The atrocity of loud honking resounded from right below your bedroom window for the third time already.

Clothes were scattered all over the wooden floor. Your phone, sunglasses and beer bottles were sat crammed inside your brown shoulder bag, after being thrown in it hastily just minutes ago. The first hints of a lovely sunset manifested themselves as an orange hue reflected in the mirror, in which you watched yourself frown in discontent.

“For God’s sake, please come out to him already!” pled your grandma from downstairs, fed up with the noise and your rushed bustling around the whole house.

“I know granny, I’m coming!” you responded as politely as you could yell before storming towards your windowsill, unfortunately still not quite ready to leave. “Stop honking at me!” your head peeked outside while you were skimming into your little shorts. “It’s impolite!”

Outside waited Bellamy, impatiently tapping against the dashboard of his truck – a pearl-colored pickup, that, despite its age remained classy, a testament to how well it had been cared for.

“And making me wait for you this long isn’t?” he inquired with a smug expression you recognised all too well even from the distance.

“I’m sorry, I’m coming, alright?!” you grinned despite yourself after he successfully took a jab at you.

You yanked your bag over your shoulder, jumped into high boots and rushed down the stairs, mumbling out sincere apologies as you almost stepped on your grandparents’ oldest, funkiest cat who just happened to be taking a nap on one of the highest steps.

Seeing you finally step out of the house, Bellamy shook his head in disbelief. Ten goddamn minutes of waiting. He couldn’t wrap his head around how poorly you managed your time.

“I know, I know, and I’m sorry, okay?” you offered, turning to catch his gaze which was visibly bordering on discontent and amusement as he finally turned the keys in the ignition.

“Took your sweet time, didn’t you? Glad you made it before nightfall though.”

To his great mirth, your eyes rolled back with an exasperated sigh escaping you. Your unbridled hair kept falling over your face as you threw your head back for an even more dramatic effect. If any frustration at your delay had lingered within him, it had long since waned. But that didn’t at any way stop him from pulling your leg just a tiny bit.

“Alright, enough of that, I get it,” Your hands travelled to the radio like they always did at the beginning of every ride, taking indispensable charge over the music. Hearing the familiar tune of “Heartbeat City”, you turned the volume up. “But please, just tell me when we’re going!”

“I already told you yesterday. It’s a surprise.”

With each fleeting minute of the drive, you passed by less and less houses as the landscape only kept turning wilder and greener. Old, crooked trees formed a leafy hood over the car, leaves peeking into your open window. At one point, the small roadway got so bumpy that you began to question if he really knew where he was heading. And if so, could it really be worth the mud splashing all over the polished fenders?

“It’s really starting to look as if you want to cart me off-“ you stopped mid breath. Just when you began poking fun at the oddest trip he decided to bring you on, something in your mind clicked – as if a puzzle piece unexpectedly finding its place.

You knew where you were. Oh, you knew perfectly.

“Oh my God!” you almost jumped in your seat, watching him swirl the steering wheel and take an all too familiar sharp turn left, right by a large willow tree. “No way!”

“Recognize that road?” he asked, relishing the sights before him – the serene landscape and your face glowing with the most genuine joy. One dearer than the other.

The roar of the engine died down, leaving your vibrant chuckle as the only thing to be heard after your brown boots hit the damp soil of the lake’s shore.

Before you was the lake in whose waters you and Bellamy spent half your summers.

Surrounded by small cliffs whose height used to turn your little knees to jelly, scaring you away from jumping from their tops. Your lungs feasted on the freshest air you had the pleasure of inhaling in a long while. Tall trees seemed to hug the peaceful area all together, making it cozy with their deep greens.

The place surely had lost its popularity, for it wasn’t neatly cleaned of unruly branches and bushes all around. But it wasn’t left in a total mess, either; it looked just right. Wilder than ever, but right.

“Gosh, I can’t believe I haven’t realized when we’re going sooner,” you sighed, disappointed with your already hazy memory of the place you once couldn’t go without. “It’s even more beautiful than I remembered it.”

“Yeah, I thought you’d be onto it halfway through the drive,” he exclaimed, following your steps. But unlike you, who just stood by the shore in awe letting the eyes do the admiring, he was already shaking off his boots. “But you do remember how to swim, I suppose?” he teased, showing off his pearly whites.

“That I do, thank you very much.” You did not hesitate before discarding your own shoe wear, mirroring his smile which has always been sickly contagious.

Jumping out of your clothes, you looked up to see Bellamy, already shirtless who had just lowered down to his belt.

