"Whoa there, girlfriend. Are you spending a day with us on the beach or are you trying to get some tonight?"

You turned around and saw your best friend’s eyes scrutinize your body. She stood beside you, also in her bikini, and squeezed out some sunscreen.

"So what if I’m trying to get some?" you giggled and looked at yourself in the mirror. It had been a stressful week and you looked forward to relaxing today. It was just a bonus that you had found your most flattering bikini set in the back of your closet.

"Are you after that new guy?"

You shrugged, not knowing what she meant. “Whoever catches my eye today."

She gasped and you looked over at her shiny-with-sunscreen face. "He’s coming today, isn’t he?"

You cocked your head to the side. “Who?"

"You know I’m bad with names!" she said as she lightly slapped your arm. “That guy you’ve been crushing on for the past year!"

You shrugged again and picked up your bag. “Is he?" you asked, walking away with a devilish smile on your lips. “I didn’t know."

Your best friend gave you an encouraging thumbs up.

-

A wolf whistle sounded behind you and you turned to find two strangers undressing you with their eyes.

"Gross," you muttered under your breath.

You heard a laugh and your crush fall into step with you. “If you didn’t want them to holler at you, you should’ve covered up like I told you to."

"And I already told you, I can’t!" you hissed.

"Why not?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

You rolled your eyes. “I’ll let you in a little secret, okay? When girls dress up, they want certain guys to notice them but not others."

"So you want a certain guy to notice you?"

"Of course!" you blurted out. When you sensed his eyes on you, urging you to tell him more, you quieted down. “I mean, it’d just be nice to have him notice me sometimes."

"Your crush?"

You nodded, trying not to look too much like a fool.

He looked around with his hand shielding his eyes as if he was looking for treasure. “Is he someone in our group?"

"Of course he is," you sneered. How could he not know that he was your crush? You’d been dropping hints left and right since…since forever!

"Then you don’t have to worry. Everybody in our group has already noticed you today," he remarked with a grin.

You punched him on the shoulder and he pretended to look hurt. Not you, you wanted to say. You’re the only one who didn’t say anything good about me yet.

"But do you really think you’re going to attract your crush just with these pink ruffles?" he asked as his fingers played with the fabric by your hip.

"What are you doing!" you squeaked and jumped away.

His eyes were big and apologetic as he watched you frantically cover yourself. “Nothing…"

"I thought you were going to pull off my swim suit!"

"There’s barely anything left to see," he mumbled as if he was talking to himself but you heard his words pretty clearly.

You shoved him to the side until his feet had landed in the water. The rest of your friends were way ahead of you and you didn’t bother catching up to them. You stood above your crush with your hands on your hips. “You wanna say that again?" you said with a scowl.

He didn’t seem to find you very intimidating though, and suddenly his hand reached up to pull you into the water too.

"Ah!" you screamed as he sent a huge splash in your direction. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t produce a wave as big as he did.

You chased him, trying to get your revenge, until you realized the water was up to your chest. An idea popped into your head. You dove under the water and loosened the string on the bottom half of your bikini.

If he didn’t like the pink ruffles so much, then they could go. Your plan was to hold onto your bikini bottom but tell him that you had lost it. Then he’d have to be a gentleman and look for it for you.

But of course, he wouldn’t find it.

He was still oblivious as you swam towards him, acting as if you were simply chasing him again. In reality, you were trying to shimmy your way out of your bikini.

"You’re never going to catch me!" he teased and zipped away, sending a swirl of water to block your vision. You backed up to wipe your face and found a rock sitting behind you.

You used it to kick off.

!

You immediately surfaced again but this time you weren’t after your crush. Your hands came up to cover yourself as you desperately looked for your bikini top under the water.

How did that come off but not your bikini bottom?

It was no good to be fully so you quickly tied the loosened string just as your crush was swimming towards you.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, sweeping his hair up and out of his eyes.

You covered yourself again and nodded. What were you supposed to say? Hey, I’m nearly right in front of you!

He seemed to understand when he saw that your bikini straps had disappeared. “Oh…" he said, blinking in astonishment.

"Help me!"

He ran his fingers through his hair and looked around him. There was no trace of the pink bikini top but there were no people either. “My bag’s on shore, right near the water. I’ve got a towel there."

You shook your head and bit your lip. “I can’t go up like this!"

"Don’t worry," he hooked an arm around your shoulders and pulled you against him. “I’ll cover you."

The two of you glided to shore and you kept your eyes to the water. You didn’t want to see any of the men who had whistled at you earlier.

Your crush brought you even closer to him as he reached for his bag. “They’re trying not to look," he whispered, referring to the men with a chuckle. “They think I’m your boyfriend."

You looked up and saw him shooting a glare at anybody who dared take a peek. He quickly brought the towel over your body and brushed the wet strands of hair off your face.

"Better?" he asked as you looked around nervously, trying to keep your eyes on anything but him. “I promise I didn’t see anything either," he whispered in your ear.

You turned and saw his gentle smile. Before you could even fully comprehend how much you liked that smile, your lips were already on his. “Thank you," you murmured as his arms came around you.

—-

_{ladies, if you got it, fLaUnT iT ~~~~~~~~}