Something Else Entirely

4 - You can take the boy out of Australia . . .

We continued on like this for another half an hour before we decided to make our way back onto shore through the persisting crowds, despite it now being around 8:15 p.m. if my sense of time were anything to go by. I figured it was better to be safer than sorry when it came to our curfew, because Dad and Sadie don't play around when it comes to their consequences. This way Madden and I would also get the chance to dry off a little and not haul salt water inside our hotel lobby, not that I imagine it isn't a daily occurrence in a place like this. Still, I didn't want to be an asshole unnecessarily. If I worked in a hotel directly across from the beach, I'd want people to dry off before coming inside. It's just common decency, really.

It didn't take long for the late evening heat to evaporate the water from our shorts and hair, which was impressive considering the length of both my own and Madden's locks—mine reaching my shoulder blades when wet and curling to tickle my shoulders when dry, and Madden's nearing about the same length also.

I checked my phone and saw a text message from Dad, which he must have sent almost as soon as we left if the time stamp was correct. Dad made sure he got an international plan for his phone, just in case anyone from work needed to speak to him urgently while we were away, which is why I could receive his text. I just couldn't reply to it, unless I wanted to pay out the ass for the roaming charges.

Ruben: Thanks for your attempt at subtlety, kid haha. Make sure you're back on time, preferably no earlier than 8:30 if you know what's good for you ;) And PLEASE keep a close eye on Madden xo

I chuckled aloud as I read Dad's message. He knows me perhaps a little too well, and clearly read between the lines of my spoken desire to hang out at the beach with Madden.

"What's so funny?" asked Madden, looking over at my phone in my hands.

"Do you really want to know?" I replied, smirking as I imagined the look of disgust that would grace his innocent face if I told him what Dad's message really meant.

"Does it involve them having sex again?" he asked, screwing up his face to resemble the exact expression I envisioned.

"Again, do you really want to know the answer to that question?" I laughed.

Madden groaned emphatically, causing me to laugh out loud. "They're so revolting."

"They're not revolting, Madd. They're just in love," I said, gripping his shoulder in consolation. The loss of his youthful ignorance regarding sex has been a difficult one for him to come to terms with.

"But it's so gross!"

"I promise you, Madd, it's far from gross."

"How is imagining my mother and your father having sex not the most disgusting thing you've ever thought of?"

"Because sex can be a beautiful thing when you do it with someone you love and want to be close with in that way," I said, perplexed at how I ended up sitting, jetlagged on a beach in Hawaii, giving a positive sexual education class to my little brother by referencing our parents making love back in our hotel room.

"I know it seems like a weird thing, but if you look around at all these people here—and even at you and me—we're all here because sex has been something that people have been doing for thousands of years. It's a normal way of expressing yourself and the attraction or love you feel for your partner. It's a hard thing to understand fully until you've experienced it yourself, Madd; which you will eventually, but hopefully not any time soon because you're still just a wee little baby."

I pulled him into my arms and across my lap, cradling him like I would with Willow back home. She was Tanner and Morgan's baby girl, now roughly 6 months old, and we babysit her a bit when they need a date night. If only Madden knew what they get up to while he's feeding Willow her bottle and reading to her as she falls asleep in his bed.