Nanny in San Diego, part 3

"So, how do you like it so far?" Eddie asks. He doesn't look at me. He plucks the soul patch under his lip while watching all the activity to build a bigger fire.

"Oh, I love this beach and your ocean." I say.

"My ocean?" He now looks at me sideways, combing his fingers through his hair.

His gaze is very intense. I lower my eyes.

"So you're from Holland?"

"Yes."

"I would like to go there someday."

"Yes?"

"Check out Amsterdam. I would like to see Amsterdam."

"Yeah."

"So Lotte..."

I look up. He smiles.  Then he glances in Diego's direction. Lifts his chin, questioning. His eyes back at me. Intense stare again.

I shake my head.

I stare back and see that smashing smile, making the butterflies in my stomach summersault.

Quickly I take a swig of my beer to hide my sudden discomfort. I think I never saw a more beautiful face like his. My head must be the colour of a beet.

"Can I have a sip?" He asks.

I hand him my beer. He drinks and gives the bottle back to me. When I take it our fingers touch. He doesn't let go immediate and one of his fingers strokes the back of my hand.

I retract my hand and the bottle falls in the sand.

I look at him in shock. I feel like an idiot reacting like that. Such an innocent gesture, it can't have been intentional.

"Sorry." Eddie says.

His lips are wet from the beer.

I reach with my index finger and slowly stroke his bottom lip. He closes his eyes and sighs.

"Eddie!"

Diego stands in front of us.

Quickly I withdraw my finger.

"Bro," Diego says, "Jack, Matthew and I are gonna do some jamming. Care to join us?"

Eddie opens his eyes again and although I saw a short look of regret he jumps up and grabs the guitar that was lying behind him in the sand.

"Sure."

"Lotte, are you cold?" Diego ask when he sees me sitting with my arms wrapped around me. "Come sit  with us."

Eddie looks back, nods and I follow them.

I'm not cold, I feel lost and lonely.

The sound of the two jambees and the 2 guitars is very hypnotic, the rhythm catching and one girl is dancing while the fire glows on her partly naked skin. It is a slow and sensuous dance, like a priestess.

Someone passes me a hash pipe and this time I take it. While I inhale deep and keep my breath I see Eddie looking at me. I can not read his face, because there is both a frown and a smile on it.

Diego puts down his guitar and joins the girl in her sensuous dance. And the jambee player called Matthew stops playing to open another bottle of beer.

Now it is only Eddie on guitar and Jack on the drum. Softly but with a deep and incredibly mesmerizing voice Eddie starts to sing.

He gazes into the fire when he does. As if the world has stopped to exist. He seems fully absorbed by the music, but then he looks up and catches my intent stare.

His brows that were furrowed earlier go up and it is as if the sun breaks through on his face when a smile appears with the cutest dimples I ever saw.

My mouth drops open. I am sure I must seem like an idiot as I jump up and run to the sea.

I need to cool down.

Seriously cool down.

The ocean seems calmer than this afternoon. I float on my back and stare at the cloudless firmament. There aren't many stars, but the longer I watch the pitch dark sky the more there seem to appear.

I am confused.

Normally I am a very sensible girl, but now I seem to be falling head over heels for this long haired surfer dude. I only met him a couple of hours ago. We hardly spoke. Why?

I clutch my nose and dive backwards under water. I make a couple of swimming strokes and when I surface I see a large wave about to brake, rolling towards me.

Shit!

I quickly take a deep breath and try to dive again, but I am to late and the wave pushes me down. Pushes me deep down. My longs almost burst as I try to swim back to the surface, but I am disoriented. I must not breathe, but I gulp for air and know when I do I'm making a big mistake.