Chapter Forty-Five

Caliegh's POV

I was woken with the sound of my phone going off several times; someone was either texting me a really long story, or really wanted my attention. Half asleep, I rolled over and yanked my phone off the charging chord and looked at my phone. It took a while for my eyes to focus, but I saw the majority of the texts I had gotten were from none other than Gil (a few were from my sister, but they were only to remind me of our beach trip today). I scrolled through the texts, and couldn't help but smile.

"Morning, you." "u awake?" "wake up sleepy head" "I know ur hugging ur pillow" "u wish it was me" "wake uuup" "I'll be at ur house at 12:30" Those were among the various texts he had sent me.

"I'm up" I typed, I hesitated for a moment, added, "So what if I wished it was you?" then deleted it and sent only what I had initially typed. I rolled over onto my back, staring up at the ceiling, proceeding to kick my blankets off. If he is going to be here at twelve thirty, then I had better start getting read, I thought, sighing to myself. I swung my feet over the edge of my queen-sized bed, yawning and groping the bedside table for my glasses. After sliding them onto, I shuffled to the linen closet to find a towel, then headed straight for the bathroom to take a quick shower (even though it was pointless since we were going to the beach, but I hadn't taken one the night prior).

. "took u long enough gott" Gil texted back. A grin twitched at the corner of my lips as I turned the shower on, flinging off my shirt. I slowly sat on the edge of the shower, quickly responding.

"You love me."

"don't rub it in" He inserted a smiley face after it, which only made me giggle to myself.

"Brb, I've got to take a shower."

"Oooooh that's a nice image" I rolled my eyes slightly, grinning softly. I set my phone down on the counter, peeling off the rest of my clothes and getting into the shower.

O~O~O~O~O~O

I never realized how difficult it was to choose a bathing suit until I noticed that I was going to the beach with a bunch of guys. Which meant I needed to look somewhat nice. So there I was, standing at the foot of my bed in my robe with wet hair, staring at my array of at least five or six different bathing suits. A red two-piece for when I played volleyball or whatever at the beach, a black one-piece from when I was on the swim team, a plaid tankini which I only wore when I was swimming alone or in a private pool, a fairly revealing cherry patterned bikini with ruffles, and a blue two-piece with a skirt (which is what I usually wore).

Because I was so concentrated on the bathing suits, I hadn't even realized Josh had nudged the door open and was currently sneaking into my bathroom, most likely to steal my hairbrush since he always loses his. I whipped around to face him. "Joshua! Which bathing suit?" I asked frantically, looking up at him. He looked puzzled.

"Uh, that black one." I shook my head.

"That one isn't very impressive…" I muttered. I paused for a moment, turning slowly to him again. "You're a teenage guy. Which would you most like to see a girl in?" A flustered blush crossed his freckled face, and he shifted his weight, sticking his tongue in his cheek.

"Well, um…" His eyes then lit up, and a sly grin soon formed on his lips. "Aren't you going with Gilbert? That one, then." He pointed to the cherry one. "Red's a nice color on you, right? You have like, five thousand red shirts and stuff."

I hesitated. "I dunno, that one's kind of…revealing…" Josh rushed over to the bed, shoving the bathing suit in my face.

"You've worn it before, and it's not like it's some skimpy bathing suit with two triangles as the top. It covers fairly well, taking in consideration the design for a lot of other ones. Wear it. Make Gilbert get tur-"

I snatched the bathing suit from his grasp. "Thank you for your help, you've done much." I drove him out of my room, bolting the door shut behind him. I stared at the bathing suit in my hands, humming slightly under my breath.

O~O~O~O~O~O

By twelve thirty, the promised time for Gil's arrival, I was already sitting on the stairs of our front porch. My hair was pulled into a messy ponytail, I had put my contacts in, I did end up wearing that cherry-printed bathing suit, and I had even snuck into my mother's room to use some of her water-proof makeup so that I didn't have to face them (mostly Gil though…) with my bare face which was covered in odd acne scars from around seventh grade. Ew.

My spirits were oddly high today. I couldn't avoid jittering my leg as I waited for Gil to roll up my driveway in his car. I hopped to my feet, immediately sliding into the back seat behind him when he pulled up. "Aren'tyou excited, Kay." Gil turned around in his seat to grin back at me. A flashed a small smile back at him. "I haven't seen you so happy, honestly." He nudged Francis with his elbow, raised his eyebrows in some suggestive manner, then reached back and patted my head.

"Well I haven't seen the two of you in forever." I crooned, perching my elbows on the back of his seat. "I would give you hugs, but we're in a car." Francis chuckled to himself.

"When we get there."

After driving about forty-five minutes to Gabby's house to pick her up, the ride to the beach was another hour. In all honesty, I was ready to get out, but Gil had made it fun by turning up the radio and singing along loudly and annoyingly to songs that were either common radio hits or some German band that none of us even knew the words to the songs (they were good bands though). He had also rolled down the windows and leaned out during stop lights to communicate with the people in other cars. At one point he had convinced us to stick one arm each out the window and flap our arms to make the car "fly" (which was pretty stupid, but none of us could stop laughing whenever we saw the looks of people in the cars next to us). None of us hesitated in scrambling out of the car when we arrived.

