Just Jump?
Modern AU – William/Tessa go swimming.
As always, hope you enjoy. ;)
Disclaimer: Cassandra Clare owns all characters, I just own my plot.
"I'll race you?" William threw out, before running ahead not even waiting for an answer. Tessa laughed, dumping her shoes on the side of the beach before running through the sand trying to catch up to William. The cool breeze chilled her skin and she pushed her body to move faster, attempting to catch up to William. Before she knew it they had arrived at a little rock pool and the ocean just next to it. The view was amazing. The aqua water appeared to be cool and relaxing, just what they needed.
William walked onto a large rock before swiftly pulling off his shirt and tossing it to the side, even stopping to turn around and wink at Tessa who was just ogling him, before jumping into the water down below.
"Will." Tessa yelled whilst laughing before running to the rock, and peeking down only to see him pop out of the water drenched in the salty water and motioning for her to jump down as well.
Tessa stood there shaking her head; she wasn't going to do it.
"Come on Tess, it's easy. Just jump." He said looking up at her from the cool water.
She looked down at his handsome face, his hair dishevelled from the water. He started to pout, pretending to be hurt that she didn't want to accompany him.
"No, I'm not going to jump." She replied for the second time, sitting down on the rocks, letting her feet dangle off as the salt water sprayed up.
"Just jump, it'll be fun." He shouted from below, diving under again and coming around on the other side.
She thought about it for a moment, but she couldn't swim, so if she jumped she was sure to embarrass herself.
"I can't swim." She blurted out, blushing with embarrassment.
"Don't worry, I'll catch you." He said smiling at her innocence.
"But William…" she whined; really not wanting to jump. It was about a 5 foot drop, which wasn't too much, but it looked like a hell a lot of distance.
"No buts, just jump I'll catch you." He said again.
"I promise."
She didn't answer, instead she stood up, tying her hair into a messy ponytail and then jumped. Her body flew in the air, adrenaline rushing through her veins til she hit the water. She opened her eyes under the water and then panicked. She didn't know how to swim and William was meant to catch her. Not a moment later, his arms came around her waist pulling them both back up out of the water. She coughed up a bit of water and gripped his muscular arms, afraid that if she let go she would surely drown.
"You said you would catch me." She said softly, trying to regain her steady heartbeat, but being this close to him didn't make it any better.
"Well I didn't think you would end up jumping that far out, it was quite impressive by the way." He said smiling back at her, his eyes trailing her every movement.
"Thanks." She said smiling to herself, happy that she actually did it.
"You know, you can let go now." He chuckled, gesturing to her death grip on his upper arms. She closed her eyes and shook her head and he smirked, slowly releasing his hold on her so that she would fall. Her eyes shot wide open and she realised what he was doing and then jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding onto him if possible, tighter than before.
"Don't you dare let go William." She said scared, squeezing her eyes closed as he tugged her chin up to face him.
"I won't let anything happen to you, don't worry." He whispered reassuringly as they floated in the water.
Slowly she opened her eyes, biting her lip and relaxing as he helped her swim or in her case bob to the other save of the cliff, til they reached another small cove. Helping her up, they both sat on the rocky ledge, admiring the sunset and the fresh air.
"Thanks for bringing me out here, it's amazing." She said marvelling at the beauty of it all. She hadn't seen anything like this before in New York.
"You are very welcome Miss Gray." He said, taking her hand and kissing it, getting the desired result of a blush out of her.
"I use to come here all the time with Jem when we were growing up. Just to get away from it all." He explained, before jumping back into the water, but this time he didn't come back up.
"Ha ha, very funny." She said to the water, expecting William to come back up, but by now at least one minute had gone by but it felt like forever.
"William, you can come back up now." She repeated herself.
"Will…" she said this time her voice cracking slightly, she didn't know what to do. She couldn't even swim, and he was possibly drowning. Not wasting another moment, she stood up and dived into the water, looking around trying to find him. She couldn't see him anywhere, and when she tried to swim back up, the current just pushed her further down. Frustrated she ending up breathing in some water; starting to choke on the water when two arms lifted her up out of the water. She came face to face with blue eyes and his hand on her back, patting it lightly trying to help her cough out all of the water. Her vision was blurred and she wasn't sure if it was the water or her tears of frustration. She leaned her forehead against his, trying to regain her breath.
"Are you okay? Why on earth would you jump in?" he asked, the words coming out harsher than he intended.
"Well someone was a genius, and didn't come back up out of the water. What was I meant to do?" she snapped back, pushing away from him.
"You don't even know how to swim." He grasped her wrists holding her afloat, so she didn't drown again.
"Well I wasn't about to let you drown now was I, you didn't come back up for at least 2 minutes that could have killed you." she said, irritated at his behaviour, turning away from him.
"I didn't mean to- I-I'm sorry." He spoke, unsure of what he was saying.
"Let's just forget about it. We better head back, charlotte's probably waiting for us." She said clenching her jaw. He put his hands on her shoulders, turning her around so that they were now face to face.
"Tess, I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you. I just-I didn't want you to get hurt." The sincerity in his voice was as clear as day.
"And you think I didn't want you to get hurt either. That's why I did that." She said softly, brushing his cheek with her thumb.
"Well sorry it wasn't obvious to me that you cared." He said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. She knew what he was trying to do now, build up all those walls that he had just brought down, and she wasn't going to let that happen. Exasperated with his childish and stubborn demeanour she pulled him close and kissed him softly on the corner of his mouth. He relaxed into her, holding her tighter against his bare chest, tugging on her lower lip just before she pulled away, her grey eyes sparkling with something he's never seen before… and he liked it.
"Is that obvious enough for you?" she breathed, her hairs still woven in his dark hair.
"No, I think you might need to do that again." He said pulling her back in for another kiss as the sun setting across from them.