Hey folks! sorry it has been way toooo long of a wait. I hope you are all still with me! this chapter is a little bit shorter than the rest but I hope you love it. I promise after this one we have another more carlos- centric chapter and then we get to the moment you've all been waiting for and there's a beautiful meeting between two of our characters that will end...very interesting like. The next two chapters should be up in like the next few days. :) but for now please review! they make me want to keep this story going. Thanks guys!
This party was insane. The ocean was tainted black, as it reflected the stars of the crystal clear night sky. The alcohol was finding its way through the systems of over a hundred intoxicated teens, and the music was on the lips and within the veins of all the party go-ers as they celebrated their youth in the most primal ways imaginable. James felt like a king as he stood on a sandy rock, looking over his friends and classmates.
"Woo-hoo!" Mercedes whooped and cheered as Jett was thrown into the calm cerulean waters by Guitar Dude and Dak. The alcohol was obviously in control of her system because after taunting Jett a few more times, (who was now having a contest with Dak to see who could drink the most out of a coconut bra that had been discarded by some female only minutes ago), she proceeded to whip off her bikini top. Any guy who hadn't already passed out face first in the sand started cat calling and cheering, telling her to take it all off. Which wouldn't have been much considering she bought the skimpiest bikini anyone there had ever seen.
Carlos shook his head slightly, not able to understand girls like Mercedes who just bared it all to any and every guy who walked past her. Especially when she was drunk. And right now she was so far past drunk it wasn't even funny. Sadly though, the list of guys she seemed to want to show herself off to included the young Latino who just wanted to be left alone for the time being.
"Carrrlloosss!" her high pitched whine of a voice rang through his ears. He mentally sighed and swiveled around in his chair that sat at the little Coconut Cabana Bar on the beach.
"Yes Mercedes? What do you want?" Carlos tried to keep his tone was monotonous, he didn't want to be rude but he hoped she would get the hint to leave him alone.
"Youu are so CAUUTE!" Mercedes started giggling like crazy, yeah, she didn't get hints when she was sober, Carlos just slumped over and grunted. She started running her hand up his thigh flirtatiously, slipping closer and closer to Carlos's crotch . Before she actually rubbed against him, he caught her hand and pulled it away making her cherry red lips turn down into a pout.
"Awww Carlitos! Don't you want me? Every. Single. Part of me?" she moved in closer to whisper seductively in his ear.
Carlos rolled his eyes and mentally groaned in frustration. "No Mercedes, I don't. But it looks like that guy over by the limbo stick does. Why don't you go seduce him into going to bed with you?"
Mercedes face fell in disappointment at Carlos's clear rejection of her. But as she turned to look at the man he was pointing to, her eyes brightened considerably and her face twisted into an almost animalistic grin. The look in her eyes was enough to tell Carlos that limbo boy was in for a wild night.
Mercedes finally sauntered away leaving Carlos alone, much to his enjoyment, until 5 seconds later when James came and sat next to him.
"Dude! Doesn't this party ROCK?!" James practically screamed in his ear, trying to be heard over the booming bass of the music. He took a shot of vodka and threw his arm around Carlos's shoulders with a huge grin on his face. Obviously he was pretty damn proud of the party and his reigning status as the Party King.
"Yeah dude it's pretty cool." Carlos mumbled so quietly James had to lean in closer just to hear him.
"Pretty cool?" James said, sounding almost appalled. "This party is AWESOME!" he emphasized by once again yelling in Carlos's eardrum. Carlos just shrugged and took another shot. It was only his second though, and he knew he'd have to be careful since he was driving back to James's house. James finally seemed to notice his best friend's glum mood and he put his shot glass down on the counter.
"What's wrong man? Are you ok?" James voice finally dropped to a quieter volume as a slow Taylor Swift song started playing from the speakers.
"Yeah I'm fine James, I'm just….I mean I….I've just been thinking about that boy you saw in the water the other day!" Carlos finally spit the words out and looked at James nervously, waiting for him to get angry and yell at him again. But the yelling never came and James just sighed softly.
"Look Carlitos, I don't even completely know for sure that that was what I saw, I was drowning for goodness sake. And everything was kind of blurry with the salt and the fish poop and all that."
"But you practically live in the water dude! You can see perfectly fine underwater. And what about those hand prints on your sides? Are you gonna tell me those just magically appeared too?" Carlos shot back stubbornly.
"No, they didn't "magically" appear," James conceded with a sigh. James fiddled with the tank top he had to wear to conceal his wounds. He had forgotten about them until a moment ago. "But someone else could have simply just pulled me to shore and made sure I was alive and left just as easily."
