back. We were still playing and all, until I notice the look on everybody else’s face. They were all looking at us in shock and disbelief, except for Summer. She had on a smug expression.

I stopped laughing and self-consciously released my hold on Kent. “Hey, what’re you-” He stopped in mid-conversation when he caught the look on everybody’s faces.

“Why are you guys looking at us like that?”

Dustin spoke up. He gave us a knowing look. “See! I knew you were-” Dustin broke off his sentence because Summer had elbowed him the ribs and was now trying to shut him up. I was thankful. I had a feeling I knew what he was planning to say.

“Oh, come on guys. Stop staring. Let’s play!” Summer enthused and wadded deeper into the water. I shot her a grateful look, and she winked at me. The rest of them followed her out and forgot all about what had just happened.

“Is it just me, or is this turning a teensy bit awkward?” Kent asked.

“Not a teensy. A lot. I don’t get it.” I shook my head and followed them out. Summer was sitting on Dustin’s shoulder, Olesia was on Ranger’s and Melissa was on Harvey’s.

“Hey Ash, you get on top of Kent’s shoulder. We’ll play a game. The girls will try to push each other off their partner’s shoulder. The couple that is the last to fall in the water wins.” Harvey explained.

“Okay.” Kent swam underneath me, and I felt a pair of shoulders under my thigh. It was a good thing he had broad shoulders.

“You ready to own their butts?” I whispered in his ear.

“Totally. Kick ass, Ash.”

Again, I didn’t know what came over me, but I bent down and kissed his cheek. He stood absolutely still beneath me. I immediately thought of an excuse for what I did.

“That was… for luck. You know, we probably need luck on our side anyway.” I babbled, feeling my face turn hot.

“Okay, guys. Ready?” Ranger shouted. We started hooting and cheering. “Then, let’s start!”

The whole game was pretty rowdy, but fun nonetheless. I aimed for Olesia first because we were nearest to her.

“You’re going down, sister!” My hands were on her shoulders and hers were on mine. I was trying to push her, but she was pretty built. Kent held on tightly to my legs, preventing me from falling.

Suddenly, Kent laughed. “Dude! Your shorts aren’t buttoned!”

“Say what?!” Ranger shouted, and pulled at his shorts. Olesia instantly lost her balance and fell into the water, dragging Ranger with her.

I snickered. “His shorts weren’t really unbuttoned, right?”

Kent shook his head. My partner is awesome. Kent walked over to where Melissa and Summer were. Summer was going to lose. Melissa was much stronger than she was.

I was right. Summer and Dustin fell into the water with a playful scream, not too long later.

“So, it’s just the two of us now.” Melissa mimicked a mad scientist, giggling. Kent and Harvey stood nearer to each other.

“Ready?” I asked, placing my arms on her shoulders. She nodded, and did the same. Then, we started pushing each other. I had to use all my energy in shoving her off because, like I said, she was strong.

“Come on, Ash. You can do it!” Kent cheered, stroking my calf for encouragement. Well, that did it. The tickling sensation that came from his fingertips practically electrified me, giving Melissa an advantage. And boy, did she take advantage of it. She gave a final push, and I lost my balance, falling into the water with my legs around Kent.

Underwater, I pulled an I’m-sorry face to Kent. He shrugged and held my hand. Even underwater, I could still feel the electricity when his hand touched mine. We re-surfaced and swam over to where the rest of the gang was assembled. Melissa was still on Harvey’s shoulders, enjoying her victory.

“Congrats, Mel.” I smiled up at her. She gave a small bow. After playing in the sea for a while, we walked up the shore and dried off.

We didn’t do much, then. We played some beach volleyball, -the girls won! - ate the lunch that Olesia had packed for us, and just relaxed.

We went home before the sunset. Olesia offered to take Ranger home, which means that I was stuck in the car alone with Kent.

“So… That was fun.” Kent commented, starting up the car.

“Totally.” I agreed. “Sorry we didn’t win though.”

“Don’t be sorry. It wasn’t your fault. It was just a game, anyways. No big deal.”

“True. I guess. So what do you want to do tomorrow?”

“We have school remember?”

“I remember.” I rolled my eyes. “As in, what do we do after school?”

“I don’t think we have to do anything tomorrow. We’ll be having a ‘date’ during lunch. That has to count right?”

My heart sank down to my toes when he said that. He was right. We didn’t have to hang after school, but I wanted to.

“You’re right. We don’t have to do anything. Yay.” I meekly cheered, forcing a smile on my face.

Kent looked back at me curiously before facing the road once more. I was feeling so crushed inside. I guess Kent really doesn’t like me in that way. Why did that fact hurt so much if I didn’t like him, though?

“Well, we’re here.” I looked up. And true enough, we were already in front of my house.

“Well, I had a great time. Thank for inviting us.” I started to get out of the car, when he placed his hand on my arm. I stopped and stared at his hand. Was I the only one who could feel the sparks when he touched me?

“Doesn’t your boyfriend get a hug, at least?” He teased. I hesitated. Oh, what the heck? I reached across my seat and wrapped my arms around his neck. His arm snaked around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

I hid my face in his neck and he buried his in my hair. We were so close that I could feel his heartbeat through his shirt. It was beating as fast as mine was, and that’s to say it was beating as fast as possible.

All too soon, he pulled away and I exited the car. “I’ll save you a seat in lunch tomorrow. Later.”

I waved to him as he sped off. I walked inside my house and threw myself on the couch. When did my relationship with Kent start getting this complicated?