"Get your nose off the phone and experience this!" Rory calls from the whale’s mouth.
"I just sent that photo to your brother!" I call back.
When I finally walk through the whale’s mouth and further in to get in the shade, she’s already down by the whale’s tail.
"Look, there is a platform to climb for photos," she says, coming over to position her phone on one of the ledges, then taking my hand and dragging me with her.
"How are you taking a photo?" I ask.
Holding up the pen from her phone, she smiles. I just shake my head. She likes those fancy phones.
After posing with me and snapping some photos, she jumps down and checks her phone.
Standing, I just look over the water. I want to soak up this moment with just the two of us and how happy she is. Then she joins me and we both lean on the edge looking over the water.
"Thank you for coming with me on this trip,” she says, shocking me. “It's been more fun than I expected having someone with which to share the experience."
"I've been enjoying myself. This isn't a trip I would have taken on my own, but I'm glad I'm here."
When I look down at her, she's closer than I realize. She looks up at me, and her warm brown eyes are sparkling. Her stare pulls me in, and I’m frozen in place and couldn't move if I tried.
She reaches up and tucks a piece of her hair behind her ear, and that simple move has me hard. Who knew that was even possible? Yet when she licks her lips, I'm done for. There is no way I’m not going to kiss this girl.
My eyes move to her lips, and like we are two magnets which don't have a choice, we’re drawn to each other.
I reach up and tuck another piece of hair behind her ear but don't pull my hand away as I lean down and our lips meet.
The kiss is soft as our lips barely touch, but then she melts into me, and I deepen the kiss without a second thought. This is the kiss I dreamed of growing up, and to be here in the moment feels surreal.
She tastes like strawberries, and her lips are so much softer than I expected.
I'm lost in the kiss until she moans, then reality seeps back in. This isn't any girl, this is Rory. I pull back, but the sight of her head tilted up to me, eyes closed, and lips parted is too tempting.
So, I place another soft kiss on her lips before stepping back and putting space between us.
Her eyes open, and she looks at me. Neither of us says a word as she smiles and turns to head back to the car. I run my hand over my face. My emotions are so confusing.
As I turn to follow her, my thoughts start to go to war. I can't touch her. She's Nate's sister, but she is the girl I've crushed on almost all my life. I can just enjoy these two weeks with her and see how it goes, right? It’s probably a simple schoolboy crush that will burn out before we even hit California.
Let's hope Nate doesn't find out.