Gooz spent the entirety of the next day in bed, sleeping off his hangover.
Sunday, however, he was up at the crack of ten, surfboard tied haphazardly to his motorcycle. A day at the beach was just what he needed, he figured, although he didn't doubt Nurse Mary would have some severe objections to that. He could already hear her screams if she found out he had been out surfing while still partially drunk. He could picture her angry glare, but the pale elderly eyes that were Mary's suddenly turned into young, deep chocolate brown ones, though Milly's eyes were still holding the same angry glare. It made his heart leap into his throat.
Sooner or later he was going to have to fix his mistake; either that or live the rest of his life hiding in shame every time he saw Milly. The latter didn't seem like a very honourable thing to do, or a sensible one for that matter. He still had his job to do, and he highly doubted they would let him switch hangars and even airfields because he had pissed off a woman he happened to like. If he bribed them they might, but his chances were still slim. It would take money he just didn't have.
He sighed at the sight of the beach, the waves rolling in perfectly; as though the sea had known that today he would need cheering up, and decided to welcome him with open arms. He left his bike leaning up against a tree, his shoes sitting placidly alongside it, and stepped onto the soft sand. He took a deep breath of ocean air, strode forward, tripped on a rock, stumbled around a bit, and fell flat on his face. Sand gritted into his eyes and up his nose. He lay in the dirt for a moment, thankful that his mouth had been close.
He lifted his head upon hearing a small giggle from behind him. Under the same palm tree as last time, although now with a different sundress and also a different book, Milly was stifling laughter with a hand over her mouth. Her other hand was clutching her body as though she had a stitch in her side. Gooz felt his face flame up in embarrassment and quickly turned towards the water. He hoisted himself from the sand and once he had reached a fair depth, bent over and splashed water onto his face to clear out the sand. While the salt water stung at the yet unhealed wound on his chin, he felt much better knowing that there was no longer any sand in his nostrils.
He made his way back to Milly, rubbing the excess water off his chin.
"I was an ass at the party. I want to say I'm sorry, and I want to make it up to you,"
He said, sitting down next to her, looking up at her with a plea in his eyes. Milly scanned him before lowering her eyes.
"You were drunk, sir, you didn't know what you were doing."
Her words were soft, but they pierced Gooz's heart like a blade of steel. He hadn't expected to get off scotch free in the emotional hurt department, but that simple sentence had torn him open. He wondered, fear pounding in his ears, if he had lost her.
"No, I did,"
He said blankly making her raise her eyes, brimming with shock and hurt.
"No! No I didn't mean it like- just hold on,"
He begged, holding his hand up and silencing himself before he could become more flustered. He had to get his words together before he made a bigger fool of himself. He was silent for a moment, and when he opened his eyes, he let out an exasperated gasp. Milly was laughing at him.
"Are you kidding me?"
He asked in a tone of anger, making Milly laugh harder.
"I'm sorry it was just really cute!"
She exclaimed much to Gooz's confusion. She took hold of his hand and squeezed gently, though Gooz wasn't entirely sure she hadn't taken hold of his heart at the same time. Her eyes were bright with life and laughter, and he was quite thankful that he was sitting down because his knees had gone weak.
"It's okay,"
She said softly, leaning forward and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. His face went as red as a fire truck.
"Really?"
He asked, cocking an eyebrow, and flashing an almost shy smile.
"Well, if you really must make it up to me, I wouldn't say no if you asked me to lunch in a few hours."
She added playfully. Gooz chuckled.
"It's a date then. In the meantime, join me for a swim?"
"I don't have a swim suit,"
She confessed, sounded genuinely disappointed.
"A walk along the beach then?"
He asked. She nodded.
"That would be nice."
They stood, brushing the sand from their clothes. Milly immediately retook Gooz's hand in her own, and led them closer to the sea. She took a deep breath, as Gooz himself had often done, and gazed almost longingly at the waters before them.
"You like the beach?"
He asked, hoping to learn a bit more about her personally rather than just what he knew from work.
"I read about the sea a lot, but until being posted at Pearl I had never seen it. It's everything I hoped it would be,"
She said dreamily.
"Have you been in it yet?"
Milly shook her head at the question.
"I don't have a swim suit at all I'm afraid."
"Well, let's not let that stop us,"
He said, flinging her arm around his shoulder and scooping her up. A cry of shock escaped her as she grasped his shoulders, trying to support herself in his arms. It took her a moment to realise what was happening, but when she did she cried out.
"Gooz don't you dare!"
She yelled, clinging on to him tighter than before, letting out a squeak when a small wave touched her toes. Her level of alarm rose slightly when she noticed that, firstly, a rather large wave was coming at them, and, secondly, that Gooz wasn't making any move to avoid it.
"Hold on tight!"
