Don't forget to vote>:( This is the other half of chapter 8, chapter 9 will be up next week as per usual hopefully ;-;
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"So, you've never been in the sea before?" Seth asked as we made our way to the salon, sand crackling under the soles of our shoes. 

I laughed nervously. The thought of being submerged in salty water made my stomach do some nasty flips, and not in the nice way. "I guess not. That's why I'll blame you if I drown."

Seth barked out a laugh at that, which caused his sandy hair to shake around the way it always did, shining under the sun's golden hue. It was getting somewhat pathetic at this point, honestly. The boy who lives in a hair salon has the prettiest hair. What a cliché. He opened a grey storage bin that stood against the side of the salon and pulled out one of those foam surfboards. "Don't worry, I don't think drowning the new kid would look good on my social status anyway," he teased, swiftly raising the board above his head when two kids came racing past us, screaming and laughing loudly as they almost crashed into Seth. Their footsteps left little silhouettes on the concrete walkway, slowly fading beneath the sun's power. 

Opening the door with a little ping, Seth waved at his mom before turning to me. He put the foam board in my arms, fingers brushing against mine for less than a moment. "I'll be right back, gotta grab my board and change into something more... suitable," he said, motioning to his cargo shorts before he disappeared into the salon. 

I nodded, hugging the board to my chest to keep it safe from— uh... seagulls-? Whatever. I'd already changed my jeans for swim trunks back at the apartment, a not-so-fashionable sacrifice. Sinking down to the ground, my back pressed against the off-white concrete and my head shaded by the thatched canopy above this part of the promenade, I began to feel nerves creeping up on me. And even more so, my fingers felt tingly. Sparkly-? Electrocuted? Not sure what the exact term would be to describe the ants crawling around my fingertips, but it wasn't all too pleasant. 

While aggressively shaking out my fingers, I listened to the sea's calming songs. The infinite waves just lapping over one another until they melt away in the sand, flushing up thousands of seashells for us to collect, over and over again. Day after day, week after week, and so on. That deep aquamarine color no camera could do justice to, no paint could replicate, a color so specific that only the velvety soft sand could match it.  

"Appreciating the view, blue eyes?"

Jesus fucki— I jerked up so bad it must've looked like one of those jumpy Mario characters. With a sheepish chuckle, I crawled up from the ground and quickly glanced at Seth. He'd changed his cargoes to swim trunks, too, still topped with the same Nirvana shirt and the always-present stack of bracelets. He'd taken off his Vans too, now just wearing a simple anklet that matched the bracelets. And of course, his surfboard. It was almost taller than he was, the upside (or so I assumed) a light green color, some combination of pastels and olives, and the other side a cream color. 

I glanced at my board, a pink and purple foam board that was about half my size, and then back at Seth. Why did I agree to this again?  "Don't you think you got a bit of an advantage there?" I asked dryly, flapping my board around for emphasis. 

Despite my dead-serious face, Seth laughed, and I had to try really hard not to smile. He grinned at me. "I probably do." And before I could smack the asshole, he just.. made a run for it. "RACE YOU!" he called out between loud laughter, effortlessly sprinting down the beach while maneuvering that massive board on his shoulder like it was nothing. And I would've made a comment about how he looked like a goddamn model, but right now I was way too hooked on the competition. This bitch.

Without a word, I kicked off my shoes, dropped them next to my backpack, and sent a little prayer to keep them safe before dashing after Seth. My feet thumped against the burning sand, sweat collecting at the nape of my neck. How the fuck does he do this-?! I winced when my ankle right about snapped in half, shards of seashells slicing through my skin with no mercy. "Fucking motherfu—" 

"You gotta work on your running skills, man. That was tragic."

"Fuck you," I grumbled, transitioning into flamingo-pose to peel the seashells off my feet. I'm never running again, oh my god. My irritation only grew bigger when I heard Seth laugh, again, muttering something under his breath I couldn't hear. 

"Alright, just follow after me, yeah? And don't mind the cold, you'll get used to it," Seth said as he walked into the ocean with his board, shooting me a reassuring smile. 

