I tried to hold on to Elliot as loosely as possible, tried to make sure there was a reasonable distance between our bodies, enough that my mind didn't go on a rampage, but unfortunately, the man at the docks wasn't going to let me go that easily.

"Tighter," he instructed. "If you hold on to him loose like that, you're bound to fall back on takeoff."

Reluctantly, I wrapped my arms tighter around Elliot.

"No, that's not good enough," the man sighed. "Your friend did it so perfectly. She wrapped her arms around the other guy like her life depended on it, so you do the same."

"If you're uncomfortable—" Elliot began, but I cut him off.

"I'm not," I denied then cleared my throat and put my arms further around him, locking my hands together.

"There we go," the man approved. "Now you can go ahead and enjoy the ride."

Elliot took that as his cue and started the jet ski, but as soon as it revved forward I found my grip tightening around him.

"Sorry," I muttered, loosening my grip slightly.

This was fine. It was just two adults riding a jet ski. There was nothing significant about it. Nothing significant about the fact that I could feel how hard and firm Elliot was. Nothing significant about the fact that I could feel his skin against mine despite the life jacket. Nothing significant about the fact that I was considering Ally's previous statement about him not having said 'I do' yet.

I immediately got rid of that last thought before it grew more. I wasn't that kind of person, and he didn't seem like the type to cheat. But even if he was, I wouldn't jump into anything with an engaged man. He was probably head over heels in love with whoever his fiancé was, and he probably wasn't feeling a thing right now, unlike me. He probably just thought of this as a kind gesture, allowing me to ride with him, but little did he know how many sensations were running through me because of him.

Elliot increased the speed and I held onto him tighter despite myself.

"Should I slow down?" Elliot asked me.

It took me a moment to answer, but I managed to say, "no." I wasn't going to be the reason he didn't get to enjoy this ride to the fullest. "Go faster," I told him. "But not too fast because that's dangerous and I'm pretty sure there is a speed limit." I cringed as soon as those words left my mouth. That was such a Faizah thing to say.

Elliot chuckled, and I felt the reverberations throughout my body. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, I thought, but the more the wind blew against my face and the more Elliot broke through the small waves that came our way, the more that thought became a distant memory.

I found myself focusing on the sensations of the experience rather than the sensations that came from holding onto him. I was tempted more than once to unbuckle my hands from around Elliot and hold them out to feel the wind press against my palms, but I had no intention of falling off the jet ski. So instead, exhilarated by the experience, I leaned my head back and shouted against the roar of the wind. Elliot soon joined my cheers as we sped across the water. As luck would have it, however, my shouts turned into gags and coughs when what I assumed was a bug flew directly into my mouth and lodged itself in my throat.

Elliot must have guessed what had just happened because he repeatedly said, "don't swallow, cough it out."

That was exactly what I did, but one accidental inhale pushed it further down my throat and forced me to swallow. The coughs immediately stopped after that. Elliot didn't say anything, no doubt aware that I had swallowed the bug. His body suddenly started shaking and it took me a second to register he was trying not to laugh out loud.

"It's not funny," I said, my voice coming out hoarse from all the coughing.

"I'm sorry." He sounded like he was holding back a laugh.

"It's not funny," I repeated and despite trying to remain serious, my voice broke as it gave way to laughter of its own. "Why are you finding this funny?"

"I honestly don't know," Elliot's voice came out a pitch higher as he tried to hold back his laughter, which made me laugh out loud. His silent chuckles then turned into full-out laughter then, as if he couldn't help himself at this point.

The man at the dock suddenly blew a whistle which meant that the hour was over and the jet ski's needed to be docked, and I was surprised at how fast time had moved. Elliot safely got us back and we were still chuckling by the time we joined up with the others.

"Looks like you had a good time," Ally said with a grin.

"Didn't we all?" I asked her.

"But you look like you had an especially good time," she said quietly to me and added a wink to that statement. I only rolled my eyes in response.

