intra|

Why was I here?

I again peered around the corner of the building I was hiding behind, looking down the boardwalk aisle formed by two lines of shops and stalls. People were all walking along; people whom I didn't know. Gripping onto the wall, I inhaled deeply. Maybe for some reason, Eric couldn't show up. Then I could just go back home and forget abou-

"What are you doing?"

I whirled around while simultaneously backing into the wall. Eric stood in front of me with an excited yet suspecting expression. He tilted his head to look around the corner. "What were you looking for?" he asked carefully.

Of course he was here. He wouldn't miss this date for anything. "Nothing," I hurriedly supplied. "Nothing at all."

"Whatever you say," he told me after a short pause. Then, as if recalling his purpose at the location, a slow smile appeared on his face. "Now. To our date."

The shaking in my chest spiked upward and I felt my stomach turn. "You know, I'm feeling kind of sick," I said, not entirely lying.

"Oh, no," Eric said, dragging out the 'oh.' "I've waited three years for this opportunity and I'm not going to let it just slip past my fingers. So let's get going."

In one swift movement, he took one of my hands in his and started walking, tugging me along. I stumbled as I followed after him, lowering my head to stare at the wooden boards under my feet as I felt a blush rise to my face. Who gave him permission to hold my hand?

Strangely, it didn't feel too bad. It's kind of nice, I found myself thinking absentmindedly.

For a while, we did nothing but walk. We didn't even start a conversation. But, even without talking, strolling around in and of itself was fine for me.

"Let's go down to the shore!" he said enthusiastically after several minutes, pointing with his free hand toward the beach. He turned to look at me. "Okay?"

Why was he asking me? I didn't want a say in any-

Halfway through opening my mouth to reply with a direct "no," I met Eric's eyes.

It was a mistake to do that if I wanted to refuse him, because the task became more difficult by tenfold - somehow. I couldn't even determine what it was in those irises suddenly made me feel like I didn't have a reason to not agree.

I looked away before mumbling, "Sure, whatever."

I didn't see his expression, but I could assume that his face lit up at my response. The next moment, I found myself being yanked in the direction of the beach by one arm, having to practically sprint to keep up without having my shoulder dislocated. Even though I hadn't done any running since middle school, in a way it felt kind of...exhilarating.  

Eric breathed in exaggeratedly when we arrived, grinning in satisfaction. I followed the gesture with less conspicuousness, taking in the crisp scent of salt to my lungs.

"The weather is nice," he commented lightly. Then, he suddenly reached down to his feet and began to onehandedly pry his shoes off. "Let's go in the ocean!"

"Whoa; wait a minute!" I protested, subconsciously grabbing onto his arm. He paused and glanced at me, positioned on one leg. "It's...like, fall weather," I told him. "It's too cold to go in the water."

He clicked his tongue at me, as if pitying me for not being able to understand why he wanted to enter the water. "Shin Hyesung, no one goes to the beach and doesn't go in the water," he said childishly. "Where's the fun in that?" He nudged me civilly away with his elbow as he continued to remove his left shoe. "You hurry up and take off your shoes and socks, too."

Oh, no. I shook my head. I didn't have anything against the ocean, but I wasn't about to let myself enjoy this date more than my intentions allowed.

"Listen, dude," he told me, dropping his left shoe and sock carelessly on the blanket of sand. "I don't care what you take off or don't take off; I will drag you screaming into that water if I have to."

While he proceeded to yank off his other shoe, I replied, "I'm pretty sure that's illegal on some level."

Another shoe and another sock rolled a couple of inches as they hit the ground. Eric eyed me with a smirk. "Do I look like I care about the law right now?"

I responded by fumbling for my shoelaces.

I barely even revealed my feet before Eric twined his fingers around my wrist and pulled me again, this time directly to the crashing waves. A sense of dread came over me. I didn't like getting very wet when I wasn't in waterproof clothes.

Although, I should've known that my lovely companion wouldn't mind it at all.

The water rushed in around my ankles, reaching nearly to my waist by the time Eric stopped running. The water was surprisingly warm for the latter half of the day, when the temperature was dropping. "This is awesome!" Eric exclaimed. I didn't doubt for a second that what he said was the complete truth.

"And there's no one else here!" he said. I glanced around, noting that he was right - the beach was totally empty. He flashed a smile at the sky. "Hyesungie and I can own the whole ocean!"

What a pathetic, childish guy he was. I couldn't help but break into laughter. In three years, his personality really hadn't changed a single bit.

