Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.
"What about this one?" asked Liz, holding up a bright pink bikini. You've got to be kidding me. It could hardly be called a swim suit, it was so… small. I looked overhead at the board that displayed which department we were in. It said women's alright.
"Uh… I'm looking for something a bit more modest, but thanks for trying," I tried to sound polite, she did after all offer to buy me a new swim suit for the trip tomorrow, but her choices really started to annoy me a bit. I don't think she understood that we had completely different body types.
With summer finally starting we had decided to plan a week-long trip to the coast. That meant a whole week of beaches, hotels, spas and sleeping in, I could hardly wait! But first I needed a new swim suit.
The choices seemed endless, racks were placed everywhere leaving you with such a narrow opening to walk through I had to turn sideways to get anywhere. Despite the many choices I still couldn't find one I liked, maybe the problem was that the only size they carried was extra small. There was a one piece with flowers that really caught my eye but I think Liz would have thrown a fit if I had even mentioned it. Liz didn't seem to have much luck either. She picked one up after another and quickly put them back in a frustrated manner.
The hours of searching turned up to be fruitless, I found nothing I liked and Liz wasn't being much help. I sat on a bench outside the changing rooms and waited for Liz to try something on. The door opened and she came out wearing a tight green bikini. It looked great on her, just like the previous ten she tried on.
"What do you think?" she asked me.
"It looks good, the best one so far I think," I replied. I lost interest in this two hours ago and despite my protests that we should call it a day she refused saying that shopping was an art and you had to be committed to it. She went on about all the problems about it, but I stopped listening and I thought about how nice the ocean would be when we got there. I could almost feel the warm sun on my back and the sand beneath my toes…
"Maka, you know I'm not holding you hostage or anything," Liz said breaking me out of my daydream.
"Sorry, what was that? I was thinking of something else," I replied.
"You can leave now, I'll pick something nice out for you okay?" she answered with a smile. She must of seen the uncertainty on my face because she quickly added, "I'll make sure it something you'd wear. I promise I won't pick something to revealing or bright or anything."
After a small argument, (in which Liz won), I started back to our apartment uncertainly. It wasn't that I don't trust Liz; the problem was that we had completely different opinions about topics such as these. I sighed and hoped she understood what I meant by modest.
The beach was more wonderful than I remembered. The sand seemed to glow and the water shimmer, it was almost paradise. It would have been if Blackstar hadn't come along. Originally it was only suppose to be me, Tsubaki, Liz and Patty but somehow the guys found out and they tagged along without asking.
We spread out our towels and umbrellas only feet from the water. I sat on a blue towel and watched everyone getting settled, Tsubaki came and sat down next to me.
"I'm going swimming! Who's coming?" Blackstar said taking his shirt off.
"Wait up I'm coming too," Soul yelled as Blackstar ran toward the waves.
"One second, I just need to get this right," Kid said as he tried to set down the towel perfectly so no sand was on it. With a satisfied smile he pulled off his shirt and I couldn't help but to stare. He looked over to me and I quickly averted my eyes hoping I wasn't blushing.
"Let's go and change Maka." Tsubaki said. We walked to the changing booths and I tapped Liz on the shoulder and asked,
"Uh, do you have my bathing suit?" She handed me her bag and told me it was somewhere on the bottom. I went into the changing both. It smelled so much like wood and salt water I could almost taste it. I shifted things around until I found it. It was exactly what I told her not to get. I put it on anyway, not having much of a choice. I looked into the stained mirror in the corner and almost moaned. It was a strapless yellow bikini that barely covered anything.
I walked out and meet up with everyone outside of the changing rooms.
"Liz! I thought I told you to get me something more dulled down," I said and she smiled sweetly.
"I was going to but you'll never get noticed wearing the stuff you were picking out, I helping you believe me."
"Who said I wanted to get noticed," I mumbled as we walked back to where we had our beach towels. Liz bought the green one after all and she looked stunning. Tsubaki had on the blue bikini she would always wear, it showed off enough for her to look good, but it was modest at the same time. Patty wore the same kind of strapless swim suit as me but it had more sparkles and ruffles and it actually suited her.
"If it makes you feel better I really like it," Tsubaki commented. I gave her a weak smile as we walked back.
As we got closer to the water we all stopped to watch the scene that was unfolding in front of us. For an unknown reason Soul was trying to dunk Blackstar and they got into a fight with Kid in the middle trying to break it up. This went on for a few minutes and after some headlocks and attempted drowning Blackstar came running out of the water with someone's trunks in his hand. I smiled at the red and white trunks, they were Soul's.
"Damn you, give them back Blackstar," Soul shouted, making sure the water was above waist high.
