Chapter 21: : Chapter 21

‘Sh! They’re coming. Shut the hell up, I swear to god!’ I hiss at my friends. They haven’t stopped teasing me about the comment the girl next to Florence said and I don’t want her to hear it. She told me that I’m confusing her last night and I’m pretty sure the guys making comments about how whipped I am won’t help that.

The last thing I want is to lead Flo on when I’m not sure what I want in the first place.

‘Almost done, guys. Come on!’ Marcus cheers the two girls on as they get closer. He’s really warmed up to Florence but I guess she just has that effect. Even on a guarded person like Marcus.

The girls pretty much collapse as soon as they crossed the finish line while I and the guys start cheering for them. The race ended like fifteen minutes ago but it’s a really Florence thing to do to finish it either way.

‘I will never move again,’ Florence announces. She finishes untying the rope binding her to her friend and lays down on her back.

‘Remind me to think twice before agreeing to one of your ideas the next time,’ the other girl says. ‘I’m Sarah, by the way,’ she adds as an afterthought, not sitting up to look at us.

‘Nice to meet you. Now, Lorence, you do know that it was a race, right? You were supposed to run,’ Orion teases her.

‘It’s impossible to run while being bound to another person!’ Florence protests.

‘Is it, Elija?’ At my name, Florence raises her head softly. Her eyes find mine in a heartbeat and even though she looks exhausted my heart skips a beat.

‘You guys won?’ she asks, sounding like she already knows the answer. I smile at her and nod. ‘How long?’

‘Six minutes,’ I tell her, trying not to sound too smug. Truth is, Marcus and I totally rocked this task.

‘Six?’ Florence exclaims while her friend groans. ‘It’s so unfair! Of course, you finish four times faster with legs as long as yours!’

‘Five,’ Benji chimes in.

‘What?’ Florence officially looks lost and it’s so adorable I want to scream.

‘They finished five times faster,’ my friend clarifies.

‘Sure! Now you can do math! If I were able to get up, I’d totally hit you!’ the short girl announces. Seems all it takes is little sleep, a hangover, and thirty minutes of exercise for Florence to turn feisty.

‘You wouldn’t hurt a fly, Flo. Your threat would have been more believable if you had mentioned a flying bigfoot,’ Benji retorts.

‘You are the worst friend,’ she pouts, lying back down.

‘You want a hug?’ he offers in return. I can see the girl smiling but she shakes her head.

‘I’m sweaty and gross.’

‘Well, I know a way to fix that.’ In a heartbeat, Benji picks the girl up while she voices loud protests and more threats. I consider coming to her rescue but she seems to be enjoying herself even as she kicks her feet and pounds her little fist against my friend’s chest.

Jamie has already pulled out his phone by the time our friend has reached the end of the docks.

‘Benji, I swear-‘ Before Florence can finish her sentence, she’s thrown towards the water and her words turn into a shriek. That ends with a loud splash and a lot of cheers from my friends.

The rest of our group, including Sarah who seems to be wide awake now that there’s drama, has gathered on the docks as well. Jamie pushes Orion into the water to my right, only to be pulled in with Elsa. While the others laugh, I pull off my shirt and sprint toward Benji.

‘No! Elija, don’t you dare!’ Too late does he see my attack coming. I duck to wrap my arms around his waist and tackle him off the dock, going in with him.

The water feels like heaven on my hot skin so I relish the feeling a second longer before coming up for air.

‘Not cool, dude!’ Benji protests before splashing water in my face.

‘Oh, you don’t get to speak,’ Florence appears behind my friend, placing her hands on his shoulders before she pushes him beneath the water.

‘If you’re not careful, we’re going to have a Regulus situation on our hands,’ I tell the girl, causing her jaw to drop.

‘You didn’t just!’ she exclaims before letting go of Benji to swim closer to me.

‘Oh but I did.’

‘From all the jokes!’ she goes on, her outrage apparent. Meanwhile, I’m a bit distracted by the way her eyes pop now that her hair seems almost black. They’re usually pulled back but now they’re framing her face. She looks painfully beautiful, even as she’s glaring at me.

‘Sorry, Love. Won’t happen again,’ I assure her. She freezes mid-stroke and I realize what I just called her.

Shit, shit, shit! Damnit Elija, what about not confusing her? Okay, we’re fine. Just gotta play it off before it settles in.

I laugh and splash some water towards the girl, trying to seem as relaxed as possible. She breaks out of her stupor, thank god, though my heart is still doing cartwheels. I want a nickname for her like the others do but it won’t be Love. It’s a cute name but I’d want something more personal. Every person can be called Love while Florence deserves something as extraordinary as she is.

I’m not talking about her bubbly attitude or everlasting happiness that’s a façade half of the time. I’m talking about the unnecessary apologies, the too-long stares, the tapping rhythm, hell, even the flower patterns and hair clips she wears every day.

Speaking of which.

‘When’d you let your hair down?’ I ask her. I must seem really random to her but I won’t overthink it.

‘My hair?’ she trails off, reaching for the brown strands over her shoulder. Then realization dawns on her and her face falls drastically, her smile replaced by apparent panic. ‘My clip!’

Her eyes leave mine to search the dark blue water around us while her hands frantically try to swipe it away to get a better view. The sight of her freaking out over an accessory confuses me at first but then my brain catches up that it must’ve had some sentimental value.

I want to help Florence with the search but she needs to calm down first because right now she’s just making waves. Literally.

‘Florence,’ I call her softly.

‘No, no, no! I need to find it,’ she mutters but I get the feeling the words aren’t really meant for me. After trying to call her name one more time, I swim over and gently place my hands on her shoulders. Not going to lie, I’m really close to drowning now that I have to keep myself afloat with my legs only while taking care not to kick the girl in front of me but I’ll have to make it work.

‘Florence, we’ll find it. Deep breaths, okay?’ She finally meets my eyes, letting me see the unshed tears inside them.

‘I can’t lose it,’ she tells me softly.

‘We’ll find it but you need to calm down. Can you do that?’ The girl takes a deep breath and nods slowly. ‘Good,’ I tell her before turning in the general direction my friends are in. ‘Guys! Get your asses over here, we have a hairclip to find!’

My friends don’t question it but silently get to work, diving into the area I assigned them to. Liam’s the only one still on the dock rather than in the water. It’s probably better this way though. All that hair product couldn’t be good for the water.

After about twenty minutes of holding my breath dangerously long and making my eyes burn from the exposure to the murky water my, hands finally find the familiar plastic. I grab the clip and push myself up towards the surface for what’s hopefully the last time. I’ve never been gladder to see the color sage, let me tell you.

‘Got it!’ I announce, receiving some tired whoops from my friends. They haven’t left any more than I and Florence have and even Liam joined the search after some convincing on Jamie’s part. No idea how he can deal with that guy.

‘You found it! Holy shit, thank you so much!’ Florence exclaims before throwing her arms around my shoulders. This is probably the first time I’ve heard the girl swear. She must really love that hairclip.

‘Florence, as much as I’d love to hug you for longer, my legs are about to give up on me and no matter how poetic it sounds, I don’t feel like dying a hero,’ I tell the girl. She lets go of me, apologizes, and blushes profusely.

That’s my Florence.

I mean- The Florence I know.