"When can we go to the beach?" I asked after we got settled into our room.

"We can go now. Just get changed into your swimsuit," He said.

"I don't have a swimsuit."

"You traveled to Hawaii without a swimsuit?"

"As I said, I don't own a swimsuit that fits. The last time I went swimming, I was thirteen. I was going to buy one here. I thought I told you this?"

"I probably wasn't listening. Let's go buy one from the gift shop."

"Okay."

"I just have to get changed first," He said, unbuckling his belt.

"River!"

"What?" He said with his zipper open.

"Go change in the bathroom."

"Why?"

"I guess you can change here," I said, realizing I had already seen him naked. River pulled down his pants. It felt weird even though I had been a lot more intimate with him before. I just looked at my phone and ignored him.

A few minutes later, we went downstairs and into the gift shop.

"Get that one," River said, pointing toward the skimpiest bikini I had ever seen.

"No way."

"At least try it on."

"No."

"I'll buy you chocolate," He tempted.

"Fine." I would do anything for chocolate.

I grabbed the bathing suit, or lack thereof, and headed into the changing room. Looking in the mirror after I changed, I froze. I looked good in this.

I was the kind of person who could eat anything I wanted and not gain weight. A lot of people envied me for it, but I couldn't help it. I had a reasonably fit body to go with this bikini.

"Come out!" I heard River call.

"I'm coming!"

With one last look in the mirror, I opened the curtain and walked out.

River froze.

"Woah," He said.

"You like it?" I said, giving a spin.

"There is no way you are buying that. I changed my mind," He said, looking behind him to check if anybody was watching.

"What? Why?"

"Do you want a bunch of horny guys checking you out constantly?"

No, I didn't want that, but I also didn't want to have River telling me what to wear.

"I like it," I said, turning around.

"Jesus Christ," I heard him mutter as I looked in the mirror once more. "Okay. I'm not going to tell you what to wear," He said hesitantly. I could tell that it was hard for him to say.

"Thank you," I said.

I proceeded to pick out another suit with pizza slices on it and another one with stripes.

Once we checked out, I went to the bathroom and changed into my pizza suit. Then we headed out to the beach. I munched on my chocolate that River bought me when we checked out the swimsuits as we walked down the path and past the pool, ready to have some fun.

We got seats by the beach, and I rested my head against the back of the lounger.

Taking in the smell of saltwater and the feel of sand in between my toes, I felt happy.

*****

I felt terrible that I wasn't helping Faith and Lola with stuff for their wedding. Their rehearsal dinner was tonight, and they were both running around like crazy trying to get everything ready. They said they wanted me to relax and enjoy myself, though, so that's exactly what I was doing. River and I had been lounging by the ocean in our beach chairs for the past hour.

"I think it's time to reapply," I said.

"Reapply what?" River asked.

"Sunscreen," I said flatly.

"Want me to apply it on your back," He said, giving me a suggestive look.

"Okay," I said, realizing I couldn't reach myself, and I didn't want it to burn. I told myself there was no other reason, but I knew I just wanted River to touch me.

River grabbed the sunscreen bottle, squirted it on his hands, and began to massage it onto my back. It felt amazing. It had been a while since I had a massage. I made a mental note to schedule one while we were on this trip.

"Good?" River asked.

"Very," I said.

Once he was done, I rubbed it on his back for him as he moaned loudly.

"River!"

"What?"

"Don't make sex noises at a family-friendly beach."

"Fine, fine," He said, raising his hands.

"Want to get in the water?" I asked once I was done rubbing the sunscreen in.

"It looks cold," He whined.

"Stop being a baby," I said, pulling him toward the water.

"Okay, okay," He said, pulling his hand away and following me in the water. The ocean wasn't that cold, surprisingly.

"See. Not that bad," I said.

We got deeper in the water until I could barely touch.

"River, that's too far. I can't touch the ground." I said with my head barely above the water. River then scooped me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and smiled.

"There," He said.

Our faces were centimeters apart, and it felt like we were about to kiss, but instead, to my surprise, River dunked my head into the water.

"River!" I exclaimed as he laughed.

I grabbed his head and tried to dunk him under the water, but he didn't move an inch.

"This isn't a fair fight," I whined and splashed him.

The water was pulling us closer to the shore, so I began to be able to touch. I let go of River, ran up, and pounced on him like the first time we met when I was trying to get my notebook back.

I knocked him over, and we both fell into the water, laughing our heads off. We continued to play in the water like little kids for the next hour. I noticed that River and I were doing a lot of things like little kids lately. He made me feel young and happy, which I had never really felt before.

"Want to go to the pool now?" River asked as we walked out of the water and back to our seats.

"We should be getting ready for the rehearsal dinner soon. It's already 3:00, and the dinner starts at 5:30."

"Okay, let's go," River said.

Once we got back to the room, I went over to my suitcase and picked out the outfit I would wear tonight. It was a flowy yellow dress with strappy sandals.

"I call the shower first!" I said to River.

"Or," He said, getting closer to me, "We could shower together."

"River," I warned.

"What?"

"Behave."

"Why should I behave?" He said, gripping my waist and throwing me over his shoulder. We both laughed as he carried me to our bathroom. After turning on the water, he placed me down and began to untie my bathing suit.

Once my entire bathing suit was off, he picked me up again and placed me in the shower. After stepping in, I pulled at his bathing suit bottoms until they came off.

I didn't really know what to do next. Did we have sex, or did we simply shower?

"I don't know what to do now," I admitted.

"We don't have to have sex."

"Can we kiss?" I asked.

"Of course," He said, lifting me. I wrapped my legs around his waist, just like I did in the ocean. He backed me up against the wall and kissed me, grinning.

We made out for a while before I realized that we actually needed to shower. River washed my body, and I washed his, and by the time we were done, I was sure we had wasted so much water, but I didn't care one bit.

I was happy, and nothing was going to change that.