Carlos gave a small huff of annoyance. He knew what James had really seen. He remembered the chocolate eyed brunette boy that had saved him so many years ago as clear as the morning sky. And James obviously had a good mental picture of this boy that had saved him a few days ago as well. However, Carlos decided to not pursue the subject any farther tonight. He was tired, it had been a long day for him and he just honestly wanted to go back to James's house and sleep for the next 24 hours.
"Hey buddy, can we just forget about this for awhile, the party is off the fuckin' chain dude, AND I might've seen Jennifer looking for you earlier in her teeny, wheeny, polka dot bikini", James wiggled his eyebrows and gave Carlos a sharp jab in the side. At that Carlos immediately perked up, despite his somber mood, no one could pass up a Jennifer. The three beauty queens ran the whole school, not to mention they've been in every single wet dream Carlos has had since he was like thirteen. Carlos gave James a sharp glare.
"You're not fucking with me bro?"
"Nah man, and it was definitely the blonde". Carlos pulled another shot of the table and downed it quickly before heading off to find his blonde. James laughed gleefully, sure, maybe Jennifer had been looking for Dak, but she still had on that bikini, and that should be enough for his simple minded best friend. James was still looking off at his friend in the distance, when a perfectly manicured finger poked at his shoulder. He whirled around to see a stunning Lucy, clad in a tiny black mini dress, her hair glowing dangerously and her eyes dark with lust and vodka.
"Well hello Lucy", James said, immediately getting into the girl's space. Usually he wouldn't have made it that far, but Lucy just giggled and snorted and put her hand on James' shoulder.
"Hey there cutie, rad party", she replied, crawling her fingers up James' neck and curling them in his brown locks.
"Is there a more private location we can go to and", she stood on her tippy toes and rested her full lips on the shell of James' ear "Talk". That went straight to the teenagers groin. He composed himself and flashed Lucy one of his most dazzling James Diamond smiles.
"Well of course there is beautiful, I just happen to have a cozy little shack and you know we can talk more privately in there", he grabbed onto her hips and pulled her closer. Just as their lips were about to meet in what would have been a deep, lengthy, alcohol induced kiss, A volleyball met with the backside of James' head. James turned around and looked for the jackass who assaulted him, he was furious.
"The FUCK", he screamed. Jett started laughing and James turned to him.
"We are out of alcohol asshole", Jett laughed. James rolled his eyes and turned back to a stunned Lucy.
"Babe don't worry I will be right back there's some down the beach", he gave her a swift peck on the mouth and left for his booze hideout.
As James traveled farther away from the party, with its lights and music, he found himself enjoying his short, serene walk to his stash. He highly doubted they were completely out of alcohol, but Jett and the others would have kept bugging the shit out of him until he atleast made sure they were well stocked. He was halfway there when he suddenly stopped and looked out at his vast love. He hadn't been to the beach since his near death experience, and now he couldn't find the will to look away. It was even more captivating at night, it wasn't brilliantly blue or anything, but jet black, and that made it all the more alluring. He stepped towards the water and let it wash over his feet. He let out a small sigh and rolled his neck. This was nice. For a moment his mind cleared from the haze it had been in for the last three hours, and he took everything in. He could here the music playing faintly now so he closed his eyes, inhaled the salty air, and started humming along to the familiar tune.
I fell in love when I saw you standing there. It must have been the way. Today was a fairytale.
*Splash* James's eyes snapped open and he broke out of his daze when he heard the splash in the water, it sounded fairly close to the shore too. He slowly walked out of the water and started surveying the abyss. He scanned the surface, but nothing seemed amiss. 'This is insanity' he thought quickly to himself. The booze playing tricks and the night clouding his rational thinking. Frustrated he turned his attention back to the music which had long since changed songs. He was listening to Hot Chelle Rae's "I Like It Like That" when he decided to try something. This thought came out of thin air, and he was starting to think like Carlos.
"I like it like that. Yeah. One more time. I can never get enough. Sing it right back I like it like that!"
James paused here, watching the water with an intense, eager stare. His stomach swelled with butterflies and his heart gave way to a feeling he wasn't completely familiar with. After a minute he felt his hope give way. He slowly turned around and started heading for the forgotten drinks, when all of a sudden an angelic sound erupted through the waves and right into James' ears. It was such a gorgeous sound he could've sworn somebody had to have killed him and he had made it to Heaven. He slowly made his way back to the shoreline, straining to hear something, anything, in that melodic voice that had sang back something that sounded like a melody. There were no words, just a trace of the song that was playing. It sounded like the ocean itself was singing to him. It was over as fast as it had began and disappointment started to set in once again, as he strained to hear the sweet sounds again. He walked closer to the shore all the way up to his knees in the chilled waters, when he finally saw something that shook his entire being to the very core.
