INNOCENT DESIRES

2 Cherished Memories

“Rise and shine, Ellie! It’s time to wake up!” Mom said trying to wake me up while softly caressing my hair.

“Morning, Mom!” I replied as I slowly opened my eyes and looked out the window.

It was a beautiful sunny morning and I could see the glistening waters of the river from my window. The rustling sound of the water flowing in the river blended with the chirping sound of the birds from a distance as if greeting me with nature’s musical ensemble.

I sluggishly got up from my bed, and stretched my arms, “Mmmmmm...What time is it, Mom?”

Mom smiled at me and approached me to give me a peck on my forehead.

“It’s time to get dressed for school, Sweetheart.” She said as she picked up my laundry before heading out of my room.

“By the way, you should hurry up. Andy is already downstairs waiting for you,” she added

"Wait. What? Did I hear Mom correctly? Andy is waiting for me downstairs? She did say Andy is here, right?" I told myself in disbelief.

By the time mom’s statements sank to me I shouted, “Andy? Why is he here?”

Unfortunately, Mom wasn’t able to hear my question since she was already halfway down the staircase when I asked.

I love being in the water, that’s why liked taking long and pleasurable baths so I could just soak myself in the bathtub, and after taking a bath, I would just get dressed with anything comfortable. That day though, contrary to my usual routine, I hurriedly went to the bathroom to have a quick bath and carefully chose my outfit with excitement. For some reason, I wanted to look presentable since Andy would be seeing me so early in the morning for the first time. Not wanting to make Andy wait any longer, I zoomed into the living room as soon as I finished getting ready.

Upon entering our living room, I immediately saw Andy holding a beautiful cake with 14 candles lit on the top of it. With his beaming eyes and smile, he, along with Mom, Dad, and Brian started singing.

“Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, dear Ellie.

Happy birthday to you!"

As the song came to a close, Andy slowly walked toward me and stretched out his arms while holding the cake.

“Happy Birthday, Ellie! Make a wish and blow your candles!” he said.

I was surprised beyond belief that my eyes started welling up because I was unable to control my emotions

“You guys! Ahhmmm. Thank you for this nice morning surprise!” I blurted out.

Seeing Andy with my family made me extremely happy, and all juiced up. I have never felt more contented and special in my life. I looked at each one of them with so much love and appreciation.

“C’mon, Honey. Time to blow your candles.” Dad reminded me.

“Oh, yeah. Okay. Let me see…"

I said thinking of what to wish for as I closed my eyes to blow out my candles. At last, I wished for something I never thought I’d ever wish for.

“I hope Andy will take me out to the beach on the weekend,” I said with a big grin after I blew out all my candles.

“The beach? Are you serious, Ellie?!” Andy blurted as Brian, Mom, and Dad all laughed because they knew going to the beach has always been something I’ve been wanting to do.

Raising my eyebrows, I shouted, “Yes! Why do you have a problem making my wish come true? I have never been you know!”

“You’ve never been? Oh dear, we have to tackle this absurd situation, guys!” He wittingly said while looking at my parents and my brother. “We have to make a trip to the beach immediately!”

“I’m going to the beach. I’m going to the beach!” I sang repeatedly while I danced in all abandon upon hearing Andy say we’d be going to the beach.

For the next 2 days, I could barely sleep because of the excitement. It would be my first time seeing the beach. I’ve always seen photos of Dad with mom and Brian on the beach before I was born, during a time when Dad and Mom still had a lot of free time because they didn’t work as much. But things have changed ever since I was born. Dad got promoted in his company and Mom was able to grow her clientele list. Consequently, we haven't gone to the beach because our parents have been busy with work since.

In preparation for our trip to the beach., I tagged my dad along to the shop selling snorkeling gears because he knew what I would need to buy.

“Dad! You have to take me to the shop that sells snorkeling gear ASAP! I have not a single gear, and we’re going to the beach!” I demanded

“Okay, sweetheart. We’ll buy some for you.” He said

“Yay! Thank you, Dad! I really wanna snorkel on the beach. I’ve seen photos of the marine life in the ocean. I wanna see them for myself. Promise me, I’ll have the gears for our beach trip, Dad.”

“Yes, Dear. Your Dad will take you today after school. Don’t worry.” mom assured me.

Come Saturday, I woke up early so I could wake everyone up and we can leave first thing in the morning.

“Wake up, everyone!! Time to get ready! We’re going to the beach today!” I blabbered on until I saw Mom, Dad and Brian get up from bed.

“Hurry up, guys! The beach is already waiting for us!” I insisted.

“Ellie, shut up. You’re being too annoying now.” Brian said as he entered the bathroom to take a shower.

“Relax, Sweetie. The beach won’t go anywhere. We need to have breakfast before we leave, and besides, we’re still waiting for Andy” Mom reminded me.

