THE BONFIRE

Ares...

Ares...

Ares...

I can't take my eyes off him, he's laughing at a story Gregory is dramatizing with his hands in the air. They are both shirtless, with the beach in the background. The sea breeze moves my hair back, I'm sitting on a log, enjoying the view.

The sunset is here, I don't know how we spent the whole day on the road when the beach was only two hours away, well, actually I do know: at every stop, we were joking and talking nonsense for a long time.

Apolo, Marco and Yoshi are playing with a ball we bought at one of those stops, running around in the sand like kids. Dani is walking along the shore of the beach, enjoying a moment of solitude and tranquility, I guess.

Samy sits next to me on the log.

"Beautiful view, isn't it?"

"Yes, it was worth the trip."

She offers me a metal cup.

"Would you like a drink?"

I receive it and take a sip, the strong whiskey flavor burns my throat.

"Whiskey?" I give it back to her and watch her drink without even wrinkling her face.

"I guess hanging out with the guys has affected me, I got used to their likes and dislikes."

I swipe the back of my hand across my mouth, as if that will take the taste away.

"Don't you have other friends?"

"No, it's always been them," her eyes travel to Gregory, Ares and then to Marco and Apolo. "But I'm fine, they've been great to me."

"It must have been exciting to know them since they were little," I commented, curious.

Samy laughs a little.

"Oh, believe me, I know many embarrassing stories, although Claudia beats me, she knows many more than I do."

I give her a look full of questions and she seems to read my mind, and raises her hand in a sign of peace.

"No, I don't know what's going on between her, Artemis and Apolo either."

That makes me frown.

"Apolo?"

She opens her eyes in an expression that she said something she shouldn't have.

"Hey," she tucks her hair behind her ear. "I mean... Not that there's anything wrong, I just assume... Just forget it."

My mind travels back to that time in the hospital when I realized that Artemis had hit Apolo, and then the moment on my birthday when Apolo had hit Artemis. My gaze falls on Dani, my need to protect her beating everything.

"Does Apolo have something with Claudia?" Samy doesn't say anything, so I push her. "Samy, I don't like to pressure people, but Dani is my best friend and I would do anything for her. I need to know if I should tell her to forget about Apolo."

"If I knew what was going on, I would tell you, really, Raquel. But I have no idea. Artemis is an indecipherable block of ice, Apolo is so honorable that he would never talk about a girl, and Ares, well, he's honest about everything but his brothers' stuff. They have an incredible sense of loyalty."

I believe her.

The times I've tried to get information out of Ares about that situation have been a failure, including once when I tried to use sex as a weapon of informative extraction, and only ended up fucked and just as curious. Ares joins the other guys to play with the ball as Gregory walks over to us.

"Tropical beauties!"

That brings a smile to my face, Gregory is so energetic and cheerful, he reminds me of Carlos. Samy offers him a drink.

"How come you always have so much energy?" Gregory drinks and exhales noticeably.

"It is the strength of youth," he sits on the sand in front of us. "What were you talking about? You had serious expressions."

"Nonsense," I say, rubbing his head as if he were a puppy. "Who's a good boy?," Gregory barks and sticks out his tongue, Samy rolls his eyes.

"It's because of you that he doesn't grow up," Gregory gives her a hurt puppy dog look. "I'm not going to rub your head," Gregory continues with his eyes, I can only watch the show with a smile on my face. Samy sighs. "Good," and she rubs his head.

Gregory sticks out his tongue and licks her hand. "Ah!"

"The sun is about to set."

"We should build a campfire before we lose the sunlight."

Why do I always come up with ideas like this?

Eight walks in search of firewood later.

In the movies, lighting a campfire isn't that complicated, it looks easy and practical, well, welcome to reality, it's fucking hard. We are all sweaty with darkness already upon us, but finally the campfire is lit. We sit around it, the reflection of the fire on our faces glowing with sweat.

I am next to Ares, leaning my head on his shoulder, with my eyes watching the flames of the fire, which as it has blue sparkles it calms me and gives me a sense of peace. The wind on the beach, the sound of the waves, the boy next to me, the friends around me, it's a perfect moment, and I pay attention to every detail to keep this moment in a special place in my heart.

"I'm going to miss you," Gregory breaks the silence and I think he's saying what we're all thinking.

Apolo throws a piece of wood into the fire.

"At least you're going to college too, Gregory. I'll stay in high school by myself."

Dani stares at him, with clear feelings in her eyes. I wonder if I'll look this obvious when I look at Ares.

Of course I do, I mentally growl at my answering conscience.

Marco returns from his car search, bags of marshmallows in his hands. The food arrived.

Samy helps him with the bags.

"Yes! I want to eat something sweet so badly."

Gregory coughs.

"Marco can give you something sweet, you know, to suck on."

Samy grimaces.

"You are the worst."

Dani gets the wonderful idea to talk.

"Besides, that's not sweet."

"Ohhhhhhhhh!"

I can only cover my face. Dani blushes as she realizes she has made a serious mistake. That's what I like to call: verbal auto-sabotage. They'll make fun of her forever and ever with that.

While they make fun of Dani, Ares whispers to me.

