Dear CEO

Chapter 6 - all about me

The sun is oozing redness in the sky and it feels like I’m in a movie. A happy one.

“Hey Luke,” I call, giving my boyfriend a toothy grin.

He runs up to me, his blonde hair flapping wildly in the wind and he wraps his arms around my waist, picks me up and turns me around in the air.

I laugh, ruffling his hair and giving him a peck on his lips.

“Let’s swim.” He glances at the waves of the sea with a suspicious expression on his face.

“The water is so cold.”

I nod and raise my shoulders, “We’ve got nothing to lose.”

His eyes suddenly rakes my body with a smirk on his face, “I bet your clothes too.”

There. My whole happy mood shifted into an irritated one. I glance down at my emerald sailor pants and black T-shirt, knotted at the bottom of my stomach, so that it doesn’t hang over and I don’t look like a granny.

“What’s it with you? Always wanting my clothes off.” I roll my eyes and grit my teeth, looking at him with disgust.

He dramatically raises his hands high in the air, “But I’m your boyfriend?” Now he’s the one getting irritated with me.

“So?” I point out, glaring at him.

“What, you were going to swim with your clothes on?” He states the obvious.

A cold wind sweeps over my body invading every small nook of open clothes, making me shiver and I hold in every urge to snuggle into Luke’s body, the way I always do when I’m cold.

“I was going to take some off, but now I don’t want to.” I cross my arms over my chest, feeling like a spoiled brat.

Luke looks down and kicks some sand towards the sea, as if he’s holding in too much anger to contain.

He starts by shaking his head, “We’ve been dating for nine months, Iris.”

He struggles to look at me and I know it. He’s going to break up with me.

I stay silent, waiting for him to continue.

“You’re always this-” He points at me and I can see him searching hard for the right words to say.

“Always this what?” I chip in, unable to hold myself.

“Always so insecure.” He ends, making my heart beat faster. He hit the right spot. I feel hurt, because I know it’s true.

“What do you mean, I’m not insecure.” I argue, every word laced with lies.

“You are!” He argues back, scratching the back of his neck, something I noticed he does when he’s angry or unsure.

I draw some half circles with my toes in the sand when Lauren comes to the rescue. Lauren is my best-friend, and we’ve been since kindergarten.

“What are you guys up to?” She asks, with a forced smile. She probably saw that we are fighting and didn’t want it to get worse.

I notice Luke eyeing her up and down. I bite my lips looking at her short skirt and crop top, covered in a light cardigan. She’s not afraid to show it off. Apparently no girls are, except for me.

Her dark blue eyes scans me, as she continuously comb strands of blonde hair behind her ears.

“Yeah.” I shrug, stomping away from Luke, my feet /sinking into the sand, making it harder to walk.

Lauren walks with me and I know she’s itching to hear what just happened.

“What’s going on?” She calls from behind me. “Nothing.” I say, not wanting to talk about it, “It’s not a big deal.” I add, hoping that she’d drop it.

“Well, you guys were clearly fighting.”.

“Hey Iris.” Devon calls from our small friend group and throws me a bottle of beer.

I catch it with ease.

“Nice catch, Iris.” Devon yells excitedly and throws Lauren one but she misses it.

“Can you learn how to hand people things?” She grunts and glares at him.

“You should learn how to catch.” Devon says back jokingly.

I chuckle looking at Lauren’s death stare to Devon’s raised eyebrows. They always fight back and forth about pity stuff, just like a married couple. I made a bet with Luke that they are going to end up together. I wish that too as Devon and Luke are best-friends and that’s how we all became quite close knitted friends in the past few months.I go sit next to Josh on a log circling some wood.

“What’s up?” Josh says, his eyes red and droopy, probably high, like he is most of the time.

“Everything okay?” Devon asks, concerned, ruffling his brown curls. He’s really kind of cute and super hot, with his tanned skin and sharp jawline. If he wasn’t such a funny talkative person, I would’ve been scared to build a relationship with him. He had that hard man aura.