Nerves spiking to a max, I clutched onto my foam board, hesitantly inching into the water right after Seth. Every step felt like a drop-down on a rollercoaster, the rising water swallowing my limbs one by one. It was getting harder to move forward and I didn't like it one bit. "H-hey Seth-? How much longer?" God, I'm so fucking stupid.

Seth turned around with a soft smile on his face. "Almost far enough, promise." His brows furrowed slightly, smile fading into a look of worry. "Do you want to go back?"

I immediately shook my head, even though I very much did want to. The sea swirled around me, water so clear I could see my pale legs wobbling under the surface. That typical salty smell was more prominent than ever, invading my lungs with an odd sense of freedom. A weird fact, considering I felt anything but free. "I don't want to stop feeling the ground," I eventually admitted, chewing at my lip in embarrassment. 

If it were even possible, Seth's face softened even more, and he stuck his hand out. "Nothing's gonna happen, okay? Let the board float, hold on to it." He nodded at his own board, which calmly floated beside him.  

So stupid. With great hesitation and my heart in my throat, I took Seth's hand and did as he said. The marching band of ants teleported over to my stomach when he intertwined our fingers and held onto my hand, gently swaying them left and right underwater. My stomach twisted into fucking knots, pulling at all the alarm bells with full force. Oh my fucking god. At least the board offered me some support as we continued to walk further down the water, silence accompanied by screaming kids and screeching seagulls. 

"Alright, I think we're in deep enough," Seth stated after a few more minutes, letting go of my hand to grab his board. He had that same easy smile on his face like always. "Now just hop on," he lifted himself onto his board with ease, "and relax." 

Pft. Easier said than done. I huffed, pressing down on the purple foam with great force. That wasn't a very smart move, seeing as the board pretty much flew away from under my hands, which caused Seth to laugh. Asshole. I tried again, this time putting one leg first, but the fucking incapable thing just repeated its motion and plopped out of my grasp. 

Seth shook his head with a chuckle. He slid off his surfboard and placed his hands on my shoulders, cold water now seeping through my shirt. "Take my board, I'll take this one," he said, turning me around toward his board. 

And how the fuck am I supposed to get on here? I pursed my lips, staring at the stupid pastel olive green mashup thing as if I'd never seen anything like it before. And in a way, I guess I hadn't, but that wasn't the point. "Uh—

"Here, let me help you." Seth turned around again, holding onto the foam board with one hand. "Just try to get on there first, worry about a comfortable position later," he instructed right as he climbed onto the foam board and sat down, legs dangling in the water. He held onto the big board with two hands, one on either side of me. "Okay, get on."

I swallowed, shaking away the last bit of rationality I had left, and lifted myself up. I propped my knees onto the board first, fingertips coiling around the edge like my life depended on it, which, technically, it kinda did, and then I straightened my back up a little bit. "No fucking way, I did it-!" I yelped in triumph, still absolutely horrified to make any movement at all. 

Seth laughed, still holding onto the board. "Yeah you did! Now do you think you can turn around? It'd be nice to see your face." 

I gulped, ignoring the way my stomach made another flip at that. He's just joking. "R-right. Yes. Totally. Uhuh." Wow, real smooth. Problem was, I think it could be statistically proven that any type of movement right then could, and would, kill me. How do you even turn around on a surfboard? Maybe if I just— I tried to turn around halfway, such that I was facing the pointy side of the board or whatever it's called. My face soured when I saw a little kid pointing at me from the shore, laughing loudly as their mom dragged them away. Rude much. "Uh, what now?"

The water around me fluttered, soft and melodic as Seth laughed again. "Just turn around! It looks like you're praying."

"Well, yeah, I am!" I retorted with a snort, attempting to clasp my hands together as I sat on my knees, bowing down. That didn't last long since I almost lost my balance, and immediately engraved my hands into the surfboard again. God, I don't know if you exist, but please save me.

Okay, this was it. I'd just have to carefully shuffle around some more and everything would be fine. Just be careful... With my lips pursed and muscles tensed to stop them from shaking, I set my hands towards the side of the board, one by one. We're getting somewhere, here. Now I only had to turn my body around too, and all would be good. 