It was as if his every move pulled on a string that caused your eyes to follow. So they did, noticing how sunshine dripped over the expanse of his newly exposed olive skin like honey. With each blink, they found something new. Something absorbing. His freckle-graced muscles flexed when he tugged down his jeans and offered you even more skin to study about.

You had to shake the haze off when maroon shot straight up to your cheeks. Deciding to ignore the funny feeling lingering in your gut, you let your clothes flow down your limbs and watched how Bellamy already disappeared underwater with a loud splash just a few yards away.

Rising back to the surface, he shook his hair out and looked to you, his warm gaze contrasting with the frosty water you struggled to accommodate to, barely a knee in.

“C’mon, it’s not that cold,” he urged, wading your way.

A loud hiss slipped past your chattering teeth when the frigid encircled you from waist down. “Are you joking!? It’s freezing!” you laughed in his face, barging deeper.

Despite your obvious ability to stay afloat and not fear drowning, tremendous bodies of water never seemed to fill your mind with ease upon first encountering them. They were too unpredictable for your liking. So when the ground beneath your feet began fading away, you instinctively reached for his arm, which he made sure remained close enough in case you needed it for whatever reason.

“You just gotta move around and you’ll warm up in no time, trust me,” he reassured, already leading you into deeper waters. Holding your outstretched arms, his digits brushed over the constellations of goosebumps adorning them. “You good?” he made sure, just in case it somehow turned out that your memory regarding swimming was as terrible as your outdoor orientation. You nodded, so he let go.

You didn’t realize how awfully pleasant having him so close was until the warmth of his skin evaporated once you let go of him in order to sway your limbs freely. You moved your body as much as you could, fighting the cold, trying to settle into some kind of familiarity within the element you found yourself in.

In the corner of your eye, you took notice of how Bellamy’s silhouette started to get dangerously close again after a good while of keeping distance.

He must have missed the thrill of seeing you riled up, because the closer he got, the more his eyes were showing the blooming gleam of mischief behind them. A sight you learnt to recognize immediately, wanting to be alarmed before the possible damage was done. This time – sadly, you were too late.

A big, icy wave rose from underneath his arm, hitting your face, drenching any inch of you that was lucky enough not to have experienced the shivering cold yet.

“You asshole!” you cried out, spitting the water out of your mouth as his rich chuckle met your ears. “I was warming up at my own pace!”

“It looked like you needed help with it though,” he dared, circling around you.

“Oh, now you’re just asking for it,” Your face was emanating with hunger for retaliation.

His smirk grew wider, happy with how he earned the effect he was hoping for. What he did not expect to see though, was you throwing yourself over him with such great force!

“Oh shit–!” was all he could force from his throat as his body faltered when your arms circled around his neck with the clear intention of bringing him to his now-inevitable fall.

His long fingers dug tight into the skin of your stomach as your bodies merged, hitting the water with one loud slap.

Time truly froze for as long as the surface turned to a roof over your heads. His body fell beneath yours, still keeping you impossibly close as his back almost met the rough ground that seemed so far away barely seconds ago. Your legs were brushing up against his own. Your eyes found his despite the dozens of bubbles falling over your faces as you barely contained your laughter inside your lungs.

It seemed as if under some silent agreement you came to, neither of you wanted to be the first one to resurface. As if earnest to persist in the jaunty, childlike state the underwater world appeared to grant, even if for the shortest while.

The challenge most obviously didn’t last long as just a few heartbeats later all remaining breath escaped you.

Seeing you climbing your way towards air, his palm clasped around yours with a squeeze, his strength assisting you both in coming back up.

Water splattered everywhere, wind made a dance floor out of your drenched faces, sharp breaths tore from both of you with uncontrollable laughter lingering on their edges.

“You tryin’ to drown your oldest friend, now huh?” he started, running a hand over his curls.

“Not drown. Just tryin’ to teach a lesson.”

“And what might it be, bunny? I’m not quite sure if I got it…”

With those words, he ignited the battlefield again – initiating a series of awfully immature pushes, chasing and racing.

Your face muscles had grown sore, for they had been displaying the purest forms of enjoyment with no foreseen end. Your chest hadn’t felt this light in forever. Maybe because no one had gotten to touch the deepest parts of your closed-off heart besides the one and only freckled boy.

Soon enough, the boy in question made the blood rush faster in your veins, as he was making his way to the top of the highest cliff around.

“No, Bellamy, there’s no way!” your yell echoed.

“It’s really not that high!” he shouted back when he looked down to you from the highest point, his bare feet assessing the stability of the rocks underneath them with each step he took.

“Yeah, the water was supposed to be not that cold too!” you pointed out with a scoff, not really putting trust in his questionable judgement no more. “You know that some people’s bones literally break during such stunts?!”

