Josephine

It somehow became an unwritten agreement between Leo and I.

We take turns planning an activity the other hasn't done before.

When I was thinking of something for Leo and I to do, something he's never done before, it didn't take much long before I came up with roller skating. If he's never even been to a cinema, then he sure as heck hasn't been to a roller skating rink.

After we got tired and hungry from racing each other, we sat in the rink's restaurant and ate food while chatting. I could tell he was fishing for information about activities I've never done before for when it's his time to plan something.

He picks me up bright and early on Monday morning. He texted me last night to tell me to bring a swimsuit and sun protection with me.

I'm intrigued by what he has planned. I don't think we're going to the beach or a swimming pool.

He drives for around an hour in his truck along the seashore. We fill the car ride with random chatter and singing along to songs.

As he slows the car down, I lean forward in my seat to get a better look at all the boats and yachts we can see from this distance.

After parking the car, he grabs a bag from the bed of his truck, hoists it over his shoulder, and rests his palm on the small of my back. His hand touching my skin above my shorts feels warm and tingly.

"Are we fishing?" I ask, glancing at him.

"Maybe." He winks.

I flush at the simple gesture. He makes winking look extremely attractive.

I take in all the different sized boats. But as we keep walking deeper into the marina, all I see now are yachts, though. Some are more rich looking than others.

We stop in front of an average size vessel, with a long deck.

"Is this our ride?" I take a step forward, eager to get on this thing.

"It is." He confirms, shielding the sun with his hand. Leo drops the bag on the wooden floor and walks in front of me to the long plank that connects the marina to the yacht. Standing on it, he extends his arm to me. I take it and use it to help me get on the back of the yacht.

I instantly explore on my own, walking further in, as he grabs the bag and undoes many, many ropes.

"Let me get us moving, then I'll give you a tour of the place."

I follow him to the cockpit, wanting to see him steering this massive thing.

And oh boy, I'm glad I did. He looks so handsome, his white dress shirt and light blue shorts revealing a lot of muscles. His upper arms grow when he rotates the big steering wheel and presses different kinds of buttons.

I continue watching him like a little creep as he radios someone, talking in codes. His voice is professional and stern, only saying what the person at the other end needs to hear. One would think he's talking in a clipped tone if they didn't know where he's at now.

It makes me think of him when he's in the army. What goes on through his mind when he's fighting, shooting, or just lying around? Does he get scared, bored, hungry, happy...? I wanna know it all.

But I can tell he's always a little hesitant to talk about it, so I don't push.

The entire yacht rumbles as it comes to life.

"Here we go." He tells me, glancing at me.

"Should I hold on to something?" I ask. I've never been on a yacht before, after all.

"No." He smiles, running his fingers through his hair.

"So is this your parents'?"

"No. It's Nicole's."

"She likes to sail a lot?"

"She likes to use it to escape reality." He tells me in a grave tone. He shakes his head when I give him a quizzical look. "She and her father don't always see eye to eye, so she likes to come here when they argue."

"Ah." I pet the dashboard—is it called that?—and sigh. "Oh, to have a fancy yacht so I can escape my brothers when they invade my apartment."

He chuckles, rotating the steering wheel to the left a little. "She has another smaller one that she prefers, so you can use this whenever you want. Just say the word." He says seriously.

"What does she do for work?" I look in front of me to the blue waters and the sun's rays reflecting off it.

"Uh," his brows furrow. "Not sure if it's a job, but she does Instagram occasionally."

"You mean she's an influencer?" I drawl.

"I don't know. She posts pictures there and gets money." He shrugs.

"Let me search her up." I pull out my phone.

I type her name into the search bar on Instagram and I immediately find her. Scrolling through her pictures, all I see is her in different cities all over the world, just exploring and wandering. There are pictures of her on the beach in barely there bikinis, in farmer's markets, looking out a window to a field of greenery and flowers that looks like one of those on a postcard.

Scrolling further down her pictures, I stumble on one of her and Leo. She's on his back in a piggyback ride and they're in a garden of some big house.

"That's you." I hold the phone up to show him. He grins when he sees it, one that's just as big as in the photo.

"That was last year. My Nonna was in town, and we had a barbecue with the whole family." He tells me the story of the picture. "She was complaining about being full and not being able to walk to the bar, so I offered to carry her."

"Aw, that's sweet." I croon and quickly scan the rest of her photos. When I get home, I will examine them more. I snicker when I see a mirror selfie where she's naked, her boobs covered with her arm and her crotch with a middle finger emoji.

