"Shhh," I whispered as we tiptoed quietly around sleeping teenies.

We made it to the elevator and then realized Zac was not with us. Before I could ask where he appeared from our room with a couple of towels. He quickly and quietly joined us.

"Towels, Zac? Don't you think they'll have towels in the indoor pool," I asked.

He quietly replied, "Tay, it might be frickin' freezing in there and when we get out we're going to want towels."

The elevator dinged at that moment, and we all looked towards it in horror. Will pressed up against me giving me a warm safe and secure feeling. My happiness soon faded away though as the elevator opened and Ike came out. He looked very confused.

Zac pushed by him dragging Daphne into the elevator with him. Will and I also raced into the elevator and hit the button to close the doors.

"HEY," Ike exclaimed.

Just before the doors closed I heard a teenie scream, "Oh my God! IT'S IKE!"

"Ike is going to kill us for deserting him with the teenies, Zac," I commented.

"Especially when he gets into the room and finds the empty alcohol bottles, the snacks crushed into the carpet, the beds messy, and porno playing loudly on the TV," Zac snickered.

"WHAT?!? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TELL IKE ABOUT THE PORNO," I screamed.

"Yeah, well, he was too busy talking to Shiye, and he didn't answer his call-waiting. He'll get over it."

"If you ever do that to me. I will not get over it," Daphne teased.

"If we were sharing a room who said we'd want to leave it, and as for the porno, I don't think we'd need it," Zac flirted.

"Yeah, I'm sure you'd make your own," Will added with a laugh.

"ALRIGHT YOU GUYS! THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THIS ELEVATOR," I yelled.

"Plus, Zac, no girl in her right mind would want to see you naked. Trust me, it's not a pretty sight."

Daphne, Will, and I laughed.

Zac frowned and mumbled, "Fuck you, man."

The elevator opened and we all stepped out.

"So where's the indoor pool," Will asked.

"Uh, not sure, Daph," I said turning towards her.

"We can reach it if we go straight, but we're going to need a key," she answered.

I grabbed Will's hand.

"Great, Will and I will go talk to the people behind the front desk. Zac and you just go wait for us, make porno's, whatever…"

*          *          *          *          *

Daphne and I waited outside the glass door leading to the indoor pool. I can't believe she laughed at Tay's joke about no one wanting to see me naked.

"Zac, are you okay," she asked me.

I looked into her brown eyes and sighed, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me. I can tell you're not fine."

"WELL GEE THANKS," I laughed.

"Zac, you know what I meant," she giggled, "You are so weird."

"I'm weird?!? Hey Daphne, where's Scooby?"

"Oh, I know you did not just crack a Scooby Doo joke!"

"Oh, I so did," I retorted.

"You are so immature," she exclaimed.

"Good comeback!"

"Okay, Zac, you want to see a good comeback. Hey Mother bird, I found baby bird for you," she said flipping me off.

"I know you so did not make fun of 'Man From Milwaukee,'" I gasped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Space Boy. I forgot that was your musical masterpiece," she commented with a smirk.

"Alright you two break it up for a second," Tay said as he unlocked the glass door to the pool.

When had he gotten back, I wondered.

"HEY, SPACE BOY! MOVE YOUR ASS," Daphne yelled from beside the pool.

I walked over to her and stopped only a few inches away from her.

"Hey, Daphne, tell me," I began.

"Tell you what," she snapped.

"Is the water cold," I replied pushing her into the pool.

As she was falling she grabbed my arm and pulled me in after her. We both surfaced spitting up water. Wet towels surrounded us in the pool.

"NOW LOOK WHAT YOU DID," I kidded.

"You were the genius who thought it'd be funny to push me into the pool in the first place," she replied with a smile.

Dude, this is so my kind of woman. She's not afraid to argue with me. Most girls backed down when I started to pick on them. Tay ignored us looking out at the beach that could be seen from the pool.

"I really want to go and be in that water," he mumbled.

"So let's go," Will said pointing towards the door, "just open the door."

Tay tried, but it turned out that those doors had different keys. Daphne was sitting on the edge of the pool beside the dripping wet towels. She kicked off her sandals and threw them under one of the chairs by the pool. She had borrowed one of my band t-shirts and thrown it over her back-less halter. ZZTop never looked so good, I thought.

"You guys, we can always swim under the water. Half this pool is outdoors," Daphne said.

I watched the water droplets falling from strands of her hair, and her feet kicking at the water. I wonder what it'd be like to actually have a girlfriend. Isaac and Tay had always been the one up for dating, not really me. Then again mom would have a cow if she knew I was starting to feel like I was ready now. I heard laughing fading into the distance and snapped back into reality in time to see Tay, Will, and Daphne running off down on the beach.

