Beyond the Sea (11 page)

“S-sorry!” Peter said quickly, surprised with the venom in Melia’s voice. “I didn’t know that. That’s horrible”

“Yes. Horrible.”

“Adam likes sharks. He’s always talking about them. I bet he’d love it if you showed him some of your shark pictures.”

She smiled. “I’ll have to do that then. You love him, don’t you?”

“Yes,” he said with certainty. “I guess I’m the typical, overprotective older brother,” he added with a slight laugh.

Peter hugged her tighter. In comfortable silence, they walked up and down the shore. They sat on the stone steps leading to the parking lot. Melia looked up at the sky.

“It’s so beautiful,” she whispered, not really talking to Peter in particular.

“It is,” he agreed, tilting his head to the stars as well. “Makes you feel small, doesn’t it?”

She shook her head. “No. It reminds me that we are all connected.”

“How does it do that?”

“No matter who we are, no matter what we are doing, what we look like, we all look up at the same sky. No matter how different we are, the sun warms us just the same. The stars sparkle for every eye that gazes upon them.”

Impressed by the depth of her statement, Peter didn’t say anything. Instead he slid his fingers through hers and drew her near.

“Melia,” he spoke softly, his voice barely louder than the crashes of sleepy waves. His lips were close to her ear, his breath warm on her skin. She turned, so close their noses touched. “I really like you,” he admitted, though he was sure it was more than obvious.

“I like you too, Peter,” she whispered back.

He smiled nervously. “Do you want to go out with me?”

She was about to ask ‘where are we going?’ when she remembered that ‘going out’ was code for dating. “Yes, I would love to.”

Peter involuntarily squeezed her; he could not believe someone as hot, smart, interesting, pretty, nice, and well, just amazing would want to be with mundane him.
But it’s true
, he thought and kissed her again.

*

“You’re glowing,” Jamie squealed.

Alarmed, Melia looked at her arms.

“No, not literally glowing. It means you look really, really happy.”

“Oh,” Melia laughed. “I am!”

“And you should be, since Peter Anderson is now your boyfriend!” Jamie giggled. She shut her locker and leaned against it. “I’m so jealous of your date or whatever you call last night.” She hugged her books. “That is all so romantic!”

“It was!” Melia agreed, looking down the hall for Peter. “Are you sure you don’t care if I hang out with him tonight?”

“Of course not.”

“I don’t want to be one of those girls we hate.”

“Well, you’re not one of those girls who ditches her friends as soon as she gets a boyfriend,” she told Melia honestly. “You’re excited right now so it’s ok to hang out with him 24/7 for a while. Just don’t overdo the PDA thing, ok?”

“What’s PDA?” Melia asked, but before Jamie had a chance to explain, Peter walked up behind her and demonstrated.

He wanted to kiss her again. Though he and Melia had stayed up until after midnight talking and making out (well, more of the latter) he wasn’t tired. He had sprung out of bed, eager and excited to get to school to see his girlfriend. He snaked an arm around her, pulled her in and gave her a deep, passionate kiss. Her arms flew around him, enjoying the kiss as much as Peter but was more aware of her fellow students watching.

After reluctantly breaking apart, Peter said, “Hey Jamie. How are you?”

“Ok,” she said quietly. Peter quickly dropped off his books in his locker. The three of them walked to the courtyard. They sat at a table near the large fountain in the middle. Melia slid close to Peter and looped her arm though his.

“Why do magnets only stick to certain things?” she asked him.

He raised an eyebrow but answered her question. “It has to do with the poles and creating a magnetic field.”

“Then why don’t they stick to walls?”

“Walls aren’t ferrous.”

“Oh,” Melia said, nodding as if she understood.
 
Jamie stifled a giggle. She looked across the yard and met eyes with Jeff. He smiled and waved, beckoning her over.

“I’ll see you guys in class,” she told Melia and Peter and walked over to Jeff.

