Somewhere during our last glaring contest, I decided not to be mad at Jet anymore.

The dude is probably seriously freaked out about the marriage thing and needs a friend. Despite the fact that I always want to beat him up (every five minutes) when I'm in his company, I love the guy.

Maybe he didn't even know he was going to get married tonight. His parents often spring surprises on him. Surprise! We're flying to Europe for a month without you, behave nicely for the housekeeper. Surprise! We're sending your brother to a posh school in London for a couple of years, don't cry! Surprise! We're not coming back from Europe until next year. He actually likes surprises that take his parents far, far away for long periods of time.

Surprise! You're getting married tonight!

It's not impossible. They seldom remember that he exists until the last minute. Jet is the kind of guy psychologists write books about when it comes to spoiled rich kids being neglected and unloved. Except Jet is probably not all that spoiled.

Now that I've forgiven him and am fully in his court again, I'm only glaring at him in the normal, friendly way and when we punch each other, neither of us is trying to cause any real pain or damage. We're just being us.

Kira and Akari seem to hit it off pretty well, which is great because it would be good if my wife and my friend's wife got along.

Oh, wait! I didn't get married tonight! Damn!

Maybe Jet is not all that upset about the marriage thing anymore because he seems to like Akari well enough, and she doesn't look like the type he normally hangs out with. Usually, he only dates girls who don't expect anything serious. It's good that he's married to this one because it would be a shame if he were just messing around with her.

"Seriously, Ethe, you've become a domesticated poodle," Jet tells me when Kira and I change plates halfway through our meal to enjoy the best of both worlds. We often do this when we're eating out and we like each other's food. Usually, my sister joins in too. It's fun getting tastes of all the different flavours.

I reward his weird-ass insult by punching his shoulder hard enough to leave a bruise, but that only makes him laugh more.

"Ass!"

"Hey," he chuckles, rubbing his shoulder. "I didn't say it was a bad thing. You've always been like a puppy running around making puddles on the floor, and now you seem kinda house-trained. That's all."

He throws his hands up in surrender when I'm about to punch him again. "Wait! Wait! I like this sharing thing. Why don't we order a bunch of desserts and share it? We can all taste everything."

"That's the first good idea you've had tonight," I tell Jet, and when a waiter passes by our table, I ask for a couple of menus so we can do that.

When our plates are cleared away, I pull Kira's chair towards me again so we can look at the dessert menu together, and she doesn't protest; she even leans into me, unresisting when I wrap my arms around her. I think she's getting used to this oaf being all over her now.

We order almost every dessert on the menu, and the sweetness must be going to her head because Kira feeds me. It could also be that she knows she'll get more if she's in control of my portions. I don't care what motivates her; I love it.

Once we're done with our dinner I've had enough food to stop me from being hungry for a couple of hours, and we all leave the table together. Jet and I go to the checkout counter while Akari and Kira chat near us. I'm about to ask for the bill to be split so I can pay for my and Kira's meals and half the desserts when Jet hands his card to the hostess manning the cashier. "No, please, let Marvin take care of it tonight," he says. "He owes me big time."

I don't argue because, for the first time tonight, I see a bitter flicker in Jet's eyes and making his dad pay for stuff is the only way the guy can get some sense of justice. I doubt his father even feels it.

"Thanks," I tell him when we walk towards the exit, and the two girls excuse themselves and head to the lady's room.

"No! Thank you, Ethe," he grins, grabbing my shoulder when we leave the restaurant to wait for the girls outside. "I'm sorry about your date, but that was pretty great."

"Yeah, it was fun and hanging out with you and your wife will make Kira feel more comfortable as my girlfriend, so it's all good."

"Me and my what?!" Jet squeals like a little piglet, gaping at me as if I'm a squashed bug on his clean windshield, and he's not sure of my species.

"Didn't you get married tonight?"

"What?!"

I gesture to his suit and tie and polished shoes - everything he hates to wear - and his confused frown slowly melts away as he follows my hand.