“Relax, I’m not planning on crushing any, I promise!”

He thrived on the adrenaline rush. The excitement creeped inside his stomach as he took a good glance downwards, assessing the fall. True, the height could intimidate most with ease.

You sighed, shaking your head with both disbelief and admiration for his daring nature. Deep down, from start you knew all too well that once he set his mind to something, there was no talking him down. Burying the worry far away in your subconscious, you let excitement take its place as he took a few good steps backwards, bent his knees, and he was ready to sprint.

His strong legs took a big leap, and before you knew it, he unexpectedly did a backflip and jumped right into the air.

At his body’s collision with the waterline, you immediately broke out into a celebratory shout, giving the trick a much deserved round of applause. “Oh my God, that was fucking sick!”

After he quickly collected himself after the jump, you were by his side already, his arms encircling your waist in an outburst of energy.

“Oh, you’ve gotta try it too!” he tugged you by the arm, wanting to pull you to the shore. Wanting you to claim the achievement that had always seemed unconquerable to your childhood self.

“What!? No, no, Bellamy wait!“

“No time for waiting. Come on bunny, don’t tell me you’re scared,” he tried reverse psychology which embarrassingly enough, worked quite well on you.

“I just can’t help but think what if–“

“No thinking, alright? Not here, not now,” his voice, teeming with warmth had always been a balm to your anxieties. It was all thanks to it that your legs didn’t give out when you eventually stood by the edge of the sheer drop.

“See? Not so scary,” he didn’t give up on offering even the smallest amounts of reassurance since your pale face betrayed your great need for it.

“Shut up, I need to process this,” you shushed him, making him raise up his hands in surrender while you blankly stared beneath you. The moon was up in the sky already, the night making the beautiful landscape sink into darkness filled with unknown.

You took a good few seconds to yourself before giving a verdict. “Yeah, that’s it, I’m not doing this.”

“It’s gonna be fine, I’ll jump first and I’ll be down there to help you resurface when you hit the water.”

Your wide eyes looked up to him with uncertainty.

“No broken bones. Promise.”

One thing about Bellamy? He would sooner die than break a promise. So with that in mind, you had no other choice than to nod and take a deep breath. In and out. Accepting the fact that you really were partaking in this stupidity.

His jump was so fast, so effortless. This time he didn’t go for the backflip, just a normal leap, meant to strike up your confidence to do the same.

When his mane of black curls rose from beneath the surface, he flashed his teeth to you. “C’mon, I know you got this!”

“Can you count down, please?” you asked, needing a certain push.

“Three!”

The thought of jumping to him rather than into the arms of the abyss under you helped you quite a lot.

“Two!”

Simply put, you knew nothing bad could happen when he was around.

“One!”

Holding onto that thought, you jumped.

A loud yell of bravery escaped you right before air was smashed out of your lungs.

Time did not exist. Only water around you did, and only the air you were missing – chasing after it when you resurfaced.

Your laughs melded into one when his arms wrapped around you.

“Sick, huh?” You didn’t even notice how that happened, but you were chest to chest now.

“Fucking sick! Can we go again?”

“Yeah, we can.” His chuckle sent heat down your neck. You were still getting your breath back. Your hair was messed up, sticking all over your face. His hands were the kindest thing around, so when he stroked your locks away from your eyes, you instinctively leaned closer, letting him.

The water kept playfully hitting your sides, as if telling you to move. Yet neither of you did.

Your eyes didn’t pay attention to anything other than his dark irises, which seemed to bathe you in their warmth, covering more and more of your shivering body.

You kept holding onto him, getting more and more pulled into the spell his embrace was.

You couldn’t let yourself fall prey to that. It felt weird in your stomach, and in your chest, and in your heart. It couldn’t be any good, for it felt too odd. Too nice.

“So? Let’s go,” you urged, tugging on his forearm and leading the way up, ruining the charm.

At that, his jaw clenched and his eyebrows met together, as he actually had to shook his head in order to snap out of the eerie feeling he got lost in. There was no time to dwell on it now though, was there?

The melodies of the crickets were the only thing to hear when you wrapped up your night, collecting clothes scattered across the dirt of the shore, empty beer bottles and smacking away the mosquitos attacking each other’s bodies.

You got into the car in a blanket, which Bellamy neatly wrapped you up with after taking it out from the backseat.

Your head soon fell against the headrest, and lulled by the quiet hum of the radio and the physical strain of the evening, you fell asleep.

Affection washed over Bellamy at the sight of his usually awfully talkative passenger knocked out. After fixing the blanket slipping down your shoulder, he spent the whole drive back with a smile plastered over his face.