Guy
I shouldn’t have invited her to come.
My attention was supposed to be on my son as we worked on building a sandcastle together, but I couldn’t keep myself from checking Nova out from behind as she stood ass deep in the ocean, the water splashing against her cheeks with every wave that passed. Her locs were pulled up into a bun so they wouldn’t get caught in the water which only gave me a better view of her backside. And while I wanted to continue simply being appreciative, there was something about her comments that I couldn’t let go.
“I’m pretty sure there will be plenty of real beach bodies for you to look at. You won’t even notice mine.”
Naturally, I wondered if this went in sync with the “issues” Lamar had talked about, wondered if she felt self-conscious being out on the beach in a two-piece even though her body was A1. In fact, I wanted to assure her that she should be proud of the body she was touting, soft and curvy in some places while still displaying tone and strength from her training and eating habits. But she had a man which meant I was supposed to be falling back, supposed to be staying in my place, even if I had already slipped up a time or two.
“Daddy, we need some more water,” Jaxson mentioned, knocking me out of my trance.
I nodded my head towards the ocean as I told him, “Go take your bucket to Miss. Nova. Have her fill it up for you. And make sure you ask nicely.”
Jaxson quickly snatched up one of his empty buckets as I shouted Nova’s name to get her attention before letting him go to her since she was standing in water deeper than he could reach. She met him halfway, bending to catch a bucket full of water before handing it to him and instantly realizing it was too heavy for him to carry which made her laugh. But watching the way she interacted with him continued to warm my heart, only making it harder for me to fall back. And her slow and sexy stride up the sand only made me harder in other places as she carried the bucket to our workspace with Jaxson in tow.
She placed the bucket of water in the sand before dusting her hands and putting them against her hips to check out our creations. “These actually look really good. I’m impressed.”
“You’re impressed that an art teacher can mold and sculpt sand? That’s pretty basic, Nova,” I replied as I drew a moat around them with my fingertip.
“Wait… you’re an art teacher?” she asked, obviously surprised by the mention.
“Yeah. Middle school,” I answered, assuming that was the follow-up question.
This time, she really drug it out as she put it all together. “You’re a middle school art teacher? How didn’t I know this?”
I shrugged, offering her a teasing smile when I replied, “Guess you haven’t stuck around me long enough to find out.”
She rolled her eyes as she plopped down onto one of the towels we were using to sit on while I continued to work. “A middle school art teacher. Wow. My teachers never looked like you. And in middle school too? Jesus, that’s a Lifetime movie crush waiting to happen.”
“Is that your way of telling me you think I’m fine?” I asked, my eyebrow piqued as I fetched for her compliment.
A compliment she tried to avoid giving when she diverted her eyes and stammered, “No… Yes… I guess. I mean, you know that.”
I shook my head with a grin, getting back to my moat and the original topic at hand when I asked, “What do you do back home?”
“I’m a first grade teacher,” she replied, forcing me to peek up at her to make sure she wasn’t bullshitting.
“No shit?”
“No. Shit.”
I immediately put two and two together to say, “So that’s why you got a whole free summer to visit Kaylin.”
“And that’s why you have a summer to visit Lamar,” she added before continuing on, “I still can’t believe you’re a teacher.”
“Why not? What does it look like I do?” I asked, curious to see what she had come up with in her mind as my occupation.
She seemed to be in deep thought about it before she blurted, “Work… security, or something. I don’t know.”
I bursted with laughter, hardly offended that her opinion was obviously based on my build when I fired back, “Well I assumed you performed at open mic nights for a living so there’s that.”
Her face scrunched as she repeated, “Open mic nights? Doing what? I can’t sing, I don’t write poetry, I don’t rap. Wait… the hair?”
I nodded with a grin. “The hair. The tattoos. The whole Bohemian swag you got goin’ on.”
The comment seemed to offend her even more as she snapped her head back to defend, “I do not have Bohemian swag. It’s just… comfortable, free, my own thing…”
“Bohemian.”
She tossed a hand my way as she shouted, “Whatever! Can I help?”
I shrugged. “Gotta ask Jax. He’s the leader of this operation.”
Nova turned her attention towards my son who was working peacefully as hell, concentrating intently on packing enough sand into his bucket when she interrupted. “Jaxson, can I build a sandcastle with you?”
He stood up and dragged the bucket her way before advising, “Miss. Nova, you gotta be careful. And flip the bucket super fast so all the sand don’t fall out.”
“I think I can do that,” she replied as she moved over to where we were building our little town, jumping right in to help Jaxson flip his bucket over and creating the perfect sandcastle.
Jaxson clapped excitedly, making Nova laugh and making me smile even harder than I already had been as I watched them celebrate. “It all makes sense now. You being so good with him. It’s those damn teacher instincts kickin’ in.”
She was already busy packing sand into another bucket when she insisted, “What can I say? It’s my thing.”
