Fact no.15: Paintball is hot

APRIL

I've been ignoring Coin for a few days now. Better said, a week. He was indeed waiting for me in front of the bathroom door that night but Dia asked him to leave. For once in his life, he listened.

I spend my days with Cami, Kai and Dia at the beach. Coin leaves in the morning and comes back somewhen after lunch. He joins us then, but we don't talk. I feel his gaze on me though. The entire time. As if he wants to say something but can't bring himself to do it.

I don't know what's worse. Talking and swearing at him the whole time or not talking at all.

We're all sitting on our towels now. Cami cuddling with Kai, me and Dia sharing a towel and me braiding her hair and Coin on another towel, looking at his phone. I know he's texting with the Fab Five. Someone sent him a reel earlier and as he opened it, Taylor Swift music started playing loud. That could only mean one person. Jacob.

I saw how Dia next to me tensed as the music started playing. She must also have realized it was Jacob. Dia and Jacob is what I call soulmates. They are both music obsessed, but while Dia is more Lana del Rey, Jacob is a pure swiftie. Dia is mysterious and shy, never saying much, always keeping her feelings inside her, while Jacob is the complete opposite. Always smiling and talking, making jokes and laughing. The two would make such a good couple. But of course, they can't be together. Because of Leo. Dia never said she loved Jacob and I also think she doesn't know it yet, since all she thinks about when it comes to love is Leo. Jacob made no sign until now of loving Dia, but I can see it. In the way he looks and talks to her. Some part of him wants her.

I just hope he'll one day get her.

"So, I was thinking", Cami begins and we are already paying attention to her. She was the one who brought us to that party. And even though it didn't well so well for me, it still was a fun experience. Kai and Cami had a great time attending their first event as an official couple. Dia talked to this guy from a band, Miguel, who agreed to let her sing with him a few times this Summer. Dia is a music major at Wrencore, who wishes to become a singer one day. She was happy to hear she can get some gigs with this band and add it to her experience.

Overall, the night didn't suck.

"Some friends of mine from college are going to play paintball tomorrow. They invited us to come. Would you like to join?"

Would I like to let out my aggression by shooting at moving living targets? Hell yeah.

"Sure", I say. Dia nods too. Coin only shrugs and agrees. Kai has already agreed the moment Cami opened her mouth.

"Great. We'll have fun. And my friends already can't wait to meet you", Cami adds while taking out her phone and texting someone, probably telling her friends we said yes.

Something inside me tells me we'll indeed have fun.

NOAH

If you asked me how I pictured this Summer to be like, wearing a big black vest and a weapon in my hand wouldn't have been my top guess. Yet here I am, ready to play paintball with my best friend's fiancée's friends.

Yay.

The only good thing is that April is here as well. She's been ignoring me ever since I crashed her date at that party and then told her I didn't hate her. And she called me Noah. Noah. She hasn't called me like that since high school junior year. And given the fact I just finished junior year in college and am on my way of becoming a senior, that says a lot.

Cami introduces us to her friends, a bunch of other college students, and then we make the teams. The teams are made randomly through an app. I definitely get high school flashbacks right now, when we couldn't decide how to make the teams and the teachers gave up and used their "magic" app. I am selected in the red team, along with two other girls, one with blue hair that introduced herself as Gabi and a blonde haired whose name is Adella. There's two guys in our team apart from me, one called Roberto and another called Carlos. And then there's...April. Who gives me a death stare the moment she finds out we were paired together.

Great.

The captains, in our case Gabi, gather us all around and start planning a strategy.

"So, we'll have to split up. I'd say we'll go in teams of two. I can go with Carlos. Ade, you take Rob. April, Noah, would you like to go together?", she asks. Kai introduced me by my first name earlier so the girl used that.

It didn't make my heart beat faster like it does when April calls me that way.

"We hate each other", is all April says.

Gabi raises an eyebrow, not knowing what to say. Carlos comes to help her: "That's a pity, but this way each one of the partners know each other. Gabi and I are together. Ade and Rob are best friends who have known each other since preschool. You two know each other best from all of us."

And how well I know her.

April rolls her eyes annoyed and says: "Fine. But I can't promise he'll come back in one piece."

"I bet he won't", says the blonde one, Ade, already eye-fucking me. April must have noticed since she sighs annoyed and grabs me by my wrist, leading me away to where Gabi said we should start.

We're hiding behind a tree on the arena, barely one metre away from each other. I can already feel her warmth and scent. She smells like summer. Like something sweet and cozy.

"Were you jealous?", I ask her, smirk on.

"Of?", she replies, clearly not understanding.

"Ade. And her comment", I explain. Smirk still on.

"As if", she scoffs. "I was not jealous."

"You kinda were", I reply, wanting to tease her. It feels so good to tease her.

"No, I was not."

"I am sure Adella would be thrilled to hear that."

"Be my guest. Tell her."

"Would you mind?"

"I wouldn't mind."

"Me telling her or me fucking her?"

