"Yeah, I'll live. I just feel like a klutz. Just when I thought I was becoming good at something sportya" I coughed again but hid it with a fake laugh. She slid her soft hand over my gashes and sighed in disapproval.

"Let's get you back to the villa."

"It's just a scratchaI promise," I said with a tight wince.

"Really?" She didn't believe me, but she managed a smile anyways.

"Yes. I'll go take a moment to myself to get my breath back but you go ahead and keep surfingaI'll be fine." I smiled, but my ribs ached with pain. She searched my face for a moment.

"Fine, you head back and I'll gather our things. Be there in a few," she said. She kissed me and lightly pushed me toward the villa.

"Don't be too long," I joked, but I needed a few moments to get back to the room and find my bag. I had some painkillers in one of the pockets and I knew I would need a couple of them soon. I wasn't sure why I was hiding the fact that I couldn't heal as well as before. Maybe I thought she would think less of me. Maybe I was just embarrassed. I raced to our bedroom trying not to panic.

"Holy crap." It was all I could say as I stared blankly at the crinkled up manila envelope that peaked from the open pocket of my bag. Instantly, I had forgotten the pain in my ribs and the pills I was looking for. I had forgotten all about that envelope all these months away from Maui. The one gift that Sam had given me back home before I left. She had handed it to me with tears in her eyes and specific instructions before I opened it.

"Forgive yourself. Let go of the guilt about your sister and then open it." I heard her voice say clear as day in my head. Samantha Summersamy little blonde muse from Maui. She was Asia's opposite and possibly my soul mate. I'd like to say that I hadn't thought about her all these days away from home, but that would be a lie. As I stared at the envelope I realized that it had been almost a year since I had seen her big green eyes. Where had the time gone? My chest began to ache, but not from the broken ribs this time.

"Whatcha doing?" Asia asked as she strolled into the room and leaned our surfboards against the wall. She pulled her hair from a tight ponytail that was still dripping the oceans water down her wet suit. Her scent snapped me back to reality and I slid the envelope back into my bag.

"Remembering," I said in a fog.

"Remembering what?" she asked with a hint of worry. I tossed my bag onto the floor and looked up at her softly.

"Home."

She glared at my bag for a second before turning her attention back to me.

"This is home now," she said absolute. I walked up to her and put my arms around her. The ribs under my arm screamed with pain as I did. I tried not to show it. The water droplets scattered all over her body quickly disappeared as I heated my embrace slightly. Her body was stiff as if I had hurt her feelings.

"Home is wherever we decide it is," I said as I inhaled her smell. She was intoxicating, and it took my mind off of the pain in my chest.

"And that's here!" she demanded. I held her tighter as her temper flared. My ribs called out again.

"Maui will always be a part of us Asia." The sky rumbled with new storm clouds. "I've just been so caught up in our adventure that I had forgotten the promise I had made to my uncle."

"Uncle Frank is fine," she scolded.

"I haven't talked to him in awhile. I've just been a little worrieda" I drifted off. Something felt off inside my head but I wasn't sure what. When she saw the worry overcome my face she eased her assault. Her hands found my face, and they felt cool and soothing against my skin. She let her right hand slide down to my ribs that were already starting to bruise and they quickly felt a little better.

"Your uncle is safe Max," she smiled. Safe? That was an interesting way to put it, but before I could ponder her choice of words, she kissed me and time started to slow again.

"You are safe Max. With me," she said. I watched the sapphire specs spin in her blue eyes and her lips curl into a warm smile.

"You are loved," she spoke in almost a whisper. After a moment of being dazed I pulled away from her with a smile again.

"So are you," I said. The thunder fell away along with the graying skies. I quickly snapped up her laptop from our nearby nightstand and flipped it open while she looked on, confused.

"Max?"

"I need to do some shopping." I clicked on the Internet icon. She bit her lower lip nervously.

"For what?"

"Birthday present," I laughed lightly. The pain in my side turned to a throbbing ache but I ignored it.

"You don't have to worry abouta" she tried to say.

"You only turn 19. oncearight," I smiled devilishly and began typing away. She gave in and kissed my neck.

"I'm going to wash up," she winked. "I'll need you to help with my back," she added as she peeled off her wet suit and strutted toward the shower.

"Whoa."

"Hurry up!" she ordered.

"Okay," I said mesmerized.

It only took me a few minutes to set up her birthday gift online, so I set her laptop down and found my eyes wandering back to my bag. I reached in again and pulled out my cell phone, then dialed my uncle Frank's number. It rang over and over again but no one answered. Just before I hung up, the answering machine picked up.

"Valentine's residenceayou know what to do," Frank's voice said before the beep. I paused at the sound of his voice and almost didn't leave a message. I hadn't heard it in almost a year.

"Hey old manait's me. I'm safe. Sorry I missed you Uncle. I'll try again later," I said, and then hung up the phone.