“Why don’t you open the garage door so we can readily leave when Andy arrives?” Dad said further.

So I ran to our garage to open the garage door so we can leave immediately, but as I opened it, I saw Andy standing outside waving his hands and wearing his signature smile.

“Good morning, Ellie! Are you excited to go to the beach?” He said.

“Andy! You’re here! Yay!”

I was so happy to see him that I ran up to him and jumped up so I could embrace him in all my excitement.

“Of course, I’m here! I’m invited, aren’t I?” He said as he pulled me up so he could embrace me back.

“Don’t be silly, Andy. Of course, you’re invited.” I said with a big cheeky smile on my face.

He slowly put me down and as soon as my feet felt the ground, I held his hands and dragged him inside the house.

“C’mon! C’mon! Everyone’s been waiting for you! Mom said we also need to eat breakfast before we leave.”

“Okay, okay! Hold your horses, Ellie. I’m coming.” He laughed as he gently held my hands too.

“Mom, Dad! Andy’s here!” I announced.

“Good morning, Ma’am… Sir…” Andy greeted my parents formally.

“Hahaha, Andy, I told you, you can also call us Mom and Dad. You’re like a son to us already! You don’t need to be too formal.” Dad said laughing at Andy.

Mom pulled up a chair beside me and added. “That’s very true, you silly young man. All right, come sit here next to Ellie so we can eat together.”

As Andy sat beside me, Brian walked into the dining room and sat in front of Andy. He stretched out his arms and made a fist.

“Hey! good to see you, bud.” He said to Andy as they fist-bumped each other.

We left soon after we had breakfast. I sat in the back seat with Brian and Andy. I wanted to sit beside the window so I could see the view so Andy happily sat between Brian and me.

Just as it was my first trip to the beach, it was also my first long ride across the country. So, naturally, my eyes almost popped out with excitement seeing all the beautiful landscapes along the way. At times, I would put my arms around Andy to interrupt his conversation with Brian and force him to look at what I was seeing outside.

“Hey, look!!! Look!!! “ I screamed as I pulled Andy’s arms towards me, “I’ve never seen so many ducks ever! Are you seeing this? Mom? Dad?” I added as I continue to pull Andy’s arms.

“Ellie! Stop pulling Andy’s arm! We’re trying to have a conversation here!” Brian said in dismay.

“Oh, yeah, right.” and I smirked thinking how I’ve irritated Brian by pulling Andy’s arms over again.

Maybe because I was still young, playful, and naive, Brian and I would banter as part of our daily routine. So pulling Andy’s arm was doubly gratifying on my part because I was able to spend snippets of time with Andy while annoying my brother, Brian.

Dad rented out a property for us over the weekend. It was a quaint beachfront house with a beautiful garden and an infinity pool that seemed like it was connected to the beach. I enjoyed the trip so much that I didn’t even realize we'd already arrived.

“We're here, everyone!” Dad announced.

I jumped out of my seat running to the beach as soon as I saw the sea. The tranquility of the ocean’s turquoise waters was such a breathtaking sight to behold.

“Wow! It’s so beautiful! I can't believe I’m finally on the beach!” I exclaimed hysterically.

Scared I would go in the water, Andy and Brian hurriedly ran after me.

“Ellie! come back! Don't go to the water yet!” Andy yelled.

“Ellie, hush down! Wait for us!” Brian added.

But my naughty and thrilled self ignored them and I just went to the water straight away and played with it. The moment Brian and Andy were within reach, I splattered seawater on them with the intent of making them so wet that they would have no choice but to join me immediately.

“Ellie!” Brian and Andy screamed.

“See what you’ve done you, Silly girl!” Brian added, “You got us all wet!”

At that point, Brian looked mischievously at Andy as if communicating with each other telepathically, and from the look on their faces, I knew they had something evil up their sleeves.

“Let’s go get her, bud!” Andy exclaimed running towards me.

Before I knew it, these two well-built men were furiously advancing toward me to catch me. We started running around in and out of the water until Andy finally caught and squeezed me against his super lean body.

“Gotcha, you little devil!” he said in all satisfaction while I shrieked.

“AHHHH! Let go of me! Let go of meeeeee!!!” I screamed.

“What’s our plan with her, bud?!”He hollered at Brian with a devilish look on his face.

“No, no, no, no, NOOOOOOOO!!!!” I kept screaming while trying to escape from Andy.

Right about this time, Brian held both my hands and smirked at me.

“Let’s tackle her, bud! We need to teach her a lesson! Ha! ha! ha!” He said laughing.

Andy tightly clasped me in his arms but I wrestled my way out of it. Then all of a sudden, Andy let go of me.