When I stopped laughing, I found him staring at me in wonder. It made me fidget, the small waves around my legs shifting with me. "What?" I finally asked when he didn't remove his gaze.

He blinked twice before answering with a question: "Did I just make you laugh?"

I felt my face turn a shade of red. "Why? What's wrong with that?" I spluttered.

He gave me a short but happy chuckle. "Nothing. It..." He trailed off, thinking of what to say, and I waited. He then said, "It just amazes me that you actually might be having fun on this date instead of it only being an obligation." He sighed contently. "It sounds weird, but I'm so glad you got sick before taking the test."

I sloshed my legs around in the water, kicking up wet sand from under my feet. "Yeah, um...about that..."

"Mm-hmm?" he answered, flinging up little droplets of saltwater with his fingers.

"I wasn't actually sick."

Eric halted all movement, his hands slightly submerged as he remained bent over. "What does that mean?" he asked, not revealing any emotion with his voice.

I squished sand in between my toes and curled a fist around the cloth of my pants. Well, there was no taking back anything now. I breathed in strongly before forcing myself to say, "I didn't have a cold. I was completely healthy when I was taking that test. On the last two multiple choice questions, I circled the wrong answers."

He straightened up at looked at me. "On purpose?"

I was not nearly forward enough for this. But still, I needed to make everything clear:

"I kinda - only a little, though...I kinda wanted to go on a date with you."

I directed my eyes at the deep blue waters, avoiding looking him. I couldn't do that, not after what I had just told him.

I didn't hear him say anything for a while. My pulse quickened as the seconds dragged on. After some long moments, I heard the water moving around his figure as he took powerful strides over to me, grabbing onto the sleeve of my shirt and dragging me toward shore.

"Wait! Where are we going?" I asked. He hadn't even replied! What was I supposed to get from that?

"Somewhere where the two of us can talk in private so that I'm the only one who hears any of this," he told me, letting go of my shirt. "Follow me."

It turned out his decision was the infamous Ferris wheel. I wasn't one for rides like that, but since Eric insisted on it, I deemed that this would be the only way to receive an answer.

Back with our socks and shoes on, we toppled into one car of the Ferris wheel. I sat across from him and watched him carefully for a reaction as he shut the door. Nothing. He sat with his hands in his lap and looking out the window.

The car moved. Higher and higher the wheel brought us, and still nothing. Did I have to bring it up again? No way. This was Eric; he wouldn't completely ignore something like that...would he?

I was starting to get angry as he kept on remaining silent. Why did I even bother? Maybe these past three years were only a nice little amusement for him. Maybe he didn't like me at all.

That random thought unexpecteldy stabbed me in the chest.

"You lost to me on purpose, knowing that it would end up here?" he abruptly said, shattering the stillness between us.

"Yeah," I answered in irritation. "I did. What of it?"

"Are you being serious? You're not playing around with me, are you?"

My anger flared up. This was the response I was getting? Doubt? "Yeah, okay! I'm playing around with you! Because I'm the kind of person that has enough nerve to go off and practically confess to someone as a joke." I was about to stand up for emphasis, but then realized that I wasn't exactly fond of anything that could make the car unbalanced. So I stayed in my seat.

Eric shut his eyes, raising his arms to his head and covering his face. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound suspicious of you. I...I just spent the past three years thinking that it'd be one-sided my whole life. When you break something like that to me in one second..."

He kept his palms to his face. I guessed that he was still letting it all sink in. Meanwhile, I looked out the window as we nearly reached the top of the Ferris wheel, the ground becoming more and more distant. Suddenly, I felt a little guilty for snapping at him. How could I even blame him for being shocked? I always gave the impression of being indifferent toward him. He couldn't know for sure if I was being serious, even though I was.

"I feel like I'm going to cry," Eric said from opposite me.

"No need to be that relieved," I answered quietly.

"Yes, there is a need," he argued, dropping his arms to his side and looking at me. "Do you understand the feeling of having the person you love, love you back?"

Making myself meet his gaze, I answered firmly, "Of course I do. Especially since he's been showing that love for me for more hours than I can count."

Oh my god. I couldn't believe I just said that.

It brightened Eric up nonetheless. "You..." He never finished that thought. Instead, he shook his head, as if still in disbelief. "But, do you know what this means? It means that now we're dating!"

I could see all the gears that were rotating in his brain, picturing the many scenarios that were now possibilities due to crossing the line into "dating mode." I sighed. I supposed I couldn't kill his dreaming.

"What made you start to like me?" he asked. "No, no. Answer this first: when did you first start to like me?"

