Beyond the Sea by Emily Goodwin Read Free Book Online Page B

they entered the house through a fancy covered veranda into an equally fancy, huge living room. Though it was dark, Peter knew the entire house was overly ostentatious.
    Melia felt that strange flutter when their eyes met. Peter was a curious thing, and she wanted to know more about him. Aware that they were wet and sandy and standing on her mother’s favorite Persian rug, she waved Peter to follow her upstairs. She grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom to change, leaving Peter to look around her room in awe.
    It was girly, with the white trim and flower patterns on the wooden furniture. He could tell it had been professionally decorated, and Melia added her own random style into the mix. A large photo collage hung on the wall near the bathroom door, filled with pictures of Melia and some dark haired girl that looked familiar. Peter leaned closer and was shocked when he realized the black haired girl was Jamie Forester. She was prettier in the pictures than Peter remembered her to be in real life. In one photo she was smiling, with one arm around Melia, standing in front of Cinderella’s Castle. In another, both girls were making goofy faces wearing ridiculous New Year’s Eve party hats on Time’s Square. Peter couldn’t help but chuckle at the overly dramatic pose of the girls at the Harry Potter theme park, both wearing robes, holding wands as if dueling.
    He knew Melia and Jamie were friends, but he never knew they were that good of friends. He turned to look out the west windows. He loved the view. Carefully setting his bag down on the shiny hardwood floor, he moved to look out the window. The storm had intensified and so had the size of the waves. What had he been thinking, going out on a night like tonight? The question of what had Melia been doing out on a night like tonight bothered him more. She had been barefoot, quite a ways down the shore from her house, alone and completely drenched. Where had she come from? Was it really possible she could have pulled him from the water?
    The bathroom door opened and Melia emerged, wearing short, black athletic shorts and a black tank top, and was towel drying her hair.
    “Do you have dry clothes?” she asked.
    “Uh, yea.” Peter held up the gym bag. He felt nervous. Swallowing hard, he walked past her into the bathroom.
    Melia sat on the bed, waiting for Peter. She had never paid much attention to human boys before (especially teenage human boys), but when Peter came out of the bathroom wearing jeans and a light blue tee shirt, she couldn’t help but find him attractive. She sprang up when she saw the wound on his arm, feeling guilty for not addressing it earlier. She closed her hands around his bicep, noticing for the first time that he was quite muscular.
    “You can’t have bruised already,” she said, frowning at the large purple mark.
    “No, that’s from yesterday.” He looked at his arm. “It’s not bad. Not even deep.”
    “No, you’re just all scraped up.” She let go and turned her head up, only inches away from Peter. “Your eyes are pretty.”
    He blinked. “Thanks. Yours are too.” And they were. At first one would think her eyes were a pleasing shade of green, but upon closer inspection, Peter was able to see almost every color imaginable. Reminding him of turquoise sequins, Peter admired their beauty for a while longer before looking away.
    Melia sat on the bed. “So why do you go to the ocean when you’re upset?”
    “I don’t really know.” He sat next to her. “I’ve been going there ever since I could walk. It’s familiar, it’s fun…it’s the only place I can go and feel free. It’s so big and limitless—” he cut off. Since when was he so poetic and lame?
    Awe burned in Melia’s gorgeous eyes. “I know. When I’m in the ocean I feel like nothing can touch me. I’m safe from everything, and everything makes sense. It’s where I’m supposed to be.”
    Not taking her as literally as she was being, Peter