"Almost there," Seth hummed, most likely wondering how one could be so stupid.

With a shaky breath, I turned around, expecting to be met with some sort of relief at the very least. But before anything could happen, some other kid did it for me. An ear-destroying screech pierced through the air, so loud and high it sounded more like a mutated seagull than a child.  A tidal wave the size of a fucking tsunami surged throughout all of the sea, crashing into me with such an incredible force I went hurtling forward before I could do literally anything. Fuck my life.

Maybe this was how I'd die. Everything went black when I felt the water completely submerge me, cold liquid wrapping around my skin like a satin blanket. I thought my lungs would start burning, like what I'd seen in movies and books, but to my surprise, they didn't. As fast as the wave crashed into me, it also disappeared again, sinking in with the surface of clear turquoise. The sound of laughter and shouting rang around my head a couple of times before I managed to open my eyes; to snap back into reality. 

"Robbie, are you okay?" a voice asked, and for some reason I felt like they'd been repeating that for a while now. 

My vision, burning with salty water droplets, slowly blinked back to clarity. It was only then that I realized, Seth'd caught me. Again. Even worse, our faces were only inches apart, his hands wrapped around my shoulders with water droplets trickling down his face. Neither of us said anything, and the silence screamed louder than all the chaos around us. It was almost painful. 

I could see his chest rising up and down, soft breaths escaping his lips. His eyes...I'd never been close enough to notice the actual color of his eyes. From far away one would probably just call them green or blue, depending on the source of light. But from up this close, I could get lost in the vibrant verdigris of lively green and calming blue as if glancing into the bearing depths of Earth itself.

"Robbie-?" Seth raised his eyebrow, a teasing smile playing at his lips. 

Move. Get the fuck off of him. Sucking in a breath, I just hung there, my entire body stiffened. My heart throbbed in my chest so fast it made me nauseous but it wouldn't stop. It wouldn't stop because Seth looked so fucking hot, no matter how hard I tried to not think that. The sun had cast a spell on his face, illuminating him in pure gold whereas the ocean worked like fairy dust, trickling its soft liquid over him to the ends of his tousled hair. 

I presume you could imagine my how heart rammed into my throat when Seth's face softened, teasing grin fading to hesitation. Holy shit. I was sure he could feel my arms trembling when he leaned in closer, soft breaths transforming into electricity on my skin right as a volleyball slammed into his face. Wait, wha—

The sea once again engulfed me in its eery serenity as Seth let go of my arms in a rush of panic and, probably, pain, falling into the water with the great force of that ball. I gasped and splurged out the disgusting water, desperately grasping onto the foam board to save my damn life. 

"Sorry!" some kid yelled, flapping his arms around like a headless chicken in a kiddie pool as he waited for Seth to throw the ball back. 

After a few seconds of sputtering, Seth rose up with a groan, rubbing his cheek. He tossed the volleyball at the kid in one perfect throw before running a hand through his wet hair. I swallowed. I'm so screwed.

He looked at me with a lopsided smile, arms resting on his board. "Next time we're going when the sun sets, that's some magical shit."

Next time we're going surfing, or next time you're going to almost kiss me..? Shut. The fuck. Up. Shaking my head, I narrowed my eyes, trying my damn best to look unimpressed. Which was hard to do with Seth's pretty face staring at me. "Next time?!" I put my hand on my chest for emphasis, "I could've died."

Glancing down, Seth bit his lip to suppress a chuckle and I already felt my face heat up. Cute. Shut the fuck up, brain. He lifted his gaze back up to meet mine as a smile broke out on his face. "But you didn't."

Yep. I'm screwed.

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The volleyball was a paid actor🔥 *evil laughter* jshsjhsj don't worry Robbie I'm sure you'll get your kiss next time:3 

Writing scenes in the water was harder than I thought it'd be (ಥ _ ಥ) but I succeeded!! (I hope) Did you enjoy this chapter? I also love how chemistry homework just left the chat💀✋

Stay hydrated and cya next week!! <3