He looks at my phone to see why I'm laughing and cringes.

"That picture with me and her has more hearts than that nude." He tells me proudly.

"I think you mean 'likes' but hearts work as well, I guess." It's cute he calls likes 'hearts.'

I follow Nicole and type in Leo's name next, but I don't see his profile.

"What's your handle?"

"What?"

"Your Insta handle. So I can follow you, too."

"Oh, uhm." He scratches his head, then rakes a hand through his hair that's gotten pretty long since that first time I saw him in the hospital. "I don't have Instagram." He gives me a sheepish smile.

"Really?" I'm actually shocked. He's the first person I encounter who doesn't have an Instagram account.

"I'm not big into all that ... " he circles his hand around my phone. "Social media stuff."

"But it's fun."

"What's so fun about it?"

"Well, there are a lot of funny videos on there."

"I would go to a live stand up comedy show if I wanted to laugh." He deadpans.

"That's the whole point of social media. You don't have to leave your room to watch a comedy show." I explain. Never thought this day would come.

"I would rather experience things in real life." He counters, giving me a smug smile.

I wave him off. "Whatever. You're just missing out on seeing what pictures different people post. Like celebrities, colleagues, friends. And me."

He chuckles. "Can't I just Google it?"

"No. My account is private."

"What does that mean?"

A cackle leaves my mouth. He really is clueless when it comes to technology and social media.

I explain the difference between having a private account and a public account—like his cousin Nicole and me.

After I'm done explaining that plus more functions Instagram has, he announces that we're far enough from the bay to anchor.

"So, what do we do now?" I ask him, looking around to see we stopped moving.

"First a tour and then..." he trails off.

"Then what?"

"Guess." He requests, looking expectantly at me.

It takes me a second to guess. "Fishing!" I pump a hand in the air when he nods and then laughs at my antics.

"You're the first person to be so excited about fishing." He leads me outside the cockpit to start the boat tour—pardon me, I mean yacht.

We start at the back from where we got in, which is called the stern.

"I think fishing can be exciting." I say. "Waiting and anticipating if or when you actually catch one."

We descend a few steps and find ourselves in a living room slash kitchenette area. The colors are mostly wooden and blue with a sleek finish in the wood, giving it a modern appearance even though the design overall appears rustic.

"That's exactly why I enjoy fishing." He says as he opens the fridge and stacks it with a few cans of soda and beer he brought with him in the black bag. "Even though you're laying back and relaxing, there's still an element of surprise. You never know if you'll be able to catch a fish. If so, how big it is. It reminds me of staking out a target and waiting for the order to shoot."

The only response I have for that is a hum.

To avoid any awkward silence, I take in the place and see a cork board with little Polaroids pinned on it. They're mostly pictures of Nicole alone, but there's one of Leo holding a fish. A really big one.

"That's you again." I point at it. I feel his looming presence behind me before I see his arm going around me to grab it, making his chest touch my back.

"Wow, that was probably four, five years ago." He wonders.

I pivot in place, afraid of any further touching. Is it me or is it super hot today? Especially down here.

He checks the back of the Polaroid. "Yup. Almost five years ago. It was my birthday. I turned twenty."

"When's your birthday?"

"July eighteenth."

"You're a summer baby?" I say in a mock baby voice.

He chuckles as he returns the photo to its place. "Are you also a summer baby?" He uses air quotes for summer baby. The word baby from his mouth shouldn't sound so sexy.

I beam at him. "Nope. I'm a Halloween baby."

"You are?" He looks surprised and impressed. At who I don't know. My parents probably. "October 31."

"Well, not exactly." I explain. "I was born on the 28th."

"Same thing." He reasons before taking a step back and opening a door. I don't realize I was holding my breath till he moved away.

I walk inside the room first. It's a bedroom with a double bed and a dresser. The extra large sized box of condoms is hard to miss. Right in the middle of the bed.

I clear my throat and get out of the room, pretending I didn't see that.

"So, what do you dress up as on Halloween?" I doubt he didn't also see the box, with his sniper skills and all, but he's also pretending that didn't happen.

Hey, at least she is practicing safe sex.

"Do you dress as yourself?"

I snort. "Good one."

•••

So far, fishing has been uneventful. Our fishing poles haven't even moved a hair since we sat on the deck an hour ago. The weather is warming up rapidly now that we're in June, to the point of being unbearable. Leo has been unbuttoning a button every now and then. He's down to the last two buttons currently, revealing a really muscled chest.

"Not to be a Debbie downer, but this is not as exciting as I thought It'd be." I pout.

