As soon as we finished eating lunch, most of them decided to swim by the beach while I was helping Diana clean the table. Harry was surfing again even though he was all by himself and it was the very first time I see him surf and it was truly amusing. He moves in sync with the waves and knows well how to catch them and ride them effortlessly. He did a few trips with his short board and looked like he was flying above the waters. Harry looked amazing out there.
"He's flashing his moves because he knows you're here." Diana tells me with a smile.
I chuckle softly, "I didn't know he was that good."
"Oh he's the best in surfing. He joined a small competition here two weeks ago and he won first prize. I have never seen anyone surf like Harry."
I stare back at Harry who is now riding a bigger wave, "He really knows what he is doing."
"Yeah, but a part of me thinks that he surfs a lot because he wants to get off things in his head that he never really tell us."
I decided to sit next to Diana, "Why doesn't he tell you or the others about him?"
"I don't know. We never really got the chance to ask him and if we did, he avoids it."
My brows creasing in the middle of my forehead, "Is he embarrass?"
"Beats me. All I know is that he is remarkably smitten by you."
I snorted, "Why would you say that?"
"Because I have never seen him pursue a woman on the island before. He's a good friend and he's always smiling but he has never really talked to anyone in here the way he does to you."
Now I'm confused if what Georgina-Rose said earlier was true or not. "Doesn't he… have sex with women in here? I mean, obviously a lot of women gets attracted to him."
Diana smiles, "You should ask Harry about that. But he's a real gentleman, to everyone."
I should ask Harry.
A little later that day, I spent most of my time building sandcastles with Neal who didn't want to swim because he was still sunburned from lying on the sand the entire morning for sleeping on the beach. When I got the hang of building sandcastles, I rested my back on the huge coconut as I sit under its shade, watching all of them swim under the heat of the sun. I see Harry talking to Georgina-Rose as he opens a bottle of beer while she looks at him intently. It's amazing how he treats her kindly even though she has flashed herself to him many times. He leaves her while he begins to walk closer to where I was sitting as I was insisting myself to remain calm as he finally approaches.
"Hey." He greets while sitting next to me.
He hands me a beer and I accept, "Hi."
"You're being all lonely in here. What's up?"
"Nothing. I just like to stay under the shade of this tree. I'm still awfully sunburned."
Harry chuckles, "You're still beautiful anyways."
I scoff, "Harry can I ask you something?"
"Sure." He answers while raking his fingers through his hair as he push it back.
"I came on this island to heal myself from the pain that made me hate the thought of being with someone. I wanted to heal myself from the heartbreak of a lying man and wanted to focus on loving myself more because the past years I wasn't selfish." I tell him.
His brows creasing as he looks at me, "I don't get what you're saying and why you're telling me this one right now."
"I didn't come here for anything else but self-healing. I wanted to look for myself and find something that makes me happy again before I go back to North Carolina."
Harry scratches his head, "I still don't get it where this conversation is going."
I sigh heavily because I know I was not making any sense to him right now, "Someone told me that you bring girls over the beach house to have sex with." I tell him frankly.
"What?" He turns to me. "Did Diana tell you that?"
I shake my head, "No, not her."
"Then it must be Zion."
I chuckle softly, "Not Zion too. It doesn't matter who told me, I just want to let this out my chest."
He turns to me, fully attentive now, "What is it? I'm listening."
"I didn't come to this island to have casual sex with anyone. It's the least thing I want and I just want to make things clear between you and me that it is never going to happen if that is what you're only after. Besides, being dumped after getting what you wanted will only make me feel like I am Nicole." I don't know why I am bringing her name but I didn't want to end up like how Charles treated her.
"Nicole? Who's that?" Harry chuckles but he was laughing humourlessly while he was looking at me confusedly. "America, I don't know who this Nicole is but you actually think that I am only after you for sex? The first time I met you, I told you I wanted to be friends and it was definitely not because I wanted to have sex with you. I wanted to be friends because you caught my attention and that's it."
He scratches his head, "Wait, who the hell told you that I was bringing women in the beach house and fucking them?" He asks curiously but I couldn't tell him it's from Georgina-Rose.
"I told you it does not matter." I answer.
"Okay." He says firmly. "First of all, what that person told you was not true."
His eyes looking sterner, "I will tell you whole honestly even though I don't know if you will trust me but I only brought one woman in the beach house." He pulled one finger as he looks at me eagerly with his green eyes. "Yes, we had sex. But that was weeks ago, I was new on the island and I joined the surfing contest where I met the woman. Her name is Cassandra. She was a surfer too. We had sex in the beach house but after that, I never brought anyone there."
