Page 79 of Becoming Super

CHAPTER 6 – Chloe

I was laying on thesandy beach soaking up every drop of the summer sun. My skin felt toasty and my body lazy. I have always loved the ocean. Something about the vast openness, the inherent beauty, and the hint of danger seemed to call to me.

I could feel the summer breeze tickling my skin and I knew that I needed to turn over or risk looking like a lobster. But I felt so damn lazy. A small part of my mind told me that I felt better than I had in a long time, years even.

I brushed away any negative thoughts about why I might not have been happy in the past. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was the sound of the waves crashing on the shore and the breeze keeping me cool.

I felt something nudge my toe. I shuddered, praying that it wasn’t a seagull, stupid rats with wings. I kicked it away and heard an oomph which didn’t really go along with my seagull theory. However, it had stopped bothering me, so I considered that a win.

This time the damn seagull grabbed my ankle. When did seagulls grow hands? I kicked again and heard, “Damn it, Chloe, that hurts!”

I smirked, “Take that seagull!”

“What?” the seagull replied.

But seagulls don’t speak. My brain started waking and suddenly the sand melted away into the sheets of my bed. The warmth of the sun was my light overhead and the crashing of waves was a noise machine that Rylee had given me.

“Fucking hell!” I groaned because at the foot of my bed was a very un-seagull like creature.

“Good morning,” Zack smiled at me, that million-watt smile of a kid that had top-notch braces. For a moment I wondered if they had orthodontia in space. But then I remembered that this twat had woken me up.

“Is someone dying?” I said pointedly.

His brows knit with confusion. Shit, even first thing in the morning Zack was pretty to look at. How on earth he managed the All-American superstar look twenty-four-seven I couldn’t fathom. I probably looked like a troll.

“Not that I am aware of,” he said slowly, “I mean, I am sure someone is dying somewhere. Probably a lot of someone’s; I really haven’t ever considered calculating the odds...”

“Stop,” I raised a hand and he abruptly cut off. “Is there a fire or plague nearby that is threatening to wipe us out?”

“No,” his lips flattened out into a line, “Are you expecting something like that?”

I nodded, “Absolutely, there has to be some sort of extreme emergency that would bring you into my chambers and wake me up this early in the morning. I am just trying to figure out what it is.”

His face brightened, and his blue eyes actually sparkled. I was waiting for the blinding flash from his teeth like you see in the movies. That is just what Zack looked like, a Hollywood actor. One that no matter what happened always managed to look sexy and adorable.

Well, I didn’t do sexy and adorable anymore.

He pushed my legs to the side and sat down on my bed. I felt the mattress give and I rolled into him a little.

“Well, by all means, make yourself at home,” I grumbled, but Zack wasn’t paying attention.

“I overheard you with Rylee saying how much you liked to run, and I thought I would show you some of the paths here on Zeron. It’s most beautiful when the sun is rising. You can still see the two moons in the sky. It’s been said that we have some of the most beautiful sites in the galaxy.”

I groaned, “I don’t know what you thought you heard, but I don’t run. Not even when someone is chasing me with a gun. I would just to tell them to do their worst. I refuse to exercise voluntarily, that is for gym rats and pansies.”

Zack shook his head, “No, you are just saying that! I know you like to run, you told Rylee all about it. You even were in running competitions!”

He was clearly delusional.

“Did you hit your head? How many fingers am I holding up?”

He looked at my hand and rolled his eyes before grabbing it in his larger one. I chose to ignore the jolt of awareness when our palms touched.

“I heard you say you loved speed runs,” he said defensively.

Suddenly it all made sense, and I started to laugh.

“You are totally ridiculous!” I wiped at my eyes, “I don’t like running, cowboy, I like video games. Speed runs are when you play the game as fast as you can, and you try and beat other people’s score. It has nothing to do with real running.”

---