I stayed quiet the entire drive to the beach out of fear of letting my giddy side show through. I liked to appear calm, cool, and collected, so I can't do that if I'm jumping around and squealing.

"We're here," Colby sang quietly as he parked the car in a parking space.

From inside the vehicle, I could hear the waves, quiet but surely there.

"Dude I love the ocean," I gasped as I climbed out of the car.

"Do you?" Colby asked in an obvious tone, and I remember briefly telling him about it one time in his office.

I shimmied off my bathing suit cover that only went up to my waist, throwing it on the floor of Colby's Corolla.

"Tell me why, when you have so much money, you drive this thing?" I asked, watching as he carefully removed his shirt as I had just done with my cover and threw it into the car.

"My mom got it for me," He informed, patting the roof as he shut the door, "For as long as I live I will never get rid of it,"

"Aw," I gushed, "That's sweet,"

"Thanks?" Colby made it sound more like a question than a statement, and when he walked around to my side of the car, I tried my best not to stare at his shirtless body.

Colby, to say the least, was very muscular. Even while he was on the mend he still did leg and arm exercises, though he was careful about his stitches.

"Can you even get those wet?" I was close enough to him that I could gently poke his bandage without it being weird, so I did.

"Xepher gave me some waterproof bandages this morning so I stuck one on. It should be fine," He shrugged before holding his hand out to me.

I never held this man's hand before, willingly at least. I didn't count him holding on to my hand when he got shot because of the amount of pain he was probably in, but I'd say this one would count now.

I grabbed onto his hand, lacing our fingers together as we walked side by side up to the sand and to the water.

"Oh, fuck it's hot," I lifted my foot quickly up off the sand before testing it again, "Did we even bring sunscreen?"

"Uh," I looked up at Colby, who was also trying his best to walk across the sand, "Nope," He popped the p, which was something that surprised me but I hid my expression well.

I sucked in a deep breath, not responding to him but instead quickly walking across the sand.

I could see families scattered around the beach, most of them with umbrellas or towels to protect themselves from the sun. Some people were trying to swim in the ocean, but not everyone. It wasn't overcrowded, either, which was definitely a bonus.

Colby kept up with me, and about halfway to the ocean I let go of his hand, taking off for the water, "Race you to the ocean!" I dared.

"Fucking cheater!" He laughed, but I could hear his feet pound on the ground behind mine.

I didn't stop running until I was ankle-deep in a wave, and was preparing myself to back up from a larger one that was approaching. "I won!"

My cry of victory was quickly cut off when I felt Colby's arms wrap around me from behind, taking me exactly where I was trying to get away from.

Before I could yell out, I was hit with a wall of salty water.

Even Colby's strength could not match the ocean's, and both of us were pulled to the ground quickly. But thanks to Colby and his grip on me, however, I did not get pulled off further into the water like I would have been without him.

I couldn't breathe, but I wanted to laugh so hard it was an unimaginable type of feeling. I only went to the ocean a couple of times growing up, and I fell in love with it.

I'm just saying, if Colby was kidding about what he said before we left, I'm sure the ocean is single.

The pull lessened as the water was whipped away from our bodies, leaving us to sit on the sand. I could feel Colby's chest shake as he laughed, like really laughed, from behind me.

"You dickhead!" I shouted, turning around and pointing at him with a smile on my face.

He only continued to laugh, standing up and pulling me with him. The wave that hit us next wasn't nearly as powerful, not even fazing Colby. I couldn't say the same for myself, being that I was pushed forward a couple of steps.

I knew that I would stop getting pushed around so much if I went further into the ocean, so that's what I did, with Colby following, of course.

He grabbed my hand once again, holding them parallel to the water. It was a weird thing for him to do, but he didn't look awkward doing it so I wasn't going to make it seem that way.

And I also liked when he held my hand cause I've never seen him give one ounce of affection towards his friends, so it was special to me.

The water didn't push us around as much now that we were deeper in the ocean, going halfway above Colby's stomach and the water basically covering my chest area.

"So, how long is your bandage gonna stay on?" I asked, noticing that it was holding up very well for being in this oversized, salty bathtub.

"Can we not talk about that right now?" Colby asked, not watching my eyes but grabbing my other hand so I was forced to face him.

"Okay," I did some quick thinking to change the subject so it wouldn't be awkward, "What do you want to talk about then?"

"You," He gave me a cheeky smile, and I felt my cheeks burn. It was either the lack of sunscreen causing this or I was blushing. I hope he couldn't tell the difference.

"Anything else, Corny McGee?" I clarified, though I could feel my smile widen at his ability to be so open with someone, especially me.

"Horny?" Colby misheard, "You really think? Me? No," He shook his head aggressively, joking around but possibly insinuating he was. I really didn't need to know.

"Corny," I corrected with light annoyance in my tone, "I said corny. God, you're so annoying,"

"You love me," He smirked at me, pulling my body close to his so that our chests were pressed against each other.

His face was incredibly close to mine, and he let go of my hands just to put his own around my waist. I folded my arms loosely around his neck, swallowing my sudden nerves and using it as confidence instead.

"In your dreams," I jokingly scoffed.

"Really?" He asked in disbelief, "Let me change your mind then,"

And then he kissed me. On the lips.