Unexpected Honeymoon

Chapter 6 - 🌺

My heart is beating so fast, I feel like it's about to burst out of my chest. I slowly lick my lips before mumbling, "Jake?"

"Shhh." He says, placing his fingers underneath my chin.

As he continues to lean in, my eyes start to shut. Our lips are so close to touching that I can practically feel his lips against my own. His warm breath hits my skin, causing me to involuntarily shiver in his arms.

Something suddenly rubs my skin and I jump away from him a little bit, "Eww!"

He cocks his head to the side in confusion, "What?"

"Something rubbed against my ankle." I tell him as goosebumps begin to rise. It felt so slimy and disgusting.

He moves back and looks into the water, "There's nothing there."

"Are you calling me a liar?" I ask, my eyes searching the water for any sign of a slimy creature.

"No, I'm just saying that if there was something there then it's not anymore." He shrugs his shoulders.

I shake my head and rub my arms, "I don't care. I want to get out of the water now. This was a bad idea."

"It was your idea though." He tells me with a bored tone.

"I know that and now I'm saying that it was a bad one. Can we please get out of the water now?" I beg, desperation clear in my voice.

"Alright." He agrees and then places his hands on my hips and lifts me up onto the boat before getting on too.

"How about you both feed the sharks before I take you back to land for lunch?" Martin suggests, grabbing a large bucket from the back of the boat.

"I don't think that's a good idea either." I nervously tell him. Even though I did touch a shark and it didn't eat me, I still have this fear that it'll jump up and bite my hand off or something.

"Actually, it's a great idea." Jake says, making my head snap to him.

"No, it's not." I immediately protest, shifting from one foot to the other.

A look of annoyance flashes across his face as he says, "You wanted to come and do all of these things for the new experiences and all that. Well, now is your chance to do something you've never done before."

"The blacktip reef shark is an active predator of small bony fishes, cephalopods and crustaceans. All you have to do is throw them in the water for the sharks and they'll catch them. There is no touching for this part." Martin tells me with a reassuring voice while looking between Jake and I.

I nervously bite my bottom lip and think it over for a few moments before letting out a sigh and nodding my head, "Alright, I guess."

He gives me a warm smile and says, "So you both have a variety to choose from. I have mullets, grunters, mojarras, wrasses, surgeonfishes, smelt-whitings and of course the crustaceans and cephalopods. Go ahead and choose one."

I grab one of the colorful fishes while Jake picks up a blue fish that looks like Dory from the movie, Finding Nemo. I have to hold the fish with both hands so that it won't slip through and even then, it's still difficult for me to hold. The way it keeps squirming around doesn't help at all either. Why do fish have to be so slimy?

"Now, you see how more sharks have already started coming? That's because when they see a boat, sometimes they come over hoping for a handout." He tells us while pointing to the water. I look to where he's pointing and instantly see a few more sharks swimming our way. "You're going to drop the fish in the water so that the sharks could catch them. It's a lot easier for them to catch since we're so close to each other."