"Crap," I muttered to myself, grabbing the towels and diving under.

*          *          *          *          *

We got to a pier and all ran underneath it. The water was up to my chest, and it wasn't exactly warm, but I didn't care. Zac came jumped in beside me.

"Where have you been," I asked as he stood beside me.

Before he could answer a shirt hit me in the head.

"OW," I screamed.

I heard Tay break out into a fit of laughter.

"TAYLOR, DON'T! SHE'S A GIRL," Zac defended.

I took off his ZZTop shirt and threw it at him.

"Will you stop with that 'she's a girl' crap!?!?! I hate that," I exclaimed.

The next thing I knew we were all stripping and throwing clothes back and forth until we were all completely naked.

"TAYLOR!!!!..ZAC!!!!.DAPHNE!!!.WILL!!!" we heard off in the distance.

"CRAP! People are looking for us," Tay yelled.

"We need to get our clothes back on," Zac replied.

"Uh guys," Will spoke up, "our clothes are gone. The tide must have carried them off."

Flashlights were seen getting closer. More people called out for us. Then we heard the giggling.

"Oh God, those voices aren't from our family. Teenies are out here! Quick guys, um, spread out," Tay cried out.

I kept swimming until I finally ran into another pier. I looked around, but all I could see was darkness.

"HELLO," I yelled.

"Ow, geeze, Daph. We're supposed to be hiding, remember?"

"Zac?"

I reached out and felt his arm. He pulled me close to him. Okay, my naked body is pressed against Zac's. Well, this is rather interesting, and I doubt anyone will ever believe me.

"Daph?"

"Huh," I said snapping back to reality.

"Do you have any idea where Tay and Will are," he asked.

"No, you're the first one I've found since we all, um, spread out," I replied.

Okay, Daphne - FOCUS! He moved slightly in the water beside me. Oh my Lord, what is that?!?

"Should we go looking for them, Daph?"

"I don't know."

"Something wrong," he asked.

"No, just not used to, um, this is kind of weird."

"Oh, sorry," he whispered.

His arm started to move from around me. I grabbed it and held on tight.

"No, I'm meant a good kind of weird or at least a different not-so-bad kind of weird."

"Oh, okay."

I could almost hear him smirk.

"TAYLOR! WILL," I called out.

Nothing, but silence.

"God, I wish you'd scream my name,"

"What was that Zac?"

"Nothing," he laughed.

"Right, okay, well keep it in your pants while we look for your brother and his significant other."

"Daphne, if you haven't noticed I'm not wearing any pants."

"Oh, okay, well, just - NEVER MIND!"

Something brushed by us underneath the water.

"What was that," Zac asked.

"I don't know. A fish?"

"Or a shark," he exclaimed.

"Okay, um we can still stand here. I doubt a shark would come this close to the beach looking for food. Plus, I watch the Discovery Channel, and believe it or not we swim in the ocean all the time during the day surrounded by sharks and don't even know it," I pointed out.

"Oh, you watched the Discovery Channel... well that makes me feel safe," he teased.

"Listen, Space Boy, don't go there. The Discovery Channel, History Channel, and Animal Planet are cool, okay? Oh, and maybe your songs would be just a little bit better and more creative if you'd watch those channels."

"Discovery Channel has been used, Daph. Hate to break it to you, but you and me baby ain't nothing, but mammals so let's -"

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

"Daphne, is that you," someone called out.

Zac and I froze.

*          *          *          *          *

"That's got to be her, Tay."

"How do you know?"

"Daphne's one of my best friends. Believe me, I know what she sounds like when she's yelling. Daph yells at me all the time."

"Daphne," Tay yelled out.

There was no reply.

"I swear it's like our voices were so close just then, but then it like, got distant again," I said as I noticed Taylor swim closer to me.

"I don't like being out this far," I muttered as I began to feel more like a late night shark snack, and less like Taylor's skinny dipping companion.

Suddenly he was beside me in the water.

*          *          *          *          *

I could sense his fear. I swam closer and pulled him against me.

"It's ok, I'll protect you," I smiled rubbing my nose against his ear.

"Ok, Aqua Man, how do you figure you'll be able to protect me from a shark out here," he shivered as he hugged me tighter.

"I'll just dunk underwater and stare at it, maybe smile, or wink," I snickered quietly.

"Ok, what the hell are you talking about," he laughed as he began to relax.

