Page 107 - You Only Live Once [BooksLD]

‘The waves are very strong here. Don’t enter the water if you can’t
swim?’

‘Can you?’
‘No.’

‘But I can, so don’t worry,’ she laughs.
I watch her play on the beach. I take my diary out and start writing for

the New Year’s Eve performance.
‘You are a coward!’ she says as I shoot down her every effort to drag me
into the sea. I give her all my attention, not missing even an opportunity to
flirt with her.

‘I will catch you!’ she screams as she runs after me.
‘Alara! You won’t be able to,’ I reply as I run away.

‘I will,’ she affirms and continues to chase me.
‘As you wish,’ I reply panting, as I stop a few meters away. She pants

and walks slowly towards me.
I don’t move an inch after this. We sit on the sand that glows against the
sunlight. It starts to get colder. The adrenaline from the chase starts to fade
away slowly. I feel a momentary chill wash down my body. I rub my palms

against each other to generate some feeble heat from the friction.
She does nothing but look at me, and for the first time since we met, I
feel some depth in her action. She wears a blue shirt, blue as the deepest
ocean, along with black shorts, both dripping with sea water.

I feel a bit awkward and gaze towards the sea. When you are attracted to
someone, you tend to check them out, starting from places that you are most
attracted to. I don’t want to come across as a guy who ogles and stares. I
need to win her over.

At that very instant I want to hold her, but my mind gets overwhelmed
with thoughts. Maybe she has decided to play the chase because she is
interested in me? Or maybe she just wants to make it easy for me to catch
her? Or maybe she isn’t fit enough to run some more? Men can never read

women. It almost frustrates me.
Finally, I push myself back on the sand and lie there as I look towards the
endless sky. She does the same. She continues to look at me. It’s getting me
equally excited and nervous. I stay calm.