Will
We sat on the sand watching the sea for a while,
Actually, Nico's the one who watches the sea while I watch him. From his black hair swaying in the light breeze to his eyes to his nose to his full and rosy lips to his chin, my eyes follow the outline of his face, his white skin seems so soft and smooth.
Nico is truly beautiful.
He doesn't seem to notice me staring, his attention on the sea. So many questions pass through my head and I don't even know how to start to look for answers.
"Do you like ice cream?" I ask Nico as I turn my eyes to the sea.
"Nothing against it," he says, and I cannot help but smile. Does he always resists in giving a direct answer?
I rise from the sand and reach out my hand to Nico, he looks at my hand suspiciously for a moment, but even so he hesitantly puts his hand on mine and I was right, his skin is really soft and smooth, the touch of his hand making me shiver.
I help Nico stand up and reluctantly let go of his hand. We both do our best to take the sand out of our clothes.
"There's an ice cream shop across the street. We can go there," I say.
"Okay, it's not like I have something better to do," he says, making me smile again.
We cross the street towards the ice cream shop. As we enter, we see several white round tables with red chairs around them that are well spread out in the cozy atmosphere of the store.
There is a very bored guy behind the counter.
After getting our ice creams, me a chocolate and strawberry milkshake and Nico chooses a lemon popsicle
We pick a table and get settled facing each other and for a while I watch Nico licking his popsicle, my milkshake completely forgotten as my thoughts fly loose.
"I really have to stop staring." I think, making a conscious effort to turn my head and look at the sea instead of at Nico's mouth.
I try to think of a subject, something I could ask, but Nico is faster than me.
"So… How come you're in Hawaii? Last I heard, you were staying in New York for the summer."
"Heard about me, uh?" I tease.
Nico rolls his eyes. "Save me from the ego trip, okay?"
I smile. "Okay. And to answer your question, it was a last-minute trip. My dad was here on business and instead of coming back home, he sent two plane tickets to my mother and here we are."
"Must have been a nice surprise, uh? Considering how much you like sand," Nico asks.
I chuckle. "Not really."
Nico seems surprised. "You're joking," he says.
"I'm serious."
"You didn't want to come to Hawaii?" he asks, skeptical.
"No," I say it again.
"Why? I thought this place was right up your alley."
"It is. I love Hawaii. It's beautiful here and so much fun, but I didn't really want to come. I had some matters I wanted to solve back in New York." I don't mention what these matters were to Nico. "But my mother was so excited about the trip and I didn't want to ruin her good mood."
Nico nods in understanding, but stays silent for a while, like he doesn't know what to say. "That's cool of you," he says at least.
This line is not at all characteristic of Nico. I think he really didn't know what to say and decided it to give a generic answer.
"Not really," I respond, curious about what will be his reaction to that.
His expression changes as if now he knows what to say. "You're right. You didn't do more than your obligation," he says.
The answer makes me smile. This is a response worthy of Nico Di Angelo.
"But it's still nice of you to take your mother's feelings into consideration," Nico continues.
I just nod, not knowing how to respond, but inside I feel a sense of accomplishment since I want Nico to change his view of me and I think I'm heading in the right direction.
"How about you? How come you're here? Considering your sworn hatred towards sand."
Nico chuckles.
"Recently, my parents celebrated their 20th anniversary and waited until summer to come and spend their vacation in Hawaii. A way for them to spend time with family and with each other as a couple, since apparently Hawaii is romantic."
"Apparently? Don't you think Hawaii is romantic?"
Nico looks at me in exasperation.
"I told you I don't like sand," he says again. His tone of voice is flat, making it clear his annoyance for having to repeat himself.
"I got that part, but maybe the problem isn't the sand. Maybe you just don't like getting dirty, which is a shame, since, you know, the most fun things to do in life are dirty," I say, fully aware of the double meaning present in my words.
Nico gasps momentarily while sucking his popsicle, which is still distracting me a lot.
"I cannot believe you just said that."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I say, pretending to be innocent.
"Aham," he says looking at me with narrow eyes, then leans back in his chair and gives me a malicious glance while smirking. "However, just so you know, I have no problem with getting dirty..." he pauses for a moment, generating suspense, "… When the reward is pleasurable."
And then it's my turn to choke on my milk shake.
"Touché," I say when I recover from choking. "Anyway, I understand your reasoning for not liking sand, but Hawaii has a lot more to offer."
"I know and I like the atmosphere and landscapes of Hawaii and I like to spend time with my parents, and I'll concede that Hawaii is indeed romantic, however that is part of the problem because without Hazel here I feel like the third wheel all the time I'm with my parents."
"So it's good that I'm here to keep you company," I say.
Nico watches me for a long moment, as if trying to make a decision. "The jury has not decided on that yet," he concludes.
Nico's sentence hangs in the air. I decide not to comment, since he has every right to still have doubts.
"But why do you feel like the third wheel? Don't you live with your parents every day?"
"Well, this is kind of a honeymoon for them and they want to do couple things since they are so clearly in love, but they don't want to leave me behind so they drag me along with them, which is not my idea of fun. In addition, they are such a sugary sweet couple that I am afraid of catching diabetes from all this sweetness," he says, wrinkling his nose at the end.
I laugh at his expression of disgust. Nico is showing me all these new expressions that are fascinating to me since I'm only used to see his expression of anger (which I think is very cute), so seeing him laughing and smiling today was new to me but it filled me with a very good feeling that I still cannot identify, but that makes me more anxious to discover all the different expressions of Nico.
"Maybe you'll change your mind when you fall in love," I say, my tone low and my eyes completely focused on Nico.
Nico holds my gaze. He seems to think of something for a moment, but then shakes his head as if discarding the thought.
"I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon," he says, directing his gaze out the window towards the sea.
"What about your parents? How are they?" Nico asks, looking genuinely curious.
"Kind of like yours in passion, and believe me when I say they have no trouble demonstrating their passion publicly," I say, smiling at Nico.
Nico smiles back. I continue:
"They are a fun couple. My mom is this person full of light and my dad is very funny."
"They sound like good parents."
"They are. And how are your parents? Besides being very passionate."
Nico smiles,
"They're incredible. My mom is the most generous woman I know and my dad, even though he looks hard on the outside, he really cares a lot and sometimes he can be overprotective of me and Hazel."
Before I can answer, Nico's cell phone rings. He quickly answers.
"Hello ... I'm at the ice cream shop facing the beach ... No ... A classmate at school ... um ... okay, I'm coming," Nico hangs up the phone. "I have to go," he tells me.
"I'll walk you to the hotel."
