“I told you, no!” He swims closer. “But I do need to apologize.”
“For what?”
“For breaking my promise to you.”
I watch a droplet of water roll down his forehead and off the tip of his nose. “You don’t want to stick to the plan?”
“That’s not what I mean.” He swims closer again.
“Okay, then what do you mean?”
He gazes back toward the fire smouldering on the beach. “I never promised you I’d stick to the plan.”
“You did. In the storeroom. We shook on it.”
He swims closer, close enough to touch. “That wasn’t it.”
“Yeah, you said—”
“No.” He’s inches away from me now, our naked bodies on an underwater collision course. “You said no catching feelings.”
“Yeah,” I say, the word snagging in my throat.
“And I promised.”
“Oh.” My reply is barely more than a breath as he comes closer.
“I don’t like breaking promises.”
I nod.
“But it’s too late, now.”
He presses his chest up against mine. My heart is pounding, or maybe it’s his—I can’t tell. We swirl in a circle, so close we breathe each other’s breath. My whole body feels electrified, every lap of water against my skin feels like a caress. And then—
“Oh my god!” I’m jolted out of the moment by something cold and slimy against my foot.
“What?” says Kei, alarmed.
“Something touched me! It was so gross!”
“Rude,” he says, grinning sheepishly. “I was just trying to kiss you.”
I burst into laughter, but then his words register. “Wait, what?”
“You heard me,” he says, his voice husky.
This time I swim to him. “Oh shit,” I say, flinching. “It touched me again.”
Kei smiles, that kind, crinkle-eyed smile of his. He puts his hand on my hip and pulls me a little closer. “Are you scared?” he breathes.
I look at his mouth. A mouth I’ve kissed so many times, in front of so many other people. But never just for me, just for us.
“Terrified.”
And then, with no cameras rolling, no one watching, no one voting, just the lake, the moon and us…
He kisses me.
