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-Hazel
"You ready to go catch some wicked swells?" Kensi asks with a stupid grin as she stands by the back of his pickup.
Everyone else has left to rent surfboards, but it just happens that Deeks brought two of his own- one for himself and one for Kensi.
She peels off her tee to reveal a black bikini underneath, and discards the shirt into the bed of his truck, keeping her shorts on.
Deeks tries so hard not to gawk. Try being the operative word.
So rather than staring, he ends up just turning his head to the side and clearing his throat.
"I believe it's just 'swell'."
"Hmm?"
"No s."
She swallows as Deeks takes off his shirt as well- throwing it in the back of the truck beside hers. Kensi's suspicions have been right all along- he's muscular, tan, and clearly does situps on a daily basis.
"That doesn't really sound right," she adds in an attempt to distract herself away from his gorgeous figure.
"But it is right."
She snorts, pulling her surfboard out. "Whatever."
"Whatever?"
"Yeah, whatever."
He grabs his board, tucking it under one arm and slamming the tailgate shut.
"Now Fern- you're sure that you don't need me to give you a little lesson today?"
She narrows her eyes, and genuinely considers sticking her tongue out at him.
"Yes Deeks. I'm sure."
The look he responds with is almost disappointed in nature. "Oh... okay."
She knows that he's playing with her, and just trying to get her to break.
However, even with the knowledge of exactly what he's doing, Kensi just can't find it within herself to tell him no. Maybe it's that puppy dog pout? Or those baby blue eyes?
She's not sure. But whatever he's using... it's working.
"Ugh, fine. You can try to teach me something. But only if it's necessary."
Deeks gives her one of those crooked smiles that she loves, his face lighting up.
"Sounds great."
Kensi can hardly believe herself. She totally just gave him the upper hand- and now he's overly confident.
"It's pretty sunny out here. You want me to, uh..."
"You can't put any sunscreen on me."
Kensi just smirks as they fall into complete and utter silence.
"How did you...?"
Deeks shakes his head, pressing both lips together as her smile just continues to grow. "Wow. That was... wow."
"What?"
He contemplates her question.
"Unexpected."
"Good," Kensi says, still walking as she hops around to stand in front of him. "I like to keep you on your toes."
He grins. "Oh, I'm sure you do."
"Yo, Deeks! You ready?"
The voice calling out to him belongs to one of their other friends, Finn. Kensi evaluates the guy in his shirtless state, but for some odd reason it doesn't manage to make her heart rate pick up speed. Apparently only Deeks has the ability to do something like that.
"Yeah!" He hollars back. "We're comin!"
Kensi breaks into a full blown sprint towards the water.
"Race ya!"
Deeks chuckles, lagging behind but managing to play catch up rather easily.
They both throw their surfboards out onto the water practically in unison, Kensi almost blushing at how incredibly synchronized they seem together.
"So you see Kens," Deeks begins, paddling out beside her. "When a wave comes, you have to push up off your board like-"
"I know how to stand up, Deeks. It's pretty basic."
"Some people think it's hard."
"I'm not one of those people."
"Fine."
"Fine."
The words coming from both sides sound frank, but are actually the total opposite. He's grinning, and she's smirking. Like usual.
A wave is beginning to form on the water, the tide rising and building up more and more with the passing time.
Deeks nods at it, having to yell over the sound of the crashing waves. "You take this one!"
"You sure? It looks pretty wicked!"
He grins and shakes his head, pointing forward.
Biting her bottom lip in an attempt to hide her nervousness, Kensi decides to go for it. She paddles out further into the ocean, leaving Deeks behind. He sits up on his board, watching her as she goes.
"Think she's gonna get it?" Josh asks, suddenly appearing by his side.
Deeks shrugs, his eyes still glued forward. "I dunno. We'll see."
Both boys watch as Kensi pushes herself up on the board, surprisingly successful in catching the wave. She stretches both arms out to balance herself, and turns her head back to see who's watching.
Deeks is staring, of course. But so are about fifteen other people.
Her heart begins to race as she notices the group that has gathered. Deeks gives her a subtle thumbs up, but the small gestures proves to have a lasting negative effect.
She loses her balance, swaying side to side before tumbling off her board to the left. Falling towards the water, Kensi hits the surface with a large splash.