"Come and get 'em then!" he yelled back and then doubling over in laughter.
"I'm gonna kill you when I get out!"
"Just try," Blackstar answered. I saw Kid wading back through the water to us. I looked away shyly as he came nearer. He stood right next to me leaned over and asked,
"Should we help him?" I looked up and smiled mischievously,
"Let's wait a few more minutes and see what happens," I answered. We watched as Soul waved his arms and shouted obscenities at us. Blackstar was laughing his head off, flaunting the trunks in a way that infuriated him even more.
"Just give them back Blackstar," Tsubaki pleaded with him. He refused and Tsubaki being her kind self went up to Soul and handed him a towel. They both made their way back to us from the water, Soul had a murderous stare aimed at Blackstar.
Long story short, they fought over the trunks until I had enough and Maka-chopped them both. Soul got back his trunks and Blackstar was still laughing over what had happened.
Once Blackstar had calmed down he looked over to me and said,
"What are you wearing Maka?" Of course everyone then turned over to me, I blushed and crossed my arms feeling utterly exposed.
"Something I bought her, what do you guys think? I think it suits her," Liz answered for me. Blackstar laughed as I predicted, and I could see Soul trying to suppress a grin. I really didn't care what they thought. We all went our separate ways then; Patty was building sand castles while Liz tanned. I sat near them and watched Kid pick up shells and toss them away, probably looking for one completely symmetrical.
I never really noticed how good looking he was. I felt my eyes drawn to him, and every time I looked away they went back to him. I guess I was being too obvious because Liz asked,
"Why are you starring at Kid?" I purposely turned away and starred into the water instead, but I knew the damage was done.
"No reason," I responded. She had an amused smile on her face.
"Don't tell me you have a crush on him?"
"Of course not," I answered a bit too fast. I blushed despite myself. Then I began to wonder, was this what it felt like to like somebody? I got butterflies whenever I talked to him and I always blushed while I was around him. I looked away in embarrassment. She raised her eye brows but didn't question me further.
All of a sudden Liz hit my arm.
"What's wrong?" I asked her, she pointed at three guys in front of us at the water's edge. I understood instantly, they were very good looking. They were all in swim trunks and held skim boards, by the looks of it they were all joking around and nudging each other, occasionally looking at us.
"They're looking at us!" Liz squeaked, "Come on let's go talk to them." I looked over to Kid, who was still picking up shells and throwing them in frustration. I sighed.
"Why? Do we have to? I'm comfortable here and they look fine, let's not interfere…" My objections were cut short, Liz pulled me up and I had a felt that she would drag me there if I didn't comply.
I walked over tensely, while Liz looked completely comfortable. When we were a few feet from them they all turned and faced us.
"Hey! Are you guys from around here?" Liz asked with a flip of her hair. There were two brown haired boys and a blond. They were equally stunning, almost as if they had come out of one of Blaire's magazines.
"Yeah, lived here all our lives," the blond one said with a dazzling white smile, "what about you two? You don't look from around here."
"We're from Death City, I'm sure you've heard of it," Liz answered. He raised an eye brow and the other two looked surprised.
"Really? Like the Death City? With meisters and weapons?" He asked a bit wide-eyed.
"Yep that's the place," Liz said with a smile, "I'm a weapon and Maka's a meister." He looked over to me and smiled. I looked down at my feet shyly.
"So you guys are partners?" The dark brown haired one on this right asked us, he a slight accent, but I couldn't tell from where.
"No, we're just friends, our partners are somewhere over there." I answered finally finding my voice. I gestured over to the rest of group behind us. Patty had made a giraffe out of sand somehow and now was kicking it repeatedly, Kid was now chuckling shells into the water in frustration, and Soul and Blackstar were grappling on the ground with a troubled Tsubaki not far behind.
"We're the normal ones," she quickly added at their confused expressions. They smiled and the other boy who had yet to talk asked us,
"So, I know you're Maka," he said looking at me. I gave him a polite smile, "And who are you?"
"Elizabeth, but you can call me Liz," she responded still smiling, "and who might you be?"
"Shane," the blond one said, "That's Tony, and Nate." He said. Tony was the dark haired boy with the accent and Nate was the remaining one, "Do you know how to skim board?" He asked us.
I shook my head and Liz said no, "Then how about we show you?"
"Sure, sounds fun!" she said cheerfully, I felt a bit apprehensive. Memories from Kid' skateboard came flying back.
"No thanks I have a bad experience with things like this." I said a bit hesitantly. Liz elbowed me.