“This is it, I need to run as far as possible from these two monsters!” I thought.

But before my feet could even touch the sand bed of the sea, he held my feet and together with Brian started to sway me.

In perfect unison, they both counted, “One! Two! Three!”

They forcefully threw me into the sea and the next thing I knew, the salty seawater was splashing all over my face. As I try to balance myself and stand up, I could see them giving a high five to each other while laughing their asses off. I could also see mom and dad coming out of the house laughing at me when they saw me all wet.

“Moooooom!!! Daaaaaaad!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs hoping to get some backup from them.

“Okay! Enough of the bantering and bullying, you guys! Lunch is ready! Come and get it!” Mom yelled instead.

She and Dad were watching us from the cozy cabana located on the beachfront. Brian immediately ran towards them while Andy held up his hands to me to help me out of the water so we could go there together.

“Sorry for throwing you in the water. Hahaha! Anyway, I hope you’re happy, Ellie.” He muttered while he reached out to play with my hair.

“Don’t touch me!” I said as tapped his hand away from me extremely annoyed.

“Ohhh, c’mon Ellie. Don’t be such a cry baby. We were just having some fun.” Andy said sweetly as he pulled me closer to give me a quick hug.

I was so busy fooling around with Brian and Andy that I didn’t notice mom and dad preparing the cabana. They put a few decorations in and around it to make it more cozy and festive, and I could see the “Happy Birthday” sign as soon as I entered it.

As mom gave out the plates, my eyes crossed with Andy’s and he blew me a kiss in the air and mouthed “Happy birthday!” then he winked at me,

My heart fluttered and I just smiled at him and replied. “Thank you.”

Dad was a great diver, and he loved spearfishing. So when we went to the beach he brought all his spearfishing gears to catch some fish that he plans to grill for dinner. After lunch, while dad was out in the ocean, mom cozied up on the lounger and grabbed her favorite book to read and relax by the beach. Brian and Andy joined her shortly after and laid down on the loungers as well.

As for me, I rushed back to the house and grabbed all my snorkeling gear. I hurried back to the shore and sat down on one of the loungers to put them on. Andy noticed me, stood up, and walked towards me.

“Hey! What are you thinking of doing, Ellie? Where do you think you’re going?” He said as he placed his hands on his waist.

"Don’t tell me you’re planning to go snorkeling alone!” He said with a serious voice.

The naughty me answered with a big grin on my face.

“Yes, I am! Why, do you have a problem with that?” I said while raising my eyebrow.

“What?! No way, Ellie! Oh no, you won’t silly girl! Don’t you know it's dangerous out there?”

“What? Why would it be dangerous? Do you think I don’t know how to swim? I know how to swim, Andy! I swim in the clubhouse pool every other day, you know.” I responded proudly.

“No, Ellie…” He sounded very concerned. “A pool is very different from the ocean. Out there, you can bump into lots of deadly sea creatures.”

For a moment, he stood silent thinking, “Okay, okay. Hold up! You wait here for me. I’ll just grab my gears and go with you.” he continued.

“Don’t you dare go into the water alone, Ellie! I’m serious!” He warned and then he ran to the house even before I could reason out with him.

Being true to the naughty child I was, I was about to throw a tantrum when I saw Andy coming out of the house wearing his swimming shorts. I have never seen Andy without his shirt on, and suddenly I felt a bit queasy and nervous as I saw his well-structured abs for the first time. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he made his way down the steps of the lanai towards the shore. Then I was quickly transported back when he sprinted towards the water and shouted “ Race you to the water! Hahahaha!”

Surprised, I grabbed my snorkels and ran after him, “Cheater! You’re a cheater, Andy!”

He was already in the water almost 5 feet deep when I finally hit it.

“Tsss. Talk about swimming together. See him swim like no one is behind him!” I said annoyed.

But as fast as he went to deeper waters, he came back to me.

“Sorry. I just wanted to check the direction where we could see a huge coral reef,” he said as he removed his snorkels.

“Come and take my hand, Ellie, I'll take you over there. Just relax and flip your legs, okay?!"

"All right," I nodded as he held my hand tightly.

He intertwined his fingers around mine, clasped them together, and pulled me carefully to deeper waters. As we went deeper, I could see the seabed slope into nothingness. and a huge coral reef formation welcomed us with its magnificent beauty. We swam a bit more when a massive school of fish swam above, below, and all around us. I was filled with awe as the fish seemed like they wanted to play with us while amusing us with the colorful display of their swimming skills. Their scales reflected the rays of the sun and produced a rainbow-like display of colors. I was in complete awe.

“Eeeee! Ha! ha! ah! ha!”

I started to shout and laugh uncontrollably through my snorkels. I felt excited and happy at the same time. My eyes moved in a frenzy not knowing which direction to look while trying to absorb the beauty that beholds before me.

