AN: Hey guys! I'm so sorry it took me forever to update. I just got caught up with school and now I'm in college so I can't make any guarantees for when I'll have the next chapter up, but I can promise it you it won't take as long as this chapter did. Thanks for reading and reviewing. –Lauren
-Chapter 4-
"You wanna take one car or both?" Susannah asked, poking her head into the bathroom.
"Why would we take both?" I questioned pulling on my swim trunks.
"Cause I have to go to practice later and I've got some other errands to run" Susannah replied, "Unless we go to the beach, go pick up my dresses and then come back here."
"Or we could go to the beach, go get your dresses, run errands together, and then I could drop you off at the studio and then go pick you up when you're done. I haven't really talked to my parents since they got back. I could visit with them while you're at practice" I suggested.
"And you could check on Marta" Susannah added.
"That too" I said, sounding not too enthused.
Susannah rolled her eyes at me and went back to getting dressed. By the time I was ready Susannah was already throwing stuff in a beach bag.
"Sunscreen, beach towels, sunglasses, we've got that blanket in my trunk, anything else…Am I forgetting anything?" she mumbled.
I looked her up and down and smiled. She had on the white bikini she wore the first day we met and her usual beach flip flops-some beat up, black Paul Frank flip flops with a skull and crossbones character. On top of her head she had her sunglasses which were keeping the hair away from her face.
"Nope, I think we're all set. Ready?" I inquired.
"Yep," Susannah smiled grabbing something from our bed and sliding her legs into it. It was a denim mini skirt with frayed edges that was short and showed off her legs.
I grabbed the beach bag before she could and dropped in my wallet and cell phone, keeping my keys in my hand so I could lock up after us.
&&&
"Tan now or tan later?" I asked Susannah after we'd set our blanket down on the sand.
"Later" she answered, "I wanna take a quick swim. Coming?" She unbuttoned the denim mini skirt and unzipped it before letting it drop on our blanket, stepping out of it, and kicking off her flip flops.
I smiled at her and grabbed her hand, "Yeah."
We walked down to the edge of the water and let the waves wash over our feet before Susannah shivered. "I changed my mind, the water's too cold" she said, taking a few steps back.
I rolled my eyes a little but smiled, this is our usual routine at the beach. "Querida," I warned her, "Don't make me do it."
"No" she said firmly, fixing me with a glare, "Don't you dare."
"You know I will" I replied.
"I know you know I know, but I'm not going in there, its freezing" she whined.
"You can go in very slowly willing, or get dropped in against your will" I offered.
She glared at me some more before taking a few baby steps back towards the water. "It's not fair that you can carry me but I can't even lift you up" Susannah huffed, slowly wadding further into the water.
I wadded in with her, and replied, "Querida, I'm nearly twice your weight, probably more like three times with all the weight you've lost. Although, if you were at your normal weight and stuck to weight training you probably could lift me eventually."
"Yeah but I'd have to actually work up to it, you can just toss me around, as you've often proved" she pointed out.
"When have I tossed you around?" I asked turning to stand in front of her.
"All the time" she answered, hands on her hips, "Just the other day you literally threw me on our bed. And a couple weeks ago when you decided to wrestle me, you remember that? Yeah you lifted me over your head and tossed me onto the couch. And that's just the recent stuff. You've been tossing me around since before we even started any under the clothes action."
I blushed; feeling embarrassed about being such a brute to her, and went to wrap my arms around her. "I'm sorry querida. I didn't even realize how rough I was being with you. I promise to try to be more careful" I assured her kissing her hair.
"I'm sorry too" she sighed, unwrapping her arms from around me.
I pulled back and gave her a confused look. "What are you sorry for?"
"This" she said with a mischievous smile before using both her hands to push me back into the water. I scrambled to grab onto something, namely Susannah, but she scampered out of my reach and I went down into the water with a splash. I resurfaced shivering from the freezing cold water, and scanned around me for Susannah. I saw her sitting in the water a few feet away from me, shivering from the cold and shaking from laughing so hard. I sloshed through the water to get to her and just couldn't bring myself to be mad at her. Sure I wanted to get back at her, but I guess I did have that coming seeing as how every time we come to the beach I end up dunking her into the water against her will.
Susannah finally calmed down a bit and finally noticed me standing right by her. She let out a little screech before hopping up and running back towards the beach. I chased after her and grabbed her around her waist just before she reached our towel.