“Yeah, fine.” I lie and gulp down the bottle of beer, the nasty taste burning down my throat. I already had one, but it felt like I needed more.

“When are you guys going to start the fire, it’s cold.” Lauren states, rubbing both her arms with fast movements.

“On it.” Devon says, bussining himself with the wood and a lighter.

I glance back, wondering why Luke hasn’t made an appearance yet.

“What the-” I mumble under my breath,making the other’s eyes land on where mine is.

Luke is busy walking into the sea, his shirt off.

Josh starts to laugh, “That man has guts.”

I shake my head, feeling unbelievable. He’s so spiteful.

“No way,” Devon says with big eyes, “Let’s go join him.”

“You crazy, the water is going to be like ice.” Lauren states in a high pitched voice but Devon shrugs and pulls off his T-shirt, revealing his lean body. He starts to run towards Luke with a mischievous grin on his face.

“Are you guys going to join?” Josh asks, standing from the log. He doesn’t give us time to answer when he goes after Devon, keeping his gym shirt on.

“Boys.” Lauren mumbles, falling next to me, letting her head rest on her hand.

I swallow feeling, I don’t know what, but I wanted small revenge on Luke.

“I’m going to join them.” I say making Lauren lift an eyebrow, probably thinking I’m joking.

I stand, “Did you bring an extra bikini?”

Her mouth falls agape as she stands with me and stares at me with big eyes. It’s probably hard for her to believe because I never show my body, nevertheless in a bikini.

“You serious.” She states, letting her head fall to the side.

“Yeah, quickly before they come back.” I say, seeing them deep in the sea.

As if in a trance she nods and starts rummaging in her light blue backpack, taking out two pieces of black material.

“Keep watch please.” I ask and hand her a towel to hold it open covering my body from the boy’s view. I don’t see anyone else at the beach so I take off my shirt. I briefly close my eyes feeling regret creeping up my body. I try my best to shake the feeling away as I take off my bra and put on the revealing bikini top Lauren gave me.

Despite the cold hair now fully on my bare skin I haven't felt so uncomfortable like ever.

I grit my teeth hard as I take off my pants and panties and quickly change into the bottom. Okay, it’s on. I swallow a few times fumbling with my sweaty palms before I tell Lauren I’m done.

“Oh my gosh.” She geeks out, looking me up and down.

“Please don’t.” I beg, looking down, trying to cover my stomach.

“You have a beautiful body, Iris, why do you always cover it up?” She sounds mad now.

I know I have a fit body with the tortues workouts I have to do everyday.

For a moment I feel that I need to put my clothes, laying on the ground back on. I sit on the log wrapping my arms around my body.

“You know, you don’t have to.” Lauren says, sniffing.

I shake my head trying to gain some confidence. I feel my body start shaking and my face turn red.

“Iris.” Lauren shakes my shoulders but I ignore her, grabbing the half full bottle of vodka and forcing four big gulps down my throat. I shudder, hating the taste.

“Wow, Iris.” Lauren says uncertainty in her voice.

“What?” I say rolling my eyes. I take the last view swigs from my beer before I start running towards the boys.

“Are you coming with?”

“No thank you.” She says with a sarcastic tone.

She’s probably wondering what’s wrong with me, cause I am too. I feel like a childish wreck, making things more dramatic and harder than it is. I swipe my tongue over my lips, tasting salt.

“Oh no.” I whisper, hearing the faint voices of the boys coming from the sea. It literally feels like I’m going to do something really scary like skydiving and it’s between me and my mind to overcome that first jump of fear. Beads of sweat form on my foreheads and I quickly wipe away, while taking deep breaths through my mouth. All the adrenaline doesn’t make me cold anymore and I almost laugh out of nervousness.

“Hey!” I hear a voice call.

It’s Josh, waving his arms wildly up in the air.

Oh no, it’s now too late. They’re probably noticing me with almost no clothes on as well. So I gather all the courage I have and run into the water.

“Ahh.” I murmur to myself, “It’s cold, it’s cold, it’s cold.”

The coldness feels like a sickness slowly taking over my body, from the outside in. I go deeper, holding my breath.

