Chapter 6
On High Seas
And as he held her close, the sun closed around them, casting their shadows in the damp sand. His hands held her, keeping her steady. His deep blue eyes glittered as they stared into hers. They said nothing, only smiled in silent confessions. They came closer; she could feel his heart beat close to hers. She could feel his breath on her face, they grew closer and they lightly kissed, slow and gentle. Her heart soared, and where his hands held her tingled. 'This is what I have been missing' she thought. She felt his breaths quicken, and the heat of his lips burned on hers. Behind them, the brass sun sank behind the vast blue ocean.

The alarm went off quietly by Jessy's head. Memories of the last night's dream remained in her mind. The man in her dreams of course was Nick, and she knew why, she liked him, but she didn't want to admit it. She was almost afraid of being too close to a guy so much older than she was.

She went to shower, letting her hair air-dry and then pulling it up in a lose bun. She located her swimming suit, shorts, and sandals and changed into them. By the time she was done, she still had forty-five minutes left. Mrs. Morris came out into the living room, dressed in a robe and pajamas. She made some coffee and got the morning paper. "I did tell you I was going to the beach today with the Carter's right?" Jessy asked between gulps of orange juice that she was drinking with her breakfast.

"Yes dear you did, just be careful. Be home no later than 9 p.m." Jessy's grandmother said as she disappeared into her room to watch the news. Jessy ate her small breakfast of cereal and two glasses of orange juice, and waited for her ride to get there. Time went too slowly to Jessy when she was waiting to go somewhere. But just as promised, the doorbell rang exactly when Jessy's watch stroke ten a.m.

"Darn! I was hoping that you'd be late!" Jessy exclaimed as she shut the door behind her.

"Why is that blondie? Oh! And you are wearing a bathing suit and everything!" Nick teased.

"Shut- up and I will tell you. Cause it bugs people when I tell them they cant read a clock, I do it to my brother back home so I have to find someone here to do it to." She said sounding totally convincing. When Nick didn't say anything for a while she said she was kidding.

"Oh, I you had me fooled for a minute there!" He laughed. "The rest of the family are at the dock all ready so we are to meet them there."

"That's okay. Am I the only one dressed like this?" Jessy asked to see if she should put on her shirt she packed in her little backpack.

"No, all the girls are wearing stuff like that, but if you want to put on a shirt then go ahead." Nick responded concentrating on the road.

IT took only a few minutes to get to the dock and parked the gray explorer. The heat of the sun had taken its toll on Jessy even at such an early time; she was ready to return home to Paradise in a week. Aaron saw his brother and friend walking down the dock, talking like they had been friends forever. Aaron's mouth curled up into a grin as he watched them. He had done exactly what he wanted to. He went over to his oldest sister and tapped BJ on the shoulder. She and Leslie (who was standing in front of BJ) looked around to see their older brother and Jessy walking side by side down the dock. All three smiled and acted like they knew nothing of the plan they were pulling. Not so long ago, Nick made a comment that he would never go out with another one of Aaron's friends after the last one walked over him. The rest of the family had set out to prove him wrong. Aaron ran up to Jessy and Nick as they made their way down the dock, he then handed Jessy a small water pistol.

"Trust me you will need it." He said when a questioning look crossed her face.

"Okay, hello to you too Aaron." Jessy said to herself. Nick laughed and took off down the dock, pulling Jessy behind him as he ran. When they got to the boat, Jessy was totally out of breath.

"Hi Jess, are you feeling better now?" Jane asked as she helped Mr. Carter load a large cooler into the boat.

"Uh, a lot better, thanks." She answered trying to catch her breath. Jessy was introduced to the rest of the family that she had not met before and then they all loaded into the boat and set out onto the calm sea. Jessy loaded up on sunscreen and put on her sunglasses and sat in the comforting sun, eyes shut, until she heard her name called.

"How, 'bout you Jessy?" Aaron asked standing by her.

"Huh? Sorry I didn't catch that." Jessy said sitting up and taking off her glasses.

"Do you want anything to drink? We got Pepsi"

"Yeah sure." She put her glasses back on and took off the board shorts she was wearing. While sitting waiting for the boat to stop, and drinking her soda, she found a pair of goggles, which she decided to keep hold of, just in case she decided to get in the water. When the boat got to its destination, she put her goggles on her head, and sat on the edge of the boat. Nick and Aaron jumped into the water, wrestling around until Jessy's laughter made them stop. She sat there; looking out across the boat and over the ocean until four wet hands pulled her in the water. She screamed until she slapped agenced the salty water. She swam to the surface and gasped for air. Nick and Aaron were laughing hysterically, holding onto the boat. A few things that they didn't know that say Jane and BJ did, was that Jessy is an excellent swimmer and she ALWAYS gets even. Jessy put on the goggles that still were on her head and sped toward them. She charged at them and then dove under. With the goggles, finding Nick and Aaron was not very hard to do under the water. Nick and Aaron saw her go under, but now had no idea where she was. They wondered if she was okay and they started looking for her. BJ and Leslie watched intently from the boat. Just as the brothers let go of the boat, Jessy grabbed their ankles and pulled them down as hard as she could. She raced for the surface and hoped onto the boat. The whole family saw what had happened and they thought it was great. BJ and Leslie congratulated Jessy for a job well done, for neither of them had been able to dunk their brothers before. Jessy watched the brothers fight about who should have seen her. She laughed, and their quibble stopped. They splashed at Jessy and some of the salty water got in her eyes where the goggles had been. Jessy found her water gun and started squirting them, which in effect, proved non-successful.

They spent the day laughing and joking about the jokes Jessy and the brothers had done, until the sun streaked across the sky and they made their way back to the dock. Back home, they ate a huge dinner, made by Bob and Jane, and they talked about just about everything. Tonight was Aaron and Angel's turn for dinner clean up, so they went back inside to start dishes. Nick and Jessy soon got bored with the news and current events of the day, so they asked to go for a walk. Jane, BJ, Leslie, and Mr. Carter watched them go, side by side, each with a smile on their face as they disappeared around the curve.