Lovely

18. Underwater

"Hey, Cal!" I heard Max shout. Everyone in the garden turned their heads towards the sound. He ran closer to us. "Hey everyone!" He followed up. We all greeted him before he got to the reason he had come to the house in the first place.

"Does anyone want to swim at the beach with us?"

"Us?" Asked Isiah.

"Well, Celia and Ash are already there. I thought I'd ask just in case-"

The twins were quickly dashing into their rooms in response, followed by a much slower Lacie. I looked over at Kahlo who had just had Lacie throw herself from his arms in question, no matter where we stood we would always seek each others permission in a way. He looked back in the same way which gave me the answer. We both wanted to go.

It was a scorching day, just like every other day I had had there, and even the cropped singlet and pleated skirt couldn't expose enough skin to cool me off. Nothing worked except water. Within 30 minutes we were all sprinting down the sand toward the water. Thanks to all my effort I managed to stay ahead of Kahlo. Perhaps he didn't even notice I had started a race, perhaps he was letting me win. Either way I glanced over my shoulder and threw at him "Hey, snail!" I both used his nickname for me on him, and challenged him. And won. How excited and satisfied I was. He congratulated me with a kiss, followed by multiple more.

"Hey!" Ash yelled, steamrolling toward us. The cool, salty kisses were interrupted when Ash wedged himself between us, wrapping his arms around me. "I'll save you!" He joked, running away from Kahlo as fast as he could in the water. I was facing Kahlo, clinging to Ash's shoulders in order to keep my head above the water and I could see him catch on and start to trek after us. I laughed loud, but that died out when Celia jumped onto his shoulders. To see Kahlo stop his quest and grab her arms before shaking and running a different way was to realise she hadn't distracted him to give us time to run away. She simply did it because she wanted to play.

All of a sudden I was plunged underwater with Ash's arms still around me. I tapped on his shoulder many moments later to let him know I was running out of air. When we surfaced, I yelled something along the lines of "I thought you were going to SAVE me!", but everyone just laughed, including me. Just laughing and clinging to Ash, my hair trailing behind me in the water as he pulled me with him, that in itself was bliss. No worries from my normal everyday life could reach me here, no longing for the beach house could touch what I had at that moment. We joined Kahlo and Celia.

I wasn't sure who started it first, but I got a face full of water when someone purposefully splashed me. And I retaliated, splashing everyone, and that morphed into a full blown water fight. Celia, with her fiery hair and bright smile, played a large part in this fight. She fought anyone and everyone and always came out on top. Seeing her be so overcome by the feeling of pure joy brought me pure joy. It was magical to watch her be in the moment, carefree, loose, it took me back to our time by the lake. And through remembering that fond memory, a strong feeling of longing washed over me with the water that was being pushed my way. Not only did I want to go back to that time again, her and I and the crystal water of the lake, but I also simply wanted to hold her and stroke her arm as she had done to me.

Without noticing I had inched closer to her. She was by my side, giggling and sparkling away. And then she was gripping my upper arms and ducking behind me. My slate was clean, we had started over. She wasn't angry at me, I didn't have to beat myself up. Celia was touching me, and everything was alright. She was close to holding me, which was all I wanted, and that lifted my heart up out of the sand under my feet