In the Way You Stare

"Get ready. Everyone's going to the beach," Jon said as he pulled a beach towel from the linen closet.

"I'm fine here actually." Darcy didn't look up away from the television.

"No, you're coming to the beach."

"I hate the beach."

"No one hates the beach," Jon said, throwing a towel at her head.

"I'm from Pennsylvania. I hate the beach." She rolled her eyes when she saw Jon staring at her blankly. "I don't own a swimsuit."

"We'll get you one," he said, holding out his hand. She sighed and took hold of it, letting him pull her off the couch. She figured that the shorts and cropped shirt she was wearing were fine and picked up the towel and her handbag. "We'll get you a beach bag, too."

Darcy dragged her feet on her way to the car, huffing the moment she sat down in the passenger's seat.

"Don't look so excited," Jon said sarcastically. "You get to hang out with your friends. What's so bad about that?"

"I've never been to a beach before," she told him. "What if I really hate it?"

"Never? You poor soul."

"Pennsylvania with a dickhead uncle, remember? And the weather hasn't exactly been beach weather since I moved down here." Jon didn't respond to her, deeming her excuses pathetic.

The hour drive had been spent in virtual silence. He drove them to a surf shop just by the beach. Darcy looked at it sceptically. She had never even owned a swimsuit. Walking through the doors she felt overwhelmed by the choices. Jon disappeared, leaving her to look around by herself. She was browsing noncommittally when someone walked up beside her.

"You need any help there?" she looked up to see a young man leaning casually against the rack.

"Uh, yeah, actually..." she said awkwardly. She didn't even know where to start.

"Did you want a two piece or one piece?" he asked, Darcy shrugged at him. She wanted to buy something and get it over with. "Okay, we'll just get you a few to try on and go from there?"

Darcy nodded but soon wished she hadn't agreed. The guy helping her was far too friendly for her liking – he was making suggestive jokes and not-so-subtly telling her that he thought she was hot. She tried to look around for Jon to help but he was never looking her way.

As quickly as she could, she ran into a change room. Darcy quickly undressed; pulling on a one piece with cut-outs that she had been promised would look fantastic on her. He hadn't lied, she didn't hate the style, but the eccentric, bright colours and Aztec pattern made her cringe.

The next few made her feel the same way – not to mention the bandeau bikini tops that she was unable to keep up. In her gut, she had known it would come down to the plain black, string bikini.

Darcy poked her head out through the curtain and called back the sales assistant.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Could you get my boyfriend for me please? The really tall one with the white shirt?" His face fell quite considerably but he went to get Jon. The lie had fallen easily from her mouth; she just hoped Jon would play along.

"Darc?" she heard Jon call for her shortly after – she had been checking herself out in the mirror, admiring the way the red and green of her tattoo contrasted with the black bikini.

She poked her hand through the curtain, grabbing onto his and pulling him through. Jon's next sentence caught in his throat. "What do you think?"

He cleared his throat and reached a hand down to adjust his pants. Her nipple ring was visible through the material, straining against it. "Great, Darc. It's great."

"Good." She smiled at him through the mirror, choosing to ignore the effect she had had on him. "Can you go out and ask if I can wear it out of the store?"

He did so silently, adjusting himself again before leaving. When he came back with an affirmative answer she ripped off the tags, pulled her shorts on and threw her underwear and shirt into her bag. On her way to the counter she picked up a beach bag.

She hadn't even noticed that Jon was at the counter paying for her new bikini until she was putting down the bag.

"Jon..." she said in a warning tone.

"Nah, babe. I got it."

She huffed lightly but let it go and was surprised when his arm dropped over her shoulders. It was clearly for the benefit of the sales assistant who grimaced before going to help someone else.

Neither said anything as Jon took the bag from the assistant and they walked from the store. He handed the bag to Darcy; she grabbed it blindly, the plastic wrinkling beneath her fingers. She was still trying to get over the assistant and also how Jon was treating her.

"Who's going to the beach?" She asked when they were sat in the car. She had to hold the seatbelt away from her bare skin; the sun had made it unbearably hot.

"People."

"Damn," Darcy sighed. "Was hoping for aliens."

Jon was unsurprised that she had responded to his sarcastic comment of her own but he still rolled his eyes and answered seriously, "Our friends are going to be there."

Darcy didn't ask any more questions, just accepted that he was going to be coy until they actually reached the beach.

When they arrived at the spot – which was surprisingly quiet for a Florida beach – Darcy saw that by 'our friends' he meant his friends with a handful of people that Darcy did not hate. Ashley waved up at them from the sand when she saw that they had arrived. The blonde lifted her hand up in acknowledgement.

"Friends, huh? I don't remember Summer Rae being my friend."

Jon looked at Darcy in fake shock, "Really? You're not friends with Summer? Fuck me I never knew."

Darcy rolled her eyes at him as he got out of the car and started walking towards the water without her. She hurried behind him, slamming the car door – she watched him flinch – and running to catch up.

The sand began to burn the bottom of her feet the instant she stepped on it so she ran towards Ashley and the set-up umbrella. Darcy put her down towel beside her friend, making sure it was under the umbrella's shade, and reclined onto it. The ocean clearly did not impress her as she stared out to the horizon disinterestedly.

"You gonna go in?"

"Might dip my feet in. Water and I don't get along, you?"

Ashley shook her head, "Not with those boys. They're fucking ruthless."

After a couple of hours sitting on the beach the heat was beginning to get to Darcy's head. She'd had to keep moving to stay under the umbrella's shade and Saraya's arrival had left the two pale Divas fighting over largest shaded areas. The guys had, numerous times, tried to convince Darcy to get in the water. They'd long given up on getting Ashley and Saraya in the water but had succeeded in getting Leighla and Summer to join them.

