Chapter 4: Tangled
"...I'm happy you're here today."
Nathaniel's comment caught me off guard. I had retrieved my tote bag and was spreading out my towel next to Nathaniel's. Amber did the same on his other side.
"...If I had known I'd be able to see in you in a bathing suit, I would... I mean..." His face instantly flooded with color and he averted his gaze, making him even more adorable. "It's... It's hot, isn't it?"
I silently thanked Auntie for choosing this bikini.
As usual, Amber was lurking nearby. "Nath, what are you doing?" she hissed. "Why is she still here?"
"I didn't come here to hear you complain, Amber," Nathaniel retorted. "Candace is here too. It would be stupid to leave her alone."
As Amber slowly blinked, and a light bulb flickered on inside her head. She directed an almost imperceivable sneer towards me before contorting her face into a disgusting pout. "But... You said that we would spend time together, just the two of us..."
Nathaniel thought in silence for a moment, staring off somewhere just over my shoulder. "...I'm sorry Candace, but she's right. I'm here for Amber. I hope you understand."
He fell for that?
It became clear at that point that this wasn't working. I couldn't think of a feasible way to get my elusive crush on his own.
"Of course! I understand," I lied. "I'd like to go for a swim. Can I leave you two here to play? I'll catch up with you."
I conceded this battle to Amber, but she hadn't won the war. I would leave for now, but right when Nathaniel was at his weakest, I'd be back. For good measure, I left my beach towel next to Nathaniel's as a placeholder.
As I made my way down the beach, they began a game of improvised net-less beach badminton—the only rule of which was probably 'Amber always wins.'
It was sickening, the way he bowed to her every whim like she was a seven-year-old throwing a tantrum.
I plunged into the waves, trying to look as though I knew what I was doing just in case Nathaniel happened to glance my way.
Even though we were on the beach, surrounded on all sides by sun, sea, and summer bliss, at that moment I felt exactly like I was back at Sweet Amoris High. I succumbed to déjà vu as I recalled a conversation I overheard in study hall. In it, Nathaniel mentioned that Japanese schoolgirls were cute and he wished the principal would enforce a dress code with uniforms. As soon as the bell dismissed the last period, I practically ran straight to Leigh's store and bought a preppy pleated skirt and knee-high socks. The next day, I couldn't concentrate on getting work done because I was driving myself crazy wondering if Nathaniel would notice me in the tacky skirt.
I let the current push me back to shore. Lost in thought, I stood in the squishy-soft soft sand, trying to pull apart a mass of long hair that had become entangled in the decorative beads of my bikini straps. While my attention was elsewhere, the knot of my bikini's halter top came undone, and instantly I was incapacitated by panic.
Nathaniel came to my rescue, wading into the water. I didn't know that he'd been watching me from the shore, just as I wished. The fingers of one hand delicately brushed my hair over my shoulder, and the other pulled the strings taut again, re-tying the knot in a matter of seconds.
Crisis averted!
As I turned to face him, my murmured thanks were drowned out by Amber's heckling. "Isn't it sad, big brother, what some girls will do for attention?"
I wanted him to reassure me with a smile, but he refused to look me in the eye. His voice was cold, and he gave an exasperated sigh. "Candace... Maybe you should find somewhere else to swim."
Amber came into view behind him farther up the beach, arms defiantly crossed.
Amber, you little—
"I didn't untie it on purpose! It was an accident! You don't believe her, do you, Nathaniel?"
Nathaniel said nothing in reply. He obviously did.
You've lied before to make yourself look better. You've lied right to his face. Of course he's more inclined to believe his sister.
My eyes, itching with the threat of tears, shifted from Nathaniel to Amber, then back again.
I don't belong here with them.
"I'll leave you alone."
