SUMMER 3

I'm surprised things didn't get weird between Craig and me after what happened. It was easier to deal with since he lives in New York. I hung out with him the next day and it was totally embarrassing. He was happy and acting like the break up with Matthew never happened. I was glad to see him being himself that I didn't bother to ask how he was really doing. Of course, my mind kept wandering to what we had done. I had never done anything like that in my life.

During the school year, I actually did meet a guy I liked. His name is not even worth mentioning. We hooked up a couple of times doing a little more than Craig and I did. Right, when I was about to give up the goods I found out he had a girlfriend and was on the down low. I was so furious but thankful that I didn't have sex with him. I can't imagine finding that out after I had sex with him. A down low guy is not the kind of relationship I want to be in. I refuse to hide who I am. I mean this guy hide who he was for 7 months. Bastard reminded me of Matthew in a sense.

I am currently sitting by the pool at the timeshare waiting for Craig to come over. He went to the movies or something. I look up at the sky wishing I had a pair of sunglasses seeing that today is a bright day. I pull out my phone deciding to play a puzzle while I wait. I smile as I remember I got a little taller. I wonder if I am taller than Craig now. Not sure, he tends to grow out of nowhere from what I have seen. I'm heavily into my game and starting to sweat when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I jump almost dropping my phone, I saved it twice before holding it close to my chest. I look up and see Craig smirking down at me.

"I almost broke my phone!" I exclaim.

"But you didn't," he points out. "Excellent save by the way." He sits down in the chair next to me staring at me. I stare back shifting my eyes to the beach to keep from blushing. He has gotten cuter; his hair is actually cut a lot shorter. He would probably look like some rick snob if he had gel. For now, the hair is fluffy and blowing in the wind. He is more toned than last year as well.

"How was your movie or whatever?" I asked.

"It was okay," he replied. "I was expecting a bit more action but meh." He shrugs at the end of his statement. "Have you gotten taller?"

"Maybe," I reply to tease him a little. Craig stands up pulling me out of my chair. He is still taller than me but the gap is now closed.

"Look at you Tweekers," he smirked. "You can reach my face practically." I look at Craig's lips realizing just how much easier I can reach them.

"Gah, whatever," I tell him looking away. "What did you want to do?"

"Hmmm…" hummed Craig. "I want to go swimming."

"Craig," I whine. He knows how I feel about the water.

"Come on, pleaseeeee," he begged. "I won't let anything happen to you."

"The water is just so disgusting," I mutter shaking a little.

"Everything at the end of the day is nasty," snorts Craig. "I mean think about it. People touch everything, germs are everywhere. Shouldn't stop you from living your life." I growl. "Is it that bad?" Craig starts to laugh as I glare at him.

"I don't have any swimming shorts," I replied.

"You can borrow one of my old ones," says Craig sizing me up. "I think you can fit the ones I had 2 years ago, come on." Craig takes my hand and we begin to walk across the street to the beach house. Had he not touched my hand I would probably be fighting him on this.

"How long do we have to be in the water?" I asked.

"I don't know," laughed Craig. "I mostly stay in there until I am tired or bored. It's not like I can wear a watch out there." I begin to shake lightly thinking about being in there for even 5 minutes. "I got you." Craig lets go of my hand to open the front door. I see Tricia and Red playing some dancing game. They are giggling and doing some kind of dance moves. "Dorks!"

"You're just jealous you don't get these moves!" exclaims Tricia. She spots me and begins to wave. "Tweek! Thank god you have arrived. Craig was pouting without you."

"Lair!" yells Craig with his cheeks turning pink. I can't help it as I begin to chuckle at the sight.

"What are you guys about to do?" asked Red. "We are going to be on the system for a while. Burning off those calories I ate at the movies."

"You were the one who wanted to be greedy," stated Craig.

"I was hungry!" exclaimed Red looking in his direction.

"Shouldn't have skipped breakfast," said Craig folding his arms. I can tell he is not back to being best buds with Red. I would ask about her but he would brush things off saying everything is fine.

"Craig is forcing me to go swimming," I reply.

"You're going to actually get in the water?" asked Tricia. "God please get video."

"I can't," said Craig. "I will be in the water. I can't take my phone with me."

"Damn," said Tricia. "Maybe another time."

"I don't know about that," I muttered before biting my lip.

"Come on Tweekers, let's get you some swim shorts," Craig climbs the stairs and I follow right behind him. Craig enters his room going to the left with the dresser that has the TV on it. Craig digs into a bottom drawer. "Alright, we got blue, red, black, this dark green one, which one you want?" I look at the shorts in his hand. The material looks so thin, I don't like that. The darn hunter green ones at least look like shorts since they have a cargo pocket on the right side.

"The green…," I say quietly. Craig tosses them to me as he puts the other trunks back into the draw. I look around the room noticing that it is clean well cleaner than usual.

"Alright, stop stalling," says Craig. "Get dressed. You can borrow a pair of my flops." I look over my shoulder at him almost embarrassed to undress in front of him. It's not like he hasn't seen my body before. I remove my shirt.

"I'm going to need a shower," I state. "Maybe I should do this at home."

"I'm not letting you out of my sight," chuckled Craig. "You can shower here, no biggie." Well so much for that. I swallow my fears and remove the rest of my clothes pulling the trucks on. I have to say they don't feel too bad but I don't know how I will feel once they are wet. The shorts sit on my hips just right, I'm adjusting them a little when Craig tosses a shirt at me. "I figured you wouldn't want to get your good shirt wet."

"You're correct," I reply. I slide into a pair of flops before changing into the shirt Craig gave me. We make our way downstairs. I talk to myself the whole back to the beach. Craig has two beach towels for us that he is carrying. He seems so happy about this but I guess I would be too in shoes. He has been trying to get me to go swimming for 2 years. Craig picks a spot where there are not too many people to set up our towels. I look out at the water ahead and begin to shiver lightly. I stop when I feel Craig's hand on my upper back.

