Page 31 of Flowers To Give

“Come on,” Merle elbows his arm and starts walking alongside him, “I want to show you something.”

Jeremy follows him into the night. They don’t speak much, neither of them eager to engage in small talk. For his part, Jeremy enjoys the salty breeze under his nose and crescendoing tide beside him. Approaching an outcrop of cobble and larger beachrocks, Merle climbs up and Jeremy only hesitates a moment before following.

Getting to the peak, Merle points out to the end of a jetty and says, “Let’s walk out there.”

“Why?” Jeremy asks, eyeing the dangerously narrow path.

“You’ll see,” Merle tells him, walking ahead without faltering.

The waves break against the rocks around them, mist flying up and making the rocks slippery. Jeremy’s so focused on watching where he puts his feet that he nearly knocks into Merle who’s stopped at the end of the jetty. He holds both Jeremy’s shoulders and grins in his face, “Woah, you alright?”

“Yeah,” Jeremy tries on his own smile.

“Good,” Merle pushes Jeremy forward so he’s toe to toe with the ocean, “Look.”

All Jeremy can see is water. He feels like he’s out in the middle of the sea, floating over the waves. His senses are drenched by the salty air and wall of water that reflects the low hanging full moon. Jeremy turns his head to say over his shoulder, “It’s beautiful.”

“Cool, right? Endless seas.”

“I actually had never seen the ocean before coming here,” Jeremy admits.

“Get out,” Merle leans into Jeremy’s back, mouth tickling his ear, “Are you trying to hustle free surf lessons outta me?”

Jeremy grins, shaking his head, “No, I haven’t even gone swimming yet.”

“Huh,” Merle’s hand is on Jeremy’s hip, turning him around to face him, “We’ve gotta change that.”

“What? Here?”

“No, there are too many sharks in the water here,” Merle replies matter of factly.

Looking around, Jeremy asks, “You mean we’re surrounded by sharks right now? At the end of a jetty?”

Merle shrugs, “Yeah, probably.”

“Let’s go,” Jeremy insists, walking past a laughing Merle.

They make it back to the beginning of the jetty safely, Jeremy playing it cool by not kissing the ground. He turns to head back to the Four Seasons’s beach but Merle grabs his hand and tugs him in the other direction, saying, “This way.”

“What’s over there?”

“Our own private beach,” Merle smirks.

Jeremy follows Merle trepidatiously, asking, “No sharks?”

“Can’t promise that, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be fine,” Merle teases, “You don’t happen to have any open wounds, do you?”

There’s no sandy beach on the other side but a rocky wave-cut platform with the tall face of a sea cliff behind it. They stop at a shallow outcropping and Jeremy looks up to marvel at the striking sea cliff’s height when there’s movement in his peripheral. Looking over, Merle is stripping down. His hoodie is lying on the rock face and his wide leg lounge pants are next.

“You just going to stand there and watch me or are we going swimming?” Merle asks as he pulls his underwear down.

Jeremy hesitates, scratching his neck and nervously saying, “I don’t know.”

“What?” Merle asks, stark naked.

Rolling his eyes, Jeremy confesses, “I’m kind of scared of it.”

“The ocean?”