Friendship on Fire

by Danielle Weiler

  ‘No. I didn’t mean it like that. Never mind. It’s probably weirding you out,’ he said, picking up the DVDs and spreading them in front of us. ‘So what are we watching first?’

  ‘You choose. I’ll choose the first lot of lollies to be devoured.’

  ‘Sweet.’

  Amazingly, we got through three packets of lollies by the end of the first movie, another two by the end of the second, and by the third, I was feeling like my head would explode from a massive sugar high. Roman and I were rolling around on the carpet clutching our stomachs and laughing hysterically. There was a crazy lolly party in our stomachs and every sweet that was ever created was invited.

  We decided to watch one more movie and then agreed I’d crash on the couch and he’d walk me home in the morning. There was one small problem. We couldn’t decide which movie to end the night on. It was funny; we’d agreed on the three other movies, but couldn’t agree on the last one. We were always doing silly things like that. I wanted to watch Defiance, but he didn’t because it was ‘too Hitler’.

  Roman wanted to watch Transformers, but I didn’t because it was unrealistic. I mean, a movie about a bunch of cartoon action figurines? Yawn.

  He had his head in the bag of lollies so I took my chance. I grabbed the remote control and the DVD and scampered to the machine to put in Defiance.

  ‘Oh no you don’t,’ he said, lunging after me and reaching for the remote. Luckily, we had placed a heap of beanbags on the carpet in his living room in unspoken preparation for such an event. I held the remote above my head while trying to negotiate the DVD player. After wildly pressing buttons and slapping Roman’s hands away, the DVD finally went in and I pressed play. Roman grabbed at the remote and tugged. I held it firm. He tried to pry my fingers off it, one at a time. I still held it firm.

  ‘Haha, I win,’ I squealed and bounded back to the couch. I put the remote down the back of my cargo pants and pulled the blanket up so he couldn’t find it. Innocently, I grinned at him and started to watch the credits roll. My whole body trembled in anticipation at the war that was about to erupt.

  ‘As if. I haven’t even started yet,’ he said cheekily, slowly reaching over for my blanket. ‘And I still have to get you back for English …’

  ‘You’ll never find it,’ I screamed, loudly for that time of night. ‘You’ll never win.’

  ‘Oh yeah?’

  Swift as a lion taking down its prey, Roman pulled the blanket off me, rolled me over to pin my arms under my stomach and secured my legs down with one knee. Then he pulled the remote slowly out of my back pocket.

  ‘Now listen,’ he said, breathing into my ear. ‘Because I’m a gentleman, I’ll let you watch this movie, even though I really don’t want to watch it. But just for the record, I win.’

  Shaking, I pulled his leg hairs until he let me up and then threw a redskin at him.

  sn’t it such a beautiful day?’ I gushed, breathing in the salt air deeply. Nate stopped to let me walk ahead and enjoy a moment of my own with my favourite place in Twin Rocks, South Beach. I ran to the water’s edge to dip my toes in the water; gauge whether it was freezing or not. Clear, ice-cold water nipped at my warm feet. Goose bumps rolled up my legs, on to my arms and into my hair.

  I was wearing my pink bikinis under a blue summer dress and was dying to get into the water and splash around. It was perfect weather for a swim, but my self-conscious mind was overbearing. What would Nate think of my body? Yes, he had seen me in a bra and skirt, so a bikini top wouldn’t be much different, but what about the rest of me? What if he didn’t want me?

  Nate drew beside me and laid his hand on my lower back. His other hand was out, offering to take my thongs to carry as well as his own. The wind pulled at his hair, making it wild and disobedient.

  I loved it.

  Being at the beach made me feel alive. The sun beating down on my skin, the soft sand squishing between my toes, together with the push and pull of the waves, were powerful reminders of the intricacies involved in creating such a place.

  I waded further into the water, not caring that my dress was getting wet at my knees. Slowly I stepped, careful not to scratch my feet on the small pebbles and reef at the bottom, and gasping with delight at the way the cold water energised my spirit. Nate laughed, following my lead. My arms were in the air, balancing my steps.