I could hear Andy’s mumbled laughter while looking at me. Suddenly, the school of fish swam away, and a massive sea turtle swam a few feet below Andy.

I hysterically moved in excitement. I clasped Andy’s hands while pointing my finger to the sea turtle making sure he saw it swim by. We snorkeled around the huge coral reef a bit more and saw lots of beautiful and interesting sea creatures. It was such a breathtaking experience for me. But what could be more spine-tingling than seeing how Andy’s muscles on his legs and arms flexed right before my eyes every time he flipped them as we swam over the coral reef.

After a while, Andy saw Dad getting out from his spearfishing escapade. He was holding 2 huge fish in his hands with a big grin on his face. He slowly pulled me to his body and held me in his arms.

“It’s time to go, Ellie. Your dad just got out. Let’s go?” He said while his face was barely a few inches away from mine.

Not minding how nervous I have been feeling being so near him this way I said with puppy eyes, “Awww… Do we really have to? Can we swim a bit more please?”

“Okay, but let’s move to shallow waters. It’s almost sunset and I don’t want you out here in the deep when the skies darken.”

Then he let go of me and held my hands once again, slowly pulling me to shallow waters. By the time we reached the shallow water near the shore, the sun has already started setting.

“WOW! Look!” I shrieked while turning Andy’s face towards the sunset. “Did you know that I love sunsets?”

“Really? What do you like about them?” Andy asked as he intently listened to me.

“ Well, they’re just so beautiful. And they’re never the same. I feel like I’m watching a live painting unfold right before my eyes, with its ever-changing colors. Somehow, It washes away the ugly things that have happened throughout the day, and you sleep with a dark slate that opens to a colorful new day.”

“Wow, Ellie. I never imagined you could be so eloquent with your feelings. That was just a beautiful description of a sunset.” Andy said.

I felt the sincerity of his words so I turned to him smiling and I snuggled him a bit, “ I can also be serious, Andy.”

He smiled, hugged me, and said, “You’re growing into a fine lady, Ellie. I am amazed and it has been a pleasure to see you mature right before my eyes.”

“Such kind words. Thank you, Andy.”

I hugged him back tighter as I felt how proud and happy he is because of me. My heart fluttered once again, but this time, Instead of feeling uneasy and nervous, I felt really warm and comfy inside.

After we freshened up, Brian and Andy set up a bonfire while dad was grilling the fish he caught. Mom was busy making some salad and cocktail drinks. We shared a fantastic dinner and enjoyed the rest of the lovely night together.

The next day, I was awakened by the sound of the crashing waves in the ocean. The smell of the fresh sea breeze blew on my face as I got up.

As I opened my eyes, I quickly turned over, only to see my brother staring at me with a big smirk on his face.

“You still asleep?” he curiously asked.

“Mmmmm… n.. nope??” I said in hesitation.

Without warning, Andy appeared and they both carried me out of my bed straight towards the beach.

“Wait! Wait! wait!” I screamed

“Mooooooom!!!!! Daaaadddd!!!!! C’mon!!! No! Andyyyy! Brian!!!!” I continuously shrieked as Brian and Andy laughed their hearts out.

But yet again, I found my half asleep, half awake self all wet on the beach.

When my parents realized Brian and Andy threw me into the ocean yet again, I could hear their roaring laughter from where I was.

“I’ll get you!” I exclaimed angrily as I tried to run after Brian or Andy, whomever I get to catch first.

But of course, what can a petite, young girl do to catch two grown men? Nothing. So as I tried to catch my breath I said, “Okay, okay, I give up!"

Brian and Andy joined me on the beach and Mom and Dad followed shortly after. We swam some more until it was lunchtime. Dad wanted to give Mom some time to relax so he opted to have some food delivered for lunch.

"Guys, remember to pack up after lunch. We’ll be hitting the road right after you finish packing.” Mom reminded us.

I hurriedly grabbed my things and shoved them inside my suitcase after we had our meal. I wanted to walk on the shore for the last time while the rest of my family pack up.

“Ellie! Let’s go! Everyone’s waiting for you in the car.” Dad shouted as he called me back from the beach.

“Coming!” I said as I took a last glance at the serene water of the ocean.

“I'll be back soon," I whispered to the wind.

I was dead tired and fell asleep in the car on our way home. I didn't realize I was leaning on Andy. I woke up but was still half asleep so I kept one eye closed and peeked with another. That was when I felt my head on Andy's lap and he was softly caressing my hair while I was sleeping. I closed my little eye and enjoyed the feeling of him caressing my hair and went on to sleep a bit more while he was exchanging stories with Brian. To say that I was happy that weekend was such an understatement. I will cherish this moment long after it has passed.