“Hey Jamie,” Jeff said brightly. He was sitting at a table with his friends CJ, Zack, and Giselle. Jamie smiled nervously, quietly said hello to everyone and sat next to Jeff. Giselle—or Elle, as she preferred—scoffed at Melia.

“Figures, a girl like her would get a guy like that.” She looked immediately at Jamie after saying that. Jamie had always been a little leery of Elle; not that Elle ever actually
did
anything to make Jamie not like her, but the energy she gave off was just…bad. Jamie could feel the grudge Elle held against her, she just had no idea what in the world it could be.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jamie snapped, too defensive to feel shy.

“Like you don’t know. Guys like Peter have a type, and they never stray from that type. It doesn’t matter how shallow or narrow minded she is, she just needs to look good on his arm to uphold his social status,” she said quickly.

“Melia’s not shallow or narrow minded. She’s nothing like the ‘type’ you’re thinking of. And actually,
you
are the narrow minded one for assuming that. Trust me; you have no idea who Melia is,” Jamie spat, surprising herself with her bluntness.

Looking enviously at Peter, Zack sighed. “What I wouldn’t give for a girl like that.”

“Dude, I know,” CJ agreed, looking up from a
Psychology Today
magazine.

Jamie knew Melia was a hard ten. She knew Melia could easily be a swimsuit model and win every beauty contest she entered. But she couldn’t help but wonder what the male population would think about her if they knew the truth. They would have to see it to believe it, of course. Would that make her a freak? Or, perhaps, even more enticing?

“Hey guys!” a cute, petite blonde called, striding up to their table. “Oh, Jamie, hi!”

“Hey Rosemary,” Jamie said back, happy for a distraction from conversation with Elle. Rosemary stood just over five feet. She wore pink dresses and braids and just looked like the sweetest girl in the world. And she was captain of the debate team. She never backed down from an argument and could talk her way into or out of almost anything. For the next few minutes Jamie felt very out of place. Jeff and his group of friends spoke of things she knew nothing about, reminiscing over the fun last weekend, planning for the upcoming one. She wanted to go back and sit with Melia. She turned to see if she and Peter were still by the fountain. Rosemary followed her gaze.

“Oh. My. God. They are so freaking cute!” she squealed, scrunching up her face. And they were. Peter and Melia sat angled toward each other. Peter held both of her hands and looked longingly into her eyes as he spoke. He must have said something funny, for Melia laughed, leaning toward him as she did so. Then he put a hand on her cheek, gently pulled her face forward and kissed her. “Well, there goes our chances for ‘cutest couple’,” she pouted. CJ shrugged.

Cutest couple?
Jamie wondered. CJ was tall, chubby and had ear length curly black hair. He and Rosemary made a very odd couple. She smiled at the thought.

“Yea, but they’re not a couple,” Elle pointed out.

“Yes they are,” Rosemary stated, looking right at Jamie. “Aren’t they?”

“Uh,” Jamie started, aware that everyone in the little group was staring at her. She didn’t want to go blabbing Melia’s business, but there really wasn’t a point in keeping it a secret. “Yes.”

“Told you,” Rosemary said. “I saw it on Facebook last night.”

Jamie felt a wave of proudness for Melia doing something so normal like that.

“Janet’s gonna be so pissed,” Rosemary continued.

“Why?” Jamie asked.

Rosemary looked at Jamie as if she asked is the sky blue. “He’s her ex.”

“Yea, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Jeff interjected.

“I’m, uh, gonna get my books,” Jamie mumbled, aware of the armload or textbooks in front of her. Ungracefully, she gathered them up and hurried to the covered hall that led to class. She hadn’t realized Jeff had followed until he said,

“Sorry if they upset you by talking about Melia like that. I know she’s your friend.”

“It’s ok,” she said quietly.

“Listen, give me a chance to redeem them, ok?” He slowed. So did Jamie. “What are you doing tomorrow night?”

