The afternoon sun bestowed its warmth on this part of the planet, revealing someone whose effort ends futile and someone that loves to see him make a spectacle of himself.
I sat in a lawn chair, watching Xander try casting his fishing line into the water from his position on the bank of the pond.
His facial expression was that of grave concentration as he tosses his line for the 5th attempt into the pond.
The line didn't go into the water rather the hook caught the hem of his khaki shorts.
In an attempt to remove it, he tumbles into the pond.
Laughter burst out of my lips before I could rein it in. I knew he did mess it up but this I didn't expect.
If only my phone was with me, I would have taken a picture to post on Instagram.
He came back up spitting out pond water and I laughed harder, tears trickling down my face.
"How it going, caught a fish yet?" I said between vicious bursts.
This was the best thing that ever happened to me. I leaned on my chair, my body weak from laughing.
The tears blurred me from catching a glimpse of him leaving the pond and straight towards me.
And I discovered him too late.
He lunged forward, tossing me over his shoulder before I had the chance to squeal.
He then turned on his heel, heading back to the pond.
Realizing what he was about to do, I wiggled like a snake, whacking him with my fist. "No! Don't you dare Xander!"
He swings me around so I can see his shit-faced grin, then tips me forward until my head became intimate with the water.
"Xander Daniel Jorgia, If you don't put me down right now, I swear I will search for the darkest, most creepy method to murder you."
"Right now," he said, and if his grin didn't get any wider.
I could him through the water reflection. If my glare could kill.
"Drop me where you picked me from."
He winked at me. "Can't do that, my dear."
I dug my legs into his stomach at the slightest possibility. "Drop me..."
And he did drop me. Into the pond.
"Oops" was what I heard him says as icy water closed over me.
"Just you wait till I roast your body on a fire and spit on it," I yelled as I emerged to the surface. "Tell me, Is it my fault you fell in?"
He shrugged. "You shouldn't have laughed at me."
"Look at them, a pair of children." Xavier showed up with Marie by his side.
Marie's disapproval was visible on her face.
"Xavier assist her out, to get a change of clothes."
"And you?" She turned to Xander.
"Come with me." She twisted his left ear, smacking him with the rag in her hands.
"Ow, it's her fault, Marie, she gorged me." Xander pointed at me.
"Shut up." She pushed him in the direction of the cabin, smacking him harder.
The sound of his cry all the way to the cabin lessened my need for revenge.
Xavier cocked his head to the side. "Do you want to get out or not?"
"Ohh." My face heated and I reached up to straighten my plaited braids, half had juggled out of the bonnet during the struggle with Xander.
Wading through the icy water, my clothes sopping wet and clinging to me, I try not to think about the strange look he was giving me.
I might end up making a fool of myself.
All week, things had been friendly. We settled into a new pattern, we laugh, joke, when things seem heated up... I think on my part. I simply sit away from him.
On Friday, Charles had us prepare for a trip.
Xander said and I quote; "It was a family tradition that they chill every last Sunday of the month. They had a cabin at Cape Cod which they make use of for such holidays."
When Charles insisted it should be a road trip instead of flying, I was thrilled.
Most times I traveled on the road was to see my grandma in the village and always by my dad's car. Since I was an only child there was no one; my age to talk to on the trip, so apart from stopping for suya, food, and the plantain hawkers on road, these trips were boring.
But traveling with this group won't be boring.
It wasn't hell instead.
Xander had been after me since day one of the trip, he kept poking my ribs to see some ridiculous jokes from an account he followed on Instagram.
Earlier before that, he took the space I kept for Evan. Evan sat at the back with Xavier instead, I could only stretch my neck to speak with him.
Charles and Marie were singing off-tune to an old classic, I love them but geez.
We had two stops in small towns where we passed the nights.
In the second town, Xavier and I were voted to get food from a small restaurant next to our hotel.
Almost all women in that small restaurant zeroed their gaze on us. Some boldly came forward, hip-swinging and batting their lashes to talk to him. It wasn't until he dismissed them I realized how tensed my muscles were.
Now, the cabin came into view, and I recalled how weird I must have looked with my jaw on the ground when I first set my eyes on this mansion, they call a cabin.
How rich are these people?
I mouthed, shaking my head. They just keep surprising me.
"You don't have to wait for me, I'll..." I veered around and came face to chest with Xavier. Startled at his proximity, I jumped away, tripping on my own feet.
Thankfully, Xavier caught me before I reached the ground. As I peered up to thank him, his gaze was fixed on me.
The hands-on my waist tightened, drawing me close. Our bodies pressed against each other and I was aware of the wild thump of his heart that beats in sync with mine.
There was an intense light in his hazel eyes, flickers of gold reflected in its pool. The fact he kept staring at me, his gaze not wavering for the tiniest bit made it painfully awkward to meet his gaze.
I glanced at everything but him, playing with an imaginary string on his shirt.
Xavier had never looked at me with such intensity before.
My breath caught and held as he reached out and tucked a braid behind my ear and then brushed a fleeting kiss beneath my ear. The tip of his nose trailed down to my neck searing my skin with heat that made my toes curl.
"Coconuts," he murmured, his breath fanning my ear.