“No-no-no. I’m happy you’re coming.”
Liar.
I smiled again and looked out to the sea, turning my face away from him so he didn’t notice how fast my smile dropped.
A moment passed before Oliver spoke again.
“We should’ve brought our swimsuits." His lips twitched with a mischievous smile. “Then again.”
“Oliver, don’t—”
He moved quickly, wrapping one arm behind my back and ducking to scoop up my legs, holding me firmly against his chest as he turned for the water.
“Please-please put me down.” I tried and failed to make sure my dress hadn’t ridden up too far. Pushing against his chest with no luck as he kept walking into the water, I quickly pulled my shoulder bag over my head and tossed it onto the dry sand further away. Right in time for his arms to buckle. He stumbled when his foot sank into the sand, losing his balance and letting me go.
I fell into the knee-deep water, landing hard on my tailbone before a wave crashed over my head, soaking me completely. Even with the high temperatures today, the cool water came as a shock to my system as I quickly jumped to my feet. My dress was almost completely sheer, clinging tightly to my body. I peeled the fabric away from my skin, wishing I hadn’t worn black underwear.
Oliver wasn’t nearly as soaked, standing in the water with droplets on his shorts and laughing through an apology as he offered me a hand. I tried to pretend I hadn’t noticed how his eyes traveled down.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, biting back his grin.
Ignoring his outstretched hand, I pressed my lips together in a tight-lipped smile, brushing my wet hair from my face before wrapping my arms around my chest and trudging out of the water. Sandals squelching as I went.
“I think I should go home,” I said quietly, picking up my bag and attempting to unstick the dress from my legs. When I looked at Oliver, his smile was gone.
“I was only having a little fun...” He rubbed the back of his head, frowning as he looked down.
“I know.” I pulled my arms around myself once more. “I just— I want to rinse the salt water off…”
And hide away from everyone’s stares.
He dropped his hand and half smiled. “Yeah, of course.”
Oliver led the way back to the car, looking over his shoulder every so often as if to check I was still following.
Walking back to his car in the full sun dried me out enough that my hair was no longer dripping, but the dress held water like a sponge. I rang out the hem so it wasn’t sticking to my thighs anymore, ignoring the brief glances from strangers as we passed them on the beach and in the parking lot.
Damp and smelling of seaweed, I climbed into the front seat. Oliver surprisingly wasn’t too worried about the seat getting wet as he turned on the AC to help speed up the drying process. I clenched my teeth as the cool air on my damp skin brought on shivering and goosebumps.
Oliver took the route through Bensonhurst to get back to my apartment in Bay Ridge, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel to a song on the radio. His mind was far from thinking about what just happened. Or how it tainted any chance we might have. He seemed to believe everything was fine.
I needed to say something, at least before he came to the family barbeque on the weekend. But just as I went to open my mouth the car jolted.
“What the hell?” Oliver frowned at the dashboard before the car jolted again and steam began slipping through the gaps in the hood.
He managed to pull over alongside a busy sidewalk lined with little shops, cafes, and takeaway places. The car only survived long enough for him to put it into park before it sputtered more steam.
“This shouldn’t take too long,” he said, smiling confidently as he climbed out of the car and walked around to the front of the hood.
I didn’t know a lot about cars, but I remembered Dad mentioning something about letting an engine cool before touching it. Oliver was about to have his eyebrows burned off his face.
Unclicking my belt, I quickly opened my door and stood in the gutter. “Don’t touch it yet—”
The hood popped up and a thick cloud of white steam hissed up from the engine, blocking Oliver from view as he stumbled back from the heat. Luckily for him, his eyebrows remained intact as he waved the steam away from his face.
I let out a small sigh and stepped out from behind the door to stand in the sun with my damp hair and clothes. My arms remained folded across my chest as I watched Oliver peer through the dying steam.
“What happened?” I asked as I stepped in beside him. The question was more to kill the awkward silence as he referred to his phone for assistance, glancing from the screen to the engine, and then back to the screen.
