Arousing Love, a teen novel (2 page)

“I’m not wearing swim shorts.”

“So?” She grinned and pushed off her shorts,
revealing a matching bikini bottom.

Wow
. I sat staring up at her, unable
to take my eyes from that perfect skin, taking in every curve of
her smooth, sculptured body. She just stood there letting me
look.

When my eyes finally met hers, she smiled and
held out her hand. “Come on.”

I didn’t know what to do. I could swim in the
shorts I was wearing, but for some reason I felt uncomfortable
swimming with her like that. None of her friends were getting up
either.

“Come on, Zach.” She tugged at my arm, trying
to get me up, but I resisted, staying firmly seated on the sand. I
was feeling so awkward and unsure of myself.

She left me there and went down to the
water’s edge. I thought she’d given up on me, but she came right
back, her hands full of wet sand, and splattered me with it,
giggling with glee as she rubbed it through my hair. Her friends
were all laughing as I stood up, shaking my head and feeling wet
sand dripping down my back. I took off my shirt and chased a
squealing Joanna down to the sea.

She looked back to see me coming in after
her. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” She laughed and screamed as I came
closer. “Zach
. . .
I’m
sorry!”

I was close enough to grab her, but I
hesitated. I was still shy about touching her like that, especially
when she was hardly wearing anything.

We stood there looking at each other for a
moment, until a big wave broke over us, wetting the last of our dry
skin, making Joanna squeal. I laughed, and she lunged at me, but I
easily resisted, grabbing her around the middle and lifting her up.
Her screams were cut short as she plunged head first into the
water. I swam away, and she gave chase, grabbing my legs and
dunking me. We played in the surf, splashing and laughing and
innocently touching each other as much as possible, and somehow we
ended up holding hands and floating over the waves together.

Something was stirring in me.
Don’t get
any ideas about her, Zach, she’s too
y
ou
ng.
But as I looked into those perfect,
blue eyes, I knew it was already too late.

When we came out of the water and joined her
friends on the warm sand, there was another guy there with them.
He’d been passing something around that they’d quickly put away
when they saw us coming. I didn’t wanna hang with her friends, I
just wanted to be alone with Joanna.

“Let’s go for a walk,” I whispered.

“Okay.” She smiled.

We strolled along the beach, the evening sea
breeze cooling our wet skin, making us shiver. I placed my
unbuttoned shirt around Joanna’s shoulders to keep her warm, and
she wrapped it around herself, smiling up at me appreciatively.

“Sorry ‘bout my friends.”

“What were they doing? Is it drugs?”

She nodded. “Not Lizzie though, she’s not
into that.”

“What about you?”

“Of course not, I’m a good girl.” She
laughed. I was glad about that. For some reason it mattered to
me.

“So, where are you from?” I changed the
subject.

“Colorado.”

“That far. How long are you staying?”

“Two weeks.” She spoke with a noticeable
shiver.

At the end of the beach was a large rock. I
put my arm around her and directed her towards it, and we squatted
down out of the wind. I kept my arm there and she didn’t seem to
mind.

“It got cold all of a sudden.” Her teeth
chattered.

“Yeah, it can do that.” I pulled her a little
closer. “So
. . .
what kinda
things do you do at your camp?”

“We do activities and stuff, like the beach
festival, and there’s a talent show. We’ve been here before, so I
know lots of people here. That’s how I knew Matt and Lizzie, from
last year. It’s cool, you know. What about you?”

“I just live here.”

“I know that.” She exaggerated her words.
“Tell me something about you, like
. . .
how old are you?”

“Eighteen.” I wondered if my age bothered
her.

“I’m sixteen,” she said matter-of-factly. I
gave her a doubtful look, and she blushed. “Well, I’m nearly
sixteen
. . .
in August.”

I laughed. August was still a couple of
months away.

“Are you going to college?” She changed the
subject.

“I’m still deciding what I wanna do. I was
thinking about art school.”

“You’re an artist?”

