It was very busy when Cee Cee, Adam and I arrived down in the car park at Carmel beach.
"Looks like everyone has had the same idea" Adam said as he lifted his surfboard off the roof of his car.
"Well it's so hot. What do you expect" Cee Cee muttered as she gathered her beach chair and mini umbrella under her arms.
We made our way down onto the sand and managed to find a decent spot away from screaming kids and a family who were feeding chips to a flock of squawking seagulls. Cee Cee set up her mini beach umbrella, put her wide brimmed hat on and sat down on her chair.
"Suze, could you please zip me up?" Adam asked, referring to the back of his wetsuit.
"Sure thing" I zipped it up and tucked the cord in at the top. "Have fun out there!"
"Yeah, there's some great waves out the back today" He smiled, picking up his board and running off towards the ocean.
I tied my long hair up into a messy bun and then proceeded to take off my clothes, revealing my new light blue bikini.
"So, do you reckon the new Spanish hottie will come down here?" Cee Cee asked, watching as I put on my sunglasses and spread out my beach towel beside her.
"He has a name you know" I sighed, leaning back on my towel and admiring the ocean.
Cee Cee snickered and rolled her eyes. "I wish you'd just admit you fancy him"
"Even if I did… I think I've ruined my chances with him"
"What do you mean? What happened?"
"Paul, that's what happened. He decided to open his stupid big mouth"
Cee Cee cringed and looked down at me from her beach chair "I heard he was back. So what did he say exactly?"
I tucked some loose strands of hair behind my ear and exhaled deeply. "He brought up the past and unfortunately Jesse overheard the part about me being in Paul's bedroom"
"I can't believe he actually said that out loud. But you never slept with him, so don't worry what he says"
"I know, but Jesse probably assumes that I've slept with the rat"
"Then tell him otherwise!"
"What!?" I turned and looked at Cee Cee like she was completely insane. "And say something like 'Hi Jesse, I haven't actually slept with Paul Slater by the way. He stole a kiss from me and tried to seduce me on his king sized bed, but I was lucky to have escaped'. It's none of Jesse's business. Let him think what he damn well wants to think" And with that, I rolled over onto my stomach and closed my eyes.
"Ah, Suze…"
"Hmmm"
"He's here!"
I was silent for a moment before deciding to respond casually "Good for him"
"And he's looking this way!"
"Are you serious?" I turned my head to stare at Cee Cee who started laughing.
"No, he's not looking up here. He's staring out at the ocean… Sorry, I just wanted to see your reaction"
"Thanks Cee!" I said rather sarcastically as I slowly rolled onto my side. And that's when I saw him for my own eyes… Standing there, facing the ocean as Cee Cee had said, and he was wearing a pair of black shorts and a fitted white singlet.
Cee Cee started to get all excited. "Whoa, look at that body! He must work out a lot… Outdoors most likely, he's got a lovely tan. And check out those arm muscles"
"He's nothing special" I lied, leaning back on my elbows.
"You're a liar Suze. Any girl who doesn't admire a guy like that is crazy!"
"Well if you love him so much, why don't you go and talk to him?"
"Because… He's not interested in me. You on the other hand… You've caught his attention right from the start"
I scoffed at her words and watched as Jesse began to take his sneakers off. Within a matter of seconds, he was off jogging along the shore line.
About half and hour had passed by, and I woke up from my sunbathing session feeling rather hot. I got up off my stomach and placed my sunglasses into my handbag.
"I'm going to go cool off for a bit Cee Cee, I'm feeling so hot"
She nodded her head without taking her eyes away from the romance novel she was reading. I made my way across the sand until I reached the water's edge which felt cool and refreshing. Within no time at all, I was fully in the water and swimming out past the sand bank. I was casually floating around, and occasionally ducking under the bigger waves, until this strong one pushed me back, causing me to accidently bump into someone. When I surfaced and rubbed the water from my eyes, I saw that it was a man possibly in his thirties.
"I'm terribly sorry" I apologised.
"That's quite alright young lady" The man smiled at me, baring his discoloured teeth.
Another wave headed towards us so I ducked under it and swam away from the man. Little did I know he was actually following behind me.
"So do you live around here, or are you a tourist?" He asked, floating just a few metres away.
"Um, yeah I'm a local" I replied, wishing he would just go away.
"I'm new to the area… Do you think maybe you could give me some advice on some top tourist spots?"
"Oh gee, listen I'm not the best person to talk to about that… You should try the town's information centre" I suggested, hoping he'd just leave me alone.
But he continued to stare at me, so I started to swim off in the direction of the shore.
"Wait, I've got one more question…" The man called out from behind me.
All of a sudden something came over me, I just felt so annoyed with him that I turned around and yelled out "What the hell is your problem man? Just leave me alone!"
The guy was startled to say the least. He turned around and swam off. I sighed in frustration and went to pull my hair tie out seeing as though it was pretty much falling out anyway. I was running my fingers through my tangled hair when I noticed that Jesse was swimming over towards me. Far out, can't I get a break around here!
