Crush

dangerous-fox

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JDM and CK

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Let me tell you about Justin David Milano… yes, I even know his middle name. After dancing last night, he had bought me a drink (lemonade, damn) and we sat chatting in the corner for quite a while. It turns out that he's the cousin of the clubs manager. How cool is that? What's even better, is that he's only seventeen! Double bonus. Uh, what else is there? He goes to a local school in the area and is about to start Year 12. One year above me. Mm, there's just something so appealing about an older guy…

Beep Beep

Ah, where is that damn phone? Cutting my daydream short, I rummage through my beach bag for the mobile phone. It's late morning and I'm sitting on the beach while working on my tan. Well, hoping for a tan anyway… I'm so pale! Finally finding my phone (after dumping just about everything out onto the sand), I quickly unlock it and check my messages.

Hey Gorgeous. Wanna meet up? JDM

Hardly able to contain my smile, my fingers work across the small keys and click out a reply. Did I mention that Brown Eyes and I had swapped mobile phone numbers?

Click-Clickity-Click

Sure. Meet me at 1pm outside Laurent's, next to the video store. CK

No more than two seconds after I had sent the message, did my phone start to ring. Without bothering to check the caller ID, I click the 'answer' button.

"Hello?" I ask, leaning back onto my towel, shielding my face with one hand and holding my mobile with the other.

"Oh my God, like… how hot was that guy last night?"

I sigh, "hey Tasha"

Tasha laughed, "you sound disappointed. Expecting some-one else?"

Well, kinda… yeah. I had hoped that it might've been Justin. Ah well. I suppose a text message is better than nothing. "Nah, of course not," I lie, "now which guy are you talking about?"

"All of them!" Tasha cried out, "Derek has such a cute smile… I'm meeting up with him later this afternoon. Wanna come out with us?"

I shake my head, though she can't see me. "I'll be right. Besides, three's a crowd, remember?"

"I suppose you're right," she giggled, "anyway, how was your night? I think I was a little too tipsy to hold a coherent conversation with you last night. Meet any hotties?"

Mm… you can say that. I would say that Justin most definitely classifies as an A-class hottie. "You remember Justin?"

"Justin, Justin…" Tasha murmurs, thinking out loud to herself. I could just see the little light bulb click on as she says, "oh… you mean that guy who helped us get in?"

"Yep"

"Now, he is a looker. Gorgeous eyes," Tasha concedes, "you two seem to get along well. How far did you guys get?"

I roll my eyes. Sometimes Tasha can be too one-minded. "We didn't get all that far," I tell her, somewhat grudgingly, "we talked, danced and… yeah"

"And…?" Tasha prompts, obviously convinced that I wasn't telling the truth, the whole truth… (ah, what the heck…) and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

"And… we had fun together. Sorry to disappoint Tasha, but we didn't do all that much," I report back, before hesitating, "nothing more than the occasional kiss… or two…"

Tasha squeals in my ear, causing me to pull the mobile phone back a bit. I wait until she's done before bringing it back closer again. She's half way through a sentence by the time I focus on what she's chattering on about.

"—cute together! Don't you think?"

Um, considering I didn't hear what she had just said, I have no idea what to say. Yes? No?

"Maybe?" I offer lamely, wondering whether she could tell that I hadn't been listening. It turns out that she had been asking a rhetorical question, and continues on talking, regardless of my reply.

Fifteen minutes later, I pull the phone away from my ear and check the time. 12.15. I should probably get going, shouldn't I?

"Listen, Tasha," I cut in, giving up on waiting for a break in the conversation. Tasha's sentences seem to run into one another, "I have to go, but have fun with Derek"

"Go? Where are you going?"

"Meeting up with Justin at Laurent's"

"Mm… Laurent's have the best chicken avocado foccachia. Say hi to your hottie for me, and try to keep out of trouble…"

…

Dressed in my same dark jeans from last night (I'm not really that much of a skirt girl), and a beige cross over shirt (over my green strapless top), I make my way down the street and pass the video store. I check the time on my phone again for the third time. (I'm also not much of watch person). 1.02pm.

Two minutes late? That's pretty good for me. I was half an hour late to my own birthday last year… not that it was really my fault. Anyway, that's a whole other story. Seeing no signs of Justin out the front of the café, I wander inside and can't help but check my mobile for the fourth time. 1.03pm. Well, no real surprise there.

"Looking for someone?" Justin's teasing voice came from my right, causing me to start slightly. Smoothing back my hair, I grin and give him a light shove.

"No-one important," I tell him nonchalantly. I've just met him this summer, and already I feel as though I've known him forever. Weird, huh?