She sighs and rolls her eyes. She looks so cute when she does that. Someone blows a whistle in the distance announcing the game has begun.

"I wouldn't be jealous", April answers, looking at the field once and making me a sign to follow her. I obey. "There's nothing between us", she adds. She must have known that would hurt me. It did. But I don't let it show.

I don't say anything else after that and we continue shooting and making our way around the field. It's only after a while that I manage to ask her.

"Have you thought about it?"

"About what?", she counters, her voice cold as ice. I am sure she knows what I am talking about but doesn't want to bring the subject.

"If you are willing to give me another chance", I explain. From the way she swallows hard, it was clear she knew that was what I was talking about.

"I haven't", she lets out, trying to sound as matter-of-factly as possible. It doesn't work as planned. Her lip is trembling and her voice shaking.

"I really meant it, precious", I say, grabbing her wrist and stopping her to place. She tries to look at the ground but I lift her chin up with my fingers to make our eyes meet. She wants to look away at first, but she then holds my gaze: "I really want to show you I've changed. Be a better man for you. I lo-"

"Don't say it", she cuts me short, covering my mouth with her finger. "Please. Don't say it."

"But I mean it."

"You were supposed to hate me."

"But I don't hate you. I never did. I didn't want to scare you off, telling you I still lo-"

"Don't."

I take a deep breath. "Will you please give me another chance? Please. I'll prove it to you. I won't say it, but I'll prove it to you."

And that's when I see it. A small ball filled with color, flying in April's direction.

"Get down", I yell, throwing myself on her and forcing her to the side. Our bodies land on the ground and I keep her between my arms, wrapped like in a cocoon, so that she doesn't hurt herself.

We're still lying there, her body on mine, closer than we've ever been in these last few months. Years. I can feel her warm, her heartbeat. It's electrifying. I can also feel how I get hard. And how my body reacts to her. She must have sensed it too, since she whispers:

"Noah, you're..."

She called me Noah again. I plan on telling her right then. Tell her how much I love her, tell her how much I need her, how I only ever was hers.

But instead, I see more balls with color flying to us. So, I grab her wrist and lead her behind some empty trash cans that were part of the deco. We duck behind them, our backs leaning against the cans as we're sitting next to each other. I still can't fight the feeling of being hard. My pants show it too.

April sees it and says: "Oh gosh".

I have to smirk: "That's what you do to me, precious."

"Only you could make that sound so dirty", she counters.

Because it is. It is very dirty. So are my thoughts of what I want to do to her know.

Sounds of tiny things hitting the cans show us that we're still surrounded. April looks at me wondering what to do. I want to answer but I can see she's coming up with a plan. She has her thinking face on. I let her work her magic.

"Give me your gun", she lets out after a while.

"Are you out of your mind?", I reply. If she thinks I'll just let her walk right in the middle of the danger zone, she must be imagining. I'm not going to let her do that.

"Give me the fucking gun, Noah", she insists.

"You want me to fuck you with the gun?", I ask.

"I don't think that's even possible", April replies, her mouth twitched in one corner.

Oh, I could make that possible. "We could make it work if that's what you want."

April laughs. I swear, she laughs. And reaches out her hand for me to give her the weapon. I hand it to her, although I'm kinda afraid of what will come. April stands up, one gun in each hand and begins. She shoots so many paintballs that the area around us is covered in paint. I take my time to admire her. I don't think I've seen something hotter in my life. Her confidence. The way her curls fly with the wind while her eyes are focused on the target.

I'm messed up. And it's all her related.

"Cruel evil woman", I let out. April smirks.

"Let's go", she says, and I look up to find the area cleared. There are people cursing at her in Spanish and I flip them off. No one curses at my girl. Only I do.

She grabs my wrist and leads me to another pair of cans so we can duck behind them. As we're sitting next to each other again, shoulders touching, I look at her and whisper:

"Well, that was hot."

She lets out a broken laugh now and looks at me, our eyes meeting. I brush off a curl from her forehead, tucking it behind her ear. April shivers under my touch.

"I think I thought about it", she says after a while, her voice barely a whisper.

"You have?", I ask, my heart making a jump. It always does when I'm close to her.

"Mhm", she replies nodding. "I think I'll give you another chance."

I don't know when it happened, but I can swear I can feel tears sliding down my cheeks. She notices and wipes them away, cupping my face with her palms. I chuckle at her and she smiles.

"But can we please keep it away from Kai at first? He doesn't know about us having dated in the first place and I wouldn't want to hurt him", she adds. So Kai still hasn't told her he knows. Grabbing at any thread of hope to win her back, I nod agreeing with her. She smiles.

"I won't let you down. I promise", I tell her.

She looks away, hurt flickers through her eyes. "I hope."

I want to add something else but a whistle blows in the distance, announcing us the game is over and that we won. I share a look with April, both of our faces glowing with victory. I take her hand and curl our fingers.

We chuckle.

And my body is filled with butterflies once again.