“And you obviously do it well,” I told her, earning myself a solid grin as she went back to work.
Watching her go back and forth with my son had my eyes locked on the two of them, admiring their interactions as if they had known each other for months and not days. But apparently I was staring too hard as Nova insisted, “Take a picture. It’ll last longer.”
“Can I?” I asked, dusting my hands off so that I could reach for my phone.
But her hand against my arm was enough to stop my reach when she asked, “What? No! That’s… weird.”
Shrugging, I insisted, “Can’t blame me. You’re the one out here lookin’ good as hell.”
Better than good.
Fine as fuck.
Since I was sure those additional comments would’ve warranted some over the top reaction, I kept them to myself, instead hitting her with an expression stern enough to let her know I was serious. An expression that had her gnawing on her lip before she replied, “I actually do want you to take a picture of me. So I can send it to David.”
Wait, what?
While my instinct was to turn her down, I was reminded that it wasn’t my place to hate on her relationship. If she wanted to send her man a pic, that’s just what it was. And at least I got to be the one on the other side of the camera, experiencing it in real life instead of through a phone like he would.
She pulled her sunglasses on and pulled her hair from the bun as I stood up, dusting off my hands to grab her phone that was resting on the towel nearby. And after navigating to her camera, I waited until she got in whatever pose she called herself doing before I snapped the picture and showed it to her.
“Ew. I look… constipated. Take another one,” she insisted, handing the phone back to me before flipping over onto her stomach.
“Damn, that’s how you doin’ it?” I asked, the swimsuit bottoms she wore tucked in her ass crack putting both cheeks on full display.
Of course I wasn’t complaining, but I was certainly glad Jaxson was keeping busy as I adjusted myself in my swim trunks before taking the picture she was asking for. And when I handed her the phone to check it out, she seemed as impressed with herself as she should’ve been.
I know I certainly was.
My attention went back to the sandcastles as Nova typed away at her phone, setting it down just long enough to put her bun back in place and picking it up again to read what must’ve been a reply the way her face seemed to light up. But just as quickly, her expression fell flat.
“What’s the matter?” I asked as I used a shovel to pat the sand down, not bothering to look at her again until I realized she hadn’t answered me. And once I did, I noticed she still had her phone in her hand with the same flat expression. “Nova, what’s up? Why the face? What’d he say?”
Instead of answering with words she handed the phone to me for me to read it myself. And I did out loud, shocked as hell when I discovered it said, ““Why’d you even send me this shit?” Who the fuck responds to a picture like that with something like this?”
She shrugged, looking out towards the water. “Guess it wasn’t as sexy as I thought.”
“Nova, don’t do that,” I told her, moving in front of her so that I could see her face that was now covered in sadness, completely opposite of the happiness that was on full tilt just a few moments before.
“What? I’m just sayin’...” she muttered, gnawing on her frown.
I kneeled in front of her, putting a hand against her shoulder to get her attention as I assured, “You looked incredible. You look incredible. Don’t let his hatin’ ass get you down. He’s probably just jealous that he’s not out here with you.”
Again, she shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Whatever you say.”
“Nova, I’m serious. That shit was lame as hell. He’s lame as hell,” I emphasized, already wanting to fire off on his ass for messing with her emotions like this, even miles away.
To my surprise, my words actually carried some weight with her, her eyebrow raising when she asked, “You know what? You’re right. Wasting this bomb ass picture on him when I really should’ve been posting it on Instagram.”
I shook my head with a laugh, returning to the sandcastle city as I insisted, “Yeah, go ahead and let some internet niggas gas you up. Set that thirst trap out the right way. And tell ‘em Guy taught you.”
She giggled, back to typing away at her screen when she replied, “I’m so putting that as the caption.”
“Aww shit. Now you gonna have your ol’ man coming at my head,” I shouted over my shoulder with a chuckle of my own, knowing good and well whoever David Anderson was didn’t really want them problems with me.
Nova didn’t seem to be bothered by the idea when she shouted back, “Forget him! He should’ve had better things to say.”
I nodded to agree. “You’re right. He should’ve. And I’m sure he will once all those “likes” pile in. Gonna straight up “baby, baby please” your ass like Carmelo did LaLa.”
She shook her head at me with a grin, pressing a dramatic tap against the screen before tossing her phone to the side. “I guess it’s time to make him sweat.”
“It’s also time to start enjoying your vacation instead of worrying about him. You’re here to have fun, relax, take in this vibrant city which is completely different than…” I trailed, realizing I still hadn’t found out where she was from.
Even though I had indirectly posed the question, I certainly wasn’t expecting her to answer, “Denver.”
“Denver? Seriously?” I asked still surprised, though it made sense considering that was also Kaylin’s hometown and they had supposedly been best friends since the beginning of time.
