Into the Light

125

"He shouldn't leave you alone out here, surrounded by all these guys. They might try to steal your heart away," I said, winking at her. She looked around the beach at the different people that were around us. "There are some pretty cute guys out here..."she replied, with a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Oooo, especially that one! He's cute, right Katrina?" she pointed somewhere over my head, where I couldn't see. I sat up and jerked around so that I could see who she was pointing at. "He IS cute!" Kat exclaimed, nodding her head. "Excuse me?" Sam replied, raising his eyebrows. She shrugged. "What? He's cute." The guy they were pointing at, was on the outskirts of the water, hitting a beach ball towards another guy that was in the water. He was what people would consider handsome, I guess. "I guess, if you like that Ken doll, douchey vibe," I replied, looking back at Anna. She rolled her eyes, with a pretty smile on her face. "Don't be jealous. You're kinda cute too," she teased. "Phsss," I hissed out. "I don't get jealous." Kat burst out laughing, with Sam chuckling by her side. Anna looked from me to them, then back to me. "Um, your friends seem to think differently," she replied, coyly. "Oh, shut up," I growled quietly. I grabbed her arm and lay back down, pulling her over me. She rested her hands on either side of my head, holding herself up. Her raven hair hung down in curtains, shielding us from view. "You think he's cute, huh?" I asked, letting my gaze travel from her eyes to her full lips. It was like they were begging to be kissed. She licked them nervously, then gave me a small smile. "Yeah, he's cute. My boyfriend though, he's HOT. Like, really hot. A total Betty for a guy." I grinned and reached down to place my hands on her hips. "Yeah?" I asked. She nodded and lowered her lashes, so that she was looking at me through them. Why was that so sexy? "Yep," she answered. "He has a great body too. Totally bodacious." I held back my laughter at her old slang. "So, you just like him for his looks," I asked, raising my eyebrows. I wasn't serious, of course, but this was kind of a small trigger for me. I had been loved and adored, mainly for my looks. It sometimes felt like no one bothered getting to know the real me. Anna narrowed her eyes at me. "No. Definitely not," she replied. "He's very attractive but that's not why I love him." My heart thudded inside my chest a few extra times when I heard the word love. We had already expressed ourselves to each other, but it still felt brand new. "He's one of the sweetest people that I've ever met in my entire life. He's brave and protective. Silent but silly. He makes me laugh, when things feel like they're falling apart. He's my anchor and I don't know what I would do without him." The air thickened around us, as I stared into her emerald eyes. Her breathing picked up a little and she parted her lips. I brought one had to the back of her head and brought her lips to mine. She relaxed her body on top of mine and melted into the kiss. Tongue and lips moved together slowly, emitting a relaxed safe feeling that spread throughout my entire body. I tightened my grip on her hip and she let out one of those soft noises that I loved. When we broke apart, both of us were breathing heavily. "I love you," I said softly, as I pushed her hair back behind her ear. It immediately fell, hiding us from the world again. "I love you too," she murmured. "Guys, it's starting to get dark," I heard Sam say. I sighed and rolled my eyes, making Anna giggle. She raised up off of me, so that I could sit up. He was right. The sky had lost almost all of it's red and pink aesthetic, leaving behind a dark purple and blue twist. There was just a touch of the pink still left over the horizon, on the tip of the ocean in the distance. "I guess we should go," I replied, getting to my feet. "Ash wants us to be at his place at 8." Sam held my gaze for a moment, then nodded. "I guess this is it then," he replied. I shook my head, remembering that I had to tell them. "No, this is just practice. He said the real battle begins tomorrow. Something to do with the moon or something." "The moon?" he repeated, with his forehead scrunching up in confusion. I nodded. "Yeah, some kind of witchy thing. Like the different phases of the moon strengthens certain spells or something. I don't know,Sam. Just relaying the message," I replied. "I guess we should get going then," Anna said. I glanced over to see her looking out at the ocean with a wistful expression on her beautiful face. "Hey," I said, reaching over to take her hand in mine. She turned her face to mine and met my gaze. "I'll bring you back here. When all of this is over, we'll come to the beach every day, if you want. Every night too. I promise." She nodded and gave me a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. She was worried that there wouldn't be an "when all of this is over" time. I was scared too, but I was trying really hard to do as Ash had said. I needed to believe that we could beat the Darkness. That we WOULD beat the Darkness. We gathered our things in silence, except for the occasional remark about where an item was or where it was supposed to go. Our suits were basically dry by now, so we didn't bother putting our clothes back on, either. I started driving, not really paying attention, until Sam tapped my arm. "Um, brother, why are you headed to the house? We can't go back there yet," he said, hesitantly. I glanced around and realized that I was indeed headed to our home. The one that we couldn't even visit until this was over. If we made it through this, I mean. "Shit, I guess it's just habit," I replied. I turned around and got back on track to the hotel. When we arrived, Sam and I unloaded the car, while the girls wrapped their towels around themselves, then went inside. "We only have one shower," Sam groaned, lifting one side of the big cooler.