Ouch. Deeks immediately begins swimming towards her side, about to panic when she resurfaces, her head bobbing up out of the water.
She chokes and sputters for a moment, resting both elbows on the edge of her board.
"Are you okay?" He asks, the question genuinely sincere.
"Fine."
She runs a hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face as she begins paddling back towards the shore, her surfboard in tow.
"You sure?"
Kensi just narrows her eyes. "I'm good."
Now that his feet can actually touch the bottom, he swims around in front of her.
"I think you might need some help."
The cheeky grin he's shooting her tells Kensi that this can only mean trouble.
"I'm good, Deeks," she repeats, further emphasizing the word.
He shakes his head. "It' seems that we've got ourselves a damsel-in-distress over here."
"Excuse me?"
Deeks just ignores her. "Yo, Josh! Would you do ma'lady a favor and carry her board back for me?"
His friend appears, wearing a grin of equal stupidity. "On it."
"Deeks, what you... DEEKS!"
He suddenly wraps both hands around Kensi's waist, picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder in a single fluid motion.
"It's alright! I saved her!"
Everyone is staring in their direction, a few students even letting out a couple of whistling noises.
"Deeks!" Kensi hollers out between laughs. "Put me down!"
He finally makes it out of the water, shaking his head furiously like a wet dog.
"It's all good, Fern! I've gotcha!"
"De-Deeks!" She's giggling uncontrollably, throwing weak punches to his back as he carries her across the beach. "Oh my GOD! Put me down!"
Finally they reach the spot where her beach towel is laying out. Deeks lowers her down onto it gently and slowly, still grinning as he got a full few of her face.
Kensi's trying damn hard not to look amused, but knows the facade is unsuccessful.
"I can't believe you just did that."
His smile widens as he continues leaning over her. Deeks assumes everyone is staring, but it's not like he cares.
"What? I like keeping you on your toes."
He delivers the words with a wink, repeating the same sentence she'd said just a short while earlier. Kensi laughs quietly, leaning her head back against the towel, both eyes avoiding Deeks' rather intense stare.
He thinks about kissing her. Strongly considers it, actually.
But Deeks doesn't want it to happen like that, with a million people watching. It would feel silly, almost like a dare- and he wants much more than that.
When he finally kisses her, Deeks wants it to be real.
So rather than moving forward, Deeks does the complete opposite. He grabs her hand, pulling Kensi to her feet without a single word. She almost yelps at the unexpected movement, and comes damn close to frowning at the distance that he's suddenly put between them.
"You good?" He asks once more, still breathing heavily.
She nods, her head bobbing up and down frantically. "Yeah, I'm, er... good."
"Okay. That's... great."
"Uh-huh."
Kensi pauses for a moment before smiling and jogging towards her other friends, leaving Deeks standing in the middle of the beach, awkward and the focus of everyone's gaze. Josh runs towards him to deter some of the attention.
He's smirking and shaking his head, eyes wide.
"Wow. You're getting pretty ballsy, dude."
"I'll try to take that as a compliment."
"Why didn't you kiss her?"
The question is sudden and rather loaded.
"I-I dunno."
"Come on, man. That's a weak reply." He shakes his head. "You really should've kissed her."
"With everyone around? I probably would've humiliated her!"
"So?"
Deeks stands up pin straight, furrowing both eyebrows. Josh just shoots him a rather incredulous look.
"Dude- all I'm saying is that if you feel like you wanna kiss a girl, than you should kiss her. End of story."
"No. Not if she doesn't want to be kissed."
"I completely agree. Except she did want to be kissed."
"You don't know that."
"Yes I do."
"How?"
Josh rolls his eyes, patting his friend on the shoulder.
"If you don't see it, than you're a moron."
"See what?"
"Okay, good to know. You're a moron."
Deeks just smirks, shaking his head. "And you're an ass. Look, now we're both making observations!"
His sarcastic tone is overcompensating, and Josh can easily tell.
"Fine. But if she slips away... than it's all on you."
Deeks' expression changes as he shifts around, resting both hands on his hips. He presses his lips into a firm line, eyes gracing over the surface of the water.
"I'm not gonna let her slip away, kay?"
Josh shrugs. "If you say so."