"Well it works with teenies, I just stare at them and they pass out," I could feel him smiling.

"Yeah, and they also get horny, and I'm not sure which is worse, a horny shark or a hungry one," we broke out into laughter.

"I think, if you're worried about something being horny, you should worry about me," I giggled.

"Oh god," he laughed as I felt him nudge up between my legs from behind.

"Oh god is right," I thought to myself with a snicker.

*          *          *          *          *

Zac exclaimed, "Tay? Will? You guys nearby or did Daphne forget to tell me that last week on the Discovery Channel she learned that sharks can talk."

"Maybe if you'd watch the Discovery Channel you'd learn that the 'Man From Milwaukee' was all a figment of your imagination, and uh, no matter how long you play with your walkie-talkie - no one is coming to get you off... this planet," I assured him.

"Okay, stop with the 'Man From Milwaukee' cut-downs. I was a lot younger when I wrote that song, and you know you love it so just shut-up," I said

"Okay, I hate to interrupt, but did anyone else hear something about Zac playing with his walkie-talkie and getting off or was that just me," Tay kidded.

"No, I heard it to," Will said, " so, what now?"

"I guess we're going to have to try sneaking back to our room undetected, and hope that no one finds our clothes floating around," Tay replied.

"Let's go back and see if we can find any of our clothes," Will suggested.

"Good idea," Tay said.

We all swam back quietly to the pier. Our little search party must have passed by while we had fled last time because they were no where in sight. We searched for our clothes, but other than one sock our search was fruitless.

"Before you guys freak out, I have come to save the day. I brought four large beach towels with me," Zac commented with pride.

"Great, go onto the beach and throw them back to us," Tay advised.

"Hell no, I dragged them out here, now it's someone else's turn," Zac retorted.

"Ugh, fine! I'll get him," Will cried wading towards the shore.

He threw one of the towels back towards us.

"Did anyone get that," Tay asked.

"Nope," Zac replied.

"Great, so we lost one towel," Tay laughed.

"It's okay, Daph and I can share one," Zac suggested.

"I'm sure that will be such a hardship for you," I replied.

"Oh, it will be ... "

"Uh, guys," Will began.

We all stopped moving towards the shore.

"What's the matter," Tay asked.

"Um, well, nothing except that Zac only grabbed THREE towels on his way out because there are only TWO towels left," Will replied.

"HEY! AT LEAST I BROUGHT TOWELS," Zac proclaimed.

"It's okay, we'll just have to share them until we get back to the room," I said.

"I CALL THE CHICK," Zac yelled.

Tay sighed and mumbled, "Zac, perhaps we should share a towel because we're family."

"Uh, hell no. That's exactly the reason we shouldn't share a towel. So you and your butt buddy get in one towel and my Discovery Channel chick and I will share the other," Zac answered.

"Sounds good," Will said

We all climbed out of the water and scurried to get under the damp towels. The cold air hit my body as Zac wrapped the towel around us. He was right behind me. I could feel his warm wet body pressed up against my back. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Really now, no one is going to believe this. The four of us quickly hurried back to the pool of the hotel. I noticed that Will was behind Taylor as we approached the hotel. The two of them were dripping wet, and I couldn't help but notice what a cute couple they made. I smiled as we stood in front of the outdoor section of the pool. Our shoes and the hotel room and pool keys could be seen inside.

"Okay, guys, we're all going to jump in. Let's try not to lose the towels."

We jumped into the warm pool water and swam for the other side. We burst up through the water and immediately scrambled back to our groups. We walked up the steps of the pool. Zac re-wrapped the towel around us and grinned at me.

"You look good wet," he complemented me.

It was such a sweet complement. There was no reason for it. Just for two seconds he pulled down the cocky barrier he kept around him and was, well, sweet.

"Thanks, so do you," I replied.

Tay grabbed the keys and then threw Zac and me our shoes. We slipped them on as best as we could and then the four of us opened the door to the pool. Tay locked the door behind us, and then we all scurried awkwardly for the elevators passing the front desk. The clerk behind the desk's eyebrow raised, but he said nothing. The elevator was open and empty so we all rushed in before the doors closed. Then we all just stood there staring at the buttons.

"Okay, who's going to release their hold of the towel long enough to push the button," Will asked.

"Tay doesn't need his hands to push the button," Zac joked.

"Shut-up, asshole," Tay replied.

"Shh, Tay, it's okay," Will assured him.

Will reached out and pushed the button for floor eight.


On to Chapter Twelve

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Memories ... Of A Forgotten Past is Copyright © 2000 by Taylor W. Quest.
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