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CHAPTER 17
Annie
THE OCEAN
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<>One Last Night by; Valuts

        WE EVENTUALLY AGREED that Julian would drive the rental car just as long as he didn't try to kill us like the last time. “According to my guidebook, Maui is shaped like a head, geographically speaking, to be precise.” I look at Julian and he smiles at me and I laugh. It's strange to see him driving even though he can't drive, he looks so peaceful and calm. Makes me wonder if he was just showing off the first time. We turn a corner and suddenly the ocean is just there, running alongside the road to the right of us. It can’t be more than thirty feet away. The vast endlessness of it is amazing. It falls off the end of the world. It’s bluer, bigger, more turbulent than I’d imagined. Wind lifts my hair “I can’t believe I’ve missed all this,” I say. “I’ve missed all the whole world.” Julian shakes his head, “One thing at a time Annie. We’re here now.” He’s right, we’re here now. I smile at the thought.
         Turning the corner, we see the house on top of a hill, overlooking the entire ocean, inside it is very light and open with white curtains that hang in front of the windows. We can see and smell the ocean from the balcony in the living room and bedroom. I search the house further making my way into the bedroom and Julian follows behind me. We stare down at the large queen-sized bed. The comforter is a soft white color with big white pillows and small ones for decoration and is made up neatly. I glance at Julian and he glances back. “Big bed.”  I look at him, I throw my bag onto the bed and continue to search the house.
         “Found food.” I say checking out the kitchen. Julian walks in leaning against the door frame smiling. “That's very resourceful.” He says walking over towards me. “So what does Ms. Annie Grace want to do now?” He asks, eating a strawberry. “Everything.” I say, with excitement.

         “We have four days to do everything, Annie, but do you want to do right now?” Julian asks, crossing his arms over his chest while leaning against the counter.
         “Well they have a huge collection of DVD’s.” I say sitting on top of the counter.
         “We didn't come all this way to watch the movie Annie Grace, grab your swimsuit.” He says and exits the room.

☆

<>Sweet Disposition by; The Temper Trap

         We left the house and drove to the beach, we got there and before Julian had the chance to park the car, I opened my door and ran out to the ocean stopping immediately at the water's edge looking down at it. A wave of nervousness washes over me like how the water waves washed my feet. This is my first time seeing the ocean up close, I have never been to the beach before until now. The only water I’ve swam in was the hospital pool and the one at my school during swim practice, although I was on the swim team, it was never a dream of mine to become a professional swimmer. It was the only way I was close to feeling the ocean, and now I finally get the chance to see and feel it up close and personal. 

         “Be careful Annie!” Julian calls.  I turned around and saw Julian standing behind me, I smiled mischievously and giggled as I lightly kicked water at him. “Don’t do that.” He says laughing.

        “What? This?” I ask splashing him again. “You don’t do that to a man.” He says smiling.
        “Oh a man huh?” I say backing up slowly into the water as Julian gives me a mischievous look.

       “You’re in trouble now, Annie Grace.” He says as he picks me up by my waist and spins me around in circles. I laugh and scream as he continues spinning me around. We swam for a while and I feel like I could stay here all day, but eventually Julian tugs me back to shore.

       Back on the beach we dry off in the midday sun. I feel Julian’s eyes on me when he thinks I’m not noticing, but I’m secretly noticing. He's only wearing his swim trunks, so I can finally see the lean smooth muscles of his chest and stomach. I shiver and wrap my towel around my body. We left the beach and decided to drive around Maui. I changed into a black summer dress with flowers on it and is tied in the front. The windows are rolled down all the way and my blonde hair is flying everywhere so I put it into a neat-but-messy ponytail when I hear one of my favorite songs on the radio.

        I quickly turn it up all the way and sing along, Julian looks at me and smiles before singing with me. Later that evening, I wanted to go back to the beach so I could see the sunset up close instead of from the inside of the hospital. We walk along the edge of the water, once in a while our hands would touch. Once it got completely dark, we drove through the streets when I noticed loud music playing and saw a lot of people dancing and singing. “Do you hear that?” Julian asks.
       “Hear what?” I ask looking out both our windows. “That.” He says pointing out the commotion. We stop the car and get out, Julian takes a hold of my hand and smiles at me. He leads me towards the crowd of people but I hesitate. “Come on Annie.” We walk through the streets to get a closer look, to see a lot of people dancing and singing.

       We get back to our room around 11pm. Julian flicks on the lights in the bedroom and walks over to the bed. “So this is my side, you can have the left side. If you want.” Julian says, motioning towards the left side of the bed.  “Or I can have the bed and you can have the couch.” I say smiling and folding my arms. Julian shrugs his shoulders and takes a blanket and pillow and says, “Okay, for the sake of our friendship. Of course.” He whispers over my shoulder and walks into the living room.
         I watch him as he walks away knowing that we're more than “just friends.” 

☆

         The next morning, I woke up to the bright sunlight through the white sheer curtains. I get out of bed and walk into the living room to see a peacefully sleeping Julian on the couch. I smiled at him and tiptoed over to him making sure I didn't wake him up. I kneel down on the floor looking at his dirty blonde messy hair hanging in the front of his face, I move strands of his hair back revealing his closed eyes, I lean in and kiss his cheek softly when his dark-chocolate brown eyes flutter open and he smiles. And even in the bright morning sunlight, he looked more handsome and human than I’d ever seen him.