"Ivory, show me," asked a voice from outside and I sighed, pulling on the dress. I was starting a new 'life' now. It was best I had cut all threads, just like the extra thread that was hanging from the bottom of the dress.
Present Time
The breeze was warm but calm, bringing with it the smell of the fresh ocean towards me. It ruffled my ponytail, making it stroke against my skin. The sand was warm and sharp against my feet, tickling my skin. I opened my eyes smiling.
Now this is my idea of relaxing.
I turned around and frowned upon seeing Darius still unpacking the damn car. I shook my head as I walked back to give him a hand.
“What’s taking you so long?” I asked. His eyes narrowed as he looked at me and he went back to taking out the massive beach ball I placed in the car.
“Why do you even need this?” he asked, chucking the ball in my direction. I grabbed it mid-air and hugged it to my chest. Is he joking?
With all these people on the beach, a game of friendly beach volleyball is a must! He closed the car’s trunk and I helped him carry the bags to a sunny yet shady spot near the trees. I spread the towel on the sand and plonked down, pulling things out of the bag while Darius looked out into the ocean.
“You going to surf?” I asked. He shook his head, awkwardly sitting down while brushing the sand off his jeans. I stifled a laugh. Who the hell wears jeans to the beach? But from the looks he was getting, I’m sure no one minded him in his faded blue jeans and white top. Every girl walking past us, young and old grandmothers, were giving him the eye.
Which, for some strange reason, annoyed me.
I lied back on the towel, pulling the hem of my dress down and closing my eyes. Ah, this is life. Sitting under the palm trees on the beach and hearing people yelling and kids laughing…
I opened my eyes to find Darius looking at me. “What?” I asked. He shook his head and took out his phone. I rolled my eyes. I really should lock that phone away. This guy didn’t even bring his bathers!
I, being the smarter one in this marriage, had worn my bathers underneath my dress since I never did like changing in those horrible toilets at the beach, if you can even find them in the first place.
“Hey.”
I opened one eyes to see a shadow, or six, shadows looming over us.
“You guys interested in joining our volleyball game? We need two more players.”
I sat up, nodding my head. “Yep!” I said while Darius just shot me a look.
“Awesome,” he said with a smile and I stood up, looking at Darius as he also stood up and raised an eyebrow.
“You know how to play?”
“Of course,” he said, looking at me like I was an idiot. My bad. I thought rich kids didn't like getting their hands down and dirty. Correction. I thought Darius wouldn’t partake in such activity with complete strangers.
“You guys can have the girl. She may be hot but she’s not gonna know how to play,” I heard one of the guys whisper.
“Hey! For your information, I played 5 years in a male hockey team,” I snapped, glaring at the guy.
He turned around to stare at me with a raised eyebrow. “Sure.”
I glared back at him. Asshole. Let’s do him some collateral damage.
Darius and I were split to opposite teams, and, of course, the grey-eyed asshole was on his team. Perfect for me to plan my revenge.
“Okay, this is the plan,” said Henry, the captain of our team.
“Kyle, you and Jeffery take the back and Aluminium and I will take the front. You guys are the tallest so you will be able to pass back.”
“MY name is NOT Aluminium!” I replied, facing them as they all gave me blank stares.
“That's what he said,” said Henry, pointing to Darius, and I glared. Of course he did.
“It’s Ivory,” I said. They all nodded and Henry continued with the plan. After a little team hug we all took our spots.
Darius could play.
Now I wasn’t exactly sure if this was a good thing.
Damn, he could play. But I knew I could play just as well. I just needed to up my game. Darius scored eight of their team’s points and I had done nine. It wasn’t much but we were ahead by just one small point.
The grey-eyed asshole – his name is Daniel – served, which landed right to Jeff who passed it to me and I hit it back into their court, which was, of course, picked up by Daniel who passed it back.
I could tell this was going to be another long rally as neither of us wanted to give up.
There was a small crowd by the time we were nearly finished.
“Hey, can we join?”
Jeffrey paused his serve and our group turned around to see three guys approaching us with smiles.
Jeffrey looked around and Henry shrugged. “Yeah, sure. We’re nearly done and you guys can join in then.”
“Nah, we’ll help you finish. Just a quick game. We saw you lot have been playing for ages,” said the second one, shooting me a look. What was his problem? Girls can’t play?
“Sure, I guess, then. One of you guys can join us and then the other there, and the third just watch till we’re done or else it’ll be uneven.”