Between the Lies

30| Almost

I changed the chapter name

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Almost

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Chapter 30: Almost (Aaron's POV)

We stopped snorkeling nearly ten minutes ago, now we're just swimming around the boat while the others still snorkel, getting further and further away from the boat. I tried my best to calm her down during the snorkeling and it worked for the most part. I think she forgot about her fears when she was snorkeling because the first thing she said when we swam back to the boat was, "Everything's so pretty underwater." 

We dropped our gear there and just swam around near the boat. "See," I said, glancing at her. "It wasn't so bad." 

"You're right, it wasn't," she nodded in agreement. 

We did everything we could possibly do. We snorkeled, we floated around, there's not much more to do in the middle of the ocean. "Do you want to get out now?" I asked. 

"Yeah. We can get back on the boat and—" She stopped talking abruptly, her body jerking as if she'd been startled. 

"What?" I watched her warily. 

"I could swear something just touched my foot." 

I glanced at the water from above since neither one of us had our goggles with us. "It was probably just a fish." 

"Yeah," she murmured. "Anyway um, what was I saying? Yeah, we should probably get—" She gasped loudly. 

"What? What is it?" I grabbed her arm as she shifted closer to me. 

"I could swear something just touched my foot, Aaron, I'm not kidding!" 

I sighed, taking a look around. "There's nothing here." 

"I'm telling you we're about to die. And a shark attack is one of the worst ways to go." 

"Vanessa, there's nothing—" 

She screamed, closing her eyes and grabbing onto my shoulders. "Aaron! Something keeps touching my foot, please!" She looked absolutely horrified and she sounded like a child panicking and on the verge of tears. It was cute but I was genuinely worried now at the same time.

"Okay, okay. I'll get us out," I nodded. 

She only grabbed onto me tighter. "Aaron!" she exclaimed through gritted teeth.

"Vanessa, I can't swim if you're—" 

"Aaron!" 

"Okay," I sighed, putting an arm around her waist as she whined, squirming in the water. "If you move to my back, I can swim," I told her. 

She moved around, grabbing onto my shoulders again. As we reached the boat barely in a minute, the thought crossed my mind: 

What if there really is a shark in the water? 

We made it to the ladder and I grabbed her arm, bringing her forward, and then grabbed her by the waist, hoisting her up onto the ladder. She climbed out the fastest I've ever seen her do anything and she looked over the railing immediately, wiping her eyes first.