"No!" she shrieked before loosing her footing and taking us both down onto the sand.
Somehow we managed to end up tangled in each other, with me face down in the sand, and Susannah spread on my back. I lifted my head up and coughed out a mouthful of sand, getting as much spit out to clean out my mouth. Susannah rolled off of me onto her back and took a few deep gulps of air before I was able to flip onto my back too. Susannah looked over at me and started laughing so hard she turned a little blue. When I had enough sand out of my mouth to talk again I glared at Susannah and managed to grumble, "That was not fair."
"I know" she gasped, "but it was so funny." I glared at her some more before I got up to rinse my mouth out.
"Hey, where are you going?" Susannah asked between belly laughs, but gaining some composure.
"To rinse my mouth out" I said, more sand coming out of my mouth. She stood up next to me and grabbed my hand, "Come on, I'll help you get squeaky clean." She gave me a playful smile and her eyes turned a darker shade of green.
We reached the bathrooms and Susannah gave me a curious look, "You know that we can get you cleaned up at the car right? I keep a case of bottled water in my trunk, you know that."
"Forgot," I mumbled starting towards the parking lot. By the time we reached the car I felt like I was foaming at the mouth, only it was sand, which made it even worse.
Susannah put her hand out and looked at me expectantly. "Keys please" she said after a minute.
"I don't have them" I choked out. I felt like the sand had coated my throat and I really needed to get it out of my mouth.
"Ugh, I'll go get them" she sighed and took off at a jog back to the beach. I watched as she ran away and couldn't help but picture her wearing one of those red Baywatch bathing suits, running down the beach in slow motion. Okay, I have to stop fantasizing about Susannah.
A minute later she came back, jogging towards me, keys in hand. When she reached the car she keyed open her trunk and I practically dove for the water bottles. I quickly opened a water bottle and gargled like I've never gargled before.
"Feel better?" Susannah asked after I'd gargled for the tenth time. She placed her hand on my shoulder and gently rubbed down my back, relaxing me with her touch.
"Yeah, I don't feel like I swallowed a sandbox anymore" I nodded. Susannah smiled at me and switched from rubbing my back to running her nails over my skin, making me shiver. Susannah always digs her nails into my back as she…well yeah, and whenever she runs her nails over my back, a seemingly innocent action, she knows it kind of turns me on. "Querida, if you want to go back and tan at all today, I highly recommend you stop that" I advised her.
"Maybe I could just go and get a mystic tan later, you know a friend of mine from hip-hop works at the tanning salon by the mall, and I could use her employee discount" she hinted.
"Susannah" I reprimanded her, "we really have to start going out and doing stuff, you know experience life outside our bedroom."
"Hey, we use the bathroom almost just as much. And there were those couple of times in the living room, and remember in the kitchen the other day" she corrected me with a smirk.
"Querida" I scolded her half-heartedly, smiling despite myself at the memory.
"Oh come on Jesse, it's not like it'll always be like this. You know when school starts we're probably going to have to schedule time to have sex. Man, that's gonna suck" she sighed.
I pulled her into my arms and hugged her tightly to me. "Querida, no matter how hectic things get with school, I'll always have time for you. Besides you know I miss you after you've been gone five minutes, so I'll make sure to enjoy every minute I get with you when school starts" I promised her.
Susannah snuggled into me and wrapped her arms around me. "You know that the same goes for me. No matter how busy I am with school and dance, I'll always make time for you. I love you too much to put school or dance before you or us" she reassured me.
We stood like that, wrapped up together, just holding onto to each other for a long time. Well until someone close to us cleared their throat in that "I hate to interrupt, but not really" way. We both turned in the direction of the throat clearer and saw none other than Paul Slater, wearing a half smirk that was taunting me. His expression was calm and friendly, but his body language told me he was annoyed at having caught us in this position, but happy that he'd been able to spoil the moment. I wanted to knock the smirk right off his face, but I had a feeling Susannah wouldn't appreciate me doing that, besides I want to be the bigger man in this situation. Right now Susannah complains to me about how controlling Paul can be; I don't want her to be able to complain to Paul about anything I do.
"Paul? What are you doing here?" Susannah asked slipping out of my arms and stepping closer to Paul.