He raises an eyebrow, and drapes a friendly arm around my shoulders. "What do you say we grab something to eat and head over to Luna Point?"

"Sounds good to me"

Taking Tasha' advice, I order a chicken avocado foccachia and some apple juice. Unlike past summers, I'm gonna try and eat healthy this time. While Justin ordered, I moved over to grab us some straws and serviettes. Turning my head slightly, I glance over at 'my hottie', according to Tasha. He was dressed casual in jeans and a dark top. His red cap covered his dark spiked hair.

As though feeling my eyes on him, he gives me a quick side-glance as the waitress counts his change. Grinning wickedly, he catches my eyes with his own and winks. Quickly averting my eyes, I'm glad that I'm not one to blush easily. Grabbing a handful of napkins, I stuff them in the paper bag holding my foccachia and wait for Justin to grab his food.

"Ready?" He asks, slipping his wallet into his back pocket. Nodding, I hand him a straw and start heading towards the entrance. He opens the door and steps aside to let me out first. Aw, isn't that nice?

"I hope you know your way there, CK," he says, looking left and right once we hit the pavement, "'cause I generally suck at directions"

Laughing, I untangle my sunglasses from the top of my sandy-coloured hair, and slip them on. After telling him that I hated the name 'Caz', he had insisted on calling me 'CK'. I think it's cute. "Don't worry, I think I know my way"

"Think?" He repeats, sounding the tiniest bit dubious.

Ignoring him, I take a look to my left and start walking down the street. He soon falls in step beside me.

"So, have you ever been surfing?" he inquires, as we cross the near empty road to cut across a large park.

Surfing? Now where had that come from? "Once or twice," I reply, "but that was a couple of years ago… I can snowboard though"

Catching my grin, he smiles. "I've been snowboarding before," he tells me, "but nothing beats surfing". Checking his watch, his smile widens. "Come with me," he says, taking my free hand and leading me quickly across the park.

…

Tasha wasn't kidding. Laurent's chicken avocado foccachia is to die for. Mm… I don't usually like chicken, but I'm willing to make an exception. Staring out at the afternoon sun, I lean back against the large tree and relax with my eyes closed. My sunglasses are back up on my head again.

"You look tired," Justin murmurs, leaning back beside me. I open one hazel-green eye.

"Not tired," I correct, "just relaxed"

That was not entirely true. I had been swimming all morning with Prill and her friends at the beach, followed by a scenic walk with Justin to Luna Point. I was feeling slightly weary. But it's nothing compared to training with the Juniors for Soccer. Man, they never seem to run out of energy.

Justin clucks his tongue at me, but its lost under the sound of crashing waves below us. "You disappoint me, Caroline," he says in a mock disappointed voice, "here I was, thinking that you had unlimited energy"

Laughing, I look at him, both eyes open now. "And what on earth gave you that impression?"

"Well you never seemed to stop dancing last night"

Rolling my eyes and refusing to answer, I lean my head against his broad shoulder. "You don't exactly look all that active yourself right now," I mumble after a while. Justin leans over and kisses the top of my head.

"Why don't we go for a bit of a surf?" he suggests slyly, gesturing to the surfing equipment we had borrowed earlier, "then we'll see who is in better shape"

Sitting up straighter, I crumple my paper bag into a ball and raise an eyebrow. "Oh, is that a challenge?"

"It is if you want it to be," he remarks, grinning like a schoolboy. Wait, he is a school boy… let me clarify that. Grinning like a little schoolboy.

"In that case," I say, eyeing a nearby bin, "challenge accepted"

Justin follows my line of vision and scoffs, "you're not going to get it in, you know"

Tossing the small paper rubbish between my hands, I measure up the distance between us. The bin is around seven metres away. He's probably right, since the paper is too light to travel that far. But apart from soccer, I play basketball every now and then, and my main netball position is Goal Attack. Reaching over Justin, I grab his rubbish as well to make my ball bigger.

"Hey, I wasn't finished!" he grumbles, making a playful snatch to grab it off me. I pull it out of his reach and fix him a look.

"It's empty, Justin," I state matter-of-factly, testing the weight of my new rubbish ball. Not quite heavy enough, but it'll do. Judging the distance between the bin and me again, I draw my hand back and toss it in a clear arch. At first it looks pretty good. It was a good throw and heads straight towards its goal. From the corner of my eye, I see Justin look slightly impressed. However, the smile soon fades from my face as the wind picks up and carries the light piece of rubbish a little too far to the right. It hits the edge of the rim and falls to the ground.

Justin cracks up laughing.

Stupid wind… stupid rubbish… stupid Justin.