He removes his sunglasses when he faces me and chuckles. "Sometimes I sit here the entire day with no luck."

I groan. "I guess fishing isn't for me after all." With my hand, I wipe away sweat from my upper lip.

"I guess not." He chuckles and stands up. He undoes the last two buttons. "How about we get in the water, then?"

I'm momentarily distracted by his chest and abdomen. He's ripped. Like literally ripped. All muscles and definition. Dark hair is scattered on his chest and a thicker trail goes from his navel to somewhere underneath his shorts.

"Hmm?" I discreetly pinch myself and focus my eyes on his.

"Let's swim. I'm sure Nic has one of those tube things."

"Cool." I raise to my legs too and just stand there, not knowing what to do.

"You can go inside and put on your swimsuit and I'll change here real quick." He suggests.

"Okay. Sure."

I spin on my heels and go inside.

Try not to think of Leo buck naked on the deck in the middle of the ocean.

Try not to think of Leo buck naked on the deck in the middle of the ocean.

Try not to think of Leo—

Too late.

My mind fills with the image of him naked. I haven't seen his chest since that time he came to the hospital when his arm was broken. Back then, I stayed as professional as I could. Only taking a few glances now and then, because who could resist that?

I've seen Candy and Anaya in their underwear many times before and I didn't bat an eyelash. And Leo is now my friend, so it should be the same for him.

But I'm not attracted to Candice or Ananya.

I mean, sure. They're both very beautiful women but when I see them in bikinis or even in less a few times, my stomach doesn't feel weird and fluttery, and I don't get hot all of a sudden.

Leo is a guy, so it's different.

Yeah, that's probably it...

I change into my bikini that I wear when I'm around my parents and brothers. It's not the most conservative but also not a thong either. People in Miami wear almost nothing to the beach—me included—but I don't want Leo to think I'm trying to seduce him or something.

When I step back onto the deck, Leo is throwing a tube into the water.

"She only has one." He tells me, his eyes not straying from my face.

"That's fine. We'll alternate."

Or go together.

My subconscious needs to shut up. Him only wearing swimming trunk that reveals a lot of thigh muscles is making me think stupid things.

He faces away from me as he fastens the rope to the railing. His back muscles are taut and very, very defined. Same as his entire body.

Soldiers must go through very rigorous training to not have an ounce of fat on their body. He has a body that could rival one of a bodybuilder and Leo would definitely win.

I walk to him just as he finishes securing the rope.

"How about we swim for a little while first?" I suggest.

"Okay." He looks around. "The ladder is this way..."

He trails off as I run and jump off the deck into the water. My body goes under and the sting of the lukewarm water shocks me. But it's just what I needed for my hot body.

I swim upwards and take a deep breath of air, then glance around me to see Leo is a few feet behind me, pushing back wet hair from his face.

"We only use the ladder for getting back on the boat." I tell him, staying afloat.

"Now I know." He grins.

I slowly swim away from him before I yell, "Race you!"

I take off swimming towards the back of the yacht.

In two seconds, Leo passes me, doing some Olympic type stroke.

I swim harder, but it's useless. He wins.

"That's no fair." I pout as I weakly splash him, attempting to catch my breath. "You're way taller than me."

"I gave you a head start."

I make a psht sound, as if I don't believe him.

Suddenly, he goes underwater and a moment later I feel big hands grab onto my waist. Leo lifts me and then throws me a few feet away from him.

I squeal and kick my legs before I fall back under water.

When my head lifts again, I splash him. He splashes me back. Causing a way bigger wave than me. We continue our little petty splash war before I surrender.

"Okay. Okay. Stop!" I turn away from him.

"You quitting?" He taunts as he continues to rain water on me, getting closer.

Well, when he puts it that way...

I decide to pull the same move he did on me, on him. I dive under the surface and tickle his stomach. But he doesn't budge. Instead, he grabs my arms and pins them to me as he raises my body effortlessly up so my head is atop the water level.

I keep on trying to free myself from him, but he wraps his big and strong arms around me, keeping my own arms at bay. It brings our bodies so much closer to each other.

"Just admit that I won." He tells me, shaking his head to push away hair from his eyes. A drop of water slides from his cheek to the corner of his lips.

Squinting my eyes, I say, "Never."

He chuckles, the vibration reverberating against my body.

"You're using your army training against me." I defend.

"Sure." His arms tighten a little, as if he's giving me a hug, before he releases me.

"Let's water tube." He tells me, his eyes glinting and I know what he's gonna say before he shouts the words. "Race you!"