Falling For You (Crawford Collins)

The Beach

Crawford and I agreed to meet at his place in twenty minutes. I quickly run to my room and change into my bathing suit. Putting my hair in a loose ponytail I grab my sushi bag putting two beach towels in side it, some sunscreen, my phone, and goggles . Grabbing my picnic basket I walk to the kitchen and start preparing some sandwiches for us and I grab some water and juice and place it inside the basket. Finishing a little early, I look around for my hat and I place it on my head. I didn't wear any makeup because were going to be swimming so whats the point, I feel very self conscious without it. Walking into the hall I lock the door behind me, and move in front of Crawford, and Chris's door. I slowly lift my hand to knock.
"Well, here we go. "
Crawford's POV
Walking into my apartment I shared with Chris, I run and grab the first clean bathing suit I could find. Grabbing a sweatshirt for later and a towel I walk into Chris' room.
"Hey man, you going to the beach?"
"Yeah, me and Avia are going." Just saying her name makes me get a fuzzy feeling in my stomach. I really like her, and I was afraid that she would like Chris more than me, but it seems the opposite. I'm glad.
"OOh, Avia. Well well well, looks like you grew a pair and asked her out." Chris says still looking at his phone. I swear, hes never off that thing.
"Well, she should be here any minute so."
"Don't stay out too late, and use protection." Chris looks up at me with a smirk on his lips, telling me hes joking.
"Ha ha very funny." I say, a moment later I here a soft knock on the door. My head instantly lifting. Walking over I grab the cool door nob and open to see Avia. She looks stunning. She has no makeup on, and overalls. She is just so gorgeous, I cant stop staring at her.
"Hey Crow." Her soft angelic voice fills my ears, I blush at her nickname, I just love the way she says it. 
"Hey, you ready." I walk out of the apartment, calling for Chris to lock up behind me. We walk to the elevator and stand facing each other. Avia has a big smile on her face.
"I hope you don't mind I packed us a lunch." She looks at her feet, I smile lightly. She is the most shy person I have ever meet, and its adorable. I lift her head up with my index and middle finger. 
"Of course I don't mind, thank you." We ride in silence for a little while longer until the elevator stops.
Avia's POV

Walking into the dimly lit parking garage, I stiffen up. Remembering what happened when I was in a similar place. Crawford notices and hesitantly puts his arm around me. I unintentionally mold into him, feeling safe in his arms. He notices this, and smiles looking at me. I blush looking down, then back up. When we get to his car, I put my bags by my feet and we head off. 
"So the beach I'm thinking of is pretty small for LA, but its secluded and very nice." Crawford turns on a road and parks on the side. We both hop out, and he grabs my bags from me and wraps his arm around mine. I smile up at him, and we walk. The beach is beautiful. We have the whole place to ourselves, the beach is on a lake, the water is so blue.
"Its perfect." I say, I run out of his grip and into the beach. I hear him chuckle as he slowly walks behind me. 
"There's the best spot over there, the currents not as bad over here." Crawford points me to the little spot that sort of looks like the peak of Florida on a map. 
"Its wonderful." I say lighting up. I thank him when he puts my bags down, and I take out the blanket and lay it on the sand then I set down the picnic basket. I see Crawford taking off his shirt and I force my self not to stare. Feeling self conscious as I take off my overalls, I look down at the burning hot sand as i do so. 
"All right lets get in." Crawford picks me up bridal stile and walks to the edge.
"Now it gets deep pretty quick here." Crawford walks in still holding me, and after a moment were both under water. Popping back to the surface he lets me go (much to my disappointment ) and I start to tread water.
"Can you touch the bottom here, are you standing?" I ask him.
"Yeah, can you not?" I nod and keep treading until I feel his cool hands wrap around my waist. I blush like a tomato and look at him. He spins me around and i grab his shoulders to hang on to. I'm giggling like a mad man and he starts to laugh along with me. Slowing down he stops, and we are now closer than before. 
"Hi." I say suddenly feeling butterfly's.
"Hi." He laughs back. He lets me go and I get out. I look back at him and motion for him to back in. I look at the water and dive in. I swim, and keep swimming as far as I could go without air. When I come back to the surface Crawford was on the other side of the small area of lake we were swimming in. I swim back to him as fast as I could. Accidental bumping my head against his chest.
"Sorry." I say blushing, swimming away. He grabs my feet and pulls me back to him.
We did this for a while. Just swam around and enjoyed each others company. A little later we ate and talked about random things. I felt my self open up a lot to Crawford. He was so kind and sweet. 
We stayed and talked for a while, then swam a little more. Crawford excused himself for a moment because he said he had a surprise for me.
I sat on the beach towel and stared at the clouds. After a while the sun was blocked by something, when I sat up, I saw Crawford... And some tubes.
"lets go swim some more OK" He gave me the green tube and he had a pink one. We splashed around and time flew by.