"Seriously, Ethe, you've got to give me some of the stuff you smoke," he laughs. "It's seriously potent."

"It is?"

"I didn't get married tonight, you moron! I went to a friggin' fundraiser!" he laughs again, shaking his head, still giving me looks that are starting to feel insulting. "It was a surprise outing Belinda and Marvin organized for me."

He always calls his parents by their names. He once told me that the titles of Mother and Father are something to be earned. Until then, parents are just life donors... something like that. He calls his friends' parents Mom and Dad. His words were a bit confusing, but I got what he meant.

Jet hates going to fancy fundraisers almost as much as he hates doing school homework and gardening, doing the dishes and dusting... anything that seems like work. I actually think that sailing is the only thing the guy genuinely loves to do.

"So, you're not married to Akari?" I ask just to make 100% sure I'm finally on the right page in the right book and on the right shelf. I'm actually a bit disappointed now. I thought Akari might be good for him.

"No," he grunts. "They didn't say who they have in mind, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be Letitia Bartlett. You know? The one who looks more like a horse than her horse does."

I do remember him mentioning her in the past. His parents often drag him on business outings to be her company. They have nothing in common. She is completely absorbed by the high-stakes gold and glitter lives of the upper class. She embraces everything Jet loathes.

"I told you I'm not marrying anybody, and you said you were going to help me."

I nod my head, holding out my fist, which he bumps with his own, re-confirming the deal.

"So, how did you and Akira end up together?"

"Belinda told me that it would be good if I danced with a few of the ladies and show that I can fulfil my role as the heir to the Tremain throne. Apparently, we're the royal family of dancing... Who knew?" he laughs, but his laughter has no humour. "Dancing at these things means getting my butt groped by old women, so I did the only logical thing I could think of to do. I found a closet to hide in," he shrugs. Yes, this is Jet; that is the logical thing to do. "Akari was already in there. She was reading a book by the light of her cell phone."

He laughs, enjoying the memory; this time, his laugh is filled with amusement.

"She turned the light off the moment the door opened, so I didn't see her and sat down in her lap," he chortles. "Now, that was my kind of surprise! We hung out in there for a while, waiting for a chance to make a break for it, and when I heard her stomach growl, I realised just how hungry I was too. Knibbling on pretentious, overpriced finger food doesn't do it for me. I brought her here, and now we're going to a movie we both want to see."

A movie! I didn't think of that. Maybe I should take Kira too.

"What movie?"

"The Notebook."

"Seriously?" I grimace, not impressed. "You're going to watch a movie about stationery?"

Jet sucks a breath through his clenched teeth, narrowing his eyes and clicks his tongue like a doctor looking at an especially funky wound.

"How do you even survive in this world?"

I press my lips together and give him a threatening look, but he just laughs.

"It's an old movie." It would be. Egret's Rest's theatre doesn't generally show new releases; it recycles old ones. "It's supposed to be really sad."

Ugh! A weepy movie where everybody watching ends up crying. No thanks!

"Do you want some tissues?"

"You are such a bloody misogynist!" Jet yells in sudden aggression, balling his fists, and I think he probably would've knocked me out if Kira and Akari hadn't stepped from the restaurant to join us on the sidewalk.

"How the hell am I a misogynist?" I ask, completely baffled. "You're not even a girl!"

"You offered me friggin' tissues! You're implying that I'm one."

"If you think offering guys tissues implies that they're girls, you're the misogynistic one," I point out. "Men use tissues too!"

I don't think I can think of even one occasion where Jet and I argued about something like this before... ever! We argue about sports, music and gaming... and sometimes about girls we both like. Well, we used to.

I have Kira now.

"Maybe I was looking for a different word," he grumbles, relaxing again, and I can forgive the guy this time. He's had a tough night at a glitzy fundraiser until he got into a closet. Sounds like torture to me. A crying movie with someone non-gropy, like Akari, might be just what he needs tonight.

