Angel turned to see if Valerie was watching. “No, it’s cool. I don’t wanna take her beer.”

Sarah shook her head. “She’s not gonna finish all this. She never does, and then we’re gonna end up throwing it out later tonight.”

“Throw out beer? Are you nuts?”

“Well, we can’t take it home, my aunt would kill us.”

“Oh, well, in that case, let me help the cause,” He held out his hand.

Her finger brushed his hand as she passed him the bottle. That’s all it took to ignite him. His hand trembled, as he took a swig of his beer. He watched her the whole time. Her eyes were so big, her lashes so dark and heavy; everything seemed to slow down when she blinked. His insides smoldered and he gulped his beer hard.

“So, are you here alone?” She asked.

He looked around. He had to; if he stared at her any longer he was afraid he’d freak her out.

“Nah, my friends are here somewhere, we just got split up.” He turned back to her. “How ‘bout you? Is it just you and Valerie tonight?”

She sipped on her wine again. “Yeah, well, I came here with just Val, but we’re supposed to meet up with friends later.”

Angel took another swig of his beer and looked around casually, “Guys?”

“No. Some of her girlfriends; they’re not here yet though. That’s why I’m here. I really don’t like these kinds of parties, but none of her friends could get here until later, so she talked me into coming with her.”

Angel smiled, gazing in her eyes. “I’ll have to thank her later for that. So, where do you like to go?”

She held his gaze for a moment and then smiled, making Angel’s legs weak. “I love the beach,” She sighed. “I just moved out here a few months ago, from Arizona, so the beach is new to me. I could spend every night there watching the sunset. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the sunsets in Arizona are just as beautiful. It’s just the newness of the cool salty air, and watching while listening to wave’s crash, and the birds…quack?”

Angel was puzzled. “Quack?”

She burst into laughter. “Squawk? You know what I mean!”

“God, you were doing so well,” he teased, pretending to gaze out into the sky. “I mean, I could almost hear the waves crashing and everything.”

Sarah continued to laugh. Angel wondered if she was getting tipsy but he continued to tease her. He loved hearing her laugh. “I mean peep would’ve been closer, but quack? Really?”

Sarah’s hand was over her mouth, but there was no muffling her laughter. “I got the point across, didn’t I?”

“I’m just saying. The wind was blowing in my hair and everything, look.” He pretended to hold his hair down.

“Stop!” she squealed.

He couldn’t help laughing with her. It was such a cute laugh and so contagious. She was refreshing. It wasn’t just that she was enjoying his jokes, but that she didn’t mind laughing at herself. So many other girls would’ve been too busy trying to be seductive. She didn’t even have to try. He could tell being seductive was the last thing on her mind.

She wiped the corners of her eyes. She’d literally laughed that hard. “Is my mascara all messed up?” She opened her eyes wide.

He stepped forward to get a better look. Her makeup had smeared slightly on the bottom corner of her right eye. “Hold still,” he moved closer to her.

He wiped the bottom of her eye very slowly and gently with his pinky. He was so close to her face, he could smell the wine on her breath. She held her cup right in front of her, and he felt her tense up when his body touched her hand. He examined her other eye.

“Your eyes are amazing,” he said without moving back.

She held his gaze for just a second, and then backed up slightly. “Thanks.”

She turned away and Angel watched as she took a very long sip of her wine. It surprised him how uncomfortable compliments made her. With eyes like those, you’d think she’d be used to them. Still, she broke the silence as only she could.

“Where’s my Precious?” She said, in a coddling voice. She bent over and opened her ice chest. Angel watched as she poured herself less than a quarter of a cup.

He enjoyed teasing her. “Maybe if you’d fill the cup, you wouldn’t have to refill so often.”

“Ah, to deal with lower society,” she smirked. “This isn’t beer, Angel. You sip, so if I fill it, by the time I’m half way through, it’ll be warm. I don’t like warm wine, okay?”

“Oh no, you didn’t just call me lower society!”

“Oh, yes, I did.”

Angel held his pointer finger up in front of her, and she began to giggle again. “One word.”

“Bring it,” She took a sip.

“Quack!”

She covered her mouth with the cup to avoid spitting and turned her back on him so he couldn’t see it leak out the side of her mouth. She turned back to face him and kept laughing. “You had to go there.” She wiped around her cle**age.

His eyes were fixated on her hands. “I had to.” Gulping hard, he watched her continue to wipe the wine from the front of her blouse. “I can help you with that.”

She smiled at him half rolling her eyes. “That’s okay.” She returned her attention to her blouse, and he couldn’t look away.

He was still standing there gaping, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Eric. “Hey, dude, you ready?”