"Max," Asia called from the next room, the sound of the running water in the background. Lightning flickered outside. I shook the cobwebs from my mind and stretched my ribs softly. They still hurt terribly, but I continued to ignore them and walked into the bathroom.

Dark Romance - 05.

*Undisclosed Desires: Muse*

Wednesday morning - 11:01 a.m. - July 19th.

What do you get the girl who has everything? Asia had any and every monitory thing she ever wanted growing up. Her parents made sure to spoil her, even though they were emotionally bankrupt. I guess they tried their best, but the one thing her parents forgot to give her as she grew up wasaher dreams. That's what I was hoping to fulfill this day, her 19th birthday.

"Can I take this thing off yet?" Asia asked impatiently. I gently slapped her hand as she tried to remove her silk blindfold.

"Not yetayou'll spoil the surprise."

"Max I hate surprises."

"Not this one," I smiled and slid my earbuds in to serenade me. I leaned in and kissed her on her nose. The airplane came to a soft rolling stop and my stomach settled a little. I hated to fly, even when it was a state of the art private jet. The best her massive inheritance could buy.

As we exited the plane, Asia's hand held onto my waist firmly. A light rumble of thunder accompanied our arrival as she grew more intolerant of her blindfold. As we made our way past the doors of the private airport I rushed her into a parked car that was waiting for us. She kicked and moaned the whole 40 minutes it took to arrive at our secret destination, but I rather enjoyed it. I was usually the one who was left in the dark as she led me to some strange place.

"All right birthday girlawe're here," I said excited. She had removed the blindfold before I could finish my sentence.

"Where are we Max?"

"I'll give you one hint," and from my pocket I removed one single flower. A small, pink, cherry blossom. She slowly snatched it up and stared at me for a moment. She looked lost in thought, as if she were dreaming with her eyes open.

"Max?" she asked with her voice cracking.

"Happy Birthday Asia." I kissed her on the cheek and jumped out of the car. She followed quickly behind me until her eyes focused on her surroundings. We both stood in an orchard of cherry blossom trees. They spread as far as the eyes could see. Pink and white petals danced all around us, spinning through the air and swaying along the tree branches. Her eyes filled with wonder.

"Welcome to China," I boasted.

"This is the most wonderful present!" she squealed. She spun in a circle with her arms out and stopped directly in front of me. She looked truly happy. Like a little girl with all her crazy dreams swirling around her head. I was proud of myself.

"Max how can I ever thank you for this?" she asked.

"Don't thank me yetathis is only half of your gift," I said quietly. I turned from her with a nod to follow me, and she did with little hesitation. We walked together through the fields before reaching the last half of my surprise. It took her a moment to make sense of what she was seeing, but when she finally did, I think I could actually hear her heart pounding.

"Is thata?" she began to ask.

"Yes."

Tears fell from her eyes as a mist of rain began to wash over us. It was very light and warm. The moisture only enhanced the smell of the orchard. She slowly stepped toward the little table set up in the middle of this orchard. It was covered by a black tablecloth that almost reached the ground. A few stray cherry blossoms had fallen onto it and accentuated what was in the middle of the table. A small, silver box with black ribbons. They gently flickered in the breeze.

"Open it," I insisted. She looked back at me with shaky eyes and then delicately picked up the box. I knew she would react strongly to the sight of the gift box I had tried to give her almost a year ago, but I didn't expect this reaction. It was the only thing she hadn't smashed and destroyed in her giant house back on Maui. The last piece of normalcy she had run away from. She held it against her chest for a minute. One long minute. Streaks of lightning danced above us without a sound. The rain fell harder but with tinier drops. I started to think she would never open it, but I was wrong.

Her fingers gently untied the ribbon before sliding themselves underneath the mirrored wrap. Her hands faintly shook as she opened the box and peaked through the stuffing paper. She pulled out a small, red, velvet bag with black strings cinching it closed. She quickly loosened the string and slid the contents into the palm of her hand. A shiny gold and black pendant with two separate chains dangled over her fingers.

"Max it's beautiful," she gasped. I stepped forward and placed my hand on the pendant.

"That's not quite right," I smiled and clicked the pendant into two separate necklaces with my fingers. "They're beautiful."

Both pieces were gold with black onyx intertwined throughout. They spun around in our fingers, gently reflecting the dancing flowers that continued to shower us from above. Separately they each had a single Chinese symbol accentuated in deep red. One was "FIRE" and the other was "WATER." When they were joined together they formed the word "ETERNITY." She was fluent in Chinese, and she knew exactly what the symbols meant. She placed one around her neck, wiping her tears as she did, and the other around mine. Her hands were soft and cool against my neck. The rain fell dark and full as we held each other tightly, not saying a single word.

From afar a single shadow watched us closely.

