Cresswell: The Lunar Chronicles

Chapter Seventy One

Thorne dove beneath the cresting wave before it crashed, his head popping up again on the other side. The shoreline was growing smaller but he could still see their cluster of umbrellas. Ahead of him, Wolf was still swimming at full speed.

"Aces I wouldn't be surprise if he swam clear around the globe," Thorne said.

A few feet away, Kai laughed. He sounded just as tired as Thorne felt, which was a relief. "Guess that's an automatic win."

"Yeah but how will we tell him?"

Kai shrugged.

Thorne grunted. "I'm heading back."

"Me too."

The swim back to shore was a lot easier, mainly because he was able to ride the waves back. Scarlet and Winter were still goofing around in the shallower areas, boogie boarding. Thorne almost laughed. He hadn't ever seen Winter so uncoordinated before.

Cress was gone and he had just started to worry when he saw her walking back from the house with the plate of cookies in her hands.

"Here, taste one," she said proudly, sinking to her knees setting the plate down on the little table.

Thorne picked one up as he dropped to the ground beside her. "Mm, that's amazing."

"It's white chocolate! I've never tried white chocolate before. It's interesting," Cress said, taking a bite of one and shrugging one shoulder.

"You know it's not actually chocolate."

"I did," Cress nodded. The number of freckles on her face seemed to have doubled and her hair hung in messy waves.

Thorne's gaze shifted to the inch of her stomach that was showing. Reaching his hand out, he lifted the hem of her top just enough to see her scar. He grazed his thumb over it. "It's getting fainter."

Cress nodded. "Your hair's getting long." She said, running her fingers through his still wet hair.

Thorne smirked at her attempt to distract him. He pulled her closer, kissing her soft skin. Her scar wasn't nearly as textured as it had been. In fact, it was almost as smooth as the rest of her skin. "Where are those sandwiches? I'm hungry for some actual food."

Cress waved a hand towards the cooler. "In there somewhere."

Thorne reached around her and fumbled through the mess of food and snacks and drinks. The breeze from the ocean made him shiver, so he kept the towel wrapped around his shoulders.

"You're getting burned." Cress said, gingerly touching the back of his shoulder.

Thorne twisted to try and see. "Oh. Oh well."

Cress shook her head, chuckling.

"Come on, wanna go in?" He asked, shoving the late bite of sandwich in his mouth and standing up again.

Cress nodded.

Thorne took her hand and they ran straight into the water. He could tell when Cress started to get a little uncomfortable and he didn't make her go out farther than she wanted to. Thorne managed to swipe a boogie board from Scarlet and showed Cress the perfect way to ride waves back to shore.

That's how they spent the rest of the afternoon. Cress seemed to have an endless amount of energy until Thorne finally had to beg for a rest.

Thorne collapsed on one of the blankets. "Wake me up for dinner." He mumbled.

Cress laughed, sinking down beside him.

Eventually everyone made their way back to the umbrellas and were ready to go back inside for some dinner. It took them way longer to repack everything and haul it all inside than it did to drag it out.

Thorne rinsed off in the shower, mainly to get the salt and sand from his hair and skin. When he stepped back into their room, Cress had changed into one of her new dresses and was lounging across the bed reading something on her portscreen.

"Did you know we got married on a yacht as it sailed beneath the Northern lights?"

Thorne frowned. "What?"

"Mm-hm. According to the New Beijing Times, anyway."

Thorne laughed. "Ah, I did not know that. Does it say how many people were there?"

"No. But you wore a custom made suit and I wore a Louis Vuitton wedding gown."

"Aces and spades that must have been expensive."

"It was." She laughed, shoving away from the bed.

"Wanna go for a walk before dinner? Scope out the neighborhood?"

"Ooh, sure!" Cress grinned.

Thorne took her hand as they started out into the hallway and down the stairs towards the front door.

"Hey where are you guys going?" Iko asked.

"A walk. We'll be back in a little bit."

"Have fun!"

Cress was all smiles as they sauntered down the massive driveway and started walking through the strees.

Thorne couldn't help casting an appreciative look around. The houses were all giant and reminded him a lot of his childhood home, and while he had no desire to return to that style of living he did appreciate the beauty of the neighborhood.

"I'm so happy we get to stay for the whole summer." Cress grinned, her hand squeezing around his.

"Me too. Though I'm getting more and more curious as to what exactly you have planned for my birthday."

"Don't get too excited." Cress said, smiling almost nervously. "I've never planned a birthday before."

"Well I kinda cheated cause I already got my present."

Cress giggled, heat rushing to her face.

"I love making you get all red." He laughed.

"It's annoying!"

"Not it's not it's cute."

"I'm still going to get you an actual present one that's like, you know... for you."

"If you insist. Though I love the one you already picked out."

Cress's face warmed even more and her grin looked painful.

Thorne squeezed his arm around her shoulders. "Sorry, I'll stop making you blush."

"It's okay. I don't mind blushing around you."

Thorne smiled to himself. He slid his hand down her arm and took her hand. They walked in silence, weaving up and down almost the entire neighborhood before looping back around to Jacin and Winter's house.

"Aces it's so big. I can't believe they stay here sometimes just the two of them." Cress said, shaking her head.

"My parents always had tons of little knick knacks all over the house—you know, valuable antiques—" he added with an eyeroll, "—so I used to switch them around from room to room until entire displays were in totally different places."

Cress laughed. "They never noticed?"

"They did. They thought the maids did it. I actually got several of them fired."

"Nice."

"Hey, I was bored."