Switched

Confessions at the Beach

Paul shouted as he leapt into the water. York and I shrieked as the mist touched our bare legs. "Come on in, girls! The water's great!" He waved in our direction. "You want to go swimming?" Your asked me in her usual, timid voice. My eyes scrolled from her back onto the oceanfront. It was a beautiful day out and the water was fairly warm. Yori betrayed herself when I grinned back at her; her eyes immediately lit up with utter enthusiasm.

Just as planned, Jacob's crew and us went to the beach that Saturday. My neck had mostly healed by then; that lotion the doctor gave me worked wonders. It must have, considering that no one seemed to notice the now little bandage on my neck. They were all too excited to throw off their shirts and dive into the clear blue depths. Paul was the first one in the water, quickly followed by Quill, Leah, and Seth. Jacob waited until we had gone to get changed to join the others.

They were all splashing and chasing each other when we emerged in our bathing suits. All action immediately stopped and we couldn't help but feel all eyes on us. Yori blushed slightly, standing a step behind me. "Holy crap," Seth gasped. "You're hot!" Paul declared, a little more loudly than his companion. Jacob didn't bother shooting him a glare; he came up to the beach and planted his hands on his hips. While he gave a polite nod to Yori, his attention was mainly directed at me. "Hey beautiful," his cocky smirk morphed over his lips. "Ready to swim?" I smiled, reaching out to take his extended hand. "Just don't let me drown," I teased. "Never."

That morning was great. We spent the next two hours swimming and playing water games. We broke off into random teams- I got paired with Leah- and we played war. The guys wrestled each other, with Jacob and Paul winning the majority of the matches. While they did that, Leah, Yori, and I explored the sea shore nearby. Jacob made us promise to stay within sight, since there were some dangerous drop offs along the shore's ledges. Leah griped but I complied; he was just looking out for us, after all. "You need to be more assertive," Leah told Yori and me while we were alone. "I am assertive," I retorted, which is itself an assertion. "The way I assert myself is just different than you. I'm not a wolf," I added with a gentle smirk. She responded by giving me a playful nudge to the shoulder.

Growing bored with the shallow waters, Paul wanted to go cliff-diving in the afternoon. While the other wolves were onboard, Yori and I hesitated. "You probably shouldn't," Jacob was also reluctant. "It's a pretty rough jump and you could get seriously hurt if you don't know what you're doing." "Alright then. We just stay down here and wait for you then." To my surprise, the Alpha didn't seem to like this alternative either. "I don't want to leave you alone like that. You guys go," he turned to his wolves. "I'll stay with them." "Awe! It'll be no fun without you, boss! Come on, they'll be fine alone," Paul pressed. "Dude, I said no," Jacob's tone was a little firmer; I don't think he liked being contradicted by his wolves, as most Alphas don't. "Don't be such a worry-wart. They won't drown just because you leave them for a minute; they're humans, not idiots," but Paul wasn't backing down. The mood was growing tenser by the minute.

"It's ok," I finally interjected, seeing the annoyance building up in Jacob's expression. "Go, don't worry about us. We won't go into the water," I tried to sound as reassuring as possible. It was clear by the way Jacob looked at me- with large, concerned eyes- that he wasn't going anywhere. Leah was next to try and rectify the scenario. "How about Yori and I go cave exploring instead?" "Cave exploring?" Yori perked up. Boy, for a naturally shy, meek girl, she liked the idea of spelunking- go figure. "What about Selene then?" Seth asked on my behalf. It didn't take Jacob more than thirty seconds to grin and place his arm over my shoulder. "Let's go on a walk along the beach," he suggested. "Really? Just you and me?" I could already feel my cheeks burning. His head softly nodded. "Yeah, just us. That ok with you?" "No, no! It's fine! I'm just......." Super happy, I finished my sentence in my head. We said goodbye to the others and went off, just the two of us. It was about then that I started debating if I should tell Jacob...... The last thing I wanted to do was to build this wonderful friendship- and potentially more someday- dishonestly. It's not like I would be lying to Jacob if I didn't say anything, but I have a feeling he'd rather know than not know. Though I wasn't sure how he'd take it either.