“Yeah
. . .
well, I paint. I wouldn’t call myself an artist. I hate all the
baggage that goes with that label.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, artists have that whole mystique,
like they’re something special just because they’re artists. Most
of the art these days isn’t even that creative. It doesn’t have
much to say about anything, and most of it isn’t even beautiful.
It’s meaningless, and anyone can do meaningless. There’s nothing to
it.”

“Maybe you’ll be a different kind of
artist.”

“Yeah.” I smiled. She was sweet. I watched as
a drop of water from her hair trickled down her face, pooling
briefly at the corner of her lips. Even now, loosely wrapped in my
shirt, her hair limp, her skin blotched with sand, she was still so
beautiful.

“You’re very pretty.”

She smiled. “What’s pretty about me?”

“Everything.” I laughed. “You have really
pretty eyes
. . .
like pieces of
the sky, and when you smile, your whole face lights up, it’s
amazing.”

“Keep going.” Joanna coaxed.

I laughed, and looked at her again. “I
actually think you’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever met.”

“Wow, I thought you’d say something dumb, but
that was pretty good.” She laughed.

“What did you think I’d say?”

“I donno, Matt once told me I looked good in
a bikini.” She giggled. “I thought guys only noticed boobs and
butts.”

“Well, they’re nice too.” I grinned.

She laughed and playfully smacked my arm,
then she became coy, lowering her eyes. “I like the way you look,
too.” She tilted her head to one side and smiled at me.

“What do you like about me?”

“Umm
. . .
”
She giggled. “I don’t know
. . .
”
She stroked my arm. “You feel strong,” she glanced up into my eyes,
“and I like your face, and your eyes. You smile a lot.”

“So do you.” I laughed.

“You have a nice laugh too.” She grinned.

I felt her shiver, and pulled her close
again.

“Can we go somewhere warmer? Where’s your
place?” She looked up at me with large eyes.

“My place?”

“Yeah, just somewhere warm—”

“It’s up there.” I pointed up the hill behind
us.

I stood up from behind the rock, and offered
her my hand, just as I caught sight of an old friend from high
school walking his dog on the beach.

He saw me. “Hey, Zach, what ya doing
there?”

Joanna stood up next to me, and my friend’s
expression kind of froze. I didn’t say anything, just smiled
awkwardly.

“Come on.” I took Joanna’s hand, and we
started walking up the hill towards the road.

“Who was that?”

“No one, just a guy I know.”

“Are you embarrassed to be seen with me or
something?”

“No, it was just an awkward moment, that’s
all.” I slowed down a little, and we walked hand in hand. I looked
at her again, her face aglow in the warm colors of the waning sun.
How could I be embarrassed to be seen with her?

We walked into the parking lot of my parent’s
store.

“That’s my parent’s house over there, behind
the store. This is my little shack back here.” I led her to the
dilapidated guest house in the backyard.

We went inside and she looked around my room.
It was a bit of a mess. My computer desk and dresser were piled
high with junk. The set of shelves against the wall were filled
with books and art supplies, and on the floor were some dirty
clothes, which I pushed under the bed with my foot. I straightened
my bed so she had somewhere to sit.

“Oh, you’ve got a guitar.”

“Yeah,” I grabbed a new shirt from my closet.
“I just started learning it. I’ve mastered three whole chords so
far.”

She laughed. “Can I play it?”

“Sure.”

She got my guitar, sat down on the bed with
it, and started to play, her fingers expertly plucking the
strings.

“You’re pretty good.”

“Yeah, I started learning piano when I was
five, and picked up the guitar when I was, like, ten,
so
. . . .
”

“You could be a pop star. You have the looks
for it.”

She laughed.

“I’m serious.” I finished buttoning my shirt.
“I better go say hi to my parents. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.”

I went over to the house and called through
the door, “I’m home.” I could hear the television blaring in the
living room.

“Is that you, Zach? Your dinner’s cold. You
want me to heat it up for you?”

“No Mom, I’m not hungry. I’ll eat later.”

I went back to the shack, and Joanna was
still sitting on my bed strumming the guitar.

“I see you’ve got a shower back there.” She
nodded in the direction of my bathroom. “Do you mind if I take one?
I just wanna get warmed up a little.”