Antonio was leaning against the hood of his car not too far away, and to my surprise, had Lovino scowling next to him. "Lovi said he only came forlas chicas bonitas, but I knew he wanted to spend time with me," He giggled after hugging us each tightly. We all took our respective belongings and trudged our way through the hot sand, finding a nice secluded place close to the shore.

Now Gil wasn't one to dawdle when it came to going shirtless, so he was the first to rip his t-shirt off and expose his albino chest. Surprisingly, he wasn't as toned and muscled as I thought he was going to be. While he was relatively strong and did work out, you could hardly tell just by looking at his lean build. It was also obvious that he didn't tan very well, because even though it was summer he was still very ashen and didn't have obvious tan lines, either. I caught myself staring only when he came over to me and pulled on the hem of my tank top.

"Come on, if you're allowed to check me out, can't I check you out?" My cheeks flushed, and I slowly pulled my tank top over my head. Gil let out a low whistle, smirking softly. "Are the shorts coming off?" I shook my head quickly. I already had them unbuttoned and unzipped, but they were notcoming down any further off my waist. He pouted slightly, bending down to get the sunscreen from his bag, holding it up and raising his eyebrows.

"Is that the rub-on kind?" I furrowed my eyebrows together, gagging. "That stuff is sticky. I can just use mine." I didn't even get the chance to get my own from my bag, because before I knew it he had dragged me to the side and started rubbing the cold goo on my back. I shrieked, whining and whimpering to express my obvious hatred for the despicable liquid. He teasingly rubbed the lotion down my sides and to my lower back, and images that honestly should not have been there floated into my mind. I was too lost in these horrid and dirty thoughts to realize Gil's hand had made its way to the string that tied my top around the back, and had casually untied the knot. I shrilled, clutching the front to avoid the bathing suit from showing anything, rounding on him and smacking him hard on the arm. "Tie it back, you bastard!" I demanded.

"It was an accident, I swear!" He was laughing, but tied the knot back nonetheless into a cute little bow. After staying silent for a few seconds, I once again regained my pride and grabbed the lotion from his hands.

"Let me get your back, now."

"Ooh, okay," Unfortunately there was no way to even possibly get him back in the same way , so I had to settle with the red mark that was forming on his arm. I immediately felt bad, and pursed my lips together while rubbing the lotion on his back and having to stand on tip-toes to get the top of his shoulders.

"Does that hurt too badly? The place where I hit you. That must've, um, stung." Gil turned and looked uncharacteristically shocked at what I had said.

"Do you feel bad? Nein! I deserved that, I was in no place to embarrass such a lady," He gave a genuine smile that just made me feel even worse about what I had done. For some reason touching his bare skin was making me, I don't know, feel tingly inside? All I knew was that my stomach was churning oddly and my skin felt hot. "So are you going to swim?" I snapped out of it, though that heated feeling never left.

"Hell no. Why don't we go bond with Toni?"

"Fiiine." But when we looked over to where he was when we last saw him, he was no longer there. Instead he was with Lovino a short distance away. He said something, beaming proudly, which only made Lovino smack him and turn back to the girls they were talking to. "Maybe we should leave them."

"You're right, Lovino is enjoying himself." I nodded curtly. We sat in silence for a few minutes, just awkwardly standing in the sand and looking out into the ocean. "We should go for a walk." I said, really only to break the silence. He smiled broadly at me, linking his arm in mine and pulling me forward.

"Shall we?" I attempted to hold back my smile, but I clearly failed, and instead held onto his arm in return.

"You're so stupid. In a good way." Gil pulled me along towards the water. I tensed a little, clinging tighter to him. He smirked, leaning down to my ear.

"What's wrong?" His hot breath tickled my neck, and I dug my nails into his arm so to not shudder with pleasure (don't get the wrong idea, please. But it did feel…nice). "Are you scared of something?"

"No. Yes. The ocean. I didn't say anything, though." Gil drew backed and just cooed with admiration.

"Oh, you're cute. Afraid of the ocean. How badly? Can I get you to touch the water? I thought you loved swimming."

"I do. In a chlorinated pool where no filthy creatures are living."

"Will you get in a little?" He pleaded, taking both of my hands and swinging them. He really needed to stop touching me, because that strange feeling was just getting worse…

"No." Gil raised his eyebrows.

"Well I didn't want to have it come to this." I was about to counter him with an argument, but before I could he had picked me up and threw me over his shoulder like her had done many times before. My eyes widened and I started instinctively hitting at him.

"Not again! Put me down!" He clicked his tongue and started walking to the ocean, which only made my heart start pounding more. "Gilbert Beilschmidt, put me down. Down, I say!" I didn't want to have to injure him any further, but currently I was about to get dumped into the depths of the ocean where the terrifying creatures of the sea were inhabited. So, as a result from my panic attack, I brought my foot back and kicked him right where it counted. Gil flinched and groaned, slowly putting me down and biting his lip from the pain.