  Nate had chosen quite a secluded part of South Beach; a little C-shaped basin a few kilometres up from the communal swimming areas where I would usually walk or sit on the rocks to write in my diary and relax my mind. This place was special, with unique rock formations and stunningly green grassed areas.

  We had picnic stuff in the car ready for brunch, courtesy of Nate’s fine chef skills that I had yet to test, and there were plenty of places along the top of the basin where I’d have been very happy to spend all my spare days lying down, staring at the clouds and admiring the crashing waves.

  A short way from the basin were the remains of a shipwreck. They were completely rusted and bent, the structure of the hull barely recognisable. Brass and red blended with green and brown seaweed to form a part of history that fascinated me. Who had been on board the wreck? Did they crash into rocks? Had anyone survived?

  ‘Let’s go look at the wreckage,’ I squealed, and splashed back out of the water. Nate happily followed, chuckling at my excitement, intent on letting me enjoy myself.

  I ran around the site to check it out from every angle. I stood under it, trying to work out what it might have looked like in its prime. It was the coolest mystery in the world.

  I trotted to Nate and threw my arms around his neck. My toes sank into the sand as I tried to stand on tiptoes to gaze into his deep brown eyes. His arms snaked around my back tightly and held me taller.

  ‘So you like it, huh?’ he asked, looking very pleased with himself.

  ‘I love it. This was the best idea,’ I said, waving my arm in the general direction of the wreck. ‘Did you know this was my favourite beach?’

  While I waited for his reply I nuzzled my nose and lips into his shirt, smelling the warmth of his aftershave. It made me dizzy, like I wanted to jump inside his skin.

  ‘Of course I did — hey. Quit it. That tickles,’ he said, stepping away from my prying mouth.

  I pouted and put on my big eyes. ‘I only wanted to kiss your neck.’

  ‘Can you do it without tickling then, please?’

  He pulled me to him again and I could feel his back brace as I resumed my neck kissing.

  ‘You were saying?’ my voice muffled into his neck.

  ‘Um. I forget.’

  ‘My favourite beach?’ I said, running my lips down to his collarbone.

  ‘Uh, yeah, I overheard you talking to your mum about it a while back and made a mental note. Now, can you stop that? We’re in a public place, so behave yourself,’ he gently scolded, raising his eyebrows at me but with a cheeky smirk on his face.

  I burst out laughing and pushed him away. ‘Don’t even begin to try that one on me. I know very well you’d be up for anything right here and now whether the sun was out or not.’

  OK, so maybe that was untrue. But I was sure it was a fair comment.

  ‘Oh you do, do you Greeny?’ he asked in a low voice, closing the gap between us again. Excitement ran up my spine. It settled in my head and made it giddy with anticipation. Watching his body movements, I planned my escape carefully from his coming form. I made my dash to the left, stupidly thinking I could outrun him to the small cave over the rise of the sand.

  And what then? Hide in there?

  Nate took two easy steps to his right, lunging out with one arm to lock me around the waist and hold me firmly. I squealed with laughter as he swung me up like a child to carry me with both arms towards the water.

  ‘Nate. Stop. Put me down,’ I screamed, but to no avail. No guy had ever picked me up at the beach like this. I was surprised he could carry me, but I shouldn’t have been; he was tall and toned.

 
; ‘No chance,’ he said, steadily making his way back into the water. ‘You need to learn a lesson. You hurt my feelings, you know.’

  ‘Whatever.’

  I tried to reach his neck again to disable him but he turned his head away. ‘I’d say it again if I had reason to.’

  So much for not getting his shorts wet. We were thigh deep in cold salt water but I didn’t want him to let me go. The feeling of being carried in his warm arms was incomparable.

  ‘Is that so? Then here’s your chance,’ he whispered into my ear, gently biting it after his challenge. I shivered.

  ‘Fine. You’d do anything in public if I wanted you to. Admit it,’ I teased, staring into his brown eyes.

  His lips twitched with amusement. Then he dumped me in the ocean water and let me scramble my way back to the surface. He was laughing with his hand over his mouth, while slowly backing away to the shore. I knew from last week in the pool with Roman that I had no chance of dumping him back into the water, so I took my punishment and promised to find a way to avenge myself later.