She almost replied with ‘hanging out with Melia’ before remembering Melia would be with Peter. “Uh, nothing.”

“Well, if you’re interested you should come over. We watch old horror movies every other Friday. Lame I know, but we’re broke and bored and the tradition was born.” He smiled. “It’s my turn to host.”

Jamie looked at Melia; she would tell her to go. “Sure, sounds fun.”

-Chapter 5-

Peter took Melia’s hands in his. The Friday morning sun sparkled in her eyes. She looked fantastic again today in another short dress. If she didn’t look so good in dresses (and if they weren’t as short as they were) Peter would think it odd that she always wore them. He liked that she rarely wore make up and her hair was almost always down.

“Where do you want to go to dinner tonight?” he asked, unable to look away from her hypnotizing gaze.

“I don’t know. You should pick.”

“What kind of food do you like?”

“I like cheese,” she told him, smiling slightly.

He chuckled. “Ok. Hmm, where could we go for cheese?”

“Oh! I like Italian food,” she told him.

“Me too. And I know a place.” He beamed and squeezed her hands. “So, the movie, what do you want to see?”

“I like love stories,” she admitted. Jamie had warned her most guys hate romantic movies. But Peter didn’t miss a beat.

“Ok. Is there a particular one you want to see?”

“Yes. I can’t remember the name but it takes place in the old fashioned days.”

Peter nodded. “I’ve seen the previews.”

“Then can we go to the ocean?”

“Sure,” he eagerly agreed, recalling how enjoyable their trip to the beach was last night. He kissed her again. Her lips were soft. He knew it was stupid but he felt like something passed through them with every kiss. Like a spark or electricity or something. He let go of her hand and put his on her waist. Melia made the move this time. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him passionately.

She liked the way his body felt against hers. She liked how warm he was. She liked how safe she felt around him, how she didn’t feel like a fish out of water. And there was something about him that made him almost vulnerable. Melia couldn’t figure out what it was. When she slowly let go, she saw Connor gaping at them.

“Your friends are staring,” she whispered.

Peter turned and waved. “Oh, uh, yea.” He held her hand again, removing it from around his shoulders with a resentful sigh. He led her over to his friends. Melia smiled politely as Connor, Nate and Brian made their rounds of ‘good mornings’.

“I’m gonna go find Jamie,” she told Peter. “I’ll see you in class.”

“Ok.” Peter nodded, not wanting her to leave or to face the heckling he was sure to get from his friends.

Jamie had just walked into the building. “Jamie!” Melia called. Jamie stopped and turned.

“Where’s Peter?” Jamie asked, a little shocked to see Melia alone.

“With his friends.” She hooked her arm through Jamie’s. “I think I need help!”

“With what?”

“I can’t stop thinking about Peter! All I want to do is kiss him!”

Jamie laughed. “It’s ok. Just talk to me about it and you’ll feel better.”

“When I kiss him I feel warm and tingly.”

“Now
that
I can’t help you with,” she laughed again.

They crossed the hall and entered the chemistry lab. Melia let go of Jamie and set her books down. “What were you and Jeff talking about yesterday?”

Jamie couldn’t help but smile. “Nothing really. He invited me over for a movie night or something.”

Melia excitedly gasped. “You have a date!”

“No, it’s not a date.”

“But you’re going to the movies! Oh! Maybe we can double date!”

“Shh! No, I’m just going to his house to watch a movie. His friends will be there. It’s not a date at all. And,” she lowered her voice, “I don’t really want to go. I don’t know his friends very well.”

“Well, this
is
a perfect chance to get to know them.”

“I knew you’d say that.”

“He is totally gonna fall in love with you.”

“No he’s not.”

“I think so.” Melia flipped through her notes. “You two will sit by each other during the movie. Oh, hopefully it’s scary so you can hold his hand! And then when he walks you to your car, you’ll look up and see a shooting star. Then he will kiss you!”