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“How’s it going?” I ask, thinking it’s a normal question to ask him.
“I don’t want to talk about it, Audrey.” His tone is sharp, and he rises from the chair. “I’m going to go take a dip and cool off. Do you wanna come along?”
I try to process the invitation, but my mind is still reeling from how he answered me. I wonder what that’s about but decide not to say any more.
“No, not quite yet. I wanna sit here for a few more minutes.”
“Suit yourself,” he says and begins making his way to the water.
“Derek,” I call out after him.
“Yeah,” he says, turning toward me. The scowl from earlier has faded a bit.
“Hat.” I motion to my head, as if he doesn’t know where his hat is.
“I need this.” He turns on his heel and heads into the water.
I watch the muscles of his back move and flex as he attempts to get out into the water. The beach isn’t very crowded today, which is nice. These beaches tend to be more for the residences of the houses behind us. But every once in a while, the tourists will come down here to play. I guess that’s why he feels the need to have his hat on to protect him from unwanted intrusions from fans.
Derek walks out into the water and dives forward. He’s fully submerged. Coming up, he pushes his hair off his face and replaces the hat on his head. I watch him stand there, taking the moment in. I can barely see his face from where I’m sitting, gawking, and not reading my book. But if I had to guess his expression, I would imagine he is scowling. He has been doing that a lot lately. There are rumors swirling around the internet that he’s dating Serena, the girl who sings “Call Me From the Darkness” with him. I wouldn’t be surprised if the rumors are true. She is also absolutely gorgeous and almost the same height as Derek. They make a striking pair when standing beside each other.
Serena’s a solo act and goes by just the one name onstage. She doesn’t need the rest; she puts on a hell of a show herself. I enjoy listening to her songs. She has a bit of an edge to her songs. I’d classify her as rock, the same as Crave. Some of her songs are great ballads. The one she does with Crave has a bit of a ballad feel to it, but my brother adds some awesome bass guitar to it, giving it more grit.
I hear my name being yelled, and it pulls me from my thoughts.
“Aud! Get out here!” Derek is shouting at me, motioning for me with his arms flailing wildly.
I nod and rise from the chair, then discard my white shorts and head down to the sand. He’s watching me as I come toward him. I swear he bites his lip, and I hiss as the cool water hits my skin. I thought it would be warmer than it is, but I haven’t been in yet this year, so how would I know? The water temperature that’s posted on the boardwalk never really means much to me. I can’t equate it to how the water will feel.
“Doesn’t it feel nice?” he asks me when I reach him.
He’s standing in waist-deep water, and I’m having trouble focusing on anything other than how the water is rolling down his chest.
“Why do you keep spacing on me, Aud? Is something going on I should know about?”
“I should ask you the same thing,” I tell him.
He just sighs. “What’s with you today? I keep talking to you and you don’t respond.”
Because I’m busy admiring you. “Sorry, just tired.”
“You’re busy being the dutiful daughter,” he remarks. He’s teasing me and I love the smile that is spread wide across his face.
I flush and hope he doesn’t notice. “I guess so,” I reply. I push the water back and forth with my hands and splash it up on my arms. It’ll soon be time for more sunscreen. For just a second, a fantasy pops into my mind of Derek rubbing the sunscreen on my shoulders and making his way lower. It causes me to shiver despite the coolness of the water.
He’s watching me and I love how he looks at me like he’s really seeing me. There’s a softness in his eyes that I haven’t seen before. It makes my warm all over. We continue to stare at each other. It’s not weird like I would have imagined it would be. He opens his mouth like he has something he wants to say to me. Like it’s on the tip of his tongue, but the words aren’t leaving his mouth. Instead, he pulls his lower lip between his teeth and hisses out a breath.
“Say what you wanna say,” I challenge.
He smirks and dunks his body under the water. When he comes back up, he asks, “Why do you think I wanna ask you something?”
“The look on your face,” I tell him.
He shrugs. “Well, I’m not sure what that would be.”
I giggle and a wide smile crosses my face.
“What?” he asks. “What’s that for?”