  ‘What am I supposed to wear home now? I only brought my summer dress and a towel. I’m drenched,’ I complained, though not really caring.

  ‘You’ll have to go home naked,’ Nate shrugged. ‘It’s not my fault you can’t remember to take your dress off before getting into the water.’

  I wanted to slap his arm. I wanted to sit on him and pull his hair and give him nipple cripples. It wasn’t the most lady-like thought process, but his flirty taunts were driving me insane. The chemistry between us built uncontrollably when we were alone and thus started this type of dangerous banter.

  I chased him all the way to our towels. Just as he leant over to pick up a clean one for me, maybe trying to make peace, I pushed him in the side and sent both of us crashing into the soft white sand with a thud.

  ‘Hey, is this the right way to show a guy you like him?’ he started, but was cut off by my very demanding, very passionate kiss. Turning slightly so that he was on his back, his long arms pulled me on top of him, my wet dress and hair dripping through his clothes. His hands ran through my hair and down to the back of my thighs, and I completely lost reason.

  I had to stop this. Once again, my attraction to Nate was getting in the way of sense. Giving him one final kiss, I sat up and pulled the other towel out of my bag, and wrapped it around me.

  Nate propped himself up on his elbows, squinting at me through the sun.

  ‘Did I do something wrong?’ he asked cautiously.

  ‘Did you do something wrong? ‘ I repeated, nearly laughing at how far he’d missed the mark. ‘No, it’s not anything like that. What you are doing is very … good,’ I finished sheepishly. I wasn’t experienced enough with this sort of thing to say it without feeling shy.

  ‘Oh. So what’s the problem then?’

  He started brushing sand off his legs while I thought about my response.

  ‘It’s … too good.’ Great. Glad we cleared that one up.

  ‘Wow. I mean that’s something that all guys hope to hear from girls eventually … but we weren’t doing anything serious,’ he said, choosing his words carefully.

  ‘I know. But I’m not used to this.’ I waved my hand at the sand. ‘Kissing yes, but not, you know, this. I feel like I’m losing control.’

  ‘That’s kind of the point,’ he replied gently. His chocolate eyes burnt holes into mine and I had to look away.

  ‘I guess so. Don’t laugh at me. I’ve never felt so attracted to someone before. It’s hard for me to talk about with you,’ I said, kicking tufts of sand on to some seaweed.

  ‘I feel the same way; you’re amazing. You get used to it, all this stuff. There are plenty of better things to come later. You haven’t seen half of it,’ he said playfully.

  I squirmed under his knowledge. I knew I was still quite innocent compared to other girls my age. He already knew how to do the things I only dreamt about. I was way behind him and it showed the closer we got.

  ‘Nate, why do you like me? I mean, when you can have other girls like Skye or Tiffany.’

  ‘Hey, I’m not with you for only the physical stuff. I’m with you because I like you. You are fun. I have to chase you. You challenge my mind in ways those girls never could. This,’ he pointed at my body, and I froze, ‘is a bonus.’

  ‘Really? Because if you wanted to end it now I wouldn’t hold it against you. Well I’d be cut, of course, don’t get me wrong, but if that’s the kind of thing you are looking for in a girl … then …’ I stopped myself, knowing I was rambling.

  ‘It’s not. Don’t worry about it. I’ll teach you everything you need to know, if the time comes. I hope it does, but I’m not in a hurry. Let’s enjoy ourselves and not worry about the future. It’ll happen if and when it’s ready to happen.’

  My stomach quivered at the thought. ‘OK. I won’t bring it up again.’

  Nate shook his head. ‘You can bring it up as much as you like, babe, but not when we’re in the middle of kissing, please. I was enjoying myself.’

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Promise?’ He cocked his head, trying to catch my eye and show me it was all right.

  ‘Fine, it’s a deal. Now show me what’s for brunch. I’m hungry.’ I smiled at him coyly and he ran to his car to get our food.

  I hugged myself inside my towel. The sun was warm on my back and I felt secure. Nate was shaping up to be a great boyfriend. Or whatever he was. I decided then that I wouldn’t question him about our relationship title; I would enjoy who we were and the fun we were having in the moment.