I blink at him and he was explaining in detail and forcing me to believe him. A part of me tells me that he is believable but then I wonder why Georgina-Rose would tell me that and lie to me. I wonder what would be her motive when she told me about it earlier.
"The thing that Cassandra and I had was mutual understanding. We both talked about doing it but that was once. Wait a minute, whoever told you that I bring girls over the beach house to fuck in the first place because it really makes me angry. That person totally lied to you." He insists.
I shake my head, "You don't have to know because I just wanted to clarify things between us."
He nods. "I really appreciate it that you wanted to talk about that with me because I never thought of having bad intentions towards you in the first place and I already told you about that."
I smile at him, "I just wish it's true."
"I'll prove to you that my intentions are really pure, sweet cheeks."
My brows creasing when he calls me that again, "You have been calling me that and I wonder what it means." I tell him as he smirks at me.
"It might sound forward but you have such a fine bum when we were surfing earlier. I couldn't help but stare at it. I'm sorry but they look like a pair of sweet cheeks."
I gaped, "You were checking my ass?"
"Well you're hot, I can't help it."
"Too much for pure intentions." I snorted before taking a long drink from my beer.
"Man's weakness but it does not mean I have a bad intentions to you."
I travelled my eyes back at Harry who is already looking at me, "How can I trust you?"
"Actions. I know you don't know me that well but I'm not all talk." He tells me.
I squint my eyes at him, "I just met you, so I guess I have to see for myself."
He smiles.
Later that day, when the sun finally set and the moon started appearing, I helped Harry make another bonfire by the beach since he wanted to know how to make fire easily. The others were busy renting out three tents where we'd get to share later when we sleep. We finished dinner which was prepared by Zion and Diana then we decided to gather around the bonfire while Neal was playing his guitar and singing a few songs. I left the group to take a wee and once I came back to the circle, I noticed that Georginna-Rose was already sitting on my place so I decided to sit next to Diana who kindly offered the vacant spot next to her.
Diana leans towards me, "She quickly scooted to Harry when she saw you left."
I smile at her, "It's fine. Let her."
My eyes glanced at Harry, who is already looking at me, as he sits right across me while he was sitting next to Georgina-Rose who looked very happy being on his side. The entire time when Harry had his attention at me, she was awfully silent and now that Harry is sitting next to her, she's all in a good mood. She hasn't talked to me after what she said when we were in the beach house and it really makes me wonder if she was lying to me because Harry had already defended himself when I confronted him.
"Hey Merry." Zion calls out as he sits on my left, scooting close to me.
"Hey." I answer.
"I was curious, is Merry your real name or is it just a nickname?"
"It's a nickname. My real name is America."
Zion smiles, "That's such a cool name."
Diana agrees as she offers me grilled mallow, "No wonder you're such a cool person because you have such a cool name."
I chuckle, "Honestly, I still have no idea why my mother called me America. I think she loves her country too much."
Zion chuckles, "I can't imagine having a baby and naming her England."
Neal laughs, "I wouldn't want to call my son Ireland."
All of us laughed but Harry was just looking at me silently. I ignored him since Georgina-Rose was looking at me too so I focused my attention back at Zion who keeps telling me funny stories which were about Diana as they continued bickering again. Zion looks undeniably adorable when he is laughing and how his eyes squint when he laughs loudly after making fun of Diana. Neal and Olivia joined our fun while Georgina-Rose kept her focus on Harry while Harry was still silent.
I stare at Zion's tattoos on his hand which was crazily huge and he shows me more of his tattoos on his arms. Zion was skinny but he had such a handsome face and a caramel-like voice plus the escaping strand of hair on his forehead makes him more attractive but I know he has a thing for Diana even though she still does not see it.
"Doesn't it hurt?' I ask Zion.
"The first time hurt but as I get more tattoos, it started feeling nothing."
"I have always wanted to have a tattoo but I just don't know if I am ready for it."
Zion nods, "You should. It's cool. It's like art now but make sure you are sure about the design because it will be forever on your skin until you get old." He points to a tattoo on his left arm, "Like this one. I regretted having this one."
I chuckle, "You can always cover it with another design."
"Yes, but this one is big so I'll need to have a bigger design." He answers.
I glance at Diana who also had a tattoo on her wrist which looker liked a letter H, "Does your tattoo have a story?"
She glances at her wrist, "It's the initial of my youngest brother that I never met."
"Oh, I'm sorry." I answer her.
She smiles, "Don't be sorry. I know I will be able to find him again someday."