Page 31 of Suddenly Beck

‘Why?’ I ask curiously.

‘I just don’t.’ He shrugs, and I can tell there’s a story behind that nonchalance. ‘When I feel the need for company, I head into Newquay or Truro, otherwise I like my own company.’

‘Sounds lonely,’ I mutter as I lean in closer, not realising how close his face is.

‘What about you?’ Beck replies. ‘You ever get lonely in London?’

‘Sometimes.’ I tilt my head as I watch him, not wanting to admit that it wasn’t just sometimes, it was all the time. In London, I was always surrounded by people, but I’d never felt so completely alone.

‘Nat,’ he mutters as his gaze drops to my lips. The reflections of the water surrounding us play across his face, highlighting the bright blond strands of hair, which have fallen from his top knot, and the slight scruff of a stubble across his jaw, and I find myself wondering what that friction would feel like against my skin. ‘This just friends is a lot harder than I thought,’ he murmurs.

‘You don’t do complications though.’ I smile as he inches closer.

‘No, I don’t.’ He stares at my lips.

‘And you don’t do attachments,’ I whisper unconsciously leaning in.

‘No, I don’t,’ he murmurs absently.

I can feel his breath in small puffs against my mouth, and I know that all I have to do is lean in a fraction of an inch, and my lips would brush against his. I’m tempted. God knows I’m tempted, but all of a sudden, I feel a strange trickling sensation down the back of my neck, and I frown.

‘Do you get the feeling we’re being watched?’ I mutter.

We turn our heads slowly to find a small black-tip shark facing the glass right beside our faces, his tail swishing slowly back and forth as he watches us intently. We stare for a long moment, the three of us caught in this kind of weird aquatic Mexican standoff.

‘I think we might need a bigger boat,’ Beck whispers out of the corner of his mouth, and I snort loudly and unattractively.

‘Oh my god,’ I mutter staring at the shark on the other size of the glass as he tracks the movements of my head. ‘Do you think sharks can smell pheromones or something?’

‘Through triple re-enforced glass?’ Beck chuckles.

‘He looks like he wants to take a bite out of me.’ I frown.

‘He’s not the only one,’ Beck mumbles under his breath.

I turn to grin at Beck, and we both jump as the shark suddenly butts the glass with its nose. We lock eyes for a second, and then we both bolt down the length of the tunnel, laughing like idiots, bursting out of the other end of the tunnel, and startling a troupe of scouts who look at us like we’re crazy.

‘Oh my god, your face,’ I wheeze as I suck in a loud breath with tears in my eyes, but as I look at Beck, we just laugh harder.

‘You can’t talk.’ He leans forward resting his hands on his knees as he pulls a deep breath in.

‘You do know that’s karma?’ I smile widely as he looks up at me. ‘For what you told your brother.’

‘Fine, I’ll apologise to him as soon as I get back, and we’ll consider the karmic debt satisfied.’ Beck shakes his head.

I can feel my smile, so wide and genuine it almost makes my face ache. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much, or so freely. The more I’m with Beck, the more I feel I Nathan slipping further and further away as Nat becomes more real. I feel alive and challenged and happy, and I realise he’s right about one thing. This just being friends is much harder than either of us thought.

Chapter Ten

Nat

I’m not flirting. Okay, I totally am, if you mean by flirting, seducing him with my awkwardness and inappropriate word vomit.

An hour later, we burst through the doors, out into the bright sunshine, startling several seagulls nearby and holding onto each other laughing like lunatics. We both have giftbags from our last stop at the aquarium giftshop, but Beck’s hair is sticking up, half hanging out of his top knot, and his t-shirt is soaked down the middle. He pulls it away from his stomach with a shake of his head, which only sends me into helpless peals of laughter once again.

‘I can’t believe you got us banned from the giftshop.’ He shakes his head in amusement, and I grin.

‘It goes without saying that it was completely your fault.’ I straighten up as I catch my breath. ‘You’re lucky we didn’t get arrested.’