Chapter Fourteen

I sit on the soft sand, staring out into the ocean. The ocean that has so many mysteries. It's night and the moon is shining brightly. A warm breeze brushes my bare arm and I turn my head.

There he is. He tuck the surfboard under his arms and he is determined to help me.

Once he gets near me, he drops the boards. He smiles at me and my heart does a little flip. Why does he have this affect on me?

"Are you ready?" He asks.

I nod, standing up. "Yeah."

We decided that singing would take time to do. I wasn't ready and he knew that so we moved on to his next step.

Apparently, taking risks are part of his four steps. Once he learned I wanted to surf but I was too scared to do it, he decided to step in and help me.

"So tell me again why you're afraid of water?" He asks.

I cross my arms over my chest. "I'm not afraid of the water. I'm scared of what's in it."

"Don't be" He says.

I roll my eyes. "Yeah thanks for the advice. It helped so much."

He chuckles. Can it be possible for a laugh to sexy? I hope so. I'll never get tired of listening to it.

"We'll start with that basic" He tells me but I'm too busy staring at his plumped pink lips to fully pay attention.

I wonder how they would feel against mine.
Stop it, Audrey! I scold myself. Hayes cannot win.

Two weeks ago, Hayes made it his job to make me fall in with him. Actually he wanted to break my walls down. I told him it'll won't be easy. Now, I'm wondering if I was wrong.

"Stop drooling, Boo" Hayes voice brings me out of my thoughts. "I know I'm hot and all."

I roll my eyes. "As if."

"You know you like what you see" He says, smiling. "Give in already."

I want to but my stupid heart won't let me. "I'm not losing that easily."

His expession turns from playfulness to serious in a heartbeat. "You know this isn't a game, right?"

Rather than relpy back, I change the topic. "So what were the basics again?"

He looks at me for a second before explaining to me again.

After I mastered learning how to keep my balanced on the beach and a lot of heated moments with Hayes touching me, we move to the ocean.

I straddle my blue surfboard and Hayes did the same to his dark grey one. We stare out into the ocean, waiting.

"Do you feel that?" Hayes asks.

I frown. I'm too busy wondering what could be lurking in the dark water to pay attention."Feel what?"

"The calm."

Okay if I was confused before I'm lost now.

"Ever heard of the calm before the storm?"

I nod my head. "Yeah." Then it hit me. "Something's about to happen."

He smirks. "Exactly. Get ready."

My eyes scan the vast ocean. Come on. Where are you? It's a glimpse but I saw it.

"There" I say, pointing.

Hayes nods. I start paddling towards it and when I got there, I push myself up. It's a small wave but a wave.

When I was with Hayes, I forgot all about my fear of the ocean so when I hit the water I freaked out.

Get to the surface. Is the first thing to race through my head. When I got there, Hayes is there.

"Relax." He says."You're fine."

My eyes caught a fin sticking out the water. If I wasn't connected to my surfboard, I would've jumped on Hayes.

"Oh my gosh!" I yell. "What the hell is that?"

Hayes laughs. He laughs. Why is he laughing when we can get eaten by a shark?

"Is a dolphin. Calm down."

I climb on my surfboard and head back to the shore. I don't anymore scares today. Once is enough.

***

"You're smiling again" Teri sings, grinning."I bet Hayes has something to do with it."

I glance at her. "If he did, you'll be the first one to know about it."

"You've been spending alot of time with him. You're making me jealous."

I shrug. "Not that much time."

"You practically ditch me everyday to hang out with him."

I do not ditch you." I tell her. "I came with you tonight, didn't I?"

She rolls her eyes. "Only because Hayes is gonna be there."

"That's not the only reason. I want to hang out with my friends."

"Sure, Audrey" Teri says. "You can't resist him."

She's right. I can't resist him. No matter how hard I tried. He's always on my mind, day and night.

We've got closer over the past few days. He makes me happy and I forget that I only spend time with him is because of the four steps. I just want to be near him.

Teri pulls into the full parking lot and finds a parking spot in the very back.

Tonight is Teen's Skate Night. Is their way of celebrating the end of June. This is my first time being here but everyone seems to like it.

We walk inside and get our skates. The ring is enormous. It's super big.

We join our group and skate to the ring together. We had fun skating around and making fun of Chris. He couldn't skate to save his life. But some how he manage to keep up with us.

Hayes is skating beside me and my heart is fluttering. He slides closer to me so our arms are touching.

Daire doesn't like that our friendship is growing. She does just about everything to keep us away from each other.

Perfect example is now. She grabs Hayes arm and pull him to her.

"They're about to start couple dancing."

Before Hayes can protest, the DJ speaks. He gives me pleading look and I smile.

"Alright guys grab your lady. It's time to show Freak Nasty how you dip" The DJ says, playing the song.

Everyone has someone to dance with so I'm about to skate off when a hand grabs my wrist. I look up and met by grey eyes.

"What are you doing?" I ask. "I thought you were dancing with Daire."

He grins. "I don't want to dance with her. Come on."

He leads me back to the ring. He put his hands on my hip and I feel the warmth on my skin. I try to concentrate on anything but his hands but I fail.

Teri and Shawn skates past us and Teri gives me a thumbs up. I roll my eyes.

Everyone gets happy when their favorite part comes on.

I put my hands up on your hips, when I dip you dip we dip You put your hands up on my hips, when you dip I dip we dip.

I laugh. Hayes brings the best out of me. He found is amusing when he saw my dancing. I didn't find it awkward dancing with him. It was actually fun. I enjoyed it. I actually moved my hips with the help of Hayes guiding me.

Teri comes skating up to me, smiling big. "Sorry Hayes but I have to take her away from you."

I hear the song that's playing and I start grinning. This is our song.

Everyone watches us dance and I forget I can't dance. I let loose that night.

Cotton Candy sweet and low Let me see that Toostie Roll I don't know what you've been told It ain't the butterfly It's the Toostie Roll

"I didn't know you like to dance so much." Hayes says after the song ends.

I smile. "There's a lot you don't know about me."

He smirks. "Believe me, I plan to find out."