Being pulled out of this moment that I didn't want to leave, we both get out and dry off. The sun was setting, and it was already six o'clock. 
After we dried off, I put my overalls back on, and started to shiver slightly. I dint think to bring a jacket. 

Good Job Avia, your so stupid
Dumb
How could you forget a jacket
Wow you idiot. 

I sit down on the blanked and shut my eyes tight.
"Hey are you alright?"
"Oh, yeah I'm fine." I lie
"Are you sure Avia, you know you can tell me if something is wrong." He sits next to me and wraps his arms around me.
"Well, sometimes I get bad thoughts, and I want them to go away, so I try to think about good things. But its hard sometimes so I sit down and squeeze my eyes shut." I say looking down and playing with my fingers.
"What kind of thoughts?"
"Well.... Things that make me nervous, or make me feel stupid." I shiver again, and Crawford pulls off his sweatshirt and hand it to me.
"Are you sure?" I ask not wanting him to be cold.
"Yeah, if I get cold it just gives me an excuse to cuddle and hold on to you." I put his sweatshirt on, and the air around me instantly smells like him. 
"I have a surprise." Crawford says, smiling.
"What? I don't like surprises very much."
"Well, tonight there's a firework show near by, so we should be able to see it from here."
"Really?" I say getting excited.
"Yeah."
"I love fireworks!" I scream as loud as I could throwing my hands in the air. (Like I just don't care.)
"Great then, it should be starting soon."
"Its getting dark, I don't like the dark." I say scooting a little closer to Crawford.
"Really? Well good thing I brought a lantern." He says grabbing the bag he brought, pulling it out he turns it on, and it glows yellow around us. "We can keep it on until the fireworks start." Crawford pulls me onto his lap, burring his face in the crook of my neck. I squeal as he does this, a little embarrassed. We only met yesterday you know. But it honestly feels like forever. I really like him. 
He chuckles and holds my hand. 
"Cold." He says still laughing.
"You know, I have another blanket.
"Yeah but, that's not as fun as snuggling with you Avia." His words are muffled, but I can here him as clear as day. He lifts his head up, and I rest mine on his shoulder.
"Today was the best day I had in years. Thank you." I say looking at him.
His eyes flicker to my lips for less than a second before shooting back up to mine. He slowly leans in, and I find my self doing the same. His lips move against mine and they taste like strawberries. Probably because of the strawberries we had for lunch. I have never kissed anyone before. I can feel him smiling against my lips as we slowly stop kissing. Our faces now inches apart, our breathing a little heaver than normal.
"Wow." We say at the same time. 
"I've never kissed anyone before. I say shyly. Twiddling my thumbs.
"That was the best kiss I have ever had." He says looking down. 
I lift his head up with my fingers.
"Don't look down handsome. Don't hide your face." I say, my words a little shaky. Avia where did this confidence come from? 
"Can I kiss you again?" Crawford asks me leaning in. I slowly nod, and he puts both hands on my cheeks. My arms wrap around his neck, and I mold into him. His lips moving against mine, I here the fireworks begin. Without breaking the kiss, he leans over and turns off the lantern. We break apart and I look at the sky. Its breathtaking, the fireworks light up the area as they go off.
Crawford moves me off of him, but still extremely close and lays us back so we can look at the sky. I put his hood over my head, and he grabs the blanket out of my bag. Placing it on top of both of us we just lay there in silence watching the fireworks go off. While I watched in awe, I felt Crawford looking at me the whole time.
"Why are you looking at me?" I ask
"Your just so beautiful." I blush at his words and look over at him. He leans in for a kiss, but I stop him.
"Don't you think this is going to fast. I just met you yesterday."
"I don't care, I really like you Avia."
"I really like you to."
"I mean, who knows when our lives will end, I don't want to waist it not being with you." I blush at his words, and peck him on the lips.
We watched the fireworks and when they ended we packed up and headed to the car. I was tired but I could still walk, all though Crawford refused to let me go, so he carried me to the car. When we got to the apartment building he carried me all the way up, and put me down in between both of our apartments. 
" I had the best time." I say looking up at him.
"Me to, we should do it again. Will you go on a date with me."
"Yeah, when?" I ask, knowing Magcon would start very soon.
"Tomorrow, is th-that OK?" He stutters
"Yeah I would love that." I say and he grabs my hand and pulls me in for a hug. When we part his lips are on mine. Moving slow and sweet, he grabs my face with both his hands, rubbing my cheeks with his thumbs, while I wrap my arms around his neck. Slowly pulling apart still holding on to each other.
"Good night beautiful." 
"Good night Crow." We say breathless. Walking into my apartment, putting my bags down on the couch, I get changed into my pajamas and put Crawford's sweatshirt back on. It was so cozy. Laying in bed I just sit there. I put my hand to my lips, as if what happened was not real.
But It Was.