Under any other circumstances, I would have avoided the question. But I had to do something to compensate for his diligence in pursuing me for so long, right?

"I don't know," I said. "Maybe that time you when you carried me to the nurse's office after I hurt my leg during gym class." Recalling the memory, I felt myself smile in reminiscence and nostalgia. "You were so panicked then. It was hilarious."

"Hey, can I kiss you?"

My jaw dropped an inch at his question. "What?" I said on pure impulse. Here I was, deep in memories because of his question and he...he pops that one on me?

He opened his mouth to actually repeat it but I interrupted him. "Why would you even ask me that?" My face was definitely getting red again. "Is that something people ask?"

He paused to think about it. "Well, no. I think they just go ahead and do it. But I didn't want to offend you and then make you get mad at me." He then perked up, grinning. "Since you have such an aversion to me asking, I guess I'll just kiss you whenever I want, then."

"Wait, that isn't what I-"

He lunged toward me. I jerked backward upon instinct, shutting my eyes tightly. When I dared to open them, I found Eric standing over me with his hands placed on my seat, barring my legs in between them. I swallowed, my heart pounding. Afraid to look him in the eye, I stared at my thighs instead.

The car rocked slightly back and forth from Eric's sudden movement. "You know, I think it matters less when you began to like me and more that you actually do in the first place," he told me, his voice deep from next to my ear.

My breathing became short. Is he going to kiss me? I thought. Kiss me.

Dammit, Eric. Do it.

At that exact moment the car's door opened. I turned my head frantically to see that we had already arrived at the ground again. Unfortunately, Eric didn't seem to have enough instinct at that moment to get away from me.

"Welcome back, custo-" The Ferris wheel attendant looked into the car, her smile gradually fading as she took in the situation. I could only imagine what she was going through her head as she saw one customer practically on top of the other. In the privacy of a Ferris wheel car.

Oh, crap.

Moments later, Eric and I roamed the boardwalk again. He was way too calm for the situation, and I felt like I would faint any minute because of the steam that was surely rising from the top of my head.

"That was so embarrassing," I said. Actually, that word didn't sum it up at all. "Humiliating." How could I think such a thing? Just because I liked him, didn't mean I had to become desperate for skin contact. Or lip contact.

I was losing my sanity. I really was.

"Well, if you just let me kiss you when I asked, that wouldn't have happened," Eric retorted, thinking that I was referring to the part when we got caught in that very questionable pose. "If it were over and done with, do you think we would've been in that awkward position by the time we reached the ground? Nope."

I glared at him. That was his logic?

What exactly did I see in him?

"You don't do that sort of thing in a public area in the first place," I told him, almost stammering.

"Oh, really?" he snapped, insulted.

His tone spurred me on. "Yeah, really!"

His eyes flashed dangerously mischievous. I shuffled away from him one step after seeing it, but I wasn't able to distance myself in time. He reached out, held my face with both hands, and pressed his lips to mine.

I stood still, completely dumbfounded as he shifted his mouth slightly to deepen the kiss. Oh my god.

No. My heart wouldn't be able to handle this. I closed my eyes, dulling out my other senses. I didn't know how much time was passing.

...Like I cared.

When he finally released me, I felt like I would topple over. My lips burned, and so did my lungs from a lack of oxygen. But that was okay. It was more than okay.

"I can't believe this isn't a dream," Eric mumbled, running the tips of his fingers across his lips. "I can't believe this isn't a dream."

"Shut up," I muttered, shoving his shoulder. "I can't believe that you just did that to me."

"Please," he scoffed, the elation obvious in his voice. "You loved it."

I was going to physically wound him someday. I gritted my teeth before heading away.

"I'll kiss you everyday!" he told me loudly. "Every single day after school! And maybe before school. Heck, why not during school?"

I failed at suppressing a smile. What a doofus.

I heard his steps on the wood underneath our shoes as he walked to catch up with my pace. Sighing, I reached behind me until I found his hand, holding onto it and slightly pulling him forward until he was striding next to me.

He gave me a confused and surprised glance. "What was that for?"

I didn't answer for a few seconds. Part of me wanted to leave it a secret, if only for fun, but that wouldn't be very fair.

My eyes met his as I said, "I don't want you following behind me anymore."

|~|

u_u I CAN'T WRITE FLUFF I'M SORRY >///< and my head was everywhere during this so I apologize if it's all over the place.

...

Oh, and I forgot to ask last chapter, but what do you guys think of this layout? :3 I used this as an experiment to see if readers liked it. It does take some time to make so if it's not that great I won't spend time on it before creating fanfics.

Thanks for reading!