"Oh, shut up… just shut up"

…

The water was slightly cold. Hell, who am I kidding? Make that absolutely, bloody freezing. Even with the borrowed wetsuit over my pale green bikini (which I had been wearing under my clothes), I was freezing. It colder than snowboarding.

"What's the matter CK?" Justin calls out over the sound of the waves, "too cold for you?"

Ignoring the numbness in my hand, I manage to make a rude gesture at him, while sitting on my surfboard. Justin laughs, and starts paddling out again to just beyond where the waves are breaking. Though I'm a people person, a lot of surfers in one place makes me nervous. The first time I had been surfing, a couple years ago, another surfer had crashed into the back of my board, sending me flying. Suddenly flailing about in the water, I was hit in the back of the head by my board and swiftly dragged under. Not exactly what I would call a pleasant experience. When you've been tumbled a few times under the crashing waves, it's hard to tell which way is up and which is down. If you were running out of air, like I had been, you tend to panic. A lot.

Thankfully, Luna Point is virtually deserted. There are a few surfers further down the beach, and one or two families on a panic in the sand. The area where Justin and I are mucking around is pretty clear. I'm not too worried about getting crashed by Justin. One look at him on the board is enough to tell anyone that he knows what he's doing… which is more than I can say for me.

Lying on my stomach, I follow Justin and make my way out to where the waves are breaking. I find him waiting patiently for me. The past two waves I've caught, I've managed to get to my feet and balance for a full two seconds before getting dumped. Justin, needless to say, seems to be enjoying every moment that he glides past smoothly on his board.

"Ready to give it another go?" he asks, hardly containing a grin that lights up his whole face. Hearing the teasing tone in his voice, I resolve to stand up for a full three seconds this time. We both sit on our boards, patiently waiting for the waves to come. Soon enough, I spot a good one. Justin does too.

Trying to ignore the freezing wet cold, I maneuver my board so that it's now facing the right direction, and grip either side with my hands, determined to ride this one out. As soon as it comes closer, I start paddling hard.

Once I feel the wave sweep up under me, propelling both the board and me forward, I pull my hands to either side of the board again and lift one foot up, so that I'm in a crouched position. Concentrate… easier said than done. After I'm balanced properly, I lift my other foot up and slowly take one hand at a time off the board. Bit by bit, I lift myself up into a half standing-half crouching position. Standing slightly to the side, I shift my weight to keep the board from sliding out underneath me.

One… Two… Three… Four…Fi—CRASH!

"Ah!" I manage to yell out quickly, before toppling into the waves. My foot had slipped slightly, 'causing everything to come unbalanced. Kicking my way to the surface and swinging one arm over my board, I spit out salt water. My toes just touch the sandy floor. Justin comes gliding in beside me.

"Not bad," he grins, "except for the whole falling down part"

Flicking my wet hair out of my face, I glare at him. "Hey, I lasted four and a half seconds," I mutter defensively. I'm not sure whether he heard me over the waves, but he laughed and started back out again. Cursing under my breath, I lift myself over the board and follow him.

Over the next half-hour, I manage to improve my surfing skills. During the last wave we catch, I'm able to stay on for most of it, right beside Justin. Climbing out of the water, at last, I undo the ankle strap and collapse on the hard, wet sand. Brown Eyes does the same beside me.

"I'm impressed," he tells me, unzipping his wetsuit and pulling it down to his waist. I quickly do the same. Damn, does he look good…

"You ever doubted me?"

"Oh, of course not," he responds quickly. Too quickly. I fix him with a look and he gets to his feet. "Wait here"

I do as he says and wait for him to come down with our bags. Reaching for my towel, he drapes it over my shoulders to keep my warm. His own towel hanging around his neck. Coming back to sit down, he wraps his arms around and pulls me closer to him. I'm more than happy to comply. His smooth, broad chest is still slightly wet from the waves, and his heart is still beating hard from the adrenaline. My heart is also racing, though I'm not sure whether it has anything to do with the waves or surfing.

Leaning back with my eyes closed, I allow myself to relax. Don't you just love the summer?

…

I'm sure that I've left something. I always end up leaving something. Looking around my now empty room at the beach house, I decide to check under the bed. Again. What am I forgetting? Hearing my mobile phone ring, I reach over to the bedside table and answer it.

"Hello?" I say, swinging my heavy holiday bag off my bed and to the floor.

"Want to meet up?"

"What, now?" I ask, slightly surprised and pulling my phone away to check the time, "it's eight am in the morning… I'm surprised you're even awake this early"

"I'm full of surprises," Justin remarks absently, "meet me at Laurent's in half an hour?"

"You don't want to meet up for lunch instead?"

"Breakfast is always nicer"

Even though I know he can't see me, I shrug. It's a habit I have. "Okay then, I'll see you at Laurent's at eight thirty… how did you know I'd be awake?"

