Never Forget (Memories)

Alec.
    I'm undecided whether he falls into the bad or good category.
    ''Are you stalking me?'' I peer at him over the top of my glasses.
    He leans against his surfboard and flicks his hair out of his eyes, grinning.
    ''Would you like it if I was?''
    ''I'd be pretty scared if you were, to be honest.'' I sweep past him and find our spot by the rocks. I lay out my towel, readjust the waistband of my shorts and pull off my top.
    When I sit down, I feel Alec's eyes on me. Bravely, I look at him. His eyes are slightly hooded as they sweep me from my head to my toe. A shiver runs through me at the look in his eyes.
    God damn, this guy is dangerous.
    ''Please stop looking at me like you wanna eat me,'' I say in a bored tone.
    ''Just admiring the view.'' He winks.
    I roll my eyes and point to his surfboard. ''You do realise you might have a tough time with the surfing today, right?''
    ''Na, we won't.'' He looks out to sea and points to the cliff. ''There's a bit of the cliff that juts out. When the spray hits that full force, you're good to go with your board.''
    ''But there's no wind?''
    He sighs like I know nothing and props his board up before coming and sitting next to me. His wetsuit is undone to the waist and yes, I admire him yet again.
    If he can look, so can I.
    ''It doesn't necessarily need to be windy here,'' he explains. ''Because the beach is so small and surrounded by cliffs, the waves naturally come in stronger. Croyde is the best place. It's a bigger Bay, so bigger waves. It's probably the best place in North Devon to surf, but here comes in a close second.''
    I nod like I understand. I do a little - sorta, kinda.
    Okay, maybe I don't, but since I don't plan on doing any surfing any time soon it's a moot point.
    I check the time on my phone and I'm not surprised when it's past the ten minutes me and Jen agreed on.
    ''Jen's never on time,'' Alec comments. ''You'll figure out it's best to tell her to meet you half an hour earlier than you actually wanna meet her, otherwise you'll be hanging around for ages.''
    ''How do you do that?'' I ask.
    ''Do what?'' He turns his face towards mine and somewhere in the back of my mind I'm aware of how close our faces are to touching.
    ''Know what I'm thinking. All the time,'' I muse.
    ''I pay attention to you, Princess.'' He smiles.
    Dimples. Dimples.
    Look away, Lexy!
    ''Why do you call me 'Princess'?'' I narrow my eyes at him.
    He laughs silently.
    ''Well, your hair reminds me of Rapunzel's..''
    ''Rapunzel was blonde, and I'm pretty sure no one will be climbing my hair any time soon.'' I half smile at him, amused.
    ''Let me finish!'' He taps my knee with one hand, and twists a lock of my hair around a finger of his other hand. ''Your hair is silky like Rapunzel's, your lips are as kissable as Sleeping Beauty's, your skin as flawless as Snow White's, and like Cinderella, it doesn't matter if you're wearing crap clothes or a ball gown, because you're still beautiful.''
    Something passes between us as he looks into my eyes. Something marginally stronger than a simple attraction. Something that could seriously test my resolve around him.
    I look away, breaking the moment and shake my head.
    ''You're good, I'll give you that.'' I laugh. ''How many girls has that worked on?''
    ''You tell me,'' he says seriously. ''It's the first time I've ever said it.''
    ''I'm not stupid, Alec. I see the way girls round here look at you - like you're God's gift to women - and I see the way you lap up the attention. Actually, it's quite sickening,'' I tell him, on a roll. ''Thankfully, I'm not one of those girls that will bat my eyelashes, stick my chest out and smile suggestively at you, so I'm definitely not the kinda girl that will believe that line. Nice try, though.''
    I hear clapping and look up. Jen is clapping her hands together, grinning manically. Carl is looking to the sky for help, a sign that Jen has let her crazy out to play.
    ''You two could be on a soap opera, no, no, serious.'' She taps her chin. ''But seriously, Lexy, thank you so much for saying that. I've totally wanted to let rip at him for his cheesy lines but Carl's all 'Jen, baby, leave it alone.' '' She imitates his voice to perfection and I cover my mouth with my hand to muffle my laugh.
    ''Jen..'' Carl warns.
    ''See?'' She throws her hands in the air and drops onto the sand next to me. ''He's at it again.'' She looks at Alec and waggles her finger at him. ''You leave her alone, you man slag. I won't have you messing