We slowly walk towards the water. I know Craig is trying to stay with me because he never walks that slow. I put my feet in the water which is less scary compared to last summer when it was dark.

"See, not so bad," said Craig.

"N-not yet," I stammer. I take a few more steps and I become a lot more scared. I'm looking down trying to see past all the seaweed.

"It's less seaweed the further in you go," explained Craig.

"Oh," I replied looking at him. Craig has gone into where the water is up to his knees.

"I wouldn't lie to you," he replies. I look at him tilting my head to the side, yeah he wouldn't lie to me. I walk slowly towards him and notice I don't feel much seaweed, that's rather nice.

"So what's the point of this?" I ask shakily.

"To relax and have fun," smiled Craig. Once we get up to stomach length I refuse to go any further. "Aww no fun," but Craig is smiling so I know he is not upset. "Junior year huh."

"It came fast," I reply.

"Not fast enough for me," said Craig rolling his eyes as he walks slow circles around me. "I can't wait to get the hell away from those people."

"You have friends though," I replied.

"Yeah they are okay I guess," said Craig. "They get on my nerves too. I'm mostly not looking forward to this junior prom bullshit."

"Junior Prom?" I question. "We only have senior prom at my high school."

"Must be nice," said Craig. "I don't think I am going to go."

"You should go," I replied. "It's something you can say you experienced."

"And how I wasted a ton of money," snorted Craig. I tune out the rest of what he says when I feel something brush my leg.

"Oh god!" I exclaim. I pull on Craig's shoulders jumping into his arms. I wrap my legs tightly around his waist. "Something touched me! What is it! What the hell is it!"

"Relax," said Craig. "It was just a dog."

"A dog?" I repeat. I look around and I see the dog swimming next to his owner that is looking at me like I'm a weirdo. "Dogs swim in here too!"

"Well yeah," he replies. "This is a pretty open beach." I sigh as I lay my head on his shoulder. I am beginning to feel better. I close my eyes enjoying being in his arms. He feels so strong and warm in around my arms. I guess he is enjoying it too as I feel something I'm familiar with.

"Craig…." I don't get a chance to finish my sentence as we are both pushed falling into the water. I am holding on to Craig tighter scared to let go. I can feel him struggling to get up. I lose my grip separating from Craig. I feel a hand pull me up out of the water. I wiping the water from my face as I can clearly hear shouting.

"Punk ass bitch!" screams Craig.

"You can't take a joke," says Matthew.

"This shit isn't funny!" screamed Craig. He turns back to look at me. "Tweek are you okay?"

"I'm a little shaken," I replied as I was shaking.

"So you and Tweekers huh," states Matthew.

"Why the fuck are you still here?" asked Craig. "Get the fuck away from us. Don't you dare say his name!"

"It's a public beach," snapped Matthew. "I can go where I damn well please and say what the fuck I want." Craig walks over to Matthew in the water punching him in his smug face. Matthew growls from the hit as he is bent over. He leans back up trying to hit Craig but messes with Craig punching him in the ribs.

"I didn't want to do this," hisses Craig. Matthew is winded and tries to swing weakly at Craig. He sidesteps him and swims towards me. Craig's fighting skills have certainly improved. To be honest I'm rather impressed. "Come on Tweekers" he says. "Let's get out of here." He didn't have to tell me twice. Craig takes my hand leading us out of the water. I can't help it but look over my shoulder at Matthew shooting me daggers as we leave. Craig goes over wrapping me in a towel before doing the same to himself. "Sorry about that."

"Sorry about what?" I asked while trying to stop shaking.

"Matthew," he snaps. "I wanted to do a lot more to him."

"It's okay," I reply. "You did enough."

"He knows how you feel about the water," says Craig. "For him to push us like that…" Craig begins to growl and not in a sexy way.

"I'm okay really," I replied. "I just really want to shower." Craig looks at me.

"That I can do," he replies.

"Is this your first run in with Matthew?" I ask.

"No," he huffed. "I saw that jackass last week. He will try and come back to the house or show up where he knows I hang out like today. God, I don't know what I ever saw in him, can't stand his ass now." I recall Matthew still denying doing anything with Red. I mean it's crazy because we saw and heard him. We get into the house and Tricia is walking out of the kitchen.

"Hey, you guys are back early," she notes with a bowl of ice cream in her hand.

"Fucking Matthew," spat Craig.

"Ohh well then…" said Tricia looking away for a moment.

"Are you sure it's okay if I use your bathroom?" I asked. "I mean showering is a big deal."

"Not in this house," laughed Tricia. "We're not going to kill you for using our shower." She starts up the stairs and I follow behind her. Craig disappeared for a moment but reappeared with towel and washcloth.

"Here you go," he says. "Did you want to put back on your clothes or did you want some fresh clothes?"

"Fresh if I can," I reply quickly. Craig walks further into his room going into a draw pulling out a tee and shorts for me.

"Go ahead now," he smiles. "I know you are dying to wash off those germs."

"God yes!" I exclaim making my way to the bathroom. I like their bathroom in this house compared to the condos. It's bigger and more vibrant looking. They have a shower and jacuzzi tub separately, double sinks, and beige with hints of yellow and sea green. Doesn't look ugly or anything considering the colors. I hop into the shower trying not to scrub so hard. I don't want my skin to be red from the scrubbing. I climb out after I feel clean enough and I stare in the mirror almost wishing I could do this more often. I smile to myself before putting on the clothes Craig gave me. They are a little big but nothing I can't handle. I put up the towel and washcloth before leaving the bathroom. I walk into the room to see Craig is dressed in nothing but a towel.