Beach Buddies! (Emi)

[Nicolas Constantine]

She was flailing and coughing, but Nick thought that was from his tickling.

"Oh, I'm sorry Emi, I really didn't mean to... just had a bit too much fun I guess." he forced an embarrassed chuckle.

Even though she gave a little laugh afterward, he still felt bad for going a little overboard. He sighed and realized her head was against his chest and her hands were holding his. He blushed a little, but she wouldn't see it with her head down.

And then he did something unexpected for himself to do. He let go of her hands and wrapped them around her, hugging her lightly and looking down at her with his blue eyes, a smile, and there was still a little blush in his cheeks.

[Emi Hitokata]

Emi blushed and mumbled an apology when she realized that she was holding his hands. She didn't blame him for letting go since he was probably uncomfortable with being too close to her. However, he did something very unexpected: he hugged her.

She had seen many people at school hug, even people who weren't even dating, which had to be okay. Still, she felt as if she was doing something bad by letting him embrace her like that. What about Ryuu? What would he think if he saw her with another guy? In Japan, this sort of thing would be very wrong, and Ryuu could still be following Japanese customs.

She looked up to tell him to stop. It would have been nice to clear her throat, but the salt water made her mouth dry. However, she couldn't say anything when she looked into his blue eyes. Actually, she forgot what she wanted to say. She licked her dry lips then flashed him a small smile.

[Nicolas Constantine]

She looked up at him and just smiled, licking her lips. He would have taken that another way had they not been in the sea, with its saltiness. Nevertheless, it made Nick think dirty thoughts and he let go of the embrace.

He looked at her with an embarrassed smile.

"Ha... um... sorry, you're just too cute. I couldn't help myself. Plus, I was really sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you at all..."

His feet shuffled in the sand beneath him. She was actually making him nervous. How come the shy tiny ones always happened to do that to him? Otherwise he had no problem flirting and such.

[Emi Hitokata]

"No, it's okay."

Her face was a mixture of hurt and embarrassment. The embarrassment came from being so close to a guy that she now had a crush one, while the hurt was from him ending their embrace. She wanted to be in his arms a little longer, but she knew that what they were doing was wrong. Guilt began to fill her again. How could she be dating Ryuu? He didn't deserve her anymore.

"I'm gonna go get a drink of water."

She turned away and began to head back to the beach. As she entered higher ground, her slumped shoulders came in plain sight. She looked as if she had been defeated, and she felt that way. There were so many contrasting emotions inside her that she didn't know what to do anymore.

It took her a minute to find her bags on the crowded beach. When she found them, she sat on her towel and took out a large bottle. Despite being lukewarm, the water felt so refreshing to her parched throat.

[Nicolas Constantine]

The look on Emi's face was that of sheer disappointment when he let go of her. Other than her constant look of embarrassment, he could definitely see that there was some kind of debate going on in her head.

"I'm gonna go get a drink of water."[/b]

"Oh... alright..."

He watched her as she turned around and headed for the beach. He sighed, following her after they were separated by a good thirty feet. Nick went over and got his towel and went over to where Emi was now sitting, drinking some water. He had dried himself off a bit, but his hair was still a little wet. He lay his towel on the beach next to her and sat down, his knee up and his elbow on it, propping his head up with his fist, looking in at her.

"Emi, is there something wrong? You look rather disappointed..." he managed to ask her.

[Emi Hitokata]

She was quite thirsty; two large gulps was all it took to drink half of her water. She stared at the bottle sadly before storing it back into her bag. Maybe she should just go home since her day at the beach wasn't turning out so well. She was afraid that spending more time with Nick would only hurt her more. What if Ryuu found out and dumped her? Or what if Nick figured out that she liked him? Both of the possibilities didn't sound very good to her.

As soon as she saw the British boy coming, she took out a small towel and covered her head. Anyone who saw her would assume that she was drying her hair. However, the towel served a different purpose: hiding the expression on her face. She still looked disappointed, and nothing she did could take the hurt away. The only thing she could think of was to hide her face and hope that she got over her problem.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Don't worry about me." She paused and bit her lip. "Maybe it's all the sea water I swallowed. That stuff isn't good for you."

Her answer was a complete lie. She was very disappointed because she was starting to like a guy that she could never date. If she broke up with Ryuu and went after Nick, would that make her happy? Probably not. She still had feelings for her boyfriend.

[Nicolas Constantine]

She had wrapped a towel around her head to try and hide the face of disappointment that was clear to Nick by now. There was definitely something troubling her, and she didn't seem to want to talk to him about it. Not a lot of people knew that he was excellent on giving advice.

"How about this, Emi. I'll give you my number and you can call me any time you need to talk."

If she wanted his number he would either input it directly into her phone or she could give him her number and he could text her so her got his.

Once she had time to think about whatever was on her mind, she would possibly call him, and he would be there to help in any way he could.

"Well I think I'm gonna call it a day."

He had been at the beach for a good few hours, and that's all Nick could really handle of it before going insane from all the sand in unwanted places.

Once she said goodbye, he would gather his belongings and head home, unless she wanted him to stay or if she decided to tell him what was wrong.

[Emi Hitokata]

"Oh um..."

As her head was covered with a towel, she had to rely on her hands to dig out her cell phone. Luckily, her bag was organized, and she recognized her mobile by the cool plastic. She brought it up to her face and flipped it open. A few seconds later, she handed it to Nick so that he could put in his phone number.

Her face remained hidden even after he handed her cell phone back. It was only when he told her that he was leaving that she looked up.

Did she do something wrong? She thought that him teaching her his phone number was a good sign, but she could think of no reason as to why he would want to leave the beach early on a beautiful day.

Nevertheless, she said goodbye to him and watched his retreating back.