She came off a little defensive when she replied, “Yes, seriously! Mile High City, baby.”
“See. Coming from a city like that? Yeah, you definitely need to be making the most of this trip while you can,” I teased, immediately dodging the handful of sand she had launched my way when she screeched, “Oh whatever!”
“You’re talking real big to be from…” she trailed in the same way I had, waiting for me to fill in the blank.
And I already knew she would have jokes once I answered, “St. Louis.”
“St. Louis? Like St. Louis, current home of the… nothings?” she asked with a sarcastic smirk, as expected.
I held a hand to my chest as if the thought really pained me. “Come on, man. It’s still too soon. I’m sensitive about my Rams.”
“I would be too considering how trash y’all have been for the past decade,” she replied with a laugh.
Even though I knew she had a point, I couldn’t help but tease, “I see that recent Superbowl done went straight to your Mile High head.”
Instead of being offended, she glanced at her nails, a sign she already had a Grade-A comeback worked up when she finally replied, “Only because I have one in recent memory to talk about, unlike those sorry ass Rams of yours.”
“So you’re really a football fan, huh?” I asked, trying to hide how impressed I was even if it might’ve been a little premature. I mean, the things she knew about the game could’ve easily been picked up from just watching the news or scrolling through Twitter.
But her interest seemed to be legit when she shrugged and answered, “Pretty much have to be where I’m from.”
“Do you actually watch the games? Or do you just use them as an excuse to have people over for food and drinks?” I asked teasingly, knowing the question would more than likely get her riled up.
The way her nose flared up instantly let me know I had hit the exact nerve I was looking for as she snapped, “I have a NFL RedZone subscription and my fantasy team is the reigning champ of the league I’m in, thank you very much.”
A smirk grew on my face at her boasting. “Okay, okay. I see you. Bet that makes ol’ David real happy. No naggin’ during the games cause you’re yelling at the screen right next to him.”
While the concept sounded like gold to me, the mention seemed to make her uncomfortable the way she gnawed at her lip before she replied, “He’s not… much of a football fan. Or a sports fan, in general. Thinks they’re silly.”
“What kind of… nevermind.”
David was already proving himself to be complete opposite of me. And if that was the kind of guy Nova went for, then I definitely needed to be focusing my energy elsewhere. So that was exactly what I did when I asked, “Jax, you ready to play catch?”
Nova’s face scrunched instantly. “Are you trying to be funny by excluding me?”
“Not at all. I just thought… you know… one little jump and your nipples might be set free for the world to see,” I explained, trying to keep my eyes off of that exact place.
But she made it far too tempting when they gave the slightest bounce as she brushed me off and insisted, “I’ll take my chances.” Before turning towards Jaxson to say, “Come on, sweetie.”
She grabbed his hand and led him a few paces down the sand, the sight enough to make my chest swell as she tried to show him different techniques to catch the football. And Jaxson was completely engaged, mocking her hand positions and nodding along with whatever instructions she gave.
I waited for her to wave her hand, signaling they were ready for me to give the football a whirl. And once I did, I aimed it more in Nova’s direction on purpose, bursting with laughter when she dodged it instead of trying to catch it.
“Aww come on, little football head. You can do better than that!” I shouted after her, earning myself the finger as Jaxson chased down the ball before giving his best effort to throw it back to me. And what I thought was going to be another gentle pass, this time in my son’s direction, turned out to be a pass that brought out Nova’s aggressive side as she knocked him down to catch it.
My first thought was, “Nice hands” since the pass wasn’t the prettiest and she had still managed to snag it out of the sky with ease. But considering my son was in the sand thanks to Nova’s body bump, I couldn’t help but tease, “Goddamn, Odell Beckham! Take it easy on the kid!”
Nova held her hands to her face, mortified as she helped him from the ground and shouted back, “I’m so sorry! Seriously. It was an accident. I didn’t realize he was standing that close.”
“Dust it off, son! You’re alright!” I yelled to Jaxson who looked torn between crying and wanting to play more as Nova dusted the sand off of his arms and legs. Then she reached behind to grab the football and handed it to him before pointing in my direction.
Jaxson took off running with a vengeance as Nova followed him with a slower run as if she was pretending to chase him. And since he seemed to already be in a better mood, I cheered him on. “Run, Jax! Run it home!”
I wasn’t sure what he considered the goal line, but he seemed determined to get there as he continued running past me. And with Nova a few steps behind him, I was able to catch her in an embrace before she caught up to him, lifting her from the ground as if I was an offensive tackle protecting the quarterback.
“You blindsided me, cheater! That’s gotta be holding or somethin’,” Nova squealed as she shimmied against my hold while Jaxson celebrated with a touchdown dance.
His little version of the dab made us both crack up laughing, the moment lending itself to a response I knew I couldn’t give without freaking her out. But I really wished I could’ve let her know, “You just so happened to blindside me too.”