"Hey" I tried to sound calm and collected as he approached.
The water level came up to chest, and I'm telling you even though I couldn't see his whole torso, his body looked amazing from what I could see. I forced my eyes away from his flesh and glanced over his face. It made him look rather cute the way his dark hair clung to his forehead. My stomach suddenly felt full with butterflies. Oh my goodness, what is happening to me? Am I actually melting for this guy like every other girl seems to be?
"Hi, um I couldn't help but notice that guy seemed to be harassing you… I just wanted to make sure everything was alright?"
I smiled in response, I couldn't help it. "Awe, that's really sweet of you. But I'm ok, I took care of it"
We both jumped over an oncoming wave before a moment of silence came between us. Jesse glanced around as he ran his hand through his wet hair, and then gave me an awkward smile.
"Ok well if you're alright now, then I guess I'll be going"
My eyes watched as he turned his back on me and slowly moved away. I didn't want him to leave, something inside me wanted to be near him.
"Jesse, wait!" I found myself calling out.
He turned around and looked at me expectantly. But I was totally speechless; no words would come to me.
"Behind you!" He called out, pointing to another oncoming wave.
When I turned around, it hit me right in the face. I spat the water out and quickly tried to fix my hair before I turned around to face him again. Surprisingly, he had moved a lot closer and he appeared to have a look of concern upon his face.
"Turn back around for a moment" He instructed, motioning with his finger.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I think your back has been burnt"
"Are you serious?" I asked, immediately feeling with my own hands. "My skin does feel hot…"
"Make I take a look?" He asked, moving closer to me.
I nodded and held up my hair so he could get a better look at my back. He gasped in response, so I'm guessing I'm pretty burnt.
"Oh my! Querida, what have you done to yourself?"
"Is it that bad huh?" I asked, turning back around to face his shocked expression. Then I played back his words in my mind. "Hold on, did you just call me something in Spanish?"
He seemed a little embarrassed as he looked away from me. "Ah, yeah. Sorry"
"It sounded nice… What does it mean?"
"Nothing… Look, you really better do something about that back of yours" Jesse said, trying to change the topic back onto me.
"Nah, I'll be fine" I assured him.
"Susannah, I don't think you realise how bad you've actually been burnt. Trust me, you should go home straight away and put some aloe vera cream on it"
I sighed and then searched around to see if I could see Adam out the back somewhere. "Well, I'm not sure where Adam is and I need him to drive me home. So I'm afraid I'll have to wait until he's done surfing"
"Then I will drive you home, come on" He said as he headed off into shore. "If that's alright with you of course"
"Um, yeah I suppose so" I said, following behind him.
As we reached the sand and headed up to where Cee Cee was sitting, I couldn't help but notice that Jesse seemed a little uncomfortable about something.
"I'll just go and get my belongings" He said after he cleared his throat. "Be back in a minute"
When I made my way over to Cee Cee, she looked up from her book.
"Hey Cee, look I'm heading off ok. I've been sunburnt pretty badly and Jesse has offered to drive me home" I told her as I wrapped my towel around my body and grabbed my bag.
"What?" She asked in a high pitched tone. "Good heavens, you're getting in his car?"
"Ssshhhh" I whispered when I saw Jesse coming over our way. "He's only driving me home"
"Ok, ready to go?" He asked, waiting for my nod before turning to Cee Cee. "Hi, I'm Jesse De Silva. I don't believe we've been properly introduced"
Cee Cee looked like she had completely frozen as she stared at his naked torso, which I must admit was making me swoon as well. Her mouth was wide open, and her romance novel fell from her hand.
"This is Cee Cee Webb" I had to answer on her behalf. "And it looks like she's experiencing some technical difficulties, so maybe we should get going"
Jesse chuckled at my comment and then told Cee Cee he'd see her around school. By the time we had silently made our way over to the parking lot, Jesse, to my disappointment had pulled on a blue t-shirt.
"Let me get that for you" He said, opening up the passenger door for me.
"Thanks. It's nice to see chivalry still exists" I smiled, placing my bag between my feet.
Jesse walked around to the driver's seat, got in and started the engine.
"Geez, yeah I think I'm starting to feel the effects now… I'm burning up" I moaned, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. "Can we please put the air-con on?"
"Certainly. You do look very hot" Jesse said, instantly regretting his choice of words as he noticed me blushing. "Alright then, um… You'll have to give me directions"
"Oh yeah, of course. I'll let you know where to turn" I said partly through gritted teeth.
"That's going to hurt tomorrow" He said, giving me a sympathetic smile.
"Hmm, maybe I can get a day off school…" I said while looking out the window.
See, something good has come out of this after all. Well, besides being in the car with Jesse… I briefly had a look at him and smiled to myself.
I'll definitely admit it… I'm falling for him.