"Just for 5 minutes," Colby bargained and Darcy sat up to rest on her elbows. "No funny business at all. You look really fucking bored up here and no one is believing for a second that you like sitting up here doing nothing.

"We're not doing nothing," she argued. "We're talking."

"And gossip has always thrilled you, right?"

Darcy looked up at him hopelessly. He was right. She hadn't been listening to Ashley and Saraya at all and knew as little developmental gossip as she did when she'd sat down. Colby outstretched his hand and Darcy took hold of it so he could pull her to her feet. Before she followed Colby to the water, she pulled of her shorts and threw them at Ashley – hitting her friend in the head. Colby laughed with her as Ashley snarled.

As soon as the water hit her feet a shiver went down her spine and she cringed. Colby laughed at the reaction before pushing her further into the water. She had to remind him that she was smaller than he was and as such couldn't touch the ground very far out, only to have him keep pushing her.

Soon enough she was amongst the group of people – Jon, Matt, Troy (Ashley's boyfriend), Roman Reigns, Brad Maddox, Rick Viktor, Leighla and Summer – desperately kicking her feet so that her head stayed above the water.

A wave came at her and Darcy latched onto Matt, knowing that he was stable on the ground. She closed her mouth and eyes tightly as it came towards her but the water only went to her chin – if she had been flat foot and not holding on Matt's shoulders it would have gone over her head.

"Lighten up, Darc!" Jon chuckled, grabbing her by the waist and away from Matt. Her heartbeat quickened when she realised what he was doing. As he began to lift her up further, she clawed at his arms.

"No! Put me down!" she cried out. She opened her mouth, ready to protest again but she was thrown backwards over Jon's shoulders – a modified Samoan drop – and swallowed a mouthful of water.

As she thrashed her way to the surface, a wave went over head, tossing her around. Another came soon after, before she could come up for air. She swallowed more water and began to panic; swimming in any direction that she thought might have been up.

A hand suddenly gripped around her bicep and she was hauled upwards. Darcy grabbed onto the shoulders of the person who had pulled her upwards and coughed repeatedly, trying to draw in some breaths.

"Darcy, are you okay?" Jon's voice filled her ears and his arms wrapped around her waist, preventing her from desperately grabbing at him. She was trying to keep above the water and did not care if she had to take someone down for it to happen. "Stop it, Darcy."

"You fucking asshole," she swore, sputtering and still coughing up water. "I can't swim you piece of fucking shit." She pulled backwards as far as she could with Jon's arms around her waist and furiously began to his hit chest. "What the fuck is your problem?"

He sighed, tightening his hold, "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I shouldn't have." She relaxed letting her head drop onto his shoulders and her arms around his neck. Jon began moving back to the shore, looking over his shoulder at the other guys. He pulled a confused, horrified face at them. Colby and Matt shrugged at him; they didn't have any idea either.

Darcy let go of Jon and dropped to the ground as soon as she knew it was safe. The solid ground was welcomed immediately and she ran off towards Ashley and Saraya. Ashley was on a beach towel, working on her tan but Saraya was still situated underneath the umbrella, hiding away from the sun.

"You okay?" Ashley asked, watching Darcy carefully as she sat down on a beach towel.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered quietly. "Almost died, but I'm fine."

Darcy coughed up some more water before rolling onto her stomach and resting her head on her folded arms.

"You can't swim?" Saraya guessed, but she wasn't given a response. "I can't either. England's not exactly known for its great weather. Or it's great beaches."

Darcy muttered something unintelligible under her breath but soon appeared to have fallen asleep.

"Hey," Jon said, kicking Darcy's ass with his foot, waking her up.

"What?" she grumbled, rolling over to look at the man who had blocked the sun's warmth.

"You're getting sunburnt."

"Oh," she frowned. "Too late now, I guess."

Darcy sat up on the towel, crossing her legs like a child, and watched the waves crashing onto the beach. She still felt a little sick from the water she'd ingested but mostly she was just embarrassed.

"Sorry," Jon apologised, dropping down beside her. Darcy turned her head to him and shrugged lightly. Her eyes flickered over his face and to his haphazardly pushed back hair. She quickly looked away.

Jon leaned back a little and laughed at the redness of her back. He reached a hand out to touch it and laughed harder when Darcy arched her back away from his touch. She crossed her arms over her chest and kept her eyes on the water.

A bottle of sunscreen was dropped into her lap and, not wanting to be red all over, Darcy squirted some into her hands and began to work it into her arms and over her stomach. With a grimace, she reached around to her back and began to apply it to the already sunburnt areas. Jon was about to offer to apply it to her back but he decided against it when he noticed that she was covering every inch of her back herself.

"All rubbed in?" Darcy asked, facing her back to him.

"Uh." Jon reached out and rubbed at her spine. Despite the heat that had begun radiating off her back, Darcy felt a shiver run through her spine.

"Thanks," Darcy breathed out. She looked up briefly to see Ashley looking at her curiously. The blonde glared at her friend who smiled and mouthed 'friends?'.

"You can't swim?" Darcy shook her head and looked at her feet. "Not even in pools?"

She answered quietly, "Not with you dickheads fucking around."

"But you went into the ocean?"

"Because you weren't fucking around until I got in."

"You should have said something."

"No one wants to be the 22-year-old who can't swim."

"Better than being the 22-year-old who drowns."

Darcy sighed and began to tap her foot in the sand. She stopped abruptly when Jon dropped his hand to her shoulder. It wasn't as casual as every other time he'd done it. It wasn't as rough as it usually was. He had been careful not to jolt her, touching her slowly before gently squeezing his fingers into her skin.