He said, bracing himself for the wave. Milly clung to Gooz for dear life, took a deep breath, and, just before the wave hit, closed her eyes. She felt Gooz jump into the wave, and turn them around so that Milly was on top of him as the wave crashed over them. The sheer power nearly made her gasp. The water was still cold despite the tropical climate, and she could have sworn someone was tugging back on her hair by the force the water was exerting on it. Almost as soon as it had happened, it was over, and she was at the surface, gasping for a breath, the taste of salt on her tongue.
"How was that?"
Gooz asked, his arms now wrapped delicately around Milly's waist. Milly smiled and let out a giggle.
"That was amazing."
She moved forward, and this time kissed his lips delicately and slowly. Her face positively shined when she pulled away, and Gooz was pretty sure it wasn't from the water.
"Thank you."
Gooz took the opportunity to kiss her more soundly this time, tasting the salt of the sea on her lips. His mind went blissfully blank when she ran her hand over the base of his neck. He only came back to reality when he realised that he was being clung to rather hard, and not only that but Milly's lips were no longer on his. She was in fact, struggling to keep her calm as far as she could tell, and looking down he could see why. About a dozen or so tiny hammerhead sharks were swimming around their legs. Gooz had learnt from his time in Pearl that they were nearly harmless creatures at this stage in their life, seeing as their nips barely drew blood. He also knew that the parents didn't care for the pups as they were called, so the threat of a protective mother was out of the question. Milly, however, clearly wasn't happy about being surrounded by sharks.
"They won't hurt you,"
He said, kissing her temple.
"The Hawaiians believe that some sharks are the reincarnations of their family members, returned to protect them as Aumakua. Sea gods."
"Some sharks?"
Milly almost whimpered.
"Some are Aumakua, good sharks, and some are Niuhi, bad sharks. These little guys are Hammerheads, they're the most respected of all sharks,"
He whispered softly as another wave lifted them up a bit, and scattered the tiny creatures from below their feet.
"Oh no, come back! I didn't mean to offend you,"
Milly called, reaching into the water after them. Gooz laughed.
"They'll be back. They'll be here until they can go off on their own."
"Can we bring back fish for them?"
She asked, her eyes glinting like jewels in the noon light.
"One day,"
He promised her, though he promised himself that they would do it at a thoroughly unoccupied beach, and in a boat that wasn't easily tipped over. All he needed was a great white scenting blood in the water. He didn't intend on having anything yellow near them either. Now that he thought about it, maybe he shouldn't have promised her that... What would he tell the guys at work?
Yes, right, um... Milly got eaten by sharks, and therefore will not be joining us today... or any other day hereafter...
They would murder him, Gooz thought grimly.
There was a rather loud grumble from beside him as Milly squeezed the excess water out of her hair. She looked away slightly embarrassed, but Gooz just chuckled.
"Let's get you back to the base. Then we can tend to that hunger pang of yours,"
He said kindly. Milly blushed and nodded, happily taking his hand once more.
Thankfully, it didn't take Milly long to change at all. She slipped into a plain blue dress, put her hair in a lose bun, and rejoined him within ten minutes. While outwardly he was a gentleman and took her arm, inwardly he was smirking to himself that he had gotten what was perhaps the one woman in the world who actually got ready quickly. Whether or not Milly noticed, it didn't seem to make a difference. She was as happy as a clam the rest of the day. She didn't even flinch when Tina asked what she was going to have, instead she just smiled and said,
"The usual."
Gooz had ordered himself a steak, and hoped for god's sakes Milly's 'usual' wasn't a salad, or something. He didn't think he could stand it if she was the type to eat like a bird. The only time he had seen her eat was the day he had first met her, and understandably, she'd been starving at that point.
"So where do you come from that you've never seen the ocean before?"
Gooz asked.
"Vermont. My family didn't get out much,"
She added with a touch of embarrassment. Gooz nodded. That was probably why she had joined the Navy. See the world, wasn't that their slogan?
"What about you?"
"Lexington, Kentucky."
"Isn't that where they run the Kentucky Derby?"
"No, that's Louisville,"
He corrected. Milly nodded.
"Right, I was close. At least it started with an L."
Their drinks came and Milly's eyes grew childishly wide at the sight of her chocolate milkshake.
"I love these things,"
She stated happily, slurping it up without a moment's hesitation. A sudden shadow crossed her face however, and although her face returned to the content state it had been in before, Gooz hadn't failed to notice.
"What?"
He asked, wanting to know what was on her mind.
"What?"
"You looked unhappy for a second there,"
He noted. Milly blushed.
"Oh it's nothing."
"Milly,"
He said, taking her hand and making her blush even harder.
"If there's anything wrong-"
But he was cut off by Tina bringing their food to the table. She set down Gooz's steak, and much to Milly's delight, her usual.
Gooz couldn't suppress his laughter.
"Your usual is a Fryburger?"
He asked, but Milly didn't answer. She was busy hiding the fire engine red of her face by digging in to her meal.