I'll call him later to see if he wants to chat... or I'll let Barn know to do it. Chatting with Barn doesn't generally lead to insults and violence; it might be better for him.

"I wasn't mocking you," I say, rubbing his shoulder. "I was being sincere! You're really going to need some."

We glare at each other for a few silent seconds, Jet narrowing his weird ice cream green eyes, but he eventually figures out that I'm really on his side here and not just messing with him.

"Yes, give me some," he says, holding his hand out to me... and I think we're about to fight again.

"I... don't have any," I shrug, stroking the back of my head, feeling like an idiot.

"Why the hell did you offer me tissues if you don't have any? I'm going to need tissues!"

Kira, unwilling to lose her boyfriend in a fight about something as stupid as tissues, hastily opens her bag, pulls out a wrapped packet of tissues, and hands them to Jet.

"Thanks," he grunts, taking them, still glaring at me. "Come, Akki, we're going to be late."

Akari politely thanks Kira and me for sharing our table and a lovely dinner with them, and after hugging Kira, she crosses the street with Jet to hurry to the movie theatre.

"Want to walk on the beach?" I ask Kira, taking her hand in mine. "Or do you also want to go see the movie?"

"Beach," she scoffs. She can see the name of the movie playing tonight, and if it really were about stationery, she probably would've wanted to see it. Like me, Kicks doesn't like tear-jerkers; we prefer witty action adventures. "Wait! Does Jet know what movie is playing?" she asks, suddenly concerned.

"Yeah," I shrug, starting to walk towards the beach. "Jet needs a good cry now and then. Movies like that help him get the job done."

When we reach the beach, we kick off our shoes, roll up our pantlegs and stroll hand-in-hand along the water line like we're starring in a honeymoon destination advertisement. It's fun for a while, but since I'm not allowed to pause for kissing breaks, and we're not on our honeymoon, I soon get bored with dragging my feet through the water in the dark.

We turn back to the main beach when it becomes too hard to see where we're going, and under the warm light of the lanterns mounted all over the beach, we build a sand castle.

"Ethy," Kira says, patting one of the walls into shape. "Why do you think people build sand castles and snowmen, not snow castles and sandmen?"

I let the handful of sand I've dug from the moat around our castle sift through my fingers, thinking it over. "Probably because building snow-anything in Egret's Rest is impossible since the temperatures here range from pre-hell to beyond-hell, and we never get any snow."

"I know that," Kira huffs. "You're missing my point, idiot," she says, rolling her eyes like she's trying to channel Lara, the girl in our class who likes to tell people they're wrong about everything. I don't want to date Lara, so I gather some slightly moist sand into a ball and throw it at Kicks.

"I'm just checking to see if your theory works," I shrug, grinning at her startled expression and the sand falling in lumps from her shoulder where it hit her. "Doesn't look like swapping snow with sand works so well... it's too loose."

"Hmm, let me see," she says, throwing a sandball at me. "You... might... be... right." Each of her words is accompanied by a handful of sand. She's not even trying to form them into balls.

"Seriously," I shout, grabbing pieces from our castle and tossing them blindly at her since she's causing such a cloud of sand over me that I cannot even open my eyes. I hear her scream and giggle and tell me to stop, and when the sandstorm ends, and I can open my eyes, I see it is because she's rising to her feet, getting ready to run.

I follow her example, and we're soon running through the shallows, Kira pausing to splash me. She's probably trying to see if she can substitute snow with seawater. Water balls are even less feasible than sand ones.

"That's it!" I warn her. "I'm dunking you in the ocean!"

"Noooooooo!" she screams, and laughing, I chase after her when she runs off with more dedication to the task. It's not a fair contest. She has to give at least two to three steps for each of mine, so I hold back to let her enjoy fleeing for a bit.