“What is wrong with me?” I whisper, regretting everything.

When the boys start to make their way towards me, I go on my knees, letting the wavy water take control of my body.

“Iris.” Josh says, looking at me with surprised eyes.

“You got some guts, Iris.” Devon says with a smirk on his face and splashing me with some water in my face.

I just give him a face, saying it wasn’t that much effort even though it was. I try not to look at Luke but I can feel his eyes gazing at me. I wonder if he said anything to the boys? Maybe that he wants to break up with me or that I’m killing him. Even though it feels like boys don’t really talk and gossip as much as girls do, anything is possible.

I feel the alcohol running through my bloodstream, giving a tickly feeling in my stomach. I feel my senses starting to buzz and I just want to hug Luke, but I can’t. I need to hold my composure.

The boys do some small talk and laugh at each other when a wave makes me go underwater, wetting my hair, that I wasn’t planning on. I wanted to come out with dry hair.

I groan and bring myself to my feet to see all the boy’s heads jerks towards me. Oh no. I look down at my body covered in goosebumps, totally visible for them to see that there’s no padding in the bikini top.

I sigh feeling frustrated but also intrigued to see Luke’s face.

He’s swallowing, his eyes below my neck. I swear it’s like a dog looking at meat. I go back on my knees when I notice Devon and Josh’s mouth agape as they’re eyes keep going up and down.

When they notice my discomfort they make the queue to leave.

“It’s getting too cold for me.” Devon says, making his way out of the sea with big marching steps.

“Yeah.” Josh agrees, looking down before following Devon.

I laugh at them, not sure what to do next as Luke stays in the water, behind me.

“We should probably get out too.” I wake him out of a trance.

“Come here first.” He says, his voice low, a small smile playing on his lips.

I breathe in deeply, stand on my feet again and take a few steps until I’m standing in front of him.

The scenery with the sea and the last light of the sun shining in the air makes it feel so romantic, as I stared into his wild blue eyes.

His hands snakes around me and he push me into his chest making a gasp escape my mouth. He looks deep into my eyes, making a shock erupt in my heart and run all over my body. I could feel my warm breath blowing on his chest.

His hands slowly move downwards, caressing my back. I can feel he wants to go lower, but stays stuck on my lower back. I suddenly feel awfully tired and lay my head on his muscular arm.

“We should probably go back.” I say, not able to take the invading cold anymore.

He stays quiet and pushes me tighter against him,making our body heat collide. His musky cologne invades my nose and I close my eyes.

“You’re so beautiful.” Luke whispers in my ears,making my heart jump a beat and turn into a puddle of desperate emotions.

I push my lips against his and kiss him deeply. His breath becomes my breath and I want to push myself so deep into him.I want to become a part of him.

This time he isn’t afraid to gently caress my butthole, squeezing it repeatedly.I jerk back, frowning at him. All his warmth turns into wet coldness again.

“Sorry.” I mumble for breaking the moment.

“Comeon.” He says, pulling me against him again and forcing his lips on me. It doesn’t feel the same.

“Luke.” I say in between breaths, suddenly feeling uncomfortable and self conscious as he continues to slither his arms all over my body, as if I’m his air.

“Luke, stop.” I warn,pushing him away but he doesn’t stop.

“I said stop.” I scream,using all the power I have in my muscles to push him off. He falls and I turn and run off. I see flames coming from the logs and I ache for the warmth. I breathe deeply holding the tears from brimming my eyes.

I look back to see the hazy figure of Luke, walking out of the ocean.

Something is wrong with me. I feel bad for what I did to Luke. We’ve been dating for nine months and I haven’t given anything yet and now I come off to him with so little close but I push him away when he just wants me like a boyfriend should.

When I arrive at the fire I smell the smoke and quickly pick up the towel laying on my body and wrap it tightly around my body.

I frown when Lauren’s eyes were burning into mine,as if she was trying to tell me something.

Devon’s eyes were big and he looked scared.

And that’s when I noticed. Casually standing before the fire with his hands in pockets is dad.

“HI darling.”