"I didn't," Justin laughs, "but I knew that you wouldn't mind… after all, you get to see me again"

Major eye roll.

"I've got to continue packing. I'll see you there"

After hanging up, I glance around my room again. I'm leaving tomorrow with the family. It has been just over a week since I went surfing with Justin. Since then, we've been constantly hanging out together whenever we can. It sucks that I have to leave. I suppose there's always next summer. Right?

…

Where the hell is he? Pulling out my phone for the fifth time, (what would I do without it?), I glance at the time. 8.42am. He's lucky that I was already awake when he called, otherwise I would definitely not be in the best mood…

Hearing light footsteps from behind, I turn around to find Justin trying to sneak up on me. "And where the hell have you been?"

"Hello to you too," he grins, not at all sorry that he was late. That was when I noticed that one arm was cocked at an odd angle behind his back.

Fixing him a curious glance, I ask, "what are you hiding?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"You're right, I would like to know"

With a small shrug, Justin holds out a bunch of crumpled flowers that have obviously been picked from some-one's garden. The gesture is so pathetically sweet, that I can't help myself. Impulsively, I throw my arms around the startled.

"They're gorgeous!" I exclaim, my voice muffled into his neck. Laughing, he hugs me back.

"I think they're also half-dead," he remarks, holding the limp bouquet up behind my back to inspect them. Letting go of him, I turn around and look closer. They do seem a little sad… but still, it's the thought that counts. Reaching to take the flowers off him, he holds them out of my reach. Considering he's taller than I am, it's not too hard to do.

"Who says that they're for you?" he teases, raising his hand (with the flowers) above me and using his other to fend me off. Rolling my eyes, I absently swat away his hand and jumped up to grab the flowers. I land back on the ground with the flowers tucked protectively against my chest. Justin, however, had been knocked off balance by my sudden grab, and fell backwards onto the pavement.

After making sure that he isn't seriously hurt, I can't help but burst out laughing. "Are you alright?" I ask again, between laughs, "nothing hurt?"

I swear I heard him mutter, "only my pride…"

Reaching down, I give him a hand up. "Serves you right for keeping me waiting," I tell him archly.

This time, it's his turn to roll his eyes at me. "Let's just go grab some breakfast"

"Sounds good to me"

…

Breakfast was nice. The stroll down to the beach was nicer. The part where he kissed me was nicest.

Leaning back against Justin, who was leaning back against a tree, I feel completely at ease and relaxed. We're sitting at the place where we had lunch the first time we met after 'Gecko'. It's a nice spot that not too many people know about.

"It sucks that you're leaving tomorrow," Justin says for the third time. Wrapping my arms around his, I mutter back a mumbled reply. It's too nice here for conversation. Leaning back, I close my eyes. I'm not sure whether I drifted off to sleep or not, but when I next opened my eyes, the sun was higher up in the sky and I could feel myself getting burnt. I am not one of those girls who tan easily… I am one of those girls that burn easily.

Swearing, I pull my cap down further over my hair and reluctantly get up and move over to the shade. Justin follows me.

"Now, you won't forget me or anything, will you?" I ask, sly smile on my face as I face him. He grins.

"How on earth can I forget a girl like you, CK?" he asks, feigning innocence, "I mean, you're smart, talented, fun, gorgeous…"

"Quit sucking up," I tell him, stepping closer and wrapping one arm around his neck, while keeping the other against his shoulder. Leaning up on my tiptoes, I kiss him on the lips. "What am I going to do for the rest of my summer when I'm at home alone?"

"Thinking about me of course," he replies back almost straight-away with a childish grin, "what else?"

What else, indeed? "You're planning to keep in touch?"

"Of course," he promises, "what time are you getting home tomorrow?"

I thought about that for a moment. "I should be home by dinner"

"We'll keep in touch," he promises again, "I'll make sure of it"

…

Well, what can I say? Promises are made to be broken…

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« -fox.-{ - please review

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Sorry if it seems to be moving a bit fast, but this was all supposed to be in the prologue part… but I think I got a bit caught up in the story when I was writing it. It wasn't supposed to be this long. Anyway, most of the story is supposed to take place when Caroline is at school, which is why I've rushed the summer part a bit. I like the Caroline and Justin's characters… hope you guys do too.

By the way, this story is set in Australia… haven't decided whether it's going to be Melbourne or Sydney yet. I've been surfing a few times around about four years ago… I've also been snowboarding. I think I like surfing better though. Hehe. Just some useless information about me. (I suck at snowboarding!) So, anyway… please read and review, thanks~

((The more reviews, the faster the updates!))