"Thought I'd come tan with you" he replied peeling his tank top off. I glared at him but smiled a little on the inside knowing my abs look better than his.
"Oh, well…I…we…" Susannah stammered pointing to me and then herself.
"We were actually getting ready to leave" I told Paul.
"No offense Suze, but it doesn't look like you're done" he pointed out.
Susannah narrowed her eyes at him, put her hands on her hips, and stood a little straighter. Uh-oh, I actually feel bad for Paul. "I'm going home to tan so I don't get tan lines. And what business is it of yours where or how I tan? I mean really Paul I'm getting sick and tired of you always trying to keep tabs on me. I'm doing my part to get ready for the competition, so you just focus on doing your shit, and I'll do mine" she snapped at him.
Paul's jaw dropped and he stood there staring at Susannah.
"Come on querida let's go home, I'll sit up on the roof with you while you tan" I said grabbing Susannah's hand and pulling her back towards the car. I had her sitting in the passenger seat when she suddenly went, "Jesse our stuff is still down on the beach."
"Don't worry, I'll go get it" I assured her with a smile. And then partly just because I knew Paul was watching us, I leaned down and kissed Susannah until we were both breathless.
"Be right back" I grinned at her.
"Mmmkay" she sighed, "hurry back." I closed the door and heard Susannah lock the door, probably to deter Paul from harassing her. That's my girl.
I got down to the beach and had all of our stuff, which was basically just our blanket, and whatever else Susannah brought, that I stuffed into our beach bag. I was almost to the edge of the parking lot when Paul came at me out of no where. "Jesse, can I talk to you?" he asked, sounding very urgent.
"I don't know, can you?" I replied with a little smirk. I don't know why-Okay that's a lie, I know why I enjoy annoying Paul, I just don't know why I get such pleasure out of it.
He scowled at me before saying, "I don't know what you're doing to Suze, but you're messing up our chance at placing in this competition. Before you got involved she practiced way more and she kept up with our exercise routine. So could you just do all of us a favor and let Suze give her best."
"I'm sorry, but you didn't know Susannah before I came into the picture, so how could I possibly be messing anything up? Susannah isn't controlled by me, you know. She's very independent and she'll do what she deems necessary to prepare for this competition. I just don't think your way of preparing works for her, and she needs to do her own thing" I told him. "And another thing, Susannah gives her best at everything she does, so how dare you even try to question that. Susannah has placed in these competitions before so she knows what she's doing. Why do you feel it necessary to try and control her?"
"I'm not trying to control her!" Paul shouted. "I just don't think she's trying her hardest."
"And who are to judge what is or isn't her best? Susannah has been doing whatever you told her to do and now she's sick of it. Paul I've seen Susannah try it your way but it doesn't work for her. She's stressed out and hungry and moody. Susannah hates restrictions and if I can offer you one piece of advice, it's to let her do her own thing and you'll find working with her a lot easier" I said.
Paul stood staring at me until I grew tired of his staring contest and left him standing there. I dumped all me and Susannah's stuff into the trunk before angling in behind the wheel.
"What took you so long?" Susannah questioned grabbing my hand.
I brought her hand up to my lips and kissed her palm. "Nothing. Nothing at all."
"Okay" she nodded. "Let's go home."
&&&
"So you and Suze are ditching her practice?" Marta asked.
"Technically, yes" I answered Marta.
After Susannah and I left the beach we dropped off all our stuff at home and then ran over to the tanning salon in the mall. Susannah's friend from hip-hop set her up with a mystic tan and let Susannah use her employee discount. After that I dropped Susannah off at the dress shop where her dresses are so she could try them on and make sure any alterations that needed to be made were taken care of. She should be done in an hour or so and then I'm going to go pick her up and bring her back here so she can model her dresses for my mom and my sisters, plus we can stay for dinner afterwards.
Marta and I are in her room, her sitting up against some pillows on her bed, me sitting next to her bed in her desk chair.
"And you really told off Paul?" she questioned.
"I didn't 'tell him off'" I said, "I just told him he needs to reassess his approach to being Susannah's partner."
"You told him off" Marta corrected me.
"Whatever" I sighed with a smile.
"Felt good, huh?"
"Ridiculously good" I replied.
"Well, he deserved it. Poor Suze has been working her butt off, both literally and figuratively" she huffed.
I nodded in agreement, "You know she's down to a size 2 now."