"What the hell?" He moaned, rubbing his hands though his hair to try and ignore the throbbing pain going on in his lower section. I did feel bad (again), but I also was nervously shaking from the fact that I was almost dropped into pure terror.

"I told you, I'm afraid of the ocean. It's not funny."

"…ja. Sorry about that." I wanted to be angry, yet…I felt awful. I gave a small, magnanimous smile.

"You just wanted to have fun." He perked up slightly.

"So will you swim?"

"No." I crossed my arms, holding my chin up in a stubborn manner. Gil was slowly backing into the ocean, thinking that maybe the further he went away from me, the further into the water I would go. Like we were magnets or something. He ran into Francis and Gabby, who were wading in to join us. I heard him groan, and I cocked an eyebrow and gazed over at him. He looked somewhat frustrated, and after listening to Gabby for a moment, he frowned in disappointment. He said something that made Gabby laugh, which sparked something in my chest. …No. She was with Francis. After all, they were literally just making out in the ocean…

Gil marched back over to me. "Kay, I want you to take my hands." I did so without thinking twice. Which, holy shit, I probably should have thought twice. His palms were warm, and also a little wet from the salty water. His hands were much larger than mine, and practically ate my own. Metaphorically, of course. He slowly tugged my hands so that I was forced to walk out into the water with him. When my sister and Francis waded their way over, I knew I was in for some teasing of some kind.

"Yo, sis. Man up." I shot a glare at her, but then realized what she was about to do. She had always done this when we were kids, and I saw it coming, yet…

"Don't you dare." She slowly bent down in the water, and for a moment I thought she was just joshing with me, but then she drew back and splashed the murky water right at me. I coughed, sputtering the salty liquid from my lips. I glared, yet I couldn't help but smile at how childish my sister was being at the moment. "You know what, Little Sister?" I filled my hands with the wet sand, then flung it at her so it poured all over her. She shrieked, doing the same to me, then dashing off and diving under the water to avoid anything else from me. I gaped at her. "Bitch…" I splashed myself off a little, but then paused as I saw Antonio, the usually cheery Antonio, trudging through the sand with a glum expression.

Apparently, Lovino really had only come for the girls, and at this point was completely ignoring Antonio. I honestly didn't know what to say, but Francis suggested that we all play catch in the water, to which we all agreed with. For about half an hour, we all tossed the ball back and forth to each other. The guys all started finding creative ways to throw it, making even more of a game than it already was. By the time we were all finished, I had grown rather weary. So much so that I felt drunk.

And that is not even an exaggeration.

Because I was so tired, my steps were beginning to stagger. I couldn't stand up without swaying a little. My eyelids were getting heavy, and I wanted to curl up right there in the sand and fall asleep. I couldn't hear anything around me except the crashing waves and the occasional whisper of Gil's voice. He careful pulled me down to the beach blanket and into his lap, to which I did not protest. I felt his lips press down against my head and smile slightly, hugging me close. I knew at one point Gabby and Francis had gotten up to go somewhere, so I took that as a chance to snuggle closer to Gil.

"Hey…Gil…" I uttered softly, drunkenly.

"Ja?"

"I'm tired." He chuckled quietly.

"I know. So am I." I sighed softly, yawning into his chest. He slowly lay down, letting me rest on his chest. I slid my hips down onto the ground to be more comfortable, but still wrapped my leg around him and moved as close to him as I could. I laid my head on his biceps, yawning once again, allowing myself to be hugged close. That was the rest I could remember before falling asleep.

O~O~O~O~O~O

"Kay…wake up, dear." I sluggishly opened my eyes halfway. Gil was sitting up, smiling fondly down at me. I rubbed my eyes, glancing around. The beach was nearly empty; Antonio and Lovino were still sprawled out with their legs tangled together on their blanket a short distance away, and Francis and Gabby were nowhere to be seen. No matter…

"I fell asleep…" I mumbled airily.

"I know." Gil pulled me into his lap again, stroking my hair gently. He pressed a soft kiss to my head. I could feel him smiling. It was a nice feeling, knowing that he was right there. It made those butterflies come right back to fluttering about in my stomach, the heat and pressure rushing back to my chest.

"….Gil."

"Hm?"

"…I love you." I don't know what made me say it. Perhaps the foggy feeling I had. Either way, my head started spinning after I said the words. Because I realized…those three words were oh so very true. I tilted my head upwards to face him. I cupped his cheeks in my hands, gradually getting closer…closer…

He pressed his fingers to my lips. "Wait." A flash of panic crashed through me. I knew that was stupid, even trying it…"I want to be the one to kiss you. Not the other way around….because, Kay…I love you, too." He moved his hands down to my hips, gently pressing a soft kiss against my lips. We stayed there for a few seconds, not deepening the kiss any or even moving our lips too much. Just…kissing. Calmly, lovingly. And that was all I needed.