"Shall we grab something to eat?" Faizah suggested. "We haven't had a proper meal today."

"I think Zara's already had an efficient meal," Elliot teased, and I looked at him only to see he was holding his fist against his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud.

"Not funny," I chuckled despite myself, rolling my eyes.

"Are we missing something?" Serena asked.

"It's nothing," Elliot answered at the same time I did.

"Was this efficient meal you by any chance?" Ally asked, and my eyes flew open as I gaped at her. I was surprised she said such a thing but at the same time, I wasn't. Ally always managed to say something inappropriate and dirty, even from the most innocent of phrases.

"Ally, I think you should go take a walk," Faizah suggested, but it looked like she was about to start laughing. "How about we all take a walk back to the hotel?"

"No," Ally disagreed. "It's too early to go back inside, especially since there is one more activity we have to do."

****

"Heck no," was all Faizah said as she looked down to the sea from the cliff we currently stood on. She then began listing all the reasons why this was a bad idea. "We don't know if we can jump far enough to reach the water, we don't know if there are sharp rocks waiting to impale us in the water, we don't know if the impact will knock us unconscious..."

Throughout Faizah's warnings, Ally had silently moved back and removed her clothes, getting ready to run and jump. In hindsight, there was no need to put clothes over our bikinis if we were only going to end up taking them off again.

When Faizah finally finished and looked back, Ally shouted, "you only live once!" before taking a run up and jumping off the cliff.

"Ally!" Faizah shouted after her.

Ally hit the water with a loud splash, and it took her several seconds to break the surface.

"Come on!" Ally encouraged us.

Serena was the next one to strip off her clothes, but rather than jumping she looked at Reed who took that as his cue to strip and once he had, she took his hand and they jumped together.

"That's so dangerous!" Faizah shouted after them. "What if one of you had failed to jump far enough and the other suffered for it!" She hurriedly looked back at me. "Don't you dare."

"It looks fun," I reasoned.

"It looks suicidal!" She retorted.

"We're still alive!" Ally shouted from the sea below.

"She's got a point," Elliot agreed with Ally. I looked back only to see him remove his shirt in one smooth motion, and that simple action made me feel questionable things. "You jumping?" That question was directed to me.

"Like I said," I began, "it looks fun." But I can't possibly remove my clothes when you're watching.

I fingered the hem of my shirt, willing myself to be as bold and confident as Ally. Elliot, noticing my hesitation, walked towards the cliff, his back to me as he waited for me to take off my clothes. The gesture alone made my heart double in speed and I cursed my heart for fluttering for an engaged man. It took me a second to recover from the sensations and I removed my clothes.

Elliot and I didn't jump hand in hand as Serena and Reed had, but we did jump side by side. The wind raged against me and swallowed my screams as I leapt from the cliff before the water swallowed me whole. I sank down and down and down before finally surfacing with a gasp.

"That was awesome!" I exclaimed.

"Faizah, you're missing out!" Ally called up at her.

Faizah peeked from the cliff, "someone needs to bring the clothes you all just left here!" She disappeared before appearing again instructing us to swim back to the shore before we got tired.

We all began swimming back to the shore when we suddenly heard screams behind us followed by a loud splash. We all looked back and were nothing short of surprised to see that the person who had jumped after us was Faizah.

She broke the surface and screamed, "that was so exhilarating!" We all laughed and cheered her on but she surprised us further when she said, "shall we go again?"

****

Elliot and Reed went back to the hotel after the second jump because they needed to meet someone, and we all wanted to go back with them but Faizah insisted we go again. After the fourth jump, we were way too tired to have to climb up the hill and swim back to shore after jumping, all but Faizah.

"It's because of you all that I jumped, and now you just want to stop?" Faizah questioned.

"We're way too tired now," Serena panted.

"Bunch of unfit females," Faizah laughed, and she wasn't wrong. Even though we were all faster than her, she was by far the fittest of us all. "Alright, let's go back."