"Those emerald eyes" was the first thought that ran through James's mind. Those eyes were the same ones that had saved him from drowning earlier. The second thing he noticed was the hair, it was a gorgeous golden brown, water dripping from the ends of the luscious locks like small crystal dewdrops, glinting in the moonlight. But then he noticed the face that these jewel eyes and golden strands belonged to, and he once again swore he had somehow made it to Heaven. This face was by far the most gorgeous, beautiful, perfect thing James had ever laid eyes on, and from the blond's brilliant expression you could say he was thinking the same thing about the gorgeous brunet.
He stood frozen in time and space, mesmerized by the boy in the sea, the boy who was staring right back with curious, hypnotic green eyes and a smirk on his perfect features. James didn't feel like he could move, but the worst part was, he didn't want to move. Ever. He was content standing there with the frothy blue water forever. He didn't know how much time had passed; it could have been days for all James knew. But suddenly the green eyes broke away and looked back at the depths of the ocean, and before James knew what was happening, the boy turned back towards him, winked, and then with a splash and a flash of color, the angel boy disappeared under the waves and didn't resurface.
James stood for several minutes. Just staring at the spot where the boy had been. When he finally was able to collect his wits, he started sprinting towards the party. He was thrown back into the hot bodies, grinding in the most obscene ways. He spotted Lucy who quickly ran towards him.
"Yo, dude where were you, and where's the booze at", she inquired. James just shook his head. Shaggy brown hair falling into his eyes.
"Party's over", he mumbled. She gave him the biggest 'da fuck' look face she could muster.
"I didn't stutter, HEY GUYS THE PARTY IS OVER!", he screamed. Almost everybody let out an audible groan. The disappointment weighed heavily in the air around him, but James' couldn't do this right now, things were just not…right. For a second he was able to push down the sick feeling in his stomach and put on some Diamond charm for his upset guests.
"Don't worry; the second I get home I'm going to start planning the next party!" James announced with a smooth smile and a wink at some bikini-clad girls standing nearby. This announcement turned the whines and moans into cheers of ecstasy and a senior boy, whose name currently escaped James's mind, wearing only his swim trunks and a shell necklace to call out "You DA MAN James!"
"You know it!" James shouted back and reached up to high five some if the teenagers standing nearest to him. "But seriously guys, I do need to make it back home, so round up all your drunk buddies and get them home safely." And with that James unplugged the Christmas lights that had dimly lit the beach and left only a weak orange and red fire to illuminate the darkness. Slowly everybody gathered their passed out friends, some of them having to go into the forest of palm trees on the end of the beach to retrieve some of the more drunken teens.
After everyone else had finally cleared out leaving only Carlos and James, James turned around to find Carlos asleep and sort of curled in on himself on the chair at the bar counter. He smiled softly, he loved seeing Carlos asleep like that, it was adorable. He didn't want to wake the tuckered out Latino, so he carefully picked him up bridal style and carried him to his car where he then proceeded to lie him down across the backseat and cover him with a blanket. James turned back to look at the epic mess that covered the beach below in front of him. Slowly he gathered shot glasses, beer bottles, girls bikini tops, and a couple pairs of swim trunks that were strewn across the sand.
After throwing the 4 trash bags he'd managed to fill to the brim with garbage in his trunk, James walked back down to the beach barefoot, just enjoying the feeling of the cool sand sinking in between his toes and enjoying the sound of the waves gently pulling in and out of the shore. He sat down right at the brink of the shore and stared out at the almost full, pearl moon casting its reflection onto the glittering indigo water.
Time slows down, whenever you're around. But can you feel this magic in the air? It must have been the way you kissed me
He reflected on the boy with the emerald eyes and felt his breath hitch. He was frightened, and confused, and excited, and infatuated at the same time and that made for a horrible mix of emotions. He knew he'd have to tell Carlos in the morning he just..didn't want to accept that part yet.
James stood completely mesmerized for a minute before turning around ever so slowly and walking back to his car. When he got there, he found Carlos had rolled onto the floor and now had his thumb stuck firmly between his lips. With a soft chuckle James hopped in the driver's seat, put the key in the ignition, put the car in drive, and drove away from the beach and from the mysterious angel that lay beneath the waves.