“Sure.”

She put down my guitar and went into the
bathroom. “I’ll be quick,” she smiled and closed the door.

I sat on the bed, my back against the wall,
listening to the sounds of Joanna in the shower. The water stopped,
and my eyes were drawn to the bathroom door.
What’s she going to
change into?
The door opened and she came out with just a towel
around her, tucked into itself over her chest, the small towel
barely reaching to her legs. My heart was already pounding, but I
tried to stay cool, like it was nothing unusual to have a girl this
close to naked with me in my bedroom.

She noticed I was staring at her, and she
blushed. “Do you have anything I can wear? I didn’t wanna put my
wet things back on.”

“Ah, yeah.” I went to my dresser and fumbled
through the drawers, handing her a t-shirt and some shorts.

“Thanks.” She smiled. “Um, can you turn
around?”

“Oh yeah.” I laughed.

I turned and faced the window. The last of
the sun was setting into the ocean, leaving brilliant towers of
castle cloud on the horizon, but I was more interested in the faint
reflection I could just make out in the glass.

“Your shorts are too big for me, but this
t-shirt’s so long it’s like a dress anyway.” She giggled.

Whoa!
She looked so cute with my
t-shirt hanging down like a mini dress. It was even sexier than the
towel had been, I could see her shape through the thin cotton. She
handed back the shorts, which I tossed behind me without taking my
eyes off her. My heart was racing.
Does she even know what
effect she’s having on me right now?

She didn’t seem to. She was casually
wandering around my room looking at all my stuff. She studied a
poster on the wall. “Do you surf?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s so cool. I wish I could do that.”

“Maybe I could teach you sometime.”

“That’d be awesome.” She turned and smiled at
me, and we stood there looking at each other, neither of us moving
or saying anything, the tension building between us.

“Maybe I should go.” She glanced at the door,
then back at me.

“If you want to.” I didn’t want her to.

“Okay.” She moved towards the door, then
suddenly veered and kissed me on the lips. “Bye,” she
whispered.

Her kiss, and the softness of her lips, took
me by surprise. She looked up at me with such large eyes, not
moving away.

I leaned in and gently caressed her soft lips
with mine. The kiss lasted longer than I’d intended, but I couldn’t
pull myself away. She didn’t pull away either. The touch of our
lips had kindled something in us. I pulled her close and she
willingly gave herself to me, my hands slipping beneath her
t-shirt, feeling the warmth of her bare skin. We were both
breathing hard, and I could feel her body trembling as my hands
moved higher under her shirt, slowly lifting it up, revealing her
body to my hungry eyes.

A phrase suddenly leapt into my mind—‘
Do
not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.’
It made me
pause, my hands hesitating their advance towards her breasts.
What am I doing?

Joanna pushed me away, looking dazed as she
straightened her t-shirt down.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s okay, I have to go.” She backed towards
the door, her hand reaching behind her for the handle. “Bye.” And
she was gone.

I was stunned, my heart was pounding, I
couldn’t make sense of anything.
Did that really happen?
I
slumped onto the bed, still reeling with the passion that had
overwhelmed me. I couldn’t believe what had happened. I was in some
kind of shock. I lay there trying to calm myself down so I could
think.
She’s fifteen! How could I be so stupid? She must hate me
now. And what was that phrase, do not arouse or awaken love? Where
did that come from?

After a while, I got up and went to the house
to get some dinner. My parents were sitting in front of the TV.

“Hey Mom, have you ever heard the phrase, ‘Do
not arouse or awaken love until it so desires’?”

“Yes, that’s from Song of Solomon, isn’t it?”
She turned to Dad for confirmation.

“I think so.”

“Song of Solomon? What’s that?”

“It’s in the Bible.” My mom looked at me
curiously but didn’t ask why I wanted to know. I’d never shown any
interest in the Bible before.

Both my parents were Christians, but I hadn’t
followed in their footsteps—not since I was old enough to stay at
home by myself when they went to church. It wasn’t that I didn’t
wanna believe in it or anything, just that I’d found it all so
boring.