Touching…teasing…warm skin, warm sand…and the ocean.

She loves the ocean.

I'm laying in the sand, right on the beach's edge. It's late- really late, but the air is still warm. Warm and heavy.

Sometimes I think this is my favorite time to come to the beach, you know? Late at night, when there's no one there. Everything's silent except the ocean, and it all seems so…unnatural. Eerie, in a really beautiful way.

I roll over onto my side, rubbing my legs against the pair intertwined with mine. They are silky, warm, smooth, tan- and very, very long. Her body is nestled close to mine, curled against me protectively. Instinctively, I lean in and press my lips to her neck, and she stirs- barely. Her skin is soft, and she smells like cinnamon, flowers, and the wine coolers we had earlier. I trace her lips with my fingertips, and she sighs. Her sundress is still untied, still around her waist, and her bare skin is warm against my chest. I trace a finger over pale skin inside the deep tan lines on her chest, and she shivers involuntarily, wrinkling her nose and resting her cheek against my shoulder.

I can't remember the last time we were…like this. When everything was perfect, or at least seemed that way. I glance up to the house, where the party will still be going into the early hours of the morning. Vanish is playing, still, and Maggie's singing. I've never heard her voice sound so strong before. It's pure. Intense. Flawless.

Beautiful.

Suddenly she wakes up, pushing me away, frowning slightly, as if she doesn't know where she is. When she sees me looking at her, she laughs- then pushes me away, shaking her head till her hair comes loose from its braid. It's longer now, tangled, wavy, sun-streaked- like a mermaid. Her eyes look bright, alive- and in a flash I know while I've always been- and always be- in love with her.

Now she's dancing on the sand, still half-naked- spinning, twirling, leaping like a dervish, perfectly on beat with the music drifting over the sand. I'm laughing. She's at the edge of the water now, and her dress is lying on shore, and she's gone. Gone with a splash, and her dress is left fluttering in the breeze. She calls out to me.

I creep to the water's edge and crouch down, hands on my knees, watching her in the waves. It's dangerous, she must know that, but she was made for danger. She lives on it. Thrives on it. She's seen too much of death to fear it.

And I know her too well to fear for her.

Then she's racing up the beach, tackling me, still laughing, kissing me hard. My hands drop down to her waist as we roll in a tangle of limbs. She's gotten me wet, and soon the two of us are coated with sand. All coherent thought is gone.

An hour later, we are still lying on the sand. Quiet, now. Not speaking, just breathing in unison. The music is gone, and I can hear voices drifting over the sand. We need to get up, to dress, to get back to some semblance of normality. But…for now…

I hold her, tightly.