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looking at her.
     
    “I suppose it is,” Kian exclaimed, strengthening his long legs out in front of him as he found his eyes on her face once more. “Maybe you're only incredibly boring.”
     
    His tone was a bit playful, and she smiled despite herself. She ran a hand haphazardly through her long hair as her eyes danced between the shore and him before she decided to just look at her glass, which was almost vacant of the liquid she'd been consuming.
     
    “I'm not that fascinating, I assure you,” Amiira exclaimed. “I live and work in L.A.”
     
    “Doing?” Kian probed further.
     
    “I work at a consulting firm.”
     
    “Ah, so you're perceptive,” Kian speculated freely, his right hand coming up and rubbing the side of his jaw absentmindedly.
     
    “What makes you say that?” Amiira questioned instantly, her eyes involuntarily following the movement of his hand.
     
    “Isn't that part of consulting?” Kian asked, his facial expression a staunch inquisition, lined with overt knowing. “Figuring out what others are doing that isn't serving them and changing it so that they reap the benefits from that change?”
     
    “Yeah,” Amiira remarked lightly after awhile, letting his words sort of swirl around in her tipsy brain. She all of a sudden had this staggering urge to ask him a million questions about himself. “I guess you're right.”
     
    “Is it what you want to do forever?” Kian further pressed.
     
    Amiira's expression changed for a split second as that question resonated in her consciousness. It was highly specific and a bit intrusive as far as standard introductory questions go. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly and her lips parted as if she was going to offer a series of words in response that never came out.
     
    “I'm sorry,” Kian offered as he saw the way her face changed and the lack of an answer seemed to grab her. “I didn't mean to be invasive.”
     
    “Oh no,” Amiira countered, almost feeling a strange inclination to reach out and physically convince him of no harm done. The question had just caught her off guard. It was like someone asking you about all your hopes and dreams and insecurities and fears when the word forever entered into the equation. It was also a bit of a struggle because she felt herself wanting to tell him her other aspirations and goals. She felt almost prone to disclosing things about herself to him and she didn't know why. “It's fine. It's just a long story.”
     
    “I'm a patient man.”
     
    Amiira let the relative silence settle around that admission as their eye contact held. She felt her insides jumble and the already lovely light headed, warm feeling she was enjoying because of the alcohol, accumulate and then spread throughout her entire body. She couldn't take her eyes from his, even though she felt herself make a concerted effort to do so.
     
    “That's a positive character trait,” Amiira finally responded in almost a whisper, running her hand through her hair once more and taking a deep breath as she finally looked away from him and towards the water. “You should hold onto that.”
     
    “I intend to,” Kian bemused softly, folding his hands comfortably in front of him as he followed her lead and looked away.
     
    Their newfound patented silence came coursing through the atmosphere once more, only interrupted by the sound of the ocean, and the crisp jutting of the intermittent light wind. Before long, Amiira broke it and began speaking about something rather arbitrary.
     
    For two additional hours, they stayed outside like that, becoming more closely acquainted with one another.
     

Chapter 10
     
    Amiira was propped up on her elbows as she watched the animated, luminous water a few yards away from her, crash onto the shore as it ebbed and flowed in its natural state. The sun beamed down on her body warmly, her manicured toes sinking further into the bit of sand that ran into the end of the towel she was sprawled out on. She'd been