*The Wind Blows: The All-American Rejects*

Saturday night - 12:56 p.m. - August 12th.

Three unforgettable weeks in China had flown by in a hummingbird's heartbeat. I was hoping we would stay a little longer, but Asia had different plans. One rainy night, she insisted we make our way to the closest airport and fly to the nearest ocean side city. Sadly, that wasn't close at all.

Fangchenggang was a southern coastal city bordering Vietnam. This was where she had arranged for her massive yacht to be waiting for us. Before I even had time to figure out how she had pulled that off, we were sailing away, my hand in hers and my heart racing. Adventure was our new teacher and we were its best students.

That was almost twenty-four hours ago. She kept insisting we were running out of time. I played along because I was becoming lost in her secret journey.

"Just trust me Max, we don't have much time," she said from the back of the ship. We stood shoulder to shoulder as the black water passed before us. I watched the ocean breeze slip around her hair, mesmerized.

"I thought we had all the time in the world?" I joked with a soft smile. She leaned into me.

"We do. This is about something else though," she drifted off. Her soft hair rested along my bare shoulder.

"Well, that's pretty vague," I teased.

"You'll understand soon enough," she said, and the thunder rolled along behind the sailing ship.

Now, as I stepped onto the cold sand of this strange little island, the mysterious detour from China became clearer. We were in the middle of the ocean on some remote island. It couldn't have been more than half a mile in diameter. The sand seemed to circle the whole thing.

"What's the date Max?" Asia asked wickedly. She walked backwards down this dark and mysterious beach with her glowing blue eyes holding me in their grip. I followed her like an addict. I didn't quite understand the question.

"Why?" I smiled coyly. She stopped walking and waited for me to catch up with her. I placed my warm hands on her hips. The soft fabric from her sarong felt good to the touch.

"What day is it?" she whispered. The rush of the waves serenaded us.

"August 12th," I said, unsure. She smiled bigger and pushed her weight into me. Her cool skin felt perfect.

"And what time is it?" she asked. I looked down at my watch.

"One minute until midnight," I said, curious. She turned herself around in my tight embrace, placing her back snuggly in front of me. Her hands fell along the tops of mine, and she leaned her head up toward the night sky. The giant face of the moon shined down on us.

"And what is tomorrow?" she asked me with a flip of her hair. It fell away over her left shoulder, exposing the opposite one completely. My eyes stole a quick glance down at her tone neck and shoulder. In an instant I realized what this was all about. Painted on her shoulder blade was the tattoo she had inked in our honor. It had rolling waves circling the Chinese symbol for fire, and a date, 8/13. Our destined anniversary. The day we met on the beach in Maui. The day she almost died. The day I saved her. The day we became one.

"Thirteenth," I whispered. She smiled and turned to me again.

"Our anniversary Max," she purred. I should have realized sooner. She had always been obsessed with this date. And ever since that summer afternoon, I had been obsessed with her.

"Why this beach Asia? Where are we?" I asked with a grin.

"I have no idea where we are. This is just the closest island I could find." She removed her sarong, exposing her striped bikini. Her hands pulled mine down her skin to the small of her lower back. My heat covered her body in goose bumps.

"I'm not sure I understand?" I said trying not to stare at her silhouette too much.

"Promise me on this day, no matter where we are or what we're doing, we will find the nearest beach. Every year we find a beach to remember!" she said, nervous but excited.

"I don't need a beach to remembera" I tried to say, but she stopped me with a push of her hand.

"Promise me Max!" she said, more seriously. Her eyes locked onto me tightly. They filled with the moonlight. The truth was, a day didn't go by when I didn't think of that fateful day. I filled with a warm confidence.

"I promise," I paused as her eyes welled up with tears. I looked past her to the wild trees behind us.

"Under one condition," I added. She stared at me quietly.

"What condition?" she asked. I smiled and walked past her. I slid my fingers into hers, forcing her to follow me. I walked her to the first tree along the mysterious beach. Thunder popped in the distance and I smiled bigger. She was so nervous by my actions. I looked at her and then the long, tall palm tree. Her grip tightened around my hand.

"I promiseaas long as we do it together." I looked at her and let my other hand ignite in a bright orange flame. It swirled in the wind and made a soft crackling sound. She looked at me with surprise. I pressed my burning hand into the tree trunk, a couple feet above the sand. It smoked in the dark with flickers of embers falling to the sand. After a few seconds I pulled back my hand and let the fires fade away.

"Deal?" I asked leaning closer to her. I could smell her cherry blossoms over the burnt timber. She watched as the orange handprint darkened to black. Her hand reached out and traced the outline of my handprint upon the singed tree bark. Lightning lit up the dark island in a barrage of flashes, but the strikes made no sound. I had hit a nerve.

"Forever Max," she spoke softly. We spent our first anniversary on the unnamed island until the sun made an appearance. It was easily one of the best nights of my short life.