  I needed to work on my trust and here was the perfect opportunity.

  y salty, green striped, ranga hair stuck to my face in an unruly fashion. I couldn’t find any more bobby pins in my beach bag and my hair would not behave. The wind and salt from the water had encouraged it to spring forth in any direction it chose, so much so that I couldn’t see the soccer ball flying towards my face in time to clear a path.

  Now, lying on the grass in a daze, with people standing around me in a strange halo shape above my head, I wished I had arrived a few minutes later and missed the game after all.

  ‘Daisy, are you OK?’ someone asked, concern in their voice.

  I liked their voice. It was husky, and manly. Would they be single?

  ‘How many fingers?’ another gorgeous voice asked. They were making the peace sign in front of my eyes, so close that I wanted to slap their hand away for invading my personal space.

  ‘Concentrate, Daisy, how many fingers can you see?’ said yet another voice.

  Was I at a party?

  I squinted into the annoying fist of fingers. There were two. No wait, now four. Or was it three? Did one finger join the one next to it?

  ‘Too many. Go away,’ I groaned, head pounding.

  ‘I think you guys better take her off,’ said a girl’s voice. What was a girl doing on a men’s soccer team? Was she butch?

  Someone lifted me up gently and curved my head into the crook of their shoulder. The arms felt familiar; strong and warm. I squinted at this person’s hair and tried to focus on the style and shape.

  ‘Nate?’ I asked softly.

  He laughed. ‘Yes babe, it’s me. You copped a good one in the head.’

  ‘One of what? Why are there so many people at the beach? I don’t like them watching us.’ All this confusion was giving me such a big headache.

  ‘Me either. I’ll explain later. I’ll go now and chase them all away. Lie down here and relax.’ He appeared in my vision and kissed my forehead before running away. Were they boots he was wearing? Why would you wear boots at the beach?

  Rach appeared at my side, tugging my arm. ‘Daisy? Are you hurt much?’

  I tried to pull my arm away from her small, annoying hands. ‘Quit tugging would you? I’m right here.’

  ‘Sorry. How is your head?’ She was frowning at my forehead.

  ‘How would I know? I’ve only just woken up,’ I snapped.


  She hid a smile and patted my leg. ‘Fine, I’ll sit with you for a bit while you wake up, then. Is that all right?’

  ‘Whatever,’ I said, and leant back to rest on the grass, eyes fluttering open and shut. Slowly I came around and realised with embarrassment what must have happened. I watched the remainder of the soccer game quietly, sipping on my water bottle, with Rachael turning around to check on me every so often.

  After the match, I heard Rach and Nate talking softly a little way from where I was lying. She was laughing and touching his forearm. If my head didn’t hurt so much I might have felt uncomfortable at their body language, but I couldn’t ask what it was about now. I’d probably said enough stupid things in the past hour to last a lifetime.

  Nate put me to bed as soon as we got home, but not without hundreds of questions from Mum and Dad and teasing from Treston.

  ‘What happened to her?’ Mum asked, looking worried.

  ‘What’d you do? Were you driving too fast? What have I said about you driving too fast with my daughter in your car?’ That was Dad.

  ‘Nice work. Gotta get her drunk to spend time with you?’ Josh teased, thoroughly uninterested.

  ‘I’m really tired,’ I croaked.

  ‘You should have seen her at the match. She was such a pothead. It was hilarious,’ said Treston. To Mum, he said, ‘She got hit in the head with the soccer ball and we reckon she’s got mild concussion. Silly girl stood there and watched the ball come at her.’ He shook his head.

  Well you would too if you couldn’t actually see it, I grumbled inside my pounding head.

  ‘I’m putting her to bed now,’ Nate informed everyone and Dad opened my door for him, scowling as he passed his shoulder.

  ‘Don’t worry about them,’ I said, still sleepy. ‘You are my hero, Nathaniel Frederick …’

  His warm chuckle tickled my ear before I was sound asleep.

  ‘Daisy, wake up,’ Mum’s voice said urgently. ‘Your alarm has been going off for ages. You’ll be late if you don’t get up right now.’