She shrieks when I finally close the gap and grab her from behind. I toss her into the air, spinning her to face me so I can catch her against my chest in a tight hug. That might've been a mistake because holding her like this is the perfect position for a kiss, and I want nothing more than to kiss the girl. I can even hear some frogs and a red crab-lobster-turtle thingy sing about it.

https://youtu.be/TrRbB-qUJfY

Why did I make that stupid promise?!

I can feel Kira's breath whisper silkily on my face. Her lips are so close to mine that I can feel their warmth and almost taste them. My heart is beating so fast, my blood is rushing like thunder through my brain. I wish she would close the non-existent gap between our lips, but she doesn't. She is staring into my eyes with the strangest expression on her face.

I can see every star in Heaven, and the warm lights scattered over the beach reflected in the dark sheen of her eyes. The sea breeze is gently caressing my cheek with soft strands of her hair, and I'm going to die due to a lack of oxygen if she doesn't kiss me soon.

This is what they call cruel and unusual punishment. I deserve a medal of valour for not giving in to the overwhelming urge to capture her lips with mine.

I gasp in shock, my knees nearly buckling when Kira suddenly wraps her arms around my neck and hides her face in the hollow where my shoulder joins my neck. I close my eyes when her cheek slides against my skin, and I feel her heart beating like a tiny animal about to take flight.

She smells like Heaven!

I swallow a groan when her soft lips skim along my neck, leaving gentle kisses in their wake, calling millions of goosebumps into life. She is trying to kill me! This is impossible; I cannot stop my head from turning, making it easier for her lips to find mine if that is where they're headed.

"Kicks," I whisper, not sure what it is I want to say; her lips skimming my chin are driving all thoughts from my mind, and I involuntarily tilt my head, relieved when our lips finally meet. I'm careful not to take over while making sure she knows that my lips are there if she wants them.

Kira kisses me lightly, her lips moving tentatively against mine, gradually finding their place, and my nervous system is breaking into song and dance, getting ready to go into full-on chorus mode to sing along with the crab and frogs and flamingoes as soon as Kira commits to the kiss.

The chorus dies, the frogs flee, and the romantic crab is probably swallowed by the wet, sand-caked beast launching itself at our legs. Startled and uncertain about what is happening, I lower Kira to her feet and instinctively fall to my knees to put an arm around the intruding dog.

Our boat didn't capsize, but this might be worse!

"Cougar!" A man breaks away from the darker areas of the beach and runs towards us, a leash dangling from his hand.

Cougar?

The animal looks like a cross between a wolf and an Alsatian; her fur is thick and long, mostly black, with some brown and cream highlights. There is nothing cat-like about her, and she's extremely affectionate. I'm getting the kiss I'd been craving, but this is really not the tongue and lips I wanted all over my face.

Her owner is clearly exhausted, stumbling along the sand, looking ready to collapse, so I hold onto the dog, smiling at Kicks when she sits down to pet her. Kira's cheeks are glowing in the light, and her eyes are over-large. I wonder if she regrets having our kiss interrupted as much as I do.

Well, she started it this time, so maybe it's a step in the right direction.

"I'm sorry," the man gasps when he reaches us. Huffing and puffing, he falls to the ground beside us, hooks the leash to the dog collar, and wraps his arms around the animal, resting his head on her body. "She got away from me! Thank you! I've been chasing her all the way from North Beach!"

North Beach to here is a seriously impressive run!

"No problem," I say, trying to be friendly, but I'm mostly still stuck in the headspace where I was almost kissed by the girl I love. I cannot really focus on anything else now. Grinding my teeth, I pat the dog's head and do my best to smile at the stranger.

I'm vaguely aware of chatting with John Stuart and learning that he is a dentist who recently relocated to Palm Grove, a Summerfield town a bit inland from Egret's Rest. My aunt, Eden, lives there.

"My little girl named the dog," he laughs when I ask about the one-year-old German Shepard's weird name. By the time Dr Stuart has his breath back and Kicks and I are ready to leave the beach, I know that I like the man.

