“What was that song again?” he mumbled to himself before slightly parting her lips with his hands, then breathing into her “how deep is your love. How deep is your love” he said somewhere between singing and mumbling, pressing down on her chest with open palms with each ‘deep’ twice, then going back to breath into her parted lips. He did this four times before she suddenly coughed up water into his mouth, making him recoil and land on his butt in both disgust at the exchange of salt water and surprise (surprised it actually worked).

  He watched as she sat herself up spluttering and furiously coughing out the water in her lungs and taking in deep breaths.

  “Hey err- h-how you feeling?” he reluctantly asked in a tiny voice.

  She paused, not expecting the voice, before turning her head to him.

  “Who the hell are you?” she asked in a raspy voice before clearing her throat and glaring at him “who are you” she repeated, her voice now smooth and, dare Ryan say, she sounded symphonic.

  “The person who just saved you. You’re welcome” he replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  “What the-” she looked behind her at the body of water, then back at the man beside her “saved my life? Yeah, right” she chortled.

  “Wha- so you think you just somehow got air back into your lungs?” he snapped.

  “Well, maybe I didn’t want to be saved, you idiot” she murmured under her breath before looking back up at him with what Ryan could only describe as a crazy look in her eyes, “besides who goes about kissing strangers at the beach at night without so much as saying ‘hi’ to them”

  “Kiss?” he couldn’t believe his ears.

  “Lips-to- lips, your lips on mine. I believe that’s how kisses work.”

  “Wow, okay, I have nothing to say to you. The look in your eyes says it all.”

  “And what is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means you’re crazy” he replied, getting up.

  “Wait” she called out, making Ryan stand still. He wasn’t really going anywhere. “To answer your question, I drowned in a damn salty ocean, got washed up to the shores of only heaven knows where, and the cherry on top of the icing is, my rescuer isn’t a hunk like in the movies, but a scrawny effeminate looking man. So how do you think I feel?” her voice getting louder as she continued.

  “Oh really” he shot his brows up, taking the comment about his features to heart “well, have a nice day ahead you ungrateful little piece of s-”

  “What, you can’t just leave me here?” she cut him off.

  “Watch me”, he turned away.

  “I don’t know where the hell I am” she darted her head around her to prove her point.

  Ryan turned to her, “Oh I’m sorry, I thought you didn’t want to be saved. Since this was apparently a suicide attempt, so how about you just swim back into the water, close your eyes and rest in peace.” He concluded, giving her a broad smile.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Why would you say that to me?” she began tearing up, lips quavering “you don’t even know me and you’re telling me to go kill myself. What are you, some high school bully?” she sniffed as a single tear fell.

  “Why the hell are you crying? You’re the one who said you didn’t want to be saved.”

  “It was a figure of speech” she snapped, sniffing.

  “Figure of speech, what is it supposed to mean? Enlighten me” he yelled, not minding the eerie silence around them.

  “I was just being dramatic, okay” she yelled back.

  “Why would you do that? It makes no sense.”

  “You make no sense” she weakly replied, then added “I’m a lady, being dramatic is my DNA”. She concluded by rolling her eyes.

  Well, that’s definitely one more reason for Ryan to be gay. She stared at the sand as her crying died down. “So now what?” she looked up at him.

  “Now what?” he mimicked her.

  “Are you seriously going to leave me here?” she asked, her eyes wide.

  “Well-”

  “I promise you I don’t know where the hell I am. You have already rescued me, and leave me in the hands of-”

  “Ugh fine” he cut her off. He rubbed his temples. “This goes against a lot of my principles, but I guess you can stay at my place till daybreak, then we’ll see what next.”

  “Okay” she nodded before giving him a suspicious look, “wait, you’re not getting any ideas are you?”

  Okay, this lady is impossible. He thought to himself. “I’m not into crazy people.” he simply replied.

  “Well, the feeling is mutual because I’m not into effeminate-”

  “Don’t call me that,” he snapped.

  “Delicate guys” she corrected with an eye roll “with a stupid haircut” she quickly added.

  “My haircut is just fine” he snapped.

  “Do you believe everything your mother tells you?” she snorted.

  “I am really regretting this already” he muttered to himself. “Get up”. He lightly kicked her on the foot.

  “I can’t” she glared at him.

  “What, you crippled?”

  “No I am not.”

  “Then get your ass up.”

  “My body feels inhumanly heavy from floating for what I assume to be at least 20 hours and my legs feel dead” she laid back down on the sand to prove her point.

  “So you can’t feel them” he kicked her feet harder.

  “Hey,” She snapped. “They feel wobbly not that the cells there are dead.”

  “You haven’t even tried to get up yet.”

  “It’s my body and I know the mechanics of my body and right now I know what I feel.”

  “Damn it, fine” he sighed. “I’m surprised you weren’t pushed off a cliff or something”. He stooped down to pick her up.

  “Ha-ha” she replied in a monotone, draping her arms round his neck “but it’s actually funny you should say that, because I was pushed off a cruise ship.”

  “You’re a bloody dead weight” he grunted.

  “Oh, thanks. That is every girl’s dream to be called ‘heavy’” she sarcastically replied. “I will tell you all about the attempted murder after a nice hot bath and a cup of hot cocoa.”

  “You know I’m sure whoever pushed you had a good reason and I might just see why”

  “That is very rude. You don’t even know me.”

  “First impression matters and, from I gather, you are a prick and a nut job.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “I want the hot cocoa in the tub just to be clear.”

  “Just keep in mind that I can drop you and make sure you hit your damn head and make it look like a goddamn accident, OK”, he glared at her, imagining if he could pull off a move he saw in a movie once where a man broke another man in half by bending him over his knee.

  After what seemed to Ryan like an eternity, he finally arrived at the house where the two proceeded to argue, with the brown-haired lady insisting on Ryan carrying her to the bathroom.

  “What, why did you stop?” she snapped her head at him.

  “How do you propose you will take off your towel before I drop you in the tub?”

  “Simple, I take it off” she replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  “No way”

  “It’s not like you’ll care.”

  “What was that?”

  “You practically broke my gaydar” she scoffed, “especially the decoration in here”. She rolled her eyes.

  “I’m bi for your information, okay-” he paused, realizing he had never got her name “- your name.”

  “Z”

  “Is that short for something?”

  “Just z” she replied with a lopsided smile.

  “Okay ‘just z’ I’m just going to place you in, take off the towel in the tub, I’ve got a lot to spare” he immediately did as he said and headed out the door to silence her complaints.