"Shall we walk along the shore of the beach?" God, I love his voice.

I straighten up, taking my face off his shoulder to look at him.

"Only if you promise to behave."

He smiles openly at me.

"I can't make promises I can't keep."

"Ares."

He takes my hand, a mischievous smile dances on his lips.

"Well, I promise not to do anything you don't want me to do."

I narrow my eyes.

"Nice try, you already used that strategy once, I won't fall for it."

He presses his lips in mock frustration.

"I didn't think you would remember."

I tap him with my fingers on the forehead.

"I remember everything, Greek god."

He rubs his forehead.

"That's obvious. Who would forget the wonderful fuck I gave you that morning? You moaned so much and..."

I cover his mouth.

"Okay, let's walk," I stand up abruptly. "We'll be back," I say quickly.

Ares follows me silently, but I can feel his stupid smile even though I don't see him. We reach the shore and I take off my shoes to hold them in my hand, letting the waves wet my feet every time they reach the shore. Ares does the same.

We walk together, our free hands intertwining, the silence feels so good. We both know we have few days left together, but we don't talk about it, what's the point of talking about it? Ares is leaving anyway, I'd rather enjoy every second with him, without having conversations that will only lead us to suffer before our time.

As my mom would say, "Don't suffer before its time. When the time comes to cross that bridge, you will."

However, from Ares' expression, I can see that he wants to say something about it, so I decide to talk about something before he opens his mouth. I remembered my conversation with Samy.

"Can I ask you something?"

He brings my hand up entwined with his and kisses it.

"Of course."

"Claudia and Apolo, do they have something going on?"

"I have already told you..."

"Okay, okay, just tell me one thing," I adjust my words. "Dani is crazy in love with him, and I don't want her to suffer, Ares. You don't have to tell me what's going on exactly, just tell me if I should tell my best friend to forget about him or to keep her hopes up, please."

Ares looks at me, twisting his lips, I see him hesitate.

Finally, he speaks.

"Tell her to forget about him."

Oh.

That hurt me, and I'm not even Daniela. I guess that's the thing with best friends, you feel for them, with them, you share not only stories, but emotions too. Ares doesn't say anything else and I know I won't get anything more from him, so I drop the subject. I just watch him walk beside me and I remember so many things that my heart gets tight.

You think I don't know about your little childish obsession with me?

Yes, I want you, witch,

I'm at your service, always, witch.

And you are beautiful.

Please stay with me.

I can be your Christian Grey anytime you want, you pervert little witch.

I'm in love, Raquel.

I can only see the outline of his pretty face as my mind makes me relive it all over again.

"Ah, I'm a masochist," I say in a whisper. Ares looks at me.

"Sexually? Because I've noticed that you like to be spanked and..."

"Shut up!" I shut him up immediately. "No, I mean emotionally, you were such a jerk to me at first."

"Define 'jerk'".

I let go of his hand and give him the finger.

"It is clear to me."

"It's just, how could you think of giving me the cell phone right after we had sex for the first time? Common sense, Ares, common sense."

His expression fades.

"I'm sorry, I won't get tired of apologizing for all that, I have no excuse. Thank you for not giving up, I have changed for the better thanks to you."

I don't take his hand, and I play hard to get. Ares jumps up and points to my side of the arena. "Crab!"

"Ah! Where?" I instinctively hug him.

He hugs me sideways.

"Come, I will protect you."

I push him as I realize his lie so that I can hug him.

"Ah."

Ares steps forward and kneels in front of me, offering me his back.

"Come on, up."

The memory of him doing that that night I was robbed comes to me, how he had made me feel safe, how nice he was to me that night.

Yes, I won't leave, not this time.

Breakfast the next day, how he had taken my hand gently letting me know that I was safe, that he would not let anything happen to me. It was the first time I saw the tender side of Ares. I climb on his back and he stands up, letting me wrap my legs over his hips and my hands around his neck to hold me.

Ares carries me across the shore of the beach, and I realize that this day is full of perfect moments. I rest my face on his shoulder. The sound of the waves filling my ears, the warmth of Ares' body mingling with mine. How will I survive without you, Greek god? I push that question out of my head.

"Ares."

"Huh?"

I lift up my face from his shoulder and the side of his face.

"I love you."

He's quiet for a moment and it makes me narrow my eyes, until he speaks.

"I'll stay."

"What?"

"You know, if you ask me to, I'll stay. Right"

"I know."

"But you're not going to ask me to."

"No."

He sighs, and doesn't say anything else for a while.

I could never ask him to stay, to give up his dream for me. I can't be so selfish, I can't take that away from him. It wouldn't be fair that, while I fulfill my dream and study at the university I've always wanted, he has to study something he doesn't want just to be with me.

I always thought that when people said "love is not selfish", they were fooling themselves, guiding me by the principle that we should always put ourselves first before others, but this time when it's for the welfare of the person I love, it's okay to put aside what you feel for someone else's happiness. I think there is no greater proof of love than that.

I rest my head on his shoulder again, I hear him whisper so low I can barely hear him.

"I love you too, witch."

With those words, I let him carry me along the shore of the beach, savoring every second of this moment.