"I won't let you fall." Tony said with a smile. I reluctantly agreed only to be polite, I would rather be back in class right know, but I didn't want to ruin it for Liz. For the ten minutes they told about the different ways to bend your knees and lean. I theory it all seemed simple, but I knew better than that. Liz looked to be more focused on them instead of how to actually do it. After one last demonstration it was our turn.
"Who first?" the Shane asked. Liz volunteered eagerly and soon after a few tries she had it down pat, well except for the stopping part, she would fall and Shane would catch her and they would end up laughing in each other's arms.
"Let's go over here Tony gestured toward where Kid was. I nodded and followed him as he searched for a good spot. I heard Liz and Shane laughing behind us,
"Ok then, so run, throw it down and jump," he said and I nodded. I had a strange premonition that this wouldn't end well. I did exactly as he said, up as the saying goes, it's easier said than done. The first few seconds were great, but then as the tide came out I lost my balance. I had so much momentum going that the board slipped from under me before I could I put my legs out, ultimately causing me to do a face plant into the sand and water. I got up on my hands and knees spitting out salt and water.
"You okay? That was a pretty hard fall," Tony asked worryingly.
"Fine, the fall wasn't too bad," I answered, "but not to rude or anything, I don't think I want to try again." He laughed for some reason and I acknowledged it with a smile. He outstretched his hand to me and I took it as he pulled me up. I saw someone out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Kid watching us. I blushed without meaning to as I saw him headed this way. I suppressed the urge to fix my hair as he walked over.
"Hey you're scraped up pretty bad," Nate said and I looked down. My knees were all cut up from the broken shells and my elbows weren't lucky enough to survive the fall unscathed either. All in all, it was merely a minor discomfort compared to all the other times I had gotten hurt, they were only minor scratches.
"Oh, yeah I guess, it's not too bad though; only a few scrapes," he had a strange expression on almost like disbelief maybe, so I explained, "Stuff like this isn't worth even mentioning when you're a meister or weapon. We fight all the time so you get used to stuff like this."
"You're tough; I like that in a girl." He responded. I was a bit taken aback by that, was he trying to make a move on me? "So, want to go out and eat something with me? I know this nice place over at the corner" I think I nearly choked. My racing thoughts went to a standstill.
"Actually my girlfriend already has plans with me today," A voice that unmistakable belonged to Kid said from behind me. I looked up to his face, but his eyes stared straight ahead into Tony's. He draped an arm over my shoulders and I froze. What was he doing? His face looked cold and hard, not the face I was used to. The shock of what he just said kept me from saying anything, so I just watched.
"Oh, sorry about that I didn't know that she was with you. Anyway I'd better go now," Tony answered and walked away down to where Nate was. Kid dropped his arm and I realized I had been holding my breath that whole time. I looked up at Kid waiting for some sort of explanation because I was totally at lost for words.
"You're probably wondering why I did that, let me explain before you get mad, ok?" he said a bit sheepishly. This was way out of character for him, Kid never got awkward or shy with anything really, that's why I found him so easy to talk to. His hand shot up to his hair, a nervous habit of his. I always thought it was cute. It was too bad I was at loss for words; I stood there stupidly with no idea how to respond to that. I decided to wait for him to speak, I doubt that even if I knew how to respond I wouldn't be able to muster up the courage and say it.
"Yeah that's something I'd like to know too!" A booming voice belonging to Blackstar said from behind me, "Why'd you do that Kid, a guy finally talked to Maka and you scared him off. What's the deal?" What was he doing? And why did Blackstar, of all people, have to get into this? Then I remembered, Forget crushes or whatever, no guy has ever given me a second glance. The whole stuck in the closet experience flooded back into me and I felt blush seeping into my cheeks.
"It's not like that, I was just protecting Maka, I saw him kissing another girl a little while before and I felt like doing a good deed," he answered hotly. Blackstar responded with a whatever.
"Anyway," I started, "Thanks for..."
"It's fine. Sorry if I confused you, you seemed a bit startled before." I noticed his hand went back up into this hair.
"It's fine really, I mean I'd do the same for you," I said a bit too eagerly and blushed despite myself. Liz called him over after that. I watched his feet leave footprint where he walked, and how the wind tussled his hair to the side. I couldn't help but to remember how he said I was his girlfriend and the warmth of his hand over my shoulders.
I finally tore my eyes away from his receding figure and turned to find a sly grin plastered on Blacktar's face. It was then that I realized two things; I was in love with Kid, and Blackstar knew
I just want to take this time to say thanks to all my supporters out there, you guys are the best! Without you guys I don't think I would have the motivation to keep on writing. So once again, and sorry for sounding like a broken record, but thank you all!
~ShiningSoul24