Free Roses in the Sand by CS Patra

fully clothed and didn’t seem to care that she was getting wet. She splashed around in the water and laughed as she motioned the Lily to come in. Giving in, Lily took off her shoes and threw them to the side. Then she ran towards the rolling waves where Johanna was playing around. She felt the cold, salty water sting her legs as she got in it. It didn’t matter what was floating around in the water. She laughed as some of the water came into her mouth.
     
    “You okay?” Johanna asked her as they splashed around.
     
    “Yeah, I’m fine,” Lily swam around in the water, forgetting that she was in a dress. It was just the two of them now, she took off the dress and decided to throw it back on the wet sand. Now she was swimming around in her underwear. “The water is so cold!”
     
    “Let me warm you up then!” Johanna swam towards her and pulled her into an embrace. She was still in her clothes but it didn’t matter. The only thing she had taken off before running was the leather jacket. She couldn’t afford to get that one wet. The rest of her clothes were pretty see through and Lily could see the bright pink bra that she was wearing.
     
    “You feel better now?” She asked.
     
    “Oh, yeah. Loads better,” Lily said, her face only inches away from Johanna’s. “I’ve never really swam in the ocean before. It scares me a little bit.”
     
    “It’s just the ocean. There's nothing scary about it.”
     
    “That’s what you think. There’s so much of the ocean that no one has explored yet. There are so many creatures that we probably don’t know about and they’re all on the ocean floor. I saw some National Geographic special on the ocean and what we don’t know about it. I honestly think that scares me more than space does.”
     
    “Oh, it’s just water right now. Sure, there’s a lot of seaweed floating about but it’s not going to kill you. I don’t think any of this in here are dangerous either.”
     
    “God, I forgot about the fish!” Lily laughed. “Let’s get out of this before a shark comes for us!”
     
    “You're being so silly!” Nonetheless, Johanna did get out of the water with her and they both lay down on the wet sand, letting the waves wash over their ankles and legs.
     
    After taking a few deep breaths, Lily sat up and began to draw a heart in the sand. Johanna followed her gaze and watched as she wrote LB + JV in the middle of the heart. Then she started to draw small roses around it.
     
    “Forgive my artistic skill. I'm not that good at drawing roses in the sand,” she said. “They look like little blobs, don’t they?”
     
    “It’s okay. Those blobs are better than anything I could do.”
     
    Johanna looked at her and suddenly she had the greatest urge to kiss her. Without thinking twice, she leaned in and kissed Lily. Lily threw her arms around her and the two of them began rolling around in the sand. Johanna could feel the sand getting into her hair, but it didn’t matter. It felt hypocritical of her to run into the ocean when she didn’t like swimming in it. Lily was doing this to her. Lily was making her act in a way she never acted before. She was making her love the ocean and playing around it. She was making her act like a child all over again.
     
    “You do so much crazy shit to me,” she whispered before giving her another kiss. “What is it about you that makes me act like this?”
     
    “I don’t know,” Lily said. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking because of you. I’m finally inspired to write more of my book. I feel like I came alive here. Up until now, I was living, but I wasn’t alive. You did this to me, Johanna. You did it all.”
     
    “All I did was enter your life.”
     
    “You made my life more spectacular than anyone else. I can’t thank you enough for it,” Lily said. “I wish you didn’t have to go away. I want you to stay with me forever.”
     
    “I want to be yours forever. I know I can do that. I just don’t