"I hope you and your family are going to be very happy in Summerfields," I tell him, holding onto the dog while he adjusts her leash, making sure she won't be able to escape again.

"Thank you, Ethan," he smiles. "Please get the word out there; I can use all the business I can get. If you two would like free dental checkups, just call and make an appointment with my receptionist. You'll find me online."

"Wow! Thank you," I grin, and Kira thanks him too, but I feel it's only fair to tell him that: "You're bound to get loads of work; Palm Grove and Egret's haven't had a dentist for a few years now, we all visit Silverview when we need one."

I watch Kira get to her feet and brush at the sand covering her clothes and am about to rise too, when Dr Stuart lies down beside his dog.

"Are you alright? We could give you a lift-"

"Thanks, but believe it or not, I rather enjoy the exercise. I just need a minute, then I'll get up and walk back. Really walk this time."

We say our goodbyes, and I take Kira's hand to stroll back to the ruins of our sandcastle, where we'd left our shoes and her bag containing our phones. Stomping our feet and brushing at the sand does not make much difference to our water-damaged, sand-covered exteriors, and we both decide to remain barefoot.

"This is a problem," Kira tells me when we reach the car and she finds the keys in her bag and hands them to me.

"No, it's all good," I smile, popping the trunk.

"You came prepared?" she asks, looking at the piles of folded towels in the trunk, and I wish I could take credit for being someone who thinks ahead this much.

"No," I chuckle. "My dad insists on having half our stash of towels in the car in case I ever use it. For some weird reason, he believes that I can never go anywhere without ending up dirty and/or wet, and he doesn't want me to ruin his seats. Seriously, I don't know what he's on about half the time!"

I grab a towel, drape it over Kira's sandy head and gently rub the splatters and wet sand from it.

"Yeah, makes no sense at all," Kira giggles, brushing her fingers over my shirt to rid it of wet sand. I smile, gazing into her eyes. Swallowing against the nervous tension building inside me, I turn away to find a towel to use on myself.

When we're ready to leave, we cover the seats with clean towels and get into the car. Neither of us speak on our drive home. Glancing at Kira, I see that she's as tense as I'm feeling. I think we've turned a corner in our relationship and lost connection to the GPS. We're driving blindly along unknown streets now.

Unable to stand it anymore, I reach over and cover Kira's hand with mine, enjoying the softness of her skin against my calloused palm. She doesn't pull away, not even when I need my hand to steer or change gears; she happily lets me use her hand for those tasks.

When we get home, I will try once more to tell her that I love her and to get her to look into her heart and see if she loves me too. I think Delia is right. I think Kira does love me. She just needs to admit it to herself.

"Kicks?" I say when I've stopped the car at their gate. She doesn't move; she sits like a statue, staring at her bag lying on her towel-covered lap. I hold onto her hand, my thumb tracing circles on its back, while I watch her chew on her bottom lip.

What is she so afraid of?

"Thank you," she suddenly says, pulling her hand from mine and I don't know how to stop her. "That was really fun. Next time, it is on me."

Next time? I like the sound of that.

"It was," I smile, swallowing against the stiffness in my throat. "Kicks-"

"Good night, I'll see you tomorrow," she interrupts, and I'm about to try talking again, but she leans over, kisses me on the cheek, and slips from the car before I can get my thoughts together. I could go after her, but if she's in a panic, that could have the opposite effect from what I'm aiming for, so I stay put, watching her run up their driveway. She was adamant about getting out at the gate, as if turning the car around in their yard would be so incredibly difficult.

She opens the front door, and just before she steps inside, she turns to look back and waves at me.

Dear Diary, tonight I had my first real date with Kira Croft, and it was awesome. I cannot wait to hang out with her tomorrow at the festival. This is going to be the best Founders' Day weekend ever!

I'm smiling by the time I start the car and put it in reverse.

Tonight, my girlfriend tried to kiss me for a change.

♂♀