"2! Oh my gosh, that's crazy. She's literally half the girlfriend you're used to" Marta exclaimed.
"I know" I breathed running my hands over my face. "And it's not just the weight thing that bothers me. I mean it's like when she losses more weight, she losses a little bit more of herself. I think Paul just sort of sucks her usual happy-go-lucky spirit out of her, and I hate him for that."
"I don't blame you, I hate him too. I mean the last crazy thing Suze did was get her belly button pierced and that wasn't even that bad. You remember when she dyed her bangs pink for graduation?" Marta chuckled.
I smiled thinking about Sister Ernestine's reaction. Susannah threw her cap up after the ceremony and Sister Ernestine crossed herself before fainting.
"Thinking about Sister Ernestine passing out?" Marta asked.
"That was the best" I replied.
"Oh or how bout when Suze got that henna tattoo on her shoulder and then wore that spaghetti strap top. Sister Ernestine nearly had a heart attack" Marta reminded me.
I laughed so much my stomach hurt. "Susannah really has done some pretty awesome things" I sighed when I could breathe again.
"Awesome? Come on, Suze has done some of the most kick-ass things ever! I swear you've got the most amazing girlfriend" Marta gushed.
I grinned, "Yeah I know I do."
"Throw it away, forget yesterday
We'll make the great escape-"
"Hello!" Marta sang happily into her cell phone.
"Hey Q, what's up?" she asked.
"Oh, he's right here, hold on" she said and shoved her phone at me. "It's your amazingly awesome, kick-ass girlfriend" she told me.
I took the phone from her and said, "Hey querida."
"Hey, I'm all done here at the dress shop, I just have to change back into my clothes and wait for the seamstress to fix the straps on one of my dresses, and adjust the hem on another one. You wanna head back over here and wait with me?" she asked sweetly.
"I suppose I could, but why should I go now when I can just go when your dresses are already done?" I questioned with a smirk.
"I'm sure I could find a way to make the wait very enjoyable" she hinted.
"Well when you put it that way" I sighed, "I guess I could go now."
"Ass, get your cute butt over before I call someone else" she said, a smile in her voice before hanging up on me.
"Ouch, you just got told" Marta giggled, snatching her phone back from me.
"Shut up, at least I'm not suffering from Montezuma's revenge cause you wanted to eat a whole Tuna sandwich by yourself" I shot back.
Marta huddled down into her bed and flipped me off. "You're an evil older brother" she glared at me.
"No I'm not. If I were really evil I'd go over and jump on you and I wouldn't get off until I felt like it" I responded with a smile.
"Get out" she huffed, "And stop telling Mercedes and Josefina to come check on me every five minutes."
"They only do it cause they love you" I teased getting up and opening her door.
"Be back later with you're bestie" I chimed.
"A hopefully still semi uncorrupted bestie" she grumbled, "Although now that Suze is living with you I've almost given up hope."
"You should have given up months ago" I teased before closing her bedroom door. I went down the hall and poked my head into Mercedes and Josefina's room, "Hey don't forget to check on Marta, and remember if she asks Mama told you to do it, okay."
They smiled at me, "Don't worry, we won't forget."
"Good, I'll be back in a little while" I said walking down the hall.
"Where are you going?" both of them asked me, sticking their heads out from their doorway.
"I have to go pick up Susannah from the seamstress. We'll be here before dinner" I told them.
"Is Suze gonna model her dresses for us?" Mercedes questioned.
"If you ask her nicely maybe" I replied.
Josefina looked at me and rolled her eyes, "It's Suze of course she'll model them of us. We're practically her sisters already anyway."
"Yeah, and when Jesse finally marries her then she will be our sister" Mercedes grinned.
"Okay all of you need to stop with the wedding talk. Susannah and I just moved in together, we're not getting married. Not yet anyway" I assured them.
"Yeah but you will eventually. I mean if you don't marry Suze you've got to have some serious issues. Suze is perfect, and I don't want some other girl for a sister, I want Suze" Josefina argued.
I rolled my eyes, "Enough, I'm done talking about this. I'll be back later." I went down the stairs and ran my hand through my hair. All this talk about marrying Susannah is starting to worry me. We can't get married! We're only 18, and we just moved in together. I'm not even planning on proposing until we're almost done with school. Ugh, I'm giving myself a headache.