Her Light - His Darkness

Chapter 9

I contemplate phoning the Smiths all through breakfast, wondering how to start the conversation.

'Oh, hi Mrs. Smith, out of pure curiosity are you the one sending me letters about ways to torture and kill me?' Yeah, I doubt that would work, perhaps I should just ignore it, that seems like a brilliant idea.

"What time is he coming, it's like nine already, Lo." Gabby groans.

"He never gave me a time, sorry Gabs, let's go watch a movie until he gets here."

"I want to wait for him." She begins pacing the kitchen, I place my hands on her shoulders and guide her towards the living room, just as I'm about to direct her towards the sofa, there's a soft knock on the front door, she spins around fast, her whole face lighting up and she makes a mad dash for the door.

"You came!" She squeals excitedly, I hear him chuckling before I see him.

"Hey Logan."

"Christian."

"Go get ready, we're spending the day outside." Gabby rushes back in the house excitedly and I look down at my short denim shorts and plain black tank top, I look back at him and I find his eyes slowly raking up the length of my body until they find mine again.

I raise an eyebrow and a faint blush coats his cheeks, "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

"I don't like surprises." I cross my arms across my chest, he doesn't respond instead he smiles at me.

"How are we getting there?" I narrow my eyes as I stare at him.

"Well, I know you don't like getting into cars so," He makes his way to his black jeep in our driveway and disappears to the back of it, I follow him reluctantly.

Attached to the back of his jeep is three bicycles, kept in place by a bike rack. "The pink one is for Gabby of course and it's a little smaller." Christian scratches his neck, "I hope this is alright?" He looks at me expectantly.

I have no words, all I can do is nod as he begins to remove the bicycles one by one, He looks up at me while pulling the bicycle stand out, a beautiful smile graces his face, eyes twinkling in the morning sun and I feel heat slowly creeping up my neck, towards my face... I began to feel this strange sensation, unlike anything I'd felt before... I was supposed to be feeling annoyed or angry, but there is nothing of the sorts...

Wait what?

"I'm ready!" Gabby yells happily. "Is those for us?" I pull my eyes away from Christian and focus my attention back on Gabby as the guilt begins to settle itself in my chest.

***

"The beach? This was your surprise?" I ask in confusion as we lock the bicycles.

"The beach." He repeats with a beaming smile and I grimace.

"What? Do you not like the beach?"

"It's, uh, it's... complicated." I grimace, "You'll love it! Come on!" He grabs my hand and begins pulling me along, Gabby in front leading the way, the excitement radiating off her in waves. I can't help but notice the strange sensation running through our connected hands, I try freeing my hand, but his grip only tightens.

I don't do touching, holding hands or beaming smiles, I stop dead in my tracks, Christian coming to a halt, "What?" He turns to face me, "Please, let go of my hand, I can walk on my own." I respond stubbornly.

I'm doing this for Gabby, I look over at her as we continue walking, she's trying to look at everything at once moving her head from left to right, her eyes wide and sparkling, the biggest smile on her face, she hasn't been to the beach for so many years, I think it's been about five years, I couldn't bring myself to come here. I take a deep breath in through my nose, inhaling the salty air as memories begin to fill my head, nostalgia hitting me hard.

*** FLASHBACK ***

Three years and six months ago.

"Come on, Lo! We need this!" Kristy slams my chemistry book shut, "Mark is going." She flops down on my bed, covered in a pink comforter, full of different colored hearts in bright reds, pinks and purples, and sighs dreamily.

"Then you go with them!" She sits upright and stares at me, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly, "You really gonna let your boyfriend be the third wheel?" Kristy deadpans.

"It will be fun, Lo, when last have we been to the beach?" She pouts.

"Fine!" I grumble, "I'll let Lan know we're coming along, but if I fail my chem final,"

"You won't fail! You're like the smartest person I know, Logan," Kris wraps her arms tightly around me, "Thank you!" She squeals excitedly.

Mark is Landon's best bud and cousin, Mark has light blue eyes, black hair that makes his eyes pop even more and Kristy is absolutely smitten, she has been crushing on him since the beginning of the year when he transferred here.

***

"Hey babe," Lan kisses me softly, resting his hands on my lower back as he rubs small circles with his thumb on my exposed skin, "I missed you," I whisper in his ear.

"I missed you too, love." He says huskily and a warmth spreads throughout my body, I will never get tired of him calling me 'love' it makes me feel all warm and gooey.

We pull apart, only his hand still resting comfortably on my lower back as we make our way to his blue car, he opens the passenger door for me, only it's not vacant, Mark squeals like a girl, hand on his chest as he glares at us, I can't stop the laugh that erupts from within me, it's one of those uncontrollable laughs that come from deep within your belly, face turning red, tears falling freely from your eyes and your stomach muscles aching from it all, the best kind of laugh, in my opinion.

"What the f**k, man! A warning would've been nice." Mark's light blue eyes turning icy until they land on Kristy walking up to us, her chestnut brown hair blows softly in the gentle breeze, the white tight spaghetti strap top leaving little to the imagination as you can see the neon pink bikini right through it.

Mark lets out a low whistle as he looks at her from head to toe, lingering on certain areas longer than necessary, "Hi Mark." A red tinge coating Kristy's face as she tucks her hair behind her ear, a shy smile on her lips.

Mark and Kristy would make the cutest of couples except they are both too afraid to admit their feelings for each other, to each other, Mark has no problems talking to Lan about it and Kris has no problems talking to me about it, if only we could get them to have no problem talking to each other about it.

***

"Thanks babe," I smile up at Lan as I lick my chocolate fudge ice cream, I moan in delight at the deliciousness gracing my palette, he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at me as he blows me a kiss, "I'd love to be that ice cream right now," Landon says huskily as I smack him lightly on the arm.

"I'm going to get you for that, babe," I begin walking backwards in front of him, "Only if you can catch me!" The ice cream forgotten... sadly, I sprint towards the waves, the white sand burning my feet, I feel arms wrap around my waist just before my feet can touch the wet sand where the waves end.

Landon doesn't stop running, he doesn't put me down, he continues as the waves splash against us both, he finally stops once we are both covered in the beautiful blue water of the ocean, he loosens his grip, giving me enough space to turn around.

I wrap my legs around his waist and place my arms around his neck, playing with the wet hair at the nape of his neck, Lan's one arm is holding me firmly as he places his other hand on my cheek and stares intently in my eyes, "I love you so much, Logan," He whispers, not once breaking eye contact, it's at that moment, in the ocean, the sun reflecting off his beautifully tanned skin, staring deeply into each other's eyes that I realize he is the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, "I love you, too, Landon." He kisses me passionately and fiercely, it's one of those toe-curling kisses that you feel all over your body, the kiss that you never want it to end.

We get splashed from both sides, we pull apart from the kiss and look at the two culprits that splashed us, "Oh it's on!" I yell at Kristy, "So on!" Landon agrees with me.

"Bring it!" Kris yells in excitement, we all begin splashing each other, laughter erupting between us all and just enjoying each other's company.

At some point Kristy and Mark ended up making out, "Finally!" I chirped in pure excitement for my best friend.

This is hands down the best day at the beach, these memories will be cherished and kept close to my heart.

*** END OF FLASHBACK ***

I'm pulled out of my thoughts by my hand being tugged, I blink several times, trying to gather my bearings, willing the ache in my chest, in my heart just to evaporate, to just let me feel even an ounce of that joy and happiness once again, even just for a fleeting moment.